Bitcoin, Learned Something New Today

[runco]

Seen this story on Fox News web site earlier today.  I did not know this existed, wow is this the move to one world currency? 

 

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/03/29/digital-currency-bitcoin-surpasses-20-national-currencies-in-value/

 

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

[wewoapsiak]

Yeah, idk what is the deal with this stuff but this guy is trying to sell his house for them.

[piercedan]

Doesn't seem to be under government control, so I doubt it will be a universal currency anytime soon.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I'm not sure, either, but it still has to be capable of moving bullion from one place to another to

be some kind of force to sway the currencies markets, I would think. I saw it mentioned on

Drudge, yesterday, I think.

[TripleDigitRide]

While extremely interesting, and possibly something that could become mainstream in the future, no way I'd take part in that right now. I could see myself easily losing a ton of money due to hackers and/or loose regulations.

Edited March 31, 2013 by TripleDigitRide

[piercedan]

While extremely interesting, and possibly something that could become mainstream in the future, no way I'd take part in that right now. I could see myself easily losing a ton of money due to hackers and/or loose regulations.

 

That was my thought too. 

[Dustbuster]

Ive got a good friend who is into bit coin,very complicated,took a while to fully comprehend it, but, its in use,and runs a fine line on the legal/illegal side.The computers used in bit coin are fascinating.....I dont think it will go away,people are using it for goods and services.Nothing is hacker safe,but i agree w trip digit.Its not for the timid

[JGunner]

I ran across this article that's goes into a bit of detail on the bitcoin.

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-bitcoin-virtual-currency-soars.html

[Sam1]

Once it becomes a viable option, it will simply be regulated out of existence. Have money tied up in it, and who knows, at this point the man will probably just confiscate it.

[tnguy]

You're about to hear a whole lot more about it :)

 

Edited November 27, 2013 by tnguy

[runco]

I am hearing some more on Bitcoin, one is this article from Fox News about a Kentucky coal town using Bitcoins: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/05/struggling-kentucky-coal-town-looks-to-bitcoin-to-spur-economy/

And several stories how China is moving to restrict Bitcoin:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/06/business/international/china-bars-banks-from-using-bitcoin.html?_r=0

One more story,Ron Pauls comment this past week:
http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/04/technology/bitcoin-libertarian/

[knewcomb]

Should have gotten them when the market was low!

[jcluff]

I remember when bitcoin was around .50 a coin and I thought 'I should invest about $50 into this just to see' and then was too lazy to do it.... Well, that laziness is a lesson learned :-).


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[knewcomb]

I remember when bitcoin was around .50 a coin and I thought 'I should invest about $50 into this just to see' and then was too lazy to do it.... Well, that laziness is a lesson learned :-).


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Crazy how far its climbed in the past year.

[tnguy]

And how far it's fallen in the last 48 hours. It's a ride for sure :)

 

(Still above the April all-time-high though)

Edited December 7, 2013 by tnguy

[ironsniper1]

I'm trying to learn how to mine one of the alts to bit coins but so far have not gotten anywhere but still trying

[gjohnsoniv]

While extremely interesting, and possibly something that could become mainstream in the future, no way I'd take part in that right now. I could see myself easily losing a ton of money due to hackers and/or loose regulations.

From my understanding, there is some ridiculously good security in place to keep that from happening.

[vontar]

I'm trying to learn how to mine one of the alts to bit coins but so far have not gotten anywhere but still trying

 

I was looking into that a little.  Found one article that explained it some.  Sounds like you really need to work with a group to mine bitcoins.  I don't understand the process, but seems similar to distributed computing.   Years ago I did some distributed computing.  I might be up to look into this some.

[Cherokee Slim]

I'm missing how you would actually "mine" a bitcoin.  I've read several stories on them.  If it's just a computer function why couldn't you tell Excel or something to mine you a million or so?

Cherokee Slim

[tnguy]

It's a computationally expensive function. You're basically competing with others to solve a riddle and the one who wins (or the team) gets a bunch of bitcoins.

 

The bonus is that solving the riddle also serves an important function in the Bitcoin protocol.

 

Whoever solves the block also gets any transaction fees that people have attached to their transactions. Over time, income is expected to switch from mining bitcoins to transaction fees for those running the equipment. Bitcoin mining (for new coins) will cease in 2040 (due to the way the protocol is set up).

 

It's all amazingly well put together.

Edited December 9, 2013 by tnguy

[JohnC]

The only alternative currency I'll ever invest in is gold coins. ;)

[tnguy]

It's not a bad idea to diversify. Gold is kinda hard to subdivide usefully.

 

Make sure you have real gold too and not certificates.

 

Also, be careful of this

 

Edited December 9, 2013 by tnguy

[JohnC]

It's not a bad idea to diversify. Gold is kinda hard to subdivide usefully.
 
Make sure you have real gold too and not certificates.
 
Also, be careful of this
 

Yeah, only ever bought from reputable gold dealers.

I own zero gold at the moment.

We bought at $900 an ounce and sold at nearly $1,900 an ounce. I reinvested the profits by buying some guns with the cash. :lol:

Gold/Guns & Butter? lol

FWIW, gold is back down to $1,200-ish right now. If it drops back between $900-$1,000, I'll get back in and wait for the next craze and sell high again. :up:

[R_Bert]

So ignorant and mistrusting on these.

 

What is the tangible backing of bitcoin?   A promise of service or product, or an actual tangible of its own value that may be pocketed or otherwise stored? 

[2.ooohhh]

So ignorant and mistrusting on these.

 

What is the tangible backing of bitcoin?   A promise of service or product, or an actual tangible of its own value that may be pocketed or otherwise stored? 

 

 

There is no tangible backing, same as the US dollar. The reason that there is so much speculation in bitcoin is that unlike the US dollar the supply is not infinite. There is no government printing more on demand to drive inflation.