Quote: (05-16-2013 03:03 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:
I wonder if you could mine bitcoins using a virtual machine running from a cloud server like rackspace. Thoughts?
Generating the hashes on virtual hardware would be way too slow, I would think. Even the big GPU-based systems are being left in the dust by the new generation of ASIC-based mining rigs. These systems run the hash generation algorithms directly on the chip making them many orders of magnitude faster.
As the blockchain gets bigger, more CPU cycles are required to generate the hashes, so its a constant race toward the fastest platforms as the old systems get left behind, consuming more power than the value of the hashes they generate.
Take a look at what's happening with the hash rate over the last year:
http://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate
Unless you can scam a source of free or nearly free power, the days of basement bitcoin mining are drawing to a close.