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    Author Topic: So who is bitcoin *really* for?  (Read 2746 times)

    • skottiejay (OP)
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    July 07, 2011, 05:57:07 AM
     #1
    I'm a little confused by the concept of bitcoin, it seems like a great deal of people who are knowledgeable about tech, gpu's, cpu's etc are really really into bitcoin. But it doesn't seem like there's any room for the off hand user who stumbled upon it by random accident, and was really curious by it.

    It almost seems like a clique, if you don't have the hardware to farm coins, you don't make money. People go out of their way to build huge expensive rigs, but what about the people who can't afford that?

    I guess what I'm trying to say is, it just feels like I'm being left out of something. I got my first 0.01 bitcoin today. Using a site that pays bitcoins for taking surveys, I was excited by this except for the fact that I've been non stop mining on my little computer for nearly a week now and haven't generated a whole lot of anything on deepbit. I can't afford to buy a huge rig, or drop money on video cards or new hardware. I'm poor, unemployed and disabled. I admit when I first came to look into bitcoin I thought it was a "get rich with little effort" scheme/idea that I could pull off with minimal hardware. So many people then told me it was impossible to get anywhere mining with a CPU, and my poor little notebook doesn't have a dedicated videocard.

    Before this sounds like a "woe is me" story, which isn't the case I guess the point is, who is all of this for? Do you *want* to spread the community or keep it secret? Because people like me, people without the dedicated hardware to mine on are really really interested, but by the time I generate 1 bitcoin they will have either dropped in value, or it'll just be another flash in the pan type deal that I missed out on.

    I guess I'm just frustrated because I wanted to see a return from this, and that's not going to happen any time soon. I feel like throwing in my hat, but I won't because I'm *just* curious enough to keep going.

    Thanks for listening.
    What else could I say?

  • Anonymous
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    July 07, 2011, 06:04:33 AM
     #2
    Dont mine with your cpu or youll be a lot poorer when you get your electricity bill.

    Bitcoins dont just fall from the sky and neither do gold nuggets. Dollar bills drop from helicopters though.

    What do you do to earn a  living now? Find something you can do that will earn bitcoins by supplying a good or service.

  • laanwj
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    July 07, 2011, 06:05:56 AM
     #3
    Mining is only a very small part of bitcoin, which gets way too much attention. Myself I've only mined a few days before I decided it was too much trouble. I certainly never bought a GPU specifically for it.

    The real point of bitcoin, which makes it interesting and disruptive, is to make fast, low-cost and drama-free international payments possible with an distributed, open-source system.

  • bitrebel
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    July 07, 2011, 06:13:41 AM
     #4
    In the beginning, bitcoin was for hoarding.  Grin
    Currently bitcoin is for daytrading.  Roll Eyes
    In the future, hopefully, bitcoin will be for spending.   Cheesy
    Why does Bitrebel have 65+ Ignores?
    Because Bitrebel says things that some people do not want YOU to hear.

  • skottiejay (OP)
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    July 07, 2011, 06:36:28 AM
     #5
    Quote from: Anonymous on July 07, 2011, 06:04:33 AM
    Dont mine with your cpu or youll be a lot poorer when you get your electricity bill.

    Bitcoins dont just fall from the sky and neither do gold nuggets. Dollar bills drop from helicopters though.

    What do you do to earn a  living now? Find something you can do that will earn bitcoins by supplying a good or service.

    I can only mine with my CPU for now, like I stated because I don't have the money/GPU to do otherwise.

    I've tried the "services" route briefly, and haven't had a single bite. I'm capable of doing web design, logo design etc and it seems that market is already being tied down by 30 other people.

    Quote from: John Smith on July 07, 2011, 06:05:56 AM
    Mining is only a very small part of bitcoin, which gets way too much attention. Myself I've only mined a few days before I decided it was too much trouble. I certainly never bought a GPU specifically for it.

    The real point of bitcoin, which makes it interesting and disruptive, is to make fast, low-cost and drama-free international payments possible with an distributed, open-source system.

    But it seems like it just came out of nowhere, and if you didn't already have coins you didn't have anything. I'd love to see bitcoins scale and become more common place, but I only wish they'd be easier to get to first.

    I guess I'm just ranting here, but it doesn't seem fair, and before anyone else says "Well life isn't far blah blah" that's not the point. To me, it feels like a case of the rich getting richer while everyone else sits with their hands in their pockets wondering what's going on.
    What else could I say?

  • Jaime Frontero
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    July 07, 2011, 06:52:11 AM
     #6
    it doesn't take much money to get started.  follow the market for awhile.  learn how it works.  read the forum - especially the trading subforum.

    put twenty bucks on an exchange and buy 1 BTC when you're confident the market is at a low.  exchange it for USD when you're reasonably confident the market is at a high.  wait for it to go down, and use the USD to buy more Bitcoin on the exchange.  etc...

    it's a pretty volatile market, and if your patience is high and your greed is low you can make a little money.  it sounds like your personal position might be suited to some kind of trading.

    worth a shot.

  • laanwj
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    July 07, 2011, 06:56:21 AM
     #7
    Quote from: skottiejay on July 07, 2011, 06:36:28 AM
    But it seems like it just came out of nowhere, and if you didn't already have coins you didn't have anything. I'd love to see bitcoins scale and become more common place, but I only wish they'd be easier to get to first.
    I simply bought my coins to "get in". So can everyone. Who is "left out"?

    Mining is for people that don't mind having a rack of noisy, hot, power-draining servers in their living room/garage/basement.

  • skottiejay (OP)
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    July 07, 2011, 06:57:23 AM
     #8
    Trading sounds like an idea, the only problem once again is where does the money to buy come from?

    At the current rate, I think I should just opt out. This is a really fascinating idea, but at the same time you've gotta have the money to make it, or you already had the money and now you are just biding time until the value goes up.

    Ah well, I guess only time will tell.
    What else could I say?

  • BitPorium
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    July 07, 2011, 07:02:27 AM
     #9
    I was just about in your shoes back in April when I found bitcoins. Read around for a few days and took the plunge. Had my gtx 570 and cashed out $50 in a few days. Got two video cards and haven't looked back. I open a shop and things have not been bad. I think bitcoins just take some getting used to. I'm sure there is something you can offer. Gl

  • Seraphim401
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    July 07, 2011, 07:03:15 AM
     #10
    Quote from: skottiejay on July 07, 2011, 05:57:07 AM
    I'm a little confused by the concept of bitcoin, it seems like a great deal of people who are knowledgeable about tech, gpu's, cpu's etc are really really into bitcoin. But it doesn't seem like there's any room for the off hand user who stumbled upon it by random accident, and was really curious by it.

    It almost seems like a clique, if you don't have the hardware to farm coins, you don't make money. People go out of their way to build huge expensive rigs, but what about the people who can't afford that?

    I guess what I'm trying to say is, it just feels like I'm being left out of something. I got my first 0.01 bitcoin today. Using a site that pays bitcoins for taking surveys, I was excited by this except for the fact that I've been non stop mining on my little computer for nearly a week now and haven't generated a whole lot of anything on deepbit. I can't afford to buy a huge rig, or drop money on video cards or new hardware. I'm poor, unemployed and disabled. I admit when I first came to look into bitcoin I thought it was a "get rich with little effort" scheme/idea that I could pull off with minimal hardware. So many people then told me it was impossible to get anywhere mining with a CPU, and my poor little notebook doesn't have a dedicated videocard.

    Before this sounds like a "woe is me" story, which isn't the case I guess the point is, who is all of this for? Do you *want* to spread the community or keep it secret? Because people like me, people without the dedicated hardware to mine on are really really interested, but by the time I generate 1 bitcoin they will have either dropped in value, or it'll just be another flash in the pan type deal that I missed out on.

    I guess I'm just frustrated because I wanted to see a return from this, and that's not going to happen any time soon. I feel like throwing in my hat, but I won't because I'm *just* curious enough to keep going.

    Thanks for listening.
    Thanks for letting me appreciate my 2 5770's and my lonely 5870 more  Kiss.
     I think for now any help (even from cpu's) is much needed to keep our currency secure.
    I look forward to the day when I can go buy an awesome gpu at my favorate retailer with my BTC.

     
    http://btcstats.net/sig/WQZvDg2
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  • skottiejay (OP)
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    July 07, 2011, 07:11:49 AM
     #11
    Quote from: Seraphim401 on July 07, 2011, 07:03:15 AM
    Quote from: skottiejay on July 07, 2011, 05:57:07 AM
    I'm a little confused by the concept of bitcoin, it seems like a great deal of people who are knowledgeable about tech, gpu's, cpu's etc are really really into bitcoin. But it doesn't seem like there's any room for the off hand user who stumbled upon it by random accident, and was really curious by it.

    It almost seems like a clique, if you don't have the hardware to farm coins, you don't make money. People go out of their way to build huge expensive rigs, but what about the people who can't afford that?

    I guess what I'm trying to say is, it just feels like I'm being left out of something. I got my first 0.01 bitcoin today. Using a site that pays bitcoins for taking surveys, I was excited by this except for the fact that I've been non stop mining on my little computer for nearly a week now and haven't generated a whole lot of anything on deepbit. I can't afford to buy a huge rig, or drop money on video cards or new hardware. I'm poor, unemployed and disabled. I admit when I first came to look into bitcoin I thought it was a "get rich with little effort" scheme/idea that I could pull off with minimal hardware. So many people then told me it was impossible to get anywhere mining with a CPU, and my poor little notebook doesn't have a dedicated videocard.

    Before this sounds like a "woe is me" story, which isn't the case I guess the point is, who is all of this for? Do you *want* to spread the community or keep it secret? Because people like me, people without the dedicated hardware to mine on are really really interested, but by the time I generate 1 bitcoin they will have either dropped in value, or it'll just be another flash in the pan type deal that I missed out on.

    I guess I'm just frustrated because I wanted to see a return from this, and that's not going to happen any time soon. I feel like throwing in my hat, but I won't because I'm *just* curious enough to keep going.

    Thanks for listening.
    Thanks for letting me appreciate my 2 5770's and my lonely 5870 more  Kiss.
     I think for now any help (even from cpu's) is much needed to keep our currency secure.
    I look forward to the day when I can go buy an awesome gpu at my favorate retailer with my BTC.

     

    Haha, don't feel bad. It's mostly out of jealousy and a big "what was I thinking" type deal that I say anything about people with decent rigs. 6 months ago I had something that would have turned in a bit more profit, I had to sell it in order to put a meal on the table for me and my partner. For now I am biding my time on this notebook until I can get a little ahead.

    More than likely I will end up getting a computer a bit more worthy of mining, I guess just overall I wish I wasn't in the position I'm in even though 90% of it is probably my own fault.

    And also I wish I'd known about bitcoins at least a year earlier.
    What else could I say?

  • Gabi
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    July 07, 2011, 08:43:39 AM
     #12
    Quote
    It almost seems like a clique, if you don't have the hardware to farm coins, you don't make money. People go out of their way to build huge expensive rigs, but what about the people who can't afford that?

    Hi, bitcoin is a currency, a commodity

    Do you mine dollars? Euros? No, but you use them. Same for bitcoins.

    Sure, mining exist and if you can invest in it you can make some profit, but the important thing of bitcoin is not mining.

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    		▐.▐.

  • error
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    July 07, 2011, 06:33:04 PM
     #13
    TANSTAAFL.
    3KzNGwzRZ6SimWuFAgh4TnXzHpruHMZmV8

  • edd
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    July 07, 2011, 11:33:36 PM
     #14
    I haven't mined a day in my life.

    I came across Bitcoin while doing some research on economics (to make an educated reply in another forum) back in April. I was lucky enough to get to buy some via PayPal before that option went up in smoke, but I was stupid enough to gamble them away. In the end, when the exchange rate began to increase dramatically, I was back where I started - at zero.

    In hindsight, I do wish I had purchased more and acted more responsibly with them, of course, but my poor decisions don't take away from the desirable qualities of bitcoins which attracted me to them in the first place. At the moment, they seem to be a way to get rich in and of themselves, but this is simply a byproduct of the market, not built into the bitcoin client.

    My advice to anyone who feels that they're being left behind by the Bitcoin train: review your motives and carefully consider why you want bitcoins.
    Still around.

  • kloinko1n
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    July 07, 2011, 11:54:31 PM
     #15
    Quote from: skottiejay on July 07, 2011, 05:57:07 AM
    I'm a little confused by the concept of bitcoin, it seems like a great deal of people who are knowledgeable about tech, gpu's, cpu's etc are really really into bitcoin. But it doesn't seem like there's any room for the off hand user who stumbled upon it by random accident, and was really curious by it.

    It almost seems like a clique, if you don't have the hardware to farm coins, you don't make money. People go out of their way to build huge expensive rigs, but what about the people who can't afford that?

    I guess what I'm trying to say is, it just feels like I'm being left out of something. I got my first 0.01 bitcoin today. Using a site that pays bitcoins for taking surveys, I was excited by this except for the fact that I've been non stop mining on my little computer for nearly a week now and haven't generated a whole lot of anything on deepbit. I can't afford to buy a huge rig, or drop money on video cards or new hardware. I'm poor, unemployed and disabled. I admit when I first came to look into bitcoin I thought it was a "get rich with little effort" scheme/idea that I could pull off with minimal hardware. So many people then told me it was impossible to get anywhere mining with a CPU, and my poor little notebook doesn't have a dedicated videocard.

    Before this sounds like a "woe is me" story, which isn't the case I guess the point is, who is all of this for? Do you *want* to spread the community or keep it secret? Because people like me, people without the dedicated hardware to mine on are really really interested, but by the time I generate 1 bitcoin they will have either dropped in value, or it'll just be another flash in the pan type deal that I missed out on.

    I guess I'm just frustrated because I wanted to see a return from this, and that's not going to happen any time soon. I feel like throwing in my hat, but I won't because I'm *just* curious enough to keep going.

    Thanks for listening.
    I think you're a bit too much obsessed with the  mining aspect of bitcoin.
    The concept bitcoin is much broader than that.
    Maybe you're left out of mining, but surely not of bitcoin.

  • billyjoeallen
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    July 08, 2011, 12:22:42 AM
     #16
    We keep seeing thread after thread by these poor souls with no money and no hashing power who want in. I'm sorry. You have to contribute something. Sell your services on bit-gigs.  Sell your used crap on Bidding Pond. Get a second job and buy coin with your paycheck.   If you can't do any of that, then pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster to rain bitcoins down on you. Life's hard. Get creative and get busy or get lost.

    insert coin here:
    Dash XfXZL8WL18zzNhaAqWqEziX2bUvyJbrC8s



    1Ctd7Na8qE7btyueEshAJF5C7ZqFWH11Wc

  • evoorhees
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    July 08, 2011, 12:29:42 AM
     #17
    Bitcoin is for anyone who wishes to transfer a payment to someone else in a frictionless manner. No fees (almost), very fast, no third party involved, no currency conversion if done across borders, easy authentication, no long-term inflation, etc.

    Bitcoin is money. Like all money, if you want it, you will generally have to trade something of value for it, or risk present assets for possible future returns. TANSTAAFL

  • divergenta
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    July 08, 2011, 01:00:21 AM
     #18
    TANSTAAFL!

    Try to sell goods or services to earn some coins.
    And there is always Silk Road if you’re into that kind of stuff.

  • Tronlet
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    July 08, 2011, 02:07:43 AM
     #19
    Quote from: Jaime Frontero on July 07, 2011, 06:52:11 AM
    it doesn't take much money to get started.  follow the market for awhile.  learn how it works.  read the forum - especially the trading subforum.

    put twenty bucks on an exchange and buy 1 BTC when you're confident the market is at a low.  exchange it for USD when you're reasonably confident the market is at a high.  wait for it to go down, and use the USD to buy more Bitcoin on the exchange.  etc...

    it's a pretty volatile market, and if your patience is high and your greed is low you can make a little money.  it sounds like your personal position might be suited to some kind of trading.

    worth a shot.

    Quote from: Jaime Frontero on July 07, 2011, 06:52:11 AM
    it doesn't take much money to get started.  follow the market for awhile.  learn how it works.  read the forum - especially the trading subforum.

    put twenty bucks on an exchange and buy 1 BTC when you're confident the market is at a low.  exchange it for USD when you're reasonably confident the market is at a high.  wait for it to go down, and use the USD to buy more Bitcoin on the exchange.  etc...

    it's a pretty volatile market, and if your patience is high and your greed is low you can make a little money.  it sounds like your personal position might be suited to some kind of trading.

    worth a shot.

    Yeah, but then that's just daytrading, and if that's all Bitcoin is used for then it'll never become popular.

    I personally am already liking the idea of bitcoin for spending, even though I originally got in just to daytrade.

    I've purchased a couple things, and it was much more straightforward and easy than anything else I'd used, it's just getting started that's hard. I was hungry the other day and was considering offering bitcoin for someone to send me a pizza (call up a pizza place near my area, etc) just because I don't currently have a credit card and didn't feel like going to the ATM. I didn't end up doing it, but I'm confident it would have worked.
    http://payb.tc/tronlet

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    July 13, 2011, 02:29:02 PM
     #20
    To the original poster, what did you think you could purchase with bitcoins before joining on the bag wagon?

    I ask because I'm on a mission to start bitcoin business(but also accepts creditcards/debitcards USD or euros)
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