Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF approval

Re:Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF a... by zik on Thursday February 23, 2017 @06:25PM (#13718922)

The utility of bitcoin is damaged by the limited maximum transaction rate. It's no help to miners if bitcoin is replaced by another cryptocurrency, which is looking more plausible now than it ever has. In the end they could be collecting fees off a lot more transactions if the block size was larger anyway.

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Re:Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF a... by schmichael on Thursday February 23, 2017 @06:31PM (#13718972)

Is it possible a majority of miners sell their block rewards immediately and have little investment in the long term success of Bitcoin? I know they have hardware investments to recoup, so I'm sure there are many sensitive variables in their financial equations.

If their hardware is viable for an altcoin then it seems like increasing the Bitcoin block size would not be in their best interest. Why not maximize shortterm Bitcoin profits and hedge long term profits with altcoins?

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Re:Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF a... by codingmyway on Friday February 24, 2017 @08:21AM (#13723367)

Asics can't be redirected to different alt coins that have a different proof of work. They will run to recoup the costs. That is why bitcoin will be more secure even if prices and transactions drop from a move to an alt.

Miners are playing a game of chicken to milk the fees while hoping users don't swerve to another chain.

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Re:Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF a... by Retric on Friday February 24, 2017 @04:36PM (#13728149)

Some Asics can mine both Bitcoin and Lightcoin though not at the same time. From a cost perspective they are slightly more expencive, but miners could swap over 2 years to a new coin with minimal issues limiting their long term risks.

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Re:Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF a... by colordrops on Friday February 24, 2017 @10:57AM (#13724751)

I don't see an altcoin beating out bitcoin soon, but if one started gaining traction it would probably have a proof of work system compatible with most miners' asics.

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Re:Bitcoin hits 3-year peak, nears record high on U.S. ETF a... by 6nf on Thursday February 23, 2017 @09:21PM (#13720306)

All major miners have spent loads of money purchasing mining hardware, and they all need to run that hardware for a long time just to break even. Higher future Bitcoin prices is critical to their ROI.

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