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how does one get bitcoins and how is it a currency of value?

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YamiRioru

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Joined
Apr 10, 2016
Location
Paso Robles, CA
I want to know how bitcoins are a currency of value and how I can get bitcoins? is creating your own currency like bitcoins even legal? where can I earn bitcoins because no real job pays in bitcoins...
 
That is a lot of ground to cover.

This may help you starting out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

As to why it has value? People are willing to accept it for things. Admittedly there are a lot fewer than are willing to take dollars or rubles or marks, but enough that it seems Bitcoin will be around for a while.

As to how to get them? You can exchange dollars or other crypto-currencies for them, or you can mine them. Mining them requires buying hardware that is custom designed for doing the calculations. It used to be you could use the CPU on your computer, then you needed to use video cards and now you have to use ASICs, or Application Specific Integrated Circuits. The more calculations done on the network, the more you have to do to be able to mine a bitcoin.

If you have more specific questions, we'll try and answer them for you.
 
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That is a lot of ground to cover.

This may help you starting out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

As to why it has value? People are willing to accept it for things. Admittedly there are a lot fewer than are willing to take dollars or rubles or marks, but enough that it seems Bitcoin will be around for a while.

As to how to get them? You can exchange dollars or other crypto-currencies for them, or you can mine them. Minding them requires buying hardware that is custom designed for doing the calculations. It used to be you could use the CPU on your computer, then you needed to use video cards and now you have to use ASICs, or Application Specific Integrated Circuits. The more calculations done on the network, the more you have to do to be able to mine a bitcoin.

If you have more specific questions, we'll try and answer them for you.

Another method is to mine other crypto-currencies, spin-offs if you will, such as Litecoin, Peercoin, Darkcoin etc.
Then you sell these coins for Bitcoins on trading sites like Poloniex or Bittrex. Then you simply withdraw your Bitcoins from said trading site to your Bitcoin wallet. :)
 
Bitcoins are already past their prime as far as casual hobbyists mining them goes, but there are some altcoins out there well worth mining.
 
Bitcoin price hits a 2.5 year high but falls 25% in just 6 days! But I think in future the price increases again!

Let's see what happens :):D
 
Another method is to mine other crypto-currencies, spin-offs if you will, such as Litecoin, Peercoin, Darkcoin etc.
Then you sell these coins for Bitcoins on trading sites like Poloniex or Bittrex. Then you simply withdraw your Bitcoins from said trading site to your Bitcoin wallet. :)

Is there a particular one that is worth mining over the others? Worth more, easier to trade, etc? Or is that something that fluctuates too rapidly to follow effectively?
 
Do your research. A number of factors affect which altcoin is most profitable for you. My advice is to not put all your eggs in one basket, in other words diversify your investment. Also pay close attention to post dates when searching since things change fast. (I remember when I had 4 cheap smartphones getting me nearly $100/month mining Perk...)
 
Is there a particular one that is worth mining over the others? Worth more, easier to trade, etc? Or is that something that fluctuates too rapidly to follow effectively?
I'm sure there is, but I haven't mined on over a year so I'm to sure what's the best to mine.

Last I checked ETC was the most profitable.
 
I've been periodically looking at the different coins and just haven't taken the plunge yet. I have a bunch of hardware sitting around and I keep looking at it knowing that there is a chance I could be making money off of it, but I also know that sometimes the electricity cost doesn't pan out.

Mining with a smartphone? I've never even seen anything about that. I've got at least 5 old smartphones sitting in a box I saved as "back ups".
 
A year is a long time for many altcoins! Less than a year ago was when I had those smartphones mining Perk at $100/month. Then it crashed and you'd be lucky to get $10/month mining that coin... (And a lot of coiners are complaining that the exchange is not accepting their coins, basically causing the coins to "disappear into the aether"...) There are some other "experimental" coins that can also be mined with smartphones but they also tend to increase in difficulty level rather quickly.

If those old smartphones aren't worth much but do run at least Android 4.2, you can give a try. Beware that mining runs them harder than they're designed for so don't be surprised if they only last 6 months or so. (That varies a lot but seems to be typical for the cheap smartphones.)
 
The two that get recommended most often are Kano and Nicehash. The former is only for Bitcoin while the latter also supports some well established altcoins. Experimental coins like the ones that can be mined with smartphones typically have their own pools and exchanges.
 
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