Now that Bitcoin prices just plummeted,what will happen to difficulty adjustment

[colinistheman]

Now that Bitcoin prices just plummeted, what will happen to difficulty adjustment?

Per http://bitcoindifficulty.com it is currently at 908 million and predicted to hit 1 billion difficulty.

Because of the massive Bitcoin price decrease won't many miners stop mining? And won't this mean less hash rate, but a super high difficulty?

How quickly does Bitcoin adjust for something like this crash?

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

Now that Bitcoin prices just plummeted, what will happen to difficulty adjustment?

Per http://bitcoindifficulty.com it is currently at 908 million and predicted to hit 1 billion difficulty.

Because of the massive Bitcoin price decrease won't many miners stop mining? And won't this mean less hash rate, but a super high difficulty?

How quickly does Bitcoin adjust for something like this crash?

Most people ordered their miners before the price skyrocketed. I am sure they will mine and the difficulty wouldn't drop.

[Cubic Earth]

Unless the electricity to run the miners costs more than the BTC they generate, people will run them.

[cbeast]

Unless I'm mistaken, if the price drops enough that it makes it untenable to mine, then miners will pull the plug. The difficulty won't drop until the 2000 blocks are found. If mining slows, then that could take a long time at the higher difficulty. It could take a long time for transactions to confirm. This may be an unintended attack on the Bitcoin network.

[colinistheman]

Unless I'm mistaken, if the price drops enough that it makes it untenable to mine, then miners will pull the plug. The difficulty won't drop until the 2000 blocks are found. If mining slows, then that could take a long time at the higher difficulty. It could take a long time for transactions to confirm. This may be an unintended attack on the Bitcoin network.

This is what I was wondering. This could potentially put us in a frozen blockchain state...

A solution could be to have the blockchain re-adjust after 2016 blocks OR after 2 weeks, whichever is sooner. Wouldn't that solve the problem? This would at least allow the blockchain to unfreeze itself. Has this already been suggested?

[CMMPro]

Oh god, "frozen blockchain state" are you fucking kidding me?

This crash is no bigger or different than April...did the difficulty or mining stop then?

Cut it out with the "running around like a chicken with your head cut off" routine and think a bit.

My miners will be running 24/7 until the cost efficiency is negative...and then I will mine some more.

No one is turning off their ASIC because of this crash. I don't care what the price is, my only goal as a miner is to obtain more XBT so when it goes back up....and as inevitably as the tide it will...I am holding as much as I can get my hands on.

[colinistheman]

Try not to get too emotional.

I'm interested in how things work. Hypothetically what about a huge crash, from like $1000 down to $50 or something.  That would force a lot of a miners off.

[steamon]

With ordered miners i don't expect much changes. But with lots off people that got a few 5 ghz miners or 10 20 if all those people turn them off earlyer then it has effect. A buddy off mine is already seeing effect in mining.

Want to watch the same effect go back to the gpu age when a btc was 30$  i thought and dropped to almost 6$ for a few months. Then the hash power slowed down temporary.

[Hunterbunter]

There are those who mine for present value, and those who mine for future value. As long as people are mining for a future value they have in their head, they will not stop mining. To them, if they think the price is $10,000 per coin, they will keep mining until their cost is higher than that

[Rival]

No ASIC anywhere will ever be idle. If it does not recoup electricity costs, they will just sell them to someone who can mine for free at work. They will never go offline, and the diff will never drop again.

When GPU's were usable, it could drop because the cards could be retasked. Not so with asics.

[HellDiverUK]

I've ~80GH now.  I pay nothing for electricity.  I'll be mining until these things burn out and stop working.

[polarhei]

We notice the price is dropped by at least 50% from a Grand (MTGOX).


People think the being should be priced at USD 1,500 so they will keep doing until the selling price is not acceptable (USD 199 per 1 BTC). I am able to get double in fiat(Based with USD 500 per 1 BTC), but they like to seek At least Decies (That is 5 Grand per 1 BTC)

[jamesc760]

it could affect the pre-orders, now that bitcoin price is plummeting. I think many people pre-order at exorbitant cost new miners thinking btc price will contiinue skyrocketing. Now that the rocket has fallen, those who can cancel will do so.

[choonsy]

it could affect the pre-orders, now that bitcoin price is plummeting. I think many people pre-order at exorbitant cost new miners thinking btc price will contiinue skyrocketing. Now that the rocket has fallen, those who can cancel will do so.

Yep , I just ordered 1 day before it plummeted , and now I will not be sending my payment . I think its better to use the cash to buy coins . I had already looked at ROI and the amount of coin the miner could produce before it became unprofitable , and at the current rate , I could just buy the coins right now , and not have to worry about mining .

[colinistheman]

There are those who mine for present value, and those who mine for future value. As long as people are mining for a future value they have in their head, they will not stop mining. To them, if they think the price is $10,000 per coin, they will keep mining until their cost is higher than that

No ASIC anywhere will ever be idle. If it does not recoup electricity costs, they will just sell them to someone who can mine for free at work. They will never go offline, and the diff will never drop again.

When GPU's were usable, it could drop because the cards could be retasked. Not so with asics.

I never looked at it this way. Very good point.

Even though it would be more worthwhile to buy the btc instead of mining at lower btc prices, people will still mine away. I'd have to concur. I would do the same myself unless it became drastically unviable. And even then I might still continue mining lol.

[colinistheman]

it could affect the pre-orders, now that bitcoin price is plummeting. I think many people pre-order at exorbitant cost new miners thinking btc price will contiinue skyrocketing. Now that the rocket has fallen, those who can cancel will do so.

Yep , I just ordered 1 day before it plummeted , and now I will not be sending my payment . I think its better to use the cash to buy coins . I had already looked at ROI and the amount of coin the miner could produce before it became unprofitable , and at the current rate , I could just buy the coins right now , and not have to worry about mining .

My conclusion after putting nearly $10k into miners is to never do it again. It is always better to buy btc itself, especially with the huge lag times of payment to shipping time.

[kfactor]

My conclusion after putting nearly $10k into miners is to never do it again. It is always better to buy btc itself, especially with the huge lag times of payment to shipping time.

Ugh, logic rears its ugly head again

[Nagle]

No ASIC anywhere will ever be idle.

Not quite.
BlockEruptors on eBay! Cheap!
Zero bids.

[ceyre]

Boy, oh boy.
What a week.

I was on cloud-9 when I got my Jupiter a month ago.  Now I'm sitting here wondering how high my electricity bill is going to be this month.
How things change in Bitcoinland.  I certainly wish there was a bit more stability to this, but I undestand why it is the way it is. 
With that said, I think we see Bitcoin hitting $1000 in the next 6 months.

[kendog77]

A Jupiter will mine ~10 BTC in December, and consumes less than 1000 watts / hour.

If electricity is 15 cents per kilowatt hour, the Jupiter will cost around $100 a month to run 24/7 and earn ~$5000 per month at the current BTC price of $500 per coin.