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Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

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Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#141

Post by jlogsdon »

jmharvey wrote: post #90
tocomment wrote: post #48

I'm curious, why hasn't anyone implemented a mining client in javascript, so you could in effect has visitors to your website mine coins for you. It might be a create way to fund content instead of advertising.

We can do some back-of-the-envelope math to estimate how much you could make doing this. Let's assume that the benefit from bitcoin mining is roughly equal to the cost of the electricity used. Electricity in the US costs about 12 cents per kWh. Let's suppose you can get your web site visitors to put 100W of extra power into mining bitcoins for you. And let's say your visitor spends 5 minutes (1/12 of an hour) on your…

> Your JS mining tool almost certainly won't be as efficient as the specialized GPU rigs

GPU rigs have even been greatly surpassed in hashes/sec by the ASIC rigs (of which only 1 real batch has gone out, all the other providers are probably scams).

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#142

Post by deepblueocean »

jeffasinger wrote: post #133
waffle_ss wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some real concerns with Bitcoin. For example, I was going to write an app that accepts Bitcoins as payment. However, the problem is that the amount of time it takes for a transaction to become "verified," i.e. be part of the official block chain, can take up to 10 minutes. What am I supposed to present to the user during this time? Am I supposed to tell them that their payment may or may not have been accep…

As soon as your bitcoin node receives the signed transaction (should be seconds), approve the transaction, but listen for other spends of those same coins. After a few seconds, the cost of double spending those coins would be basically the same as the reward for mining a block, so it's unlikely that someone would defraud you for something worth less than ~$2,000. There's almost nothing you could be selling online tha…

This is just wrong - see the Hal Finney attack. Basically, an attacker can pre-mine a block with the double-spent coin in it but not announce it. Once an attacker spends the coin and gets something of value, they can immediately announce their block, pay the coin to themselves instead, and keep the goods.

It's true that it would be hard to get a lot of value this way, but it's still the case that the person accepting the payment must be wary of the possibility and, as you say, be able to reverse the transaction if the coin ends up double-spent.

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#143

Post by [deleted] »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #101
zalzane wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A government entity looking to destroy the market wouldn't necessarily care about getting a return. Even if they were, take a look at what happened yesterday when someone dumped 5k bitcoins onto mtgox. http://i.imgur.com/K8T4F0Y.png

The mini-crash yesterday was interesting. The 5k dump itself only moved the price down a couple of dollars, but there was a mass movement of smaller transactions that followed it and caused the price to really drop. My personal (amateur) theory is that people were hovering over their "sell" buttons, looking to cash out as we approach the landmark $100 point. Once they thought someone with a lot of coins was bailing,…

[deleted]

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#144

Post by niggler »

cookiecaper wrote: post #140
dragontamer wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or... you know... Gold. That other currency that has transcended governments?

Gold is not really practical for modern commerce without first converting it into an alternate currency (passthroughs in dollars, for instance) or trusting a third-party. Bitcoin can be traded really easily, no conversion or trusted intermediary (unless you count the btc swarm) necessary.

For those who have forgotten, US dollars used to be certificates backed by silver:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/US-%245-...

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#148

Post by cookiecaper »

elmuchoprez wrote: post #25
mrkmcknz wrote: post #17

I want to be able to get behind Bitcoin I really do. I just don't understand the purpose it serves. As an asset class it's far too volatile even for someone who plays naked options. Imagine putting $10,000 into an asset class that swings 20-30% daily on a regular basis. Trading curbs eat your heart out. As a currency it's too impractical and there are serious hurdles involved with turning central bank currency into B…

I see BTC as a proof-of-concept experiment right now more than anything else. And I think it's still too early to tell what it's actually proving.

I agree. BTC is a great forerunner to a system that addresses some of its more serious issues, but I don't think it's practical for widespread proliferation.

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#149

Post by cookiecaper »

3am wrote: post #109
cs702 wrote: post #35

As usual on HN, any submission about Bitcoin is met with concerned comments about its high volatility, present impracticality as a currency, disadvantages versus precious metals, current concentration of transactions in a single exchange (MtGox), potential for market manipulation by governments and/or speculators, etc. This is analogous to being present at the creation of the World Wide Web, but instead of getting ex…

Money itself is not a good asset. I don't understand the point of excessive cash savings - cash is a vehicle for trade and transfer assets, not an asset in and of itself. Ie, if I have leftover money, I will put it in investment funds that purchase ownership stakes in companies (stocks), loans it to borrowers (bonds), or pay off my mortgage (real estate). Even gold or other precious metals. I try to keep a conservati…

Money is just an abbreviation, an emblem of value. People commonly agree to use this thing that is worthless by itself because it's much easier to trade little pieces of paper and metal (or, in today's economy, move bits around) than it is to trade solid, final goods. People horde both dollars and bitcoins on the presumption that persons will continue to prefer trades facilitated by these value emblems instead of the much clunkier trade-by-solid-goods only.

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#150

Post by [deleted] »

kyledrake wrote: post #116

So, in a sentence: Bitcoin is being used by people as a highly liquid, defensive store of value from within Cyprus, where capital controls are preventing people from moving their money out through traditional means. This is what gold used to be used for. But gold is not liquid, and Bitcoin is. It appears that hackers have made something better than gold, the longest standing store of value in human history. What an i…

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