A virtual currency with shaky origins, Bitcoin is rumored to have been created by a group calling itself Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Using complicated algorithmic parameters to make the currency accessible only to very powerful computers, bitcoins were long hiding in the shadows of the 1s and 0s of the Internet. Today, they have exploded in popularity as an underground currency.
At current date, a single bitcoin is worth around $600, which is up steeply and quickly from only $100 a few short months ago. And only a few years ago, a bitcoin was worth mere pennies, with stories around the Internet claiming that a man once spent 10,000 bitcoins on 2 large pizzas. Right now, that’s $6,000,000. Needless to say, that’s some expensive pie.
There are many stories out there centering on bitcoins and people either blowing them all back when they seemed to be worthless or people realizing their potential and leveraging their way to millions.
Meet the Modern Day Miners
There’s a new type of fever sweeping the world, and it has replaced gold fever. Bitcoin mining—the act of using powerful, specially-designed computers to mine around the web on problem-solving missions to create coins—has really taken off, and some purveyors of the bitcoin equipment are earning quite a lot of money.
Marcus Erlandsson, Andreas Kennemar, and Sam Cole, the minds behind KnCMiner, have generated a fortune selling hardware specifically created to mine for bitcoins. In only a four-day span, the trio earned over $3 million, from Nov 7-10. Selling computers that cost around $7,000 per, the trio was able to take advantage of a huge windfall in the bitcoin market, where the prices started to soar.
There are three basic ways to get bitcoins. First and foremost, you can purchase them. Which, in today’s market, costs a fortune. Secondly, you can accept them as payment. Lastly, you can test your chops mining bitcoins in cyberspace.
Most opt for the latter, naturally; and like an automated bot system to trade with Forex, the computers offered by KnCMiner have one express purpose: To help people mine for these valuable little chunks of data.
The guys selling hardware are just the tip of the iceberg. People who have successfully mined, traded for and accepted bitcoins in the past are now reaping their rewards.
Austin and Beccy Craig took a three-continent trip recently, where their entire travels were paid for exclusively by bitcoins. They had to convince a lot of people along the way that the currency was legitimate. But before it was over, the Craigs were fully stocked on their trip, with bitcoins acting as the only currency.
There are many stories out there about people who have lived well and have even gotten very rich off of bitcoins. But is it possible, or are they all just fictional tales?
How Getting Rich with Bitcoins is a Real Possibility
Bitcoin mining is thought of by many as a type of game, while others see it as an underground way to siphon money. The process is legitimate, and thus actually getting rich from bitcoins is a tangible possibility for those with hardware powerful enough.
Bitcoins can actually be built from calculating various algorithms, known as SHA-256. The processing power of a computer’s graphics card (GPU) can help people solve a “block” (an algorithm) in order to manufacture new bitcoins. If you’re able to succeed in solving a block, your results are checked inside of the network, and you have just mined bitcoins.
The first person or computer to solve a block earns 25 bitcoins. That wasn’t a lot of money before. Today, however, that’s around $15,000. So dropping $7k on the hardware pays for itself if a person is able to solve one lone block. Solving multiple blocks can instantly propel someone to riches.
