And... [spoiler]I just got confirmation from friend from India. It is official government statement: India is to ban cryptos. And make move against it. Official since today.[/spoiler]

Fox2232:

And... [spoiler]I just got confirmation from friend from India. It is official government statement: India is to ban cryptos. And make move against it. Official since today.[/spoiler]

I guess your friend isn't a legitimate source then.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sindhujabalaji/2018/02/06/india-is-not-banning-cryptocurrency-heres-what-it-is-doing-instead/#6e4918837c6f

labidas:

I guess your friend isn't a legitimate source then.

Guess what was not language of statement he did translate for me. It was not forbes-india of something. It was official transcript. And forbes link which fantaskarsef posted is perfect example how our western influential entities manipulate. Highlighting unimportant things giving hope. One should understand Who said What, and What kind of Authority backs those words.

Fox2232:

One should understand Who said What, and What kind of Authority backs those words.

The lack of checking facts is what makes social media the breeding grounds of fake news. And what discerns a real journalist from a blogger. Sadly the difference is unknown to 90% of people using todays media offers. But that's pretty much OT here, sry.

"Money" isn't worth anything. its a currency, based on "a pledge to pay the creditor". When its backed by Real Gold or Real Silver, then its "Real". Banks hold "Virtual money". there isn't anywhere near enough to go around, if everyone wanted to empty their accounts. Gold markets aren't even trading in "Real" Gold anymore, just paper Gold. A Bitcoin is just as "Real" as the money in your pocket, it is just acquired in a different way. people are effectively "paid" for their CPU/GPU cycles used. Blockchain isn't going anywhere soon, its likely to become a major player in the Financial market, its just that it won't be Mineable, like Ripple. A HUGE majority of current Mineable Coins will not have any value at some point in the Future. Hard to say which will be, but currently, there are a few that are doing OK. The Biggie here, is which Coin is this ASIC aiming for ? Most probably NOT Bitcoin. but whichever it is, it will soon no longer be viable to mine it other than with an ASIC. It will all die down in a few years, and it's the countries that are banning it outright that have not got a clue. Banning stuff has ALWAYS worked in the past lol 😉

Off topic : Oh, and If you want to complain about wasting energy, make sure 100% of the population have very good insulation, because there are huge amounts of people literally "burning" through electricity to heat a badly insulated home. Thats not one GPU (which is also helping to heat), but kilowatts of energy per home.

Evildead666:

"Money" isn't worth anything. its a currency, based on "a pledge to pay the creditor". When its backed by Real Gold or Real Silver, then its "Real". Banks hold "Virtual money". there isn't anywhere near enough to go around, if everyone wanted to empty their accounts. Gold markets aren't even trading in "Real" Gold anymore, just paper Gold.

But why would money be "real" when it's backed by gold or silver? After all, those are just shiny rocks, having very little utility or practical value. IMO, gold is the biggest example of something which is valued almost entirely for its aesthetics, and whose value is completely arbitrary. Backing money with gold does not make it any more valuable or "real", it just means you can trade it in for a shiny pebble. Money itself has no inherent value, whether it's gold, paper, or digital coins. What makes it valuable is its ability to purchase goods and services, which is the real wealth in the economy (if you can no longer buy stuff with your money, then it is worthless). In that sense, digital coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum would not be money, as there is very little real goods and services that you can buy with them (if/when Bitcoin can be used to pay off debts then it will be counted as money). Right now, it's best to think of crypto coins as assets (and very speculative assets), and whose value is mostly derived from blockchain technology. As for the topic, it seems to be about ASICs for Bitcoin mining, which won't really impact mining the alt-coins. It won't do much for the current GPU situation, although the crash in crypto prices is starting to take some of the pressure off - GPUs are coming back in stock, at least on Newegg. Although prices are still inflated, they should start to come back down if crypto prices remain depressed.

D3M1G0D:

But why would money be "real" when it's backed by gold or silver? After all, those are just shiny rocks, having very little utility or practical value. IMO, gold is the biggest example of something which is valued almost entirely for its aesthetics, and whose value is completely arbitrary. Backing money with gold does not make it any more valuable or "real", it just means you can trade it in for a shiny pebble. Money itself has no inherent value, whether it's gold, paper, or digital coins. What makes it valuable is its ability to purchase goods and services, which is the real wealth in the economy (if you can no longer buy stuff with your money, then it is worthless). In that sense, digital coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum would not be money, as there is very little real goods and services that you can buy with them (if/when Bitcoin can be used to pay off debts then it will be counted as money). Right now, it's best to think of crypto coins as assets (and very speculative assets), and whose value is mostly derived from blockchain technology. As for the topic, it seems to be about ASICs for Bitcoin mining, which won't really impact mining the alt-coins. It won't do much for the current GPU situation, although the crash in crypto prices is starting to take some of the pressure off - GPUs are coming back in stock, at least on Newegg. Although prices are still inflated, they should start to come back down if crypto prices remain depressed.

it hasn't been stated which coin these ASIC's are for, afaik. Bitcoin ASIC's exist, and it would be much more profitable today to have a different coin mined with an ASIC. Gold is expensive, because it is relatively rare, and can be sold and used for jewelery, and other uses. If "Paper" Gold dies, which it may do soon, then the price of Gold will skyrocket. All of those people with "paper" Gold, will suddenly find it is worthless. Money needs to get back to being backed by Gold or Silver, so countries can stop printing the stuff on a whim..... edit : And so that Banks will have to be real banks, and have a good percentage, if not all, of the money backed by Gold or Silver. There will be a lot less Banks.

Evildead666:

it hasn't been stated which coin these ASIC's are for, afaik. Bitcoin ASIC's exist, and it would be much more profitable today to have a different coin mined with an ASIC.

An alt-coin ASIC is basically a GPU. An ideal Ethereum or Litecoin ASIC would be a very powerful gaming card (maybe a supercharged Titan V), as these coins have been designed with GPUs in mind. At any rate, I haven't heard of any ASIC for any of the minable alt-coins, and I very much doubt that Samsung has come up with new designs for it (they have huge manufacturing capabilities, but aren't known for creating their own chip designs). They'll provide competition for TSMC, but that's about it.

Evildead666:

Gold is expensive, because it is relatively rare, and can be sold and used for jewelery, and other uses. If "Paper" Gold dies, which it may do soon, then the price of Gold will skyrocket. All of those people with "paper" Gold, will suddenly find it is worthless. Money needs to get back to being backed by Gold or Silver, so countries can stop printing the stuff on a whim..... edit : And so that Banks will have to be real banks, and have a good percentage, if not all, of the money backed by Gold or Silver. There will be a lot less Banks.

We're never going back to the gold standard, and that's a good thing. Money should be allowed to grow (or shrink) based on the needs of the economy. There is no need to put an artificial constraint on the money supply based on how much of a particular metal we can mine (this creates a liquidity problem where none need exist). Like I said, money itself has no value - it is only a medium of exchange for the transfer of goods and services (and whichever serves as the best medium of exchange is what should be used).

Evildead666:

"Money" isn't worth anything. its a currency, based on "a pledge to pay the creditor". When its backed by Real Gold or Real Silver, then its "Real". Banks hold "Virtual money". there isn't anywhere near enough to go around, if everyone wanted to empty their accounts. Gold markets aren't even trading in "Real" Gold anymore, just paper Gold. A Bitcoin is just as "Real" as the money in your pocket, it is just acquired in a different way. people are effectively "paid" for their CPU/GPU cycles used. Blockchain isn't going anywhere soon, its likely to become a major player in the Financial market, its just that it won't be Mineable, like Ripple. A HUGE majority of current Mineable Coins will not have any value at some point in the Future. Hard to say which will be, but currently, there are a few that are doing OK. The Biggie here, is which Coin is this ASIC aiming for ? Most probably NOT Bitcoin. but whichever it is, it will soon no longer be viable to mine it other than with an ASIC. It will all die down in a few years, and it's the countries that are banning it outright that have not got a clue. Banning stuff has ALWAYS worked in the past lol 😉

I agree with you. First paragraphs, spot on. And that's the issue. No coin is based on any real world value. So it's bound to be either overrated or destroyed at some point. That our "real world" financial system has surpassed any real world wealth and backing by anything of worth is exactly why the system will crash at some point, too. Generating money out of interest that is not backed by any real world worth is the essential issue with the financial system we live in today, be it government issued money or whatever else you want. If we ever have a crash of society or financial structures that we know of today, even our paper money will be worth nothing. First we will trade again, and later there will be money agian, etc., starting over from the beginning.