ORLY?   That's awesome!   

I was going to suggest some sort of wallet so that the MoneyPak code could be acquired within minutes.   So a green address solves that.

Though I have no idea how the blockchain.info mixer would be protected against a Finney attack though.  This is a perfect example of what not to do.  When mining, include a transaction that spends to self.  If a block is solved, hold the block and the transaction without broadcasting.   Send a 0/unconfirmed to a blockchain.info/wallet, then send payment to BTCPak through the mixer.  Wait a few seconds until BTCPak shows payment and reveals the MoneyPak code.  Then release the mined block which double spends the coin.

Profit.

I'm suspecting there must be something I'm overlooking with how you are notified by the mixer, or something.

It has been on a drawing board at least twice that I know of.  Here's one of them:
 - http://ringcoin.com/#PawnCoin


A pawn shop might offer to loan an amount maybe 75% of the value of the collateral, but that is for items that can sell -- like jewelry or tools.   Also, if there is volatility, like Bitcoin is exposed to, the amount of the loan might need to be even less to accommodate for a price move that is unfavorable to the pawn broker / lender.

So to get a $1K USD loan, maybe 1.5K USD of bitcoin, bitcoin might need to be put up for collateral.

So that is to protect the pawnbroker (lender) from a loss from having to sell the collateral if loan repayment doesn't occur.

But what amount would you expect to pay as interest plus fees on the loan?  

Pawn shops in the U.S. have limits often from state law based on user or other lending restrictions.  I don't know about an pawnshop lending interest rates, but a payday lender's rate might be 400% APR.

- http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/177_223/zestfinance-aims-to-fix-underwriting-for-the-underbanked-1054464-1.html

I'm incredulous at their assertion ...


Of course, a variant using bitcoins as collateral would allow the loan origination, production and servicing to all be done online and should cost much, much less.  I could see a $1,000 loan with $1,500 worth of collateral incurring fees of about $50 a month in interest and like $25 in fees per-loan.

But loans are just one type of use.  If I am selling a used mobile phone and I accept Ripple for payment (e.g., I price it at 20 units) and you pay with Ripple credits (which you got in lieu of cash for fixing a neighbor's PC), then there is no lending at all in this scenario.

Now the lending concept comes in with regard to how fiat money is created.    But Ripple isn't fiat.  That's obviously the secret sauce that makes or breaks the concept so I guess we'll just have to wait to learn how Ripple.com intends to solve that.   Maybe Ripple's currency is something as simple as being shares that earn future dividends that come from transaction fees.   Who knows.  [Edit: Since this post it has been clearly described as being money created by debt -- loans extended by trusted parties.]

My curiosity is piqued though.

Very cool.  Every so often someone wants to clean out their wallet or redeem the losing bets on SatoshiDICE and this will be the tool I suggest to them.  Thanks for sharing this!

Incidentally, you could also have used Moneybookers/Skrill, and PaySafeCard USD (or EUR) as well:
 - http://www.skype.com/intl/en/prices/ways-to-pay

That would come only at the expense of being able to offer this level of simplicity:

Heh, sorry.

Financial derivatives like options contracts and futures contracts are tools where taking a higher risk can provide higher returns.    In this instance, I'm suggesting a method where you can put at risk a fraction of your coins into a bet to obtain the same benefit as if you were to put all your coins up and get a loan.   Except this tactic only works if the exchange rate doesn't drop much (e.g. doesn't drop by more than 10 or 15%).

If instead it drops more than that, you actually can come out ahead by obtaining a loan of USDs where you had put up your BTCs as collateral.   I just don't know how likely you are to find such a loan (at least, not for borrowing such a large amount.)

Much of it was probably due to the BBC article.  They have an incredible global reach -- and smart readers too (those who will actually read up on something before spouting off about what they remember from reading the headlines on Gawker.)

And that doesn't look like it is happening.  I see reports of many Ghashes of capacity that have quit, and I see the stats going up for hashing done on some alts but there's no drop in the Thash/s mining Bitcoin:
 

 - http://bitcoin.sipa.be/speed-lin-2k.png

I'm real curious to know where the additional capacity is coming from.

Back in 1994 Bezos was just some entrepreneur who spotted an opportunity involving using a revolutionary technology (web) to compete against an existing business (selling books).  Eighteen years later he's a "big shot".  (well, technically he ended up an Internet big shot in less than just eighteen months, but that's beside the point).

So in 2012 we have entrepreneur Jeremias Kangas who spotted an opportunity involving using a revolutionary technology (Bitcoin) to compete against an existing business (local money exchange).  His LocalBitcoins.com is now the most widely used platform for discovering someone local who will buy bitcoin from you or sell bitcoins to you, and serves as a transactional system with a novel approach that facilitates that exchange well (release coins via a SMS/text message).

The next "big shots" are possibly in our midst.

If the wallet.dat is using passphrase encryption the keys are safe even without also encrypting using TrueCrypt -- though that isn't going to hurt anything if you are comfortable with TrueCrypt and will remember that passphrase as well.

There are transaction details stored in the wallet.dat so some people encyrpt their wallet.dat backups to protect privacy with that as well.

But yes -- as long as your backup cycle occurs more frequently than every 100 transactions your backup strategy is sufficient.   You can also increase the keypool size to a larger (or smaller) amount of keys if there is a chance you might make 100 transactions during the month.

The factors relevant to providing the right answer to that include:

 - Where are you located (country)?
 - How much are you looking to buy?
 - What payment methods do you have available?
 - How soon do you need access to the proceeds?
 - Is privacy important?

Here's a fairly comprehensive list:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Buying_bitcoins

There was recently an article on this topic:

New Bitcoin Support With E-Commerce Shopping Cart Platforms
 - http://www.bitcoinmoney.com/post/36131923426

WalletBit is another bitcoin payment processor.  Mt. Gox has no fees beyond your normal exchange fees when converting to fiat.

Simple.

1.) You buy a MoneyPak at the store.  Smile for the camera.
2.) You send the MoneyPak to me along with the receipt, date and amount.  I then use the MoneyPak code to load my debit card. It works so I send to you bitcoins.
3.) You make an attempt to load your debit card with the code that you know has already been redeemed.  It fails.  You call Green Dot and claim you couldn't redeem the code.
4.) I try to use my debit card and it has no funds.  I check online, and the funds are gone.  I call Green Dot.  They ask me to provide the receipt where I bought the MoneyPak.  Hm ... I don't live anywhere near the address.  Was I traveling?  Nope.  I have to explain I bought the code online.

Because Green Dot specifically says the card is for the purpose of loading funds into your own reloadable debit card, they side with the customer who paid at the store and then was not able to load his card.  

To prevent this:

 - https://www.moneypak.com/ProtectYourMoney.aspx



There've been a few scam incidents involving bitcoin that were successful here on the forums, but I don't remember if there were any where the code was redeemed and then reversed.    It is apparently trivial though:
  - http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/green-dot-moneypak-houston-texas-c228362.html


"Most of the ppl I buy mp's from they charge back and report fraud."
 - http://exchangemoneyforum.com/showthread.php/122651-Green-Dot-Money-Pak-Card-for-Visa-Master-Paypal-Ebay

- http://www.zoklet.net/bbs/showpost.php?s=539e410ecb2424796c3052d0141f247f&p=3878496&postcount=10

MoneyPak Scams
 - http://volatiletechnology.com/police/wiki/index.php?title=MoneyPak_Scams

At some upper levels:

Federal Reserve economist David Barker discusses Bitcon with Jon Stossel:
 - http://patriotpost.us/opinion/13107
 - http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1484348139001


Larry Summers discusses Bitcoin:
 - http://www.technologyreview.com/news/427348/larry-summers-and-the-technology-of-money/


"Bitcoin ... Might work in Iran (funny quip by Citi CTO with SWIFT in the panel) #futureofmoney"
  (Yobie Benjamin, Global Chief Technology Officer of Citigroup)
 - https://twitter.com/leimer/status/194573328298676225
  


Because instead of trying to figure out the path of least resistance to allow money to be moved by the "unbanked", he is instead worrying about:


 - http://www.nfcmobilemoneysummit.com/conference/mmuleadershipforum.php

They are intrigued ... and probably drunk on Billy G's generous bar tab.  Oh, don't worry -- there's no talk of bitcoin there.  Why?




Well, he's probably getting the same advice his Chairman got:


 - http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9225033/_Google_Bucks_Never_Paid_Off_Schmidt_Recalls

And since Google would rather have you store USDs in your Google Wallet than BTCs, he's probably not going to be touting Bitcoin's advantages.



Warren agrees with Berkshire partner Charlie Munger ... "I don't invest in what I don't understand".



He is invested in Remitly (called Beamit at the time), a service that uses ACH rails in the U.S. and pays out through mobile phone payment services in the Philippines.
 - http://www.chubbybrain.com/companies/beamit#axzz2Db7oCYMK
 - http://finsphere.com/company/vision  (using your mobile as identity)

Again, since Bitcoin is a competitor I can't imagine Bezos touting its benefits.



They're already on it (for personal / side pocket investment)
 - http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/01/traders-bitcoin-idUSL6E8ET5K620120401



Present and accounted for:
Max Keiser, Adam Kokesh, are of course big fans and others like James Turk is at least receptive to Bitcoin.

But then there is:

Chris Larsen (Prosper.com) - I don't know what he has said in public about Bitcoin, but as CEO of Ripple.com I'm guessing he's a fan.
 - https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/rippleusers/IVin3Qwrp7k

Fred Wilson gave 500 BTC to the Bitcoin Foundation.  That's says as much as getting "spoken positively in public".  You don't get much bigger of big hitters in the startup / VC world.

That "rule" was dated Jan 1st, 2012.    When was your bet made?

By the way, you got a full refund of your bet -- so you aren't out anything.

In the U.S. that is correct -- the carriers will not let you subscribe to voice only or just voice+text without data as well if you have a smartphone.
"Each of the four major wireless providers requires that you sign up for a data plan if you use a smartphone on their service, whether your device is fully paid for or not."
 - http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57555091-94/can-you-ditch-your-smartphone-data-plan-for-wi-fi

I wouldn't doubt carriers elsewhere have the same policy.

So, even though the smartphone is under a $100 that doesn't mean everyone will have one (due to the cost of the data service).    If there was no other options, it is conceivable that a $100 wi-fi enabled smartphone could be commonly used (with no voice or data service), but I suspect the hardware wallet efforts will be both less expensive and more suitable.

In the meantime, those with smartphones and data plans are able to use Bitcoin mobile apps or mobile-enabled websites now.


Incidentally I just read that SafariCom now offers to loans to subscribers (through M-PESA) and offers interest-bearing deposit accounts:
 - http://www.vodafone.com/content/index/media/group_press_releases/2012/m-shwari.html

Maybe someone could build play at the pump!

Powerball could become one huge freakin' mobile payment
 - http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/article/204451/Powerball-could-become-one-huge-freakin-mobile-payment

Here's one story of it:

Spent a long afternoon with my Air Compressor
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=128282.0

Or that it was a solution to a non-problem, as we now can say from experience.