Looking to get into ethereum... is it too late?

Of course not!

@orion-ix I have learned a little bit about cryptocurrencies in general and right now my laptop is syncing the block chain (my God this takes a while) do you have any resources to learn more about ethereum specifically or just advice in general? I had one question, I was recommended to use coinbase to buy ether. If I do buy it through their it seems like it sits in that online account until I send it to my main base account, is that the standard procedure? Is it secure? It seems I had to fill out some personal info to sign up for coinbase and if I send the ether to a a main base account it seems real easy for someone to tie me to that main base account?

Just don't buy more GPUs please. Some of us are waiting for prices to come back so they can actually, ya know, UPGRADE/BUILD A RIG

@Rekonnect I wasn't looking into mining rather just investing but can you explain your comment I don't fully understand

@Axis gpu power is used for mining. Miners buy loads of gpus which makes the prices go up, which makes it harder on people just wanting to build computers to actually build it because they're more expensive

@Axis Components Stores are hardly selling GPUs alone thanks to all miners and are buying them all just for mining and people who wants to build a PC for his own, they can't because there are no GPUs on markets, thanks to miners.

Ah I didn't realize that miners were killing the supply of gpus so much that they are more expensive to buy... Maybe it's time to invest in some gpu companies lol

@Pablodotjs could always get the new AMD Vega, miners aren't gunna use that half a kilowatt sucking space heater anyways

@Axis I'm fairly new to the space so perhaps I'm not best positioned to answer your questions surrounding coinbase. However, I have been tinkering around with the Ethereum kit and found the following resources to be of great value:

https://hackernoon.com/getting-star...

Also make sure that you thoroughly understand the blockchain, it's an integral part.

https://medium.com/alvalor/...

Distributed Autonomous Organisations (DAO) hold great promise for the future, especially when paired with AI systems. Definitely don't ignore this space.

https://medium.com/@simondingle/...

Hope this was of some help!

@orion-ix any help is good help at this point so thank you :).

Are there any libraries for automating buying/selling ether if it hits a certain price?

@Jop- are you really making any ether doing that? From what I see people have crazy rigs and even server farms that are dedicated for mining. It seems like any computer not built for mining or PC gaming would never be able to keep up. Am I mistaken? I have a mi notebook air 13 so im working with a NVIDIA Geforce GT 940MX (integrated graphics) so I don't think I stand a chance lol. If im wrong can you link me to some resources about mining?

Lastly how much space does the ether blockchain take up? Im only about halfway there and it is about 10gb... Is the blockchain really 20gb

It is never too late, pick up a card and start mining.

Send me your address and I’ll send you a bit just to play around with, and explore the eco-system!

@anishagnihotri what kind of card do you recommend? And thanks so much! I don't have a wallet yet since I don't have any ether but here is the address for my etherbase account 0x585c4e1aa22d9Cc92d1a6b3fAe0c4a5274b5a884 will that work? My computer is still syncing the blockchain... Do I need to be fully syncronized before I can receive funds?

@Axis pls don't buy a card ;_; you're contributing to the issue for the rest of us, I hate to be like this but it's just too much of a shortage

@axis Yeah, I think that address should work but I’ll double check none the less. Also, you won’t receive the payment until you are fully synced, but you should be able to see it on the block chain immediately.

As others have said, ethereum mining is taking its toll on the consumer GPU market. Really, no one can stop you from making a purchase - but my biggest advice would be to purchase second hand.

Cards like the 295x2, hd7990, 280x, 480x/580x are the best investments at the time.

Someone above has mentioned ASICS, but ethereum is a very anti-asic currency so I don’t see those being viable for the next few years (unless you count a server rack with multiple graphics cards an ‘ASIC’). That would be ironic as it is still the same thing then.

@anishagnihotri I checked etherscan.io and don't see any transactions, it's alright if you changed your mind just want to make sure you don't lose ether in the void

Oh no, apologies - didn’t forget :)

I was troubleshooting some issues today and completely forgot! Thanks for reminding me, lol.

I would have the same motivation if I were you! Expect something in the next few hours from me :) - just finishing some stuff up quickly.

Sent :)

Most of my ETH is currently in an exchange, since I'm doing some margin trading. But I used ShapeShift to send you some.

It's not a lot, but whenever you get more experienced, I'd love to send you some more to play with.

Don't blow it on gambling though!

Let me know if you have any questions, or just need help :)

@anishagnihotri thanks so much! I see it on the etherscan and my laptop is really close to finally syncing the whole block chain (I have shitty internet). Is there anyway I could get your email? I have a few questions about using ether to make more ether, some security and backup stuff and other misc questions. Again thanks, im excited to explore ethereum more and more:)

@anish hey it seems you changed your username and might have not received my last comment :)