Quote from: Fallforyou on September 15, 2018, 06:48:48 AM

Quote from: Eleanorbro on September 15, 2018, 06:45:12 AM

Bitcoin mining rigs can only perform SHA256 hashes. So, alternative use cases are limited. They do give off lots of heat, so you can use them as noisy heaters

Yes, Bitcoin is much more than payment processing. It is also a very important store of value, a monetary unit not controlled by any government. The Bitcoin network is also the first working proof of decentralized cooperation and consensus among adversarial parties, aka Nakamoto Consensus. This could have many implications over time.

You can include small amounts of arbitrary data in every transaction and block. For example, miners can "sign their name" on a block they create, and/or include a brief political statement such as "NO2X". Something else you can do is include a hash of something, for example the hash of a statement or contact. This hash can then be referenced later as proof that the given statement/contract existed at the time it was included in a block.

If everyone suddenly became completely over bitcoin, what else could all that computing power do? Can the machines perform other tasks?

Bitcoin mining machines can only do SHA256 hashes. That's the whole idea of an ASIC: an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit. All of the circuit boards are custom built to perform SHA256 hashing, and they are useless for all else.

From one perspective, this is a good thing. Anyone who has made a capital investment into Bitcoin mining knows that if Bitcoin somehow dies, their hardware will be useless. So, they have an additional incentive to keep the network healthy and valuable.