Bitcoins?

[Edwin]

You can bet that various regulators, HMRC etc. will be taking an extremely keen interest in Bitcoins now that they're climbing so quickly and hitting the mainstream.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21962907

 

[grantw]

You've got to feel for the guy that had 25000 stolen a while back, he'd be in retirement territory now:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/230377/worlds_first_virtual_heist_bitcoin_user_loses_500000.html

Grant

 

[doodlebug]

You can bet that various regulators, HMRC etc. will be taking an extremely keen interest in Bitcoins

It already mentions about this on the bitcoin.org website, sure they'll get their hands on peoples coins with tax.

 

[doodlebug]

I have read loads and watched videos but can someone tell me, if you want to mine. who does the puzzle solving, you or does the computer do it for you?

Thanks 8)

 

[WalkinDude]

All things are bubbles. House prices, stocks, domain names especially, even bread nowadays. Hardly a benchmark of distinction there.

The price has gone up because the blackmarket has discovered the usefulness of bitcoin. Drugs [mail order], money laundering etc, quite frankly why anyone still questions the demand for this sort of currency is beyond me.

The demand hasn't even hit anywhere near like a peak. Key issue is can the authorities put a stop to it, which at the moment doesn't appear so.

And second issue; is the currency stable and secure? [Who knows]

But 500million isn't enough to get the feds off their leather sofas, it's when it becomes a multibillion situation that things might get interesting.

 

[Jamie101]

I have read loads and watched videos but can someone tell me, if you want to mine. who does the puzzle solving, you or does the computer do it for you?

Thanks 8)

I'm nearly 100% sue the computer does it, don't ask me how though.

I just find the whole thing very interesting. It's a pity it's not easier to move some money in to bitcoins.

 

[doodlebug]

I'm nearly 100% sue the computer does it, don't ask me how though.

I just find the whole thing very interesting. It's a pity it's not easier to move some money in to bitcoins.

That's what I thought thanks mate

 

[Systreg]

Yes, the computer pretty much does all the work, but it's very slow and time consuming from what I've read about it previously, and then someone else could solve the puzzle before you do, so your time would have been wasted.

There are some online groups who pool their resources to solve the puzzles and then share any proceeds, but obviously you would get a lot less that way, but something may be better than nothing at all.

If you Google for "bitcoin mining servers" you can see the set ups some people use, using a single everyday computer will be slow, I've seen rooms packed full of computers and servers smashing away at solving the puzzles, cost a small fortune to run them all, but they must be making good money to cover all the costs.

I read a story about a prison in China where the guards had inmates smashing rocks during the day and at night they had 300 prisoners playing World of Warcraft to earn gold for them, the guards were earning around £470-570 per day from it, link to news story inthe Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam

 

[Pred]

Yeah that was my thought as well, I may live to regret it but time will tell, at the moment 1 bitcoin is trading at £9.74177

ouch
$95 yesterday
$90 today!

personally wouldn't touch them, well at minute
works both ways and is no different to stocks and shares

could be worth £10 per coin
go to bed and worth £1 in am

other thing, no-one knows who is behind it
plus going more mainstream now and have read articles and seen logs that show is likely couple people own almost all so are prob being manipulated

many people will end up carrying can


other thing is it is a ballache to buy them, sell them, store them etc
if most of world can't even get it together to reg a domain, then this is rocket science compared to that

 

[RobM]

and it's backed by.....

 

[MikeJDS]

and it's backed by.....

The Mafia.

 

[GreyWing]

Skynews reporting on it now.... 3 minute report on it

 

[Aegean]

The Mafia.

Haha probably.

 

[seanc]

i haven't bought any bit$ since last summer and was shocked to say the least at the current trading prices.. i was getting them for 9.23 dollars each at the time.

i thought about investing a bag of money in them but i didnt at the time

its easy to get them - just dont buy them off ebay at ridiculous prices.

i always used intersango.com - never had any problems, i do a SEPA transfer to intersango in Poland and then convert to bit$.

if your sending or receiving money from 3rd party then you need a bit$ wallet.

 

[newguy]

http://blockchain.info/charts/market-price $100 now

 

[Jamie101]

http://blockchain.info/charts/market-price $100 now

Yup. If you're interested in them I'd recommend checking out http://reddit.com/r/bitcoin

Some really interesting stuff on there sometimes.

 

[newguy]

Yup. If you're interested in them I'd recommend checking out http://reddit.com/r/bitcoin

Some really interesting stuff on there sometimes.

Funnily enough I was having a look around there earlier. Changed my view of the situation slightly. Will be interesting to see what happens next with bitcoin.

 

[khalid]

Can someone explain something to me...

I understand that coins are mined by solving complex maths questions.

What I don't understand is how, with no central issuer, a "transaction" can occur where a miner receives something of value from nobody by solving something.

In my head and in the simplest form, a buyer and seller make an exchange to form a transaction. So seller sells pen for £1 to buyer. There is value in the pen and the £1 coin.

With bitcoins, ???? (central issuer) gives £xx (value of bitcoin) to buyer for nothing (a maths answer that cannot be resold).

So nobody gives nothing to a real person that can be used to buy something with a real value.

I can't get my head around how this works.

Can someone explain?

 

[Simon]

Deleted after reading further its clear I'm talking rubbish

 

[Jamie101]

Think I might give in over the next few days and buy a few coins.