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“What the hell is a bitcoin?”

Started by Kate the Bionic Uterus, December 20, 2013, 11:35:32 PM

Quote from: Kate the Bionic Uterus on March 06, 2014, 04:14:41 PM

Has anyone here ever invested in ENERGY? Specifically on shore natural gas drilling/fracking aka hydraulic fracturing? People invest in this more often than not just for the TAX BENEFITS associated with it.

You can use certain corporate structures with an energy company and pay 15% corporate taxes (instead of the standard 35%). The same is true for Real Estate Investment Trusts. Many companies are organized as REITs-things such as private prison operators and billboard/bus stop advertising are organized in a REIT structure. Right now, people are converting hospitals into real estate corps for the same reason.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are energy investments in a way.  They use a similar process to the REITs. To mine for bitcoins, your costs are 5% capital and 95% electricity. Bitcoin companies move to places where they can sign contracts for cheap power-like Iceland with its geothermal. As a bitcoin miner, you sign a large contract to prebuy power from the power utility. When the grid needs power, you sell it back at 5x the price you paid for it (no, Iceland is not this dumb, but I think you can guess a country that is). So you make a little bit of money mining for bitcoin and more of that reselling your power. The corporation pays taxes as an energy services corporation.

If you are mining bitcoin from your living room, this is a different story because you lack what is really valuable-the legal right to electricity.

Quote from: Kate the Bionic Uterus on March 06, 2014, 04:14:41 PM
And just to put it out there, there is already a group of investors forming a partnership to create a method to retrieve the millions of Bitcoins that were stolen from MT Gox; http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/bitcoin-backers-propose-goxcoin-recover-assets-lost-mt-gox-1439065

Not sure whats going to happen with that. Mt Gox looks like the work of organized crime.

Congressional testimony on cryptocurrencies
http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/beyond-silk-road-potential-risks-threats-and-promises-of-virtual-currencies

NowhereInTime

Quote from: FightTheFuture on March 06, 2014, 10:06:06 PM
Shocking.  You mean there's turmoil with the official currency of drug smugglers, cartels, thieves and other nefarious entities? Who could ever see that coming??
I thought this was conservative Utopia!!  Screw Uncle Sam! Up with Ron and Rand! 
What a disaster.  Will the Winklevii sue Zuckerberg over this, too?

MV/Liberace!

Quote from: FightTheFuture on March 06, 2014, 10:06:06 PM
...the official currency of drug smugglers, cartels, thieves and other nefarious entities...

i thought that was the dollar.


Well, that's the end of that.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/06/after-reaching-51-network-power-bitcoin-mining-pool-says-trust-us/
I'm sure there will be more cryptocurrency experiments in the future, but I don't think bitcoin will recover from this death blow.

area51drone

I say again..

Quote from: area51drone on February 25, 2014, 04:31:53 PM
Bitcoin is a step in the right direction, but it will end.  It's a fad and it's not real.  Governments with armies are the only thing that can control fake money.   If you want something real, buy gold or something else tangible.   Like dolls or pinball machines.


In the not too distant future, quantum computers will grind any existing crypto-currency into binary excrement and hexidecimated piss resulting in Shit Coin.

But that will be the least of the fallout.   I'm more concerned about the destruction of my credit worthiness at Trader Joe's.


zeebo

Quote from: area51drone on June 17, 2014, 11:33:08 PM
I say again..

Bitcoin is a step in the right direction, but it will end.  It's a fad and it's not real.  Governments with armies are the only thing that can control fake money.   If you want something real, buy gold or something else tangible.   Like dolls or pinball machines.

Yeah but I tried that once - I put all my life savings into Atari E.T. game cartridges.

area51drone

Quote from: zeebo on June 18, 2014, 12:30:07 AM
Yeah but I tried that once - I put all my life savings into Atari E.T. game cartridges.

Which will be worth more than bitcoins at some point!

Quote from: area51drone on February 25, 2014, 04:31:53 PM
Bitcoin is a step in the right direction, but it will end.  It's a fad and it's not real.  Governments with armies are the only thing that can control fake money.   If you want something real, buy gold or something else tangible.   Like dolls or pinball machines.

Gold is for fools.  I'm stockpiling rolls of Scott tissue in a secret, impregnable underground cavern, and intend to rule as the Toilet Paper King Of The Post-Apocalyptic Hellscape.  When Nature issues her inevitable call, I will gladly take your dolls, video games, and any attractive female relatives who tend to lose their inhibitions after a few cocktails, in exchange for a dozen precious squares of sanitary tissues.  Bwahahahaha!

Quote from: Camazotz Automat on June 17, 2014, 11:41:41 PM
In the not too distant future, quantum computers will grind any existing crypto-currency into binary excrement and hexidecimated piss resulting in Shit Coin.

Seriously?  Is that the best you can do for this week's Invention Exchange? 

Quote from: Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost on June 18, 2014, 01:08:47 AM
Gold is for fools.  I'm stockpiling rolls of Scott tissue in a secret, impregnable underground cavern, and intend to rule as the Toilet Paper King Of The Post-Apocalyptic Hellscape.  When Nature issues her inevitable call, I will gladly take your dolls, video games, and any attractive female relatives who tend to lose their inhibitions after a few cocktails, in exchange for a dozen precious squares of sanitary tissues.  Bwahahahaha!

I think someone posted in another thread that their dad stockpiled a closet full of toilet paper in preparation for the end of the world. The end never came, but the toilet paper got used.

area51drone

My parents lined the walls of their RV garage with tons of toilet paper in preperation for Y2K..  ;D ;D ;D   But, at least it did get used.   In a post-apocalyptic world, I think I'll do what the Indians do and wash my ass with water.

Quote from: area51drone on June 18, 2014, 03:31:49 AM
My parents lined the walls of their RV garage with tons of toilet paper in preperation for Y2K..  ;D ;D ;D   But, at least it did get used.   In a post-apocalyptic world, I think I'll do what the Indians do and wash my ass with water.

Good luck finding water! :)

area51drone

Quote from: Agent : Orange on June 18, 2014, 05:56:23 AM
Good luck finding water! :)

I just paid $10k to have a well installed on my property.  I also have a good sized creek running along one side.   I don't intend to ever have to pay for water again once I build my house.   Hopefully it still rains... if not, we're all fucked. 

wr250

Quote from: area51drone on June 18, 2014, 09:12:16 AM
I just paid $10k to have a well installed on my property.  I also have a good sized creek running along one side.   I don't intend to ever have to pay for water again once I build my house.   Hopefully it still rains... if not, we're all fucked.

depending on availability and city ordinances, you may be forced to pay for water, even if it isnt hooked up to your house.
here you must be hooked up to city water/electric/sewer if its available. if you use a well, solar panels (not using grid electricity) and a septic tank, you still must pay for the water/electric/sewer.
my brother in NY was forced to pay for water at his house (sewer isnt available), despite having a well. he just hooked up to the mains because it was better water (no sulfur) and he had to pay for it anyways.

Quote from: Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost on June 18, 2014, 01:20:28 AM
Seriously?  Is that the best you can do for this week's Invention Exchange?

Only a fool would underestimate the value of ShitCoin. 

It's not an invention; it's a whole new shebang of worthless code and click history hell of which Demonoid would be proud to call a fun "Sticky Trap Hotel for NSA cockroaches."

The next Invention Exchange is on the Summer SOLstice at the precise moment when the refurbished‡‡ eyes of the Easter Island statues glow like the first pressing of KISS's Creatures of the Night album art.

(roughly 10:51 UT)

I'm seriously considering a Mr. Potato Head Solder Gun if I can persuade Archie McPhee to sign on for cheap Chinese factory replication.

(‡‡Vintage 1975 Moonlighter Frisbee disc contact lenses for Easter Island statues provided by Wham-O. Though they did bitch a bit much about it.)

[attachimg=1]

Quote from: wr250 on June 18, 2014, 09:34:21 AM
depending on availability and city ordinances, you may be forced to pay for water, even if it isnt hooked up to your house.
here you must be hooked up to city water/electric/sewer if its available. if you use a well, solar panels (not using grid electricity) and a septic tank, you still must pay for the water/electric/sewer.
my brother in NY was forced to pay for water at his house (sewer isnt available), despite having a well.

And what about all those slacking indigenous Australians in the outback? They've had it far too easy not paying for energy and water. It's time we sent the black helicopters down under and extracted payment for the rain they harvest and for the cars they aren't driving. While there, we can put a gun to their Dreamtime heads and force them to sign up for Affordable Health Care.  They must pay their fair share. I'm thinking the Bronze option.

(cue Midnight Oil video)

Payment will no doubt be in the form of drained kangaroo blood, since they don't have Bitcoin or even traditionally recognized currency. But we'll take the blood.

Damned ~Skippy~, we'll take it.

BloodCoin.

area51drone

Quote from: wr250 on June 18, 2014, 09:34:21 AM
depending on availability and city ordinances, you may be forced to pay for water, even if it isnt hooked up to your house.
here you must be hooked up to city water/electric/sewer if its available. if you use a well, solar panels (not using grid electricity) and a septic tank, you still must pay for the water/electric/sewer.
my brother in NY was forced to pay for water at his house (sewer isnt available), despite having a well. he just hooked up to the mains because it was better water (no sulfur) and he had to pay for it anyways.

Fortunately that is not the case here.  We do have a public water source available at the street, but I know that in the long run I'll be better off with the well.  This way I can water my lawn to my heart's content, as well as the 130+ trees I have planted.     Even if I have to pay & hook up to public water, I won't have to use much of it.   I'm frankly shocked that someone has to pay sewer when they have septic.   Public water you can kind of understand because the aquifers are something everyone is drawing from (in a way) - it still should be less if you're doing the well thing because you are having to filter and pump water yourself.    But you still have to pay to empty and dispose of the waste when the septic system is full... so that's crazy.   I'm looking forward to no monthly water & sewer bills, which I have at my current house.   Worst case, I'll fucking pump water up from the creek if I need.  I have thought about putting a water wheel on the creek to make power 24/7...


Quote from: Camazotz Automat on June 18, 2014, 09:53:16 AM
Only a fool would underestimate the value of ShitCoin. 

It's not an invention; it's a whole new shebang of worthless code and click history hell of which Demonoid would be proud to call a fun "Sticky Trap Hotel for NSA cockroaches."

The next Invention Exchange is on the Summer SOLstice at the precise moment when the refurbished‡‡ eyes of the Easter Island statues glow like the first pressing of KISS's Creatures of the Night album art.

(roughly 10:51 UT)

I'm seriously considering a Mr. Potato Head Solder Gun if I can persuade Archie McPhee to sign on for cheap Chinese factory replication.

(‡‡Vintage 1975 Moonlighter Frisbee disc contact lenses for Easter Island statues provided by Wham-O. Though they did bitch a bit much about it.)

[attachimg=1]

Just wait until you get an eyeful of my perpetually motionless machine.  You will be sore amazed.

Quote from: b_dubb on June 18, 2014, 11:34:29 AM
Good luck finding food! ;)

One of my favorite Doomsday Preppers episodes featured a guy who was raising sugarcane for moonshine and generator fuel, and tobacco, because he figured people would still want to smoke and drink, and would be willing to pay premium prices with things he needed.  Brilliant!

Quote from: area51drone on June 18, 2014, 11:13:50 AM
I have thought about putting a water wheel on the creek to make power 24/7...

Please do this.

Quote from: Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost on June 18, 2014, 11:49:25 AM
One of my favorite Doomsday Preppers episodes featured a guy who was raising sugarcane for moonshine and generator fuel, and tobacco, because he figured people would still want to smoke and drink, and would be willing to pay premium prices with things he needed.  Brilliant!

A sound strategy. Fuel and vice!

Gives me the urge to go to the nearest Exxon Tiger Mart and fill the tank while buying smokes and firewater.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0972542/

"In a future where energy is made from fecal matter, the government rewards defecation with "juicybars". Small-time hustlers try to get rich while fending off the mutated Diaper Gang."

And that's game


AB 129, which Governor Jerry Brown had signed on Saturday, will ensure that “various forms of alternative currency such as digital currency” will be legal in purchasing goods and transmitting payments, according to the bill’s text. The bill reflects the growing use of digital currencies, revising Section 107 of California’s Corporations Code that prohibits use of “anything but the lawful money of the United States.”

“In an era of evolving payment methods, from Amazon Coins to Starbucks Stars, it is impractical to ignore the growing use of cash alternatives,” Democratic Assemblyman and the bill’s author Roger Dickinson said in a recent statement.

http://time.com/2942212/california-bitcoin-legalize/

New York State will be next and then Chicago. My bet is some time between now and the new year but even if it comes later than that it this point it is inevitable. 

wr250

Quote from: Kate the Bionic Uterus on July 07, 2014, 04:57:04 PM
AB 129, which Governor Jerry Brown had signed on Saturday, will ensure that “various forms of alternative currency such as digital currency” will be legal in purchasing goods and transmitting payments, according to the bill’s text. The bill reflects the growing use of digital currencies, revising Section 107 of California’s Corporations Code that prohibits use of “anything but the lawful money of the United States.”

“In an era of evolving payment methods, from Amazon Coins to Starbucks Stars, it is impractical to ignore the growing use of cash alternatives,” Democratic Assemblyman and the bill’s author Roger Dickinson said in a recent statement.

http://time.com/2942212/california-bitcoin-legalize/

New York State will be next and then Chicago. My bet is some time between now and the new year but even if it comes later than that it this point it is inevitable.

unfortunately that is unconstitutional under the US constitution,but then again so is paper money:
Article I
Section 10
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

Yet it is happening eh? 8) You and your constitution. Don't you realize that your own right wing republican party has sold you out to the Corporations. They are investing BILLIONS into the new infrastructure that the banks will soon adopt. It's happening right in front of your face and yet you still deny it  :o

I guess your the type that won't admit that a truck is coming until it runs you over  :P

I bet three thousand quatloos on the Earthling with a greenhouse and water wheel.

Quote from: Camazotz Automat on July 07, 2014, 05:18:03 PM
I bet three thousand quatloos on the Earthling with a greenhouse and water wheel.

rrlol awesome XDD thanks for that! ;D

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