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Number crunching :
Bitcoin euphoria and how it can damage volunteer distributed computing
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Mike Send message Joined: 17 Feb 01 Posts: 34258 Credit: 79,922,639 RAC: 80 |
Don`t forget Bitcoin is used in the Dark net for illegal weapon sales too for example. Makes it more risky. With each crime and every kindness we birth our future. |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30646 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
I can see in the not too distant future many countries having a "great firewall" as China does and that firewall blocking block chain (TOR and VPN too) transactions. Depending on the repressiveness of the Government an attempt to block chain may bring a visit from state security. I can also see a multi national effort to close every exchange and destroy every coin therein. What may then be allowed is a backdoor trace coin where governments can and will track every coin. |
Keith Myers Send message Joined: 29 Apr 01 Posts: 13164 Credit: 1,160,866,277 RAC: 1,873 |
That is never going to happen. One of the biggest current drivers of blockchain technology other than the miners are the financial markets. There is more money in R&D and development being spent there than there is in crypto mining. Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association) |
Mike Send message Joined: 17 Feb 01 Posts: 34258 Credit: 79,922,639 RAC: 80 |
I don`t want to go to much into politcs but i agree with Keith here. I have very good inside view in this case and i`m fully aware whats possible. Maybe they can block the majority but not the geeks. With each crime and every kindness we birth our future. |
Zalster Send message Joined: 27 May 99 Posts: 5517 Credit: 528,817,460 RAC: 242 |
I think seti lost the ability to say they aren’t connected when they started to accept bitcoin donations and people to crunch coin teams. If neither of those had happen, then I think there could have been an argument to say they are different. My 2 cents |
Chris Adamek Send message Joined: 15 May 99 Posts: 251 Credit: 434,772,072 RAC: 236 |
Is adding some solar panels an option for you? I haven’t heard much about solar availability over there... |
Chris Adamek Send message Joined: 15 May 99 Posts: 251 Credit: 434,772,072 RAC: 236 |
I think seti lost the ability to say they aren’t connected when they started to accept bitcoin donations and people to crunch coin teams. If neither of those had happen, then I think there could have been an argument to say they are different. My 2 cents Totally agee, all the folks at NASA Johnson Space Center, including myself had to remove it from our machines because the two could be connected in the way describe and they didn’t want to run the risk of people mining for any reason in their machines. 30k+ RAC lost from my machine alone sigh. Of course that just means I have to compensate with an additional GPU at home.=). But there is a not insignificant amount of work being lost now due to this... Chris |
Dimly Lit Lightbulb 😀 Send message Joined: 30 Aug 08 Posts: 15399 Credit: 7,423,413 RAC: 1 |
Crypto-currency craze 'hinders search for alien life' Member of the People Encouraging Niceness In Society club. |
Zalster Send message Joined: 27 May 99 Posts: 5517 Credit: 528,817,460 RAC: 242 |
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kittyman Send message Joined: 9 Jul 00 Posts: 51468 Credit: 1,018,363,574 RAC: 1,004 |
Crypto-currency craze 'hinders search for alien life' Die, bitcoin, die!!! LOL. "Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster |
Jord Send message Joined: 9 Jun 99 Posts: 15184 Credit: 4,362,181 RAC: 3 |
Of course, that's not totally true. It's true if you try to buy the GPUs yourself from retail. But normally when building such a supercomputer, you outsource that and the company doing the actual building will get into contact with either NVIDIA or AMD directly, or with one of the many subsidiaries who make GPUs with an Nvidia or AMD chip on it. And then they order a whole bunch of them immediately, which makes the price they pay for them go down as well. Just like Astron did with Asus for the 200 GTX1080 Ti's. Each card they break goes back to the builders. The builders have an appointment with Asus that any broken 1080 Ti will be replaced or repaired, but Astron cannot wait for that so they get the replacement immediately. |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
I've read that the nVidia CEO complains because miners use more ASICS than nVidia boards. Where nVidia gets its money is from supercomputers, like the Swiss Piz Daint in Lugano, with its thousands of Tesla boards. It is third in the Top500 List after two Chinese computers and ahead of all American computers. Tullio |
Keith Myers Send message Joined: 29 Apr 01 Posts: 13164 Credit: 1,160,866,277 RAC: 1,873 |
So how many people have filled out the contact information at the end of the article saying you are impacted by the unavailability of reasonably priced gpus to continue your scientific distributed computing projects? Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association) |
Dimly Lit Lightbulb 😀 Send message Joined: 30 Aug 08 Posts: 15399 Credit: 7,423,413 RAC: 1 |
Crypto-currency craze 'hinders search for alien life' By all means :) Member of the People Encouraging Niceness In Society club. |
Zalster Send message Joined: 27 May 99 Posts: 5517 Credit: 528,817,460 RAC: 242 |
So I just had a thought (yes I do get one every other blue moon) Seti@home is a non-profit correct? Does having it's members mining for blockchain (which later gets convert to digital coinage) violate the non-profit status??? Thoughts in the middle of the night.... |
Grant (SSSF) Send message Joined: 19 Aug 99 Posts: 13736 Credit: 208,696,464 RAC: 304 |
So I just had a thought (yes I do get one every other blue moon) If they produced an application that mined Crypto currencies for themselves it would. If users mine currencies using readily available applications and donate the proceeds to Seti, then it doesn't. Since the project hasn't produced a mining application, and they've only made it possible make donations to them using a Crypto currency, and they don't promote the mining of that currency in order to donate to them, they don't violate their non-profit status, Grant Darwin NT |
Stargate (SA) Send message Joined: 4 Mar 10 Posts: 1854 Credit: 2,258,721 RAC: 0 |
To my understanding of Bitcoin in Australia can we or not cash out like you would in shares? Heard of a QLD family who sold everything in August last year and put it on Bitcoin, now living in caravan (trailer) Sad part is they have children.. Personally I think unless big changes happen I can see all crypto currencies being banned in 5 years or so |
Keith Myers Send message Joined: 29 Apr 01 Posts: 13164 Credit: 1,160,866,277 RAC: 1,873 |
I doubt that will happen. There are too many interested parties in wanting the concept of digital cash to work. I saw announcement today that LiteCoin inked a deal with VISA to produce a LiteCoin VISA debit card and a payment system called Litepay. You load your LiteCoins that you mined from your wallet into the VISA debit card and use that debit card anywhere that VISA is accepted. That is a game changing development. The concept of eliminating the middleman in financial exchanges is too enticing to go away forever. It may not look like the system of today but there surely will be some form of digital currency in the future. Just look at how many times that concept has made it into a science fiction story. Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association) |
Stargate (SA) Send message Joined: 4 Mar 10 Posts: 1854 Credit: 2,258,721 RAC: 0 |
Problem is it's still pixel currency, I compare it to a game to get stronger you buy certain things "makes you stronger or better, End of day if the game was to end/fold you lose as it's virtual..And there is no way to get your real cash back..If I'm wrong please say so! What I've seen so far is some countries can cash out and make a killing, but others can't withdraw which falls in the majority.. That family I spoke about in QLD lost everything..Worst part of it even if they made millions there is no cash out here as it's deemed virtual wealth.. |
Keith Myers Send message Joined: 29 Apr 01 Posts: 13164 Credit: 1,160,866,277 RAC: 1,873 |
That's what crypto currency exchanges are for. Think of them as money changers. Just like you do when you cross the border into another country and convert your dollars to euros or whatever. The exchanges take a cut of the transaction to stay in business. The exchange rate is whatever the coin value is at the time of transaction. The party that is taking a chance is the exchange because the values of the coins are so volatile. They can seesaw thousands of a percent in just an hour. They can get caught on the short end of the transaction if they hold the transferred coins too long on their account before they convert it to dollars or another coin. I am not familiar with your country or its laws. So I don't have an opinion or insight why the family you mentioned lost everything. Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association) |
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