The Student Room Group
Bitcoin is the Dead Sea Scrolls of TSR. The sacred answer to all things.

Money that is literally derived from maths problems.
Reply 2
Original post by Trinculo
Bitcoin is the Dead Sea Scrolls of TSR. The sacred answer to all things.

Money that is literally derived from maths problems.


Could you be a bit more descriptive?
These are highly simplified explanations:

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency - think of it as a virtual commodity that has no real physical presence - the value of one unit of bitcoin varies.

Now real commodities - say diamonds or orange juice or beef - these are farmed or mined by someone - who sells it to someone who then trades it en masse.

Bitcoin works like that. Someone "mines" bitcoin into existence - after that they own it and can sell it on.

The way you mine bitcoin is as follows:

Cryptocurrency is underpinned by an extremely complex maths problem - for arguments sake let's say something like factoring and calculating prime numbers. Its easy to do the first few, but after that it becomes very very difficult. Let's say the bitcoin mining problem is a maths problem that has a number of solutions but involve absolutely enormous numbers. Everytime you solve the problem with a new solution - you bring a new bitcoin into existence. This work is the equivalent of someone digging the ground to find gold or diamonds, or spending the time farming cattle or growing lemons to sell.

The thing is - the longer it goes on, the more people mine bitcoin, the more unimaginably huge the numbers get. The only way to mine new bitcoin is to use incredible computing power. We are at the stage now where people have crypto "mines" in countries like Iceland with enormous banks of supercomputers working round the clock to mine new coins. The cost of this is making it almost rather marginal, such is the expense of tech and electricity - and they're doing it in cold countries to save on cooling.
As for safe - well the whole point is that they are supposed to be untraceable and peer-verified. I would think Bitcoin is very safe from a fraud point of view - but the danger lies in the current volatility. In Jan 2016, the price was about £300. In Jan 2017 it was around £720. In Jan 2018, it was around £12,000, and currently a shade under £5000. You can see there is tremendous opportunity to lose everything.
Reply 5
Bitcoin. Invest in it. Even if it means losing everything.

Just do it✅
Reply 6
don't do it⬆️
Reply 7
Original post by Trinculo
These are highly simplified explanations:

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency - think of it as a virtual commodity that has no real physical presence - the value of one unit of bitcoin varies.

Now real commodities - say diamonds or orange juice or beef - these are farmed or mined by someone - who sells it to someone who then trades it en masse.

Bitcoin works like that. Someone "mines" bitcoin into existence - after that they own it and can sell it on.

The way you mine bitcoin is as follows:

Cryptocurrency is underpinned by an extremely complex maths problem - for arguments sake let's say something like factoring and calculating prime numbers. Its easy to do the first few, but after that it becomes very very difficult. Let's say the bitcoin mining problem is a maths problem that has a number of solutions but involve absolutely enormous numbers. Everytime you solve the problem with a new solution - you bring a new bitcoin into existence. This work is the equivalent of someone digging the ground to find gold or diamonds, or spending the time farming cattle or growing lemons to sell.

The thing is - the longer it goes on, the more people mine bitcoin, the more unimaginably huge the numbers get. The only way to mine new bitcoin is to use incredible computing power. We are at the stage now where people have crypto "mines" in countries like Iceland with enormous banks of supercomputers working round the clock to mine new coins. The cost of this is making it almost rather marginal, such is the expense of tech and electricity - and they're doing it in cold countries to save on cooling.


Do you think its worth the time if i try mining Bitcoin through my laptop's cpu? or is it not worth the time? Anyways where do you sell bitcoins?
Original post by BlindRadio
Do you think its worth the time if i try mining Bitcoin through my laptop's cpu? or is it not worth the time? Anyways where do you sell bitcoins?


It is not worth the time or effort to try to mine bitcoin with a laptop. A laptop has nowhere near the capabilities to be able to effectively mine bitcoin.

If you would like to acquire bitcoin your best bet is to buy from an exchange such as Coinbase or Coinbase Pro. If you would like to buy from another source then you can use LocalBitcoins.com

Educate yourself in the uses and technology of bitcoin. Do not be fooled into thinking it is a get rich quick scheme.
Original post by BlindRadio
Do you think its worth the time if i try mining Bitcoin through my laptop's cpu? or is it not worth the time? Anyways where do you sell bitcoins?


That's a good idea. You can make a lot of money quickly. You can probably mine more quickly by using your laptop, phone and playstation in a network.

The best place to sell them is face-to-face. Ask people you meet if they would like to buy some bitcoin.
Bitcoin is a clever way to lose your money.
Original post by the bear
Bitcoin is a clever way to lose your money.


This Is only true if you do not understand investing/trading.
I bought my house using the trading profits I made from crypto currencies. The volatility is one of the main reasons why many traders like myself are drawn to markets like you see in the crypto space.
Reply 13
Just don't buy anything through Bitcoin in ebay and you'll be fine...