Bitcoin discussion and news

[not-bono-ever]

Reinsurers are still convinced blockchain is a useful self-fulfilling contract. It’s a niche use though really, albeit a high value one.

same thought pattern for aircraft industry apparently - massive fears of fake spares getting into the food chain- BC seen as a possible way to give supply provenance - the value may justify the expense. less so the potato industry obvs

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Blockchain still has potential value as a record keeping system I hope. It’s sll a bit wanky but if the financial drivers behind for profit mining that we focus on in this thread are removed it still has some social benefit

I will be proved wrong on this obviously. I usually am

A few months ago, New Scientist was raving enthusiastically about the potential benefits of blockchain tech. We'll see - and of course none of the socially useful stuff can come out of the existing cryptos - these would be whole new systems.

New Scientist gets this kind of stuff wrong quite a bit too.

 

[gosub]

Bitcoin under pressure as collapsed cryptoexchange unwinds $1bn of digital currency

 

[butchersapron]

From Nature and Climate Change Journal:

Bitcoin emissions alone could push global warming above 2°C

ABSTRACT:

Bitcoin is a power-hungry cryptocurrency that is increasingly used as an investment and payment system. Here we show that projected Bitcoin usage, should it follow the rate of adoption of other broadly adopted technologies, could alone produce enough CO2 emissions to push warming above 2 °C within less than three decades.

The researchers found that if Bitcoin is incorporated, even at the slowest rate at which other technologies have been incorporated, its cumulative emissions will be enough to warm the planet above 2°C in just 22 years. If incorporated at the average rate of other technologies, it is closer to 16 years. Currently, the emissions from transportation, housing and food are considered the main contributors to ongoing climate change. This research illustrates that Bitcoin should be added to this list.

We cannot predict the future of Bitcoin, but if implemented at a rate even close to the slowest pace at which other technologies have been incorporated, it will spell very bad news for climate change and the people and species impacted by it. Clearly, any further development of cryptocurrencies should critically aim to reduce electricity demand, if the potentially devastating consequences of 2°C of global warming are to be avoided.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Fuckibg sickening

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It's been bumping along between £4,500 and £6,000 per btc for many months now. That relative stability has surprised me, I must say.

 

[kabbes]

It's been bumping along between £4,500 and £6,000 per btc for many months now. That relative stability has surprised me, I must say.

A quick look at volume traded suggests that it has halved since the really fast bubble period (despite the price dropping by two-thirds, so volume in USD is one-sixth). I guess the loss of volume has removed the very short term speculators, leaving those holding longer positions and giving it a bit more stability.

It’s still way, way too volatile to be a reliable means of exchange, mind.

 

[Graymalkin]

By some estimates, the increasing energy costs of 'mining' bitcoin now make it more energy intensive than actual mineral mining!

Mining For Bitcoin Might Actually Drain More Energy Than Mining For Minerals

 

[Yossarian]

 

[kabbes]

It's been bumping along between £4,500 and £6,000 per btc for many months now. That relative stability has surprised me, I must say.

A few weeks later and it’s now suddenly dropped by yet another 20-25% of its value. Oh dear, what a shame.

Still, let us not forget the days of

Is it a bubble or not - you're predicting a slowing by half in the coming 12 months. That is everything a bubble is not.

Based on what I've seen, experienced, and understand, $20k in Jan and $100k in 12 months is absolutely reasonable.

$5k now (a slowing by half...), so it only needs to go up by 1900% in 6 weeks to make this absolutely reasonable prediction a reality

 

[8ball]

A few weeks later and it’s now suddenly dropped by yet another 20-25% of its value. Oh dear, what a shame.

Still, let us not forget the days of

$5k now (a slowing by half...), so it only needs to go up by 1900% in 6 weeks to make this absolutely reasonable prediction a reality

You're good at post hoc predictions - you should work in insurance or something.

 

[kabbes]

You're good at post hoc predictions - you should work in insurance or something.

You know it was my prediction 12 months ago that it would slow by a half, right? The prediction referred to in the quote?

 

[8ball]

You know it was my prediction 12 months ago that it would slow by a half, right? The prediction referred to in the quote?

It will be fine, the pound will chase it downward soon enough.

 

[Ranbay]

 

[kabbes]

View attachment 153025

 

[butchersapron]

If we could get the blower and the bubble sized right.

 

[not-bono-ever]

For some reason I went back to the early pages of this thread- took about 40 pages before the possible energy impact of mining this toss popped up via a Reuter’s link. The post itself wad surrounded by victims tugging themselves off about using free work electric to run their mining setup.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Down to under £3.5k this morning. That's a loss of more than 10 per cent from last night.

 

[8ball]

Down to under £3.5k this morning. That's a loss of more than 10 per cent from last night.

BUY BUY BUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Question from me is what point the miners start switching off their generators. That could short the system by delaying the new blocks. Whole thing could collapse in a matter of hours.

 

[Pickman's model]

good

 

[8ball]

Question from me is what point the miners start switching off their generators. That could short the system by delaying the new blocks. Whole thing could collapse in a matter of hours.

There's potential there for a quite spectacular insider trading debacle.

 

[butchersapron]

Question from me is what point the miners start switching off their generators. That could short the system by delaying the new blocks. Whole thing could collapse in a matter of hours.

Presuming we mean the massive places in china and such rather than the dildos on this thread, why would they stop? What would make them? Fucking the planet up hasn't.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Presuming we mean the massive places in china and such rather than the dildos on this thread, why would they stop? What would make them? Fucking the planet up hasn't.

The value of bitcoin dropping is what would stop them potentially – once the 12.5 bitcoin plus transaction fees no longer pays the lecky bill needed to open a block. I saw an estimate of that somewhere a few months ago at around 6.5k dollars as the break-even point (and it's now below that), but it's hard to estimate as the big operations seek out various forms of cheap energy, gobble up the latest processors, etc.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

There's potential there for a quite spectacular insider trading debacle.

Yep. A big mining operation planning to pull out would certainly first sell all its bitcoins. It then pulls the plug and walks away. There would be no shorting of positions or anything like that, mind, just the selling off of positions to poor sods who don't know what you're about to do. Might take a bit of time, I guess, to dump them without causing a panic. I would guess that they would have this all worked out already - it drops to this level and we're offski. I can't believe they are true believers in the crypto nonsense. They're surely just true believers in making themselves money.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Would be interest to see if the freebooter advocates of bitcoin as a way to circumvent the attention of the man , begin to demand the attention of the authorities to help them chase their losses

 

[kabbes]

I was also wondering about the break even point and looked it up last night. It’s already well below break even in most places in the world but there are some locations (India, China, Iceland) where the cost of mining is estimated to be about $3-4K per coin, so above water still there. Falling fast, mind you. Another 10-20% drop would make things very interesting.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

There was a worldwide shortage of a particular form of high-speed processor recently due to btc mining. These may be about to become rather plentiful and cheap.

Other point with the big miners is that you want to be the first to quit. I've no idea how much collusion there is between them, but once one quits, I would think they could all go very quickly. If you're not the first, you want to be the second. Not the second, the third, etc.

 

[butchersapron]

RAM is dropping in price after these dicks pushed it right up. Now humans might be able to have decent laptops again. Or it might become another speculation vehicle.

 

[8ball]

I can't believe they are true believers in the crypto nonsense. They're surely just true believers in making themselves money.

The true believers will be the ones that go to the wall when the opportunists shaft them.