Bitcoin

Huh … didn't realize that Bitcoins were a Vancouver-based idea. So the first-ever Bitcoin ATM launches in Vancouver.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/world-s-first-bitcoin-atm-goes-live-in-vancouver-next-week-1.2251820

Edumacate me … what's so great about this currency? I mean yah, you could theoretically use internationally w/out worrying about exchanging for local currency. But really, it's not that big of a deal to exchange, and my Visa card works anywhere.

Kn.

Isn't it treated like gold or silver where it's value fluctuates making it less a currency but more like a commodity?

I haven't looked into it either, but would love some edumacation as well

Out of curiosity, I tried to buy bitcoins a few months ago and found it to be a major hassle. The available options seemed a bit dodgy, and you had to wait a few days before the bitcoins showed up in your wallet.

The big draw for many people is the anonymity of transactions. I think it'll fill a niche (as it was for Silkroad), but don't think it's ever going to catch on with the general public.

Edit: Bitcoins are not a Vancouver based idea. Their origin is actually a pretty interesting story, as is the underlying technology used to "mine" them.

A far as I can tell, it's basically impossible to track and a great way to launder money.

The value is based purely on a demand as well as a pre-defined math-based model.

Wild price fluctuations as well as liquidity make it an interesting investment.

Wild price fluctuations as well as liquidity make it an interesting gamble.

fyp

If you got in on the ground floor mining for Bitcoins when they first started with a standard gaming rig and 4 good ATI cards you would be a multimillionaire today with only the cost of the above rig and the Hydro to run it.

Today its almost impossible to mine with standard hardware as the hash rate has gotten so hard that only very specific hardware using ASIC chips will work. And they cost thousands of bucks per card and the return rate is almost NIL at this point.

"the guys making these cards are making a killing as a sucker is born every minute"

You want my take on this and how to possibly make some cash in a strange way.

Prediction time.

Forget bitcoins. In 1-2 years time the hash rate will be impossible due to the flood of all the ASIC mining rigs out. Think a very sharp bell curve and bitcoins are just nearing the top.

That is when people are going to start mining for Litecoins "if bitcoins is gold, then litecoins is the silver of this market".

You can get great returns using standard Nvidia, ATI gaming cards worth a few hundred and even transfer them to bitcoins if you wish. The cost of litecoins right now is very low right now but the minute the above happens with bitcoins and no one can mine them everyone is going to jump onto litecoins.

Then the price will jump. If you mined for them now you will be almost on the ground floor for that jump.

Profit? perhaps…

Very little risk mining litecoins at this point. Just your PC and the cost of Hydro.

There are occasions where you may not want to use your visa, such as paying for VPN to traveling the dark net:

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/traveling-down-the-silkroad-to-buy-drugs-with-bitcoins

Huh … didn't realize that Bitcoins were a Vancouver-based idea. So the first-ever Bitcoin ATM launches in Vancouver.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/world-s-first-bitcoin-atm-goes-live-in-vancouver-next-week-1.2251820

Edumacate me … what's so great about this currency? I mean yah, you could theoretically use internationally w/out worrying about exchanging for local currency. But really, it's not that big of a deal to exchange, and my Visa card works anywhere.

Kn.

what makes bitcoins a vancouver based idea just by having the first atms there?

what makes bitcoins a vancouver based idea just by having the first atms there?

Slight mis-read of the article. I'd thought that "Bitcoiniacs", the Vancouver-based company that is installing the ATM was part of the inception of bitcoin currency. It seems they're more of a b/c trader.

Kn.

Today its almost impossible to mine with standard hardware as the hash rate has gotten so hard that only very specific hardware using ASIC chips will work. And they cost thousands of bucks per card and the return rate is almost NIL at this point.

"the guys making these cards are making a killing as a sucker is born every minute"

Totally, from what I understand in regards to Bitcoin mining is that, much like the gold rush, the money isn't made by the miners, but by the companies outfitting them. Bitcoin and Litecoin mining rigs are in demand right now and fetch a pretty penny. It's cheaper to buy into the mining game with a full blown ASIC setup than with a video card based rig, they cost way too much for a powerful card, they use far too much power and their hash rate is too slow.

Having said all of that, I've got a buddy who's picked up a couple of purpose built mining rigs and makes a pretty good return at the moment. The problem is, rigs are most profitable when they're brand new and as the calculations required for mining become more difficult, your returns diminish and the cost of hydro out soon outpaces the amount of coin you're able to mine.

I had time to kill downtown this morning, so I went to the ATM and bought some Bitcoin, mostly out of curiosity. I had already setup a wallet, so it only took a couple of minutes to process the transaction, and a couple more for the coins to show up in my wallet.

Much easier and faster (minutes vs. days) than the options I found online a few months ago. I was expecting to have my palm scanned, but I didn't even have to do that, possibly because I already had a wallet set up, so essentially anonymous as well.

As of last week, the ATM had processed $1M worth of transactions in its first month, so it's clearly meeting a need.

I knew a guy who bought ~$30k worth of Heroin with bitcoins lol

and u r talking about it?

fukkn smack dealers are scum..

I knew a guy who bought ~$30k worth of Heroin with bitcoins lol