All About Bitcoin Mining: Road To Riches Or Fool's Gold?

[Onus]

It doesn't matter how unstable the computers are, they're just doing the math. Bitcoin is not a practical, exclusive, full time option, for a number of reasons (e.g. preventing double-spending of coins means that every transaction requires confirmation time from the network). As a long-term store of value, however, bitcoins could do quite well. They cannot be counterfeited, and they cannot be arbitrarily printed by the parasites of some central authority.

 

[Darkman69]

It doesn't matter how unstable the computers are, they're just doing the math. Bitcoin is not a practical, exclusive, full time option, for a number of reasons (e.g. preventing double-spending of coins means that every transaction requires confirmation time from the network). As a long-term store of value, however, bitcoins could do quite well. They cannot be counterfeited, and they cannot be arbitrarily printed by the parasites of some central authority.

I guess Computers are unstable so the Internet is going to collapse over night LOL. Yes I am being sarcastic in case anyone was wondering.

 

[smeezekitty]

It doesn't matter how unstable the computers are, they're just doing the math. Bitcoin is not a practical, exclusive, full time option, for a number of reasons (e.g. preventing double-spending of coins means that every transaction requires confirmation time from the network). As a long-term store of value, however, bitcoins could do quite well. They cannot be counterfeited, and they cannot be arbitrarily printed by the parasites of some central authority.

I guess Computers are unstable so the Internet is going to collapse over night LOL.

Unstable as in constantly changing

 

[Darkman69]

It doesn't matter how unstable the computers are, they're just doing the math. Bitcoin is not a practical, exclusive, full time option, for a number of reasons (e.g. preventing double-spending of coins means that every transaction requires confirmation time from the network). As a long-term store of value, however, bitcoins could do quite well. They cannot be counterfeited, and they cannot be arbitrarily printed by the parasites of some central authority.

I guess Computers are unstable so the Internet is going to collapse over night LOL.

Unstable as in constantly changing

So because Computers are changing that means Google and the Internet is unstable ? Your logic is not being followed.

 

[smeezekitty]

It means the currency is unstable. One one end computers get smaller and light and on the other they get more powerful.

Who knows, maybe some time in the future people could change away from X86.
But the fact that the currency is based on constantly decoding hashes by computers means its value will be quite unstable.

 

[smeezekitty]

And of course the biggest problem with bitcoin: 90% of the population doesn't have any idea what it is.

 

[Darkman69]

And of course the biggest problem with bitcoin: 90% of the population doesn't have any idea what it is.

90% of the population have no idea how to build a computer properly but that does not mean that the computer industry is suffering . Also 90% of the population do not even know how American monetary economics even works or to be more accurate does not work.

 

[Darkman69]

It means the currency is unstable. One one end computers get smaller and light and on the other they get more powerful.

Who knows, maybe some time in the future people could change away from X86.
But the fact that the currency is based on constantly decoding hashes by computers means its value will be quite unstable.

Unstable but still valuable is better than what we have today.

 

[hixbot]

What a waste of energy.

 

[Onus]

Minor update: I'm still getting a little more than 0.05BTC every two days, which is what I've been getting for weeks now.

 

[jonyah]

You may as well just take the easy way out and purchase the coins with real money, hold them then sell for more when it rises. No different then stocks, except as the article states, it's all but guaranteed to go up. Unfortunately, your costs to get them go up so you're profit margin will shrink.

 

[bdiddytampa]

Great write up dude, thanks Never had the urge to get into this but had and have some friends that poured money into it. Some with decent results, early on mostly, and most not.

 

[hitec16]

need similar article for lite coin mining please

 

[Kusham]

So... basically an adult who uses tremendous calculation power to calculate nothing really, while consuming tremendous amounts of (stolen) electricity from finite resources, in the hope of earning some virtual currency in an ambient where everyday a new one emerges, and calling himself a miner as an insult to real men who work themselves to death in true mines. You bums should get a real job.

 

[smeezekitty]

So... basically an adult who uses tremendous calculation power to calculate nothing really, while consuming tremendous amounts of (stolen) electricity from finite resources, in the hope of earning some virtual currency in an ambient where everyday a new one emerges, and calling himself a miner as an insult to real men who work themselves to death in true mines.

^ THIS sums it up well.

 

[hitec16]

If we could ever bring digital currency like bitcoins or litecoins into mainstream then it would solve a lot of problems. There will be no mulch-currencies in the world. The men with power will not be able to change the currency values across the globe just to make profit. The financial system in the world is broke the value of money is decreased because govt keep printing new bills everyday. What we cud earlier(50yrs back) buy for 2 USD now cost many times more. people should watch zeitgeist movement.

 

[Willpower101]

Wow these comments are full of so many ridiculous, uninformed trolls!

If you mine a bitcoin or a litecoin you gain MONEY. It's that simple.

If you mine incorrectly, you have a net loss because of your equipment and operating expenses.

If you mine efficiently, you GAIN MONEY. You can exchange bitcoins for dollars! How hard is that to understand?

Example:
My friend bought four asics rigs last november.
They paid themselves off in February.
He's been making his car payments ever since with the mined BTC (although he's switching to LTC because of the very problem discussed in this article.)

Again, they create money.
Value.
Tangible dollar bills.
...I don't even.

 

[smeezekitty]

Consider that I find that enormous waste of computation power to gain a few $ is ridiculous.

 

[Reiki D Kat]

A sucker is born every moment

 

[gordoH]

The biggest problem with mining Bitcoin is that the difficulty goes up as more people mine it. So you have to keep buying more equipment to get ahead. If you put enough money into it then you can keep using a percent of your profits for more mining power. This is the only way to keep ahead and actually earn anything for the long term. Unfortunately you have to get in now, because the longer you wait, the further behind you will fall.

Another problem you will face eventually is a space issue. IMO the best way to go about it is buying share off a group buy operation and letting them do the hosting for you. Most of them offer really cheap hosting, the only problem is to find a GB that is legit and not a scam.

I wanna get into litecoin too but from what I understand, the ASIC units cannot mine Litcoin. Am I right?

 

[EasyFlyGuy]

Now 20th October 2013 hash rate 2600 TH... BTC $182 Tom said about 1000 TH I think bit mining for me and you is dead.... The only thing that would make it viable is if the price absolutely rocketed. I ordered a BFL Jal 7GH and. A 30 GH Single ASICS from Butterfly Labs in April of this year. Still waiting for them as of today. Delivery is approaching but by the time I get them they will be obsolete... At the time of purchasing and the estimated delivery date they would have been viable.. I may just mine at a lost for a year or so... Another gamble. Who knows they might be worth the same price as gold in 18 months! Lol. Just seems a shame to throw them in the bin. Another option is to give them to someone in a country where electricity is dirt cheap. Here in Germany I pay 35$c in us it's only 15$c so I've lost already. The only people making money are the shovel makers. I may sell my new equipment on eBay... Probably the only way I'll get some or all of my money back. The trade in the coins.... Time will tell.

 

[10basetom]

1 BTC is now worth a lot more than what was published in this article. Also, check this out: http://www.ibtimes.com/bitcoin-worth-1300-merrill-lynchs-case-virtual-currencys-value-9-charts-1496744

 

[Thomas Guide]

And now that 1 bitcoin is hovering around $1000 it would seem as though electricity costs are negligible, no?

 

[Onus]

Preev.com is reporting $729 as I write this. It looks like institutional game-players may have discovered bitcoin. I'm seeing some scammy presentations of bitcoin appearing online now.

 

[smeezekitty]

And now that 1 bitcoin is hovering around $1000 it would seem as though electricity costs are negligible, no?

except for it takes a crapload of energy to get one BTC