it has been 'hinted' that some hosting services run by people that accept bitcoin are where the real hacking has happened.. (inside job). if your running a service that has a hot wallet, use a host that does not know about bitcoin but has the security infrustructure to surpress bruteforcing/ddos attempts.

the 'hinting' suggests that btc hosts get greedy and look in on your code and take a few coins out of the hot wallet. then claim that thir servers were hacked, leaving you to explain it to customers.

the "we were hacked" excuse does not fly with me, either the webwallet service stole it, or their hosting providor did. there are not that many cases of outsid hacking that are to blame for funds disapearing.

so try to avoid putting webwallets/hotwallets on hosting plans where the server owner knows too much about bitcoin, where the ease of access for the server owner is too tempting to not steal from you.

my advice summary:
use well know and reputable non bitcoin related hosts that have actual security to avoid hacking. do not try these less unknown services that seem to be set up in bitcoin enthusiasts basements with no security. then have code that does not do the actual bitcoin withdrawals on the server, but does withdraw requests to a database. and then have a off-server system(24-7 internet connection hotwallet) that reads this database once every few seconds. to then verify the request and does the withdrawal off-server. thus the server does not communicate to the off-server system. the off-server observes the server, meaning no IP address will be in your code for the off-server hotwallet. (use server for information display only(front-end/balance display/sql trading engine)) (use off-server system for verification, updates and hotwallet withdrawals(24/7 internet connection)) and still have a cold wallet that not on the internet 24-7 for upto 90% of coin storage

instead of measuring bitcoin vs dollar. make it bitcoin vs household needs (consumer price index/cost of living) then as the dollar goes crazy, we can see the stable bitcoin value that moves with actual consumer use/value.

EG no point in screaming that bitcoin is worth $100k if that $100k only buys a loaf of bread or converts to only 1 EURO

so i think bitcoin right now roughly equates to 2 weeks cost of living in UK, US and EUROzone

you can if you wait a few months to lull people into a sense of security, and once you see a total that you think is worthy.. shout the words "we have been hacked"

then just make a new username and thats it..... too many times people are trusting nameless faces and hearing the we been hacked excuse

its not a bitcoin story. its not a dollar story. its just a story about living without a bank account story.

anyone holding bank notes can do this same story by buying giftcards instead of depositing bank notes into an account to then use an ATM or debit card issued from their bank, no matter what native FIAT/country they are in.

seems every noob under the sun is getting bored of pump and dumping new altcoins. and now they are all making wallet services..

reminds me of a joke i once heard

Preacher: "my flock, money is the root of all evil"
people: "aye men, we hear you"
Preacher: "while i speak, the collection plate will be passed between you, concentrate on my voice and dont let the evil money distract you when you donate, rid yourself of all distractions and all evils"

(i removed the funny parts and just got to the point of the joke, although the point is still funny)

maybe because they think if your hosting a bitcoin site, hackers will do everything possible from social engineering (annoying host with fake email stories) brute forcing FTP passwords (hacking) or plain ddosing the site out of bitterness or jealousy that you have coins and the hacker doesnt.

after all its the hosts servers hackers would be abusing, not yours. all you own is a few files, and its not in the hosts benefit to ramp up such security for just a few dollar a month payment to protect a dozen files.

try a bigger more secure hosting service.

my 3 plain cards are worth this one gold card



anyone want my goldcard. ill trade it for 1 bitstamp gold card, a bitpay gold card, or the rare satoshi card (i think there is only in existance, there may be a group of them, we just dont know)

he didnt make it just for fun

he didnt do it to show of a profit.

he did it because he hated th whole government financial status.. (see the quote in the genesis block) thats his inspiraction.

and with less then 0.02% of population using it.. this is not the exiting day to ask such a question, bitcoin is still small.. ask again in a couple years

playing tiddlywinks at work with casascius coins

i know for sure that its over 5000 coins.. (yet to mention the unaccounted gambling, illicit, legit auctions, private product purchase etc)

and then when you relate that to only 3600 coins mined a day..

supply vs demand, shows that demand is higher then supply..

i would have been sad if demand (need/use) was less than mining output, but if we can account for atleast maybe some known services, and they exceed mining output, then bitcoins is on a good path even if we cant account the rest.

bitcoin transactions per day can be accounted https://blockchain.info/charts/output-volume (1mill bitcoins moved today)
but the title was about commerce. so i only accounted for commerce EG shopping cart gateways like coinbase/bitpay

seeing as the bitinstant crew are playing:

its the same as americans doing a Euro trip and saying they wont use Euro's.. but then buying Euro travellers cheques and a prepaid Euro debit card...................

.... totally missing the point

they never banned it.. coindesk mis-read it and the sheeple media cult followed the lead sheep

come to think about it. if the contest was done by voting for the favourite girl using dust amounts of satoshis as votes.

this may be a way to get a few neanderthals to start using bitcoin, instead of just the old geek crowd that usually attends bitcoin events.

but if it is just going to be don, "inhouse" during a pre-booked conference, then the only attendees are those already 'in the know' about bitoins and the whole PR stunt is not about helping expand bitcoin. but simply be some entertainment between geek-talks

something like this should be done at a sex industry conference
where maybe a female model (in agreement of course) will slowly strip down when her QR code displayed address, gets certain value targets hit. EG for very 2btc total received, item of clothing is removed. - then watch all the attendees throw micro payments at her qr code whilst learning how to buy bitcoins and use them for the first time

poster:
| send bits, get tits |

bored now...

smoothie, your right i didnt know you were married. but that why i said GF or hobby.. so that if you had a female in your life, then maybe its a hobby you need.

now back on topic. turning bitcoin conferences into bikini contests are why women dont go to conferences .. too many geeks that visualizing women for their beauty and not their mind.
(research the many threads where the men of bitcoin think there are no female bitcoiners, simply because they dont see them at conferences)
from the other perspective, there are lots of females, but none like to go to conferences due to the males impression of why females are there.

how about spending more time on good bitcoin PR rather then the already male centered industry becoming more male centered

governments get oil for free by shooting iraqi's, and sell tanker trucks of the stuff for thousands

surgeons do operations on people for the cost of 2 scalpals, a bunch of sutures. and receive a $10k per operation bill payment

companies bottle water, where the main cost is a couple cents for the plastic bottle. and sell it for a couple dollars

jokes aside..

a red paper clip bartered its way to buy a house
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip

atleast 2000 coins a day are used commercially via bitpay (do maths: bitpay does atleast $1mil a day)

then add on coinbase's possible totals, then add businesses that self-process tx's without the 2 gateways mentioned above.

i think its well above 5000 coins

thats before you add on coin gambling websites and illicit services

well thats what happens when you use the word dollar and the symbol $, you get done for counterfeiting. his claim to fame is re-inventing the wheel.

bitcoin is not copying FIAT so governments cant claim it is a counterfeit. bitcoin isnt reinventing the wheel. bitcoin is inventing rockets (to the mooooon)

the PBOC has never been a hater of bitcoin.. this is the same for bolivia and canada

but in both cases it is the media mis-interpretation of bank announcements. the media is trying to manipulate peoples impressionable minds to cause price movements.

the banks stance is the same as it was a decade ago, the banks will only offer directly FIAT, you cannot walk into a bank and get a tin of baked beans or bitcoins.

what private individuals and private financial companies do is what ever they want. banks love the fact that FIAT moves from bank account to bank account, as long as th FIAT is watched over (regulated)

so please understand that bitcoins are free to run wild in china, bolivia, canada, america, UK, europe, australia, asia, africa, nw zealand and everywhere else. nothing has changed.

too much FUD has been spread, especially those that say one thing but mean another. such as people who's bank accounts get closed due to not declaring the true intentions of who or why their FIAT is being moved around. the amount of bank accounts being closed due to lies exceeds accounts closed due to a bank being fully aware of bitcoin links by the account holder.

i avoid reading coindesk articles. instead i skim the articles to find the source links. and read the source material.. form my first impressions of the source material. and only then read the media news to see how exact or inaccurate the medias opinion is of the source material