Reply to: BitCoin article for adults

[Hobosapien]

Surely that last coin will take infinity to never actually be mined, and an infinite amount of energy? Sounds like trouble.

Yep, the curve gets so steep it makes sense to spend the effort on something else. They'll never get anywhere near the end of mining all the possible coins. Just a prediction but it seems likely. Unless someone finds a flaw in the algorithm to make it easier to mine the rest, or a new tech that makes it effortless compared to the current approach.

The mining is a load of bollox anyway. They may as well have just launched the 21 million coins at a fraction of a pence, first come first served, and be in the same position they are now.

[glebe digital]

It will be a lot sooner than that when all these 'mines' are closed and they move onto something else.

Surely that last coin will take infinity to never actually be mined, and an infinite amount of energy? Sounds like trouble.

[Hobosapien]

... It's another 100 years until all Bitcoins will be mined ...

It will be a lot sooner than that when all these 'mines' are closed and they move onto something else.

[Platypus]

FrontEndLoader,

the first sentence of the article,

"Bitcoin has made many skeptics, myself included, look silly this year.",

is not the conclusion.

Your homework for tonight is to develop the patience and persistence to read a whole 5 minute long written article.

Good luck, our ultimate goal will be you reading a whole LadyBird book.

Milan.

Milan, I have signed up for Seeking Alpha, and I read lots of articles on there. They are mostly written by amateur pundits looking for clicks to make money. They are mostly wrong about most everything. But bear in mind that a stopped clock is right twice a day.

#JustSayin

[_V_]

The way I see it, anything that was originally worth nothing, will eventually return to zero. Even mud has a price & some intrinsic value.

Looking forward to the end of the current unpleasantness, and will probably laugh an awful lot at the sob stories.

Dailymail sad faces to follow....

https://dailymailsadface.tumblr.com/

[glebe digital]

The way I see it, anything that was originally worth nothing, will eventually return to zero. Even mud has a price & some intrinsic value.

Looking forward to the end of the current unpleasantness, and will probably laugh an awful lot at the sob stories.

[Agent]

Surprised the green lobby aren't up in arms about the damage it's doing to the planet.

So while the algorithm is designed to allow a finite amount of bitcoins to be mined, the reality is that it becomes uneconomical way before that limit is reached so the actual limit is not far from where it's at now.

Hence the value shooting up as more people want to make a quick buck, basic supply and demand. Though who is selling them their coins if it has such a great future and an investment worth 'hodling'?

A strange comment, 'who will sell when it will be worth more in the future', that's economics 101, people will always buy and always sell, it's the way an economy works.

It's another 100 years until all Bitcoins will be mined, think about electricity production and renewable energy advancements during this time. In the UK alone in 1920, 99% of all energy was from coal, in 2016 that figure is 10% - with the increase in nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, biomass etc there's no telling where our energy will come from in 100 years time and how much it will cost. One thing is for sure, things will advance, and become more efficient. Add on to that, 100 years of GPU and CPU advancement, it's some unimaginable that it doesn't even warrant worrying about.

[_V_]

I think it's important to differentiate between bitcoin vs blockchain. Also the PoW coins vs PoS coins.

https://www.ccn.com/bitcoins-future-...proof-of-work/

Worth reading this too.

https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/bitco...-issues/18019/

[Jog On]

Surprised the green lobby aren't up in arms about the damage it's doing to the planet.

So while the algorithm is designed to allow a finite amount of bitcoins to be mined, the reality is that it becomes uneconomical way before that limit is reached so the actual limit is not far from where it's at now.

Hence the value shooting up as more people want to make a quick buck, basic supply and demand. Though who is selling them their coins if it has such a great future and an investment worth 'hodling'?

The exchanges and people on P2P networks (bisque). Scooter was selling some last week. I might cash some out soonish as well.

[Hobosapien]

Mining for BTC requires serious power. That is something that needs looking at ASAP.

Surprised the green lobby aren't up in arms about the damage it's doing to the planet.

So while the algorithm is designed to allow a finite amount of bitcoins to be mined, the reality is that it becomes uneconomical way before that limit is reached so the actual limit is not far from where it's at now.

Hence the value shooting up as more people want to make a quick buck, basic supply and demand. Though who is selling them their coins if it has such a great future and an investment worth 'hodling'?

[Hobosapien]

... the big rush into we're seeing now is Joe public clambering in while it's still relatively cheap ...

While they're seeing mad gains. Easy money attracts dumb investors.

Smarter investors tag along and get out while there's still dumb investors to sell to.

[Bean]

So

"How many bitcoins are there?
When the algorithm was created under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto—which in Japanese is as common a name as Steve Smith—the individual(s) set a finite limit on the number of bitcoins that will ever exist: 21 million. Currently, more than 12 million are in circulation. That means that a little less than 9 million bitcoins are waiting to be discovered."

Full article here

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/23/cnbc...-your-own.html

I just do not understand this at all - he just made something up and now it is a currency

Is the attraction simply that it is 'untraceable' currency? is that what gives it actual value?

Think of it as a fad, to most people. An electronic currency, that costs real money and is able to be used to buy things in certain places.

Decentralised (not government-owned nor controlled nor manipulated like QE [yet]) I think would be the main reason for others wanting in.

I believe there's a few browser-based mining websites now that'll give you something (not bitcoins though, just some altcoins) for your CPU time....

Google Crypto Kitties if you want to lose the will to live

[Jog On]

So

"How many bitcoins are there?
When the algorithm was created under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto—which in Japanese is as common a name as Steve Smith—the individual(s) set a finite limit on the number of bitcoins that will ever exist: 21 million. Currently, more than 12 million are in circulation. That means that a little less than 9 million bitcoins are waiting to be discovered."

Full article here

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/23/cnbc...-your-own.html

I just do not understand this at all - he just made something up and now it is a currency

Is the attraction simply that it is 'untraceable' currency? is that what gives it actual value?

It's that there is a finite amount and it's decentralised and bypasses banks. Anonymity won't be around for much longer but that's not a bad thing. People are embracing it because it's a way of transacting without having to store money in a bank, pay their fees and let them lend it out 9x over.

Bitcoin came out in 2009 as a result of the crash and credit crunch - it's basically taking power away from the bankers and enabling financial transactions (and smart contracts) peer-to-peer.

It's still in it's infancy so there are lots of teething problems but the big rush into we're seeing now is Joe public clambering in while it's still relatively cheap and probably institutional/big money buying up huge swathes of it so they can try and dominate it.

[Jog On]

As far as I know, mining in this country is not viable due to electricity and equipment costs.

You need a dedicated mining rig rather than a laptop/PC. Maybe some other coins it could be done, but I doubt it.

Mining for BTC requires serious power. That is something that needs looking at ASAP.

[milanbenes]

I haven't done this previously, so why do you think I will in the future?

very good we are in agreement

Milan.