Any of you investing in cryptocurrencies?

[Rukas]

I had 4 bitcoins and sold them when they hit $600 each. Ouch.

I’m heavily invested in VEN now, NCASH and BAT. Dabble in a couple of others. Still hodl a lot of XRP. Just picked up some Unibright ICO which I am pretty confident in (great project).

Who else is coming to the moon with me?

 

[Tha_Wood]

I bought $800 worth of bitcoin when they were around $10 per coin. I bought xanax with them off silk road.....

 

[Rukas]

Lol are you kidding? Lol damn. You’d be a millionaire!

 

[Tha_Wood]

No joke man. Xanax was good but I'm not sure it was worth a million.

 

[Rukas]

I think that would be a pretty common story lol. Damn expensive high. You sure you didn't accidentally leave a couple left over in some wallet?

 

[masta247]

I have ethical reservations (waste electricity) as well as business reservations (not a tangible good or regulated currency).

On another hand I feel a bit stupid, as I researched Bitcoin right after it popped up, and judging by the sudden media attention and how the algorithms were designed I assumed that it MIGHT rise in value back in the day, although I didn't expect it to last as long. I was quite sure there'll be a rather sudden and painful crash. Unless something happens, such as governments recognizing it and not penalizing it (which is unlikely unless heavily lobbied), I still think that is the most likely scenario.

 

[Rukas]

I have ethical reservations (waste electricity) as well as business reservations (not a tangible good or regulated currency).

On another hand I feel a bit stupid, as I researched Bitcoin right after it popped up, and judging by the sudden media attention and how the algorithms were designed I assumed that it MIGHT rise in value back in the day, although I didn't expect it to last as long. I was quite sure there'll be a rather sudden and painful crash. Unless something happens, such as governments recognizing it and not penalizing it (which is unlikely unless heavily lobbied), I still think that is the most likely scenario.

There’s a lot of tokens now (most actually) that don’t require mining. I think once we move away from BTC pairing that “industy” will die out.

Also a lot of governments have recognised it. Most countries in Asia back one coin or another. Sweden is making its own.

 

[Rukas]

What a shit show right now. I’ve lost so much. It’ll bounce back and this crash needs to happen, but it still hurts to watch.

 

[Tha_Wood]

What happened to the market?

 

[Rukas]

What happened to the market?

Bitcoin has to die. The market is essentially sacrificing it right now. Gotta ride it out.

 

[masta247]

I really hope the craze dies down and I can buy a reasonably priced GPU again. I would be totally fine with cryptocurrencies if waseful mining went away, which I hope happens after it becomes inefficient again. Could be contributing all that processing power to the World community grid or something. There is such currency, but it's not popular.

 

[k69atie]

Even Akon is on about doing his own now

https://news.sky.com/story/akon-to-...th-its-own-cryptocurrency-in-senegal-11411642

 

[Rukas]

I really hope the craze dies down and I can buy a reasonably priced GPU again. I would be totally fine with cryptocurrencies if waseful mining went away, which I hope happens after it becomes inefficient again. Could be contributing all that processing power to the World community grid or something. There is such currency, but it's not popular.

Do people still mine though? I thought it wasn’t worth it anymore?

 

[masta247]

Do people still mine though? I thought it wasn’t worth it anymore?

I wish it was the case. The GPUs cost almost twice their launch price at the moment, so I assume some currencies must still be worth it. The price hiked by 30% throughout May alone, and there's still a major shortage in place. The manufacturers aren't ramping up production capabilities in fears that it will go away by the time they catch up, which surely is too large of a risk. Considering there are millions of GPUs sold every year and there's shortage caused by mining, I assume it's still huge.
It's actually been killing the growth of VR and PC gaming, as a decent GPU that launched at 400$ now costs close to 800, and that's for a 2-year-old chip that at this point in its lifecycle would normally be around 200-300$, which just doesn't sound appealing at all. New products will likely have a much higher price set at launch too.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/30/16949550/bitcoin-graphics-cards-pc-prices-surge

 

[Jokerman]

The value of cryptocurrencies is a bubble that can only come to a bad end. I keep my money in precious metals and bonds. All five dollars of it.

 

[dilla]

I wish it was the case. The GPUs cost almost twice their launch price at the moment, so I assume some currencies must still be worth it. The price hiked by 30% throughout May alone, and there's still a major shortage in place. The manufacturers aren't ramping up production capabilities in fears that it will go away by the time they catch up, which surely is too large of a risk. Considering there are millions of GPUs sold every year and there's shortage caused by mining, I assume it's still huge.
It's actually been killing the growth of VR and PC gaming, as a decent GPU that launched at 400$ now costs close to 800, and that's for a 2-year-old chip that at this point in its lifecycle would normally be around 200-300$, which just doesn't sound appealing at all. New products will likely have a much higher price set at launch too.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/30/16949550/bitcoin-graphics-cards-pc-prices-surge

Someone was telling me how eGPU was taking a hit because so many planned to buy a card and a dock/bay after a year or so, but prices have only gone up in recent times.

And when prices start to come back down, it will still be old tech that would still be overpriced for what it is.

 

[masta247]

Someone was telling me how eGPU was taking a hit because so many planned to buy a card and a dock/bay after a year or so, but prices have only gone up in recent times.

And when prices start to come back down, it will still be old tech that would still be overpriced for what it is.

When next gen cards come out (and they will likely later this year), the last gen's cards might flood the market and likely lower the prices on those at least. Except the used cards will barely have any life left in them, considering they've been mining 24/7 for the last 2 years or so.

As far as the next gen goes, Nvidia will probably want their piece of the pie and hike up the launch prices, so the next generation will surely be more expensive at launch than the last one was. Right now it's the retailers and wholesalers who profit on the insane prices - Nvidia and AMD still sell the cards at launch prices. They will want to fix that with next gens. I hope it all goes back to the old normal soon.

 

[Rukas]

The value of cryptocurrencies is a bubble that can only come to a bad end. I keep my money in precious metals and bonds. All five dollars of it.

Yeah. Just like the dot com bubble crashed and when it did it brought the internet to an end.


It’s inflated now. It will crash. But some projects will carry through and go on to big things. The technology is too useful to crash and go away.

 

[dilla]

When next gen cards come out (and they will likely later this year), the last gen's cards might flood the market and likely lower the prices on those at least. Except the used cards will barely have any life left in them, considering they've been mining 24/7 for the last 2 years or so.

As far as the next gen goes, Nvidia will probably want their piece of the pie and hike up the launch prices, so the next generation will surely be more expensive at launch than the last one was. Right now it's the retailers and wholesalers who profit on the insane prices - Nvidia and AMD still sell the cards at launch prices. They will want to fix that with next gens. I hope it all goes back to the old normal soon.

I frequent SlickDeals a lot and I see "deals" for cards that are $400ish+ and people keep mentioning the price drop that is to come. Or the price hike that's currently happening.

It sucks because I could afford to drop $200ish on an eGPU just for some of the light gaming I do (wasteful, I know, but what the hell?) but I'm being told a lot of these cards should be half the price but are instead considered "deals" at $400+ because of this mess.

I can wait, though.


Also, Apple started a repair program for butterfly keyboard failures on newer Macs. I've had intermittent issues with random keys becoming unresponsive or harder to press but they resolved on their own after some time. Which also makes me believe that my issues were due to debris being stuck in there and not a straight up electrical failure that some others have had where the entire keyboard goes out. I bought AppleCare+ just in case but now this recall will last from 4 years of purchase date so now I feel kind of screwed over in that regard lol

Oh well, I'll just run the hell out of the battery and ask for a replacement a few years down the line before AC+ expires.

 

[masta247]

https://grist.org/article/bitcoin-gobbles-up-clean-energy-just-when-the-real-world-needs-it-most/

" In total, Bitcoin now consumes about as much energy as Portugal."

"We are spending tens or maybe hundreds of megawatts on producing something that has no tangible existence and no real use for humans outside the realm of financial speculation”

Am I the only one who's pissed off about that? Imagine how that would go down in future history books after the current financial systems are long gone.