Press from him hasn't done anything yet. Anyone that bought coins recently had to have money in the works for a while now.
Strongly disagree. Bitcoin sellers are already raising their prices, and buyers with money on the exchanges are already willing to pay higher prices, because they all expect tens of millions of dollars to hit the market in the next few weeks. By the time all that money actually makes it to Mt Gox, the market will already have adjusted. Up on the rumor, down on the news, baby. |
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Voted September/October. Bitcoin is up 90,000% since January. Most people will say that that rate of appreciation is unsustainable and will end any day now. Most people have been saying this since I first got here.
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What benjamindees said. Addresses aren't published at all---they're merely generated on the owner's machine, and completely disposable.
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Oh no, I didn't realize other people could also make p2p currencies! Why has there never been a thread about this before!? I'm trading in all my bitcoins for carrots as I write this.
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I like it, except that it looks like "Bought bitcoin with" to me. Maybe if the "bought with" were smaller?
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Ooh, I'll take a free one! PMing with address and will send bitcoins once I have an address (but not now, I'm going to bed).
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Since we've had threads for 2, 20, and now 200, I figured I might as well get this one over with as well.
If someone else wants to start the 20000 USD poll, be my guest.
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I would have answered no to this question a a month ago---now I'm starting to think Bruce Wagner is right when he says it will be $1000 by the end of the year.
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TheDoc: Complaining that Bitcoin mining is too hard without a GPU is like complaining that plowing roads is too hard without a truck. It just means you're not equipped for that job and you should do a different one instead. Writing a novella is one idea. Basically, you should get bitcoins the same way you would get dollars: by exchanging something for them (or stealing them, but that method is less popular for some reason).
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Same problem. I don't have much there, but it's still a bit worrying.
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Heh.... I checked Mt Gox a few minutes ago, price was still barely above $19, and my Dwolla deposit still hadn't arrived.
I check now, my Dwolla deposit is in, and the price has just risen again.
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I agree that mining pools ought to protect themselves, but I disagree that it's a serious risk. If every pool were shut down, I'd just suck it up and mine solo. Most miners who understand the nature of expected value would do the same.
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Update: My account has been permanently limited for currency exchange. This is probably less because of b4rrydoyle and his scamming, and more because of the f@$king idiots who sent me payments with memos explicitly saying they were buying bitcoins.
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For reference, PayPal closed my cases in the buyer's favor before enough time had passed for anyone to even look at the evidence I provided. I will be surprised if even one of the people scammed recovers his money through the PayPal dispute process.
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The 'Dark Web,' eh?
Did 'Silk Road' just not sound scary enough, or what?
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By the time the next-next version is officially released, we're probably going to want a minimum transaction fee of 0.00001. A rolling fee update like this would be okay if we were getting a new release every two weeks, but at this rate it's just way too slow.
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This is my first draft of a letter to Mr. Schumer. Any suggestions/critiques? Dear Mr. Senator:
I write today in response to your recent announcements regarding Silk Road, which as you stated is a web service allowing people to buy and sell drugs and other items anonymously. Many of these traders are located in the United States, making their activity unquestionably illegal.
I expect you will soon receive a deluge of angry letters challenging your stance on drug policy. This is not such a letter. The law is the law and will be enforced. This letter is concerned only with matters of fact, specifically those found in your recent statements on Silk Road and Bitcoin. Much of what you have said is misleading or inaccurate as it stands.
Firstly, there is no reason to believe that Silk Road is operated from within the United States (in fact I suspect it is not). Because of the way in which the Tor anonymity network operates, Silk Road doesn't have a fixed IP address or domain name---only a Tor “hidden service address” that is not actually issued by IANA or any other central authority, and cannot be linked with any location or identity. Incidentally, the Tor anonymity network was created not by rogue hackers but by the US Naval Research Laboratory. More information on how this network operates is available at <http://www.torproject.org/about/overview.html.en>.
More concerning is that you have mischaracterized Bitcoin, the payment system used at Silk Road, by calling it “an online form of money laundering.” It is possible you were referring only to this service's manner of using Bitcoin, rather than to Bitcoin itself. I hope this is the case, because otherwise you are sorely mistaken.
Bitcoin is a decentralized internet payment system, created in 2009, whose primary feature is that money can be exchanged directly between users without the need for payment processors like PayPal or Popmoney. Bitcoin transactions are mediated not via a central service, but via a distributed network with no single point of failure. This decentralization protects Bitcoin users' financial security and personal privacy. One's “wallet” is stored on one's own computer, rather than on a central server, so fiascos like the recent Epsilon credit card data breach are impossible. Users protect their own privacy instead of delegating that task to a mega-corporation whose interests are often at odds with its users'.
Because Bitcoin is an international network, transactions are not denominated in dollars but rather in “bitcoins,” a new unit of exchange. The value of a bitcoin is not pegged to that of the dollar or any other national currency: it is determined by market forces like the value of any other commodity. Since bitcoins are not issued by a central authority, there is no one to enforce such a peg anyway.
In many ways, Bitcoin is analogous to cash. Like cash, it is absolutely controlled by its holder. Like cash, it can be given and received without fees. Like cash, once spent it is gone---there are no chargebacks or stop-payments. Like cash, its owner is responsible for keeping it secure from thieves. And, like cash, it is difficult to trace. There is no “Bitcoin, Inc.” whose records can be subpoenaed, so tracing bitcoin transactions requires old-fashioned police work.
Because of these features, Bitcoin is now being used for illegal transactions online, just as cash is used for illegal transactions in person. However, demonizing Bitcoin is about as sensible as demonizing cash. Understand that Bitcoin is being used for all sorts of transactions, most of which are quite legitimate. At this very moment there are websites offering clothes, food, web hosting, custom design, market analysis, and real estate, all in exchange for bitcoins. Earlier this weekend I bought a pound of coffee at <http://www.bitbrew.net>. By using bitcoins I've been able to get better prices, since merchants don't have to cover the costs of chargeback fraud or bank fees. The fact that some people also use it for illegal activity only shows that it is an effective and efficient medium of exchange.
Mr. Senator, the fact is that money laundering networks already exist. These networks offer protection only to criminals, while ordinary law-abiding citizens regularly have their identities stolen. Bitcoin, by contrast, extends this offer to everyone. The status quo disrupted by Bitcoin is one in which privacy is the sole privilege of outlaws. If you find that state of affairs desirable, by all means campaign for Bitcoin's destruction.
Respectfully,
Ian Maxwell
Notes: - I've avoided calling bitcoin a "currency" since this is likely to lead to poorly-thought out claims of counterfeiting.
- Likewise, I've avoided any of the smash-the-state rhetoric so common around here. This guy is the state, so I don't imagine he'll be very receptive.
- Instead I'm using the smash-the-corporate-machine rhetoric that leftists prefer.
- My central point is that Bitcoin has legal uses and that there are many reasons for a law-abiding citizen to want to use it.
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+1 We need legit business.
Agreed. I'm in the process of building a few tools right now which will hopefully make that easier. The "Marketplace" forum is pretty much the worst thing that could possibly work. (No offense at all meant---this is a great discussion forum, it's just not a great bazaar.) BY THE WAY: Not my type of site, but that article is an ad which will increase the Silk Road traffic.
Even more agreed. This story will probably be on the evening news before the end of the week, and the take-home for millions of viewers will be, "So, if I get these bitcoin things, I can buy weed." I'm expecting a huge upswing. |
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This is huge. I can't decide whether to buy or sell.
I may write to Mr. Schumer, as well as my own representative and senators and in New Hampshire. The first thing they're going to hear about Bitcoin is that it's "an online form of money laundering." I'd like to give them at least the opportunity to find better information.
To be clear, I am offering no comment whatever on the legitimacy of drug laws. That is not the issue here. If the site were selling slaves, I would still not want Bitcoin banned as a solution to the problem.
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Wow, this is huge.... I agree that this will probably be on TV news within the week. Can't decide whether to cash out or buy in.
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