Bitcoin

[natedagg]

I want to know how to buy bitcoins without being hacked or something shitty. Where do I start? Like, where is a suitable website to read about how to purchase bitcoins (ideally I want the ability to fund/purchase, but don't yet want to do it)?

 

[Maximus]

I want to know how to buy bitcoins without being hacked or something shitty. Where do I start? Like, where is a suitable website to read about how to purchase bitcoins (ideally I want the ability to fund/purchase, but don't yet want to do it)?

I don't know much about them at all. I did just see there was just a major attack. Only other thing i took away from it was that they said 10-15% were stolen at some point, before this substantial attack. The "expert" also said it was a bubble and unsustainable.

Might be a fun thing to try to play the price swings. It's obviously getting manipulated like crazy...pound it after every attack. :chuckles:

 

[natedagg]

Information travels quickly and I don't think that we have seen the top in bitcoin. I anticipate euro and yen instability and any way to move money untracked will be bid up. It actually sounds like a killer tax haven. Gold is good too but border crossing or metal detectors can fuck you. I am interested enough in btc to be sniffing around...

 

[Man Called X]

Just saying, I wouldn't go crazy with bitcoin. Yeah it's nice and all, but it absolutely can be stolen.

I won't lie. I've heard whispers as to how easy some of these thefts have been, and that scares even me. But.... man.. free money...

 

[gourimoko]

I have some money in bitcoin.. I'll post more later..

 

[Man Called X]

I have some money in bitcoin.. I'll post more later..

I'll try not to rob you. :chuckles:

 

[KI4MVP]

I had to google bitcoin because I never heard of it before. After reading up on it, I'm not sure I understand it. It sounds like issuing a steady stream of new stock on a non existent company. The bitcoin only has any value as long as people are willing to buy it, work for it, or accept it as payment for goods or services. I suppose the same is true of the US dollar or any other official currency. But what gives a bitcoin value other than people thinking it's cool?

As an online business owner, if I accepted bitcoins as payment for a t-shirt, what would I do with it besides sell them for dollars?Is there a single expense we have where we could pay with bitcoins instead of dollars?

Instead of buying them, you can get bitcoins just for running some "mining software" on your computer. This is the only way new bitcoins are made, they are made at a preset rate, and there is predetermined limit to how many will ultimately be made. Companies sell devices just to mine bitcoins, but they don't take bitcoins as payment. If the bitcoins are only generated at a fixed rate, isn't having everyone buy faster and faster hardware to mine bitcoins a losing proposition?

 

[ewizacft]

1 Create a new wallet for free at https://blockchain.info/

2 Go to https://www.bitinstant.com

3 Select Walmart in the pay from box

4 Select Bitcoin address from pay to box

5 Fill out the info asked for, use your address from the wallet you created. When selecting amount to pay remember there will be an additional 4 dollars added on.

6 Follow through the prompts and select the Walmart closest to you, it will generate a payment slip with the info you need. It will send the payment slip to your email within 5 minutes, copy the info under zipzap biller info or have the slip accessible on your phone. The amount to pay here is the full amount you will pay at Walmart.

7 Go to Walmart grab a blue moneygram slip. Fill out your info in the top portion, fill the info from the payment slip into the bottom portion.

8 Hand it to the person at the counter and pay.

 

[cavman]

I had to google bitcoin because I never heard of it before. After reading up on it, I'm not sure I understand it. It sounds like issuing a steady stream of new stock on a non existent company. The bitcoin only has any value as long as people are willing to buy it, work for it, or accept it as payment for goods or services. I suppose the same is true of the US dollar or any other official currency. But what gives a bitcoin value other than people thinking it's cool?

As an online business owner, if I accepted bitcoins as payment for a t-shirt, what would I do with it besides sell them for dollars?Is there a single expense we have where we could pay with bitcoins instead of dollars?

Instead of buying them, you can get bitcoins just for running some "mining software" on your computer. This is the only way new bitcoins are made, they are made at a preset rate, and there is predetermined limit to how many will ultimately be made. Companies sell devices just to mine bitcoins, but they don't take bitcoins as payment. If the bitcoins are only generated at a fixed rate, isn't having everyone buy faster and faster hardware to mine bitcoins a losing proposition?

The way I understood it was that the system creates an algorithm for hardware to solve, and every time a coin is created the algorithm changes. The better the hardware you have the better chance you have to solve the problem. You also have to make sure you're using certain types of GPU's or you will end up spending more on power then you will make in coins. Where people make a lot of money is buying and selling them.

 

[Giambiwannabe7]

Bitcoin seems more like a stock or something, than a currency to me. Maybe I just don't get it. I'm sure I don't fully understand it, but it almost seems like it is traded for it's value moreso than for a service or goods. I mean, isn't that basically the difference between a currency and a stock?

 

[cavman]

Bitcoin seems more like a stock or something, than a currency to me. Maybe I just don't get it. I'm sure I don't fully understand it, but it almost seems like it is traded for it's value moreso than for a service or goods. I mean, isn't that basically the difference between a currency and a stock?

I don't fully understand it myself, but yes I would say it is more like a stock at this point. 2 months ago 1 bitcoin was worth 20 us dollars, today it's worth 140 dollars. Smart people have cashed out. Now you will hear about all the success stories and how people made millions and the normal Joe blow will invest in it and the bubble will pop.

 

[Giambiwannabe7]

I don't fully understand it myself, but yes I would say it is more like a stock at this point. 2 months ago 1 bitcoin was worth 20 us dollars, today it's worth 140 dollars. Smart people have cashed out. Now you will hear about all the success stories and how people made millions and the normal Joe blow will invest in it and the bubble will pop.

Ya, it makes my spidey senses go off. I mean, is there not some kind of roots in a Ponzi scheme here? I'm no Bernie Madoff, but I think he would be proud of this thing. The lack of regulation is pretty scary to me. Seems like a high risk/high reward concept, that is all about timing. Where/when does it max out? I dunno. I'm just extremely skeptical/wary of this. Huge gains, followed by huge losses...fairly high theft...

 

[natedagg]

Exactly why I want to understand it: the average person thinks its a scam and won't look into it. I want to front run the change of opinion from scam to acceptable, if its there.

 

[KI4MVP]

The way I understood it was that the system creates an algorithm for hardware to solve, and every time a coin is created the algorithm changes. The better the hardware you have the better chance you have to solve the problem. You also have to make sure you're using certain types of GPU's or you will end up spending more on power then you will make in coins. Where people make a lot of money is buying and selling them.

the faster the hardware, the more difficult the algorithm becomes. The coins are generated at a constant rate independent of the speed of the hardware. So everyone spending real money for faster hardware accomplishes nothing. You can only gain a temporary advantage by being on the leading edge of each next generation of hardware. The one place I found that sells hardware is about to go froma $2500 box that run at 50 GH/s, whatever that is. To an unpriced box that runs at 1,500 GH/s. If everyone who has the old box (or equivalent) upgrades to the new box (or equivalent) for an unknown price, the only people that wind up better off are the people at the company that sells the boxes, because the algorithm itself will simply adjust out for the faster speed.

And more people joining in to run the fast hardware to generate bitcoins, the less bitcoins get generated per person per unit of time. This perhaps can be offset through transaction fees if there is also a growth in the number of people using bitcoins for something other than as a stock in a non existent company.

If I understand correctly, the data mining hardware itself is what sustains the bitcoin infrastructure, and is supposed to be what prevents theft as a thief is supposed to have to have more hardware power than all of the legitimate hardware combined in order to make any fraudulent changes. So there has to be some incentive for legitimate people to spend the money for faster and faster hardware. And how do you know if you have power efficient enough hardware when the value of the bitcoins themselves can fluctuate so widely.

One of the companies that sells hardware, accepts bitcoins, but only under the terms of

Bitcoins are accepted by a third party vendor that handles the exchange. All of our machines are sold for US Dollars

so they won't take bitcoins directly, they have to first be converted into dollars, and that only works as long as people can be convinced to spend dollars to buy bitcoins.

 

[Kouki]

FYI, bitcoins are typically used as payment for activities where individuals don't want their money traced. Such online drug selling, and it goes downhill from there.

Still seems like a way to make some money.