World's first Bitcoin ATM to open in Vancouver this week

[cliffordcooley]

Now I'm picturing that Bitcoin mining is very similar to a botnet, but with knowing, willing, participants....

I've kinda been saying that all along, which was why I didn't (still don't to a major extent) trust bitcoins.

 

[Jim$ter]

Now I'm picturing that Bitcoin mining is very similar to a botnet, but with knowing, willing, participants....

I've kinda been saying that all along, which was why I didn't (still don't to a major extent) trust bitcoins.

Its nothing like a botnet. Although a botnet can be programmed to mine for bitcoins. It is more like the distributed computing projects. For each project, donors volunteer computing time from personal computers to a specific cause. This donated computing power comes typically from CPUs and GPUs (AMD or Nvidia). Folding@home also harnesses the power of PlayStation 3s. The Bitcoin network also uses FPGAs and ASICs. Only in mining for bitcoins do you get paid for your time! Each project seeks to solve a problem which is difficult or infeasible to tackle using other methods. Distributed computing is a science which solves a large problem by giving small parts of the problem to many computers to solve and then combining the solutions for the parts into a solution for the problem. Recent distributed computing projects have been designed to use the computers of hundreds of thousands of volunteers all over the world, via the Internet, to look for extra-terrestrial radio signals, to look for prime numbers so large that they have more than ten million digits, and to find more effective drugs to fight cancer and the AIDS virus. You have better odds of hitting the jackpot at a casino slots machine. These projects are so large, and require so much computing power to solve, that they would be impossible for any one computer or person to solve in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[Jim$ter]

Clifford: I found this and thought maybe it might give you a better answer to your question about mining:

That was a much better answer, thank you.

They make it sound as if everyone mines the same transaction for verification. And then the first one to verify is the one that gets credit for mining the transaction. This would explain for all the processing in several machines for one transaction. And would also explain why faster machines are better miners. A bit redundant and highly inefficient, but implements a rat race for speedy services. My tinfoil hat has lost a little weight today and not quite as pointy.

Thats why they have mining pools.

What is Bitcoin Pooled Mining?

Bitcoin pooled mining is a way for multiple users to work together to mine bitcoins, and to share the benefits fairly.
Why do I need bitcoin pool?

Bitcoins are ordinarily only ever created in chunks of 25 at a time, with the whole 25 paid to a single person. Furthermore, the race to get the 25 BTC prize in a given block is highly competitive.

If you set out mining on your own, it may be a long time before you can make a return. Pooled mining allows you to receive smaller, more frequent, steadier payouts instead. If you have a slower computer, or a CPU miner, then pooled mining may be the only way that you will ever mine any bitcoins at all.
How does bitcoin pool work?

Our server gives users blocks of very low difficulty to solve. Each solution found is registered as one 'share'. Occasionally, a solution will happen to also meet the full-strength difficulty requirements of the Bitcoin network, resulting in a successful 25 BTC minting.

This 25 BTC is divided among all of the users that contributed to that round, weighted by the number of shares that they earned.

 

[revam1]

Is there an article that explains the basics of Bitcoin? I feel like I'm missing out on something...epistemically.

 

[Jim$ter]

Good Overview Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrK-152xfy0
Good Place to start : http://bitcoin.org/en/

 

[captaincranky]

Its nothing like a botnet. Although a botnet can be programmed to mine for bitcoins. It is more like the distributed computing projects. For each project, donors volunteer computing time from personal computers to a specific cause. This donated computing power comes typically from CPUs and GPUs (AMD or Nvidia). Folding@home also harnesses the power of PlayStation 3s. The Bitcoin network also uses FPGAs and ASICs. Only in mining for bitcoins do you get paid for your time! Each project seeks to solve a problem which is difficult or infeasible to tackle using other methods. Distributed computing is a science which solves a large problem by giving small parts of the problem to many computers to solve and then combining the solutions for the parts into a solution for the problem. Recent distributed computing projects have been designed to use the computers of hundreds of thousands of volunteers all over the world, via the Internet, to look for extra-terrestrial radio signals, to look for prime numbers so large that they have more than ten million digits, and to find more effective drugs to fight cancer and the AIDS virus. You have better odds of hitting the jackpot at a casino slots machine. These projects are so large, and require so much computing power to solve, that they would be impossible for any one computer or person to solve in a reasonable amount of time.

Given the choice between a Bitcoin fanatic in an online forum, and a porch full of Jehovah's Witnesses, I'd rush headlong toward Jesus every time.

And even if I didn't, at least those Jesus freaks would have, at some point it time, the good taste to leave.

I knoooow......, it's hard to hear "Jehovah's Witnesses" and "good taste" in the same sentence. (At one point in time, I too, would have sworn those two entities were mutually exclusive). But still, as history provides, "desperate times demand desperate measures".

 

[Guest]

These are the beginnings of the NWO single global currency agenda. Sit back and watch as bitcoin gains value out of thin air! Once they have eradicated cash, you will wish you had lots of bitcoin. After all, your salary is only a number on a computer screen and who controls the delete key?

 

[captaincranky]

These are the beginnings of the NWO single global currency agenda. Sit back and watch as bitcoin gains value out of thin air! Once they have eradicated cash, you will wish you had lots of bitcoin. After all, your salary is only a number on a computer screen and who controls the delete key?

"Oh brave new world......! (William Shakespeare)...., No, not Aldous Huxley.

I don't know why every jacka** on the planet is preaching this BS. The simple fact of the manner is, there are only (allegedly), only 20 something million Bitcoins ever to be, "minted". There are some 6+ billion, (With a "B"), people on the planet. Which, if you're capable of simple mathematics, yields an answer of a pant load less that one per individual.

Besides, since Bitcoin only exists in a computer anyway, who the hell thinks they can't be erased just as easily?

 

[Guest]

Those jack****s are waking up to reality that's why! Whatever form singe global currency comes in, it will happen if we let it. I hope you wake up soon!

 

[captaincranky]

Those jack****s are waking up to reality that's why! Whatever form singe global currency comes in, it will happen if we let it. I hope you wake up soon!

Right, and when that happens you can come back and tel me "I told you so"! Only make sure you tell me in Esperanto.

And BTW, it matters little what any "universal currency" may be called.

Some people will try their damnedest and succeed in gathering all they can. Some people will never have enough. Some people will always just get by with theirs. And some people will either steal or defraud others out of theirs. The more things change, the more they stay the same.