Bitcoin futures trading is going to come online this weekend. Is that something to be concerned about?

 

Very much so.

Only for those trading them.

 

The companies selling the futures have to own Bitcoin don't they? Then if Bitcoin has one of its big drops as it has several times this year the company could be forced to sell the Bitcoin. Won't that cause the price to drop even further?

 

Has the price dropped the last day or so because people are concerned about the impact of the futures trading?

Probably some profit taking, too. I don't know how the futures will affect the price. My gut tells me the price will go up....just a very uninformed guess.

I would be interested to see how many people actually know what bitcoin even is

Do you just buy a machine and hit the ‘go’ button or does someone have to work the machine 24/7?

 

You better have your own power grid. The amount of electricity that these computers consume will wipe out all profit and put you in debt if you try to go by yourself. That is my major concern with cryptocurrency. It costs a lot of kilowatt hours to run these special computers.

Just my guess, but Wall Street is going to pound Bitcoin into the ground at first with the futures. They have the money and have every reason to hope it fails.

Just my guess, but Wall Street is going to pound Bitcoin into the ground at first with the futures. They have the money and have every reason to hope it fails.

 

This.

Do you just buy a machine and hit the ‘go’ button or does someone have to work the machine 24/7?

 

Essentially it operates itself once it is setup properly. Those machines generate quite a bit of heat though so it wouldn't be a bad idea to check the cpu/gpu temps occasionally to make sure you don't fry the processor.

This is an interesting read:

 

Bitcoin is ruining the planet - Business Insider

 

If you're like me, you've probably been ignoring the bitcoin phenomenon for years — because it seemed too complex, far-fetched, or maybe even too libertarian. But if you have any interest in a future where the world moves beyond fossil fuels, you and I should both start paying attention now.

 

Last week, the value of a single bitcoin broke the $10,000 barrier for the first time. Over the weekend, the price nearly hit $12,000. At the beginning of this year, it was less than $1,000.

 

If you had bought $100 in bitcoin back in 2011, your investment would be worth nearly $4 million today. All over the internet there are stories of people who treated their friends to lunch a few years ago and, as a novelty, paid with bitcoin. Those same people are now realizing that if they'd just paid in cash and held onto their digital currency, they'd now have enough money to buy a house.

 

That sort of precipitous rise is stunning, of course, but bitcoin wasn't intended to be an investment instrument. Its creators envisioned it as a replacement for money itself — a decentralized, secure, anonymous method for transferring value between people.

 

But what they might not have accounted for is how much of an energy suck the computer network behind bitcoin could one day become.

 

Hydro mining is the solution to the electric issue and it is becoming more and more popular with the larger mining companies. They're essentially building small hydo power plants in the mountains and producing their own electricity. Plus it's eco friendly.

You better have your own power grid. The amount of electricity that these computers consume will wipe out all profit and put you in debt if you try to go by yourself. That is my major concern with cryptocurrency. It costs a lot of kilowatt hours to run these special computers.

 

If you're just running a single machine in your home you'll notice a pretty big increase in your electric bill but you would still earn plenty of profit. They pull about the same amount of electricity as a small space heater but will earn you around 1 BTC per year. Given the current price of BTC, there would still be a nice return, unless of course the market crashes.

Just my guess, but Wall Street is going to pound Bitcoin into the ground at first with the futures. They have the money and have every reason to hope it fails.

 

I believe they will beat it up in the beginning to get the prices down, then buy back in when the market bottoms out. They will manipulate it just like they do all of the other markets.

I believe they will beat it up in the beginning to get the prices down, then buy back in when the market bottoms out. They will manipulate it just like they do all of the other markets.

They will and do it to extreme levels. Bitcoin has never seen anything close to the kind of money they can throw around. There is going to be blood, lots of blood.

They will and do it to extreme levels. Bitcoin has never seen anything close to the kind of money they can throw around. There is going to be blood, lots of blood.

 

Meh, I think it will have a substantial drop, but it will rebound shortly after. These new investors aren't going to crash the market and take a loss, they're going to crash it and then buy right back in at a reasonable price to turn a profit.

I’m definitely concerned on the Bitcoin front.

 

Now, Amazon could announce tomorrow at they’re going to start accepting direct Bitcoin payments and that would be a huge mark in its favor.

 

But if, before that, the Department of Justice decides that Bitcoin is a massive tool for money laundering and fraud and begins a huge regulatory crackdown, not so great for the early investors.

 

In the end, the lack of intrinsic value is what concerns me here for something priced this high. The price seems to be based mostly on the expectation that the price will be higher tomorrow than it is today and not on the expectation of increased utility or functionality. That’s a bubble.

 

Bitcoin was valued at about $100 just four years ago. How much has changed in Bitcoin’s real value to justify nearly $20,000 this week?

 

Blockchain holds some real promise for reducing transactional costs in the long term. I’m definitely worried that rampant speculation on Bitcoin and other related cryptocurrencies might undermine that progress that’s been made.

Don't forget that Bitcoin has a large Asian component.