Is this "mining" profitable at all after factoring the costs of electricity and the opportunity cost of buying a powerful machine?
Yeah, I don't think it is like plug and play though, lol. That is basically why I haven't done this. You will most likely have to join a larger pool etc. There is a lot of stuff to know..
dollar cost averaging for last 2 years. unfortunately, for me, I sold a whole shit load on the way back up @ $26 or so..
I think you are late a bit by 3-4 months. If I was into cryptocurrency, I would put a buy order 20-30$ under the current price, and try to buy on the crashes. If you think of mining, forget Bitcoin and mine Litecoin. It is still in its early stages (faster mining), and your computer is better for it, because it uses CPU power. 3 weeks ago the LTC/USD was 26 cents, now it is 4 bucks!!!
I just switched from mining BTC to mining LTC last week with my old GPU rig. Back to making money again!
Sorry my writing is as messy as my brain. lol What I am getting at is risks that you would not usually consider. Lets take EMP (there have been claims that they have tested this in USA.) Why bring it up ? (or even turning off the net) It is all stupidity. when one invests in something else they don't consider such things. The reason I consider it is because of the value of bitcoin. Bitcoins are worthless like cash. but the demand gives them value.People do not want it cause it is better, easier more liquid. It is nothing but headaches. The value comes from it being a hedge against everything the exists today. That is to say the governments seem to be messing everything up but they cant mess up bitcoin. The only reason I would consider buying bit coins is a hedge against the government. If people sold gold and bought bitcoins the price would go through the roof. In this case, people will but it because it is not in the banks (cyprus) it is not government run. Great this interests me now, and so does the price. But the reality is that is not a hedge against the government. Sure it is not run by the government, but the government can get its nose in to it. If we use it as a hedge against banks and government, we are making the assumption that government are not likely to control it cause they will have to take a few more steps to control it. (switch banks to become huge nodes,emp ect) This is an assumption, it is not a hedge. Actually it may be more or a risk then the dollar. The government may not like it and be MORE likely to get rid of it or mess it up. Its like safety deposit banks. they are a hedge against theft and maybe for some a hedge against paying taxes. The assumption is that the safety deposit box is safer then a bank account or getting robbed. It is all fine and dandy, the truth is that banks steel at times and governments can get their hands on it. So it is good as long as things don't go too far. But the safty deposit is safe keeping for when things "do go too far" if it is useless then, its value was none. Id buy bitcoin if it was something that gave me safety. Safety when shit hits the fan, not safety when everything is fine. Safety when the situation is worse then Cyprus.
Do you think if the shit really hit the fan anyone's gold at that point is worth a dime? You could probably do much better with canned food's and ammunition at that point. These are "shit hitting the fan" situations from my POV. Plus, let's say an EMP shuts off the power, do EMP's erase usb drives and things like this? But let's say an EMP somehow crushes the USA. When the power get's turned back on, the network just starts up again (assuming all nodes and mining is being done in the USA all at the same time). I just don't see a losing situation right now for BTC. The cat is out of the bag, IMO. But they are expensive as shit now. All I can do is like buy 1 coin with money I have to invest now lol.
This is what I am wondering. I was hoping there would be an advantage of bitcoins over gold when it comes to the hedging aspect. But they seem about about the same. So they cant tap in that market. Actually If i would have to choose which had the advantage when shit hits the fan I would say gold. But yes canned food, water ect are better hedges for sure ! put your 100$ in that IMO