BitCoin: making money with DC - literally!

[Ken g6]

Slashdot recently posted about a peer-to-peer monetary system called BitCoin:

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer network based digital currency. Peer-to-peer (P2P) means that there is no central authority to issue new money or keep track of transactions. Instead, these tasks are managed collectively by the nodes of the network.

Turn on Options->Generate Coins to get a few coins by helping to run the network. Bitcoin runs in the background when your computer is idle and should not slow down other programs. It may take days to successfully generate a coin, so be patient. The timing varies and depends on how much idle CPU time you contribute.

The total eventual circulation of Bitcoins will be 21,000,000 coins. There will never be more coins than that. The coins are entering circulation gradually, at a steady pace over many years, to nodes supporting the network in proportion to the CPU time they contribute.

In their technical paper, they explain that each "coin" is a number that, when run through a SHA-1 hash, has a certain number of leading zeroes. This is proof of computational work done to create (find) it, and thus the "value" of the coin.

Is all this worth doing? Well, that's the 64,000 BitCoin question, isn't it? :hmm:

 

[TAandy]

to be honest, i'm a bit baffled.
but if you want to participate and get 5 freebie bitcoins?
https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/

 

[dajeepster]

and i can buy "what" with them!?

 

[Ken g6]

and i can buy "what" with them!?

Whatever anyone's willing to sell you for them.

Like all money, they have value only if people believe they have value. :hmm:

 

[Assimilator1]

I don't get it, you crunch to make virtual coins right? Then what?
I'm not bashing this DC project, I'm just baffled too .

 

[Fardringle]

It sounds to me like another number crunching project and the "coins" are just their attempt to be creative when awarding credit for work done on the project. The coins aren't worth anything at all, it's just another name for points/credits in other projects.

 

[dajeepster]

yeah.. i don't think this is going to take off, unless they can get a company outside of this that will allow you to use the coins... like amazon, or ebay, or possibly allowing you to buy in game items for some of the online games out there (were the items actually have some benefit).. but until they can get a third party to buy into this, this isn't going to have any value... imho

 

[dajeepster]

It sounds to me like another number crunching project and the "coins" are just their attempt to be creative when awarding credit for work done on the project. The coins aren't worth anything at all, it's just another name for points/credits in other projects.

i don't think it's going to pick up... you've got boinc and f@h... are there any others out there?

 

[Assimilator1]

It sounds to me like another number crunching project and the "coins" are just their attempt to be creative when awarding credit for work done on the project. The coins aren't worth anything at all, it's just another name for points/credits in other projects.

OK, but what are you getting credit for?

 

[Ken g6]

No, the idea is that these "coins" can be a virtual currency, of known value because of the value of the electricity required to generate them. Once you have acquired some, you can trade them to someone else for something of real value, assuming both parties believe the "coins" have value too.

I didn't say it was a good idea.

 

[dajeepster]

i really don't see any value in this... and considering that I have one of the top producing farms in the world (and all the computers are mine), i think that might hold some weight.

even trying to equate a value to electricity used isn't going to work very well imho.. because the value of electricity changes from region to region.. and then you have those poeple that don't pay electricity... like me.. so would then that mean that all my coins are worthless because i don't pay for electricity .it's included in my rent and doesn't change whether i use the electricity or not.

I don't think they thought this through enough.. they need to assign a value to the coins and back it up with some type of collatoral or something.. not just coming out and saying.. here's some virtual coins, they're worth this much.. you just won't be able to buy anything with them and only be able to trade them among yourselves... sounds more like used first class stamp collecting and trading them among ourselves, but no matter how much they are traded...they're still worthless.

i just honestly don't see any value in them to be putting my crunching resources into it.

 

[dajeepster]

you know what.. i'll assign a value to them..

if anyone wants to give me a gtx460, i'll create "coin" for them for an entire month on all my core2quad systems.

-or-
if anyone wants to give me a gtx460, i'll run any project they want on boinc on all my systems, core2, i7, amd and my current gpus too for 14days under your own user name... that can easily net you up to 25M points.. depending on which projects you choose.

that's the value i'll give

 

[petrusbroder]

you know what.. i'll assign a value to them..

if anyone wants to give me a gtx460, i'll create "coin" for them for an entire month on all my core2quad systems.

-or-
if anyone wants to give me a gtx460, i'll run any project they want on boinc on all my systems, core2, i7, amd and my current gpus too for 14days under your own user name... that can easily net you up to 25M points.. depending on which projects you choose.

that's the value i'll give

LoL! I like that idea!
I don't mean to say that I'll send a GTX460 to dajeepster, but rather that I'll cruch a certain project (or many) for a limited time for a person who sends me a GTX 270, GTX 285, GTX 460, GTX 470, GTX480, Radeon 5850, Radeon 5870 or more powerful GPU!
We could discuss the terms, please post here!
Competion is good - lets try to find some value: Is 25 M credits worth a GTX460?

 

[dajeepster]

LoL! I like that idea!
I don't mean to say that I'll send a GTX460 to dajeepster, but rather that I'll cruch a certain project (or many) for a limited time for a person who sends me a GTX 270, GTX 285, GTX 460, GTX 470, GTX480, Radeon 5850, Radeon 5870 or more powerful GPU!
We could discuss the terms, please post here!
Competion is good - lets try to find some value: Is 25 M credits worth a GTX460?

the Radeon 5770 is a good card too... it's better than the nvidia when it comes to Collatz and DNETC.... but that's about all it's good at.

 

[Assimilator1]

you know what.. i'll assign a value to them..

if anyone wants to give me a gtx460, i'll create "coin" for them for an entire month on all my core2quad systems.

-or-
if anyone wants to give me a gtx460, i'll run any project they want on boinc on all my systems, core2, i7, amd and my current gpus too for 14days under your own user name... that can easily net you up to 25M points.. depending on which projects you choose.

that's the value i'll give

Lol, cool idea!

 

[TAandy]

and i can buy "what" with them!?

there's a list here:
http://www.bitcoin.org/trade

pretty short one though

 

[dajeepster]

there's a list here:
http://www.bitcoin.org/trade

pretty short one though

Chinese Wisteria - Wisteria sinensis
5 Viable Seeds
Chinese Wisteria is a woody, deciduous, perennial climbing vine of the Fabaceae (legume/pea) family.
Pods available too.
These seeds come from a Wisteria vine that has been growing for over 30 years in Central PA.
Blooms beautiful blue-purple flowers in Spring and Summer.

WARNING: Wisteria sinensis seeds are POISONOUS to humans and animals. D:

 

[TAandy]

Chinese Wisteria - Wisteria sinensis
5 Viable Seeds
Chinese Wisteria is a woody, deciduous, perennial climbing vine of the Fabaceae (legume/pea) family.
Pods available too.
These seeds come from a Wisteria vine that has been growing for over 30 years in Central PA.
Blooms beautiful blue-purple flowers in Spring and Summer.

WARNING: Wisteria sinensis seeds are POISONOUS to humans and animals. D:

they look nice though

 

[Orange Kid]

Right now the seen to be worth about $.06

https://www.bitcoinmarket.com/

 

[theAnimal]

https://www.bitcoinmarket.com/

"www.bitcoinmarket.com uses an invalid security certificate."

 

[Rezin77]

Bitcoins are currently trading at $.89 each. Yes, people are actually paying USD for Bitcoin. Google MtGox for one of the exchange sites. Oh if I had only known about it when you people were mocking it in this thread.

GPU "Mining" has become quite competitive with people building quad 5970 boxes et cetera.

The system adjusts the difficulty to provide a static amount of BitCoins "mined" per period of time. So the only way to increase your share is to "mine" faster than everyone else. Of course the more people "mining" the more difficult it becomes.

Here are some interesting stats.

http://bitcoinwatch.com/

 

[dajeepster]

Bitcoins are currently trading at $.89 each. Yes, people are actually paying USD for Bitcoin. Google MtGox for one of the exchange sites. Oh if I had only known about it when you people were mocking it in this thread.

GPU "Mining" has become quite competitive with people building quad 5970 boxes et cetera.

The system adjusts the difficulty to provide a static amount of BitCoins "mined" per period of time. So the only way to increase your share is to "mine" faster than everyone else. Of course the more people "mining" the more difficult it becomes.

Here are some interesting stats.

http://bitcoinwatch.com/

looks like someone is "Mining" the forums... lol

 

[Rezin77]

looks like someone is "Mining" the forums... lol

TeeHee.

I lost the password to my original AT account and the email to retrieve it no longer exists. After several useless attempts at contacting mods to resolve the issue, I had to make a new one.

Plus, I lurk unless I have something to say, which is rare.

Oh, and it would actually be in my best interest to have less people mining BitCoin. But I simply had to reply to the people who not only ignored, but mocked, the opportunity, when I would have loved to know about it back then.

 

[brownstone]

LOL, I've got a gtx460 that I'd be willing to part with for 25 million F@H points (inquire inside...) :sneaky:

 

[Rezin77]

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