Cryprocurrency Mining, How long will it last

[THEchasein8tor]

I was introduced to cryptocurrency and mining a few years ago and it has not only become an investment, but also a hobby. The question that might be on numerous individual's minds is what will become the future of cryptocurrencies and will mining remain a role in the world of cryptocurrency or a remnant of time. As countless people join the community of those who mine using gpus, asics, cpus, and other hardware how long will it be until government, or other related agencies crack down on miners and using significant amounts of electricity for the reward of cryptocurrency. With such a case will more coins switch over to proof of stake or some other form of work in order to confirm transactions on the blockchain. Whatever may happen, cryptocurrency has a large hold on today's society and won't be leaving anytime soon

 

[Shmee]

While I agree in general with your analysis, VC&G is not really a place to discuss crypto in general, though we do allow it as it relates to GPU mining. We don't need a whole bunch of general threads about it either. I would recommend keeping general discussion about it to off topic section, DC, or whatever forum provides the best fit for it. For now I am moving this to off topic.

 

[KB]

I have read many smart people who say blockchain is forever. Financial companies, IBM and others are making significant investment in blockchain.

Cryptocurrencies may go away, however as they have limited use, cash and credit cards work just fine, and if they do grow in use, "the Bitcoin network will "use as much electricity as the entire world does today" by early 2020." https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/bitcoins-insane-energy-consumption-explained/

 

[GobBluth]

Cryptocurrencies are looking like a flash in the pan, but there is sustainable ideas there so it is really hard to say. As for mining for bitcoin, that's is surely going to disappear or become very expensive to do (it already is fairly expensive if you want an ROI).

 

[Yakk]

I see the price of entry moved 2 decimal places, startup costs of $100 eight years ago is about $10,000 today for anything meaningful beyond hobbying with a few cards & such.

Relative to Bitcoin's price, costs are pretty much right inline following the curve IMO with cheaper coins helping to lower the cost of entry. Mining farms are slowly expanding towards cold climates like Canada where the hot air is starting to get used in greenhouses during the winter. This not only makes for "free" heating, but a secondary source of income. In these applications mining is completely sustainable.

Lots of entrepreneurs are making creative solutions. I see mining as useful for a very long time.

 

[ultimatebob]

I think that the era of effectively mining cryptocurrency from your desktop gaming PC was over a few years ago. You need dedicated hardware to do it profitably now.

 

[Shmee]

Not really, a 1080Ti will gross approximately $8-$12 over 24 hours mining the Equihash flavor of the day. Of course, you won't be mining 24/7 on that card, as you use if for gaming too, but say you mine 15 Hush in a month, recently up to about $8 piece, that's not bad, especially if you consider keeping them a while and the price appreciates.

Don't have a 1080Ti? A 1070, one of the midrange cards of choice, will do a bit more than half the Sol/s and may use less than half the power. Even a 1060 6GB will do well, and will mine Eth well as a bonus.

And this is just talking modern popular pascal based cards. Anyone still with a 290 or 390, which were quite popular for a while, can make decent money with proper tuning, from Equihash coins to Ethereum.

 

[Zeze]

Mining in 2018? Isn't it already dead for casual majority?

Spend that rig money on buying coins directly. Far better returns. Just diversity 10% to top 10 and you'll get solid returns.

With 0 work, 0 hardware, 0 headache, 0 nothing.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Mining in 2018? Isn't it already dead for casual majority?

Spend that rig money on buying coins directly. Far better returns. Just diversity 10% to top 10 and you'll get solid returns.

With 0 work, 0 hardware, 0 headache, 0 nothing.

As long as you cash out before the bubble pops. Wait too long and Willy Wonka will report your earnings:

https://youtu.be/M5QGkOGZubQ

With a graphics card you can sell it or play games. With wilted tulipcoins not so much.

 

[Rifter]

im hoping it dies by volta release so i can get one at a reasonable pre mining price.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Decided to test the waters, and ordered a 1070 TI. Need a new video card for my gaming machine anyway. I wanted two but they're out of stock everywhere and it won't let me backorder. Kind of a pain. I can see why some gamers are frustrated at this mining stuff. But that's the stores' fault. They should keep up with demand better.

And yeah GPUs are crazy expensive now. About $700 for this one card. I do plan to go all out if it proves profitable though. For now I'm just going to stick it in my gaming machine, and plug a different SSD in it and install Linux and set it up for mining. I do want to do a more dedicated machine if I decide to go full out.

It's a bit late to get in the game but from what I'm reading there is still room to make some money, it's just not as lucrative as it was in the early days.

 

[DaveSimmons]

im hoping it dies by volta release so i can get one at a reasonable pre mining price.

Yes, I'd like to see the crash and mass dumping of mining GPUs into the market happen before the release of the 2080ti. Having sales of new cards drop before release could keep nvidia from jacking up the price as much.

I have no idea about the timing though. Right now we're at what might be peak idiocy, with morons pushing up the stock price of a tea company because they changed their name to be Long Island Blockchain.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Right now we're at what might be peak idiocy, with morons pushing up the stock price of a tea company because they changed their name to be Long Island Blockchain.

lmao! Yeah it seems any stocks that remotely have anything to do with blockchain - even if just using the word, are going up. It's pretty funny actually. If I knew more about trading I'd be getting right into all this but I'll just sit by the sidelines and watch.

 

[Pulsar]

Mining in 2018? Isn't it already dead for casual majority?

Spend that rig money on buying coins directly. Far better returns. Just diversity 10% to top 10 and you'll get solid returns.

With 0 work, 0 hardware, 0 headache, 0 nothing.

The faster this BS dies the better. Wasting a natural resource for make-believe coins is disgusting.

 

[UsandThem]

Yes, I'd like to see the crash and mass dumping of mining GPUs into the market happen before the release of the 2080ti. Having sales of new cards drop before release could keep nvidia from jacking up the price as much.

I have no idea about the timing though. Right now we're at what might be peak idiocy, with morons pushing up the stock price of a tea company because they changed their name to be Long Island Blockchain.

I saw this article earlier as well:

https://www.express.co.uk/finance/c...oin-shiba-inu-ethereum-altcoin-Jackson-Palmer

DOGECOIN, a cryptocurrency set up as a joke, now has a total value of $1 billion.

 

[Yakk]

More news about mining farms moving from China to Canada with their cheap, renewable power :

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018...-migrate-china-canada-pboc-cracks-down-mining

Canada might just turn into a Crypto Powerhouse!

YES pun intended!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Depending how far I go I'm actually toying with the idea of buying land actually, in a nearby unorganized township. Unorganized township = freedom to build pretty much what you want. (there's some restrictions but way less than in the city) Would then do solar and wind to generate power. Need tons of batteries though. That's the really expensive part.

No permits or any of that BS required either. The property would be mostly off grid so no utility bills of any kind. Taxes would be like $100/year.

But I'm getting way ahead of myself considering it's hard to buy more than like 1-2 cards at a time, since all the stores have limits or are out of stock. You pretty much need to be able to roll your own sillicon or have some kind of special buying power contract with companies if you want to go data centre grade. Though if you turn it into a business you can then buy from wholesale suppliers... that's also an option.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The faster this BS dies the better. Wasting a natural resource for make-believe coins is disgusting.

As opposed to what, "wasting" natural resources, like coal and iron to make steel? "Wasting" oil to make plastic? At least electricity is a renewable resource, with solar and wind power, and hydro power, and these "coins" don't leave a footprint in the local waste disposal.

 

[Pulsar]

As opposed to what, "wasting" natural resources, like coal and iron to make steel? "Wasting" oil to make plastic? At least electricity is a renewable resource, with solar and wind power, and hydro power, and these "coins" don't leave a footprint in the local waste disposal.

"Renewable" energy isn't. Not yet at least. If you look at how the stuff is made, you'll find that fossil fuels are still a huge part of the manufacture of all that 'renewable' energy equipment. Not to mention that the electricity being used is perhaps made of 10% renewables at this point. It's asinine to be putting electricity into this 'mining'.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Does it matter since one will consume nevertheless. Makes no difference if someone else is consuming it or you are consuming it. It will be consumed and more than likely by those you would have a less of an opinion on/or then otherwise.

This is why I have no problem consuming. When my county/state is OK with the rampant drinking water consumption by corporate real estate to keep their lawns pretty and yet bind me into an econo-mode shower then I say I will consume however much I want. And if I am an cryptominer then I could care less what you or anyone else thinks because you ultimately don't care about your own consumption in some other respect.