I was too. The private key is everything in Bitcoins.

Yes I thought of the same thing yesterday.

It makes the whole a little less elegant.
I suppose you should check if more than the master BTC part is the product of the transaction, than it's "destroyed".

For example:
0.1 + 0.0001 (fee) = 0.1 Valid
0.1 + 1.0 + 0.0001 (fee) = Invalid

@ Karmicads

From what I understand of your proposal, you want to create an alternate network. Perhaps even more?

That is the opposite of what I'm saying: That's the current blockchain that will be used, because nothing is more secure.
If I'm a company and want to sell some stock, I will never start a new blockchain only for it, because I know a big miner could single handedly take over the network.  

@ indio007

The first to spend the Bitcoins associated with a private key is the owner, like for normal Bitcoins.
Don't share your private keys.  

No.

The same blockchain is used. All they do is to publicly declare, for example, this Bitcoin from this transaction to be the master BTC.

Update (2011-08-26):
I wrote an article in order to clarify my thoughts, with some proposed rules for any future implementation.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=39433.0
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As discussed before in How Bitcoin will change the voting systems, the power of the blockchain enable us to do much more than simply exchanging bitcoins.

I think dacoinminster has somewhat grasped this power (see [PROPOSAL] The ticker and the hole (path to bitcoins worth $1M each)) but try to use it in sub-optimal application. (Or I didn't quite understand it, which is more than probable.)


Proof of ownership, such as the stock market, is probably the most fertile ground for the blockchain power.

With my broker, it costs me 30$ per stock related transaction. That's per transaction, so 60$ to buy and sell. Even by doing so, I don't ever see any proof of ownership of any company. I have to trust that my broker didn't simply write a bogus number in my account. [tangent = on] Bitcoins make you realize how much you trust everyone around you. [tangent = off]

Can I sell directly to a friend? No sir, I must contact my broker who will then sell - and I don't even think I can decide to whom he is going to sell, not in the usual web interface for sure.

What Bitcoin offers is a way to avoid all that, and in addition make it even more secure - by a wide margin.

My company, Acme inc, wants to go public to finance a big project. We organize a big press conference and publicly announce a master BTC. (see How Bitcoin will change the voting systems)
When someone buy a part of the company, we send him a part of the master BTC. (100% ownership = the whole master BTC).

What's the point?

• The ownership is publicly announced and protected by the blockchain;
• The "stock" is transferable. It's as simple as sending a BTC;
• Dividends can be send to the current owners of a part of the master BTC (send to public key);
• Owners can be anonymous;
• Every stock holder can now easily vote in company decision
• Where you live is irrelevant (I can buy chinese stock if I want to, it's MY money!);

All this is possible without a single modification to the Bitcoin protocol. Some client-side modifications perhaps (don't spend my "proof of ownership" to buy a sandwhich!) and only for the bitcoin-stocks users.

The next stock market will be worldwide, anonymous, inexpensive and available to all.  

In what you describe, you don't need to "void" any unused VoteC, you just have to stop the vote count when the time is up.
After this, any remaining (and used) bitcoins are... well, just bitcoins.

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In the case of a government, it could ask for a public key from every citizen (or alternatively, generate both the private and public and then send them, but it's IMO more subject to abuse).

Now, one could ask "But even if the blockchain is public, how can we see which address is accepted?"

Simple: You announce 1 master BTC. (for example: http://blockexplorer.com/tx/288d2d02ac8dea74334c030d234198effd9a3fadfbb33f2ff2466615d43d18fa#o0)
This master BTC is then divided and sent to every public key.
Now you know what are the accepted public keys and everyone can independently check the result: the vote is valid if it comes from the master BTC! With that, you don't even have to check for double vote!

Even more interesting, you can void your vote by not sending your bitcoins before the time is up, but also by sending a fraction to each party. You can even make what I would call "partial vote". Say 80% to #1 and 20% to #2.

However, to insure anonymity, each master BTC's part must be authorized to make an unlimited number of transactions before being used in the vote. This make possibles a "vote laundering", but also a "vote market". This is the price to pay to have anonymity. (Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with selling a vote.)

Indeed, which is why I said the company need to only accept a limited number of pre-chosen addresses (In a case where a limited number of vote is needed).

What I am saying isn't that the blockchain should be modified, but that voting system can be build on top of it.

---

I am not naive enough to believe governments will willingly embrace this method, but it's the superior one. Popular preferences can go a long way. 

The distributed database that is Bitcoin will not only revolutionize money, but many other things with it.

There's already Namecoin, the distributed decentralized DNS alternative (which should probably be built on top of the current blockchain - more on that later).

I think one of the biggest opportunity the blockchain offers is to be able to witness a vote, live, and be able to independently check the results.
That's right:

• no more trusting someone to count the votes;
• no need for millions of dollars of logistic to prepare for "the big event";
• no need to go physically to a little booth (no need to even be on the same continent);
• faster results;
• no need to have an ID;
• possibility of a fallback vote (depending on bitcoin's contracts development);
• Protected by the blockchain.

Here's a little example:
I am a chairman in Acme.
We have an important decision to make in the next 10 days that will influence the future of the company, say option A and option B.
The message is sent to all shareholders, asking them to choose one of them.

• To select A, send 1 BTC to address 1thisisthefirstchoice,
• to select B, send 1 BTC to adress 1thisisthesecondchoice.

By now you should see where this is going.
Everyone can check what is send to which address, count the total of BTC (sent from authorized addresses¹) and yet still remain anonymous from every other shareholders.
The most transparent voting system - ever -.

This isn't perfect of course: there is still abuse possibilities for the vote organizer². However, if we assume the organizer to be honest, everything else is secured by the network. This is really important: the same blockchain proof of work that protects our Bitcoins can simultaneously guaranty the voting process. Which is why, as told before, I think Namecoins (or an alternative) should be built on top of the Bitcoins blockchain: to obtain the same protection for almost no cost!


<sub>1. You don't necessary want a limited number of votes: the voting itself can be used to finance something. However, in the case of a company, you probably want to limit the possible voters to the shareholders. To do that, the company either ask for a public key for every action bought, or, if the actions are bought using bitcoins, the buying address is in itself the proof of ownership and can be used in any subsequent vote (with some mechanism to be able to sell the action).

2. In case of an unlimited number of vote, even the organizer can't trick the system.</sub>

Waiting too 

... and now the BTCdeals main page doesn't work.

I still believe I've got the best part in this deal.  

I bought beef jerky, an mp3 player by btcdeals and some bitbills.

So, there must be such a thing as a tax prison?
I suppose the crime would be "being born"? 

On a more serious note, I would like to see any taxman try to find my bitcoins. 

To myself: calm down, simply send an e-mail requesting they manually close the account.
Go to "contact us".

Select the "closing account" as the subject... can't write the mail! They removed the space to do it!

RAAAAAAGE!

Can't close my accounts, apparently
Well I've done something like 2 transactions in the last 6 months, last one more than a month old, on steam.
Everything is fine, yet they won't let me close my account.

I can't even remove my credit card:
In the FAQ, if I check the "How do I close my account", the text has been removed. It's now -nothing- followed by the print option.

What kind of lowlife assholes try to close the gates when people are fleeing?

Eating my jerky now... and it's gooooood! 

I will buy more soon (if they still accept bitcoin)!

I have a nice little gold bullion in my hand.

I have no certainty of how much more there is in the world, simply a gross estimate.

Of this number, I don't know how much have been lost. I don't know how much is hoarded.

Is this an argument against gold?

No.

I believe most tech savvy people tech savvy people (and willing to care) have now heard about Bitcoin. Some don't like it, others have made religion out of it.  

Now the focus should be on making the usage of Bitcoin easier and safer (Kudos to those who are doing this right now). This stage is even more important than the chicken/egg problem between buyers and sellers. If it doesn't work for the average Joe, neither will use it.

We have one shot at this.
If the common man get burned right now, simply to drive prices up, that's it - good game guys, see you never.
So, for those who wants to make national tv ads and other big events, please think about it twice. What would be the reaction of the common man hearing about Bitcoin, but then finding himself unable to get some? Worse, what if he succeed in getting some Bitcoins, but then they are stolen or he loses them?

Full disclosure: I have an important investment in Bitcoin. It saddens me to see the price drops, but to kill the project only for a pump and dump scheme would crush my soul.


Edit: corrected  

It's what is happening right now... and your password is in the wallet.dat file. 

I was thinking this morning:
"Man, I'd like an emacs extension! I would be able to hide my wallet.dat in any file I want, on the fly!"
Sadly I don't know enough about C to do the same thing efficiently. 

In addition, this would be supported on every OS.

This proves Lisp is the way to go. 

Stop this OS war!

We all know Bitcoin would be safer on a Lisp machine!