[cjbprime]

> Jonathan Pace is a 51-year old Electrical Engineer living in Germantown, Tennessee. Perseverance has finally paid off for Jon - he has been hunting for big primes with GIMPS for over 14 years.

What a great story.

[ng-user]

I know he's a volunteer but only $3000? Does that seem low to anyone else?

[bmm6o]

For producing something of no intrinsic monetary value?

[nikanj]

How are these any different from say Bitcoin?

[squeaky-clean]

Bitcoin doesn't pay out cash when you find a block. It pays out Bitcoins. So the value of that is based on how much other people will pay for a bitcoin.

[mlevental]

people pay for Bitcoin

[cc81]

You can buy things with Bitcoin.

[skykooler]

You can buy things with $3000 cash as well.

[hossbeast]

But not a Bitcoin

[Retr0spectrum]

I don't think anyone is doing this to make a quick buck, just for fun.

[guelo]

He's probably spent more than that on electricity to max out his CPUs for 14 years.