new to Bitcoin, something i don't get !

[aliitp]

Am new to bitcoin, I only got two questions,

as per some calculators if i mine @ 1 TH/sec am supposed to make say ~70$/month (after paying my power bill which is dirt cheap in the UAE)
so is this if I mine alone (which I haven't learned yet) or if am on a mining pool ?...

and the thing that am wondering about A LOT and can't find a definite answer to, ok now am mining some VIRTUAL (NOT REAL) money, why does that matter ?? and why do retailers and maybe shops start accepting bitcoins ?? ok say some other websites actually buy their bitcoins for real CASH, why the hell do online exchanges buy your bitcoins for real cash ??! i mean what good is something virtual for anyone ??!

Unlike let's say the real mining for gold (for the sake of this argument), GOLD is something people love to have, so they buy for their real money, but why would exchanges buy your virtual bitcoins for money ??

am sorry if I sound lame, but I just want to understand this !... 

Thank you,

[Bobsurplus]

Theres no money in small time mining anymore.. The big guys have taken over.. Better to plunk ur money directly into buying bitcoins and holding.

[fr4nkthetank]

Hello good sir,

with 1th/s you will get about 0.01 or something per day, so lets say 0.30 per month (maybe a little more).  i recommend renting your rig out on nicehash.com or mining on f2pool.  you will not have good luck by solo mining ( the probability of you getting a block is very very very small, look up on google for solo mining ).

As for virtual money, you are correct and wrong at the same time.  Its crypto-currency, as in secured by a cryto-chain, based on (so far) un-attackable cryptography.  I agree the mining part is peculiar, but the miners run the chain and process the transactions.  people like gold, use it as a medium of exchange, a store of value and as decorative items (small % industrial use) - the same is true of bitcoin in a sense - it is safe to store, perfect medium of exchange.  you can send btc to anywhere in the world, instantly.  any amount.  so that has value just in that factor.  merchants usually take bitcoin, convert right away to usd or their home currency - because their costs are in the home currency and because btc has high volatility (and is falling all the time).  so you can do international transactions without any personal information online, without any banks/credit cards, etc.

[commandrix]

It's a supply and demand thing. You could just as easily say that the only difference between the U.S. Dollar and Monopoly money is people's belief that the U.S. dollar has value. Just like gold, Bitcoin isn't proprietary to any single government but people generally agree that it has some kind of value. Mining isn't really all that profitable anymore, but finding ways to earn or buy Bitcoin can be.

[Kazimir]

ok now am mining some VIRTUAL (NOT REAL) money, why does that matter ?? and why do retailers and maybe shops start accepting bitcoins ?? ok say some other websites actually buy their bitcoins for real CASH, why the hell do online exchanges buy your bitcoins for real cash ??! i mean what good is something virtual for anyone ??!

You seem to be mistaken, sir. There is no such thing as "REAL CASH" involved. The euros or dollars (or dirhams, in case you live in the UAE) are 100% VIRTUAL already. They do not exist.

And what good is something virtual, especially Bitcoin: because it has a great usability as a means of payment: fast, easy, safe, worldwide, unrestricted. There is NO other currency or payment system on the planet that can do this.

Besides, virtual or digital is the new real. It's 2015, do you consider email "not a real letter" because it's virtual? It's all about the meaning, content and value, not whether it's made of bits or paper.

[thompete]

Am new to bitcoin, I only got two questions,

as per some calculators if i mine @ 1 TH/sec am supposed to make say ~70$/month (after paying my power bill which is dirt cheap in the UAE)
so is this if I mine alone (which I haven't learned yet) or if am on a mining pool ?...

and the thing that am wondering about A LOT and can't find a definite answer to, ok now am mining some VIRTUAL (NOT REAL) money, why does that matter ?? and why do retailers and maybe shops start accepting bitcoins ?? ok say some other websites actually buy their bitcoins for real CASH, why the hell do online exchanges buy your bitcoins for real cash ??! i mean what good is something virtual for anyone ??!

Unlike let's say the real mining for gold (for the sake of this argument), GOLD is something people love to have, so they buy for their real money, but why would exchanges buy your virtual bitcoins for money ??

am sorry if I sound lame, but I just want to understand this !... 

Thank you,

You should not think of getting into mining right now. It isn't much profitable even if you have free electricity.

[Kazimir]

as per some calculators if i mine @ 1 TH/sec am supposed to make say ~70$/month

Utter nonsense. This is completely dependent on:
1. The current Bitcoin price (which is quite volatile)
2. The hashing power of the rest of the world (which is growing exponentially)
These "mining calculators" really give a wrong impression. The number you're getting (like $70/month) can completely change from one minute to the next.

(after paying my power bill which is dirt cheap in the UAE)

It's not about power bills. Even if you'd get FREE energy, here's what happens: you spend $1000 on mining hardware. During the first month, you may mine $300 worth of bitcoins. During the second mond, you might mine $180 worth of bitcoins. During the third month, maybe you'll mine $100 worth of bitcoins. During the fourth month, perhaps you could mine $50 worth of bitcoins. And so on. Even if you let this machine running for 10 years at ZERO power cost, it will still not even earn back your initial $1000 investment.

Forget it. There is just no such thing as "free money".

[runpaint]

Merchants accept Bitcoin because credit cards charge them 3%, while they can accept bitcoin for 0% to 1%.  Bitcoin saves them money.

Merchants will be able to offer a discount to customers who pay with bitcoin, and therefore customers will want to pay with bitcoin because it will save them money.

There is much more to know, but that is already enough reason to spend and accept bitcoin.

The reason to hold bitcoin and not spend - it MUST become more valuable as more people use it.  There are only 14 million bitcoins right now.  If the price was $1, it would take every bitcoin to make a purchase of $14,000,000.  But there are so many people dividing the bitcoins between them, it demands a higher price.  Instead of sending 1BTC for a small purchase, you send .01BTC.  Next year more people will be using the limited amount of coins, and maybe you will only need to send .001 for the same purchase.  So if you buy now and keep it until next year, maybe your bitcoins will be worth 10 times as much.  Maybe not, there is risk as with anything.  

It is not certain that bitcoin will attract millions of new users - but if there are millions of new users, then it is certain that the price will increase.

[odolvlobo]

as per some calculators if i mine @ 1 TH/sec am supposed to make say ~70$/month (after paying my power bill which is dirt cheap in the UAE)
so is this if I mine alone (which I haven't learned yet) or if am on a mining pool ?...

Mining in a pool is generally better than solo mining for your hash rate. The return is the same (minus a small pool fee), but you get a reward whenever anyone in the pool solves a block.

and the thing that am wondering about A LOT and can't find a definite answer to, ok now am mining some VIRTUAL (NOT REAL) money, why does that matter ?? and why do retailers and maybe shops start accepting bitcoins ?? ok say some other websites actually buy their bitcoins for real CASH, why the hell do online exchanges buy your bitcoins for real cash ??! i mean what good is something virtual for anyone ??!
Unlike let's say the real mining for gold (for the sake of this argument), GOLD is something people love to have, so they buy for their real money, but why would exchanges buy your virtual bitcoins for money ??

The value of a bitcoin comes from the usefulness of the Bitcoin payment system. People want bitcoins so they can spend them or send them so they pay real money for them.

[bryant.coleman]

Just take advantage of the low exchange rates right now and buy as much as you can. Mining will never be profitable for smaller players, even with free electricity.

[foxkyu]

Just take advantage of the low exchange rates right now and buy as much as you can. Mining will never be profitable for smaller players, even with free electricity.

he's right
mining not profitable right now
you can see cex.io stop their mining service
just buy btc much as you can

[Herbert2020]

i think you didn't understand the concept of bitcoin. first it is real money as long as people are using it in exchange for goods and/or traditional money (dollar euro or whatever)

[Amph]

money(digital one if you prefer) cannot be made anymore from mining, you will mine at loss, unless you have free power, even than you need to do roi of your equipment

and btw nothing has real value, value is given by who use it

[RodeoX]

I don't think your lame. Your asking good questions. But, I assure you these have been asked a million times before. The main question you seem to have is "Why is bitcoin considered valuable." For me it is because of utility. Credit cards, paypal and other systems for buying online require identity to work because of their inherent insecurity. When you make a purchase it will take days to verify your identity and send payment to the store.
Bitcoin is more like cash. As soon as it's verified on the blockchain the store has money, not a promise of money... actual money.  I do not give them my identity because they don't need it and there is no way for anyone to take more BTC. For example I could give you my account and password at Overstock.com. You could see what I have bought, but there is no card info or path to any more money.

It is also a universal money that can be spent around the world. I've spent a lot of bitcoin in other countries and greatly prefer it to exchanging currencies at a loss. I could send you a million dollars worth of BTC for a few pennies. Nothing is faster, cheaper, or more secure. That is why it is my money for the internet and I almost never buy online with other methods.

Sure it's just virtual. But gold is just a shinny rock and fiat is just fancy paper. All money is just a way to represent value.

[BeginToMine]

You should mine with the pool.
It is a a lot easier to send BTC than real money.

[kwaasteniet]

You said "Gold is something people love to have". The same is true for Bitcoin, some people love to have bitcoin and pay money for it. It's a case of asking and demand.

[gogxmagog]

you wont make money mining. its true, even cloud mining is not guaranteed (although some do ok, if you sell your hashes at the right time-still risky) best to buy and hold btc. any honest member here will tell you that.

btc is money, digital money. yes it is intangible, but I ask you this; What do you think using your bank card or credit card is? it does a transaction digitally and is intangible money.

most money is digital already and has been for a long time. BTC is just more efficient, not to mention transparent.

[ObscureBean]

There is no difference between Bitcoin and gold, the same principle apply. People give meaning and value to gold which is otherwise just a piece of metal. You can view Bitcoin as the 21st century's take on gold. If there were more people like me at the time gold emerged as a potential 'thing', it would have most certainly failed. I personally don't like the color of gold, I'm a platinum guy 

[sifter]

Most fiat exchanges don't accept bitcoin.

There are many here that do.

[Neotox]

#1 don't try solo mining with 1TH/s mining hardware, use pool mining instead
#2 merchants accept the payment method that is used by their potential customer, if they find people are using bitcoin they start accepting bitcoin and convert it to fiat