What about a feedback system next to names and people can at least see transactions done and for amounts, usually give you a good sign if theirs going to be potential issues, beside just the amount of posts.

Payb.tc, I don't understand why you're even giving this thread attention.  It's ridiculous to think that you're responsible for Pirate's nonsense.  After all it was clearly stated in your OP that if Pirate defaults then that's the risk all the investors take.  Never did you guarantee anything in any shape form or way.  The fact that you're a scam is, in my opinion, completely ridiculous.  It's obvious by this thread that money clearly clouds peoples judgement and intelligence.  

I believe I was understanding. I was suggesting you are not too paranoid, that rather it might merely be that you had avoided being a target so far due to not yet holding enough coins to make yourself a target; that once you hold enough coins you well might be a target thus you are not being paranoid you are wisely thinking ahead.

Joel, his problem is he insists on revealing how much he holds.

Presumably he has to actually prove it, so even if he proves it only to individuals and only to the extent of how much of that individual's money he holds, anyone capturing such an individual would be able to see for sure that he holds at least the amount he has proven to that individual he holds...

-MarkM-

I feel kinda screwed about having to wait a couple months while people are bringing up the threat level because they just got in early. Thus destroying the reason I bought the machine. To make money.  It's just greedy. It's a pre-order. All units should be shipped at the same time. I'm paying just as much money as everyone else. This is utter BS.  If it was weeks I'd understand. But we're talking months.  This is bad for anyone who has ordered within the last month or so. Again, utter B-S

Depends... has it already been public knowledge for quite a while that you hold as many bitcoins as this business you are planning will hold?

Will you still hold that many of your own when you start also holding those of the business?

Maybe it merely has not yet seemed worthwhile to target you yet due to your not being known yet to hold enough to make it seem worthwhile to try?

-MarkM-

I do not think that is the real problem.

The real problem seems to me to be your desire/need to brag about how many coins you hold.

If the amount was not bragged about / published / known then you could have magic words/commands that retrieve 15,000 keys but retrieve decoy keys instead of real keys given the wrong magic words/commands.

But bragging about how many coins you hold makes it necessary for any decoy to hold as many coins as the real target, which kind of spoils the usefulness of the decoy.

Fort Knox brags about having lots of wealth on the premises, maybe the service you have in mind would be more suitable for them to offer than for you to offer...

Gosh, bragging has a downside? Who'd'a thunk?

-MarkM-

EDIT: Hey waitasec, did I just basically imply there is some security to be found in obscurity?

Apologies in advance for the large quote. Isn't the threat of being coerced a fundamental problem of being publicly rich?

You could do what I do. Run your business out of a small public storage unit. Get a wireless internet card and work as long as your laptop battery lasts. If you really need additional power take the light bulb out of the unit and replace with a light/power tap and store your inventory there as well. Get a P.O. Box to accept the mail for the business and once a day make a run to the P.O. Box. Most multi-floor storage buildings also have included on-site security if someone follows you they will not get by security. This has worked for me for years.

Oh, make sure you associate the business with another name. Don’t let it be known that you are the one running the business. If anyone suspects it's you tell them you wish you had a business like that. In other words, "play dumb." This has worked for me for years.

So how many visitors have you had, demanding you log in to your bank and transfer money to them?

Or demanding you drive them to an ATM and get them cash?

Or open the lock to your safe?

I don't understand. What would they stand to gain from paying you a visit? There is nothing to steal at your physical location.

This thread confuses me. You don't need to have wallets stored anywhere at all to use Bitcoins. You don't need an online service, you don't need an offline wallet. All you need to do is remember (somehow) your private key. If it was publicly known that I had a million bitcoins, and everyone knew my physical address, thieves could come and steal everything in my house and all of my computers... it wouldn't do them any good.

Obviously, if I was tortured I might give up my Bitcoins, but I don't see how any scheme can protect you against torture or other forms of coercion.

Last time I checked, Bitcoin used:
- Microsecond time.
- GUI events
- /dev/urandom if available
- HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA on Windows

Will these customers be informed that the entire amount of funds they've entrusted with you are then one heartbeat away from being lost forever?

I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a public bitcoin facility especially with a known high balance if it doesn't have adequate protection.  Even if you made it perfectly clear no private keys are available on location, some moron criminal is still going to attempt to steal some money.  They may even harm you as an example to future victims.  Bottom line - either don't make the address public or hire lots of security.

yes, I use it now  - great software - I was just mentioning it would be nice to have Easyminer also working for people who use other pools but want a turn key solution  - also It depends on BTC assisting Bitminter client software to be ready before the shipment of the ASICs, or have their own solution. It will be depressing to have a whole pile of ASICS and no quick and easy way to get them up and mining.

And know for something completely different...

BFL,

When you ship the ASIC's will you also have EasyMiner rev'd up so it can mine directly. I may be in the minority but I do not relish thought of poking around with compiling software and tweaking ini files trying to get the ASIC's to mine.  I am hoping that you will ship a complete "turn-Key" setup. Others can use what ever software they wish but I wanted to pass along my thoughts as many I have talked to, just want to invest in your solutions without spending an inordinate amount of time with setup. If not please help Bitminter get its client working with your new ASIC's before you ship  - For me plugging into a USB hub and hitting a big start button is sublime.

Just my 2 cents or my .226 BTC


I have 10 of your SC singles and 10 of Jalapeno's on order - I am looking forward to seeing them in action

Thanks,

David

Just use a brainwallet. That way your bitcoins are not stored "offline"... they aren't stored anywhere at all. There would be no reason why people would come to your house looking for bitcoins, there would be no point. The only way to get them would be coerce you to give up the passphrase. I can go into more details about this (it's a pretty simple system -> you still use an offline computer to sign transactions, but the offline computer never stores the private key).

Hanging out and doing any kind of work inside their vault is not something they're anticipating you'll do.  They expect you will come in, identify yourself, sign their logbook, and go in the vault accompanied with your key and they will insert their key (each box has two locks) and then you will either add things or take them out while they stand by.


A typical safety deposit box is small but LONG (unless you pay for more size).  A typical size is 3x5x22 (inches).  It will definitely fit a USB stick, or rolled-up documents.  But not a computer.  They are only accessible during banking hours.

Between me and the company I work for, we have several boxes of this size, specifically for contingency plans.  The boxes I use to hold Bitcoin private keys contain parts of m-of-n sets, and they are printed on paper in the form of QR codes.  When I visit the boxes, if I want 1 code, I will usually just scan it with my phone, or if I need several, I might just take part or all of a sheet out of the stapled-&-rolled-up stack.  I always assume that the bank personnel "could" access my box for any reason, so I never leave private keys in the box that would be useful by themselves.

It would be up to the court and the bankruptcy trustee to sell or transfer that equity for the benefit of the creditors. There may be restrictions of the sale of the equity that would give the remaining shareholders first rights, options to purchase etc. This type of agreement is not uncommon in business startups. As for payments to a creditor by a debtor in anticipation of bankruptcy, these can be reversed in many cases by the other creditors.