[ale] [OT] (but computer and cryptography related) Bitcoin, Litecoin

[dev null zero two]

don't know anything about Litecoins but I've made over $30k from bitcoins
that I mined back in like 09. currency exchange is a bitch. and I sold the
bulk of mine at ~$20/btc, I can't imagine if I had waited til now at
$90/btc...


On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 3:18 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Does anyone here have any personal knowledge of Bitcoin or Litecoin?
>
> If you don't know what that is, see:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_currency
>
> By the way, the treasury department recently issued a ruling that this is
> legal.  So that's not an issue.
>
> Essentially, it's a digital currency that is created by having your
> computer do a certain amount of provable, not easily fakeable, work in
> calculating cryptographic algorithms.  After a certain amount of time,
> which may be days or months, you solve a certain cryptographic problem.
>  Your work is verified, then you get some digital currency, either
> Bitcoins, or Litecoins.  These are digital encrypted files that only you
> possess.  These can be traded for real USD on certain exchanges, and in
> some cases, can be traded directly for merchandise.
>
> You can use Bitcoins and Litecoins without creating them by buying and
> selling them on the exchanges.
>
> However, I'm interested in mining (creating) Bitcoins or Litecoins using
> my computer and its GPU.
>
> Here is my understanding from my reading.
>
> Bitcoins are currently trading for about $ 80 / BTC.  They are very hard
> to create, and may take months.  It is doubtful whether you can make more
> than the electricity costs, unless the BTC increase in value later.  They
> have increased in value from about $ 1 a few years ago, to $ 80 now.
>  However, the mining / coin creation algorithm continually gets harder to
> keep the rate of coin production constant.  Apparently, application
> specific integrated circuits (ASIC's) will shortly com onto the market
> which will make doing this work with CPU / GPU nearly impossible.
>
> Litecoins are designed similarly.  However, they use an algorithm which is
> more conducive to CPU / GPU computations and harder to do, for example, on
> an ASIC.  This makes them, at least at the moment, more feasible to be
> mined by individuals without tens of thousands of dollars of equipment and
> without a $ 1000 / month electric bill.  Litecoins are trading at around $
> 1 / LTC.
>
> So, I'm considering doing some Litecoin mining.  I'm wondering if anyone
> has tried it or knows anything about it.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
>
> --
>
> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
> Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
> quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>
>
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