What are your thoughts on BitCoin?

[ryanmusante]

I was scammed by BitConnect, yes I was stupid enough to invest in that garbage months ago. But I only lost a few hundred dollars thankfully.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Did you guys see that Russian nuclear scientists were caught mining bitcoin on their nuclear simulation supercomputer?

Actually it's not very funny when I think about it. If they are that desperate for cash then the world is potentially in a lot of trouble.

 

[El_Machinae]

I guess it matters who's making the Profits. If it's worth using a supercomputer to mine Bitcoin, then it's worth it. Power to them.

 

[sophie]

So,
There 2 pieces of news that could effect this is different directions.

1. Arizona just passed a bill from committee(now in house) that could allow paying AZ taxes with BTC
2. G20 Summit calls for more regulation of Crypto, not sure which one of these is going to effect Crypto more.
3. Daily Express is a tabloid, not real news.

Why any state would willingly accept payment in a currency that volatile and that demonstrably prone to value manipulation is entirely beyond me.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Bitcoin miners are driving up the cost of graphics boards: https://bitcoinwarrior.net/2018/01/bitcoin-mining-is-driving-up-the-cost-of-graphics-card/

 

[Cheetah]

Why any state would willingly accept payment in a currency that volatile and that demonstrably prone to value manipulation is entirely beyond me.

It's probably the whole Libertarian mindset of several of those politicians. Even when they are the state, they irrationally hate it. If they have enough non-crazy Libertarians in the House, it won't pass.

Bitcoin miners are driving up the cost of graphics boards: https://bitcoinwarrior.net/2018/01/bitcoin-mining-is-driving-up-the-cost-of-graphics-card/

That's been going on for at least a year already. The biggest IT webshop in Norway has even started to ration graphics cards, to make sure regular users can get them. And I think AMD has stated similar intentions to their distributors.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Thanks. i also read that some stores are just limiting buyers to 1 card. Miners often buy them by the dozen.

 

[uppi]

Bitcoin miners are driving up the cost of graphics boards: https://bitcoinwarrior.net/2018/01/bitcoin-mining-is-driving-up-the-cost-of-graphics-card/

In the defense of Bitcoin: It isn't Bitcoin driving up the price of graphic cards, despite the claims of those who have no idea about mining. Nobody capable of basic math is using graphic boards to mine Bitcoin these days. It is other cryptocurrencies like Etherium that have mining algorithms optimized for graphics processors and drive up those prices.

 

[Birdjaguar]

In the defense of Bitcoin: It isn't Bitcoin driving up the price of graphic cards, despite the claims of those who have no idea about mining.

That would be me.

Nobody capable of basic math is using graphic boards to mine Bitcoin these days. It is other cryptocurrencies like Etherium that have mining algorithms optimized for graphics processors and drive up those prices.

I'll trust your knowledge on the matter. Thanks. But might it be possible that many of those you do such mining don't do the basic math? The whole process sounds a bit like "Do this from home and get rich in 30 days..."

 

[Quintillus]

I wish I'd bought a few Bitcoins when this thread was started. Not going to now though.

And indeed, graphics card prices are rather insane right now. I'm glad I bought one in September of 2016. Ethereum started taking off in January 2017, and at this point I could sell my used graphics card for a halfway decent premium over what I paid new. And as of a couple weeks ago, I could have mined about $90 worth of Ethereum a month, after electricity costs, on my RX 480. Not exactly "get rich in 30 days", but I can see why some people were buying them looking for a quick buck. At MSRP, the cards would pay for themselves four times over in a year, and even at the inflated prices they'd pay for themselves more than twice over. Hard to get a much better return... until the volatility kicks in and the prices come crashing down. I haven't done so, as I don't support burning all this (mostly fossil-fueled) electricity on digital currencies, not the GPU price inflation.

Our local retailer, Micro Center, has also changed their sales policy for GPUs as a result. Most of them cannot be bought online anymore (in-store only), are limited to one per household, and while the prices are still pretty high, from what I hear you get a considerable discount over the likes of Newegg or Amazon if you buy it in conjunction with parts to build your own PC.

 

[Cheetah]

In the defense of Bitcoin: It isn't Bitcoin driving up the price of graphic cards, despite the claims of those who have no idea about mining. Nobody capable of basic math is using graphic boards to mine Bitcoin these days. It is other cryptocurrencies like Etherium that have mining algorithms optimized for graphics processors and drive up those prices.

Well, sure. But BJ is excused, as even I who knows enough of the theory -- i.e. Bitcoin's design problems, and the bigger alternative coins -- will often just say Bitcoin as a shorthand for all the different crypto currencies. I try to just use the term 'coins', but especially when speaking it is easy to fall back on simply 'bitcoin'.

 

[uppi]

I'll trust your knowledge on the matter. Thanks. But might it be possible that many of those you do such mining don't do the basic math? The whole process sounds a bit like "Do this from home and get rich in 30 days..."

I don't know, but I would guess that there are not very many people doing that. Because even if they haven't grasped that mining Bitcoin on a graphics card is a bad idea (you'd be much better off playing the lottery), they might still understand that they could increase their income by switching to a different cryptocurrency.

If Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency, a search for mining on the internet would quickly reveal that mining with a graphics card is not going to work (anymore) and very few people would be buying one for that purpose. The alternatives to Bitcoin are the reason that mining "bitcoin" (used as shorthand for cryptocurrencies, as Cheetah pointed out) on standard hardware can be profitable.

 

[Moriarte]

That would be me.
I'll trust your knowledge on the matter. Thanks. But might it be possible that many of those you do such mining don't do the basic math? The whole process sounds a bit like "Do this from home and get rich in 30 days..."

Look, one doesn't need to be "good" at basic math to be able to mine crypto. Similarly, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to run a bank. Having ample amount of greed, being adequately educated in finance and well-connected is more than enough (to run a bank). Situation is such that banks and other centralized institutions were so deeply asleep at the wheel (again), that they missed the genesis of the next financial breakthrough almost entirely. As a result, widely spread clusters of people around the world profited from what banks should have been doing - processing transactions. If anyone doesn't see elephant in the room yet, I'll point it out - resting on their secluded beaches, bankers simply didn't care for the new new thing, even knowing how easy it was, so other hands took a shot at it and filled the demand with the speed only the latest tech can give. Figuring out how to move value across digital netwerks at low cost was only a question of time, surprisingly, certain communities don't know better than to fight this "in principle". But such is life. On the bright side, I think banks finally caught up, I see a lot more interest in cooperation from both camps now than I did during last summer. I see banking establishments across the world adopting the latest Ripple tech. Ripple made it so easy they placed a s-l-i-d-e-r on their website showing cost savings for banks, so even the bankers could figure out what to do next. And guess what? They did! So, yeah, it's a complicated tech which was made so simple literally a child can use it. A separate problem is (and was a year ago) that some banks couldn't really afford to be caught doing crypto at large, having reputations and such, so that's another reason to consider why they haven't jumped in back then. It is a get rich in 30 days scheme. Cunningly concealed in plain sight.

Coming from someone waiting here on the sidelines, watching the spectacle, mining and spreading minted resources across projects (for 9 months now) which seem promising, like Revain, Dorado (that's a new and hot one), Zcash, Ripple, Ethereum, Cardano and many more, actually! Lately, I am specifically targeting projects, which aim to integrate into society, work with banks, governments and, most importantly, show success doing it. I see myself doing this years from now, I consider it ascension from stock market "solo" investing which I have been doing for a decade. This latest tech already has levers stock market participants can only dream of.

Is it going to crash? Indeed, it is bound to. At today's rate the market will crash a couple of times a year until participants uncover the next cure for nervousness, which they will. History shows that it's a matter of figuring out the fusion of right ingredients and a measure of dedication applied will make it happen.

I don't think it's a good idea to cash out crypto right now, personally, I decided to wait for something more solid than a Hong Kong/Singapore bank account and a mastercard. So, yeah, see ya all in the digital cloud, whatever that might be!

 

[uppi]

Situation is such that banks and other centralized institutions were so deeply asleep at the wheel (again), that they missed the genesis of the next financial breakthrough almost entirely. As a result, widely spread clusters of people around the world profited from what banks should have been doing - processing transactions.

Banks are still processing orders of magnitude more transactions than all cryptocurrencies together -- at a fraction of the cost. Despite the hype around Bitcoin and all the other coins, I haven't heard a single convincing argument why I should use it for transactions beyond using it for illegal stuff.

 

[Moriarte]

Banks are still processing orders of magnitude more transactions than all cryptocurrencies together -- at a fraction of the cost. Despite the hype around Bitcoin and all the other coins, I haven't heard a single convincing argument why I should use it for transactions beyond using it for illegal stuff.

Sure, that’s why UBS, American Express and Santander are using ripplenet. They just die to have more expensive transaction costs.

As for the second part - you definitely shouldn’t use something you don’t understand.

 

[mendyXC]

I believe bitcoin will crash soon or later. it's Inevitable.

 

[uppi]

Sure, that’s why UBS, American Express and Santander are using ripplenet. They just die to have more expensive transaction costs.

That is what cryptocurrencies do -- by design.

As for the second part - you definitely shouldn’t use something you don’t understand.

"You just don't understand" sounds like the hallmarking defense of a cult.

 

[Cutlass]

 

[Lexicus]

So uh where did you get this chart because it is all kinds of stupid

 

[Cutlass]

So uh where did you get this chart because it is all kinds of stupid

I got it off a Slack chatroom which is hidden from the public and invite only. Where they got it I don't know.