Wow. Bitcoin is almost $1,500

[DrMrLordX]

So what you're saying is that I might be able to find and afford a new GPU very soon?

cool.

Depends on what crashes, if anything. If BTC alone falls (which is improbable) then GPU prices won't move an inch. If ETH, XMR, and a lot of smaller alts fall, then yes, it might happen.

Congrats on being one of the minority to profit on a wild speculative asset bubble.

Yay? I didn't even mean for it to wind up that way. I was supposed to HODL until PoS and be one of the early stakers, but prices got out of hand, and the USDT thing had me spooked, so . . .

Man, the tether stuff makes my head hurt, but it seems like it will probably be the pin that pierces the bubble.

It's pretty bizarre how Bitfinex/Tether Ltd. appear to be using USDT. Some speculate that Bitfinex "stole from itself", and then (effectively) printed USDT to cover up the losses, not to speak of the BFX tokens . . .

I did essentially the same thing you did, though I spaced out my realized capital gains over 2017 and 2018. Uncle Sam will love me (again) this April. Purchasing $500 worth of ETH back in 1H 2016 was an exceptional investment, and I would be very surprised if I can ever replicate that success.

You won't see gains like that again, at least not with the consistency that ETH delivered up to this point. I mean hell there was the XBC run-up last April, but that didn't last. Not really.

Look at the bright side, Uncle Sam will be pleased with anyone that actually pays taxes. Looks like most crypto guys haven't even bothered in the past 3-4 years.

The irony is strong with this one....

There is, but there isn't. Some crypto has real utility value (though probably not enough to justify current pricing . . . yet). USDT may be a complete scam, just like BitConnect. With BitConnect falling apart, USDT may be the next to go.

Edit: I guess the problem is, if those holders of USDT "launder" it through BTC, and then use something like Coinbase to pull out *actual* USD out of the equation... I mean, why is USDT actually even worth anything at all? Because we take their word for it? Doesn't that make it a fiat currency? At least Bitcoin has artificial scarcity going for it, which is backed by math.

Talk about a house of cards...

Ah, now you're getting it. Classic fiat makes no public claim to back anything with anything, other than the issuing authority's promise to repay any debts represented by the currency itself. USDT has a backing plan. Can it fulfill the requirements of its own charter? We don't know, and it's becoming murkier every day. One wonders how much more they can print before it all falls apart.

Really cool info on USDT! It makes a lot more sense to me now. It's crazy to think that USDT is the "fiat" replacement when keeping a cash balance on an exchange but scary there isn't a lot of control on their supply or price!!!

Welcome to the wonder of unregulated markets. If you practice due diligence, you'll be okay . . . mostly. For anyone crazy enough to accept USDT as compensation for crypto sales (or for anyone who was crazy enough to buy BFX tokens, often using USDT to do so), things could get ugly.

I admit that when I first read about USDT after looking at Poloniex, I had no idea it was so shady. Most people simply didn't know. My first red flag with USDT is that it looked like it was really hard to cash out USDT directly (I didn't know that it was technically possible on BitFinex). Something seemed wrong, so I didn't put much stock in holding any.

New Augur whitepaper came out today. They've been making good progress on the system, getting close to release now. I've been waiting a few years (since they announced it, not very long after Ethereum launch) for it, so I'm very excited.

Augur has been around for a minute. If they can actually put their business plan into action, that would be nice. It would be a real ICO success story.

 

[destrekor]

I don't own any Tether, have actually never traded anything into USDT (not with avoidance in mind, just rarely did it make sense - I tend to not constantly trade swings, so selling the peaks for USDT to buy back more cheaper just isn't something I do. I've considered it, many a time, but I am not always able to constantly pay attention to the markets. so I generally just HODL most of the time. HODLing has by far been my most successful strategy, I generally end up not doing so hot when I start shifting assets around. I really need to start making use of USDT to hedge and at least make the attempt to lock in gains to use to gain more after the dip.

That out of the way, I've always considered Tether a stop-gap measure in the end. Due to banking issues, having a fiat currency stand in lets you hold onto "cash" if you think the market is going to dip or outright crash, even though most banks don't want to touch crypto exchanges. As we find the market grow more regulated, this will change, and any need for Tether should basically vanish.

 

[Ns1]

thanks a lot assholes, I just bought myself an Eth mining rig. LOL

I figure if this goes bust at least I'll finally be able to play Crysis.

 

[Zeze]

thanks a lot assholes, I just bought myself an Eth mining rig. LOL

I figure if this goes bust at least I'll finally be able to play Crysis.

Wow. How much did that set you back

 

[ultimatebob]

thanks a lot assholes, I just bought myself an Eth mining rig. LOL

I figure if this goes bust at least I'll finally be able to play Crysis.

Oh, crap. Now I KNOW the crash is coming soon... we're running out of people who are telling us that we're wasting our time with this whole mining thing

 

[ultimatebob]

Wow. How much did that set you back

Depends on what he means by "mining rig". Getting a pre-built gaming PC with 2 1080's in it probably isn't much more than trying to get the cards on their own.

 

[Ns1]

Wow. How much did that set you back

$2400. Figure I paid a small markup given the current cost of cards in order to do zero work. It's perfect for what I have time for - meaning I don't have any time at all.

I wasn't willing to spend the $4-$10k on a larger rig...yet.

 

[IEC]

$2400. Figure I paid a small markup given the current cost of cards in order to do zero work. It's perfect for what I have time for - meaning I don't have any time at all.

I wasn't willing to spend the $4-$10k on a larger rig...yet.

Markup being small or not depends on what video cards are included.

 

[Ns1]

Markup being small or not depends on what video cards are included.

moot point now, sunk cost. only thing to do now is get a wallet, mine, and hodl.

 

[Zeze]

moot point now, sunk cost. only thing to do now is get a wallet, mine, and hodl.

I'm ignorant of the mining scene except everyone saying mining is no longer profitable for main coins.

So what are you mining? And what's expected profit weekly/monthly? (after tax + elec).

If my portfolio was $2400, I made bit more than double now ($3000~). And I didn't lift a finger beyond few clicks (vs setting up rig, maintain rig, run the thing hot, all the steps)

 

[ultimatebob]

moot point now, sunk cost. only thing to do now is get a wallet, mine, and hodl.

Miners don't usually HODL. They usually sell off a chunk of what they mine to pay for their equipment and electric bill. At that point, they're playing with the house's money.

 

[Ns1]

Miners don't usually HODL. They usually sell off a chunk of what they mine to pay for their equipment and electric bill. At that point, they're playing with the house's money.

i'm only in it for 2400, and I don't need the money to pay for the electric bill. I figure if I can get 3 ETH out of this thing for doing nothing I'll at least be content with that, with anything else being a bonus.

 

[zinfamous]

i'm only in it for 2400, and I don't need the money to pay for the electric bill. I figure if I can get 3 ETH out of this thing for doing nothing I'll at least be content with that, with anything else being a bonus.

ETH $2 tomorrow.

 

[Zeze]

ETH $2 tomorrow.

Huh? Eth is having a fantastic bull run in last couple weeks.

 

[Ns1]

ETH $2 tomorrow.

if that's the case then I just got a new gaming rig.

 

[zinfamous]

Huh? Eth is having a fantastic bull run in last couple weeks.

dude, smoke more weed or something.

 

[Ns1]

dude, smoke more weed or something.

corgis are really soft when you're pretty faded. just sayin'.

 

[Yakk]

Apparently Samsung will also be starting to produce ASIC chips for miners with orders being placed. TSMC not enough? This will be interesting...

 

[DrMrLordX]

thanks a lot assholes, I just bought myself an Eth mining rig. LOL

I figure if this goes bust at least I'll finally be able to play Crysis.

In case of crisis, play Crysis? Catchy.

Seriously, sorry dude. I've been eyeballing the situation since Nov. but the news that Tether Ltd. dumped their auditor (or got dumped by the auditor, which is actually worse) prompted me to start saying something about it.

That aside I personally have said on several occasions that ETH mining in particular may not be worth it due to looming PoS and other factors. Though I think some of my glowing comments about my Vega FE may be taken as an endorsement of ETH mining, albeit peripherally.

corgis are really soft when you're pretty faded. just sayin'.

They're soft even when you're stone cold sobre. Overall I think they are cool dogs, even if they have some bizarre (and often bad) personalities. I do not think I would want to own a herding dog.

Apparently Samsung will also be starting to produce ASIC chips for miners with orders being placed. TSMC not enough? This will be interesting...

ASICs to mine what? BTC?

 

[Yakk]

ASICs to mine what? BTC?

First standard SHA-256, later possibly ASIC resistant algorithms for coins like ETH.

Found an English news storyhere

https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/01/30/...pany-manufacturing-asic-chips-bitcoin-mining/

like TSMC, I'm a bit surprised a company the size of Samsung being able to get a project like this approved internally, must be a lot of money involved.

 

[momeNt]

Binance keeps withdrawal fees at about 10-12$ correct? So 1.9 VET is likely not to get changed any time soon? I am considering if I want to withdraw my VET now and keep them offline and go into long term hodling.

 

[Red Storm]

Binance keeps withdrawal fees at about 10-12$ correct? So 1.9 VET is likely not to get changed any time soon? I am considering if I want to withdraw my VET now and keep them offline and go into long term hodling.

Is $10-$12 worth the peace of mind that if Binance gets hacked, you lose all your VET? I would move it off of Binance asap.

 

[Aikouka]

thanks a lot assholes, I just bought myself an Eth mining rig. LOL

I figure if this goes bust at least I'll finally be able to play Crysis.

A friend of mine wants to purchase a rig from someone else, and I've been rather hesitant on suggesting that he go with it. My biggest worry is that I don't know what's going to happen to this landscape of altcoins. I hear a lot of remarks like, "This is just like the drop that we got a few years ago. It all went back up!" The problem is that I think people are forgetting that the world of cryptocurrency is NOTHING like it was three years ago.

I'd argue that we're in a glut of altcoins... especially when you consider that it takes almost no effort to make a new coin. You can literally take an existing coin's source code, change the name, and bada-bing-bada-boom... you've got a new coin! Just make some fancy website, give it a "purpose", and you're good. The problem is that some of these coins are made as jokes, but people don't care. They're literally buying them and hoping that the price goes up -- i.e. looking for the "next big thing". The creators of Dogecoin don't seem to understand why their coin keeps gaining value when they haven't worked on it in years. Ponzicoin was made as a joke, and yet it has been gaining value.

To me, there has to be a point where people step back and say, "Wait a minute... what the hell is this mess?"

 

[Ns1]

I don't argue with any of that, which is why I went the route that I did. Even if it all goes to shit I still have assets to resell, hopefully after I've mined at least some coins to hodl.

 

[momeNt]

Is $10-$12 worth the peace of mind that if Binance gets hacked, you lose all your VET? I would move it off of Binance asap.

i agree, withdrawn.

I am not sure how to handle my incremental mining transactions though. Maybe I will just hold them in ETH, and not put them in an exchange. The only way it would be worthwhile is if I speculated on penny coins with the 40$ or so a week my gaming 1070s give me.