Doh!   Hopefully that is just for the three new countries and not the service you use for all the others as well.

Oh, ...yes, I suppose deleting the entire wallet.dat and starting with an empty one is one way to delete your addresses and labels.  Of course, you'ld only want to do that after making a backup in case you ever would receive coins at an old address at some point in the future.

Right, but gold didn't need to backed by silver, or vice-versa, because gold itself is scarce and the paper used for printing the dollar was not.  Therefore the paper had value because it was backed by something scarce.

Bitcoins are scarce.  The existing and future supply is known. They don't need this backing by gold or anything else.

Bitcoin isn't a silver bullet.  If you are selling something that nobody wants, accepting Bitcoin as a payment method isn't going to help you much.

But, for instance, there are businesses that do quite well specifically because they accept bitcoin.

The band Alco, for instance, is one of the albums that has sold well on CoinDL.  After clicking their audio previews I heard music that I like and bought the album for download.  I'm not the only one.  And since I've bought less than five albums in the past decade, I doubt I would ever have known of Alco nonetheless purchased their music unless they were on CoinDL.
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=77438.0

In other words, marketing to the Bitcoin community lets a seller expand the market and in some instances, offers an edge.

If you look at the selection of merchants on the Trade page of the Bitcoin wiki, you'll notice that even with hundreds of merchants it is still relatively pretty slim -- it represents just a tiny miniature fraction of all businesses.
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade

But, if you have bitcoins and are looking for web hosting, ... those web hosting providers that accept bitcoins have an edge over the Rackspace/Dreamhost/Hostgator/Bluehost/etc./etc./etc. right?

I'm still waiting for marketers to find bitcoin as something to hitch their wagons to ... it is like free advertising.  I would probably never know about Meze Grill in NYC but because they accept bitcoins (or did at one time), they got national (or worldwide) exposure (at no cost!).

I think the harder problem would be to find the people to put any money up for it.

The reason the concept of "backing" exists is because otherwise an unbacked form of money has the potential to be devalued through inflation of its supply.  Bitcoin doesn't have that potential problem.  Therefore this "backing" doesn't really solve any problem that applies to bitcoin.

With the Bitcoin.org client you can easily edit an address to clear the label.

But the ability to delete an address from a wallet is not a built-in part of the client.   One reason is that some people give out an address and it is used multiple times for payments.  If the address were deleted any future payments to that address would not show, and those funds could not be spent.

There is a utility, pywallet, that can be used to go in a forcefully remove an address.

Incidentally, a link to your previous thread on the topic:
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=86828.0

I carry around a Casasius physical bitcoin and often get the opportunity to show it and use it as a prop to help describe what Bitcoin is.  I also carry a second Casascius bitcoin, opened revealing the private key (previously spent), which is useful to understand how bitcoin is just data that can be used with a mobile or online.

I also have in my wallet in my back pocket a few strips of paper ... each a paper bitcoin wallet from BitAddress:
 - http://www.bitaddress.org
I have funded these with 0.1 BTC and have given them out in the same spirit as the Bitcoin faucet.  I do keep a copy of the private key and let the recipient know to redeem the code in 30 days (e.g., using "redeem" QR scanner on Mt. Gox Mobile app for Android) otherwise I recycle the funds to a new paper wallet address.

Additionally, what helps bitcoin move forward to is actually use Bitcoin today like we expect it will be used in the future.  For instance:

Purchase wireless prepaid refills using Bitcoins (there are now or will be soon three sources for this):
 - http://www.bitmit.net/en/user/TangibleCrypto  (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Cricket, etc.) (to be branded as CellCoin.net )
 
 - http://www.btcbuy.info/CallingCards.cshtml

And coming soon:
 - http://www.bitcoinwireless.com  (from BitInstant)


Or pay for all NewEgg, Amazon, eBay, Barnes & Noble, etc. purchases using bitcoins:
 - https://www.spendbitcoins.com/convert
 - http://www.btcbuy.info/Default.cshtml


Offer to broker the trade of bitcoins for others (friends, family, neighbors, etc.).  If you already have a Dwolla and Mt. Gox account, for example, keep an amount of USDs at bay so that if someone wants bitcoins, you are prepared to help them (which, of course, expands the community and helps us all).  But make sure to impress upon them the need to get set up on their own for the next time.     Same thing goes for someone wanting to cash out -- you can leave an open offer to buy bitcoins.    There is a line though between doing this infrequently and not-for-profit versus someone acting as a money service business in which they might have restrictions (in many jurisdictions).

Learn the bitcoin economy, and what bitcoins can buy.  We all know about Alpaca socks.  But do you know about Bitcoin Deals, which has a catalog of more than a 100,000 products, from travel luggage to toilet tissue:
 - http://www.BitcoinDeals.com

Or did you know that in more than a half dozen cities bus/rail fare transit passes can be reloaded using bitcoins?
 - http://bitfare.org

The Trade page on the Bitcoin wiki continually sees new additions:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade

Are there any "assets" at a bitcoin stock market which are interesting to you perhaps?  They aren't all mining endeavors.  Feed Ze Birds and ZipConf, for instance, are two issues whose success brings further commerce to bitcoin:
 - http://www.GLBSE.com

And Bitcoin doesn't have to be all business.  Do you have a buddy insisting your team isn't going to win?  There's an app for that:
 - http://www.BTCSportsbet.com
Or is there interest in the election?  Right now there is a bet with skewed odds on the chances who will win the presidential election:
 - http://betsofbitco.in/item?id=122
Or any number of topics:
 - http://www.BetsOfBitco.in

What it boils down to is, those holding bitcoins shouldn't just sit on them.  A position can be maintained at a steady level by spending bitcoins on goods and services and then replenishing the position to accommodate for that spending.  These actions help bitcoin businesses make it through this crucial period where the market might naturally not yet be large enough for the business to be viable.  But with each additional bitcoin used in commerce, these businesses can start to justify their existence.  Because the revenue stream for these endeavors is in bitcoins, they then use the proceeds and profits for spending and that spurs further economic activity.  Your spending has a multiplier effect in the bitcoin economy.

And a much wider bitcoin economy is what is needed to justify over the long term the exchange rate at a level anywhere near where it has risen to ($55 million "market cap", currently).

The site can't be reached.

DNS issues?

You'll likely see that account get suspended doing this.

 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67137.0
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=84400.msg931307#msg931307

Those are three variations to do the same thing.  Pick one and use that.  eregister is the recommended.  Here's a sample session:

 - http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/GPG_authentication#Registration

There are very few options with credit card as payment because of the risk of charge backs.  To accommodate this risk, merchants that do offer this payment method charge a higher fee to do so.

 - http://bitmint.weebly.com/buy.html

With VirWoX you can buy SLL using credit card, then trade SLL for BTC:
 - http://www.VirWoX.com

Physical Bitcoin, paid for with credit card:
 - http://memorydealers.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=bitcoin

Can you share any more details?

e.g., how many visits, how much were the ads bringing in, etc.?

BarclayCard PayBand is an NFC wristband to function as a "fast entry, cashless payments" method for use at events.



- http://www.barclaycardpayband.com/
- http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2174931/barclaycard-payband-bring-nfc-payments-wireless-festival

They are guaranteeing against loss from lost or stolen wristbands which is something I would presume they can easily do because no other merchants are walking around at the event with NFC readers.  At the end of the event the wristband is inactivated (purchases using it are no longer accepted) and any funds remaining on the wristband's wallet are swept to the customer's checking account.

I was trying to think if there was a way this same technology could be used where Bitcoin could fill this niche.  Or if there was some other approach that would work. 

I suppose a third party could accommodate this where bitcoins are sent to the address for the wristband and the transactions from there it had some non-bitcoin payments method (so that a lost or stolen wristband could be 'deactivated"), and after the event any unused funds are returned t the sending address (or a ticket printed with a QR code / paper bitcoin, to redeem using a mobile immediately or later redeemed online.

This would allow the wristband to be reused at future events, even with a different merchant.

The problem that PayBand solves is that you can show up to the event without carrying cash and to get access to the "fast service" lanes at the concessions.

The problem with PayBand is that you must have an account with BarclayCard to use it.  Using bitcoin to load funds means this can be offered by a party that isn't a bank.

I can see it being used at events or tourist destinations even, particularly with ones where you are active and carrying a physical wallet / purse are not convenient.

The Bitcoin-qt client doesn't support it, but the protocol allows it.  If I remember correctly, older clients used to not relay these transactions where the inputs weren't confirmed but I believe that is no longer an issue.

I raise this issue (one confirmation required between uses) with another type of payment approach where there is a paper (throwaway) wallet:



 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=74978.msg831171#msg831171

The coin selection algorithm (which is continually revised, version to version) will avoid using the newest coins if it can, to avoid the transaction being considered "low priority".  So the age of the coin is a factor that weighs when the client estimates fees.  I'm not sure the specific algorithm but the rule of thumb is after a day the coin can be used without causing the transaction to be considered "low priority".

The reasoning behind this is likely an anti-spam protection.  Without this, the network could be spammed continually by sending larger BTC transactions back and forth and cause grief without paying fees.  Griefing with larger transactions can still be done without a fee, but not without having a wallet with a large amount of bitcoins so that no coin is used in transactions more than once a day (roughly).

Here are some other sources of information on fees:
 - http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/3403/153
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction_fees

The topic of this thread continues here:

 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88226.0

Whose ranch?  The way I read it, the customer needs a bitcoin client continuously running back "at the ranch" to support delivering that customer's OpenPay transactions.  Is this correct?


A carder can install at any one of your merchants a card swiper and pin pad (presumably without the merchant's knowledge).  So the carder will eventually have all the information that the customer has ... card #, expiration and PIN.  The carder then creates a magstripe card with that same info and goes shopping at other OpenPay merchants.

What is the protection then from the carder that does this?

ASIC testing?

Here's a second look.  yes, there were seven blocks in about a ten minute span recently.
 - http://blockexplorer.com/

Why so?