Cryptocurrencies

[Moltuae]

Electricity in South Australia went up 18% from July 1. We now officially have the most expensive electricity in the world!
Was thinking about mining.............

And I'm guessing you probably don't need the extra heat much either!

Time to get some solar panels!

 

[GTP]

And I'm guessing you probably don't need the extra heat much either!

Time to get some solar panels!

I've already got 12 panels and get 56 cents per KW for anything back to the grid. Unfortunately running a computer business requires using a lot of power so don't get much credit.
Obviously I cover my power cost in my hourly rates, but still galling to have to pay for the "most expensive electricity in the world!"
Elon Musk is (in Adelaide at present) taking over the worlds largest battery project here in SA. Can't understand why the SA Government can't do it?
Maybe we might get some cheaper power?

 

[Galdorf]

I was looking at getting into mining Ethereum after it shot up in price thing is after looking at how it works asic has no benefit it was designed for GPU mining BUT the longer it exists and more people mine it at first you could get away with 2gb vram now you need 3gbvram in a 8 months you will need 4gbvram in few years you will need 32gb vram.
Maybe i will just forget about it at current prices of electricity in Ontario you could never make money mining any cryptocurrency.
I wonder what a 2000 qbit quantum computer from Dwave could do lol at 2 to the 2000 placeholders.
I have a strange feeling that this was designed by Nvidia and AMD to make more money on video cards.

 

[Galdorf]

Electricity in South Australia went up 18% from July 1. We now officially have the most expensive electricity in the world!
Was thinking about mining.............

I doubt it is higher than Ontario the computer place across the lot pays $2000 month in hydro in to winter to heat the place.
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/18...e6117797fa1c5670!8m2!3d46.521664!4d-80.929646

 

[NviGate Systems]

I got a deal on Six Antec 620 W PSU for about $360CDN, shipping included, so I'm all set for PSU supplies.

I'm doing some research as far as hooking two PSU's together. I've heard mixed stories. However, the main argument I heard was that the two PSU would be effectively fighting each other when it comes to power production etc as each will try and stabilize outputs. I am thinking only to run this extra PSU for GPU only, as the GPU would dictate power flow. But I also need a dummy load in case of system failure otherwise it will burn.

 

[Markverhyden]

Read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today, unfortunately it's in the paid section but the link below is similar. About companies using crypto currencies to fund IPO's. What's interesting is some are creating their own coin which can then be used to trade in their products and services.

From the WSJ article - "These fundraisings, called “Initial Coin Offerings,” are exploding in value. So far this year, companies have raised more than $1 billion this way. That is 10 times the amount raised in 2016, according to Smith & Crown, a digital-currency research firm."

https://www.thebalance.com/cryptocu...tal-raising-process-for-new-companies-4115445

 

[Moltuae]

Read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today, unfortunately it's in the paid section but the link below is similar. About companies using crypto currencies to fund IPO's. What's interesting is some are creating their own coin which can then be used to trade in their products and services.

From the WSJ article - "These fundraisings, called “Initial Coin Offerings,” are exploding in value. So far this year, companies have raised more than $1 billion this way. That is 10 times the amount raised in 2016, according to Smith & Crown, a digital-currency research firm."

https://www.thebalance.com/cryptocu...tal-raising-process-for-new-companies-4115445

I use this site to research them: https://www.coinschedule.com/

Some are complete scams or simply clones of other coins that have no value, while others propose some very interesting developments. You can make a huge amount of money investing just a little in the right ICO. They often rocket in value when the coin hits general release.

 

[Markverhyden]

I use this site to research them: https://www.coinschedule.com/

Some are complete scams or simply clones of other coins that have no value, while others propose some very interesting developments. You can make a huge amount of money investing just a little in the right ICO. They often rocket in value when the coin hits general release.

What interests me is not so much those looking at imitating BC but those offering other things. Say someone decides to offer, say a stand alone car play device. Crowd funding lets you pay $X for product. But some of these are offering coin instead. If the value of their product increases then you could get more of it per coin. Or maybe convertible into common stock.

 

[Moltuae]

What interests me is not so much those looking at imitating BC but those offering other things. Say someone decides to offer, say a stand alone car play device. Crowd funding lets you pay $X for product. But some of these are offering coin instead. If the value of their product increases then you could get more of it per coin. Or maybe convertible into common stock.

Exactly.

The possibilities of what can be done with blockchain tech seem endless. There's so many great ideas it's difficult to choose what to invest in. My investments are now at over 20 different altcoins and growing. There's probably another 10 or more that I'm closely watching and researching. Like you say it's all about the 'product'. You need to look for coins that have real 'value' and a reputable/verifiable development team.

 

[timeshifter]

The possibilities of what can be done with blockchain tech seem endless.

I agree. I just started re-listening to The Internet of Money. He's continually states that currency is just one application of the blockchain, and that when history looks back the currency application will look insignificant when compared to other services that blockchain technologies enable.

 

[Markverhyden]

Yep, the real value is in the block chain technology itself. The ability to absolutely, no questions asked, guarantee the authenticity of "something"

 

[purdybread]

I started following this thread a few weeks ago, and have gave serious thought to getting involved in mining. However this last few days every time I catch up on the thread I am more confused!

Blockchain, Segwit, Fork, ASIC, Script Miners, Ethereum, Altcoins. ARRRRGH MY BRAIN!!

 

[Markverhyden]

I started following this thread a few weeks ago, and have gave serious thought to getting involved in mining. However this last few days every time I catch up on the thread I am more confused!

Blockchain, Segwit, Fork, ASIC, Script Miners, Ethereum, Altcoins. ARRRRGH MY BRAIN!!

You're not alone.....

 

[timeshifter]

I started following this thread a few weeks ago, and have gave serious thought to getting involved in mining. However this last few days every time I catch up on the thread I am more confused!

Blockchain, Segwit, Fork, ASIC, Script Miners, Ethereum, Altcoins. ARRRRGH MY BRAIN!!

I really like the book The Internet of Money. I bought the audiobook version. Actually started listening to it again today.

 

[NviGate Systems]

I don't fully understand block chain but I know the basics. It's very much like traditional cash except digital, the rewards for mining and supporting the network are similar to how banks get interest on funds they hold or fees charged. Except with crypto currency the individual who does the work gets the reward so to speak, so it very much is a decentralized digital bank.

Just like any financial system as long as it has perceived value the system supports itself and supports other markets. That's why many people trade when say the US Dollar drops, because it affects subsidiary markets that rely on the value of the US Dollar. Now, as far as finances go that's just the tip of the iceberg. With crypto you also get security, as it's much harder for folks to "cook the books" as everything is encrypted. Not to say that won't stop people, just like counterfeits are still a thing today.

As far as mining, there is money to be made because the market is still new, so in a sense, everyone is helping to digitally print the new currency, whether it be in established or new markets.

Imagine the history of finances from the 1900's till now. With crypto all those experiences can happen all over again only digitally, so lots of cool things ahead.

 

[timeshifter]

I think I'm going to just buy a frame from eBay. I've already spent several hours trying to figure out how to build a frame to suit my needs. Had settled on using extruded aluminum like the MakerBeam XL for example. There's a guy on bitcointalk.org and he builds open air frames with a similar product http://spotswoodcomputercases.com/wp/?page_id=1275#miningtrays

Also found some 3D printable parts that were quite interesting. How about these brackets to just move your cards around?

or these:

Not sure those will work for me and I don't have a 3d printer or have ever used one. But I stumbled into eBay and saw quite a few rigs, some well thought out and reasonably available.

I thought this looked interesting:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Crypto-Coin...56e1ef&pid=100011&rk=4&rkt=12&sd=322566609639

One thing that will be a challenge is mounting the water cooler radiator and fans for my 4 cards. Haven't seen any rigs with those.

 

[Moltuae]

Also found some 3D printable parts that were quite interesting. How about these brackets to just move your cards around?

Interesting idea. Haven't seen those before. Could get a bit cluttered with a lot of cards though and, when a some of the cards are upwards of £600 each, I think I prefer something that protects and holds them better ..... but they could be useful for initial testing of single cards.

I'm still working on designing/building my own extruded aluminium frame. Progress is a bit slow going at the moment, working on it whenever I get a few spare minutes in-between jobs, but I'll post photos details if/when I get it finished.

 

[NviGate Systems]

Well, I ordered some risers from a local eBay seller, no good. Thankfully, I ordered some from a US eBay seller and these work flawlessly. I ordered some more connecting materials for my OpenBeam construction, which will allow me to construct a nice cage for everything to go in, including the risers. From Amazon I got Nylon M3 standoffs, which are perfect for insulation.

Now because I am doing this on a cheap budget (I have invested roughly 2500~ish) I am using some older boards. I have an old ASUS P5 board which has a Pentium D. Works like a charm. Plus, the board doesn't need a jumper for the cards to be recognized. Apparently some boards won't use the risers unless you place a jumper wire in the PCI-E slot at the riser. Ugh. Anyways, the ones I have don't need that. I also have a cheap HP XW4600 workstation board that has 4X PCI-E that I can rig up.

My cards are as follows:

XFX RX 480 Reference 8GB
PowerColor RX 480 Reference 8GB

Saphire R9 Fury Nitro X2

MSI TwinFrozer R9 290

Gigabyte R9 280X "WindForce V2"
Gigabyte R9 280X V1

Note the above two cards simply will not work together. The system works maybe for like 12-16 hours but then has graphic artifacts and lock up. Separately they mine for hours.

The goal is to have a 1000W PSU (on the way) powering both R9 Fury and 2X RX 480 if it will handle it, which I am fairly sure it will. I can then move the R9 290 with one of the 280X and see if they will play nice. A 620W should play nice.

The one issue I am having is our electrical box is old, and the wiring isn't exactly clear, so I've had to move some miners to a different circuit because they started tripping breakers. The breaker is old and because of the very weird layout, when breakers go, they take out the office machines...our service network should be isolated, but it's not. But we have a friend who has free electricity, so we may relocate the servers there.

When my chassis is built, I will take photos.

 

[timeshifter]

I ordered this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322578105198

It's for 8 GPUs. Looks like it's made using extruded aluminum. This model and associated pics is all over eBay and Aliexpress.

 

[Moltuae]

I don't fully understand block chain but I know the basics. It's very much like traditional cash except digital, the rewards for mining and supporting the network are similar to how banks get interest on funds they hold or fees charged. Except with crypto currency the individual who does the work gets the reward so to speak, so it very much is a decentralized digital bank.

Just like any financial system as long as it has perceived value the system supports itself and supports other markets. That's why many people trade when say the US Dollar drops, because it affects subsidiary markets that rely on the value of the US Dollar. Now, as far as finances go that's just the tip of the iceberg. With crypto you also get security, as it's much harder for folks to "cook the books" as everything is encrypted. Not to say that won't stop people, just like counterfeits are still a thing today.

As far as mining, there is money to be made because the market is still new, so in a sense, everyone is helping to digitally print the new currency, whether it be in established or new markets.

Imagine the history of finances from the 1900's till now. With crypto all those experiences can happen all over again only digitally, so lots of cool things ahead.

That's pretty much my understanding too, though as timeshifter mentioned, currency is just the first application.

I'm far from being an expert either but I have read a lot on the subject. Here's how I would summarise my understanding of it ...


I think the first thing to understand is that a blockchain is just a type of database. It differs from a conventional database in that the data cannot be altered randomly. Instead, when transactions occur (such as the transfer of ownership of funds), a new layer (or block) is added to the database that records those changes. None of the earlier data is modified. Instead, each new block is added to the 'end', creating a 'chain' of records that contain every single data transaction, right back to the very first 'genesis block'.

A copy of the blockchain is held by every full node on the network, which may consist of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of computers worldwide. Not to be confused with miners, nodes are generally 'users'. In the case of cryptocurrencies, nodes are usually anyone running a 'full node' wallet. Each node connects to multiple nodes, sharing and comparing data. It 'trusts no-one', cryptographically verifying every single block and it is even able to ignore/ban any other node that attempts to give false or inconsistent data.

The job of the miners is to 'find' a new block, which involves validating and verifying ownership of pending transactions by solving immensely complex cryptographic problems and running the data through hashing algorithms until eventually a solution is found that fits like a jigsaw piece on the end of the blockchain. Just like solving a jigsaw, while finding the right piece may take time, everyone else can very quickly verify and confirm that the block 'fits'. The miner's reward for their effort/electricity is the transaction fees and, for 'mineable' cryptocurrencies, they are also rewarded with new coins. This system of mining is known as Proof of Work (PoW). Another commonly used system is Proof of Stake (PoS), where instead the nodes are rewarded with new coins for 'holding' or 'staking' funds, giving a kind of interest on their savings.

What's really interesting is how this technology emerged and why there are now so many cryptocurrencies when, less than a decade ago, there were none. There's an age-old problem, known as The Byzantine General's Problem, that illustrates the difficulty of maintaining information/data integrity without trust in a decentralised/distributed network. Essentially, without a central authority, how can you ensure data validity without trusting any network node? For a long time it was considered an unsolvable problem, but the anonymously released Bitcoin whitepaper changed all that, providing a working theory and code examples of how the problem could be overcome.

Personally, I think this technology has huge implications. To say that it's bigger even than the internet itself, I think is a gross understatement. Currency really is just "the first application". The deeper I get into studying it the more I realise the immense possibilities for building applications that could impact/disrupt just about every type of business.