Bitcoins: Are they worth it?

Well, are they? It depends on who you are and what you possess. For a guy like me, who only mines them at a rate of 70 mega hashes per second, they aren't worth it. 70 mega hashes per second is nothing, at this point. I could mine for a week and only walk away with $0.50. This is clearly not worth the resources I'm putting into mining. So, for me, it isn't worth it to mine Bitcoins.

Is mining Bitcoins worth it for an established miner who mines them at a rate of 180,000 mega hashes per second? I'd say it is. If I were mining at that rate, I'd mine forever or at least until Bitcoins became worthless.

The price of Bitcoins, currently at $124.4, has remained steady and it still is slightly increasing over time.

If you're just learning about Bitcoins now, or you're just getting ready to mine them now, look at your equipment. How many hashes does your equipment generate? Is it worth it to you?

The reason I'm asking these questions is that I don't want anyone to rush into Bitcoins and buying a bunch of mining equipment, at this point in time. I don't want beginner miners to spend a few grand on pieces of equipment that will take many months to be delivered, if they are delivered at all.

They will likely never make that money back. They won't generate enough Bitcoins to cover the cost of the equipment, let alone make a profit.

It's a lot of risk with a very low chance at a profit.

However, if you already have the equipment, go for it. But for the beginners who don't have the equipment, I warn you to stay out of the mining business. At least, the Bitcoin mining business.

For you beginners, and you grizzled pros, I suggest another option. Look at Litecoin. Is it a bad investment? At the moment, Litecoins are selling at $1.94 a coin. If I had the money, I would drop $20 on Litecoins. I haven't researched this, so this is just hearsay, but I've heard they are more stable than the other coins (Namecoin, PPCoin, Devcoin, etc). They are also popular, second only to Bitcoin.

Litecoins may increase in value dramatically or they may decrease in value dramatically. I don't know. I'm not an alternative currency professional. So, recognize the risk. I'd gladly risk $20 on Litecoins...

Now, if only I had the money...


But, for you beginners and (perhaps) for you experts, mining isn't the only way to acquire Bitcoins. Check out these sites:

(Please note, I haven't thoroughly researched all of these sites. Payouts for some of these sites may be unverified. Use at your own risk. Just don't give out any personal information i.e. SSN, PIN, even your email address.)

FreeBTC4all
Bitcoinspain
TheBitcoin
Bitcoins4free
Bitcats
FreeBitcoins4u
ThefreeBitcoins
FreeBitcoins
BTC4you
Fr33bitcoins
BTCmine
Virtualfaucet
Bittrivia
SrBitcoin
Bitcoinsurvey
Free.BTC.pt
Bitcrate
Bitcointree
Bitcoinforest 
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