Bitcoin mining

Philtor · 10 Apr 2013 at 01:02

This whole Bitcoin thing sounds complicated and long winded. Euro anyone?

PermaBanned · 10 Apr 2013 at 04:08

So from talking with someone on IRC, it seems like the value increases because people buy them, and people buy them because they think the value is going to increase. Can somebody explain to me how this is supposed to be sustainable?

SlyReaper · 10 Apr 2013 at 07:21

PermaBanned said:
So from talking with someone on IRC, it seems like the value increases because people buy them, and people buy them because they think the value is going to increase. Can somebody explain to me how this is supposed to be sustainable?

Nobody thinks it's sustainable. They're just trying to cash in before the market crashes. Personally, I'm just mining them, then selling each day's haul on MtGox. If the market crashes before I build up enough to withdraw, I'll use the amount earned so far to buy some of the now-cheap bitcoins in the hope of another bubble in the future. If not, then I have some extra pocket money this month.

Efour · 10 Apr 2013 at 07:21

PermaBanned said:
So from talking with someone on IRC, it seems like the value increases because people buy them, and people buy them because they think the value is going to increase. Can somebody explain to me how this is supposed to be sustainable?

Its not so if you want to gamble on it do it sooner rather than later.... Id seriously just buy a few Ks worth wait X time then sell the lot and get out.

Its an extreme speculative investment.

Im not sure if it will set a new president in the fad of virtual currencies but like most bubbles you need to be in it early and out just before it bursts.

SlyReaper · 10 Apr 2013 at 18:09

The price is starting to fall. It's now £144 to buy on MtGox, compared to a high of £174. Will it recover, or has the bubble started to burst? Only time will tell.

Edit: £137 now.

norm · 10 Apr 2013 at 19:06

I wouldn't be surprised if certain governments have a vested interest in seeing Bitcoin fail, they would certainly have the assets at hand to manipulate the prices.

Addicted · 10 Apr 2013 at 19:09

Tbh most of BTC is owned by Russians/on Silk Road anyway, so not surprising tbh

SpaghettiOs · 10 Apr 2013 at 19:27

Latest price is £108. That is a big drop indeed.

Geekazoid · 10 Apr 2013 at 20:00

ahhhh the topic of Bit Coins again.... Bitcoins are generated out of random code... they are crunched using your GPU for e.g. if the right code or belong a particular threshold is found you recieve a bit coin or in mining pools your contribution is rewarded with a 'share'. Bitcoin is an untraceable form of currency not connected to any banking system.
Its mainly used for the black markets like SilkRoad etc...

NathanE · 10 Apr 2013 at 20:01

SpaghettiOs said:
Latest price is £108. That is a big drop indeed.

MtRed has closed because the price got too high. It'll bounce back

Housey · 10 Apr 2013 at 20:22

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-plunges-2013-4

Housey · 10 Apr 2013 at 20:23

And this is worth a nose http://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-what-is-bitcoin-2013-3?op=1

ZombieFan · 10 Apr 2013 at 20:55

It's dropping like a stone tonight. Now at about $130 (£90).

Locky · 10 Apr 2013 at 20:58

LoL and the bubble has burst.

Nerusy · 10 Apr 2013 at 20:58

Housey said:
And this is worth a nose http://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-what-is-bitcoin-2013-3?op=1

Christ 66% drop I guess my observation was correct:

Nerusy said:
It's a peculiar little thing bitcoin, only heard of it this week, seems like everybody is talking about them (which follows the same trend of gold and apple before they all dropped like a stone). I even heard banks are jumping into the action such as Goldman Sachs.

I think it's a neat experiment on how people perceive and employ value. Whatever happens it would be a hilarious outcome either if boitcoin people suddenly become millionaires or lose it all.

Will short any assets that starts doing rounds across media outlets next time >_>

Xelene · 10 Apr 2013 at 21:04

Nerusy said:
Will short any assets that starts doing rounds across media outlets next time >_>

An old Wall Street saying has it that when everybody’s getting into the market and even the shoeshine boy is giving stock tips (or the barber/hairdresser or the taxi driver or the waiter or the bartender), then it’s time to sell.

I quite like Bitcoin in principal, will buy into it once it has bottomed out. Litecoin mining is still profitable, i'm making a couple of hundred dollars a month with home machines that would otherwise be idle.

Dj_Jestar · 10 Apr 2013 at 21:05

There's hints of some kind of attack going on. Rumors of DDoS on the big exchanges, and deliberate cheap sales of BTCs. Watching the trackers you can see some are trading way way way below the average price. Quite large numbers too. Saw a load of trades at $105 in 5 coin bundles when the average price was $140. I'm not convinced either way.

Edit: If anyone thinks the bubble has burst, might I remind them that even if BTC bottoms out at $40 - that is still about the price they were a mere, short, 4 weeks ago. Anyone with a simple ounce of common sense will know this almost exponential price rise over the last month would be temporary and the price would shrink with gusto at the drop of a hat..

Xelene · 10 Apr 2013 at 21:25

Dj_Jestar said:
There's hints of some kind of attack going on. Rumors of DDoS on the big exchanges, and deliberate cheap sales of BTCs. Watching the trackers you can see some are trading way way way below the average price. Quite large numbers too. Saw a load of trades at $105 in 5 coin bundles when the average price was $140. I'm not convinced either way.

Edit: If anyone thinks the bubble has burst, might I remind them that even if BTC bottoms out at $40 - that is still about the price they were a mere, short, 4 weeks ago. Anyone with a simple ounce of common sense will know this almost exponential price rise over the last month would be temporary and the price would shrink with gusto at the drop of a hat..

The market is thin, it's easy to game.

The crypto currencies are interesting, when they are first launched it's so cheap to generate that people give them away which helps with uptake. As they develop they become extraordinarily difficult to create which enforces scarcity.

To mint a bitcoin these days requires either a great deal of luck or thousands of dollars in capital and operational expenditure. I don't know the dollar cost of creating a bitcoin now - but unless the exchange rate is higher then the opportunity cost of creating them is gone and drives up the rarity.

The impression I have is there will be wild swings in price as the market discovers the value. Similar thing happened with Gold at the end of the 19th century - albeit at a much slower rate.

gizmoy2k · 10 Apr 2013 at 21:27

Rumors of DDoS

This exposes quite a large problem with the system doesnt it,
DDOS attacker hits exchanges, buys low, calls it off and the price recovers, hes quids in, everyone else sold in the panic.

For me its a novelty and soon everyone will get bored as they watch the value of their coins swing all over the place
Thats not to say it isnt the start of something bigger to come, just not exactly in this format

NathanE · 10 Apr 2013 at 21:35

Not really a fault of BitCoin that the exchanges get DDoS'd. It's just a symptom of it still being in embryonic stages. A bigger more professionally run exchange would have systems that are more DDoS proof, just like all the big traditional exchanges are.