Yes, but this is very unlikely to happen. If mining will become a large company only thing, I doubt governments will let 'em act freely since they are producing a currency, not to mention a currency with "subversive" goals in its manifesto.
Even the most btc friendly nations are talking about regulation right now. They have been caught off guard but I doubt they will let this go smooth.

As far from intrinsic value of BTC, it is only driven by demand-offer. A problem I keep seeing is that it's not still very liquid in the real world: ok many businesses are starting to accept it but we are very far from  the "I can but whatever I could with regular money". The only thing that can act as a force in favor of BTC, is its community, I think.

Thanks Undone! I kinda get it now... miners can be small but pools will remain big well enough to compete with "industrial mining". Miners joining a pool are like ppl voting a party, in a way...

Sad because it's drug money, and almost weaponry money with Armory (that failed anyway).
It created an early demand of BTC for sure, but it will always remain a skeleton in the armchair of BTC history. Everytime they attack BTC is for drug money / money laundry / terrorist money. And they can point the finger to Silk Road.

Well before the price boom was actually used as currency a lot, sadly, for buying stuff on Silk Road.
Now yes speculators are a big number. As I see it now it's a good currency for transactions among privates. I see a good bunch of eBayers accepting btc as payment, for example.

Excuse my ignorance, but how pools are a guarantee of suistainable profitability for rigs made of commonly avaible pc components? I understand they increase efficiency, but up to a certain point, no?

The matter I see is the entrance on the scene of dedicated mining hw, like ASICs and FGPAs. OK most GPU mining rigs are doubtfoully serving other purposes than mining, so one can argue there is little or no difference between them.
But I think the difference is far from being purely conceptual. Everyone that has a common PC with an edge for gaming is already possessing a minimal mining rig, and that is the democratic aspect. The other one is far less ideological: dedicated hw can be subject to restrictions by governments, so controlled in a way or another (bans, license requirements, taxes etc.), generic hw cannot be controlled in such fashion.

Yes, but if I understand it correctly profitable mining of main cryptocurrencies (BTC, LTC...) is getting more and more difficult with commonly avaible computer hw, right?
Of course mine is more an abstract hypothesis, but what happens if mining activity becomes increasingly "less grassroot" and more "enterprise like"? Will this put an hazard to cryptocurrencies in general, destroying the main key concept behind it?

Hello everyone,

I have to premise that I am a total noob so forgive me if I talk dumb. 
Anyway, I was thinking about this:

• New altcoins every day... how long this will last? Ppl will get tired or this mess, no?
• On the other hand, ppl who has average gpu rigs wants altcoins, for better opportunities
• so no altcoins, no more average and small miners

the above led me to the following thoughts:

• What will happen if medium and small miners disappear?
• Then, will big expensive ASIC miners assume a role similar to that of central banks?
• If this happens, will bitcoin be abandoned in the long run for failing to maintain democracy in its ecosystem?

What do you think?

many thanks!!!
Patience, that's what is required for answering newbie questions, and you had it kind sir 
Much appreciated.

Hi! Another newbie joining in!!!

I'm not active still both in mining and trading, but planning to do so.
Just because I'm a paranoid overanalizing dude, and the fact that I like to learn, I would feel better if someone could point me to some good technical intro to cryptocurrencies (guides, wikis, ebooks, papers etc.). Stuff like blockchain, difficulty etc.
Also there is some mechanism in this community to provide some feedback on user's correctness, or if some users provide escrow services.

Apologizes for not using the search function for the above but this post was mainly meant to introduce myself!