- Joined
- Sep 7, 2013
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- 18,127
My son got me interested in Bitcoin back when it was cheap. I wasn't interested in buying it, I was interested in mining it. So I got a Bitcoin wallet, and started looking into the mining software, machine requirements, etc.
What stopped me was that at the time, it was not certain how the IRS would view mining, and many people believed that the IRS would decide that you would need to be a licensed financial institution in order to legally mine Bitcoin. Or rather, to sell for cash any Bitcoins that you mined.
Well, in the meantime, it became MUCH more difficult to mine Bitcoins, and the computer that had the software and wallet on it died. I had the wallet backed up on a thumb drive. So recently I took out the thumb drive and tried to set up the wallet on a different computer. Well, none of the software I tried would recognize the backed up wallet. No big loss since I didn't have any Bitcoins in the wallet...but that kind of shook me. What if the wallet had not been empty???
Anyhow, I never was able to bring myself to take the plunge, either mining or buying.
Why?
That's a hard question to answer. The best answer I can come up with is:
40 years of IT experience
Now keep in mind that I have a broad spectrum of experience in IT, from tech support to system engineering to setting up a computer programming curriculum for a University. I am formally trained in six programming languages and self taught in four more.
I am about to give you a link to an article detailing what wrong with Etherium two years ago.
So when I tell you this article makes my head spin, it's not because I don't know programming. The programming part of the article is pretty plain actually, it's how they use it that confounds me.
So, buckle your seat belts boys and girls, you are about to dive headfirst into the nitty gritty details of how things went horribly wrong with Etherium two years ago. I don't expect you to understand everything, but keep reading and the gist of what happened should be evident, even if you aren't a programmer.
https://vessenes.com/deconstructing-thedao-attack-a-brief-code-tour/
What stopped me was that at the time, it was not certain how the IRS would view mining, and many people believed that the IRS would decide that you would need to be a licensed financial institution in order to legally mine Bitcoin. Or rather, to sell for cash any Bitcoins that you mined.
Well, in the meantime, it became MUCH more difficult to mine Bitcoins, and the computer that had the software and wallet on it died. I had the wallet backed up on a thumb drive. So recently I took out the thumb drive and tried to set up the wallet on a different computer. Well, none of the software I tried would recognize the backed up wallet. No big loss since I didn't have any Bitcoins in the wallet...but that kind of shook me. What if the wallet had not been empty???
Anyhow, I never was able to bring myself to take the plunge, either mining or buying.
Why?
That's a hard question to answer. The best answer I can come up with is:
40 years of IT experience
Now keep in mind that I have a broad spectrum of experience in IT, from tech support to system engineering to setting up a computer programming curriculum for a University. I am formally trained in six programming languages and self taught in four more.
I am about to give you a link to an article detailing what wrong with Etherium two years ago.
So when I tell you this article makes my head spin, it's not because I don't know programming. The programming part of the article is pretty plain actually, it's how they use it that confounds me.
So, buckle your seat belts boys and girls, you are about to dive headfirst into the nitty gritty details of how things went horribly wrong with Etherium two years ago. I don't expect you to understand everything, but keep reading and the gist of what happened should be evident, even if you aren't a programmer.
https://vessenes.com/deconstructing-thedao-attack-a-brief-code-tour/
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