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Topic: What would mining look like... - page 2. (Read 2485 times)

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legendary
Activity: 3668
Merit: 3010
Licking my boob since 1970
June 01, 2012, 08:37:15 PM
#7
Say, for example, overall annual mining revenues were in the $10's of billions. 

Impossible.  Even if a company could win every single block, it would still be just over $13 million dollars at today's exchange rate.
donator
Activity: 994
Merit: 1000
June 01, 2012, 08:32:22 PM
#6
I'd think we'd see an even more colorful mix of possibilities for mining.
Currently we have have solo miners, pooled mining & mining contracts. What else is possible? Use your imagination.

Software solutions for mining which improve hashrate by 0.5% will be worth real money.
Hardware solutions for mining which improve hashrate by 0.5% will be worth real money.

If the market value of bitcoin goes up, hashrate will rise. However, this process is saturating, since the difficulty adjusts.
Ultimately mining is a break even economy, never forget that.

Mining will become a political instrument not an economical one!
========================================
Thus compare mining to warfare. Companies who sell mining equipment produce the weapons for an arms race.
Those companies will make most of the profit.
I predict that as soon as bitcoin is established, the main computer hardware developers will buy off the little bitcoin ASIC companies which are out there and engage in the selling of mining equipment.
legendary
Activity: 1708
Merit: 1007
June 01, 2012, 08:24:31 PM
#5
...if it were a multi-billion dollar industry?

Say, for example, overall annual mining revenues were in the $10's of billions.  Who would be mining, and with what?  What would the margins look like?  Would there be a concerted effort between major mining corporations (assuming mining corporations existed) to help ensure profitability of said corporations?  In other words, some sort of agreement that if price/difficulty reached a certain ratio, each of those corporations would reduce their capacities by a certain percentage?  In the traditional sense, it might be akin to price fixing.  Speaking of which, would said mining corporations take it a step further, and price fix by refusing to sell below a certain price/difficult ratio as well?  Would the small-time miner still find room to achieve profitability, or would margins be so slim as to only allow those with steep discounts on electricity to be able to mine profitably?  Would electric companies purposefully charge corporate miners more per kwh, and/or would government mandate an additional tax on electricity used for mining?

Discuss.

One of the greatest things about bitcoin mining is its barrier to entry.  The thing that could change that of course is difficulty going to 100x what it is now.  ASICS could do that though I do not think too quickly.  At that point, there would be little point in mining with anything but ASIC.  

depends on who you are.  I find it unlikely that GPU mining is going to die among those who use the waste heat to warm their flats.  No matter how efficient the custom mining gear may become, there is no way that a professional mining outfit can compete with the guy just trying to make a litte lextra while keeping his bedroom warm in winter.  I suspect that, should bitcoin mining ever go truely pro, that GPU like processors ar going to be sold in strips of every 6 inches or so, and taped to the undersides of water & process piping like heat trace cabling is today.  The biggest mining pool in 2020 might end up the contractor in charge of maintaince on the Alaskan Oil Pipeline.  Or the population of Reykjavík, Iceland.  Two places that heat is in high demand while electricity is relatively cheap.
legendary
Activity: 1386
Merit: 1003
June 01, 2012, 08:05:58 PM
#4
...if it were a multi-billion dollar industry?

Say, for example, overall annual mining revenues were in the $10's of billions.  Who would be mining, and with what?  What would the margins look like?  Would there be a concerted effort between major mining corporations (assuming mining corporations existed) to help ensure profitability of said corporations?  In other words, some sort of agreement that if price/difficulty reached a certain ratio, each of those corporations would reduce their capacities by a certain percentage?  In the traditional sense, it might be akin to price fixing.  Speaking of which, would said mining corporations take it a step further, and price fix by refusing to sell below a certain price/difficult ratio as well?  Would the small-time miner still find room to achieve profitability, or would margins be so slim as to only allow those with steep discounts on electricity to be able to mine profitably?  Would electric companies purposefully charge corporate miners more per kwh, and/or would government mandate an additional tax on electricity used for mining?

Discuss.

One of the greatest things about bitcoin mining is its barrier to entry.  The thing that could change that of course is difficulty going to 100x what it is now.  ASICS could do that though I do not think too quickly.  At that point, there would be little point in mining with anything but ASIC.  If ASICs where controlled only one or two parties then the small guy would be shut out.  I just don't think this is going to happen.  If bitcoin was a billion dollar business, making ASICs would be profitable even with a small slice of the market.  Lots of competition would show up.  

The same is true with miners refusing to sell coins.  They are not only competing with other miners, they are competing with coin holders as well.  The price will find a new equilibrium that would be higher, but miners would be loosing money by not selling.  If the price goes too high, new people will mine and sell.  

full member
Activity: 198
Merit: 100
June 01, 2012, 08:01:40 PM
#3
don't think it would be different to actual multi-billion dollar industrie's habits. maybe in a more modern way.

hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 501
There is more to Bitcoin than bitcoins.
June 01, 2012, 07:57:37 PM
#2
...if it were a multi-billion dollar industry?

Say, for example, overall annual mining revenues were in the $10's of billions.  Who would be mining, and with what?  What would the margins look like?  Would there be a concerted effort between major mining corporations (assuming mining corporations existed) to help ensure profitability of said corporations?  In other words, some sort of agreement that if price/difficulty reached a certain ratio, each of those corporations would reduce their capacities by a certain percentage?  In the traditional sense, it might be akin to price fixing.  Speaking of which, would said mining corporations take it a step further, and price fix by refusing to sell below a certain price/difficult ratio as well?  Would the small-time miner still find room to achieve profitability, or would margins be so slim as to only allow those with steep discounts on electricity to be able to mine profitably?  Would electric companies purposefully charge corporate miners more per kwh, and/or would government mandate an additional tax on electricity used for mining?

Discuss.

Would there be any bad consequences for Bitcoin users if miners were engaging in "price fixing" (rather difficulty fixing)?  I don't see any. Besides, Bitcoin is open in the sense that anyone can join in, so any "difficulty fixing" probably wouldn't last long.
legendary
Activity: 1400
Merit: 1005
June 01, 2012, 07:46:49 PM
#1
...if it were a multi-billion dollar industry?

Say, for example, overall annual mining revenues were in the $10's of billions.  Who would be mining, and with what?  What would the margins look like?  Would there be a concerted effort between major mining corporations (assuming mining corporations existed) to help ensure profitability of said corporations?  In other words, some sort of agreement that if price/difficulty reached a certain ratio, each of those corporations would reduce their capacities by a certain percentage?  In the traditional sense, it might be akin to price fixing.  Speaking of which, would said mining corporations take it a step further, and price fix by refusing to sell below a certain price/difficult ratio as well?  Would the small-time miner still find room to achieve profitability, or would margins be so slim as to only allow those with steep discounts on electricity to be able to mine profitably?  Would electric companies purposefully charge corporate miners more per kwh, and/or would government mandate an additional tax on electricity used for mining?

Discuss.
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