Cryptocurrencies

[TXCyclones]

Short of mining on my own, do any of you know how/where to go about buying Bitcoin or Ethereum? Please explain.

 

[jbindm]

I'm not gonna make it in the new world.

 

[ArgentCy]

Yes, but now I know to wait sometime for the eventual winners in the space. I don't think Bitcoin is going to be the most used currency. I will study them more in the next year or two and start to buy the most useful currencies.

You can start here with some good basic info. https://www.bitcoin.com/

Choosing a quality wallet is a very important step. Don't leave most of your coins in anything connected to the internet. And trusting them to be left out of your grasp is probably a bad idea.

 

[cycfan1]

Coinbase works well.

 

[ClonesFTW]

Coinbase; free app where you pay on the transactions.

 

[ArgentCy]

This is the wallet that is recommended by the Podcast that started talking about Bitcoin when it was under $10. Coinbase is probably the most popular exchange to purchase them on. However, many Libertarians do not like them because they have gone through every government hoop and track more than some of the others.

https://jaxx.io/

 

[tim_redd]

Coinbase is a easy place to get started, but has high fees. An exchange like gemini is a good spot. localbitcoins is good but beware of scams.

 

[FredCyclone]

If you are an amateur, COINBASE APP is the easiest one. Buy some LITECOIN (LTC), may blow up in a few years.

 

[LincolnWay187]

I mine etherium.

 

[CloneGuy8]

Bitcoin went over 10k briefly yesterday. I'm still not going to invest, but I'll be keeping my eye on it. Seems like that bubble will burst soon
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/30/bitcoin-dwarfing-some-of-the-largest-market-bubbles-of-all-time.html

 

[Cycsk]

I listened to a few videos about bitcoin. Is it really true that you can earn more by solving math problems?

That can't be real, can it? It sounds like CW handing out CyCash on Thanksgiving.

 

[Cycsk]

What will you give me for my 500k in CyCash? Wouldn't it be awesome to create a market that actually used CyCash?

 

[ArgentCy]

That is all the computers are doing when they "mine" any of these cryptocurriencies. Very, very hard math.​

 

[MeowingCows]

I listened to a few videos about bitcoin. Is it really true that you can earn more by solving math problems?

That can't be real, can it? It sounds like CW handing out CyCash on Thanksgiving.

In a very, very, very simple explanation, yes that's what's going on. What is techincally being done is called "hashing".

 

[TykeClone]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/27/bitcoin-mining-consumes-electricity-ireland

Bitcoin’s “mining” network uses more electricity in a year than the whole of Ireland, according to statistics released as the currency broke $9,000 for the first time.

According to Digiconomist the estimated power use of the bitcoin network, which is responsible for verifying transactions made with the cryptocurrency, is 30.14TWh a year, which exceeds that of 19 other European countries. At a continual power drain of 3.4GW, it means the network consumes five times more electricity than is produced by the largest wind farm in Europe, the London Array in the outer Thames Estuary, at 630MW.

At those levels of electricity consumption, each individual bitcoin transaction uses almost 300KWh of electricity – enough to boil around 36,000 kettles full of water. Although power consumption of other payment networks is harder to isolate, one of Visa’s two US data centres reportedly runs on about 2% of the power required by bitcoin. Between them, those two data centres conduct around 200m transactions a day; the bitcoin network handles fewer than 350,000.

 

[Doc]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/27/bitcoin-mining-consumes-electricity-ireland

Yeah, in China they're building hydroelectric plants in the middle of nowhere to power bitcoin mining operations. I wonder if we have excess generation here in the US that could be put to use mining. I read prices would have to get really high in order to make it worth it here.

 

[TykeClone]

Yeah, in China they're building hydroelectric plants in the middle of nowhere to power bitcoin mining operations. I wonder if we have excess generation here in the US that could be put to use mining. I read prices would have to get really high in order to make it worth it here.

If the power demands of bitcoin continue to follow the same curve, there won't ever be any such things as "excess generation"

 

[CloneGuy8]

I don't understand the 'mining' part of this at all

 

[StClone]

It is totally alien and yet is the "future." Chinese are on the cutting edge.

I don't understand the 'mining' part of this at all

 

[SpokaneCY]

There are several bitcoin operations in central WA due to the cheap BPA power. I still don't get HOW they make the fake "money".