Topic: What is all this computing power used for? - page 3. (Read 2681 times)
It is used to ensure the integrity of your transactions and prevent double-spends (counterfeiting) which is a very hard problem for a decentralized digital currency.
Interesting question !
This is a good question. Primecoin finds prime numbers....
What does bitcoin do though? You cannot tell me that all that power is just going up in smoke....
What does bitcoin do though? You cannot tell me that all that power is just going up in smoke....
Hello guys,
As i'm trying to promote bitcoins to some of my friends, one of them, who's quite computer savy asked me this question and i wasn't able to answer it properly.
The question was basically "What is all that computing power used for?" to which i answered : it's used to solve the algorythm designed by Satoshi in order to award bitcoins when a block has been solved. (more or less i can't remember my exact phrasing but that would be along those lines, as this is my basic understanding of the process)
Now i'm not the best to explain this to that guy, for he asked me again the very same question just after and i could see the loop we were in.
How can i satisfy this guy curiosity? What is all this power used for in the end? that algortyhm could be all designed to crack some encryption or something along those lines for all we know? Couldn't it? (this is what he told me or something of the same nature that i failed to retranscribe)
If you guys can provide a curious computer nerd with some infos, i'll be glad to be your messenger :-)
Cheers for your time.
BTChap
As i'm trying to promote bitcoins to some of my friends, one of them, who's quite computer savy asked me this question and i wasn't able to answer it properly.
The question was basically "What is all that computing power used for?" to which i answered : it's used to solve the algorythm designed by Satoshi in order to award bitcoins when a block has been solved. (more or less i can't remember my exact phrasing but that would be along those lines, as this is my basic understanding of the process)
Now i'm not the best to explain this to that guy, for he asked me again the very same question just after and i could see the loop we were in.
How can i satisfy this guy curiosity? What is all this power used for in the end? that algortyhm could be all designed to crack some encryption or something along those lines for all we know? Couldn't it? (this is what he told me or something of the same nature that i failed to retranscribe)
If you guys can provide a curious computer nerd with some infos, i'll be glad to be your messenger :-)
Cheers for your time.
BTChap
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