btc as mean of pay do you use it ?

[barq2]

I can do worse than that.

I let several mined full blocks (50btc each) go for around .50 a unit.

Tragic.

Ouch! I feel your pain. Was that back at the start when it was still possible to mine bitcoins on an ordinary computer? I was part of a mining collaboration, so that's how I ended up with my 1 bitcoin.

[Rattzo]

I have still never found an answer as to what btc mining acually IS.

I did read once a dude had like 30 cpus in one room doing it and died from overheat/dehydration

[cmdline]

I have still never found an answer as to what btc mining acually IS.

I did read once a dude had like 30 cpus in one room doing it and died from overheat/dehydration

lol your signature goes well with your post

yes you are correct certainly at the beginning that was idea using cpu power to solve maths equations,dont ask what sort since no clue actually,one would get rewards in block of 50 coins,since it was of no use at the begining people did it for fun as experiment,similar to those people would let run their pc to work on networks solving protein issues,looking for alien signals etc.

When it gained some value,now this is consipracy stuff so not sure how legit it is,but someone strarted paying money for it,first it was worth like 0.03 cents,then couple $ until it got to thirty or so and collapsed then someone who figure that out, repeated price increase,and somehow it latched on,once there was value someone figured to make code to mine using gpus since they have a lot more processing power not long after that asics came out -some sort pc board that only solves them equations and at that point it got capitalized on.

Since if it stayed on cpu it would been years before difficulty level increased,but once asics got introduced and coins became mined by thousands it rendered any cpu/gpu useless,and even with asics proper farm now uses enough electricity to power whole town,just to solve some useless code.

i like creators original idea as it being currency of sorts and everyone having share of it,but once you have few major companies involved that basically control 70% of all the market its virtual atm for most,since besides using it on the net to buy not so legal stuff its useless given there are better payment options and normal currencies for day to day use.So id call it medium for cash transfer but for most its money making business,once price is high enough people unload into good old currency and makes for great retirement those who are in it.

[barq2]

I have still never found an answer as to what btc mining acually IS.

I did read once a dude had like 30 cpus in one room doing it and died from overheat/dehydration

lol your signature goes well with your post

yes you are correct certainly at the beginning that was idea using cpu power to solve maths equations,dont ask what sort since no clue actually,one would get rewards in block of 50 coins,since it was of no use at the begining people did it for fun as experiment,similar to those people would let run their pc to work on networks solving protein issues,looking for alien signals etc.

In a way it is a shame that all the number crunching going on doesn't have some value other than the bitcoins. I used to be part of that SETI project, and much the same as a screensaver would kick in when the computer wasn't in use, it would use my CPU power to add to the collective effort to search for alien signals amidst all the noise.

Are there any crypto-currencies that use the number crunching usefully? i.e. to find new big prime numbers, or analyse scientific data?

Over the years people have been so clever at getting more than one thing out of a computer function. One example that comes to mind is the verification on websites where you type in the numbers from photos of signs. Can't remember which company was behind it - maybe Google streetview - but whilst proving you were human to a website, they also got humans to confirm the building numbers to make maps more accurate.

[cmdline]

never tough like that about captcha>images to confirm one isnt robot,that it was used to solve addresses is quite unique.And yes used to run seti,while seemed pointless but given that you did it for greater purpose wasnt pure waste.

Id encourage to look into other coins,since a lot of them gain popularity except some are undeveloped or have some other issues that regular user cant figure them easily,wallets and methods of obtaining is main culprit.

there are few other projects that dont waste energy but in general most of them are close to ponzi schemes where majority is hoarded until price is right and usually results in pump and dump then rinse and repeat scenarios.even btc now as we speak is about to hit 1500$ mark and cant imagine people not taking profit at such stage.

Since all this crypto is good,but what became of it every release if focusing on investment rather making project a currency,thus many fail or like btc its functions becomes more of speculation then actual currency use, which many talk but no one uses.

[BigGuy82]

I've tried to understand btc before and get the general concept but have a hard time getting how to actually use it and having any faith in it as a currency. After reading this it appears I'm not the only one.

[dudcat]

Hello,
 
I have used BTC as payment method for years.  It can be a bit confusing (and scary) at first but if you go with a prominent exchange the process is easier.  Acquiring the coins or mBTC (if you divide by 1000 to more easily get your head around the purchase amount), for me, wasn't too bad.  The difficulty really lay with the encryption part of the communication to the vendor, or PGP.  Believe it or not, PGP simply stands for pretty good privacy.  It is used by the military and is considered the gold standard.

So, once one has acquired the Bitcoin necessary for purchase, a couple of things may happen.  If you are able to have first party contact with a vendor, you can directly send a BTC amount to an address they will provide to you, done through your exchange.  It is easy to navigate this.  However, many vendors will not communicate via email or any traceable method of contact (even encrypted exchanges such as safe-mail).  They want all communication encrypted via PGP, and use a storefront or 'market' as a third-party intermediary.  If you need to, for instance, provide an address, order specifications, etc., you must learn how to encrypt messages to the vendor and decrypt their responses, communicating via a messaging service that a market provides.  This is very common, especially on the dark web, accessed via the TOR browser.

Now, if you use a 'market' on the dark web, you generally have to register at that place then fund an account.  If you choose to do business with a vendor, you would simply transfer funds via a click from your account to that of the vendor.  At that point you would have to use PGP encryption to let the vendor know where you wanted the item to be shipped.  Prior to a purchase, you can use PGP encryption to ask any additional questions prior to purchase.

Shopping at a market on the dark web is akin to this:  You know you want to buy an item at Bob's store, but Bob's doesn't take cash.  They only take a pre-loaded secured Bob's credit card.  The only way to load Bob's card is to use your cash to buy Joe's tokens.  Once Joe has sold you his tokens (for cash debited from your checking account) you can use those tokens to load your Bob's card then make a purchase.  Unfortunately, Bob's employees don't speak your language so you have to bring in a translator.  Auugghh.

Now all this may sound terribly confusing, but if you take your time to learn and methodically go through the steps, it may work for you.  It has for me, although IOP's are much simpler, and you can usually bypass the dark web.  If they accept BTC in lieu of CC or WU, it really is easy.   -dc

[Tara1178]

I personally love to use btc......mainly because it's easy to use, but I only buy it when I'm going to use it and I only buy enough for my purchase and use it immediately.....other than that, it's confusing to me lol

[ShortSqueeze]

I've made a medium sized fortune from bitcoin, last couple weeks have been great.

[cmdline]

last month in general was almost quadruple in btc price, but thats where it escapes my logic as it being currency since volatility is so insane,i like that theres means to pay someone other then card or western union or likes,but this new craze with cryptos becoming speculation item , drives them away from whatever it should even be called currency,since by the time one can now get x amount of btc you can easily see shift of 100-500$ up or down, which renders it hard to use it.My hope is that eventually some crypto comes out as is tied 1$-1crypto or close enough as actual currency but not speculative stock on which someone can make millions.