For the better part of a day I have researched bitcoins, litecoins, and a multitude of similar Digital Currencies.
WOW, so much to learn it is incredible.
Trading, loans, and the financial end I still need to dive into more detail. But I mainly focused on Mining.
At first is awesome to thing about running a rig similar to this:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mbnlPvGl_QY/ThWM8ClHiiI/AAAAAAAAARw/87JprT6oZ-w/s320/bitcoin_mining_rig_hardware.jpgAfter some quick research it is COMPLETELY unreasonable to go out and build something similar.
Doing some quick calculations back to USD, you can find that a $1000 + rig will profit mere dollars before electricity costs.
Ok, so cool? Asic special hardware just for mining. Sound Neat? Right.
Wrong again....
There are three major players in the Asic market:
1) Avalon Ascalon:
Only available Asic on the market, as far as I'm aware.
Completely out of stock, and any pre-orders put on ebay are going for nearly 30,000.
Although early pre-orders are making TONs of money.... Unless you have 30,000 forget it.
2) ASICMiner:
From what I understand don't sell any actually hardware Asic.
Instead you invest in their bitcoin farm. Didn't really investigate that much...
3) Butterfly Lab:
Every single bitcoin discussion includes a unhappy customer from there.
Boy am I glad I didn't get sucked into that crap hole.
Surprised no legal action has been put forth. Customer's potential profits are getting cut shorter and shorter every day.
Shame on the owners.
My conclusion:
I came in late to the game, as I'm sure many people are after the bitcoins raising to over $100.
It caught alot of people's attention, but there is no profit in small home bitcoin mining anymore.
And by the time you get your hands on a ASIC the return on investment isn't going to be that great.
Investing/trading might be fun (but definitely need alot more research on my end)