9 ms·

This article is enormously confused, even by bitcoin standards.

• merloen 9y ago
  Investopedia: "Arbitrage is the simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset to profit from a difference in the price." Deciding to mine bitcoin where energy is cheap is just bloody obvious. > When I buy Bitcoin, as long as the energy used to mine the token is cheaper then energy I have access to, I’m getting a good deal. So buying bitcoin from a base in Antarctica, where energy is scarce, is a better deal than buying it in Dubai? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
  • js4 9y ago
    Its a deal because you cant produce the Bitcoin at the same costs.
  • Pharaoh2 9y ago
    He is talking about mining bitcoins, not buying bitcoins. Most bitcoin hash rate comes from places with low energy costs... its just basic economics. The only reason this arbitrage is present is because the value of bitcoins is higher than the cost to mine them at the moment. Since the capital investment required to setup a (reasonable large)mining farm is rather high, it is unknown if the investment will pay off over the long term. But a lot of people are betting it will.
    • merloen 9y ago
      That's not arbitrage, just basic investment. Arbitrage is buying X at place A and selling X at place B. Energy arbitrage means buying energy where it's low, and selling where it's high. The latter is missing here.
      • Pharaoh2 9y ago
        Yep, that was the whole argument of the article... I do really agree with the article but at least we can agree on what the article is claiming...