There is no avenue for small investors that empathizes with the motto of Bitcoin decentralization.
You're kidding, right? Anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, with as little as a couple hundred $ to invest can have their own mining rig set up and working for them. To invest in bitcoins you need nothing more than your own computer and an internet connection.
No that is not true. I have mined litecoins and bitcoins and many alt derivatives of such. The investing of present computer power is wasted. I also said new to bitcoins.
GPU's are out. Obsolete. Asics are throwing difficulty higher and faster than before when GPU's were all the rage. 22% jump in difficulty every 2 weeks is very hostile to any miner. Especially the emerging miner as I was.
Litecoin difficulty has only been tempered due to price of under 3.00. There is no place in which a new miner can fit in when old miners are in flux between bitcoin and Litecoin.
The alternate coin currencies get their value from Bitcoin. Alts are never worth mining unless you hold and you need to understand which to hold. Spending 200 dollars in electricity on a hunch that it will increase is not what I consider an investment.
Although I sound bitter I am not I'm giving my perspective on this whole idea. One I see very hostile to new comers.
I don't mean to be hostile, as that would be essentially proving your point, but the one thing I see over and over again regarding "investment opportunities" and purchasing mining rigs is a cost-effectivity analysis regarding power usage, cost of hardware, and projected difficulty.
While all of that is true, the issue is the barrier of entry to purchasing bitcoins directly, legally and safely.
There is only incentive for those who are mining to not encourage others to mine. Bottomline.
The often omitted fact is that you could essentially project bitcoins to multiply in value over the next few years. Remember the bubble projections of $1,000+ by January 2014? How about by January 2020?
At that point, sure, mining is still less efficient than purchasing outright. But it is far more self-sufficient and doesn't have the tons and tons of issues people of all "skill level" have encountered. Yes, you're converting electricity bills and equipment into BTC, partially, but the point is the BTC have the potential to multiply in value.
Some folks like the idea of mining versus the risk/issues involved with purchasing outright.
And to qualify your statements further: sure, bitcoin
mining is hostile to newcomers. So is gold mining. So is inventing MooCdollars.
But bitcoin itself? The main hostility here is that "most people" are currently resigned to accepting fiat, centralized cash, zero privacy for consumer protection and whatever fees these tools we need declare fair.
Bitcoin as an internet bartering system where you are using digital tokens when providing services or goods is fine. But the folks who are currently using bartering systems (that haven't been shut down as illegal) are not necessarily computer savvy, they're more hippie-ish and communist. And then the vast majority of people need that exchange between fiat and btc in order to make use out of btc.
since, again, most people in the world don't offer "goods" or "services" outside of where they work, that isn't exactly an inviting loop, because money always involves other people. You're telling PERSON A to invest in a system that requires PERSONS B-ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ to recognize its value. That is where the hostility comes into play.
FUD against bitcoin, perceived hostility against bitcoin, and the few places on the web where there is consistent information about bitcoin mostly being flat out garbage, are a counterforce to the steady adoption rate. Add in the clear incentive to keep anyone adopting it out of the picture as long as possible for those using bitcoin strictly as an investment/profiteering instrument and of course it seems hostile.
If you, however, consider bitcoin to be the asking of the question "What if bitcoin...?" then here we are. Any assertion as to what it is supposed to be or do is fair game, and there are forces that have more authority or influence over that than say, you or I might have. In the end perhaps where it ends up and why it ended up there will be transparent and "known to all."
But, I mean, crypto... so, you know, "they" will be sure to spin the eventualities to "their" profit. Seeing as how excruciatingly near 100% those engaging with bitcoin, watching it, whatever have 0 idea of its true origins and steering, and any answer as to what it was would always be doubtable... in short, no, we can't know these things. So making assertions about what it is are equally fantastic, because any individual might have a unique experience based on so many factors... the "general experience" is irrelevant.
