OT:Christmas sorted ...

[Jethro_uk]

Due to a dabble with a "spare" £30 last year, I now hold just over £400 of Bit and Lite Coins.

So, as per subject line - that's Christmas sorted ;)

[Nick]

In message , Jethro_uk writes

Just be careful where you keep them...

fill-site

[Jethro_uk]

LOL - cue news footage of metal detectorists crawling over tips ...

[Brian Gaff]

Erm... Well Having listened to them explain this on the BBC and CRI, I am none the wiser. How do you create a currency when nobody can agree what its worth? Who hold them, I bet its in the cloud.. Brian

[Dave Liquorice]

Bit coins are just rather more volatile than most currencies we are used to dealing with. Wish I'd got a fraction of one few last week when 1 was around £600, last I heard they were over £1000 of course next week they might be back to £20...

I guess one way to think of it is to have Sterling in America, every time you want to buy something you have to convert, the exchange rate is £1 = $2 you are happy, if it's £1 = $1 you aren't. I haven't a clue what happens if something is priced in bit coins and the exchange rate changes. For example if a widget was worth £600 last week and priced at 1 bit coin, is it priced at 0.6 bit coins this week as a bit coin is now worth £1000?

I don't think so, you have an "electronic wallet" on your device, that stores them. And, like cash, if you lose your device or the data about the bit coins you have, you lose 'em with no means of getting them back.

[Andrew May]

In the same way that Gold has value. It is scarce (it takes a lot of mining to get it) and people want it. In the case of BitCoins the 'mining' is shear computing power.

[Adrian]

It's worth what a buyer and a seller agree it's worth. Like anything, really.

I did think "Hmm, mebbe I should look into these...". Current trading price seems to be about £800 each. Six months ago, there were articles bemoaning them being $120 each, and how the bubble must explode soon since they were $5 a year before. What. The. Flying. Holy. Fuck?

Bubble-a-go-go. Fuck buying those. Maybe I should take some kind of reverse-bet position on 'em going seriously south. Hmmm.

*ding*

[Jethro_uk]

I had to use Bitcoins to subscribe to a index site. So I bought $20, and used $10. Intrigued by the whole process, I decided a punt of £20 wouldn't kill me.

*shrug*, I wouldn't spend what I couldn't afford to lose. FFS we play the lottery twice a week.

Well you can backup your wallet to a local solution. Currently I have backups in Yahoo mail. Locally on my RAID array, and on a USB stick.

[Huge]

No-one "knows" what other currencies are "worth", either.

Google "FX trade" as to why and how.

Precisely.

Quite so.

[Huge]

aka "shorting", "going short".

[Robin]

I have heard that but never dug into the details (which are probably beyond my rotting brain in any event) so I am left wondering: does this mean that the likes of Google, Amazon, the NSA anf the Chinese guvmint could turn their gigaflops to mining and do a bit of QE on Bitcoins?

[Terry Fields]

Some guy threw away a hard disk of his with 7,500 Bitcoins on it.

He's currently searching the local landfill site....

[Jim K]

Jethro_uk

00 of Bit and Lite Coins.

Crystal meth in plain brown wrappers for all?

Jim K

[F]

Oh no he's not

They won't let him in. And it would be pointless anyway: the site is huge.

[Dave Liquorice]

"When I went to the tip the manager took me up to the current landfill site and when I saw it - it's about the size of a football field - my first thought was 'no chance'," he said. [Mr Howells]

"He did mention that when people were investigating for evidence, they turn up with 15 to 20 people in full protective gear with diggers and dogs as well.

"The truth is I haven't got the funds or ability to make that happen at the moment without a definite pay cheque at the end of it." [Mr Howells]

Non-trivial certainly. I wonder how much metal goes into landfill these days? Our landfill waste is 99.9% plastic films/bags.

[ARW]

Something he only discovered after reading this

[Nightjar]

...

According to DEFRA, 4% of mixed household waste is metal. That would probably defeat any metal detecting efforts in a tip that size.

Colin Bignell

[Nick]

In message , Robin writes

The algorithm allows (AIUI) an approximate but finite number to ever be mined/created - in the millions I vaguely remember. Given the volatile nature of the price and the limited number left it probably isn't worth it in terms of effort/resources required. Although given the size of the new NSA data centre in Utah, they might have a different take on things!

[harryagain]

Just another load of financial bollox. Spend it quick. This is some sort of scam. Probably RBS behind it.

[The Other Mike]

Limited finite supply, high cost of current production, slow production schedule, untraceable and above all very portable with potential use for illicit purposes.

If you think that creates a scenario where the value goes down then IMHO you must be off your rocker.