'tis a good point. I'll kick giga a BTC to pay the highest hash.

2.6521595618380127e+59  Pretty low, I guess

Hex ad and sub calculator: http://www.csgnetwork.com/hexaddsubcalc.html


5.978586085059098e+76 aww...

I thought it was: sha(sha(email) + sha(ticketNumber) + sha(hashOfBlockFound))

edit: nvm OP had it as posted.

Are you going to use the 1149.1 standard for debugging?

Poker Player, eh?

What are our 'outs'?

Get it right !!!

It probably is.

Not my helicopter.



I suppose we should make the use of the word 'healthy'.  Again, what did the last Buggy Whip sell for?  But, yes the price is more determined by the willingness of the buyer to buy rather than the seller to sell. (Supply Side economics only works if people want what your selling).

Actually, on the decimal placement, yes I have. What other currency places the decimal so high above the base unit. To the left would hurt it, imo. To the right wouldn't do much or might even help it a little. Luckily the clients now allow for the movement of the placement with growth of the economy. You can move it to the right.


Now let me get back to drunk flying. You know, you don't get pulled over up here.

P4Man,

 I am just pointing out other possibilities that are not nefarious as many assume. The answers you seek are buried on an Island somewhere and Pirate has the map.

People love to get the dirt and assume the worst. Often wrong.

Let us say what many think and see how ridiculous it is.

<foolishspeculation>Pirate runs a large underground drug cartel and/or laundering operation out of the State of Texas in the United States and pays a huge amount of interest of 7% per week. And he does so by advertising on a public forum that is searchable via a search bots like google. He responds regularly to customer service requests and continues to post on the forum and in IRC. He uses Trillian as an IRC client being the high felutin hacking crime lord he is. Oh, he likes Jimmy Buffet and apparently GoDaddy. We have to solve the GoDaddy problem. </foolishspeculation>

Geesh... I must now apologize. Sorry Pirate, don't send your goons after me. I don't want any horse heads either.

Yes, 'moat' would be a good term. By keeping entry into, not only his model but other's models, he can maintain a lead during expansion.

First into a market doesn't always succeed if others figure it out to early. But if enough market share and trust has been accomplished then the first in can turn it into a powerhouse.

As to 'What market it would be', that is for others to speculate or pirate to explain.  But given the math and the finite amount of bitcoins, the end can be calculated. Remember, he pays in BTC not USD and it is relatively a small market.

He is paying 150% pps as stated earlier.

Someone wanted a list of ways to do it. I'll offer 'other' possibilities rather than the dark nefarious ones.

I stated that I would pay people 2¢ for 1¢ for pennies before 1982. With quantity, I might even do, 2.5¢ for 1¢. Why? Cause they are worth 3¢.

1. How much do you pay for Gas?  Is that what it really costs though? Buying Oil on the Spot Market would be way cheaper for you.        What determines the prices at the spot market? All the 'farmers' agree to a price they are willing to accept in payment for their work. What does the the 'broker' who paid these rates charge?

2. Leased Computing Power paid in BTC to miners but contracted in USD from one of the largest distributed computing project in existence.

3. Let us suppose Pirate controls 40K BTC in his account and pays 1% per day of 400 BTC back out to those investors. Now lets suppose he makes 2% per day off of those 40K BTC. How many BTC are created each day? 7,200 or so. So all he needs to get is 800 BTC of those per day on average to pay 1% to others and 1% to himself. But he would need to know where the blocks are going to hit. hmm...
What are the odds of accidentally calling the Pool and time of the next block to the minute? nah, nvm couldn't happen. But, hedging markets could net some 800 BTC if done appropriately.

4. and many, many others. Good and Bad from individuals, companies, and governments.

5. Any or all of the above.


But as to the OP. Pirate's End Game.

I assume Pirate's End Game is to make money for the longest period of time possible, and if that isn't everyones 'End Game', go home. The not so wise do this through schemes such as ponzies, pyramids, etc...  Something tells me Pirate is a little smarter than that. I am relatively certain that investors will get at least their principle back. That is all one can ask for today. But I can see a whole lot of people bitching when Pirate returns their money and says: 'No Thanks'.


I will tell you what I do know. Anyone with 5K BTC or more that wanted to invest with Pirate would know who he was, where he was, how his model works, and judge the risks for themselves and avoid posts like ours as a waste of time cause they don't make financial decision's from forum posts. Although, apparently, a lot of people do.

Agreed,

 That is the steps needed before the national chains adopt it. Small Businesses could stand to have the most benefits from BTC. Once that starts en masse tho... the chains will quickly adapt to a B2B market of them and quickly followed by a B2P market.

Market Share.



This is sensible. You've weighed the risks and decided. On a percentage scale, How much do you 'trust' him? 0 -> 100%  Then invest as appropriate.

You know as well as I, before anyone gives him a signifiant amount of money, due diligence has been done. They know who he is and probably his and his families entire history. They know how he does it and the risks involved.

Your skepticism is healthy, voicing it is not always healthy.


Don't be to hard on yourself. You're not stupid. ( I hate that term as it is subjective). I still can't figure out the Airline Industry business model, so lump me in with you.

But if you are really concerned about him, before you invest your money. The first question is: Who is Pirate?  Because do people really give large sums of money to pseudo-anonymous people on the internet. Answering that question will probably shed light on what is happening.

NDA's have probably been signed and it might take some work. But, Apple tried to hide its suppliers for the new Ipad but they forgot to include the dock workers on the loading docks.

Your skepticism does you service though. Run through the possibilities. The 'Trust No One' mantra is relevant as always. The nice thing is that you don't have to trust anyone. In my book, trust is earned through trials of fire, not whether someone charged you back or not.

Pirate does have a cloak of haze around him. As he grows, that will disappear as it did with Mark. Remember, there are sometimes real companies behind these businesses that have to live in the real world and interact with it.

Don't you find the challenge of figuring it out exciting though?  

I just find throwing out speculation as to his intent harmful rather than productive. Another post did a good job utilizing the percentages and leaving the speculating up to others.

So far, Pirate has done what he said he was going to do. Past performance doesn't guarantee future performance but it lets you judge risks.

   It is a concern of mine. However, remember this is a niche economy, so far, and even the high figure isn't that much. So the swings can seem large when dealing with such small numbers. e.g. 2-1=1 represents a 50% decrease but really doesn't mean that much as tomorrow it can easily do the opposite.

  This is a ßeta project still but people are relying on it as money. I laugh when people make fun of 'early' adopters cause 'they' are early adopters. Yes, someone else might have 20K BTC compared to their 100 BTC. But 100 BTC in the grand scheme would be a multi-millionaire if 9 billion people were using the 21 Million Bitcoins in an economy. Although, I'm shooting for just 100 to 300 million people.

 A problem is people are saving to much. Robber Barons, ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, real businesses, etc... It is interesting to see the 'new' economy act just like the 'old' economies. The key is that we've seen it happen before and there is an element of predictability in what will happen. The time frame and where are the questions.

 This is the first currency that has potential to become a 'world' currency. It is also its greatest threat. The 'Big Boys' will either try to kill it or co-opt it if it becomes to much a threat. That needs to be guarded against.

 Currently a very small amount of BTC, relatively, controls the market price.

Assuming each node represents 1 person (which it doesn't), that would be about 8 Million / 18,000 for about 444 BTC each on a MTGOX volume for 30 days. But as said, it doesn't because people run more than 1 node and not every trade is unique on the exchange.

We are a baby economy that needs nursing.  There is a term for the period that we are in. But I will not coin it here. However, two things happen from it. It either breaks out or collapses.

The older generation will just not get it. Look towards the schools and gaming segment of this economy. Get college students to buy Pizza and kids to pay for games in BTC.  And with a little time, someone big will accept it. i.e. Dominos, GameStop, etc...

Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

I get some grief because I would like to see the price between 1.7 to 3 USD. In the long run, I think this price point will help the spread of BTC but the 'market' (miners) don't like that point.  Miners need to be-careful that they don't get what they wish for. Their fishing of Blue Fin Tuna might turn into Pogie Fishing.

Miner bitch about the cost of mining and they need a certain price point. NO, they don't. The lower price would put miners out of business lowering the difficulty and making it easier (cheaper) for the remaining miners to mine.

I believe the original intent of Satoshi was for distributed mining among all clients. This has changed and now mining is becoming centralized based on whom is the most efficient and stays in business. I believe, every client should be 'easily' be able to mine but a control of how much should be left to the individual.  As I see it now, the first people to ASIC farms will win and slowly but surely put the others out of business. The client could prevent the soon to come ASIC Hubs from exerting a unbalance force on the network by letting people just bypass them. i.e. P2Pool among just other clients and avoid the ASIC Hubs altogether.


Bah... I ranted again.

Good Point. History tells us that after posting your good idea, die. Then you will become famous, make tons of money, and get all the credit.

But true artists don't do it for the above reasons, they are obsessed to create and don't care about any possible consequences to their work.

e.g. Van Gogh


edit: Maybe not the best thread to post my comment in. Sorry.

If you believe that to be the case, how can YOU make money off of that scenario?

How much would you pay for all that hashing power? nvm, what do people pay for all that computing power in a year?

PEOPLE, change your perspectives.

Let me try another method. Why would I pay you 2¢ for 1¢?  Because pennies before 1982 are worth 3¢.

There are many ways Pirate can pay what he pays in a limited economy. Which this is. Why do people like to jump to the negative reasons rather than the possibilities? People outsmart themselves often.

Don't assume the negative because of an assumption. I've said this a lot lately. Assumptions often lead you where you want to go.

Prepare for the bad and hope for the best.

More importantly, why did you go negative rather than come up with a positive way pirate could accomplish his system.

What Ifs are never ending.

What If he is the government overpaying for something? Nah... The government wouldn't waste the money. Would they?

If you are really interested tho... Do your due diligence on the company.

This whole forum is full of statisticians that will tell you how to account for outliers.

Sorry to hear it. Glad you still hop around. As for the Bolded section, have you ever watched the 'Godfather'.  It happens.

Are you referring to this?:
   


So if he is Atlas, he admits to sharing his account with anarchists and the results are what happens when such is done. So any dealings or deals with his online identity must become circumspect. The newbie section sounds like a good place to be.


If it isn't Atlas then, back to the OP.

Technically, another claimed the account was hacked. The OP has not yet responded if he ever will.