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Bitcoin Miners Got Crushed by Crypto Winter. 2023 May Bring More Pain
coindesk ^ | 12/30/22 | Eliza Gkritsi

Posted on 01/01/2023 5:37:50 AM PST by catnipman

Bitcoin miners had a rough 2022, showing “how to not build a mining business,” However, industry experts don’t see 2023 as any better, unless markets improve significantly.

high energy prices, increasing competition for Bitcoin blocks and a bear market hit miners, knocking out those with high leverage.

The sector was shaken by bankruptcies and loan defaults, and next year will likely bring even more pain.

lots of money was spent over the last year to boost hashrate ... but those investments didn’t pay off, as companies loaded up on debt to finance the growth only to see the economics of crypto mining break down.

"Many miners acted too deterministically," projecting bitcoin (BTC) would hit $100,000 and not even considering that the price would drop below $20,000

(Excerpt) Read more at coindesk.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: crushed; crypto; miners
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As the "value" of bitcoin continues to sink, blockchain maintainers(so-called miners) will continue to go bankrupt, and the blockchain validation algorithmic difficulty (hashrate) will necessarily sink to the point where a couple of kids in their moms' basements can maintain the "blockchain", but by then almost no one will care anyway, bringing the state of bitcoin back to it origins 14 years ago when it was just a fun little cyber thingy for IT nerds to play around with ...
1 posted on 01/01/2023 5:37:50 AM PST by catnipman
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To: catnipman

The other day someone on FR described crypto this way:

“a plain ‘ol ordinary scam: Magic Internet Beans conjured out of thin digits at the snap of a GOTO statement”

Couldn’t have said it better myself


2 posted on 01/01/2023 5:46:49 AM PST by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: V_TWIN
My young adult "kids" think blockchain is going to be a thing for recording transactions one day, even if crypto fades like "investing in Beanie Babies" did. LOL

I tell my kids that what we today call "blockchain" is new lipstick on an old pig that we used to call "distributed encryption" in my junior programmer days. I can see a few use cases for it. But if it was going to ever take off and be one of the main ways transactions are recorded, it's had literally decades to catch on and hasn't yet. There's no there there.

3 posted on 01/01/2023 5:51:20 AM PST by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: catnipman
Imaginary currency being held by someone else with access to your imaginary currency. What could possibly go wrong?
4 posted on 01/01/2023 5:54:39 AM PST by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: catnipman

Clearly crypto needs to be regulated, and we need a global, centralized digital currency…

Then it will be stable and foolproof, like Bear Stearns, Enron, Theranos, et al…


5 posted on 01/01/2023 5:58:15 AM PST by EEGator
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To: EEGator
--- "Then it will be stable and foolproof, like Bear Stearns, Enron, Theranos, et al…"

Please don't forget the marvelous Solyndra which was Obama-warrantied to be the future.... And he was right in the wrong way.

6 posted on 01/01/2023 6:00:26 AM PST by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: Tell It Right

“blockchain” is a “solution” looking for a problem to solve ... during its 14 years of existence, the only “problem” it found to solve is what would be the next Tulip Mania Bubble ...


7 posted on 01/01/2023 6:01:27 AM PST by catnipman (In a post-covid world, ALL "science" is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
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To: Tell It Right

If I wanted to piss some money away I’d rather go to a casino......at least there you can see who’s getting it. 😏


8 posted on 01/01/2023 6:13:16 AM PST by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: catnipman

Financial guy on tv said the other day, that in the next couple of yrs, crypto will be regulated out of existence by the gov’t.


9 posted on 01/01/2023 6:14:40 AM PST by nuconvert ( Warning: Accused of being a radical militarist. Approach with caution.)
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To: catnipman

It’s not currency. Only governments can issue currency. So what is it? A magic trick that fools people into thinking that running a program can produce something that is actually exchangeable for real currency.

Real currency is based on an illusion too, but it’s backed by the full “faith and credit” of the federal government, which is equal to zero. And those dollars are losing their purchasing power as an out of control government puts more and more unbacked dollars into circulation.


10 posted on 01/01/2023 6:15:52 AM PST by I want the USA back (News media not worth camel spit. My pronouns: Haha, heehee, hoho. )
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To: Worldtraveler once upon a time; EEGator
Regarding regulation, Milton Friedman said, basically, it starts with the public getting riled up by some perceived Bad Thing. Hearings are held...Industry is raked over the coals. Regulation is proposed and signed into law.

The public goes home.

Bureaucrats realize they haven't a clue how to operationalize the new law. Industry reps are hired to "help" the bureaucrats. In that process, the regulation becomes a barrier to entry and effectively converts consumer surplus into producer surplus with plenty of deadweight loss.

Regulation, in Milton's world, insulates business from competition without protecting the public, at the hands of bureaucrats.


11 posted on 01/01/2023 6:18:54 AM PST by DoodleBob ( Gravity’s waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: catnipman

crypto-miners use a TON of electrical power, employ almost no people or contribute to Society in any way, in their greedy quest for money ...

no sympathy for seeing these bastards go out of business!!


12 posted on 01/01/2023 6:19:08 AM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: V_TWIN

And there’s free drinks and hot gold diggers.


13 posted on 01/01/2023 6:25:16 AM PST by EEGator
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To: DoodleBob

Regulation is coming, as is a digital currency.

I’m interested in how criminals will use it, or if cash will still be used.

Either way, globalists are the biggest criminals on Earth.


14 posted on 01/01/2023 6:30:11 AM PST by EEGator
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To: catnipman

All you crypto haters: what will you do about CBDC? It is coming. It is crypto currency entirely managed by the fed. They will be able to turn your “money” on or off, and decide where and on what it can be spent. A parallel economy is the way. The best option for a parallel economy is another form of crypto. No one is going to carry around little sacks of gold and silver to trade. Frankly I never understand the hate for crypto.


15 posted on 01/01/2023 6:35:57 AM PST by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
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To: canuck_conservative

Aren’t nearly all bitcoins already mined? Most of the bitcoin transactions are trades of already mined coins, no?


16 posted on 01/01/2023 6:47:48 AM PST by scrabblehack
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To: bk1000

I understand the hate. It was borne of jealousy, during the time they were missing out. Now they gloat for some reason, all while blindly thinking the USD has intrinsic value!

You are exactly right. Before long the USD is going crypto. You will convert your increasingly less valuable paper USD to US crypto currency. Then the same people trashing cryptocurrency will say it’s all good because the US government says so.


17 posted on 01/01/2023 6:50:17 AM PST by Codeflier (My voting days are over. Let it burn...give the people what they want good and hard.)
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To: bk1000

This site is mainly old people. They were raised by cash in the mattress people.

To be fair, many in crypto are shady people.


18 posted on 01/01/2023 6:51:50 AM PST by EEGator
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To: bk1000

I don’t know if it’s a matter of “hating” crypto for most people, but just not trusting it. Whatever the form, the gov’t is going to regulate it to the point that it will be too much of a hassle to own or use.


19 posted on 01/01/2023 6:53:56 AM PST by nuconvert ( Warning: Accused of being a radical militarist. Approach with caution.)
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To: EEGator

“This site is mainly old people. “

The most succinct description of FR!

The site has aged out badly over 25 years. I have described it to friends as a bunch of old people screaming “get off my lawn” about various topics.

I still love the format of this site, and I like the fact that being in my early 50s here, is like being a twenty something year old on other sites. LOL.


20 posted on 01/01/2023 6:59:13 AM PST by Codeflier (My voting days are over. Let it burn...give the people what they want good and hard.)
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