BITCOIN as an alternative to regular currency

[Euler]

Y, I did some more research this afternoon to check how it was pegged to the dollar and how the underlying company works, etc. In theory, it should work. But a lack of regulation means it's not impossible there could be a problem. But regulators aren't known for spotting issues anyhow!

[ruthlessimon]

I can't lie, I'm impressed with how well BTC has held up despite all the craziness right now.

[bdamir]

Yeah, no matter what the market does, Bitcoin seems to stay pretty resilient compared to most other coins. I started out trading smaller tokens and stablecoins and after witnessing things like Terra-Luna, I just stick with the basics for longer-term stuff. But for side projects or launching a token, it’s still hard to ignore Solana because of the speed and low fees.

[firlandsfarm]

Why do people still mine for BTC? I'm not referring to the mining farms but more the 'hobbyist' type miner with some machines in the garage. With the price fluctuations of BTC, the price of electricity (especially in the UK) and the life of the equipment there is the constant on/off question "is mining profitable?". Because of that why don't people just buy some BTC and save the capital cost?

[Big Bad Barney]

why don't people just buy some BTC and save the capital cost?

Cause you can't buy any bread and eggs with it

[firlandsfarm]

why don't people just buy some BTC and save the capital cost?

Cause you can't buy any bread and eggs with it

?? Not following! Mined BTC and purchased BTC are totally interchangeable for uses, yes?

[Big Bad Barney]

?? Not following! Mined BTC and purchased BTC are totally interchangeable for uses, yes?

Sorry, I was being cynical and not directly answering the question so you'd be correct not to understand ..... it's a terrible habit I picked up somewhere. It's not helpful. I also tend to conflate things. That's also not helpful

I guess my feeling is that fundamentally it's not useful as currency..... Everyone that owns it owns it for speculative purposes. At least....None of my friends or family consistently uses it to buy bread and eggs, or anything.

My guess would be people who mine on a small scale do it for fun.

[aussie]

“I’ve got a few fams overseas who’re mining coins. If you can snag a sweet deal on the leccy—or score it for free—dodging gov red tape is pretty tempting. Reckon it’s a case-by-case thing, depending on the country, aye. I use me crypto debit card all the time to grab stuff, no dramas.”

[firlandsfarm]

Sorry, I was being cynical and not directly answering the question so you'd be correct not to understand ..... it's a terrible habit I picked up somewhere. It's not helpful. I also tend to conflate things. That's also not helpful

I guess my feeling is that fundamentally it's not useful as currency..... Everyone that owns it owns it for speculative purposes. At least....None of my friends or family consistently uses it to buy bread and eggs, or anything.

My guess would be people who mine on a small scale do it for fun.

Hi Barney, I did wonder ... I thought you were comparing having BTC v's Having 'real' Money. My question concerned having 'mined' BTC v's having 'purchased' BTC i.e. looking at it from a purely acquisition cost angle and ignoring the use of the BTC as being the same on both sides. So let's say I have £10,000 for BTC acquisition ... I could spend the £10,000 buying a mining rig and keeping some back to cover the electricity costs but there is always the debate as to whether mining is profitable which is obviously dependant on many factors the main ones perhaps being the cost of the electricity and the depreciation of the capital investment both of which the 'rig owner' has no real control over.

My question is "Why bother with the uncertainties of mining?" I'm simply extracting and comparing the cost of the BTC ... any future increase in the value of that BTC will be equal however it was obtained, yes? Why not keep the capital accessible and ...

• 1. buy BTC in the market based on market price fluctuations,
  2. treat the £10,000 as a sinking fund over the expected viable life of the equipment and buy by regular subscription (£/$ cost averaging), or
  3. monitor mining operations and only buy when mining is deemed unprofitable i.e. the BTC price is below the cost of mining ... (nothing scientific in that but it would be a direct comparison to mining).

[firlandsfarm]

“I’ve got a few fams overseas who’re mining coins. If you can snag a sweet deal on the leccy—or score it for free—dodging gov red tape is pretty tempting. Reckon it’s a case-by-case thing, depending on the country, aye. I use me crypto debit card all the time to grab stuff, no dramas.”

so are you mining your BTC, on average, at below the BTC price at the time you acquire? And do your mining operations pause when the BTC price is below the cost of mining?

[aussie]

Nah, the cost of minin' almost always punches above the crypto price, but that's pretty much water off a duck's back.

No worries

[firlandsfarm]

Nah, the cost of minin' almost always punches above the crypto price, but that's pretty much water off a duck's back.

No worries

Thanks Aussie, that's what I've always found when I've investigated mining and that's why I raised the question. Many people mine for BTC and the YouTube soothsayers will tell you how easy it is to do and make a handsome profit but I've never found it to stand up to a due diligence examination (especially not with UK electricity prices). I guess a more through question would have been "except for the fun of mining your own BTC why not just buy some when the market price is less than the mining cost?"

[Big Bad Barney]

I would guess the rate of return is inconsistent on a small scale? (I don't really know how it works)

Over in AU here, my solar power is free....took me 7 years to pay it off... so now I am ahead, but the feed in tariff to the grid is a bit ordinary.... maybe that works for some people...

I saw a doco on the building of that massive OpenAI datacentre in the US (texas I think it was...maybe).....the guy running that was an ex BTC minor who put his efforts on mining where there was large amounts of energy produced...i.e. he'd move his rig there....