Latest estimate I've seen is that it currently costs ~$24 in electrical power to process a single Bitcoin transaction. Right now, it's profitable for the miners to incur that cost; however, that may change. The network is currently only able to process ~10-20 transactions an hour, with the current block size and structure. There were previous efforts to change this structure, but because it requires a consensus of the very-distributed network to institute such a change, the proposal failed.

Claims about BitCoin as a common medium-of-exchange don't make sense to me, unless you're looking at corporate contracts or major purchases. I've seen a recent argument that "cyber-commodity" is a better description of how BitCoin actually behaves and functions than the commonly heard "crypto-currency".

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...-20171207-story.html

I'm planning to put my entire retirement into Venezuela's "petro" cryptocurrency. It seems like a slam dunk.

Allow me to ask a nieve question. I assume one needs to pay taxes on profits acquired by selling bitcoins? My dad got in on this game and as part of a conversation on his aging and how I should get to understand his finances, he started to explain the buying / selling / trading of these and how I should gain access before his demise (his wording, not mine). I don't understand it and fear ending up a game show contestant who unknowing ends up being killed in taxes b/c they didn't understand what they'd gotten themselves into.

Anyone have a good Bitcoins For Dummies (and the legal ramifications thereof) primer?

TIA

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To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

Check this reddit site out: https://www.reddit.com/...er_cryptocurrencies/

basically, every crypto trade is considered a sale. you pay capital gains if you exchange BTC for another coin.

I am heavy into crypto at this time. I had made a few hundred trades over the course of 2017. Time to prepare for taxes! I use https://bitcoin.tax to calculate my capital gains. Easy to use site that connects to most exchanges using their APIs. You can also just import your transactions. Most exchanges let you download a csv or other type of file that contains all your transactions.

good luck!

I think BTC and blockchain technologies in generall are the best investment for the future. I read that large corporation started implementing blockchain technologies too. I found Jafton software dev company that provides digitalization services for companies ranging from startups to multi-million dollar corporations.

Sure you can think that. You won't be right but you can think that

It's been ten years now and the only thing block chain technologies have proven useful for is scamming millennials out of their money and allowing perverts to buy child porn.

Blockchain is essentially a distributed ledger, but a very slow one that is far away from being a practical product for any businesses. It is a solution looking for a problem right now.

Presently it’s the easiest/cheapest way to transfer money to another person in another currency.

It would shut down if it did 1/200 of the transactions Visa does.

You and your facts.......

“Presently”

For sure, I don't see how you could lose here! I wonder what happened with this, I never really heard about it a single time after it was first mentioned.

I prefer a currency that is backed up by a dozen of nuclear powered aircraft carriers :-)

I fell down the rabbit hole in March -- any one else hodling? (Besides the Winklevoss twins)

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Advocating for research & treatment for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).
http://www.meaction.net/about/what-is-me/

"Suck it up, Buttercup"
(me, to myself, every day)

Bought some before everyone here knew what it was and sold around 10k, bought a new bike and truck with the profits. Its like monopoly money that just shows up in your bank account.