Um...no. Just no. BTC is simply in a bubble right now, just as gold that dropped dramaticly.
You sound like you know the future, but you do not. Right now the USD is rotten, EUR is rotten, CHF is tied to EUR, most other EU currencies are basing their BNP on exports to EUR or USD countries, and even the CNY is rotten. Investors are looking for safe havens since the stock markets are all rotten too. Now imagine what would happen if the troika decides to pull their Cyprus trick on a country like Spain or Italy... With more people fleeing to BTC, BTC will gain in usage as a currency instead of just being used as a commodity. This is much bigger than some people mining on ASICs, and we do not know if this will crash or take off a year from now.
It is also worth noting that once Folding Core 17 is out of beta, AMD will likely also have the performance advantage in Folding@Home.
Then you quote me and write:If you have good business instincts it is better to invest the money in speculation, be it bitcoin or stocks or whatever. You will likely turn a larger profit faster. But you run the risk of losing it all. If you already own the hardware, all it costs you is the electricity so the potential loss if the value of the coins fall to zero is much smaller than the potential gain. It is a gamble but the odds are in the miner's favor!
plus a whole wall of ranting that in fact more agrees with me than argues against what I said.With all due respect, you sound like one of the True Believers at bitcointalk.org.
The fact that I have not done any of this is speaks volumes, does it not? In fact I do not think BTC has reached critical mass, which you do.if you are a True Believer that BTC will inevitably be worth millions each, why are you dicking around with GPU mining? Go big or go home: that means buy an ASIC, or if you can't, then buy BTC directly.
Then prove itUm...no. Just no. BTC is simply in a bubble right now, just as gold that dropped dramaticly.
Bitcoin mining on GPUs is coming to a close very quickly, so this article came out way too late to be relevant. If you don't have at least an FPGA and preferably an ASIC, you won't be able to compete for much longer regardless of whether you use AMD or NV GPUs.
That is the past and does not say much about the bubble you announce with such certitude. But OK, I can play that game too:
Time for you to prove USD, CNY, EUR is rotten.
The US dollar (USD) has been considered a strong currency for much of its history. Despite the Nixon shock of 1971, and the United States' growing fiscal and trade deficits, most of the world's monetary systems have been tied to the US dollar due to the Bretton Woods System and dollarization. Countries have thus been compelled to purchase dollars for their foreign exchange reserves, denominate their commodities in dollars for foreign trade, or even use dollars domestically, thus buoying the currency's value. However the late-2000s financial crisis saw the institution of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve, downgrades of US debt by credit rating agencies (during the debt-ceiling crisis), countries diversifying their foreign exchange reserves away from the dollar, the emergence of commodity markets trading in non-US currency (such as the Iranian oil bourse), resumed appreciation of the yuan by the People's Bank of China, and the IMF proposal of the SDR as an alternative to the dollar in some applications. These events and others have eroded confidence in the US dollar.
The euro (EUR) has also been considered a hard currency for much of its short history, however the European sovereign debt crisis has eroded that confidence, with many predicting the currency's demise.
The Swiss franc (CHF) has long been considered a hard currency, and in fact was the last paper currency in the world to terminate its convertibility to gold. In the summer of 2011, the European sovereign debt crisis lead to rapid flows out of the euro and into the franc by those seeking hard currency, causing the latter to appreciate rapidly. On September 6, 2011, the Swiss National Bank announced that it would buy an "unlimited" number of euros to fix an exchange rate at 1.00 EUR = 1.20 CHF, to protect its trade. The franc fell precipitously against the euro to match this rate, and the price of gold in CHF rose 5% in a matter of minutes. This action has, at least temporarily, eliminated the franc's hard currency advantage over the euro.
In the midst of the ongoing financial crisis, countries with strong currencies are at risk of capital inflows causing appreciation. The potential impact of such appreciation on a nation's economy is historically unprecedented due to globalization and free trade. Thus the world's central banks are locked into a spiral of "competitive devaluation" in which the value of all fiat money systems is being eroded.[4] This process is reflected in the escalating price of gold investors flock to gold and other precious metals as a store of value and hedge against inflation, which causes the price to increase rapidly, sometimes for several consecutive years and recently, at many times more than the rate of inflation.[5]
Virtual currency will not pat your electric bill, won't pay the bar tab, and won't get you a flight for vacation.
Um...no. Just no. BTC is simply in a bubble right now, just as gold that dropped dramaticly.
Time for you to prove USD, CNY, EUR is rotten.
I thought bitcoin was a bubble 2 weeks ago at $266. It's crashed since then, yet still holds enough value to make mining very profitable.
ASIC mining yeah.
GPU mining nowhere outside the USA.
I know, I felt immediately ...dirty, but my wifi has been so poor today that I could not bother to look for real sources. The facts are there though, just google for them.Dude, you just quoted wikipedia.
Yes it is a currency only on paper. It is a good commodity though. It has potential to become a real currency, but that looks far off as it is unfortunately.Sorry, BTC, as fun as it is, is not a real currency and never will be. It's value is completely arbitrary and is backed by other currencies. It's like trying to use stocks as a currency except stocks at least have a company's profit to back it up. There's a reason why BTC is traded for a USD amount, it's entire value is based on what people are willing to pay into it.
The amount of deregulation involved means it's unstable by nature. It's a decent way to move modest amounts of money under the radar but you won't see a majority of people investing their life savings in it.
@Chiropteran So you live in the States and mining is profitable for you... Read my post again, please.
LOL $1 per kWh. Anything above $0.20 makes you think if it's really worth having your cards mining.
Plugging in my under-clocked 7970 into a profit calculator. That is 512 mh/sec @ 170W total power usage (measured from the UPS). Assuming $.25 per kwh. $112 per BTC
Power cost per 24h 1.02 USD
Revenue per day 3.21 USD
Less power costs 2.19 USD
$65 net profit a month isn't bad at all.
With power cost at $.60 per kwh, it's still $23/month net after power costs.
This is a single card setup, which is the least efficient way to go. If you run multiple cards on a single system your effective profit per video card will be even higher.
Bitcoin is still recovering from the crash, as well. If value goes back up to $200 per bitcoin (which might take a few months, or might take a week, who knows) you can double these profit calculations. If difficulty increases you can reduce them. But right now, it is profitable to GPU mine, unless you have truly absurd power costs.
Plugging in my under-clocked 7970 into a profit calculator. That is 512 mh/sec @ 170W total power usage (measured from the UPS). Assuming $.25 per kwh. $112 per BTC
Power cost per 24h 1.02 USD
Revenue per day 3.21 USD
Less power costs 2.19 USD
$65 net profit a month isn't bad at all.
With power cost at $.60 per kwh, it's still $23/month net after power costs.
This is a single card setup, which is the least efficient way to go. If you run multiple cards on a single system your effective profit per video card will be even higher.
Bitcoin is still recovering from the crash, as well. If value goes back up to $200 per bitcoin (which might take a few months, or might take a week, who knows) you can double these profit calculations. If difficulty increases you can reduce them. But right now, it is profitable to GPU mine, unless you have truly absurd power costs.
Oh my god, you buy a GPU to occupy it 24/7 for mining (so zero entertainment value), and only make $65/month? I would give up $65/m just to keep my room quiet and at a comfortable temperature.
You see, people's perspective on value is different and you'll never win this argument. To you $65/month is "not bad at all", for me it's pocket change. I spend more than that on one dinner out. Come back to me when you're making $650 or $6500/month, then we'll talk.
Bitcoin is nothing more than a hobby, if you want something that's actually profitable, purchase some equity or real estate.
Oh my god, you buy a GPU to occupy it 24/7 for mining (so zero entertainment value), and only make $65/month? I would give up $65/m just to keep my room quiet and at a comfortable temperature.
You see, people's perspective on value is different and you'll never win this argument. To you $65/month is "not bad at all", for me it's pocket change. I spend more than that on one dinner out. Come back to me when you're making $650 or $6500/month, then we'll talk.
Bitcoin is nothing more than a hobby, if you want something that's actually profitable, purchase some equity or real estate.