BitCoins

[bubzuru]

what are bitcoins and what is all this talk of mining ?
someone please enlighten me ?

[ande]

Come on man... You cant expect any other reply: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=bitcoin%20mining

[bubzuru]

haha i should of seen it coming.
i was hoping for a discussion to go with it.

so anybody have any ideas , want to talk to me about it ?

[theellimist]

Bitcoins are a digital currency that you can buy stuff online with. They are going for about 1 bitcoin for 9 USD at the moment, and still rising.

[Daemon]

Haha I was just trying to figure that question out last week. And in all fairness, it is an abstract concept that took me a solid day to figure out. So here goes with what I coukd figure out about them bubzuru

Bitcoins are a currency that is transferred virtually anonymously through complex mathematical algorithms called blocks. These blocks are super complex, and must be solved in order to allow future transactions. Bitcoin mining is the act of using your GPU to solve these equations, for which you are rewarded 50 bitcoins. This is also how bitcoins are added to make the available currency pool larger. These bitcoin.generations are severly reatricted however due to a number of factors.

First, they are capped at 21 million. After 21 million bitcoins are generated there will be no more
Second, every week an algorithm runs and adjusts the complexity of the blocks so that bitcoins are geberated at roughly the same rate that gold is mined. At this point it takes about 2 weeks to solve a block and only the person who solved it gets the coins. 

Also, I say virtually anonymous because anyone with no life can go back and look at blocks to trace transactions. However, it just aint worth their time cause of everything they would have to sort throufh. So it is possible, but 99% unlikely. Or thereabouts

So doing bitcoin mining on your own comp.just ain't worth the time tbh, however joining a bitcoin mining pool could be worth it. you'll have to check that out yourself. If I did a poor job explaining thia, ask for clarification and ill do what I can. Cahse I do think the hows and whys of bitcoins are quite confusing lol

[huck_fin]

you beat me to it.
remmeber bitcoins are over 6$ a piece, not 1$. It could be interesting just get a hands on with the security behind it.  I remember bitcoins being one of the more complicated things ive found.

[Ragehottie]

My brother got into bitcoins while the where like $0.10 and he, thinking it wasnt going anywhere, got like 50 bitcoins. Then they shot up to like 20-30 a piece. He was really pissed because he could have made a fortune.

[Kulverstukas]

bitcoins... when paypal ain't enough.
really tho, the idea is bullshit. I don't understand why people are so freaky about it.

[ande]

bitcoins... when paypal ain't enough.
really tho, the idea is bullshit. I don't understand why people are so freaky about it.

I disagree. It is a cool concept, no governments fucking shit up and so on. However, the big players are winning on this currency as well.

[Daemon]

bitcoins... when paypal ain't enough.
really tho, the idea is bullshit. I don't understand why people are so freaky about it.

Well part of it is the anonymity, not perfect but pretty damn close. And bitcoins can never go back on transactions, reverse them, anything of the sort. Once it's made, its safely yours and you wont lose it. Also, PayPal will turn over records if law enforcement asks for it whereas the Bitcoin record is publicly available but as a super complex math equation that would be a royal pain to track a payment and to add to the confusion if your doing something with bitcoins your probably going to use some sort of proxy as well... Finally, the investment opportunity like Ragehottie mentioned. While investing now won't be quite as good as it was when bitcoins first started, it could still be worth the cash as bitcoins rise in value. Pay $6 each now and sell for $20 each in 5 years, something along those lines

[p_2001]

Well part of it is the anonymity, not perfect but pretty damn close. And bitcoins can never go back on transactions, reverse them, anything of the sort. Once it's made, its safely yours and you wont lose it. Also, PayPal will turn over records if law enforcement asks for it whereas the Bitcoin record is publicly available but as a super complex math equation that would be a royal pain to track a payment and to add to the confusion if your doing something with bitcoins your probably going to use some sort of proxy as well... Finally, the investment opportunity like Ragehottie mentioned. While investing now won't be quite as good as it was when bitcoins first started, it could still be worth the cash as bitcoins rise in value. Pay $6 each now and sell for $20 each in 5 years, something along those lines

and what's the point in investing in bitcoin when there is stock and real estate?
10 % a month is not difficult in stocks.

[Daemon]

and what's the point in investing in bitcoin when there is stock and real estate?
10 % a month is not difficult in stocks.

Very true. But bitcoins can also be invested in without any cash. Just start mining, and either try to do it yourself or join a mining pool. Personally I don't think it's worth it atm, but other people seem to think it is.

[bubzuru]

Very true. But bitcoins can also be invested in without any cash. Just start mining, and either try to do it yourself or join a mining pool. Personally I don't think it's worth it atm, but other people seem to think it is.

ok how does a mining pool work , can i make my own with a bot-net ?

[Ragehottie]

ok how does a mining pool work , can i make my own with a bot-net ?

You can, I'm not sure off the top of my head, but I know you can.

[Daemon]

ok how does a mining pool work , can i make my own with a bot-net ?

Yes you can, though what I meant by pool is a bunch of people pooling their resources to do bitcoin mining, and they split the rewards. There is a list of current pools here  that you can join, and it talks about how rewards/work is split.

edit* changed the misinformation