Virtual currencies recovering!

[lxskllr]

So, is the only way to make a decent amount of bitcoins through buying them from someone?

Do people mine anymore?

Mining takes dedication. If you want them now, you buy them.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

It's all about beenz

Or Flooz

 

[Juddog]

So, is the only way to make a decent amount of bitcoins through buying them from someone?

Do people mine anymore?

Tons of people still mine.

The best way to mine right now is to either use dedicated hardware (ASICs), or if you have a high-end AMD card (e.g. 7970) which seems to excel in terms of mining throughput. Most miners join a group where the mined coins are distributed based upon how much computing you put into it, which seems the safest route.

 

[ultimatebob]

Mining takes dedication. If you want them now, you buy them.

You also need some serious hardware to mine a meaningful amount of Bitcoin now... either one of those dedicated ASIC devices, or a friggin server farm of systems with midrange to high end AMD video cards.

The ASIC would be more efficient, but would be worthless in Bitcoin crashes in value. At least you could resell the video cards on eBay.

 

[Chiropteran]

LOL... BTC is supposed to be a CURRENCY, not a COMMODITY. There should never be fluctuations like this in the first place, especially in response to external actions. Especially with a decentralized currency.

 

[Doppel]

Is now a good time to cash out my retirement to buy mining hardware for Bitcoins?

 

[zinfamous]

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1c525e/ive_lost_more_money_in_the_past_24_hours_than_ive/

Yeah, there was a guy on News Hour last week during their story on Bitcoin, that had put his entire life savings, and I believe the majority of his spending cash, salary, whatever into Bitcoin. He talked about how stressed he was from hour to hour living like that, basically not knowing when things were going to crash as he certainly expected it to.

I've been thinking about that dude for the last couple of days. Maybe he was smart and cashed out at the high a few days ago, or maybe now he is living in a gutter with MeowCat.

 

[zinfamous]

OMGERD! a 100 year trend!

Run!!!! D:

 

[Chiropteran]

Yeah, there was a guy on News Hour last week during their story on Bitcoin, that had put his entire life savings, and I believe the majority of his spending cash, salary, whatever into Bitcoin. He talked about how stressed he was from hour to hour living like that, basically not knowing when things were going to crash as he certainly expected it to.

I've been thinking about that dude for the last couple of days. Maybe he was smart and cashed out at the high a few days ago, or maybe now he is living in a gutter with MeowCat.

Yeah, that could never happen with a major fiat currency such as USD or the Euro.

http://hartfordgroupinternationalne...ings-in-the-cyprus-100k-euro-and-above-theft/


Oh, wait...

 

[randomrogue]

Why would anyone buy into this?! lol!

 

[Doppel]

I wonder if Chiropteran has yet had a chance to read up on what a deflationary spiral is.

 

[Phokus]

1. Wages are much higher than before to compensate.

2. Bitcoins lost more than half it's value in the span of a few days. Nice comparison you have there.

3. Every credible economist says that mild inflation (which is what your chart shows) is a GOOD thing for the economy.

 

[Chiropteran]

Why would anyone buy into this?! lol!

1- near instant transfer of wealth from anywhere on the internet

2- no trust required of any central authority

3- ease of incredibly safe storage, *if* you know what you are doing

4- very low fees compared to paypal, bank transfers, or any other realistic alternatives

5- inflation is a precisely known value, you aren't at the whims of your government

6- mining is an interesting way to make money while securing the network, and many computer gamers already have video cards suitable for lite mining

7- you asked a loaded question. there is nothing to "buy into" if you don't want to. you can get a wallet for free, and buy bitcoin only when you expect to use them immediately. buying and holding is for speculators, you can still use the currency without speculating on it.

 

[waterjug]

wait how does the 'value' of bitcoins drop? I don't know anything about them, aren't they pegged to the dollar or something? So if you bought 10 dollars worth of bitcoins, why would they suddenly be worth less than half of that a few days letter? You paid 10 bucks for them, they're worth 10 dollars.

 

[Chiropteran]

3. Every credible economist says that mild inflation (which is what your chart shows) is a GOOD thing for the economy.

You know what else is good for the economy?

War
Sweatshops
Slavery
Massive tax funded projects
Addictive substances
Planned obsolescence
Disposable products

F the economy. I want things that are good for people, not "the economy".

 

[Doppel]

wait how does the 'value' of bitcoins drop? I don't know anything about them, aren't they pegged to the dollar or something? So if you bought 10 dollars worth of bitcoins, why would they suddenly be worth less than half of that a few days letter? You paid 10 bucks for them, they're worth 10 dollars.

They are not pegged to USD. They are pegged to the perceived value of speculative investors like Chiropteran, and nothing more.

 

[Phokus]

You know what else is good for the economy?

War
Sweatshops
Slavery
Massive tax funded projects
Addictive substances
Planned obsolescence
Disposable products

F the economy. I want things that are good for people, not "the economy".

A highly volatile currency isn't 'good for the people'.

 

[Juddog]

You also need some serious hardware to mine a meaningful amount of Bitcoin now... either one of those dedicated ASIC devices, or a friggin server farm of systems with midrange to high end AMD video cards.

The ASIC would be more efficient, but would be worthless in Bitcoin crashes in value. At least you could resell the video cards on eBay.

Or play video games with them.

 

[Chiropteran]

A highly volatile currency isn't 'good for the people'.

bitcoin is good for people, based on all the reasons listed in my post. if it is not currently a good currency because it is volatile, so what? it can be used for it's intended purpose just fine despite the volatility.

Also: see above, the Euro being cut by up to 80% in some Cyprus accounts. I guess we can add the euro to your list of volatile currency. Where does that leave the world economy?

 

[waterjug]

They are not pegged to USD. They are pegged to the perceived value of speculative investors like Chiropteran, and nothing more.

why the fuck would anyone invest in them?

 

[MaxPayne63]

why the fuck would anyone invest in them?

Becuase they're economically illiterate. Just look at posts in bitcoin threads - if bitcoins made your computer catch on fire these guys would claim that is A-OK because gasoline burns, too.

 

[Chiropteran]

why the fuck would anyone invest in them?

They are not intended for investment, but some think they will increase in value over time. Why do you invest in anything? Many many people who invested in bitcoin made thousands of dollars for simply waiting a few months, some made millions. But like any investment, it has risks. Nobody is forcing you to invest, and there is certainly a strong contingent among the bitcoin community that the speculators are doing more harm than good- but it's a free market, that can't be stopped.

Is like... why would you invest in Xbox live points. you don't. Buy enough to do what you want to do.

bitcoin can be used the same way. if you don't want to invest in it, don't!

 

[Doppel]

Becuase they're economically illiterate. Just look at posts in bitcoin threads - if bitcoins made your computer catch on fire these guys would claim that is A-OK because gasoline burns, too.

Yep. The Bitcon-faithful don't concern themselves with distractions such as history, math, and the wisdom of others.

 

[Doppel]

A couple years back I saw an image that had four circles. The middle one was bitcoins and the others partially intersected with it, like ignorant of currencies or whatever, with bitcoin overlapping all these shortcomings. Can anybody remember that?

 

[momeNt]

I wonder if Chiropteran has yet had a chance to read up on what a deflationary spiral is.

You know that really doesn't apply to something like bitcoin right?

Employers aren't paying in bitcoin, so no supplier of wages is seeing the advantage of waiting, slowing down currency circulation.

Consumers aren't paying in bitcoin, so again, no advantage to waiting tomorrow when prices are lower.

Deflationary spirals as economists generally refer to them (not anything to do with bitcoin) are probably more myth than anything, they would require an alternate money that is siphoning off demand as well, not just a lowering in the price level that suddenly gets out of control. There is a minimum floor of consumption that cannot be breached unless everybody literally has the own subsistence farm in their backyard and no longer need markets at all.

In order for a commodity to be money there must be extremely high demand to transact in the commodity as well as other physical (bitcoin's case digital) properties such as an inability to be counterfit, and for something like gold it won't rust, can be melted and reminted, etc.

There is extremely low demand right now to transact in bitcoin, hence it currently is only a commodity whose appeal is basically is accepted in underground transactions like silk road, and it also acts like gold (acts very poorly, but similar fundamentals drive it) as a hedge against currency manipulation and a store of wealth.

Money is a social phenomena that occurs with very few commodities. Fiat money backed by governments just institutionalize it.