Bitcoins, and Bitcoin Mining...?

[Figit090]

Anyone here do it? I somehow just learned about it (apparently it's been around since 2009...oh well ).

I will participate in folding to help with that someday but I am apprehensive to consider bitcoin mining. It sounds a lot like a new stock market with the way it fluctuates, and doesn't seem to offer much unless you have a very powerful computer and/or join a team and take shares.

Does anyone here bother trying to mine bitcoins? I don't believe it's math problems are useful for solving medical problems like the research being conducted with folding@home, so I wanted to ask about it.
What are your thoughts, experiences, etc...?

Unless I'm wrong in what I've read, I wish it WAS like folding, or affiliated, so bitcoin miners could use their expensive rigs to fight diseases, and folders could get paid for their electricity bill. (something I have to consider, aside from the cost of a GPU).

 

[fixitman04]

ok... first question... im sure you saw this coming so.... what the hell are you talking about? what is a bitcoin?

 

[Figit090]

ok... first question... im sure you saw this coming so.... what the hell are you talking about? what is a bitcoin?

I didn't see it coming. Either you don't know and thus can't answer, your know and decide to post, or you google it.

Here you go for some basics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin
http://bitcoin.org/en/
http://business.time.com/2013/04/12/the-real-significance-of-the-bitcoin-boom-and-bust/

 

[SupraMario]

Good luck mining, basically if you didn't do it in the start like many of us did...your KWs (electrical bill) are going to kill you. This is why mining groups are huge now. Honestly it's really not worth it. Another issue with bitcoins is if you saw recently the price sky rocketed and then plummeted. Until all the coins have been mined...you will see massive spikes like the last weeks. It's a cool thing, but right now people are just buying and selling them to make money....

 

[mkiiSupraMan18]

Not interested.

People sell WoW gold for money, this pretty much seems the same to me.

 

[91Supra313]

I was reading on this just now and thought to myself....wow what a waste of time. No offense, but, wouldn't it be more worthwhile to actually work ( not saying you but in general ) then play with Monopoly money all day? I mean this is not even real currency we are talking about and people are buying and selling it. So some smart guy created an idea of fake currency, and then some dumb ass bought it. Now everyone wants in on the bandwagon..... And before anyone chimes in and ramrods me saying "oh it's real" 18 March 2013 US Treasury says
It classified digital currencies and other digital payment systems such as bitcoin as "virtual currencies" because they are not legal tender under any sovereign jurisdiction

 

[Supracentral]

Just another fiat currency. It's worth what people think it is, nothing more or less. Unlike the dollar, it's new which makes it unstable and prone to failure.

 

[fixitman04]

i was thinking that if he coulnd explain it himself....he is destined to fail... plus i really had no idea what a bitcoin is... sounds liked a huge waste of time and effort...much like any scam

 

[Figit090]

awesome, I was feeling the same so I thought I'd check somewhere that I have a better feel of the intellegence of some of the individuals I may see replies from.

I see people posting on another forum about graphics cards asking "IS THIS GOOD FOR BITCOIN MINING!?" like complete morons, then I thought ok...what the hell is a bitcoin (same situation as you fixitman). When I found blogs about it and a following including legit businesses (or so I've read) accepting it, I wanted to check that it wasn't something I could consider doing, or rather having my computer do. The thought that it uses electricity to solve seemingly pointless equations rather than folding for useful data is a bit bothersome... so much invested.

One review of it accurately described it like the tulipmania, and I pretty much knew it was a wishy-washy ordeal when they used that comparison, but wanted to check anyway. http://business.time.com/2013/04/12/the-real-significance-of-the-bitcoin-boom-and-bust/

Thanks for all the replies! Glad I can ignore it. If it flies in value like some stupid crazy stock I'll be jealous, but when it likely doesn't go very far I'll be happy that I stuck to business.