Recently, two assets have been listed on the GLBSE, USGOLD and USGOLDBUYERSCOM, both purporting to be backed by the same fund run by USGoldBuyers.com, managed by a Samuel Cummings.

I just spoke with a representative of USGoldBuyers.com, using the inforamtion on their website, and they have no person there named Samuel Cummings, and they had never heard of such a fund. Looks like somebody is trying to use the name of a legitimate business to scam bitcoins from people on the GLBSE. The person I spoke with said he would pass the information I gave him on to their legal department.

If you are the perosn running these funds, please speak up now.

The point of the transaction I described is to give money to a bank or some such institution in order to get a house. Who needs to give the designation of "not illegal" - the party who is receiving the funds, so they are willing to take them in the form of bitcoins. How they arrive at that designation will probably be a combination of seeing a large number of people using bitcoins, and some sort of legal case which involves bitcoins.

The point here is not to "put bitcoins in the bank", it is to "pay the bank with bitcoins".

Yeah, that thread was the one that got me thinking about this topic, I was going to add a link to it, but you beat me to it

Does anybody use the heat from their mining rig for anything useful (other than heating the space in which the rig sits)?

The price of bitcoins is all about supply and demand, right? Miners are providing a steady supply of bitcoins, but nobody is removing bitcoins. What we need is hoarders who will buy up the used bitcoins. We just need to know how low the price will go (so we can plan accordingly, of course). Now, if you are a hoarder, we want to know at what price you are buying up all the bitcoins?

For example, I could put in a nice offer of 10000000 at .0001 US cent per bitcoin, that would be a significant chunk, I just need a couple more people to join with me here, any takers?

Today my mother-in-law was explaining a predicament she is in. She will be closing on a house she is buying here in Michigan next week. Her husband is traveling, she is here in Michigan, but their bank is in Illinois. They have been told they need to bring a certified check to the closing, which is happening over the Thanksgiving day holiday, but they do not yet know the exact amount they need to give. She is freaking out because she does not know if they can get the required money to bring to the closing in an acceptable form.

As I was listening to this, I was trying to figure out if using bitcoins could make things easier. (Yes, I know this would require many more people to embrace and accept bitcoins, just imagine with me here.) Using bitcoins would eliminate the weekend and holiday downtime. They know approximately how much they need, so they could have that and some extra in a wallet. Private keys are easy to take with you while traveling or moving across the country. They are as good as a certified check: once you send them, the recipient knows you actually have that amount of money, and there is no way for you to take it back. Assuming that the volatility is more contained in the future, they would not even have to have a set bitcoin amount, the price could be in dollars. They could then show up to the closing, where the final amount is decided upon. The price could be then converted to bitcoins using current exchange value and that amount of bitcoins sent.

So here are the things that need to happen for this future use case:
- More people must be aware of bitcoins, so that it will even be something they think of.
- Bitcoins must be designated as "not illegal" so that institutions such as banks will accept them.
- Value has to stabilize. A sale or buy of $50,000 should be shrugged off by the market as just normal trading.

"Bitcoin is better", but the question is: better than what? I guess that can be part of the marketing, people will have to go look it up to find out what you are comparing it to.

This can be nicely expanded to push products as well: "Bitcoin beer is better beer!" has a nice ring to it.

Nevermind

Any idea what this should be worth?

A Yubikey is a two-factor authentication system used by Mt. Gox to add security.

I have a code redeemable at Mt. Gox for a free Yubikey. I am willing to sell it for 6 btc or whoever bids the highest.

If you are placing a bid, here are some rules: Minimum bid 1 btc, minimum bid increment 0.5 btc. Bidding will end at 5:00 EST November 9, or whenever somebody offers 6 btc. I only have one code.

EDIT: This item has been sold.

Revalin has proposed a formula for the fundemental USD price of a bitcoin:


While this equation makes sense, the variable D is unsatisfying to me. Therefore I would like to propose a slightly modified equation:

P(USD/BTC) = V * T / (A - S + I - L)

Where P(USD/BTC) = Price of a bitcoin in USD/BTC
V = Value of goods and services purchased for BTC, in USD
T = Time buyers and sellers hold bitcoin, in days
A = Total bitcoins
S = average bitcoin savings of each person
I = bitcoin investments
L = lost bitcoins

I would like this discussion to address the validity of the equation, and how it can be estimated.

If I understand correctly, any bitcoin investment will have a corresponding bitcoin savings. For example, if Ben gives Joe one bitcoin, then Joe holds one bitcoin of I and Ben holds one bitcoin of S. So investing with bitcoins does not affect the money supply, since an increase in S and I cancel each other.

So to increase the value of P (the USD price of bitcoins), we should focus on increasing V, the value of goods and services traded in bitcoins.

Is there some unwritten rule that says "All bitcoin discusions must eventually mention Silk Road"?

.005 what? tbx/usd? tbx/btc? btc/gbp? usd/btc?

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Now everytime I see somebody abrieviate it as SC, I read "ScamCoin", and I am OK with that. I really do not see why anybody would buy into one of these bitcoin knockoffs. Except perhaps namecoin, which has a legitimate difference. Bitcoin is new, very few people have heard of it, and it has taken a couple years to get to where it is now. Bitcoin is, I admit, still largely worthless (since most of the world does not place any worth on it), these bitcoin knockoffs are less than worthless.

Why do you need a ponzi scheme? There is a reason most people think of ponzi scheme as a bad thing: there is no good to come out of them!

A bitcoin will get you a gallon of gas.

Yes, if the premined coins are indeed kept off the market, then they should not be counted in the market cap. But he plans to give out or spend some of those. Once they are given out as a bounty, the price will probably drop like a rock.

So, I keep hearing about this "Silk Road" place, but I am not convinced it really exists. People keep saying that Silk Road is the majority of bitcoin commerce, but I am not sure if I have ever seen somebody say they use it.

Thoughts?

Actually, we don't have collection baskets, we hand donations in in plain envelopes so nobody (except the clergy/clerks, who keep records and such) can see how much you donate. Actually, bitcoins would serve quite well for donations to such a charitable organization as a church.

It has been mentioned before that a great way to help bitcoins grow is to suggest to charities and non-profits to take donations in bitcoin. Maybe I can suggest to the church to publish a bitcoin address ...