[alpha1]

Originally Posted by ashokrajagopal

The difficulty value is arbitrarily set based on the time it takes to get the lottery.
If on average last X blocks got generated ( ie. each of them generated a number lower than the difficulty value) in less than 10 mins, they will increase the difficulty.
If on average last X blocks got generated ( ie. each of them generated a number lower than the difficulty value ) in more than 10 mins, they will decrease the difficulty.

Who are "they" that you refer to?

And yes, the system will fail if there are no miners left in the system.

Which is going to happen certainly in future.
This is a big and certain failure mode of this system then. What Mr Satoshi's (and his bhakts') view about this?

Originally Posted by m8002?

1. Even if it was designed as a medium of payment/exchange, whats the initiative
to invent a new one to bypass the governments? How different is using an "app" to transfer X bitcoins to someone compared to using an app to transfer X $ to the same person?

Some people prefer to do anonymous transactions because they get thrill, some people prefer because they want to do something illegal. And then there is 3rd variety of people that doesn't like any kind of government hand. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-capitalism)

[ashokrajagopal]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Who are "they" that you refer to?


Which is going to happen certainly in future.
This is a big and certain failure mode of this system then. What Mr Satoshi's (and his bhakts') view about this?

My bad, that is an anthropomorphism.

There is no "they". The system adjusts it based on past X number of blocks. Written into the design.

If there is at least one computer running the validation, it should work fine. I don't think that would be the problem Crypto fans worry about.
The design is such that more miners wouldn't increase the efficiency of the validation system. More miners means a crowded lottery. As more and more nodes leave the system, the lottery eases up ( ie. system automatically simplifies the difficulty).

And validating about 10k transactions ( rough) per 10 mins is not a big deal for even a single Raspberry Pi.

[Godzilla]

I finally took the plunge and invested a fair bit of my hard earned money in ADA. (Cardano). I used Zebpay exchange.

I have been watching the crypto space for a while. I did knew that Ethereum will hit the bull run even it did before and I missed to invest at that time. I wanted to invest in the next 50X-100X potential coin. Cardano has the fundamentals right and great team working to put it together. BUT, I am aware that it is in the early stage and many things can go wrong. I am bullish on Cardano, also I am invested in the "why" which is to make earth a better space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxe2Ik5EllQ

More resources here:

https://cardano.org/

https://www.reddit.com/r/cardano/

[speedfreak01]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

I finally took the plunge and invested a fair bit of my hard earned money in ADA. (Cardano).

What do you think is the scope of ADA say 5 years down the line. Does it have the potential to go 5x or 10x. I have also been tracking this coin since past 2 weeks but yet to take the plunge. On the other hand, just invested some money in GRT, UNI, LINK and MANA yesterday.

[guru_max]

The downisdes of cryptocurrency seems rather high. The concept of blockchain by itself seems to be a good innovation that is going to be used e masse in the near future, but i have my doubts.

1. Now, all these cryptos are used as wealth and trading but i struggle to see the long term prospects of the cryptos. At some points, governments are gonna tighten the screws and the possibility of cryptos becoming an alternate currency for legitimate transactions look low. In this scenario, i am not sure of the reason to bet on any crypto in the long term (think of this as the fundamentals of a company.)

2. There are a number of cryptos and even in the unlikely scenario where these become legitimate, it may be nothing more than a wild guess to predict which will die and which will survive.

3. Can the mining business continue to function effectively in the long run?

[Gansan]

I can't honestly understand crypto "currency". The more I read about it, the more I am reminded of Ponzi schemes / MLM business. The earlier you hitch on to it, more chances of you making good money and getting out. Those who enter very late will be left holding the baby.

If I own a 500 rupee note, and that note appreciates in value to 5 lac rupees, why will I pay for anything with it? How is it a "currency" then?

[jkrishnakj]

If I can add to Ganesan’s :
what’s this whole thing about ‘Mining’. What exactly do they mean by this mining word?

[Gansan]

^^ Me too! I sure would like to know what knowledge and infra are required for this "mining" and how much it would cost! Should one know coding, perhaps? I am retired and have all the time in the world. I will sit at home all day and do mining!

[hothatchaway]

^^^If you enter crypto mining at this stage, you will have to spend big bucks to acquire the infrastructure, ie computers with massive processing capacity. This will be power hungry and you will have to spend a bomb on electricity also. All this with no guarantee on actually 'mining' any cryptos since many have already joined the game

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin-mining.asp

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^ Me too! I sure would like to know what knowledge and infra are required for this "mining" and how much it would cost! Should one know coding, perhaps? I am retired and have all the time in the world. I will sit at home all day and do mining!

To my understanding, people are mining with 100s and 1000s of CPUs and GPUs. There are mine farms in China ( now controlled/banned ) and Easter Europe. Just google "crypto mining farm" images to get a feel of the scale of these farms.

As a analogy, its like telling you have all the time in the world and can mine gold/diamond in some open land. Theoretically you can do it but practically not feasible to get a gram of gold even in 10 years. What many people do is rent out their gpus during the night to these professional miners.

Your PC is like using a spoon while the mining farms are the large tunneling/mining machines used by De Beers.

[swunkjyn]

Originally Posted by m8002?

Your PC is like using a spoon while the mining farms are the large tunneling/mining machines used by De Beers.

That is why Eth 2.0 was supposed to come a long time ago so that it remains decentralized. Here the powerful your setup, the more you mine the crypto but it has not been postponed till Q1 or Q2 2022. If you have a GPU, you can mine but I would not suggest you to buy anything right now. There can be two things -

1. Even if it is not implemented with 6 to 8 GPU rig (depending on how much you spend on them), it will take atleast 10 months to 12 months to recuperate 60 to 75 percent of the cost. This will depend on the difficulty level or mining that block and how much did the value of that Crypto appreciate.

2. Lets assume with Eth 2.0 implemented and it dips the profits. Small seller will be selling their GPU at whatever cost they can so there is a high chance that the used market will be flooded with them. Big miners won't as its not easy to move so much hardware in the used market.

NVIDIA/AMD cannot make their GPU immune to crypto as that is how they are making money. So the new GPU from both the stables will be good for mining, if this goes on, then the current prices for the GPU will be considered normal with scalping still popular and new gen hardware for GPU will be pricey for sure. More than what it is right now.

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by Gansan

I can't honestly understand crypto "currency". The more I read about it, the more I am reminded of Ponzi schemes / MLM business. The earlier you hitch on to it, more chances of you making good money and getting out. Those who enter very late will be left holding the baby.

If I own a 500 rupee note, and that note appreciates in value to 5 lac rupees, why will I pay for anything with it? How is it a "currency" then?

Crypto's business model of appreciation is that the value will increase in the hope that a new buyer will offer more value and they don't bring any value on the table other than that.

Plus the whole business model seems to be a scam. Take a look at Tether who earlier claimed that each tether was backed by $0.74 in cash and cash equivalents only to backtrack and now say that that only 2.9% of Tether was backed by cash, with over 65% backed by commercial paper. But the worst part is they don't disclose what commercial paper they use and many fear that they have exposure to bonds invested in Chinese real estate.

And the biggest giveaway is that they handle billions (over 60 billion market cap) with just 28 employees. These have to be the finest 28 employees in the world to handle such kind of money. If this isn't a Ponzi scheme then I don't know what is

[SmartCat]

Cadbury's has launched a meme/joke coin called NOTHING COIN. Apparently, you can earn these coins by doing nothing.
https://www.5starnothingcoin.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpO7C4y4ca8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRWwym-WCYc

[SnS_12]

They opened this in Nariman point and I saw it last week and was actually surprised to see a Bank started by Cadbury..

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by speedfreak01

What do you think is the scope of ADA say 5 years down the line. Does it have the potential to go 5x or 10x. I have also been tracking this coin since past 2 weeks but yet to take the plunge. On the other hand, just invested some money in GRT, UNI, LINK and MANA yesterday.

I beleive ADA will do 5X easily in 4 to 5 years. If Cardano can deliver most of what they claim to deliver.