In the u.k.you can use bank transfer at an exchange.  Probably easy to use for any European, until brexit rule changes, but I am not familiar with the facts in Europe.

Elsewhere, buy OTC, p2p, or get btc and exchange it, usually at poloniex.com.

As volume picks up and price rises, not exchanges will step in, and more p2p channels will open up.  If you want large amounts, talk to people who own large amounts.  See, for example #monero-otc on freenode.net IRC.

Liquidity is a good thing.  Happy to see efficient liquidity providers providing easy on- and off- ramps for those using XMR in their free and private commerce.

I have never observed rpietila to speak a single false word.  Thus if it is book-talk, it is the kind of book-talk I can respect.  My guess is that he sold all of his liquid monero to a client, then went to polo to refill, but it is just a guess.  I think he appreciates the value of having strategic holders, and cultivates them.  Perhaps even at some nominal personal cost, if they are sufficiently strategic for the future of XMR.  At least, that is what I do, albeit my contacts are more legacy-finance oriented, and less likely to be of significant benefit to the community.

If the low-reputation vendors require multi-sig, which precludes XMR, then all XMR vendors will be high-reputation vendors.   Its an implication rather than an assumption.

If that is the case, then I would expect multisig to be associated with low-reputation vendors, and consider that XMR would tend to become associated with high-reputation vendors.  That sort of social signaling feedback loop can be quite powerful.

Certainly the incremental costs of effective laundering (were there such a thing) are an incentive to use XMR instead.  But usually the margins on these things are high enough so that it's almost noise.

In other news, I assume everyone has noticed the 500 BTC (and growing) added to the bid book recently.  Also I notice an occasional ephemeral ~200BTC bid wall.  So much heat, so little light!  Nothing happens because no one is selling.  Lots of liquidity, but not enough price discovery.  Fear is the mind killer.  Maybe this will be a "buy the news" event, after all.  It will remove doubt, when it is accomplished.

Now 36k offered on the ask side.  A response to the whale song from the bid side?  If you assume that any book-sweep will be followed by a support vacuum, it might make sense to short a gob at some reasonably high quote.  That strategy offered some good gains last night, maybe as much as 800bp on the trade if you timed it very nicely.

But no, it appears to be functioning as a scare wall. 

My understanding is that both Oasis and AlphaBay implemented Monero on the basis of demand, rather than speculation or compensation by the currency team.  It is possible that this is just PR and they are doing it on speculation, and already found sufficient profit by front-running the public information.  We will discover that soon enough, by observing listings and transaction volumes.

The lack of multisig is definitely hurting now.  Probably more so than lack of GUI.  A Tor-accessible web wallet with multisig support would be basically as good as a GUI for usability.  In fact it would put us way ahead of Bitcoin in terms of usability.

It might be easiest to add a bot integral to bitsquare.  This one scores high on page-rank and might be a candidate for the boilerplate: https://github.com/gazbert/bxbot

I am not in the game, but personally, I think anything under $4 is a steal.  Lucky if you get it.

If you ever need a reference for work as a proofreader, I can endorse.  128GB naturlich.  At least I didn't show my age by slipping KB.

I suppose if I want to translate the GUI to Chinese, I should show up in #monero-dev, ask about which branch to touch, and make a pull request to it.  

Seems really worthwhile to me.  They need Monero pretty badly in China.  

Yeah, they mucked up the encoding metadata since I looked at it.  I will find one of the other sources...

En: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fm.cnbeta.com%2Fview%2F532883.htm&edit-text=&act=url
Zh: http://m.cnbeta.com/view/532883.htm

Google translation:

"Dark Web" appears far more subtle new network currency Bitcoin

According to the Russian "Satellite News" August 24 reported that the "dark net" have found a new online currency Bitcoin over its concealment. According to reports, the criminals "dark net" of anonymous currencies have been looking to engage in illegal and improper activities is reported that most people will buy and sell illegal drugs or other commodities used in Bitcoin "dark net". Although Bitcoin can protect the privacy of criminals to some extent, but every Bitcoin is a transfer can be queried.

Biggest drugs and other contraband commodities trading market Alphabay announced that they will be held this year September 1 using the Mondeo (Monero) as a transaction currency.
Unlike Mondeo Bitcoin, it can make every transaction can not query, and no one can find money to pay people. Bitcoin user's wallet is a single address, anyone can query all transactions, while Mondeo was every transaction generates a different address, only to master the query key personnel can see the transaction history.
Some experts believe the Mondeo more "secure." However, the popularity of the Mondeo range has not been expanded.

Original:

“暗网”出现新型网络货币 隐蔽性远超比特币
12环球科技   2016-08-25 11:33:07

摘要：据俄罗斯“卫星新闻网”8月24日报道，“暗网”上已经发现一种新型的线上货币，其隐蔽性超过比特币。据报道，“暗网”上的犯罪分子一直在寻找匿名的货币来从事违法和不正当活动据悉，大多数人都会用比特币在“暗网”上购买和出售毒品或其他违法商品。 虽然使用比特币可以在一定程度上保护犯罪分子的隐私，但是比特币的每一笔转账都是可以查询的。

资料图
最大的毒品和其他违禁商品交易市场Alphabay宣布，他们将于今年9月1日起使用蒙迪欧(Monero)作为交易货币。
蒙迪欧不同于比特币，它能够使得每一项交易不可查询，没有人能够找到付钱人和收钱人。比特币用户的钱包地址都是单一的，任何人都可以查询所有交易，而蒙迪欧则为每一笔交易生成不同的地址，只有掌握查询密匙的人才可以看到交易记录。
有专家认为蒙迪欧更加“安全”。不过，蒙迪欧的普及范围尚未扩大。

The use cases for XMR in China are even more compelling than in the U.S. and Europe.  Also note that this came to the quasi-state syndication system via Russian newswire.  Clearly there is Russian language media exposure as well.

I am quite surprised that this little treasure didn't garner any comment.  A lot of people in China are getting their very first exposure to XMR.  This bit of editorial content was echoed on numerous web properties.

I observe that weekends typically favor the coin-of-the-hour.  While XMR is more like the coin-of-the-century, for now it is also coin-of-the-hour, coincidentally.

Moreover, all of those past transactions through mixers are going to redflag you.  The cows already left the barn.  I am hoping you used a non-cooperating, un-penetrated, exchange as a cut-out, because otherwise your coinbase/circle accounts are going to get locked down, and your PII goes on a DHS/DOJ/DOT/JTF/FinCen red letter list.  No security clearance for you.  (Oh and that non-cooperation and un-penetrated status has to persist until your death.)

Fortunately the U.S. doesn't usually apply hereditary taint domestically, so your children will be okay.  For now.  Until the U.S. and Chinese systems converge more fully.  They are tending to converge pretty strongly lately, though.

It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you.

1 left...and it's gone.

Spinning disks?  Are those still a thing?

I just bought a 128mb PNY at Walmart for USD 34, FYI.

2TB SATA-II, $509.

Same.  IIRC (which is very questionable - I have a memory for concepts and math, not events or faces - but easily checked, were it worth doing). I bought some before bitmonero was a thing, then when I learned about bitmonero, I abandoned darkcoin.

Seems like a pretty reliable pattern, but it does take a certain...level of understanding...to know when you are being bullshitted.

Okay, so you think the feds are sufficiently keen on FCT to pour my tax dollars into your pocket.  I am skeptical, but also wary, and clutching my wallet.

DNMs are just a stepping stone.  Everyone on the planet can benefit from privacy.  Especially, those who have wealth to protect.  Protect from forced re-distribution, in particular.  (I can see now why Monero and FCT might have a natural antipathy.)

I think that you will find Monero something of a disappointment as an "anarchist weapon".  Consider that it has regulatory compliance features baked in.  Not auspicious. It is cash. It's really no more of an anarchist weapon than is a dollar bill.  Anti-fascist, maybe.  Anarchist, not so much.

I think it would be much safer to say that it is a disruptive technology.  That will threaten many established interests, but rather than creating an anarchic power vacuum, it will displace some power from holders of legacy currencies. Most of those newly empowered will not be anarchists.  Some will be anomic, deviant.  Certainly the DNM demographic will be over-represented in early stages, but in the long run who has the most to protect, the most need of privacy?  The wealthy and the powerful.  Serving their interests is not likely to please most self-identified anarchists.

(Disclosure: Myself, I am an anarchist, in some senses.  I consider intelligent liberty to be the highest form of utility, and consider nation-states to be murderous rapacious gangs of thugs, responsible for hundreds of millions of lost lives, operating lawlessly under the color of law.  In other senses I am not. I order my life by my understanding of divine law, and seek to be scrupulously compliant with prevailing legal norms and authorities wherever it is not in conflict with higher laws.)

I can do it three times before breakfast.