Bitcoins.

[InvaderGames]

The same way one would gamble with stocks or commodities, yes. I've recently cashed out of BTC to USD. Waiting for it to drop again.

For the record, I'm not actually a huge btc fan. I don't like that it's essentially a bunch of nerds who wanted to rich and invented a very silly way for that to be true. But, as long as a bunch of other idiots (such as myself) keep buying into it, there is value there.

What I don't get: as difficulty climbs and people stop mining, how do we expect to process transactions in a timely way? How are the 99% going to get spent when the 1% is mining? I'm sure there must be an answer for it, but I'm not that 'in the loop.'

Once people stop mining BTC will loose its value and difficulty on the network will drop to adjust. But I dont see that happening.. ever.. or at least not for for a good bunch of years (and I mean like 10+ years)

People will not stop mining because the difficulty increases, if anything, difficulty only increases because MORE people is mining. that also makes transactions faster because there are more servers to process transactions.

[Reaperman]

Once people stop mining BTC will loose its value and difficulty on the network will drop to adjust. But I dont see that happening.. ever.. or at least not for for a good bunch of years (and I mean like 10+ years)

People will not stop mining because the difficulty increases, if anything, difficulty only increases because MORE people is mining. that also makes transactions faster because there are more servers to process transactions.

But since there will only be 21million btc to mine, and the payout halves every four years, there will be a point where the last few btc will be so unprofitable that I fear there won't be enough mining power to process the transation of the other 20+ million coins. BTC seems to have a life expectancy. It does not seem designed to last forever.

[InvaderGames]

But since there will only be 21million btc to mine, and the payout halves every four years, there will be a point where the last few btc will be so unprofitable that I fear there won't be enough mining power to process the transation of the other 20+ million coins. BTC seems to have a life expectancy. It does not seem designed to last forever.

Transaction fees will be then: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Myths#Aft...ate_new_blocks

Your point is valid trough, the BTC value may drop after the 21 millon is reached, but it may also make it stronger (think what happenes with gold). There is no way of knowing how users will react to the variables (rarity of currency will increase, there will be more transaction fees, high prices per BTC unit)

[Reaperman]

well, like a lot of folks seem to be doing, I've turned some of my profits into my first real BTC mining hardware and they arrived today. Nothing fancy--just a couple $20 block erupters to see how it all works. I'd been casually mining LTC using a graphics card, but this should be much easier on the energy bill. Of course I bought some pretty low-end stuff (should be 660mh/s or so) so I'm mostly just playing. That speed is *well* out of the range of my GPU, however, and would have been considered mildly awesome just a few months ago.

[Hydrus]

Speaking of bitcoins, I'm not sure if they'll survive enough for OUYA to implement them. I just read an article and it said that the creator of bitcoins is possibly linked to evil things.

[mmartino]

Speaking of bitcoins, I'm not sure if they'll survive enough for OUYA to implement them. I just read an article and it said that the creator of bitcoins is possibly linked to evil things.

Bitcoins in most countries are used for "shady" activity. Its nothing new. What would you expect from a pyramid scheme lol. But don't worry you can just use any of the 54+ virtual currencies that have additional "shady" people associated with it lol.

Here is a link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cryptocurrencies

Good news if you had a Quarkcoin, it went up 200% this week lol

[Schizophretard]

Speaking of bitcoins, I'm not sure if they'll survive enough for OUYA to implement them. I just read an article and it said that the creator of bitcoins is possibly linked to evil things.

How wouldn't they survive because of that?

[jbrodack]

Speaking of bitcoins, I'm not sure if they'll survive enough for OUYA to implement them. I just read an article and it said that the creator of bitcoins is possibly linked to evil things.

What article? I don't think anyone knows even who the creator is besides an alias of Satoshi Nakamoto. It wouldn't matter how shady the creator is since it's a decentralized currency. Maybe you heard about the silk road being taken down which, while a popular illegal use of bitcoins, has no ties to the currency itself.

Bitcoin value has been going up like crazy especially with reports of governments starting to take it seriously and bitcoins getting more popular in certain countries.. I made a little bit of money on the little bit I bought but wish I had bought more now. Maybe bitcoin itself will lose popularity and value at some point but I think the idea of cryptocurrency is here to stay. If bitcoin fades away another cryptocurrency will take it's place.

[Hydrus]

I can't find the exact article, I remember my programming teacher explaining it and he even linked the article itself. I have no proof though, so count my words as a lie.

Speaking of bitcoins, OUYA accepts bitcoins now. Looks like I was wrong, they did survive long enough to be on OUYA.

[Schizophretard]

I can't find the exact article, I remember my programming teacher explaining it and he even linked the article itself. I have no proof though, so count my words as a lie.

Speaking of bitcoins, OUYA accepts bitcoins now. Looks like I was wrong, they did survive long enough to be on OUYA.

Didn't see that coming. Now they just have to allow it for buying games.