Nvidia plans to refresh RTX 3060 and re-nerf crypto mining

[QuorTek]

Unlike bitcoin... then if you get solar flared heavy... and all Bitcoin production and all electronics go down then gold would maintain its value.

[QuorTek]

Last time I checked we abandoned gold backed currencies some time ago, like 1930s or so, so I don't get the comparison to gold. How does bitcoin compare to say electronic dollar transactions?

The 'bitcoin mined with green energy' has already been debunked several times on these forums.

The example is based on Bitcoin's use as a store of value in comparison to Gold (not as a currency - Bitcoin is terrible as a currency). Both Gold and Bitcoin share a lot of properties:

1. They both have a limited supply (Bitcoins is actually hard fixed at 21m, Gold is just really hard to find in large quantities)
2. They are both scarce
3. Neither are centrally controlled
4. Neither deserve the value placed on them - humans have decided they are valuable

But Bitcoin brings a few extra benefits over Gold:

1. There is an absolute known fixed supply (no one knows exactly how much Gold there is, we could discover a huge reserve tomorrow which would be very disruptive to the market)
2. It is very easy to move between entities (relatively cheap and fast to move very large amounts of value around compared to Gold)
3. It is publicly traceable (every single transaction is recorded and in the public domain, contrary to what the media report Bitcoin is really not very good for fraud and crime - unlike fiat money which is largely untraceable and great for money laundering, drugs, etc etc)
4. It does not cost anything to store, in fact you can actually generate a yield by storing with a centralised custodian - try and do that with Gold
5. You can actually buy things with it, although I agree as a currency its terrible (fiat is still good for that), but still you can if you want to - and you might for large purchases (houses, cars etc)

Bitcoin is still very young, only been around just over 10 years vs 5000 years for Gold (as a store of value). So Bitcoin is still finding its feet and gaining traction, hence the volatility and scepticism. As it becomes more established and displaces Gold as a store of value (leaving Gold to be used for much better things like electronics and coatings) it will become more stable in terms of price (maybe in the next 50 - 100 years).

So my argument above, is based purely on its comparison to Gold as a store of value and I stand by the claim it is actually better for the environment than Gold for that use case.

Regarding green energy there is no denying that some (not all) of the energy used to mine Bitcoin is from renewable sources such as hydro, wind, geo-thermal and solar and I expect this to increase as a proportion over time. Although if Bitcoin follows Ethereum's lead and becomes proof of stake then the environment argument becomes a moot point.

It is a number in a network, it has a huge flaw, if all electronics goes down in a massive electronic storm or something alike it... then everything is lost, as there is noway to track as all records are gone for whom owned what, with gold and other valueable metals and minerals... it would still maintain its value, and that is what you can say about that.

Bitcoin is of great risk, as we are destroying our atmosphere like never before, to go down during a natural disaster.

[MaddogPepper]

Clutching at straws now... massive solar storms

[Sleeperz]

Too little too late in my opinion. This is going to cause further problems of raising current 3060 prices even more, the ones with the bypass at least

[persimmon]

YeeHaw ... ride that wild bitcoin pony ..Its still the Wild West(east) out there. Bitcoin does cost money to store , possibly all your money, see exchanges hacked, forgotten passwords, the Mysterious SashiKoshi NakyPatty .... who owns a vast chunk of non-moving Bitcoin.
As to this new 3060? it will be hacked fairly swiftly(money works) .. unless they make the hardware physically incapable of mining, very problematic?

[Terbinator]

As to this new 3060? it will be hacked fairly swiftly(money works) .. unless they make the hardware physically incapable of mining, very problematic?

They just need to nerf it enough to make the CMP cards the better option.

[DanceswithUnix]

They just need to nerf it enough to make the CMP cards the better option.

Worse than that, they have to make them un-profitable.

The mining cards will sell out. Then miners will come after consumer cards, as long as they cut a profit. After all, crypto is going to the moon remember, so it is just how long before you get a return on investment not if (that really seems to be how some of these people think).

[lumireleon]

Nvidia/AMD should stop joking and simply use user credentials and direct them to buy directly at respective dedicated hardware stores like this (example) "WALLMART only sells directly to gamers with approved emails from AMD or Nvidia".

[gagaga]

So they take away functionality and people are happy?

[Dribble]

Can't see why everyone is so upset (other then it's Nvidia so hating is a required response). At least they are attempting to make the cards bad for mining and hence better for gaming. With the 3060 it's sold as a "nerfed" mining card so if you want to mine don't buy one, and while it can be cracked Nvidia can just keep silently releasing new revisions. Sure it's a hacker vs security war and cards might get cracked then new patched revisions appear but it's all adding extra cost, hassle and uncertainty to using one of these cards and mining companies will hopefully decide it's more trouble then it's worth.

I am just waiting for Nvidia to revise the rest of the line-up bringing out new revisions of cards with mining nerfed.