Have you ever used bitcoin? What's the point?

[KlokWyze]

it's not longer economical to use a computer (even with GPU). you need to buy dedicated miner hardware; and even those are probably getting outdated rapidly.

Outdated rapidly? The current standard is far from being rolled out completely. Just because something far more powerful is in the pipeline doesn't mean they are going to come online tomorrow.

 

[Red Squirrel]

it's not longer economical to use a computer (even with GPU). you need to buy dedicated miner hardware; and even those are probably getting outdated rapidly.

That's what I've been reading too actually. Have to use ASICs which are insanely expensive and would require to re-mortgage the house. Not going to go THAT far.

There's always LTC too which is more PC friendly.

Though at the end of the day if PC still makes money, just less, then you just need more of them. Too bad video cards are so HUGE these days though. I would need 4U rackmount cases. 2U would be more dense but they don't make video cards that small anymore.

 

[OCGuy]

Yes.

At bitcoin's price peak earlier this year, my...friend.....had ~ $30,000.00 worth.

 

[KlokWyze]

That's what I've been reading too actually. Have to use ASICs which are insanely expensive and would require to re-mortgage the house. Not going to go THAT far.

There's always LTC too which is more PC friendly.

Though at the end of the day if PC still makes money, just less, then you just need more of them. Too bad video cards are so HUGE these days though. I would need 4U rackmount cases. 2U would be more dense but they don't make video cards that small anymore.

Cheap GPUs are going to be flooding the market for the next several months probably. I'm holding onto mine because LTC mining is still profitable....

What chassis/mobos would you use to house the GPUs in? We sell a GPU server, well out my price range that houses 8x Intel GPUs. It's 2U actually. Not sure what the hashrate on it would be. Maybe they can send one out so I can play with it.

 

[Doppel]

 

[OCGuy]

I'd rather be lucky than good.

I think much of the hate for bitcoin is from people who are jealous they did not get in on it a couple years ago, when you could easily mine.

 

[bbhaag]

I bought my first coin a couple of weeks ago(I don't mine them). I did it because I was curious to see how it works when making an online transaction. Honestly once you get it all set up it isn't that much different than other forms of payment one might use online.

 

[Born2bwire]

I'd rather be lucky than good.

I think much of the hate for bitcoin is from people who are jealous they did not get in on it a couple years ago, when you could easily mine.

That's still the problem though. It's highly volatile despite its purported protection against inflation. In March it was around $30. In April it hit a high near $220. July it hit around $70. Now it's $120. If you want to speculate in it, sure. But it's not conducive as a currency since what you can buy with it fluctuates dramatically in the short term. For now, I just see it as lying in the realm of speculation and a very short term medium of transaction. Its use is limited to preserving anonymity.

We can all kick ourselves for missing out on what was easy money, but that makes it an excellent speculation, not an investment or currency.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I don't want to talk about it

 

[JoetheLion]

I'm kind of both curious and worried how and with what can be bitcoin backed. I mean, if you take a look at normal currencies which are (or should be) backed by gold in national treasury and such, what is the background for bitcoin? In the article, they were saying, that they want to generate more bitcoin currency:

"The ultimate goal is to issue a finite number of bitcoins set at 21 million approximately by 2014 and therefore eliminate any possible speculation about manipulating the value of the currency by emitting more bitcoins, just like central banks do with real-life currencies. At the moment, there are about 11.3 million bitcoins in circulation."

But what about inflation? + Isn't it still a bit risky, for example MMORPG games and simulations like Second life have their own currency. Some people even trade WoW gold for real money (which is against the terms of use) or buy virtual stuff for real money and viceversa. And if such game ends, (company bankrupts or they just shutdown their servers and move to another project) what will the user/buyer have? I mean what if something similar happens to bitcoin?

 

[OCGuy]

I'm kind of both curious and worried how and with what can be bitcoin backed. I mean, if you take a look at normal currencies which are (or should be) backed by gold in national treasury and such, what is the background for bitcoin? In the article, they were saying, that they want to generate more bitcoin currency:

Just like the USD, it is completely bullshit. USD is not backed by gold. It is backed by belief.

Just like any other fiat currency, it has a 100% chance of failing at some point.

 

[dighn]

Outdated rapidly? The current standard is far from being rolled out completely. Just because something far more powerful is in the pipeline doesn't mean they are going to come online tomorrow.

Rapid is subjective. I just have a hard time seeing the new hardware last for more than a year. But then given the extreme volatility of BTC maybe that's a long time.

 

[ultimatebob]

I don't want to talk about it

Yeah... Bitcoin might be better off without the extra scrutiny from the government.

 

[IronWing]

Sure if you are willing to just torrent stuff and risk getting your internet connection cut off with DMCA notices.

If you want it to be automated, SSL, and without having to upload ala P2P you got to pay to play.

You know you could have the same experience by just paying for the stuff you want.