Bitcoin Where To Buy, If To Buy

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

WORLD'S LARGEST BITCOIN EXCHANGE: We Are Suffering A Massive Attack On Our Server Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ddos-attack-on-mt-gox-bitcoin-servers-2013-4#ixzz2PYMWFx8N

http://www.businessinsider.com/ddos-attack-on-mt-gox-bitcoin-servers-2013-4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29

[Totster]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22026961

totster

[dave111223]

The trouble with all the news articles they are a day or two behind, and the price changes so fast that they are no longer relevant.

I'd be interested to know when the last time someone on the board posted an investment opportunity and in 4 months it had earned a return of 1000%

Laughing all the way to the....*wait don't need a bank anymore*...

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

The trouble with all the news articles they are a day or two behind, and the price changes so fast that they are no longer relevant.

I'd be interested to know when the last time someone on the board posted an investment opportunity and in 4 months it had earned a return of 1000%

Laughing all the way to the....*wait don't need a bank anymore*...

laughing for now but 1000% is not sustainable.

Relevant still because it shows some group has it out for BC.

Is it speculators trying to manipulate the price?

Nation states?

Anti drug and corruption activists?

I wonder where anonymous comes down on BC?

[Fgis]

Thank you Dave, it's an interesting concept.

I am lazy too read all this thread, anybody cal make a summary ?

Thank you :-)

Edited April 5, 2013 by Fgis

[Naam]

The trouble with all the news articles they are a day or two behind, and the price changes so fast that they are no longer relevant.

I'd be interested to know when the last time someone on the board posted an investment opportunity and in 4 months it had earned a return of 1000%

Laughing all the way to the....*wait don't need a bank anymore*...

would you please give us an honest answer on what capital investment you made the 1000%?

[kevkev1888]

Just been reading up on this for the first time. Interesting!

I have a question, Bitcoins are created or awarded? to "Miners" who use ever increasing amounts of computing power and electricity, to compete to solve or create? some complex thing that is something to do with Bitcoin security???? (OK I still do not get it)

But as more people get into "Mining Bitcoins" and more and more powerful hardware is used then the complexity of the thing must increase also to limit the number of Bitcoins created. (something like that?)

Does this not mean that over time there will be more and more hardware, internet traffic and electricity being used to 24/7 just to create these Bitcoins, is that not wasting a huge amount of the Earths resources?

How much is spent to create each Bitcoin?

If not already will it not come to the point where more resources are used/wasted in each ones creation that they are worth?

Or am I missing something here?

[Khun Jean]

High volatility is good for speculation.

Absolutely not for storing your wealth.

I have a few bitcoins, don't laugh i bought about 6 of them 1 year ago. Just for the fun of it.

I suspect that bitcoins will get a problem with velocity. As prices continue to rise, people are not willing to spend them. An economy based on bitcoins would lock up quick.

Before i am seriously going to use bitcoins it would at least have to get rid of the volatility and proof that it is not a pyramid scheme. Maybe in about 10 years or so. Meanwhile those 6 bitcoins keeps me following it. Maybe i will be a multi-millionaire soon!

[Jdietz]

Just been reading up on this for the first time. Interesting!

I have a question, Bitcoins are created or awarded? to "Miners" who use ever increasing amounts of computing power and electricity, to compete to solve or create? some complex thing that is something to do with Bitcoin security???? (OK I still do not get it)

But as more people get into "Mining Bitcoins" and more and more powerful hardware is used then the complexity of the thing must increase also to limit the number of Bitcoins created. (something like that?)

Does this not mean that over time there will be more and more hardware, internet traffic and electricity being used to 24/7 just to create these Bitcoins, is that not wasting a huge amount of the Earths resources?

How much is spent to create each Bitcoin?

If not already will it not come to the point where more resources are used/wasted in each ones creation that they are worth?

Or am I missing something here?

You are absolutely right. Difficulty is automatically periodically adjusted to keep the target of 1 block per 10 minutes on average.

Blocks currently award 25 Bitcoins, already halved once from 50, and will halve again a few more times until no more bitcoins will be generated.

Blocks contain the transactions done on the system, the extra award of bitcoins is just there to initialize the system. The work will need to be done anyways to keep the transactions going.

Because of this rather massive reward at this point it's worth it to throw massive resources at it to get them. People on the top of the pyramid (and yes, it is a pyramid game), got 50 bitcoins per block at a very easy difficulty (a single processor with no special hardware could generate several blocks a day). Millions of these early block bitcoins are safely squirreled away.

At some point ($ value of bitcoins versus difficulty to create a new one) it won't be worth it anymore to generate blocks for the reward. When that happens, people will shutdown their massive resource burners and difficulty will automatically adjust.

But indeed, right now, it's basically 'burn oil to get imaginary money' and at rather massive amounts. It's just the idea that 'if the bitcoin stays above $100 I can burn $90 worth of electricity to win one' that keeps things running.

Massive waste of -real- natural resources to create -virtual- ones.

[Naam]

it is quite amusing that people who condemn bankers for creating money out of thin air are applauding the creation of a "substitute" such as Bitcoin.

[dave111223]

A couple of things to point out with regards to mining:

- Miners receive a reward (newly created bitcoins), but also receive transaction fees. When sending bitcoins you choose your own transaction fee, these fees get paid to the miners, so if you want your transaction prioritized you set the fee accordingly. Right now fees are very low because the reward is already enough to get miners working. But once the new bitcoins start to dry up the transaction fees will become the primary incentive for people to continue mining. So transaction fees will also be purely governed by the market (how much you are willing to pay for a transaction, and how much people are willing to accept to process it); this is already built into the system.

- The hardware that is mining (wasting electricity) is making the network secure. Because in order to manipulate the bitcoin network (such as processing bogus transactions) you would need to have more processing power than 51% of the network. If the network is HUGE (which it currently is) then for a single entity (hacker, government, etc..) to obtain that kind of processing power becomes impossible.

would you please give us an honest answer on what capital investment you made the 1000%?

Only as much as I'm willing to lose, but enough that it will significant after considerable gains.

it is quite amusing that people who condemn bankers for creating money out of thin air are applauding the creation of a "substitute" such as Bitcoin.

[sustento]

So how many bitcoins does it take to buy a loaf of bread? Most people use money to buy things that they need in their daily life.

[JSixpack]

Good discussion follows:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-04/sorry-libertarians-history-shows-bitcoin-isn-t-the-future.html

[fletchsmile]

The trouble with all the news articles they are a day or two behind, and the price changes so fast that they are no longer relevant.

I'd be interested to know when the last time someone on the board posted an investment opportunity and in 4 months it had earned a return of 1000%

Laughing all the way to the....*wait don't need a bank anymore*...

The last 10-bagger I had was Africal Oil (AOI:CN). If you'd bought around early August 2011 and sold 25 May 2012 you'd have increased approx 10 fold.

I happened to mention it on TV, as profits of 500%+. This was a weighted cost, as I bought over different periods and added to it on rising prices bringing the average down. Feel free to check it out. Most of the gains came in 4 months Jan - May. Hindsight is a wonderful thing in telling people what they should have done.

AOI I still hold some. Bitcoins I see going the way of Tulips and Bernie Madoff's funds

Fletch

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

This is interesting article

The most interesting observation is why couldn't Google or Amazon just use the open architecture to make their own GoogCoin etc and have a lot more credibility and foster its use by allowing it on their sites.

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/comment/articles/2013-04/05/bitcoin-bubble-exchange-rate-crash

[DiamondKing]

= 8.71% spread =

Still laughing are you LOL I think we bitcoin holders are the ones laughing now all the way to the bank

Current Bitcoin price $855 per coin

Lots of Millionaire bitcoiners in the past few months if you have not bought yet get in now while you can afford it, next market $3500 per coin then $10,000 then $30,000 and will continue to grow in value as it becomes more popular

You can now buy a Subway with bitcoins to a coffee to air tickets and hotel and everything inbetween right up to a ticket to space from Richard Branson

The smart ones already have money invested in bitcoin but it is a wild ride

Edited November 23, 2013 by DiamondKing

[DiamondKing]

NeverSure:

I also simply can't get a clue as to why the value is skyrocketing. Is

it all speculation, or is there really that much demand for money

laundering and drugs and other illicit things, and are people like

Cypriots really wanting it for savings?

the skyrocketing value without the slightest tangible basis should

be reason enough to create a strong caveat. add to this the possibility

of "mining" bitcoins and the gadgets sold for this purpose.

but then... a fool and his money bitcoins

Naam you just dont understand it which is why you are making uninformed statements.

The senate hearings which were held in Washington this past monday was very positive for bitcoin and other digital currencies, the government were open to bitcoins and are working with the Bitcoin foundation to regulate certain parts of it to make all parties happy.

You mention a fool and his money and that made me smile because Richard Branson A BILLIONAIRE just announced he will accept bitcoins for tickets to space, Another Billionaire Donald Trump now allows you to buy a condo in New York at the Trump Towers, Subway have just started accepting Bitcoin (certain stores) A Cypriot college has just announced you can pay your tuition with Bitcoins.

Bitcoin ATM machines are now available and just starting to be distributed and POS systems which you will use your smartphone to make purchases using your bitcoins.

If someone cannot see where this is going you must be blind, now I admit its still a big risk but the potential return is MASSIVE and I already know Bitcoin Millionares (unfortunately not me yet but I do have a healthy bitcoin account) and just a few short months ago they were just like you and me but they saw the vision and invested very early.

Its still not too late currently its $855 per coin but there are reports out there estimating a bitcoin being valued at $700,000 to a Million Dollars per coin (google it)

Im in for the long haul and enjoy roller coasters

These are all signs that Bitcoin is growingin popularity and almost everyone has a smart phone and this is will be the future of payments just as you use your debit cards now.

Edited November 23, 2013 by DiamondKing

[brit1984]

^ a bitcoin value of 1 mil USD?!.... that would be around 10 times the value of the total (M2) money supply of USD in circulation in the world today!

[brit1984]

given the transaction costs (and volatility / exchange rate risk) it only really makes sense for those who HOLD a portion of their savings in bitcoins to transact in bitcoins (and even then it only makes sense for transactions where the buyer requires absolutely no protection from fraud by the seller) and even if more do transact in the currency (which they undoubtedly) will, that does not implicitly imply any value to the currency

the value comes only from those who hold the currency... and of those that hold bitcoins there are savers and speculators- the latter will (by definition) cash out once they have speculated enough, possibly to be replaced by short-selling speculators pushing the price in the other direction, but regardless in the medium term, bitcoins' real inherent value will be determined only by the savers HOLDING it, not from other users exchanging into it, processing a transaction and then back out of it

it is very likely the total savings in bitcoins will increase over time as it becomes more common but it is starting from a very low base (it's hard to imagine that anyone is "saving" in bitcoins now given the volatility) so nearly all of the current price (equivalent to ~10 BILLION USD) for all bitcoins is made up of speculators, so there will need to be exponential growth (i.e. by tens of thousands of percent) in the real savings held in bitcoins to justify the current price and the expected / required returns of "investors" who are going in at this stage

it might happen but its always dangerous to invest in an asset where many market participants are expecting (and have been expecting) rapid growth in the market price to continue, and reading some comments on here (and elsewhere) it is clear many people have bought bitcoin (and driven up the price) because they like the idea and expect the price to rise in the future BECAUSE it rose in the past, not because they have calculated a positive delta between the underlying value and the current price (nor are they considering the opportunity cost of holding a non cash yielding asset for an unknown period of time until that unknown capital gain materializes)

it is a very interesting product and it will likely have more relevance to our lives in the future than it does today (i.e. almost no relevance) but in a world where the future potential for bitcoin is very well documented / publicized and there are many "investors" currently in (which has therefore already affected the price) with high expectations of future prices, the investment case for investing in bitcoins today is not very compelling, but good luck to those who want to play

Edited November 24, 2013 by brit1984

[brit1984]

investing in bitcoins today is like buying a ticket to heaven at an auction bidding against devout believers who already sinned very badly

[pistachios]

Kinda funny to read the first pages again...

We buy Bitcoin

350.7452


We sell Bitcoin

381.2873

http://www.bahtcoin.com/

= 8.71% spread =

We buy Bitcoin

21412.7839

We sell Bitcoin

26507.1464

Spread is still ridiculous in that exchange, though

on very naïve people believe that the Greatest Nation on Earth™, which forced powerful financial institutions worldwide on their knees, will tolerate anonymous transactions above a certain level.

Seems like Ben Bernanke is very naïve too.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ben-bernanke-on-bitcoin-2013-11

"Bitcoin may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.”

Aslo, time will tell but recent senate hearings showed various parts of government and authorities more interested in monitoring, regulating or taxing bitcoin than purely shutting it down.

[trunknuk]

I've had sucess at https://localbitcoins.com for buying / selling BTC with THB. Takes 3-5 minutes for some transactions.

5 years from now when we look back on the dawn of a borderless currency that crushes operations like Western Union, Moneygram, and SWIFT, it will be so obvious that this was the time for a frictoinless currency transfer system to exist.

The current valuation is just a side show to the fact that crypto currency is here to stay becuse is solves the huge problem for moving money.

[mccw]

""""

A man who threw away a computer hard drive containing more than £4m of the digital currency Bitcoin has told Sky News he is devastated.

James Howells, 28, binned the hard drive in the summer, but only realised his mistake last Friday.

The IT worker threw away his Dell laptop after it started to overheat, forgetting that it contained a digital wallet containing 7,500 units of the virtual currency.

Staff at the Docksway landfill site in Newport, South Wales, where the hard drive was taken, have told Mr Howells that by now it will be buried under at least three feet of waste in an area the size of a football pitch. """"

-sky news

Dho

I'd say that was worth digging for £4million quid.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[sciack]

Mine your own bit coins at 0% fee on a p2pool strategy. Just opened now 2 p2pool in Thailand on super fast servers: p2poolthailand.com:9332 and p2pool.asia:9332

It is completely for free, I do not get anything from this, but this is the most safe way to mine bitcoins. Please read below:

First of all, what is P2Pool?

P2Pool is one huge, peer-to-peer pool based on the original coin protocol.

How does it work?

Miners connect to "Nodes" and all of the P2Pool "Nodes" connect to each other, forming one big pool.

What are the advantages?

• You will get better rewards: P2Pools award transaction fees from black rewards to the miners

• Your mined coins will be deposited directly into your wallet, they are never held by any pool "operator" and cannot be lost due to incompetence or fraudulent behaviour.

• P2Pool is DDoS resistant, it is impossible to DDoS the entire peer-to-peer P2Pool network, at best all someone can do is knock a node offline, in which case your client will just switch to one of your failover nodes

• You do not have to register on any pool sites, etc. all you need is a Vertcoin address which you will use as your username, and your rewards will be paid directly into your wallet.

• Most P2Pool nodes have <1% fees, and if you want 0% fees, you can even set up your own node on your local network.

• Even if the node you are using goes down, you will not lose a single microvert of payment, as the network itself stores your pending rewards, and will distribute them to you as normal.

Are there any disadvantages?

• It's not really a disadvantage, but it takes longer for you to receive useable coins as they have to mature in the blockchain before they can be awarded to you. Don't panic if you don't receive your rewards quickly, they will arrive!

Here's a few bits of info you should know about P2Pool before you start looking for nodes:

• It is normal to receive high rejection rates on P2Pool, P2Pool generates work a lot faster than regular pools and as a result you are going to end up with stale shares. All you need to do is ensure your current Reject % is equal to or lower than the P2Pool network average. (currently 24% rejects is the average). Having a reject rate lower than the average will allow you to profit off of other people's rejected shares. (Even more rewards, yay!)

• Your latency to your node matters a lot. High latency means you will have a higher reject rate. When you're looking for nodes you want to ensure that your ping is low. Under 50ms is good, under 40ms is great and under 30ms is excellent.

• If you connect to a node with no miners currently using it (or a very small number) you will receive massive numbers of HW errors. Don't panic! This is because when a node first starts up, it sets the share difficulty to 0, after 1-2 minutes it will auto-adjust and you will stop receiving HW errors.

Credit to /u/AwesomezGuy for that post. It is super informative!