I'm surprised there aren't bitcoin botnets out there... :hmm: that surely will drive the value up further. :hmm:
Cronos, that didn't need answering. I was merely pointing out how legitimate it is.
I read somewhere someone contacted IRS about it and they told the guy forget it since the Treasury Board doesn't recognise bitcoin as a currency, therefore there is nothing to declare.
LOL I read your post, glanced at his location, saw Texas, then saw your edit. :biggrin: At least it's not California. (that should be Texas' motto)
But yeah especially if you heat with electricity it actually makes sense to crunch. Or use the heat to drive a steam turbine which is then used to generate electricity which is then used to power it. Since heat converts 100% to electricity, you'd only need to feed outside electricity to make up the difference which is the inefficiency of the steam turbine. At least in theory I think it could work. Sterling engine would probably be better though as if you are producing enough heat to make steam your equipment is probably dangerously overheating. Wait, I think I'm seriously on to something here. :awe:
And I highly doubt Silk Road was the only reason for bitcoin.
That is incorrect, at least in practice, you are describing a perpetual motion machine. Your next point contradicts the first anyways. You might have been confused with the fact that 99+% of electromagnetic energy ends up as heat on earth, but I am pretty sure we have no where near the means of perfect energy conversion at this point. Just look at the abysmal state of chemical to electromagnetic for further proof. While I agree steam turbines are doing really well for mechanical to electromagnetic, they are still a LONG way from 100%.
I always thought electricity always turned 100% to heat, that's not the case? Now realistically speaking a lot of that heat is not in your house, it's at sub station transformers, the wiring etc.. so you're not going to get 100% anyway. And I never said turbines are 100%, I don't think it's even possible to get 100% through mechanical as there will always be a loss somewhere due to friction and what not (which probably actually translates to heat).
My post was more tongue in cheek anyway. Also I just realized I said that in reverse I meant electricity converts to heat.
Inefficiency is what turns some electricity into heat, but ideally you want most of it performing work, which in the case of computers is processing data and performing calculations. With solid state drives at least there is a minimal amount of electricity wasted on moving parts, save for fans moving air into and out of the system.
I think it still ends it's life as heat. It'll do more work for less heat, but will still become heat in the end.
Inefficiency is what turns some electricity into heat, but ideally you want most of it performing work, which in the case of computers is processing data and performing calculations. With solid state drives at least there is a minimal amount of electricity wasted on moving parts, save for fans moving air into and out of the system.
The fed is going to shut Bitcoin down after they are done with Liberty Reserve trial. They won't allow any currency/banking system that doesn't leave a money trail.
The fed is going to shut Bitcoin down after they are done with Liberty Reserve trial. They won't allow any currency/banking system that doesn't leave a money trail.
As opposed to a currency that can be made with botnets and anybody with processing power? That has not a god damn thing legitimizing it except for illicit uses? sure...They won't allow a currency that they can't print more of on demand.
ok, so I see you guys are sick of hearing about this shit.
surprised there aren't more enthusiasts on a tech forum. :hmm:
Only if you invest billions in itis it true you can make millions easy from this?
actually you can still get into Litecoin and some of the others where GPU's are still doing fine. when BTC is this high though simply don't convert that coin to BTC. I have about $3k worth of various coins at todays rate. IF any of them really fly upward then I could have some serious cash. There's some warning signs that are easy to spot when a coin is failing so you just cash out and move to another type. All of the coins I have personally mined myself so there's minimal risk.A lot of smart people think Bitcoin is great. A lot think it sucks. I fall into the latter camp.
Honestly, it seems like a huge confidence game by a lot of the Bitcoin crowd. Now, some truly are faithful that it is this great thing, but I have to assume a lot just want to keep pimping it up to raise its price so that they can sell it for real money (USD).
At this point the average person cannot mine coins with any decent effectiveness--certainly not without a big investment of gear. That leaves them to buy bitcoins on the market. And then what? Spend them? Hell no, they are an investment vehicle now. And a damn risky one.
New record highs being hit, anyone paying attention...?
Any reason for the wacky rise in value? or is it just the kiddies and their new speculation toy?
Yup, it's pretty crazy. Bitcoin is at ~$320 on Mt. Gox, Litecoin is at $4.36 on BTC-E.
I'm looking at Primecoin right now because it's actually productive in terms of the proof-of-work system. As the name suggests it's geared around finding prime numbers, which makes it more along the lines of distributed computing programs in terms of real-world usefulness. When I first heard about Bitcoin a few years ago I misunderstood it at first, thinking that the value was coming from it doing computing work for some organization, not realizing that it's value was purely in being a decentralized currency.