Transactions other than common addresses are trending upward over the last few weeks.

http://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions-excluding-popular?showDataPoints=false&show_header=true&daysAverageString=7&timespan=&scale=1&address=

This is likely a better indicator of real world usage than volume on Mt. Gox.

Certainly serious if the problem was related to mentioning Bitcoin. But did eBay/Paypal stop the auction because of that? Or is this just some other problem with the buyer?

That said, I have also been running into more bad buyers lately, people who come in and bid on an item, then never pay up. What a pain!

What on earth does this have to do with BTC?

While Paypal richly deserves to be sued for such things, the TOS are pretty clear. Better have the attorney review them. Paypal would likely have a good counter-claim against you.

BTC will need to prove itself first by surviving and becoming a bigger part of the economy. Most of the Nobels, at least in science, are awarded many years after a discovery.

Taking exchanges out of the loop also, and having more direct P2P BTC traffic would be dis-intermediation.

They are fairly reliable, though sometimes slow. Another user recently had this issue and it had to do with exceeding a non-verified account limit.

Annoying that it is slow, but I wouldn't panic, you will almost certainly get your money.

Panic when there is a large sell causes significant flash crashes, where prices drop rapidly in 30 mins. It takes longer generally for the price to head back up.

In the long, it will as businesses and infrastructure develop.

The whitepaper is actually a pretty good read to start understanding these things:

http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

What's wrong with a flash drive with the wallet.dat file on it?

Likely depends on the jurisdiction. In the U.S., I doubt they will ever be outright illegal. Exchanging them for fiat, OTOH...

And how is that pertinent to Edward Snowden, like in the title of the thread?

The QR code would be a use similar to the one where someone used a QR code in a video on YouTube and apparently received 4 BTC or so for the contribution.

But how to get in touch with Snowden to see if he is interested?

I had the impression that some funds in the process of being transferred may have been trapped. But if not, that is great for users.

I have no personal experience but assume others do.

Is Mt. Gox refunding funds which were locked up in the Dwolla account seizure. Certainly it seems feasible for them to determine which accounts had funds seized, and it would boost their reputation to take responsibility in this way.

Can any users comment on this?

Reading this I am still left wondering if an exchange is a money transmitter. Seems like it would be a money services business, but not necessarily a money transmitter.

Looks like this week won't work. We'll try for next week. Anyone interested, please post best dates/times.

I think CampBX is honest and a reasonable exchange though with lower volume. Their customer service can be a bit frustratingly slow at times though.

Remember they are in the U.S. and actually are licensed now. If you are a U.S. citizen, you could sue them if you had to, so I don't think they are into ripping people off.

LocalBitcoins is likely the best bet.

Selling BTC with a paypal payment is very risky.

I think if the transaction moving the 2.3 BTC is on the blockchain, then it is gone