A coworker of mine has recently built a Bitcoin mining rig and has been telling me about his financial gains from the processing of Bitcoins. I'm not at all familiar with Bitcoin and the only concept I have grasped so far is that you essentially get paid for mining Bitcoins and solving cryptographic equations. To do that efficiently you'll need a fast connection (10 to 50Mbs) to the Internet and some dedicated powerful single board computers. So far my coworker has $600-ish wrapped up in dedicated hardware and has made a few transactions with businesses that accept Bitcoins. I'm curious to know if anyone on this blog is doing Bitcoin mining and if they are willing to share their experiences and ROI.
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Since there are no regulatory bodies managing Bitcoins there are no guarantees or insurances for the Bitcoins you mine and the value is volatile. Because Bitcoins are new there isn't much data to reference to attempt to find trending in the market. Something about the Bitcoin model just doesn't pass my smell test; money paid to me for cracking cryptographic equations that I have no idea who or why I'm cracking those equations for.
Maybe I'm just a cranky old bastard and approach every new thing with suspicion and skepticism... I'm reluctant to fork over money for more hardware that will sit in my house and crack encrypted files when the value of the Bitcoin is volatile and there are no guarantees for an ROI much less any profit. On the other hand, I had to buy a new monitor last night and the vendor accepted Bitcoin as one of the payment options so if all I had to do was keep my hardware running and pay my electricity bill every month maybe it would be worth it.
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.
"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus
He's making fractions of a Bitcoin everyday, to me that seems almost counter productive. My bigger concern is why and for whom I'd be cracking the cryptographic equations; is it possible I'd be helping criminal organizations or Gubments hostile to the US of A?
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.
"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus
It isn't as sinister as that. Bitcoin can only release a set amount of currency every day so the more miners you have the less likely you will get a piece, or your piece will be smaller.
Much different than the Fed which can print as much money as they need daily. And the money in your wallet is worth less every day.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
