Bitcoin sellers remorse.... how many people are kicking themselves for cashing out>?

[Rakehellion]

I don't understand this spike AT ALL; if bitcoins are so expensive now, how can people buy bitcoins to buy drugs?

I mean, let's say FOR EXAMPLE an 8 ball of coke was 10 bitcoins, which a while ago was ~$200. That same 8ball is now $760? Or do the sellers have to reduce their ask to a more reasonable amount, like 4 bitcoins?

They reduce their prices. The rest of the developed world's currency is pretty stable.

 

[Rakehellion]

As an American if you go and sell a large amount of bitcoins for USD you have to put that money somewhere. As soon as you try and deposit it into a US bank you're going to fall under the scrutiny of the IRS(money laundering etc.), at least that's what the feds hope to do according to this article.

Don't put it in a US bank. Obviously.

 

[Cuda1447]

Ha that has nothing to do with bitcoin hitting mass media, right? I'd sell everything before there's no more people to buy your tulips.

Dude, exactly this. Tulips is damn right.

 

[OverVolt]

Dude, exactly this. Tulips is damn right.

Bitcoin is totally tulipey.

The money you are cashing out is other peoples money if you profited. However I do not think it is really a scam, just buyer beware. You bought a bitcoin, you got a bitcoin. No promises on the stupid actions of others who see it fall $1 and sell everything spurring others to do the same.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Bitcoin sounds a lot like Beanie Babies. Except they don't even *actually* have a cost of production.

So maybe they're more like Magic cards.

 

[Sloper]

Understanding bitcoins is pretty difficult. Be patient with it.

One simple reason it's complicated is because most people don't understand how their own money works. Why do people still think the dollar is backed by something?

It's worth reading about the evolution of currency, through commodity money (precious metals), receipt money, fractional reserve money, and of course fiat money.

At it's core, a good currency has a few properties: Scarcity, Durability, Ease of transport, Divisible, Fungible, etc. Gold is scarce, durable, but not easy to transport. Diamonds are rare, but not divisible/fungible. Dollars are easy to transact with, divisible, and fungible. But so long as Ben keeps the printing presses going, scarcity is in question.

So let's compare to bitcoins: Scarce (limited quantity by design), durable (the network keeps tracks of account), easy to move, basically infinitely divisible and completely fungible. About the only con is you need an internet connection.

Intrinsic value is not a necessity for currency. Fiat money has demonstrated that. The more you learn, the more you realize money is basically a social collective hallucination. It boils down to confidence. Confidence that your $1 today can be used to acquire $1 worth of goods in the future. What do you trust in?

That's about a primer on currency. To fully understand bitcoins, look into the technical merits of how the network works. Also read up on today's failing monetary system (and what it's biggest flaws are).

Oh for those looking for entertainment with a serious undertone: Why do people hate bitcoins?

The best feature of bitcoins is that it is decentralized, i.e freedom of money for the first time ever. You think the US will be at war if it couldn't pay for it on credit and we had to pony up the money?

FWIW, I think the price will crash too.

 

[MrColin]

Fuck my life, I cashed out about 50BTC last september at about $11 when the mining difficulty upped to the point where GPU mining was a waste of electricity, I should have kept speculating.

 

[MrColin]

Bitcoin sounds a lot like Beanie Babies. Except they don't even *actually* have a cost of production.

So maybe they're more like Magic cards.

False.

 

[3chordcharlie]

False.

Nope.

 

[KlokWyze]

Nope.

It takes electricity to run the CPUs, GPUs, etc. which costs money. :|

 

[TwiceOver]

What I never figured out is why waste CPU/GPU cycles? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to set up some paid distributed computing model?

I guess I never got the point of wasting for a chance at a little money.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Wow, I held on to mine. Last I checked they were worth $6, I stopped mining a while back, figured it wasn't worth the electric cost. I assume the difficulty is way up now?

I just logged in, I have 2.36xxxx bitcoins in my wallet yet, and maybe another couple in a different wallent if I could find the code. Would you sell or wait? I assume it should go higher as the difficulty increases?

 

[MrColin]

huh, I always thought bit coin mining was used to crack passwords or something that was encrypted...

It could seriously be even better than that, ie producing a rainbow table against sha512 or something.

 

[lxskllr]

What I never figured out is why waste CPU/GPU cycles? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to set up some paid distributed computing model?

I guess I never got the point of wasting for a chance at a little money.

I don't understand. You have to pay either way. Coins were easy and cheap early on, and then got harder to get. Hardware enthusiasts, and people that can't do math picked it up to continue mining. IOW, it's a hobby for some. There isn't a job out there nobody wants to do, and mining bitcoins is no exception.

 

[lxskllr]

oins in my wallet yet, and maybe another couple in a different wallent if I could find the code. Would you sell or wait? I assume it should go higher as the difficulty increases?

I'd buy VPN service with them.

 

[sdifox]

You would think with the dedicated bitcoin ASICs that came out the valuation would depress a bit.

http://mineforeman.com/2013/02/20/another-avalon-asic-bitcoin-miner-has-been-delivered/

 

[TwiceOver]

I don't understand. You have to pay either way. Coins were easy and cheap early on, and then got harder to get. Hardware enthusiasts, and people that can't do math picked it up to continue mining. IOW, it's a hobby for some. There isn't a job out there nobody wants to do, and mining bitcoins is no exception.

But there's no benefit. You're burning processing power for a random reason to generate questionable income. Why not put that to good use and have a paid distributed computing model where your processing power is used to actually do something useful...

 

[sdifox]

But there's no benefit. You're burning processing power for a random reason to generate questionable income. Why not put that to good use and have a paid distributed computing model where your processing power is used to actually do something useful...

Because it is a different valuation system does not make it non valuable.

 

[lxskllr]

But there's no benefit. You're burning processing power for a random reason to generate questionable income. Why not put that to good use and have a paid distributed computing model where your processing power is used to actually do something useful...

Can't judge people for their hobbies. For some, overclocking is an end to itself. They spend more on exotic cooling than they would have buying better parts. Also, mining would be a good winter activity. I'm a little pissed at myself for not mining coins this year. I heat my room by folding on my computer. I could have been mining coins for that work.

 

[TwiceOver]

I still don't get it.

 

[lxskllr]

I still don't get it.

It's like hot rodding. Some people are happy driving a Civic, and others will trick out a Chevy II, fine tuning the performance to get the most out of it, and then drive it on sunny days in the summer, and not going over 40mph except for laying down a little rubber on occasion :^D

The means is an end to itself.

 

[Brainonska511]

nevermind

 

[JEDI]

But there's no benefit. You're burning processing power for a random reason to generate questionable income. Why not put that to good use and have a paid distributed computing model where your processing power is used to actually do something useful...

link?
and how much? enuf to cover the cost of electricity?

 

[ultimatebob]

But there's no benefit. You're burning processing power for a random reason to generate questionable income. Why not put that to good use and have a paid distributed computing model where your processing power is used to actually do something useful...

I wouldn't consider Bitcoins to be useless. They are an interesting experiment in peer to peer electronic currency... and I'll bet that the credit card companies will start getting worried once the potential security issues and transaction processing speed issues are worked out.

 

[Train]

Bitcoin sounds a lot like Beanie Babies. Except they don't even *actually* have a cost of production.

As of right now it costs a hell of a lot more to produce a single bitcoin than it does to print a US dollar.

Assuming the dollar is actually printed. The vast majority of US money exists in pure digital form.