Hi there, welcome to the Forum. You could make money mining but, in my opinion, speculating on the rise of Bitcoin versus the US Dollar is the better option. You could turn to an exchange like Mt. Gox to swap USD for Bitcoins (and own the currency), or trade a Contract for Difference (CFD) on the Bitcoin to USD exchange rate. With a CFD, you don't take ownership of the underlying asset. You speculate and trade on differences in price.
Mining does sound like a great way to make money, the price of bitcoins have not fluctuated much in either direction since the 2nd of this month. Everybody else, thanks for the warm welcome.
