Namecoin and Bitcoin value are now equal (based on difficulty)

[xanatos]

Difficulty of Bitcoin: 877227
Difficulty of Namecoin: 55882

Value of a Namecoin (from https://exchange.bitparking.com/main): around 0.060-0.063

Theoretical value of a Namecoin in BTC based on difficulty: 0.0637

So at this point mining for Namecoin will give the same result as mining for BTC.

[Justsomeforumuser]

Took less than 10 days from a post that appeared here mentioning it was more efficient doing namecoins.

The horny "I can has ghash all for mes" farming community has humped both mining endeavours into low digit reward death successfully.

[Vladimir]

That's why I did not even bother to start mining namecoins . It was obvious that arbitragers will even thing out quickly and it is so much simpler to just continue mining bitcoins than mess with all the namecoin thing (unless you really want those namecoins).

[ben-abuya]

This is interesting though. Will we see a stable bitcoin/namecoin exchange rate from now on?

[zpinto]

Isnt there a calculator, where i can see how many namecoins i mine in 24h with current difficulty? Something like deepbit has, because i still think it's more profitable to mine namecoins.

[Rodyland]

In my mind, the profitability in mining namecoins comes from the future increases in price.

Assuming the namecoin:btc price follows the namecoin:btc difficulty, then with increased hashing power going into namecoin to chase the "easy money" (assumption) then the namecoin:btc ratio will get closer to 1:1 than it is now (about 15:1).

Which means that priced in btc, namecoins will get more expensive.  Making them worth diverting a few MHash.   Not to mention that namecoins actually "do something", giving them an extrinsic value that should (in theory) drive their usage and growth.

That's my theory, will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[grod]

Bingo.  Mining namecoins was a way to get in closer to the top of that pyramid while there was a huge difficulty vs payout gap.   

Now that the diffuculty in computing either is the same the additional risk of being invested in namecoins outweighs the benefits and I'm be converting the namecoins I mined to bitcoins.

[JohnDoe]

Now that the diffuculty in computing either is the same the additional risk of being invested in namecoins outweighs the benefits and I'm be converting the namecoins I mined to bitcoins.

What is the additional risk of namecoin?

[grod]

Namecoins are a clone of bitcoins with narrower adoption.  Their marginal utility of alternate DNS is more than offset by not having an established ecosystem like bitcoins.  The same risks bitcoins faced earlier on are there for namecoins.

The only way to buy and sell namecoins is through bitcoins, they are tied to the fortunes of bitcoin. 

TL;DR all the risks of bitcoins are doubled if you go with namecoins.

[Jack of Diamonds]

Namecoin doesn't work on the "real" internet.

To invent a random demonstrating number, 99.9% of people are not willing to set up a browser to use a separate DNS server, or even bother to change their DNS in Windows, to access some .bit sites.

Usability is more important than domain seizures to the overwhelming majority of the world's web surfers.
Namecoin is made with the domain owner's protection in mind. What about visitors? How many average people will tweak with settings just to access some domain subset?

Whereas anyone with a normal internet connection, Linux, Windows, Mac, can open a bitcoin wallet within a minute or less or recieve payments.

Few people want to buy something that gives you a domain not accessible by anyone besides a few thousand people in the world.

[grue]

Isnt there a calculator, where i can see how many namecoins i mine in 24h with current difficulty? Something like deepbit has, because i still think it's more profitable to mine namecoins.

http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php
replace difficulty with the one you get from namecoind getdifficulty

[nemo]

If namecoin has a 21 million coin cap like bitcoin, then namecoin will eat bitcoin eventually and there will be alot of angry people about that.

[JohnDoe]

Namecoin doesn't work on the "real" internet.

To invent a random demonstrating number, 99.9% of people are not willing to set up a browser to use a separate DNS server, or even bother to change their DNS in Windows, to access some .bit sites.

You don't have to, you can access .bit sites through normal DNS servers using resolvers like bitname.org or namecoin.us.

[Jack of Diamonds]

Namecoin doesn't work on the "real" internet.

To invent a random demonstrating number, 99.9% of people are not willing to set up a browser to use a separate DNS server, or even bother to change their DNS in Windows, to access some .bit sites.

You don't have to, you can access .bit sites through normal DNS servers using resolvers like bitname.org or namecoin.us.

while i believe in a free and distributed dns, i also need to abide to local laws. therefore, i will block names if i'm legally required to do so.

Wikileaks is blocked for one.. Instant failure.

[nemo]

Can't you just register your DNS through the client?

[foggyb]

That's why I did not even bother to start mining namecoins . It was obvious that arbitragers will even thing out quickly and it is so much simpler to just continue mining bitcoins than mess with all the namecoin thing (unless you really want those namecoins).

Its so easy though. It took me a little time tinkering to get solo mining working (pool mining is much easier). But really, you can switch between namecoin mining and BTC in literally 2 seconds. There's nothing to it. And I'm just your average nerd, not major geek.

[JohnDoe]

while i believe in a free and distributed dns, i also need to abide to local laws. therefore, i will block names if i'm legally required to do so.

Wikileaks is blocked for one.. Instant failure.

Use namecoin.us then.

Whether one of the resolvers sucks or not is irrelevant. The point is that people can browse .bit domains without needing to add a new DNS server.

[bcpokey]

All discussion as to the usability of namecoin aside, difficulty at parity actually means taking a loss mining namecoin.

Mining in a pool has a pool fee off the top, then there is a fee to transfer the namecoins from the pool to you, then a fee to transfer the namecoins to the exchange, the exchange charges a fee to exchange namecoins to bitcoins, then there is a fee to withdraw the bitcoins. This is all before the regular fees of bitcoin, 5 fees. They may be small individually but as you use it they add up. So if you generate the same number of bitcoin-valued namecoins you are taking a loss over directly generating bitcoins.

[qed]

All discussion as to the usability of namecoin aside, difficulty at parity actually means taking a loss mining namecoin.

Mining in a pool has a pool fee off the top, then there is a fee to transfer the namecoins from the pool to you, then a fee to transfer the namecoins to the exchange, the exchange charges a fee to exchange namecoins to bitcoins, then there is a fee to withdraw the bitcoins. This is all before the regular fees of bitcoin, 5 fees. They may be small individually but as you use it they add up. So if you generate the same number of bitcoin-valued namecoins you are taking a loss over directly generating bitcoins.

Who made that exchange site, adding fees to withdraw, destroyed namecoins trading. Congratulation!

[tysat]

All discussion as to the usability of namecoin aside, difficulty at parity actually means taking a loss mining namecoin.

Mining in a pool has a pool fee off the top, then there is a fee to transfer the namecoins from the pool to you, then a fee to transfer the namecoins to the exchange, the exchange charges a fee to exchange namecoins to bitcoins, then there is a fee to withdraw the bitcoins. This is all before the regular fees of bitcoin, 5 fees. They may be small individually but as you use it they add up. So if you generate the same number of bitcoin-valued namecoins you are taking a loss over directly generating bitcoins.

Who made that exchange site, adding fees to withdraw, destroyed namecoins trading. Congratulation!

Because taking 0.01 on withdrawing is going to kill all trading!