8K had its brief day in July. BTC continues with smaller bounces that may end around 6K. Unsure what market forces could send it towards Toaster's much-higher predictions. Instead it looks like a novelty (if such a term applies to $100B market capitalization) that is not getting new vendor support (which bitcoin peeps told me was essential), and hovering somewhat above electricity cost for mining. If bitcoin cannot disrupt our financial universe, which cryptocurrency can? How? When?
I just ran across a different and more detailed story, though older (March 2018): Politico: This Is What Happens When Bitcoin Miners Take Over Your Town "Eastern Washington had cheap power and tons of space. Then the suitcases of cash started arriving."
FYI, that's a Prius with a BITCOIN licence plate, which was the first car bought with bitcoin for 1,000BTC back in 2013
It's definitely a historical piece. When I buy my castle, I'll probably mount it on a wall in a giant shadow box
Meh, we'll see. BTC will be the "chosen one" at least in the short term (< 5 yrs). ETH will be the academic side for a while. I can still convert USD to BTC via hashing at a profitable rate. Just like I can convert USD to Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards points or Canadian Tire dollars. Rapid Reward points are a virtual currency, but it is completely controlled by Southwest. If they want to make the conversion value 1:1 tomorrow, nobody can stop them. Pretty much every American has a virtual currency of somekind, they just don't view it as that. And alternate currencies like punch reward cards are very similar. My barber just moved shops so my punch card that's 90% full now has 0 value. Immediate devaluation. It only held value because we both agreed it did. I've used BTC as currency as well as collateral and as speculation.
2018 February prediction @124 "However my analysis is that we will see $50k USD BTC by the end of 2018." It may be unkind to bring up this prediction again, but market forces have been similarly unkind. Instead, BTC fallen from its historic high has had successively smaller bounces. Now $6K and seems to have little bounce left. Fair to make my own prediction, and suffer similar attacks. By end of 2018 BTC will be just where it is now. However, if stock-market investing continues to soften, maybe BTC will look like a better refuge...
My crystal ball may not be calibrated. Not over yet. The long flat time has been unusual. But so was last year as a whole. My miners are still profitable and as a side benefit heat the house. It's been -1C out these past few days and even with direct air coming in to cool the servers and miners the room heats up to about 25C and the whole house stays around 18C to 25C night and day.
We we're all hoping for ETF approval, which didn't happen. Other than that, there just aren't any drastic changes on the best future. Maybe more people will be spending their bitcoin to buy Christmas presents again, but I suspect the weak hands have sold their BTC already, and mostly the holders are left.
"Not over yet" Hanging tough! Very impressive. "Weak hands" theory seems consistent with BTC's decaying bounces. Which is nice, but speaks against first prediction. So there is some resemblance to an actual scientific test here.
An update, as the primary hosted / rental mining company runs into financial and legal difficulties: "A year ago, Giga Watt was the golden child of the state’s bitcoin boom. Today, the company faces huge debts and angry investors, while the cryptocurrency sector is caught up in a massive price correction." With various delays, their giant 24-warehouse campus still has only the initial demonstration unit actually in mining operation. "Utility officials in Chelan and Grant counties have responded by proposing higher rates for miners. Grant County PUD, for example, has enacted an “evolving industries” rate that, depending on how rapidly the cryptocurrency industry continues to grow in the county, could nearly double power prices for miners." Seattle Times: Pioneer of Central Washington cryptocurrency boom falls on hard times
And how do you determine mining vs. non-mining? They look like PC's. And why would someone setup a mine there when they can go somewhere else?
