wtf is bitcoin?!

sniffy · 4 Aug 2011 at 16:31

Dj_Jestar said:
If you can trade with it, it's currency. Some shops accept bitcoin.

They do but last time I looked (albeit this was 2+ months ago) the selection was quite poor. You certainly couldn't do your food shopping with bitcoins!

Sunbed · 4 Aug 2011 at 16:36

I've heard people use it for dealing in illegal stuff through TOR.

That is a genuine "I heard" btw... I've never really investigated it myself

Edit: Beaten by Moothead2

knowlton · 4 Aug 2011 at 17:26

SheepBeast said:
i've seen many posts about it and googled it but still can't really figure out what it is, why i would want it, how i get it, and what i could spend it on... can you guys fill me in?

It's an electronic currency, which they vision as being something that will replace real money.. Makes perfect sense conceptually, but I'm not so sure about it's real world applications..

It's based on an algorithm which strictly controls the supply of money and rather than having gold as its base, it has a complex code as its base - for which you can mine in return for a bit coin...

Surveyor · 4 Aug 2011 at 17:34

It's a bit late to be joining in this it seems.

A few weeks ago you could sell bitcoins for $20 each.

On 30 July they could be sold for $13.50.

Today they can be sold for around $10.50.

hurfdurf · 4 Aug 2011 at 17:49

A stupid thing for stupid people

CaptainRAVE · 4 Aug 2011 at 17:51

I have had free electricity for the past four years, so gutted I didnt learn about this sooner

G-MAN2004 · 4 Aug 2011 at 17:52

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18281512&highlight=bitcoin

hurfdurf · 4 Aug 2011 at 17:53

Libertarians create a fake currency and sperg lords fawn over the fantasy of it, I am truly astounded it has lasted this long unlike every other imaginary currency ever.

yoyo50 · 4 Aug 2011 at 17:54

Hairybudda said:
Silk Road is long gone, and it's not exactly untracable, every coin has a history.

Silk road is still going

Zarf · 4 Aug 2011 at 18:00

Efour2 said:
so how much real money do i earn from leaving my PC on all day and night ?
enought to retire to the South of France?

Depends on your GPU. With my 5850 I could get around £2 worth a day. I only use mine during daylight though as I have solar panels, otherwise electricity costs negate most of your gains.

Surveyor · 4 Aug 2011 at 18:00

CaptainRAVE said:
I have had free electricity for the past four years, so gutted I didnt learn about this sooner

I assume someone was paying for it?

sniffy · 4 Aug 2011 at 18:31

Surveyor said:
I assume someone was paying for it?

I imagine he was in student accommodation where bills were included in the monthly rent.

shoes · 4 Aug 2011 at 18:52

sniffy said:
I imagine he was in student accommodation where bills were included in the monthly rent.

I had this at a house we rented once, so we bought two tumble driers (a few of us in the house), another washing machine and and extra frige/freezer.

Landlord went mental and put the rent up

Pawnless Endgame · 4 Aug 2011 at 18:57

So it's like SETI or UD (cancer research), number crunching to solve 'blocks', but with the solved block being a currency in its own right?

sniffy · 4 Aug 2011 at 19:04

Monserrat said:
So it's like SETI or UD (cancer research), number crunching to solve 'blocks', but with the solved block being a currency in its own right?

Pretty much, yeah.

Surveyor · 4 Aug 2011 at 19:05

shoes said:
I had this at a house we rented once, so we bought two tumble driers (a few of us in the house), another washing machine and and extra frige/freezer.

Landlord went mental and put the rent up

Students

Mark A · 4 Aug 2011 at 19:06

This will be even less worth it soon as energy costs are set to rise by 11% or so.

CaptainRAVE · 4 Aug 2011 at 19:37

Surveyor said:
I assume someone was paying for it?

The university where I work - I get all bills free (don't pay rent either!)

(well, until the end of this month

)

SheepBeast · 4 Aug 2011 at 21:09

huh... that's pretty cool. as someone said i'm probably a bit late now and my crappy 7300LE would be useless anyway (my almost as crap 6600GT broke yesterday so i've put in my backup until a proper replacement arrives).

i wonder how much money the dude that invented the whole system has made out of it. probably one hell of a lot.

SheepBeast · 4 Aug 2011 at 21:12

shoes said:
I had this at a house we rented once, so we bought two tumble driers (a few of us in the house), another washing machine and and extra frige/freezer.

Landlord went mental and put the rent up

lol, you have free electricity which saves you money.. so you then spend more money than you would have saved, on kitchen appliances..? :confused: