Bitcoins... anyone look into this?

[GranteedEV]

I'm not sure if it's just nonsense or legit... but it seems to be a popular topic these days. The concept seems a bit too avant garde for me but I just went and installed my first bitcoin wallet. Trying to figure this mining stuff out now.

 

[Alex2507]

I can't figure out how to use a smart phone ... this is probably not for me.

The wiki link: Bitcoin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ImcLoud]

I thought that was for drug dealers and grifters

 

[its phillip]

I should have started mining years ago. I'm not going to bother now though.

 

[Ponzio]

Let's see, money without a central bank to back it up.

No thanks.

 

[Adam]

I've never used them, but you reminded me of this story that my brother told me about last year. That would have been nice.

 

[Rickster71]

Let's see, money without a central bank to back it up.

No thanks.

Sounds a little like the USA

 

[Nestor]

This Business Week cover tells you everything you need to know about bitcoin:

 

[Ponzio]

Sounds a little like the USA

Sounds like most of the economically viable nations and top 500 corporations in the world, with a line of credit. Do I have a naïve budget, it's the end of world, OMG the Chinese will own us and what about our children's future purist on my hands?

if I don't respond, it's because I'm stepping out right now but I'll be back to discuss this further, if you care to.

Nothing like discussing a subject we both are not experts in and feeling morally superior.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I see 2 things in relation to bitcoin :
a) It will mostly fail shortly due to pressure from governments - they don't like competition - aka they will simply continue to shutdown exchanges
b) All of these ASIC/FPGA machines designed to very efficiently to mine bitcoins (significantly faster that pc hardware - cpu/gpu) will be turned into helping to crack long passwords even faster

some reading links:
Bitcoin: inside the encrypted, peer-to-peer digital currency | Ars Technica
Crazy currency: The more I report on Bitcoin, the weirder it gets | Ars Technica
Gold in them bits: Inside the world’s most mysterious Bitcoin mining company | Ars Technica

 

[avnetguy]

To me Bitcoin is a gamble, the price is far to volatile to be used as a currency.
Check out the price chart over the past 4 months, the value is all over the place.

 

[Rickster71]

Sounds a little like the USA

Sounds like most of the economically viable nations and top 500 corporations in the world, with a line of credit. Do I have a naïve budget, it's the end of world, OMG the Chinese will own us and what about our children's future purist on my hands?

if I don't respond, it's because I'm stepping out right now but I'll be back to discuss this further, if you care to.

Nothing like discussing a subject we both are not experts in and feeling morally superior.

Well, that's one way of taking my, 'tongue in cheek' post and running with it.

 

[Ponzio]

Well, that's one way of taking my, 'tongue in cheek' post and running with it.

Sorry Rick. my bad.

 

[ski2xblack]

Highly speculative.

I think the psychology of the bull market helped fuel the hype with bitcoin. In a bull market, everything seems doable/possible/profitable. In reality, it needs some of the basics that real currencies have before it's ready for prime time.