Items tagged with bitcoin
If you've invested heavily in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum over the past year, you probably need a stiff drink right about now. The cryptocurrency "boom" is no more, and values are heading south, much to the chagrin of crypto miners that thought mining with off-the-shelf [and custom] hardware would bring them digital fortunes. Take Bitcoin, for example; the cryptocurrency fell to as little as $5,900 in the past 24 hours before rebounding to just over 6,000 as of this writing. As recently as May, Bitcoin was trading at around $10,000 and in late 2017, it was topping $19,000....
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It's been a tough year for gamers who needed to upgrade their GPU, but were stopped dead in their tracks by inflated price tags and a general shortage on most mid-range and high-end graphics cards. Thankfully, that is mostly in the rear view mirror. One of the reasons why is because Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have become less profitable to mine, and subsequently plummeted in value. Consider that Bitcoin was trading for nearly $10,000 in parts of April and May. Before that, it had approached $20,000 and had investors talking about an eventual $50,000 or even $100,000 value on the horizon....
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It was only a few months ago when there was talk of Bitcoin being on a trajectory to perhaps hit $50,000 or even $100,000, which could make late adopters wealthy and early adopters obscenely rich (more so than they have already become). Fast forward to today, however, and the future is as murky as ever. Not that it was ever crystal clear. However, the virtual currency dipped below $6,000 today, it's lowest value since November. The recent drop further underscores the volatility of cryptocurrency, and the overall uncertainty over its future. Proponents of cryptocurrency will say they have heard...
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Things aren't exactly rosy in the cryptocurrency world; particularly when it comes to Bitcoin. Over the weekend, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail confirmed that it had been hacked. The site says that it was the victim of a "cyber intrusion" and that roughly 30 percent of the coins trades on the exchange were stolen. Coinrail said the remaining 70 percent of coins were safeguarded and have been moved to a "cold wallet". At this moment, it is believed that hackers got away with 40 billion won in Bitcoin, which amounts to $37.2 million. Not surprisingly, this latest hack sent the...
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One of the biggest criticisms of cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin in particular, is the highly volatile nature of digital coins. However, that's for investors and miners to worry about. A larger concern that is starting to draw increased attention is the power usage that comes from mining cryptocurrencies on a large scale. Over in Washington, where power is relatively cheap compared to other parts of the country, there's a twofold concern—that power bills will go, and that electric utilities will not be able to keep up with demand. These are not new concerns. It was reported earlier this month...
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It's no secret that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have their loyal followers along with scathing detractors. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has never been a fan of cryptocurrencies, but he ratcheted up the rhetoric this week by calling Bitcoin "rat poison squared". Buffett helms Berkshire Hathaway and made the comments at the company's 2018 annual shareholder meeting. He went on to further explain his comments to CNBC, stating, “It does create a rising price, creates more buyers ... If you don’t understand it, you get much more excited. People like to speculate,...
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When it comes to cryptocurrency mining, many small- and large-scale outfits have cornered the GPU market, buying up large quantities of current generation AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. Gamers have especially been hit hard by miners, as even mainstream graphics cards that should be heading towards the bargain bin at this stage in their lifecycle are priced above MSRP. However, it looks as though Intel might have come up with a solution for a way to more efficiently mine for cryptocurrency instead of using hardware that was originally designed for an unrelated task. Intel's patent was filed on September...
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Plattsburgh, New York is city that has just over 30,000 residents, and those citizens recently saw their power bills unexpectedly increase due to a problem that is starting to affect more people in the United States. We're talking about cryptocurrency mining, of course. Plattsburgh has placed an 18-month ban on new commercial cryptocurrency mining operations after the city was forced to buy additional power to keep up with demand, in turn causing everyone's rates to go up. For gamers, the rise in cryptocurrency mining means that the hot graphics cards that we'd like to get our hands are hard to...
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Google is taking a stand against advertisements on the internet that promote cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency exchanges/wallets/trading advice and/or initial coin offerings (ICO). The tech giant says that it will no longer serve ads through its platforms for these products and services starting in June 2018. "We don't have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we've seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it's an area that we want to approach with extreme caution," said Scott Spencer, Google's Director of Sustainable Ads, in an interview...
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There are plenty of uncertainties and grey areas currently lurking around the cryptocurrency market. From wild fluctuations in valuations, to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin being used on the black market, to government institutions that are looking to get in on a piece of the action, we're still in the "Wild Wild West" days and far from mainstream penetration. Image Source: Flickr via Sebastian Vital With that in mind, Bill Gates gave his thoughts on cryptocurrencies when asked in a reddit "Ask Me Anything" session that was held on Tuesday. To put it bluntly, he is not a fan... at all. Gates stated:...
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Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak recently revealed that he had seven bitcoins stolen from him in an old school scam that has been around as long as credit cards. Those coins are now valued at roughly $70,000 and change. He wasn't duped by one of the many cryptocurrency scams out there, like those that pretend to be from a tech celebrity such as Elon Musk. The scam Wozniak fell prey to was a simple credit card hustle. Woz says that someone online bought the seven bitcoins from him using a credit card, but the card was canceled after the bitcoin was transferred, so the payment failed to process....
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Bitcoin is on the upward swing of its current rollercoaster ride, rebounding above $11,000 -- a price that it hasn't seen since January. After soaring to nearly $20,000 in December, the cryptocurrency has crashed hard in the past two months. At one point earlier this month, Bitcoin was trading below $7,000. However, it has since made a rally to its current valuation of around $11,200 according to CoinDesk. It appears that fears of stiffer regulations and an overinflated valuation are starting to subside, which is breathing some new life into Bitcoin. However, Vitalik Buterin, the mastermind behind...
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Atari has just announced something that will surprise all the gamers out there who grew up on its consoles and games. The company made a big unveil today and while it's not a new console or game, Atari will actually be minting its own new type of cryptocurrency. The new altcoin type will be called "Atari Token" and no, it isn’t trying to take on Bitcoin. Atari Token won't be worth real money apparently, however, it will be used on a new digital entertainment platform to buy content like video games, music, and movies. The deal was inked by Atari SA, the French firm now holding all Atari...
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The effect that cryptocurrency mining has had on the graphics card market has been so extreme, very few people could have predicted it. GPUs that were as easy to purchase as a gallon of milk became as hard to find as the hottest deal at Best Buy on Black Friday. In addition to the rarity, inflated pricing has been a real issue as well, with many GPUs costing twice as much (or more) than their intended MSRP. A $649 GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, for example, can currently be had as "cheap" as $900, and that's a relative bargain compared to some of the other pricing we've seen. It's not hard to find the same...
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