Bitcoin Miners Face Fight For Survival As New Supply Halves

Megalith

Megalith

24-bit/48kHz
Staff member
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
13,000
Bitcoin miners will see drastically reduced returns beginning this weekend, as the “four year” rule written in bitcoin’s code will kick in. The most efficient miners should actually benefit from this, as competition will be eliminated.

…the reward for miners will be slashed in half. Written into bitcoin's code when it was invented in 2008 was a rule dictating that the prize would be halved every four years, in a step designed to keep a lid on bitcoin inflation. From around 1700 GMT on Saturday, instead of 25 bitcoins up for grabs globally every 10 minutes, worth around $16,000 at the current rate BTC=BTSP, there will be just 12.5. That means only the mining companies with the leanest operations will survive the ensuing profit hit.
 
When I think about the time when Bitcoin first came to light (and I had a chance to get involved with it right at the start, literally - I could be a millionaire at this point if I had made a decision one way instead of how I actually decided) I had no idea at that time it was going to blow up the way it did, then die, then blow up again, the die, etc. Looking back I do have that regret amongst many many others (could have gotten in on the Netscape IPO many years ago, etc but always decided against such actions) but then again when I see what's become of it as well as the rash of other cryptocurrencies that have appeared in the past 8 years or so I find myself not regretting it nearly as bad.

The sheer amount of actual energy/electricity being used to create Bitcoins makes their bloated ridiculous values seem even more ridiculous and just serves to prove - at least to me, that is - that people really are fucking stupid by continually putting such values on things that literally do not even exist in reality and yet people seem to think they're worth anything at all. :D
 
For those uninformed, this will lead to a new calculative equilibrium. As miners go offline, the difficulty will drop, and the profitability for miners will redistribute. This will be a repeating cycle, and there will still be profit remaining for the majority. This generally ensures that the ecosystem will survive. This is so because if too many miners go offline, the difficulty will drop enough to enable newcomers in the ecosystem. It's quite a good method really.
 
I wonder if this will drive up the value. Maybe worth an investment. hmmmm. Been a couple years since I've been into the bitcoin world.
 
BloodyIron said:
For those uninformed, this will lead to a new calculative equilibrium. As miners go offline, the difficulty will drop, and the profitability for miners will redistribute. This will be a repeating cycle, and there will still be profit remaining for the majority. This generally ensures that the ecosystem will survive. This is so because if too many miners go offline, the difficulty will drop enough to enable newcomers in the ecosystem. It's quite a good method really.
Click to expand...

...that didn't take into account the possibility that China would take control of Bitcoin with bitcoin farms the size of aircraft hangers. The difficulty will never drop again. Are you aware that 80% of Bitcoin is traded in Chinese Yuan?
 
Tiberian said:
When I think about the time when Bitcoin first came to light (and I had a chance to get involved with it right at the start, literally - I could be a millionaire at this point if I had made a decision one way instead of how I actually decided) I had no idea at that time it was going to blow up the way it did, then die, then blow up again, the die, etc. Looking back I do have that regret amongst many many others (could have gotten in on the Netscape IPO many years ago, etc but always decided against such actions) but then again when I see what's become of it as well as the rash of other cryptocurrencies that have appeared in the past 8 years or so I find myself not regretting it nearly as bad.

The sheer amount of actual energy/electricity being used to create Bitcoins makes their bloated ridiculous values seem even more ridiculous and just serves to prove - at least to me, that is - that people really are fucking stupid by continually putting such values on things that literally do not even exist in reality and yet people seem to think they're worth anything at all. :D
Click to expand...

it took off because it's a free currency, free as in freedom, as it should be and as real money is, like gold and silver for example
 
Tiberian said:
When I think about the time when Bitcoin first came to light (and I had a chance to get involved with it right at the start, literally - I could be a millionaire at this point if I had made a decision one way instead of how I actually decided) I had no idea at that time it was going to blow up the way it did, then die, then blow up again, the die, etc. Looking back I do have that regret amongst many many others (could have gotten in on the Netscape IPO many years ago, etc but always decided against such actions) but then again when I see what's become of it as well as the rash of other cryptocurrencies that have appeared in the past 8 years or so I find myself not regretting it nearly as bad.

The sheer amount of actual energy/electricity being used to create Bitcoins makes their bloated ridiculous values seem even more ridiculous and just serves to prove - at least to me, that is - that people really are fucking stupid by continually putting such values on things that literally do not even exist in reality and yet people seem to think they're worth anything at all. :D
Click to expand...

Are you talking about Bitcoin? Or the EU in the U.K? Or Brazil? Or Venezuela? Greece? Ukraine? Egypt? Syria?
 
But gold and silver are tangible items, Bitcoin simply doesn't exist (even though some people have taken it upon themselves to create a physical "Bitcoin" for some purposes). As for it being a free currency, well, it doesn't exist so, unless you can get past that point logically and rationally then, it doesn't exist. It just goes back to people being stupid, like everything almost always does. :)
 
"value" is not a tangible thing. it is created out of demand vs availability. so yeah, gold and silver are tangible things but their value is partially real in the way they are used and fake in the way the are traded or picked up as a "hedge"
 
Tiberian said:
But gold and silver are tangible items, Bitcoin simply doesn't exist (even though some people have taken it upon themselves to create a physical "Bitcoin" for some purposes). As for it being a free currency, well, it doesn't exist so, unless you can get past that point logically and rationally then, it doesn't exist. It just goes back to people being stupid, like everything almost always does. :)
Click to expand...

It does exist. It is a hash of the public section of an ECDSA public/private key pair.

Are you saying hashes don't exist?
 
I'm saying that a Bitcoin is an intangible mathematical construct and does not exist in our physical reality.

Surely it's not that difficult to grasp the concept, right? Right?
 
Tiberian said:
I'm saying that a Bitcoin is an intangible mathematical construct and does not exist in our physical reality.

Surely it's not that difficult to grasp the concept, right? Right?
Click to expand...

A large portion of transactions nowadays are done electronically with no physical media, so does all of that just "not exist", either?

I guess ultimately it's not clear what your point is. If you're trying to imply it doesn't matter as a currency because it "doesn't exist physically", that's a silly argument.
 
Tiberian said:
But gold and silver are tangible items, Bitcoin simply doesn't exist (even though some people have taken it upon themselves to create a physical "Bitcoin" for some purposes). As for it being a free currency, well, it doesn't exist so, unless you can get past that point logically and rationally then, it doesn't exist. It just goes back to people being stupid, like everything almost always does. :)
Click to expand...

you know what most currencies are around the world? debt notes, debt is not a physical thing either, they just printed pretty pictures on paper to represent it,
whether tangible or not, bitcoin is still much better alternative to the government/banker debt notes, aka monopoly "money", it's not money btw
 
only 3% of the US money supply exists in currency form. the rest is intangible, promises to repay debt that continually get traded. It is like if you sell your house, are you ever actually going to see that money? No, it goes to repay mortgage, put in the bank, put down on your next house, etc.
 
Physical currency has a backing to it whereas Bitcoin has... nothing, except of course the value that some people put on it. Is it an alternative? Sure, because as just stated people are assigning a value to it, but does that make it actually valuable? Not to me, nope. In the long run while you can argue from here to the Moon and back about Bitcoin having value, it really doesn't.

Not until someone converts it or exchanges it for <hold on to your butts> actual real world physical currency. Even if you only deal in Bitcoin exclusively (not a very easy thing to do) at some point either you or the individuals or retailers you're dealing with have to convert or exchange Bitcoin into real world physical currency. If that wasn't possible then again Bitcoin's intangible nature would make it absolutely worthless. Just because some people assign value to Bitcoin doesn't mean it actually has real world physical value in and of itself.

See how that works?
 
DarkStar02 said:
When was the last time you held shares of stock in your hands?
Click to expand...

I have quite a few physical stock certificates, if you really must know, even got one from 3dfx when they went public years ago before they vanished which of course now is barely worth the parchment it's printed on but even so it's got value to me. ;)
 
The guys who own the trading sites for conversion of these are probably making a killing..... As someone else pointed out I think it's an absolutely disgusting waste of resources when you consider how much energy is wasted on this meaningless trash
 
sleepybp said:
...I think it's an absolutely disgusting waste of resources when you consider how much energy is wasted on this meaningless trash
Click to expand...
no energy is wasted, everything is paid for and everyone is happy, except for the global warming tards maybe,

goverment/banker notes are probably the biggest scam ever,
you won't get it until you realize you are getting paid in debt, which is not owed to you lol
 
buhbuhfet
And how do you think that electricity wasted is made? Coal most likely... Only republicans and uneducated deny climate change
 
sleepybp said:
And how do you think that electricity wasted is made? Coal most likely...
Click to expand...
doesn't really matter how it's made, because it needs to be made, unless you want to go back to living like the caveman

sleepybp said:
Only republicans and uneducated deny climate change
Click to expand...
you missed at least one more category and that's fact checking freethinkers, hide the decline
 
USD is basically toilet paper at this point. I'll take cryptocurrency any day of the week.
 
Assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups, but it's nearly impossible to make it comprehensible to those that continue to make 'em or rely on them as potential points of contention in a debate situation.

Next time you might consider making your point instead of running around it like a dog chasing its tail.
 
Tiberian said:
Assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups, but it's nearly impossible to make it comprehensible to those that continue to make 'em or rely on them as potential points of contention in a debate situation.

Next time you might consider making your point instead of running around it like a dog chasing its tail.
Click to expand...

what assumption/s?
 
That some of us are laymen, of course, amongst others. You'll figure it out someday if you're fortunate.
 
Bit coins are like mining for gold, finding no gold, saying you did and then selling the imaginary gold. There ensues mass insanity and everyone keeps selling the imaginary gold to each other. All while the conveyors keep running, wasting electricity, hauling air out of the mine and someone randomly yelling "there's a new nugget!"

Insane.
 
Rustynuts said:
Bit coins are like mining for gold, finding no gold, saying you did and then selling the imaginary gold. There ensues mass insanity and everyone keeps selling the imaginary gold to each other. All while the conveyors keep running, wasting electricity, hauling air out of the mine and someone randomly yelling "there's a new nugget!"

Insane.
Click to expand...

This proves you know nothing about bitcoin or cryptocurrency. What value does the USD have? What is it backed by?
 
Is this the point in the fiat currency discussion where someone says "End the Fed"?
Also, Jews control/own a lot of central banks.
 
buhbuhfet said:
it took off because it's a free currency, free as in freedom, as it should be and as real money is, like gold and silver for example
Click to expand...

And if you believe that, there's this nice bridge available for sale....

Bitcoin like almost all crypto currencies are largely pyramid schemes setup for suckers. Like all frauds there are only two sides: carnival barkers and marks.
 
buhbuhfet said:
no it doesn't, it's a promise to pay, it just has a physical appearance, which means nothing
Click to expand...

Um, the US dollar has the full force and power of the US government behind it, which means among other things, the largest military in the world and enough nukes to obliterate life on earth as we know it. That is backing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top