Can someone 'splain me like I'm 5. Blockchain?

Okay...I'll cut to the chase...

Show me, please, where the 'value' is in mining bit coin / crypto? Period...show me.

The whole "mining" thing seems like a complete sham to me, and it defeats everything about cryptocurrency. It seems like a way for Millennials to make money without doing anything. Prove me wrong. Where is the 'value' in this mining effort...and don't tell me network security, because that's straight-up Bullsh!t. That's just some imagined BS to justify their efforts; it's not real.

I should trust these "trusted members"...why? I don't know them, and they're not even regulated...why should I trust them?

This whole crypto thing is a ponzi scheme. Best to you if you make money, but you're doing it in an environment which is more risky than any other single money market. Sorry.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The value is in the GPUs.
When one realizes he can't compete with big boys you sell of off your GPU's.


lol.

originally posted by: IndieA
a reply to: pCriticalStinker

That’s the beauty, crypto is optional. You don’t have to interact with it, and I would go so far as to say you shouldn’t until you fully understand it and want to.

Well said. I would suggest that the same rule be applied to any powerful tool.

Thanks, and I completely agree people should know more about the tools they use. Most people agree when it’s a car, power tool, gun, but are intimidated by financial instruments for some reason.

Hell, a lot of people have 401k matching and don’t utilize it. That’s free money on the table. You can give yourself an instant raise if a company offers that and you take advantage of it.

A lot of the ones that do leave it 100% in the target retirement fund. And most of the time that is fine, and will still earn you money. But maybe that fund charges a 1% fee while an S&P500 look alike fund offering in the 401k options carries a 0.25% fee. Maybe someone would say 0.75% isn’t much, until you factor in opportunity cost of that compounding money getting (hypothetical) compounding returns.

I think most people could learn all these things if they wanted to. And their wealth would probably be measurably different if they did.

Most financial advisors can be beat simply by holding the S&P500. While many financial advisors are taking a commission, or pushing their companies financial products… the S&P500 charges an administration fee of 0.0945%.

All of this is free to learn for anyone who wants to. Crypto isn’t for everyone, and probably best for nerds with a healthy risk tolerance. But I’d at least implore everyone to learn the systems they do use. You can hedge inflation, or even become wealthy if you have discipline, knowledge, and a plan.

a reply to: imitator

At a loss...sure!

Ironic the big money is with the GPUs and not the CPUs! Very ironic.

Makes me even more suspect than I already am!

When you understand the differences in how a GPU works, and a CPU, you have to ask yourself "WHY, does a GPU work better?". Yes, I've seen the technical reasons why, but most of this is snake oil and bureaucratic BS. None of these technical reasons equate to real-world value. Period...they just don't.

In my OP I posed a simple question in a complex way. I did this intentionally; I did this to head off explanations of things I already know. So, let me rephrase my original question in a far simpler way...

Explain to me how cryptocurrency is anything other than a ponzi scheme and a ruse to steal your money???

Thank you.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Well I think... unlike Ponzi schemes, which rely on secrecy and deception, cryptocurrencies operate transparently on public ledgers, where all transactions are recorded and can be verified by anyone.

Let's address the Elephant in the room you mentioned GPU . The New Quantum chip will be able to produce enough block chain to devalue all crypto.
@indieA

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: IndieA

Okay, this whole thing is starting to make sense to me now.

So, to use your analogy...imagine me with a pile of fruit I spent the time to plant, fertilize and grow, and I'm at the market selling this fruit. Along comes some other guy who sat in his basement and got his computer white hot mining for bit coins. We're sitting side by side in a market.

Shortly afterwards some starving people show up. They have a choice. They can either pay me money for some of the fruit and vegetables I've grown, OR they can pay this other guy for some bitcoins he's mined...which he promises are worth something.

Which should these people choose?

The starving people should choose the food for the sake of their own well being, but suppose a private central banker gets to both stands before the starving people. They have the same currency as the starving people, but much more of it since they can create it out of thin air, they could technically buy out both booths if they wanted to, but if they are somehow profiting off of those starving people, they would likely choose not to.

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher
Let's address the Elephant in the room you mentioned GPU . The New Quantum chip will be able to produce enough block chain to devalue all crypto.
@indieA

Sounds more like a value add to me.

a reply to: imitator

Heh...yeah, until a 'hard fork', which changes all the previous protocol and makes everything before it un-trackable. So, you just have to "trust" the 'trusted members', that they're not more interested in profits than YOU are! 'Trusted members' whom you will never know, not ever, and who will vanish into the aether when sh!t goes haywire before you can say "BOO!"

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Hardforks don't erase everything before them, at least bitcoin hardforks haven't. Every transaction still it's inception is public record.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

We'll get quantum cryptography, they're already working on quantum-resistant technologies... It will end the need for GPU mining.

Looks like Google will get rich first lol...

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

At a loss...sure! Ironic the big money is with the GPUs and not the CPUs! Very ironic. Makes me even more suspect than I already am! When you understand the differences in how a GPU works, and a CPU, you have to ask yourself "WHY, does a GPU work better?". Yes, I've seen the technical reasons why, but most of this is snake oil and bureaucratic BS. None of these technical reasons equate to real-world value. Period...they just don't.

CPUs have broader capabilities, which make it essential for running a computer, and all of the diverse applications that you’ll run. The CPU can also run video, and less demanding video games.

The GPU is still a processor, but one made with a specific function of rendering graphics. The framework of that processor makes it easier to run equations in parallel. That’s why it’s used for crypto and AI… it’s better for running specific equations really quick.

Some CPUs compliment GPUs better based off of the intended use case. Graphics design, video rendering, and gaming can benefit from different CPUs and even GPUs.

NVIDIA makes GPUs that are really expensive, and you wouldn’t even necessarily benefit from with gaming or consumer tasks.

There are whole data centers that just use GPUs, not just for crypto mining and AI, but engineering science, rendering models and other specific functions. They’re wild centers too, many of them with specialized containment and massive water chillers to run all the demanding cooling.

It’s not snake oil but rather happenstance. Something easy made with an original intention, and they found another use case for it. Just like the guy who helped make the microwave oven found out his Hershey bar melted from the radar he was working on.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

They are not hard to find... Hawk tuah girl is going to learn the hard way.

originally posted by: imitator
a reply to: Ravenwatcher

We'll get quantum cryptography, they're already working on quantum-resistant technologies... It will end the need for GPU mining.

Looks like Google will get rich first lol...

Quantum computing serves a very specific use case just like GPUs.

Even if quantum computing would do it better, it’s likely not going to be consumer available for quite a while.

They still make GPUs that wouldn’t be good in a gaming PC, but are fantastic at running in parallel to serve a use case with a cost benefit.

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher
Let's address the Elephant in the room you mentioned GPU . The New Quantum chip will be able to produce enough block chain to devalue all crypto.
@indieA

You can’t produce all of the available Bitcoin right now, no matter your processing ability. Nor will you ever be able to produce more than 21 million coins.

Much of crypto isn’t even mined. Some just release with their total intended supply and pay users for just verifying the transactions in other ways.

Quantum computing very well may change future crypto coins and use cases, which could add competition. But I don’t see how it will “defeat” existing crypto unless it breaks the encryption on the keys, which would be unlikely anytime in the near future.

Even if it does, that means it broke all encryption, and we’re screwed anyways.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

You're right, most of the quantum computers we are seeing now are built for research.

But it will not be long... Maybe China, Russia, etc... breaks crypto.

Reason to invest in Ethereum lol...

a reply to: imitator

If they break crypto that means they had access to the global financial system first, as a lot of that security has lower grades of encryption.

That said, luckily China and Russia aren’t that good at designing or making chips.

Also, even if they could, they would need the lithography machine from ASML, so the world would know. You have to upkeep that with the help of the company.

The chip supply chain is probably the most complex, and hardest to keep a secret.

Either they would have to jump decades to create one super chip, or make a supply chain to mass produce a lot to have a data center break all that (vastly more likely). Russia is not even in that equation, China would be highly doubtful, even if they did take Taiwan. Taiwan just has the foundries, they make the physical chips, but they don’t design them. The second Taiwan gets taken, and the island is stuck to the generation of chips it last produced (assuming production doesn’t halt), or China has to do leaps and bounds in chip design.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Dunno about that... China was the first to deploy quantum tech in space years ago. That's up there with Russians being the first with satellites in space.

The United States has not yet launched a dedicated quantum communication satellite or at least not known to the public.

China also claims to have chips on par with Willow.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Bingo!

We hear all the time about all these super-computers agencies like the NSA have and how they can cruch all the data ever populated across the entire web in mere seconds.

So, if they're so powerful, then clearly they could mine every available cyber-coin hash in a matter of seconds and bring the entire crypto world to its knees. What would stop them? Nothing. They're just waiting for the right time. No computer nerd in his basement with a bunch of GPU's is going to be able to compete with this!

The NSA's supercomputers can't dig through rock to find gold or diamonds, but they damn sure can 'digest' the entire internet in mere seconds. They can hack any network, break any cypher, crack any hash, and do all of this while at lunch.

So, how is this not all just fantasy?

I really don't think my question(s) are all that difficult here; I'm simply asking...where is the value?

a reply to: imitator

China also claims to have chips on par with Willow.

Touche, curious to see if they can scale that, or if it’s kind of an artisan small batch type deal.

They’ve been buying the NVIDIA 4090s abroad, stripping out the chips and returning the enclosure. Maybe that’s a trolling move, or maybe they are desperate.

I can tell you that the US has been building insane data centers as fast as we can buy the gear. The big indicator of that is Vertiv’s chilled water coolers have been selling out. Their stock price has been trailing NVIDIA.