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Title: Ghost bitcoin Post by: nightrow on October 04, 2010, 05:09:02 PM Hi,
This is my first post here, not sure the subject was not already discussed. The major problem i see with your system is that you propose a system with a total maximum of bitcoin. To claim ownership on bitcoin, you need the right key. Loose the key, you loose your bitcoin. So over time, more and more people will inevitabily loose their hard drive, forget they have btc, shred their wallet.dat ... All these bitcoins will become ghost bitcoin, without any practical mean to get access to it. These ghost bitcoin will become as time pass an increasing proportion of all the bitcoin, until it will be such that is will be a big problem. Is there anything planned to solve this issue ? Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: db on October 04, 2010, 05:22:04 PM It is not a problem. Bitcoins are very divisible. Losing your coins is just a small gift to all other coin owners.
Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: Gavin Andresen on October 04, 2010, 06:26:41 PM There's a built-in mechanism for ensuring that this is never a serious problem: the more coins that are lost, the more valuable the remaining coins become.
And the more valuable something is, the more careful people are not to lose it. So there's a nice feedback loop that should naturally limit the number of coins lost. If Bitcoin becomes the world's stable reserve currency then one bitcoin might end up being worth tens of thousands of dollars and we'll all get much more serious about backing up our wallets and keeping them secure. Or, I think more likely, most people will use a service that they trust to keep their coins backed up and secure... Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: LZ on October 05, 2010, 10:35:47 AM I made the hard link to the wallet.dat file in the Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTEwNjgzMTEwOQ) directory. So my wallet.dat file backups automaticaly.
The way to make a hard link in Windows NT or higher: Code: fsutil hardlink create link_name source_file The way to make a hard link in Windows Vista or higher: Code: mklink /h link_name source_file The way to make a symbolic link in Windows Vista or higher: Code: mklink link_name source_file Code: mklink /d link_name source_dir Code: mklink /j link_name source_dir The way to make a symbolic link in POSIX/UNIX-like systems: Code: ln -s source_file link_name The way to make a hard link in POSIX/UNIX-like systems: Code: ln source_file link_name Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: Anonymous on October 05, 2010, 10:38:53 AM I made a hard link to wallet.dat in Dropbox (http://bit.ly/aL9ZBU) directory. So my wallet.dat backups automaticaly. Carbonite http://www.carbonite.com/en/default.aspx (http://www.carbonite.com/en/default.aspx) Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: LZ on October 05, 2010, 11:10:20 AM Carbonite is free for 15 days only.
Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: BioMike on October 05, 2010, 11:18:08 AM Or in a Tahoe-lafs share.
Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: Anonymous on October 05, 2010, 11:54:51 AM Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: GeorgeH on October 07, 2010, 04:36:07 AM I made a hard link to wallet.dat in Dropbox (http://bit.ly/aL9ZBU) directory. So my wallet.dat backups automaticaly. Way to make a hard link in Windows NT and higher: Code: fsutil hardlink create link_name source_file Way to make a hard link in Windows Vista and higher: Code: mklink /h link_name source_file Way to make a symbolic link in Windows Vista and higher: Code: mklink link_name source_file Way to make a symbolic link in POSIX/UNIX-like systems: Code: ln -s source_file link_name Way to make a hard link in POSIX/UNIX-like systems: Code: ln source_file link_name WOW!! I didn't know that was possible! Thanks, you just made my day (perhaps the next two days... seeing as there are only 25 minutes left in this one...) Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: bitcoinex on October 07, 2010, 09:38:01 AM I made a hard link to wallet.dat in Dropbox (http://bit.ly/aL9ZBU) directory. So my wallet.dat backups automaticaly. This is very dangerous! Dropbox is not stable - it crashes when you save it in a large number of small files (git repo, for example). Who knows, maybe one day he will overwrite your wallet? Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: LZ on October 17, 2010, 05:40:33 AM Dropbox allows to roll back old files. With keypool (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1414.msg16316#msg16316) it will be safe. Bitcoin 0.3.13.4 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1458.0) already support it.
Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: bitcoinex on October 17, 2010, 09:08:13 PM Dropbox allows to roll back old files. With keypool (http://bit.ly/9cENhy) it will be safe. Bitcoin 0.3.13.4 (http://bit.ly/aMGzU5) already support it. I'm about what dropbox not guarantee saving the new versions of files. Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: LZ on January 14, 2011, 09:50:59 PM I see no problem here if I use keypool. Especially if it is big enough. I can always roll back to an old version.
Title: Re: Ghost bitcoin Post by: davout on January 14, 2011, 10:10:17 PM Me = big key pool + hourly cron job + PGP + e-mail to gmail boom
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