The secret Hong Kong facility that uses boiling goo to mine Bitcoins

theverge.com

10 pointstrendspotter5 comments

I feel sad for these businesses built on a platform that are bound to come to a stop..

Even if bitcoin dies the cryptocurrencies are a real thing now.

But the specialised hardware for mining bitcoin cannot be repurposed for other uses.

Actually it can - everything but the asics themselves. And the asics - this is ultrapure silicon - I suppose some of the fabs have some sort of recycling program.

On the other hand – how many other businesses have a guaranteed product/market over an 11-years-into-the-future timeframe?

And keep in mind too – if what they're doing is long-term worthwhile, there'll still need to be people hashing to authenticate the blockchain after the last bitcoin is mined, they'll just be relying entirely on transaction fees to support their work. If there is a "bitcoin economy" in 2015 (and whether or not that's likely is a different discussion), then it's inevitable that participants will overall need to pay sufficient transaction fees to support enough "mining type activity" to maintain ongoing signing of the blockchain.

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