Any Bitcoin traders here?

[blazeaglory]

What exactly...in terms that a guy who still uses a rock and chisel to write...IS "mining" for bitcoins? Buy a fancy computer, set it up to run on it's own, it creates them out of thin air. That's my understanding of it...which makes it pretty valueless in the long run.

Pretty much but its more of a "reward" for completing transaction chains.

Its a little complicated at first until you realize that bitcoins are only ones and zeros. There is no physical bitcoin.

[Spyder]

What the hell is a transaction chain? HA!

[blazeaglory]

What the hell is a transaction chain? HA!

Im too lazy to describe any further. Just actually comprehending it a couple months ago has drained my brain to the point of exhaustion.

Basically, its what needs to be done to complete a transaction and create new/used currency. It takes ALOT of puting power

Have fun and dont plan on leaving the house for a few days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

Integral to Bitcoin is a public transaction ledger and log known as the blockchain, which shows who owns how many bitcoins currently and records the participants in all prior transactions as well. By keeping a record of all transactions, the blockchain prevents double-spending (copying one bitcoin and spending it in multiple different places) because the record shows that once a bitcoin has been spent, the previous owner no longer controls it.[17] The blockchain is maintained not by a central body but by a distributed network of computers that run a program to solve cryptographic puzzles relating to information in the blockchain.[17] Users who devote computing power to maintaining the blockchain this way are called "miners" because they are awarded in bitcoin when they are first to solve such puzzles—mining is how new bitcoins are generated.[17] The mathematical calculations performed by miners' computers serve to verify that each transaction is valid and add the information to the blockchain.[18] As more bitcoins come into circulation, the puzzles involved in mining them become increasingly difficult, and the rewards are halved at regular intervals, until 21 million bitcoins have been created and production stops.[17] As Bitcoin achieves wider recognition and more people compete to mine the coins, competition for the limited number of bitcoins awarded for solving the cryptographic puzzles becomes more steep and more powerful computers are needed in order to compete—a fact which has spawned a technology boom in sales of Bitcoin mining technology.

[blazeaglory]

OUCH!

http://www.kitco.com/news/2014-02-25/Major-Bitcoin-Exchange-Is-Insolvent-Companies-Say.html

[beretta929mm]

Late last year (2013)'s price spike was due to hot money from speculators in China. Then in January of this year, its central bank announced it would not recognize bit coins as a currency, thus the start of this crash we are seeing on the news.

[ChuckDizzle]

So people are actually spending real paper money to buy an electronic currency? Who benefits when the whole thing comes crashing down? In other words, where and how and who created the bitcoin in the first place?

See "wildcat banks."

It is funny when people try to compare Bitcoin to the dollar because one of them has legal authority and value, the other does not.

[madjack956]

Anything that can be manipulated by announcements won't be part of my money strategy, although options are certainly needed.
ETA - doing some reading - found this interesting.


So if bitcoins survive be ready to deal in fractions of a bitcoin the way I see it. It will be interesting when the value stabilizes to the point of being useful, until then it's just a novelty.

Isn't that how stocks work to some extent?

[Germz]

I thought about getting into bitcoin mining, but I did some math and I would wind up paying more in electricity than I would make. A coworker and myself are thinking of getting a mining box and setting up in one of the Barracks here on base (free electricity) and just letting it run 24/7 to see what happens.

[jdouglas]

Maybe I'm just jealous, but it would be hilarious to see the whole bitcoin thing come crashing down.

I don't feel sorry one bit (no pun intended) for the people that have lost money in the process.

[blazeaglory]

I thought about getting into bitcoin mining, but I did some math and I would wind up paying more in electricity than I would make. A coworker and myself are thinking of getting a mining box and setting up in one of the Barracks here on base (free electricity) and just letting it run 24/7 to see what happens.

Expect to wait about 6 months to a year for your mining box. Unless you plan on investing some serious cash for alot of equipment, its going to be hard going from this point forward. Alot of very big players are just now getting their mining machines and its going to be a rich mans game very shortly, if not now. The only thing you have going for you is the free electricity. But hey, its worth a try. The mining rate is set to change soon (if it hasnt already)

The ones who got lucky were the 13 year olds and tech nerds who seen this coming and were mining with their GPU's over the last 2 years...

I did the math. I put some more money into gold and silver a few years ago. If I would have put that same amount of money into BTC, I would have made $2,000,000...BTC mining will shortly become impossible for the little man, if it hasnt already.

[blazeaglory]

Maybe I'm just jealous, but it would be hilarious to see the whole bitcoin thing come crashing down.

I don't feel sorry one bit (no pun intended) for the people that have lost money in the process.

You would think that with the crashing of one of the biggest BTC exchanges in the world, you would see BTC crash as well, but it didnt fall by much. Alot of people have faith in this system. And the majority of those people are high level criminals who want a black market currency.

I know all the "techies" and "geeks" want to make this look like an impossible to regulate global currency but really its just a tool for the black market. Even though it wasnt designed for that specific purpose, it is devolving into a haven for money launderers, drugs dealers and black market aficionados. More power to them

[RickD427]

Currently...
1 bitcoin = $523 USD

What's the bitcoin trading at today????

Just asking.........................

[blazeaglory]

What's the bitcoin trading at today????

Just asking.........................

Right now, I think its in the mid $500's

[Mnofstl007]

BTC is at 565 atm on Bitstamp.

Its kinda awsome that even Calguns has a thread on Bitcoin atm.

Im not expecting the demographic that enjoys guns/shooting to be very...acquainted with BTC or very excited by it, or interested in it.

but honestly, its leading a revolution of currency. And even if BTC the currency fails, the protocol system is going to literally change the world.

BUT that said, I dont see BTC going anywhere. Over 100 mill has been invested into what people refer to as the "btc infrastructure" which is all people investing BTC related startups. Such as exchanges, BTC services, BTC storage service, etc... basically any business related to BTC.

Also, there is going to be a major exchange opening up in New York sometime this year.

I wont tell anyone to invest in BTC, but I will suggest that people keep tabs on it. Ya its at 565 currently, 5 months ago it got over $1,000. And before it hit 1000, it was at 200 literally less than a month before.

Most of the people who are speculating/doing technical analysis are predicting a surge coming to the price of BTC within the next 6 months. A surge that will push the cost of BTC over $2,000 (are the low estimates) to over $8,000 per.

Again, take it with a grain of salt, obviously if your invested in it you want to see those trends repeat, though it has followed the trend almost exactly for the past 2 years, and is on the same track as of right now...very interesting.

Also, ya MTGOX the biggest exchange previously, went down. But to be honest, anyone who follows BTC regularly knew it was coming. Their BTC prices were 20% above every1 elses, because there were withdrawal issues, and since both USD and BTC couldnt be withdrawn from the system, the price was higher then on other exchanges. And people should have been expecting it to collapse eventually, like it did.

Anyways, IDK about everyone else, I have a fairly large investment in BTC right now, more as an experiment than anything else. IF BTC revolutionizes the world, ill be set for life. If it doesnt, then Ill be pretty much where I would have been anyways, sans a few thousand dollars.

Also i invite everyone to check out http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin and also http://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets if you want to learn more about it. Its truely some world changing stuff going on right now.

Also, saying its meant for blackmarket/money laundering is just plain ignorant. It was created as a solution to problems that exist within our current financial system. BTC isnt untraceable, in fact its 10x more traceable than usd. BTC isn't anonymous either, as it is traceable, and you can backtrack it, as every single transaction is held within the ledger.

I wont bother wasting time arguing with people tho, so whatever you want to believe, feel free.

And you can laugh all you want at the people who have lost money... but i doubt you are laughing at the people who became over night millionaires through their long-term investment in BTC so far, with chances of becoming even more wealthy. I personally know a guy who has cashed out over $750,000 usd of BTC, so i cant really laugh at him

read some of the old posts.. do not bother getting into mining BTC now. To be profitable you are looking at spending at the MINIMUM 50,000 usd. The only miners turning real profit, are business investors who have entire buildings filled with systems designed to maximize btc mining yields.

[jgraphix73]

^^^ "And even if BTC the currency fails, the protocol system is going to literally change the world."

I have friends who are scared of the whole Bitcoin (digital/crypto currency) because most do not know how they really work. What I tell them first is look back ten years and see how much money you made...and then fast forward. Has their life changed better? Less debt? I tell them I am pissed off at the way the USD is being used and abused by bankers...pimped out at our expense. Then I tell them the reason why most Bitcoiners love this new currency is it's because the bankers can't control it. Can't manipulate it. Can't put someone or a central bank in jail. The free market rules it. And by the way it looks, it is prospering. It will have it's ups and downs, but in the end, as stated above, the protocol will continue.