Bitcoins/Litecoins/Virtual Currencies

Aychamo BanBan

Aychamo BanBan

<Banned>
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Tea_sl said:
Sounds like you get it just fine. The thing that will make it clearer for you is that bitcoin was never intended to function as an actual currency. It was a proof of concept from a technical white paper. Mining was never intended as a means to make money, but as a reward to ensure that transactions would continue to be processed in theoretical crypto-currency land. It was thought that increasing block difficulty would discourage people from throwing ever increasing processing power at the blockchain, but that was clearly mistaken. Bitcoin would work just as well if everyone was still mining with spare CPU's, but as the speculation bubble grows people go crazy in a race to the bottom as FPGA's and ASIC's hit the market to allow truly blistering speeds of pointless busy work. Again it makes sense if you realize that it was never meant to actually be used as currency.

If you would like any clarification on how anything bitcoin works or suggestions for further reading from a non true believer point of view then ask away. I follow bitcoin pretty religiously not because I think it's a viable solution and the future of currency, but I find the whole shebang fascinating from an economic and social perspective.
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Ahhhhh, now that makes sense! That is pretty fascinating that people spend so many resources on it!
 
gogusrl

gogusrl

Molten Core Raider
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Tea_sl said:
It was thought that increasing block difficulty would discourage people from throwing ever increasing processing power at the blockchain, but that was clearly mistaken. Bitcoin would work just as well if everyone was still mining with spare CPU's, but as the speculation bubble grows people go crazy in a race to the bottom as FPGA's and ASIC's hit the market to allow truly blistering speeds of pointless busy work.
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Actually you're wrong here. The more computing power invested in mining, the less likely it is for someone to be able to control 51% of the network and double spend and crap.

More info about the weaknesses of bitcoin here =>https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses

edit : some nice graphs here =>http://bitcoin.sipa.be/

oh, and holy crap 64$.
 
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Tea_sl

shitlord
1,019
0
gogusrl_sl said:
Actually you're wrong here. The more computing power invested in mining, the less likely it is for someone to be able to control 51% of the network and double spend and crap.
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As you've noted it's the distribution of the computing power that matters. Seems doubly naive when you look how close a mining pool like BTCguild is to 51%. While it's true that BTCguild is a collection of miners the pool operator has considerable power in affecting larger decisions for the block chain. So the more hashing power = more distributed line of thinking only applies so far as new technology is equally available. If everyone is mining with CPU's or ASICs or GPUs then the total network hashing rate will be reasonably distributed - barring the consequences of massive unions and/or pools. To claim that larger hashing numbers always give way to more network security, however, is to take a very narrow view and plainly contradicted by the numbers. We can even easily imagine situations where an individual could completely dominate the network hash rate by innovative, exclusive technology - i.e. quantum computing, which would not only give a huge share of the network but effectively eliminate all competition by adjusting the difficulty at an enormous pace - or even further the take the ball and go home problem. The bitcoin answer to this problem is to create a fork where new technology doesn't hold a significant edge, which creates a whole new set of awkward problems to address. All of this while ignoring the whole point of the post, which was not about the semantics of Bitcoin network security via decentralization.

Dunning-Krugerrands, man.
 
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The Master

Bronze Squire
2,084
2
Lenas_sl said:
Virtual currencies get laundering rules

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...351125202.html
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I remember a report by McAfee that said they felt that RMT in MMOs was a clear and present danger because it allowed people to anonymously convert foreign currencies into U.S. currencies in large quantities and get it into the U.S., money laundering (for drugs and such) also was a concern. We live in a strange world.
 
Borzak

Borzak

Silver Baron of the Realm
26,642
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Suprised the mob hasn't started a really crappy MMO that allows them to take the profit. Allow game cards to be sold to purchase in game items. Buy game card with cash, redeem for virtual item in game that can be redeemed over and over with no real product to supply. Profits come out the other end clean.
 
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Soriak_sl

shitlord
783
0
Borzak_sl said:
Suprised the mob hasn't started a really crappy MMO that allows them to take the profit.
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They can always take over Zynga.
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Arative

Arative

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Tripamang_sl said:
Bitcoins just hit 100$ US a coin, absolutely crazy.
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Its ripe for a crash that's for sure but at least its getting a lot of press lately.

But I'm enjoying it now with my 1g/hs I'm making around $230 a month. Little extra spending cash is never a bad thing.
 
Arative

Arative

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Its up to $125 now. Noticed that its starting to more media coverage, cnn money, CNBC etc
 
Arative

Arative

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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a_skeleton_03_sl said:
I am getting together with some guys at work and trying to buy an Avalon or maybe even a pair of BFLs.
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BFL seems to be the cheaper route but you'll be waiting a while, if you order now, its still going to be months before you'll get it and that's assuming they start shipping sometime in April. Avalon I think is sold out of batch 3 already. I ordered 3 japaleno from BFL in August last year. I figure I was comfortable enough losing $450 if BFL turned out to be a scam. If not, I'll use the money I make from those to purchase a single SC.

Up to $140 a bitcoin. That's just crazy. I don't know if it can keep going like that.
 
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a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
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Arative_sl said:
BFL seems to be the cheaper route but you'll be waiting a while, if you order now, its still going to be months before you'll get it and that's assuming they start shipping sometime in April. Avalon I think is sold out of batch 3 already. I ordered 3 japaleno from BFL in August last year. I figure I was comfortable enough losing $450 if BFL turned out to be a scam. If not, I'll use the money I make from those to purchase a single SC.

Up to $140 a bitcoin. That's just crazy. I don't know if it can keep going like that.
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We are looking to buy from someone else at inflated prices.
 
Tripamang

Tripamang

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
5,589
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I just cashed out the majority of my bitcoins at 140$+/coin, this is going to have to burst at some point. Theres no way we you have 40+ dollar spikes in price a day and have it last.
 
Alkorin

Chancellor Alkorin

Part-Time Sith
<Granularity Engineer>
6,052
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Well, I hope it lasts a while longer and the ASICs stay off the market as long as possible. Daddy needs a new (insert bunch of tech shit here) and bitcoins are gonna pay for it.

That rig I just put together with the 3x 7970s is mining coins right now.

(Obligatory disclaimer: I will use the mining box to game when it's no longer useful for mining, so this was not its sole purpose when I purchased it.)
 
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