Computer Help and Support

steve2470

(37,468 posts) Sat Mar 17, 2018, 07:30 AM Mar 2018

Bitcoin: a little help here please

I know some of the basics about it, but my enduring question is, why does the world need it and the other crypto-currencies ? To put it simplistically, I can pay all my bills with my credit card or cash or my bank account. A large corporation like ExxonMobil can do the same, with its corporate assets.

I'm reading this article which talks a lot about how bitcoin miners are soaking up all the excess electrical power in the hydropower-rich Columbia Valley basin. Yes, you can (or could) make a ton of money mining bitcoin, but for how much longer ?

I'm not knocking the overall blockchain technology but why use bitcoin or Dogecoin or Litecoin when I can just pay for my stuff the old-fashioned way ? I just don't get it. Thanks in advance for your respectful and informative reply.

Steve

8 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Bitcoin: a little help here please (Original Post) steve2470 Mar 2018 OP

Blockchain is brilliant, but there are be better uses for it. For Bitcoin... TreasonousBastard Mar 2018 #1

yes I've seen that referenced many times steve2470 Mar 2018 #2

It is all about speculation. JayhawkSD Mar 2018 #6

yes you nailed it nt steve2470 Mar 2018 #7

Obviously you are not buying anything illegal. dawg day Mar 2018 #3

yes exactly nt steve2470 Mar 2018 #4

Privacy is temporary discntnt_irny_srcsm Mar 2018 #5

I was getting generic Latisse imported from India via a US seller. (no RX -$35 a bottle) LeftInTX Mar 2018 #8

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)

1. Blockchain is brilliant, but there are be better uses for it. For Bitcoin...

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Sat Mar 17, 2018, 07:34 AM

Mar 2018

search "Dutch tulip mania"

steve2470

(37,468 posts)

2. yes I've seen that referenced many times

Reply to TreasonousBastard (Reply #1)

Sat Mar 17, 2018, 07:42 AM

Mar 2018

It costs the US Mint so much to "mine" US Dollars, in electrical power. I'm sure Bitcoin takes much higher multiples of electrical power to mine the same amount. Why increase our needs for electrical power when we (as the world) should be trying to stabilize the need or decrease it long-term ? It seems that bitcoin mining is simply going to drive up electrical costs for everyone, for a dubious need.

JayhawkSD

(3,163 posts)

6. It is all about speculation.

Reply to steve2470 (Reply #2)

Sat Mar 17, 2018, 09:19 AM

Mar 2018

The people who are "mining" the bitcoin are counting on idiots buying bitcoin at ever increasing prices in order to cash in. Those idiots are not actually buying bitcoin, they are buying the increasing price of bitcoin as a financial speculation to enrich themselves. That scheme will work until it doesn't, just like buying tulips made people rich until it didn't.

steve2470

(37,468 posts)

7. yes you nailed it nt

Reply to JayhawkSD (Reply #6)

Sat Mar 17, 2018, 09:46 AM

Mar 2018

dawg day

(7,947 posts)

3. Obviously you are not buying anything illegal.

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Sat Mar 17, 2018, 07:58 AM

Mar 2018

bitcoin transactions can't be monitored. Great for purchases you don't want known.

steve2470

(37,468 posts)

4. yes exactly nt

Reply to dawg day (Reply #3)

Sat Mar 17, 2018, 08:12 AM

Mar 2018

discntnt_irny_srcsm

(18,578 posts)

5. Privacy is temporary

Reply to steve2470 (Reply #4)

Sat Mar 17, 2018, 08:20 AM

Mar 2018

https://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/

Our Ultimate Target: 256-bit AES

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm is used worldwide to encrypt electronic data on hard drives, email systems, and web browsers. Computer experts have estimated it would take longer than the age of the universe to break the code using a trial-and-error brute force attack with today's computing technology.

In 2004, the NSA launched a plan to use the Multiprogram Research Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to build a classified supercomputer designed specifically for cryptanalysis targeting the AES algorithm. Our classified NSA Oak Ridge facility made a stunning breakthrough that is leading us on a path towards building the first exaflop machine (1 quintillion instructions per second) by 2018. Since the capability to break the AES-256 encryption key within an actionable time period may still be decades away, our Utah facility is sized to store all encrypted (and thereby suspicious) data for safekeeping.

LeftInTX

(30,007 posts)

8. I was getting generic Latisse imported from India via a US seller. (no RX -$35 a bottle)

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Thu Mar 22, 2018, 02:45 PM

Mar 2018

I was buying it from a company in Los Angeles. They were importing in bulk and selling to the public. They accepted credit cards via secure transactions.

The FDA caught wind and shut it down. Now if I want cheap Latisse, the credit card will go through a site in India. The Indian credit card transaction did not seem secure to me. The Indian site, also accepts Bitcoins.

No more Latisse or long eyelashes for me. I'm not going to go the Bitcoin route to get long eyelashes.

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