The difficulty is now at a new all time high

[jothan]

The last difficulty peak was around August 2011, below 2,000,000.

The difficulty is now 2,036,671, clearly exceeding that peak.

Thoughts ?

[Cablez]

Look at the price, its only going to go up more.

[yochdog]

The last difficulty peak was around August 2011, below 2,000,000.

The difficulty is now 2,036,671, clearly exceeding that peak.

Thoughts ?

uhhhh, more mining power?

[420]

Batten up the hatches

[film2240]

Looks like it's time for me to look into FPGAs for present demands (as it looks like BFL won't be able to meet my needs due to really long pre-order list for the ASICs/plus their famous delays too) as well as look into suppliers of mining equipment (GPUs/FPGAs/ASICs) who are reputable (I'm sticking to UK suppliers for tax reasons plus legal protections if something goes wrong,like non delivery/faulty product).

I think I've reached the limit for my current equipment (as they can't be pushed any further on the MBP and PC with HD6950 under current conditions) so I'll have to think carefully where I thread from now on (either consider further expansion of mining capability or plan for a phased withdrawal if suppliers in UK are unable to meet my needs for equipment plus I can't trust overseas suppliers due to tax/buyer protection issues.In UK buying abroad means paying tax at customs to 'release' the shipment at customs and this can take time).

I'm also diversifying my portfolio for which crypto currencies to mine with (currently consists of BTC and LTC since SC is no longer meeting my needs-big delays in Microcash transition is putting me off further investment until things are on a more solid footing with SC/MK) so for now this'll help me in the short term.

Anyway thats,that for the strategy part. I do think that when more people get annoyed at very high difficulty,they'll simply drop out of mining (as it's unprofitable for them) and the difficulty will drop and cycle will repeat itself thus business as usual.

[disclaimer201]

Looks like it's time for me to look into FPGAs for present demands (as it looks like BFL won't be able to meet my needs due to really long pre-order list for the ASICs/plus their famous delays too) as well as look into suppliers of mining equipment (GPUs/FPGAs/ASICs) who are reputable (I'm sticking to UK suppliers for tax reasons plus legal protections if something goes wrong,like non delivery/faulty product).

I think I've reached the limit for my current equipment (as they can't be pushed any further on the MBP and PC with HD6950 under current conditions) so I'll have to think carefully where I thread from now on (either consider further expansion of mining capability or plan for a phased withdrawal if suppliers in UK are unable to meet my needs for equipment plus I can't trust overseas suppliers due to tax/buyer protection issues.In UK buying abroad means paying tax at customs to 'release' the shipment at customs and this can take time).

I'm also diversifying my portfolio for which crypto currencies to mine with (currently consists of BTC and LTC since SC is no longer meeting my needs-big delays in Microcash transition is putting me off further investment until things are on a more solid footing with SC/MK) so for now this'll help me in the short term.

Anyway thats,that for the strategy part. I do think that when more people get annoyed at very high difficulty,they'll simply drop out of mining (as it's unprofitable for them) and the difficulty will drop and cycle will repeat itself thus business as usual.

I'm afraid people are already dropping out while the difficulty is rising. I assume a much steeper increase of the network rate would have occurred otherwise. It may have an influence again in December when even gpu miners with free electricity may decide to drop out. Again, I doubt they will drop out for good but get specialized equipment as well.

[freshzive]

We'll be over 2.1 million soon

Kind of suprised the difficulty isn't rising faster than it has been to be honest. We must be losing some gpu miners.

[tgmarks]

We'll be over 2.1 million soon

Kind of suprised the difficulty isn't rising faster than it has been to be honest. We must be losing some gpu miners.

Agreed.  I feel like it should be skyrocketing, but I think a lot of people may be holding off on expanding their farm as they wait to see if the BFL asic really materializes.  Also, a lot of miners may have realized they could make more by selling their gear and putting the coin into a pirate pass-through if they are ok with the risk.

[420]

When's the next difficulty change?

[Graet]

<gribble> Current Blocks: 192840 | Current Difficulty: 2036671.0886933 | Next Difficulty At Block: 193535 | Next Difficulty In: 695 blocks | Next Difficulty In About: 4 days, 13 hours, 39 minutes, and 20 seconds | Next Difficulty Estimate: 2116395.25971438 | Estimated Percent Change: 3.91443524994

[420]

<gribble> Current Blocks: 192840 | Current Difficulty: 2036671.0886933 | Next Difficulty At Block: 193535 | Next Difficulty In: 695 blocks | Next Difficulty In About: 4 days, 13 hours, 39 minutes, and 20 seconds | Next Difficulty Estimate: 2116395.25971438 | Estimated Percent Change: 3.91443524994

wow our network hash has gone up almost 4 percent since last increase?

[Shadow383]

We'll be over 2.1 million soon

Kind of suprised the difficulty isn't rising faster than it has been to be honest. We must be losing some gpu miners.

Agreed.  I feel like it should be skyrocketing, but I think a lot of people may be holding off on expanding their farm as they wait to see if the BFL asic really materializes.  Also, a lot of miners may have realized they could make more by selling their gear and putting the coin into a pirate pass-through if they are ok with the risk.

Why would GPU miners be shutting down?
Due to the price increase I'm getting paid more per megahash (in $ terms) than I was a month ago, or a month before that.
Therefore, my GPUs are more profitable than ever 

[Graet]

<gribble> Current Blocks: 192840 | Current Difficulty: 2036671.0886933 | Next Difficulty At Block: 193535 | Next Difficulty In: 695 blocks | Next Difficulty In About: 4 days, 13 hours, 39 minutes, and 20 seconds | Next Difficulty Estimate: 2116395.25971438 | Estimated Percent Change: 3.91443524994

wow our network hash has gone up almost 4 percent since last increase?

yep
ppl are still starting mining on gpus, fpga that were ordered months ago are being delivered etc, I expect the trend to continue
and of course $10+ per coin makes a lot of ppl viable that werent at say $7

[P4man]

I was hoping for a few good final months before ASICs arrived, because I expected people to ditch their GPU farms while they still can get a decent price for them. I mean, good luck selling your GPUs in november or whenever these asics hit.

Unfortunately, the sharp BTC price increase has pretty much killed that hope, and everyone seems to be doing what Im doing: mining on their gpu's till the bitter end, even if it means selling the gpu's later at far lower prices.

[Shadow383]

I was hoping for a few good final months before ASICs arrived, because I expected people to ditch their GPU farms while they still can get a decent price for them. I mean, good luck selling your GPUs in november or whenever these asics hit.

Unfortunately, the sharp BTC price increase has pretty much killed that hope, and everyone seems to be doing what Im doing: mining on their gpu's till the bitter end, even if it means selling the gpu's later at far lower prices.

That's the thing - I can always stick my 7970s on ebay later and be at a profit.
The people I feel a touch sorry for are those with mining FPGA clusters - people who've dropped $10000 on Ztex boards and the like which can't really be used for too much outside mining.

[fabrizziop]

I was hoping for a few good final months before ASICs arrived, because I expected people to ditch their GPU farms while they still can get a decent price for them. I mean, good luck selling your GPUs in november or whenever these asics hit.

Unfortunately, the sharp BTC price increase has pretty much killed that hope, and everyone seems to be doing what Im doing: mining on their gpu's till the bitter end, even if it means selling the gpu's later at far lower prices.

That's the thing - I can always stick my 7970s on ebay later and be at a profit.
The people I feel a touch sorry for are those with mining FPGA clusters - people who've dropped $10000 on Ztex boards and the like which can't really be used for too much outside mining.

And in my country 5830s sell at about 160$ used, so I'm even profiting by buying used hardware and reselling.

[420]

I was hoping for a few good final months before ASICs arrived, because I expected people to ditch their GPU farms while they still can get a decent price for them. I mean, good luck selling your GPUs in november or whenever these asics hit.

Unfortunately, the sharp BTC price increase has pretty much killed that hope, and everyone seems to be doing what Im doing: mining on their gpu's till the bitter end, even if it means selling the gpu's later at far lower prices.

That's the thing - I can always stick my 7970s on ebay later and be at a profit.
The people I feel a touch sorry for are those with mining FPGA clusters - people who've dropped $10000 on Ztex boards and the like which can't really be used for too much outside mining.

And in my country 5830s sell at about 160$ used, so I'm even profiting by buying used hardware and reselling.

which country

[Unacceptable]

I was hoping for a few good final months before ASICs arrived, because I expected people to ditch their GPU farms while they still can get a decent price for them. I mean, good luck selling your GPUs in november or whenever these asics hit.

Unfortunately, the sharp BTC price increase has pretty much killed that hope, and everyone seems to be doing what Im doing: mining on their gpu's till the bitter end, even if it means selling the gpu's later at far lower prices.

That's the thing - I can always stick my 7970s on ebay later and be at a profit.
The people I feel a touch sorry for are those with mining FPGA clusters - people who've dropped $10000 on Ztex boards and the like which can't really be used for too much outside mining.

And in my country 5830s sell at about 160$ used, so I'm even profiting by buying used hardware and reselling.

which country

He's in Venezuela  

I may be retiring there or somewhere in South America,good to know there's some Bitcoin folks there  

Can't believe there can be 2-4 th/s added in vid cards & FPGA's in 2 months.I think someone is testing out ASIC's  

Now,who could it be 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6v6fmb2kpE
            

[aqrulesms]

I doubt they're testing ASICs.

Many people have video cards, and there is a large growing interest in bitcoin, leading to more mining in times of high profitability.

Earlier miners or new miners have come into the scene as soon as it became profitable is the most likely explanation.

[fcmatt]

Bfl finishing up their old orders would bring diff up. Newer radeon vid card series brought things up. Other fpga stuff coming online. Higher btc price added some old users back into mining with what they have. Etc..