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Bitcoin ASIC Miner from BFL, finally

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Re: Bitcoin ASIC Miner from BFL, finally

#71
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will people want to borrow in defalationary biased currency though? Better to borrow in Bernanke Bucks where there is an unstoppable torrent being emitted monthly. IMHO the Real estate bubble was from the Fed bailing the prior tech bubble by suppressing interest rates - which encourages borrowing. When loans are paid back, the currency created by taking the loan is extinguished but they have been juicing the system b…

If the USD pops then BTC may be less deflationary. The bubble did not pop because mortgages were paid back. Loans are generally repaid in currency, paying back a loan creates even more currency as the additional currency created by the interest becomes an asset against which loans can be issued.

I see your point - the principal is repaid but the interest stays in circulation.

Agree mortgages didn't pop due to being paid back.

Re: Bitcoin ASIC Miner from BFL, finally

#72
post #69
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the USD pops then BTC may be less deflationary. The bubble did not pop because mortgages were paid back. Loans are generally repaid in currency, paying back a loan creates even more currency as the additional currency created by the interest becomes an asset against which loans can be issued.

The idea the USD is going to collapse is farcical. It would be a global catastrophe of a scale not yet seen, but also not threatened. Meanwhile, BTC gains and loses 50 - 80% of its value in a single day. I wonder which is more stable .

Agree BTC is way too unstable but being the the best nag in the glue factory doesn't mean much.

USD collapse would certainly be a far reaching global event but that doesn't mean it will not happen. I'm sure all prior entities with reserve status also thought their position unasailable.

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/im...

Global support for it is waning. China is doing direct currency swap deals and is no longer supporting USD by stacking treasuries at the rate it was. Russia is dishoarding treasuries too. The current trade deficit is propped up by the Fed buying USG bonds and suppressing interest rates. USD is not long for this world in its current form.

Re: Bitcoin ASIC Miner from BFL, finally

#73
post #69
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the USD pops then BTC may be less deflationary. The bubble did not pop because mortgages were paid back. Loans are generally repaid in currency, paying back a loan creates even more currency as the additional currency created by the interest becomes an asset against which loans can be issued.

The idea the USD is going to collapse is farcical. It would be a global catastrophe of a scale not yet seen, but also not threatened. Meanwhile, BTC gains and loses 50 - 80% of its value in a single day. I wonder which is more stable .

> The idea the USD is going to collapse is farcical. It would be a global catastrophe of a scale not yet seen, but also not threatened.

In the short term you are probably right. In the long term you are almost certainly wrong.

Re: Bitcoin ASIC Miner from BFL, finally

#74
post #52
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does the method of mining mean that a currency should not be accepted? Gold serves as a currency yet the methods of mining have changed drastically in the last 1,000 years.

> Gold serves as a currency Not for the last 80 years it hasn't..

Actually 39 years. The USD was a token for gold until Nixon shock.

Re: Bitcoin ASIC Miner from BFL, finally

#75
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Gold serves as a currency Not for the last 80 years it hasn't..

Actually 39 years. The USD was a token for gold until Nixon shock.

Yeah but that I define as "monetary metal for Central Bank settlements" gold, not "day-to-day normal-people transactional currency". Was it still "money" / monetary after 33? Certainly, until '71 (42 years ago, not 39). But "currency" (circulating to facilitate/lubricate individual micro rather than macro exchange&trade)? Hardly ;) Also not "legal tender" -- as in, for courts enforcing contract liabilities or tax payments.

TL;DR: only outside the US, only to Central Banks.

Re: Bitcoin ASIC Miner from BFL, finally

#76
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea the USD is going to collapse is farcical. It would be a global catastrophe of a scale not yet seen, but also not threatened. Meanwhile, BTC gains and loses 50 - 80% of its value in a single day. I wonder which is more stable .

> The idea the USD is going to collapse is farcical. It would be a global catastrophe of a scale not yet seen, but also not threatened. In the short term you are probably right. In the long term you are almost certainly wrong.

Hardly. What long term destabilizing factors would make people abandon the USD - the currency of the current global military hegemon, if nothing else?

Re: Bitcoin ASIC Miner from BFL, finally

#77
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea the USD is going to collapse is farcical. It would be a global catastrophe of a scale not yet seen, but also not threatened. Meanwhile, BTC gains and loses 50 - 80% of its value in a single day. I wonder which is more stable .

Agree BTC is way too unstable but being the the best nag in the glue factory doesn't mean much. USD collapse would certainly be a far reaching global event but that doesn't mean it will not happen. I'm sure all prior entities with reserve status also thought their position unasailable. http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/im... Global support for it is waning. China is doing direct currency swap…

Plenty of currencies exist without being de facto global currencies and survive just fine. The question is what makes the USD likely to collapse as a currency altogether - rather then simply behave more like the normal internal currency of a sovereign nation?

People don't go around predicting the decline and fall of the Australian dollar for example.

Re: Bitcoin ASIC Miner from BFL, finally

#79
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The idea the USD is going to collapse is farcical. It would be a global catastrophe of a scale not yet seen, but also not threatened. In the short term you are probably right. In the long term you are almost certainly wrong.

Hardly. What long term destabilizing factors would make people abandon the USD - the currency of the current global military hegemon, if nothing else?

rampant inflation.

Re: Bitcoin ASIC Miner from BFL, finally

#80
post #25

I work this out to be about 180 Mhash/J, which is 80-100x more energy efficient than any GPU mining. Also, for anyone wondering: At current difficulty and rate of exchange this will cost you <$0.10 a day to run and generate $40 of Bitcoin.

$40 per day?

Yes, sorry.
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