Ticker GBTC - but highly advise not buying it. Its a Bitcoin trust and you're basically buying Bitcoin at a premium where you can buy it directy.

So some company's super secret big wallet got hacked? Just like bank robbers, because that's where the moneys at.

Yes...some company got hacked. Not bitcoin.

Sounds like a gen-x video game.

"What is 'Bitcoin Mining'

Bitcoin mining is the process by which transactions are verified and added to the public ledger, known as the block chain, and also the means through which new bitcoin are released. Anyone with access to the internet and suitable hardware can participate in mining. The mining process involves compiling recent transactions into blocks and trying to solve a computationally difficult puzzle. The participant who first solves the puzzle gets to place the next block on the block chain and claim the rewards. The rewards, which incentivize mining, are both the transaction fees associated with the transactions compiled in the block as well as newly released bitcoin. "

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin-mining.asp

Well coinbase was simple and easy. I�m sure I�m a day late and a dollar short as usual, but bought a little of all three offers there just to start. A little play money to mess around with.

just watching
Wish I had a 100 bitcoin

I have my money in tulip bulbs

Just read an older article about hackers and the bitcoin industry. WOW... scary stuff with how the hackers operate.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2...s/#76df7cc938ba

You do realize that you can put your cryptocurrencies on a hard drive of thumb disk and lock them in a safe right in your bedroom or place of your choosing? It's really no different from leaving your money on a banks website where someone can steal your debit card info.

If you don't pay attention or aren't careful with your investments...you probably should avoid certain things. Maybe stuff your cash in a safe in your closet or a bank deposit box. Oh wait, bank robbers or home invaders might steal it....nevermind.

Yes, I realize that... and I also realize that you didn't read the complete article no matter how fast you read.

People are saying bitcoin is going to get a haircut next week when the big money guys start trading bitcoin futures. People say they are going to short bitcoin like they sell paper gold or silver to suppress the price. What I don't understand is where they are going to get the bitcoins if they have to cover their shorts. It could get very interesting volume and pricewise.

time to sell.

Bitcoin prices are hockey-sticking on a hockey stick.

The cryptocurrency's gains Thursday morning hit new heights, striking well above $18,000 across widely varying exchanges, coming to rest above $16,000 while the popular Coinbase exchange had been suffering major issues due to "record high traffic."

Don't feel bad if the whole thing is confusing to you. I've looked at bitcoin on and off for years and still don't fully grasp how everything works which is why I've never bought in.

There are a finite number of bitcoins. 21 million will eventually be mined. The last coin should be mined in 2020. I think so far they've mined something like 16 or 17 million "coins". The program that controls mining difficulty tries to make it so about 1800 coins are mined per day. If there were only one guy using a home computer, it would make the puzzles the computer needs to solve very easy to find coins. However as bitcoin prices go up, more people want to mine the coins. As more people try to start mining the program makes it harder to solve the puzzles so that no matter how many people are mining only 1800 coins are found per day. So as bitcoin prices sky rocket the incentive to mine them increases and the number of people mining increases. Hence the amount of electricity all these computers are using to try and find the coins goes through the roof.

So this just dawned on me. Does this refer to the amount of electricity & computer power used in the aggregate?

Assume that I have an appropriate Sheldon-ized computer at home and it's sole purpose is mining for bitcoin. Also assume the price of bitcoin is $18,000 and there's 180,000 people (including me) who are mining that day, and the program is designed to kick out 1,800 per day. And I get lucky and unlock one (or mine, or download, whatever).

Does this mean that I had to spend $18,000 in electricity and computing power to obtain it? Or did I only have to spend ten cents of electricity along with the other 179,999 people (who each also spent ten cents)?

It's both. The amount of electricity goes up for individuals and of course for the sum of those individuals on the aggregate. Since miners are rationally minded, there will typically be an arbitrage opportunity between the electricity cost to mine and the gain made from finding a coin. Although from what I read this gap is rapidly narrowing. More sophisticated miners have more expensive machines that run more efficiently. Of course that has to be calculated into the risk/reward equation. I've also read China is now mining a ton of the new coins as they have access to cheap dirty government subsidized coal fired power. Long story short, I don't think there is much opportunity for your average guy to get into the mining game anymore. That ship has sailed.