My kids have set up a whole computer system to mine bit coins internationally and they anticipate making about R 4,000 per month after electricity costs as this seems to be a high component of the cost of mining - net they are looking at R 3,000 per month so would pay off their investment within 14 months. My biggest concern is that there is a faceless group of people who create bit coins into the market and it seems that it is an open ended and has no basis for the creation of these coins. As Hamster says there is no regulations governing the whole crypto coin scenario, however it is a fantastic way of moving funds from country to country without any exchange control interventions, so in essence it promotes money laundering. I have no doubt that in the not too distant future the whole charade will collapse especially when governments see it as a means of money laundering, and as a mechanism of funding terrorist attacks.
This could be bigger than the tech bubble and more significant than the devastation that bubble created, but I don't think it will have a material impact on stock exchange markets as the tech disaster had.
I told my kids to treat this as a life experience, be prepared to writer off any losses and learn to differentiate between a plausible investment rather than a get rich quick scheme
