The tax man is laughing, then choking...

4) every transaction involves Internet communication, subject to monitoring, even if delegated to a proxy entity. Obfuscation has limits.

From all the recent revelations it appears that NSA operates also by proxies and shills in private and academic institutions who push the NSA agenda.

I lack the necessary skills, but here's an idea: render bitcoin logo as streets on a map (with the typical color scheme, etc).

I am guessing you are from the U.S., and "other countries" means "outside of the U.S."?
Breaking news for you: if you look at the IPs of Bitcoin nodes, and at the number of internet users per country, you will see that there are many places in this world where adoption is higher than in the U.S.
Let me help you (data from few months ago) - number of nodes per 100 000 internet users

1. Finland 3.5
2. Sweden 3.5
3. Norway 2.7
4. Canada 2.5
5. United States 2.2
6. Australia 2.1
7. Iceland 2.0
8. Israel 1.9

Also, coinmap.org

Also, bitcoinglobe.com

FOIA only applies to the US government agencies, it is irrelevant in the context of secg, fujitsu, certicom,etc. You might be able to get something from the US-based governmental member (NIST).

From the consumer privacy perspective, their solutions seem designed for tracking. Even a static bitcoin address offers at least some uncertainty, which is completely removed by the biometric NFC wallet.

What format is the private key in, and how to redeem it?

How is engraving done - what is the production cost?

Will there be a bounty for a succesful, non-invasive readout of the private key?

I fail to see any special connection between Bitcoin and the ability or inability of law enforcement to identify criminal activity. Sounds to me like you imagine Bitcoin to be anonymous or suitable for money laundering, and thus a potential target. That is not so.

Governments don't need to "come up with a way to check if an illegal activity is happening" - it is trivial, and even more so with Bitcoin and its public ledger. All major fiat exchanges already follow KYC and related rules, and respond to legal requests from the governments, just as they should. I can easily document where my fiat goes, where it comes from, and whether there are any capital gains or losses to be considered. I can document where my income comes from. It all adds up. Bitcoin does not pose a problem any more than gold, stocks, real estate, forex, world income, etc.

In fact, the only problem are statements like yours, which imply that there is a problem, thus leading to an occasional hysterical, misguided reaction from the lawmakers who fall for the fallacy that Bitcoin is anonymous.

This will create lots of discussion, and is a good opportunity to educate the public, Mr Schwab included, about Bitcoin technology. A good starting point are the very arguments brought forward by Mr. Schwab: some of them are myths (Bitcoin is inherently anonymous, and it is mainly used for criminal transactions), and some are simply his opinions on how economy should be managed (central bank should not have competitors).
Myths are easy to dispel by presenting facts and requesting the other side to provide (the nonexistent) facts that support them.
The "no competitors" is actually a valid argument, and we should try to understand where it is coming from culturally and historically, rather than ridiculing it just because we feel differently. I can see how a significant portion of Swiss population might agree, or at least consider it as a serious argument. We should try to understand what specific scenarios - surreal or realistic - Mr. Schwab imagines that may lead to a competition that may be damaging to Switzerland. My understanding is that he has actually requested the federal government to come up with such scenarios, so he doesn't really have an idea, but rather just a vague, ominous feeling... which we know is based in misunderstanding of the Bitcoin technology.

Impossible to remember in your brain. You can store it in a non-volatile memory, but then why not just keep it simple and generate a random number and use it as private key and store it in a nonvolatile memory... yes... now, that's a thought! You might even encrypt it before storing it, and remember the passphrase!
Also, what kjj said.

Given the audience, the most productive approach is (was?) to demonstrate the simplicity of use, security, mention multisig and triple-entry accounting, and insist on opportunities Bitcoin could offer: tapping into new markets (see ArcticMine above), and irreversible, secure, quick, and global payments.

You might also flirt with tracking consumer spending habits based on data mining of the ledger. While transactions generally remain pseudonymous for the outside world, the parties to the transaction can learn a lot about each other.

Be prepared to refute the common myths of anonymity.

Why do you need to know this? Cavirtex Web page states it takes 3-5 business days for direct bank transfer from you to them. That's what it is, and that's all I need to know.

By the same token, everything in society and economy is self-destructing. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes and sometimes it takes 100 years. Strangely, you don't consider this fact.

Gmaxwell makes persuasive arguments here. We can either ignore them while getting high on self-correcting-free-market mantra, or we can act proactively by making informed choices. Indeed, the former is easy to do, the latter is quite hard.

Unlike the traditional banking system, this system does not provide a monopoly to arbitrarily create money out of thin air. THe supply is mathematically certain, and available to anyone wishing to "mine" (process transactions, that is). Note that, even today, anyone can mine. Either invest significantly and mine yourself, or pool resources with others, and mine cooperatively. In that sense, we are more like a banking co-op than a traditional bank. Again, very democratic and decentralized, open to anyone.
It's not too huge for me. Those who want quick fixes in life will end up getting quick fixes. Opening an account with PayPal, linking it to your bank account, and verifying it, takes longer than getting your full node up and running. Ditto for applying for and receiving a credit card from a bank. Bitcoin is faster and simpler.

See the first point above.


In some ways yes. I would not say that the above is the only advantage - there are many, many more, and I am sure you can think of a few without me helping you.

The problem here is that you initially misunderstood bitcoin and formed wrong expectations, which now seem failed. Don't let that distract you. Bitcoin is a versatile, powerful technology. It already works today. It will be working even better in the future.

How long does it take to set up a new PayPal account, and have your address and linked bank account confirmed?

How long does it take to apply for and receive a new credit card?

Bitcoin fares quite well in comparison - and that's on top of many other advantages and potential advantages.

It's hash, not harsh.
It's Ghash, not GHz.
You posted this in the wrong board. It belongs somewhere in the mining section.

If you decide to spend $3.5k to start mining, you will be forcing yourself to learn the above, and much, much more. It's a steep learning curve. If you are not ready for it, do not start mining.

As for the alternatives, your best bet is to buy coins, and then spend a predetermined fraction with businesses that do accept them. Helping bootstrap Bitcoin economy will make the remaining coins much more viable and valuable. Besides spending them, consider earning them instead of buying.

As a kid, I used to spend time listening to short-wave numbers stations, recording it on the cassette tapes, then naively writing it down, and running a C-64 code to analyze frequencies of groups of digits. Fun for kids. That was pretty much the peak of my crypto career.

Now I am thinking - what if the whole numbers station mystery was simply a cheap way of diverting enemy's resources away from where they would be useful? Just a random stream of numbers, a distraction. Certainly some cryptanalysis effort was spent on attempt to break them, and certainly this same effort was not spent on something else.

Soon we will know. The fact that this seems to be the lone case at this time suggests there is no exploit on the MtGox side, and the problem is strictly with this user's actions, errors, or intentions.

By the way, and slightly off-topic, those who suggest we should not keep coins or fiat sitting at an exchange are missing the point. These are not savings being kept there, but money actively used for trading. A perfectly good idea as long as you understand the risks.

Finally, I am saddened that in all cases of theft, real and false, the discussion revolves around blaming the victim and the service provider, not the thief.

Ten days ago I was browsing through LBC Site, and there was great advice on how to trade safely. I specifically remember them reminding people to always be cautious with any attachments in emails, etc.
People clicked on attachments, did not have 2FA, and sure enough the thief got their coins.