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Thread: Bitcoin - digital currency reaches dollar parity

  1. #1
    stoneFree
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    Bitcoin - digital currency reaches dollar parity

    About a year ago I installed this free program: Bitcoin
    Set it to "Generate Coins" and mostly forgot about it. Then recently came across this news: BitCoin virtual currency reaches parity with Dollar.
    When I checked, discovered I had several hundred bitcoins. There are several sites where you can trade or exchange these into other currencies, like MtGox.com and bitcoinmarket.com.

    Aside from generating currency (albeit slowly) you may be more interested in it's privacy/anonymity when trading which may explain its popularity among cypherpunks. And Bitcoins certainly do not involve any federal privilege or benefit (& I think you can grasp the power of trading outside the Fraudulent Reserve System).

  2. #2
    Senior Member Treefarmer's Avatar
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    Very interesting.
    I looked up some of the info and watched the little intro video but I'm not getting a mental image of the process yet.
    What is it that Bitcoin gets from your CPU which it then rewards by issuing bitcoins to you?

    In other words, what kind of service did you provide which generated the several hundred bitcoins for you?

    Thank you
    Treefarmer

    There is power in the blood of Jesus

  3. #3
    stoneFree
    Guest
    Yes, you're providing your computer's processing power (CPU/GPU). Bitcoins are earned (or mined) in increments of 50 and it appears they are much harder to generate now than last year. I've been generating for about a month now with nothing to show for it. Apparently there's a correlation between BTC price and difficulty. Not sure it's worth the cost of electricity, unless perhaps your computer is on 24/7 already.

    Nonetheless, it's an interesting currency. I'd accept bitcoin as payment.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by stoneFree View Post
    About a year ago I installed this free program: Bitcoin
    Set it to "Generate Coins" and mostly forgot about it. Then recently came across this news: BitCoin virtual currency reaches parity with Dollar.
    When I checked, discovered I had several hundred bitcoins. There are several sites where you can trade or exchange these into other currencies, like MtGox.com and bitcoinmarket.com.

    Aside from generating currency (albeit slowly) you may be more interested in it's privacy/anonymity when trading which may explain its popularity among cypherpunks. And Bitcoins certainly do not involve any federal privilege or benefit (& I think you can grasp the power of trading outside the Fraudulent Reserve System).
    Interesting idea.
    I'd be careful with alternative forms of means of exchange. Governments get all weirded over such matters .
    Learned recently from freemen.freeforums.org, that the creator of the Liberty Dollar was convicted in federal court.

    If government wants all the coins, let them have it. Barter is just as good a method of exchange as any.

    When using public money or private credit of government, be sure to securely box it within the realm of commerce. Engage in commerce at arm's length always.

  5. #5
    stoneFree
    Guest
    Heh. "Governments get all weirded" because the banksters went into partnership with government to enslave you, subtlety. They don't tolerate much competition on their monopoly (scam).

    Anyway, just noticed that bitcoins are now trading north of $3. Not sure why, except perhaps growth in popularity.

    I think I know why I was able to generate hundreds of bitcoins last year, and none this year. Generating (mining) difficulty has steadily increased & there were fewer people generating last year. As this calculator shows, it will take the average 1900 khps hash rate computer 1988 days to generate its first 50 Bitcoin block. A computer with a beefy GPU (graphics processing unit) will do better: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Why_a_GPU...ter_than_a_CPU
    Last edited by stoneFree; 05-01-11 at 11:06 PM.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by stoneFree View Post
    Heh. "Governments get all weirded" because the banksters went into partnership with government to enslave you, subtlety. They don't tolerate much competition on their monopoly (scam).

    Anyway, just noticed that bitcoins are now trading north of $3. Not sure why, except perhaps growth in popularity.

    I think I know why I was able to generate hundreds of bitcoins last year, and none this year. Generating (mining) difficulty has steadily increased & there were fewer people generating last year. As this calculator shows, it will take the average 1900 khps hash rate computer 1988 days to generate its first 50 Bitcoin block. A computer with a beefy GPU (graphics processing unit) will do better: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Why_a_GPU...ter_than_a_CPU
    I personally go by the "grubby little hands" philosophy with regard to mediums of exchange.

    Hold derivatives in public vehicles.

  7. #7
    stoneFree
    Guest
    Update: Bitcoins are now trading between $14 -15 USD each. Last month the crypto-currency was tested when 2 large thefts/attacks of bitcoin wallets occurred. The thief attempted to unload them at the largest exchange, MtGox, which caused the site to go offline for awhile. All appears back to normal now. Bitcoin is growing in popularity & receives regular press. A good site to stay on top of it all is: http://bitcoinwatch.com

    MINING
    I did setup a bitcoin mining rig but had to summon all my powers of geek to do it. It's running Ubuntu linux operating system and pic shows the ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card (GPU) removed. That's the key component. It hashes at about 700Mh/s, enough to initially net me about 1 bitcoin per day (mining in a pool with other miners), but mining difficulty (resets every 2 weeks) has risen to where I now mine about 1/2 a bitcoin per day.

    I've sold several items in return for bitcoin and purchased a bunch with it too, even web services. http://data.memorydealers.com/Pictur..._BILLBOARD.jpg

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by stoneFree View Post
    Update: Bitcoins are now trading between $14 -15 USD each. Last month the crypto-currency was tested when 2 large thefts/attacks of bitcoin wallets occurred. The thief attempted to unload them at the largest exchange, MtGox, which caused the site to go offline for awhile. All appears back to normal now. Bitcoin is growing in popularity & receives regular press. A good site to stay on top of it all is: http://bitcoinwatch.com

    MINING
    I did setup a bitcoin mining rig but had to summon all my powers of geek to do it. It's running Ubuntu linux operating system and pic shows the ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card (GPU) removed. That's the key component. It hashes at about 700Mh/s, enough to initially net me about 1 bitcoin per day (mining in a pool with other miners), but mining difficulty (resets every 2 weeks) has risen to where I now mine about 1/2 a bitcoin per day.

    I've sold several items in return for bitcoin and purchased a bunch with it too, even web services. http://data.memorydealers.com/Pictur..._BILLBOARD.jpg
    That is pretty cool !!

    If you are really serious about mining, I would setup a cluster of servers configured as a compute cluster.

    A cluster of Intel i7 processors would rip .

    If we wanted to go cheap, AMDs would work great.
    Do you know what portion processing bitcoin would tax the most say FPU?

  9. #9
    stoneFree
    Guest
    Shika, my miner has a Intel i7 CPU but when I ticked the "generate coins" box on the client I got about 5Mh/s. Using one of the custom CPU-mining apps you could probably double or triple that but notice that's still pathetically lower than the 700Mh/s my overclocked video card puts out. In fact, the latest bitcoin client (0.3.24) includes no "generate" option in recognition that custom mining apps now far surpass client CPU mining.

    This should answer most of your mining questions: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:Mining
    The quick answer is GPUs are far faster than CPUs at SHA-256 hashing. GPUs are built to quickly render a moving 3-dimensional world on your 2-D screen, a simulation, which requires lots of simultaneous calculations (I will admit to some 3D gaming in my day). BTW, these hi-end graphics cards are hard to find cheap anymore - the miners are buying them up.

    Oh there's a guy out there with a killer rack setup - I should find the link for ya.
    Here it is, 48Gh/s baby! http://www.youtube.com/user/diversionhobbies
    Last edited by stoneFree; 07-11-11 at 07:22 PM.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by stoneFree View Post
    Shika, my miner has a Intel i7 CPU but when I ticked the "generate coins" box on the client I got about 5Mh/s. Using one of the custom CPU-mining apps you could probably double or triple that but notice that's still pathetically lower than the 700Mh/s my overclocked video card puts out. In fact, the latest bitcoin client (0.3.24) includes no "generate" option in recognition that custom mining apps now far surpass client CPU mining.

    This should answer most of your mining questions: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:Mining
    The quick answer is GPUs are far faster than CPUs at SHA-256 hashing. GPUs are built to quickly render a moving 3-dimensional world on your 2-D screen, a simulation, which requires lots of simultaneous calculations (I will admit to some 3D gaming in my day). BTW, these hi-end graphics cards are hard to find cheap anymore - the miners are buying them up.

    Oh there's a guy out there with a killer rack setup - I should find the link for ya.
    Here it is, 48Gh/s baby! http://www.youtube.com/user/diversionhobbies
    My inner nerd is pleased...LOL

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