Wow, 26 have already RSVP'd as "will attend":
 - http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Bitcoin/events/123784402/

After you posted your question, this was posted in another thread:

Here's another approach that will be hard for banks and regulators to respond to.  An escrow service that matches buyers and sellers in which cash is deposited by the buyer into the seller's bank account.   Seller's coins get escrowed to Bitcoin-Brokers.org.     

 - http://www.Bitcoin-Brokers.org
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=237164.0

The high volume sellers will have the risk of the bank concluding that the deposits are for bitcoin (or a sting) and the seller ending up without access to the funds in the bank account.

Instead of there being a handful of exchanges each with a high volume of cash deposits there will be a high number of exchanges (individuals selling coins) each with a low volume of cash deposits.   

Decentralization FTW!

For anyone wanting access to the historical difficulty data in spreadsheet form:
 - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmcTCtjBoRWUdHVRMHpqWUJValI1RlZiaEtCT1RrQmc

It's been a while since a single article has had such a high ratio of erroneous statements and uninformed opinions within.

The curious case of Bitcoin
by Zain Naeem,
Head of equity research at Maan Securities (Pvt) Ltd in Pakistan's stock markets.


 - http://arabiangazette.com/curious-case-bitcoin-20130707/

No idea.

You aren't the only one asking:


If they are, chances are it would be a new account using Mt. Gox, Inc. -- a new Delaware corporation and one that has registered with FinCEN as a Money Service Business (MSB) as a money transmitter.

While this is an old topic, the question hadn't been answered, so here it is:

Seizure Warrant
U.S. District Court of Maryland

 - http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Mt-Gox-Dwolla-Warrant-5-14-13.pdf

Blockparser is one tool that might help you get access to the data:

 - https://github.com/znort987/blockparser

"Unfortunely servers and bandwidth isn't free so we need to charge for the service, however, we decided to use BitCoins instead of real money, ฿0.0739 to be exact."

"instead of real money"?

Are they saying fiat is real money?


[Edit: This has since been remedied.]

Many miners spent many bitcoins pre-ordering with on BFL, BitASIC (now defunct) and other mining promises.

But then the "halving" event occurred in November, 2012 and many miners realized they had fewer coins than they had hoped to at the time and no hardware generating any more at a reasonable rate. So they then bought from the market (my belief, based on anecdotal evidence that I observed).

So they bought and the exchange rate went up, .. from $12-ish to $20-ish, and it kept going doubling a couple more times.

Then ASIC hardware started shipping and existing miners (and new prospective miner) converted their acquired coins into more ASIC pre-orders and/or bought shares (e.g., ASICMINER).  Most of those coins received by the ASIC manufacturers are presumably converted to fiat, and many of the dividends and stock price gains from shares sold get cashed out as well -- furthering the transfer of value to fiat.

However, ... what is unknown is the future difficulty.

If it again rises such that those miners who weren't first in line or those who bought additional capacity end up discovering that their ASICs won't be earning their bitcoins back fast enough, they'll return to the markets to pick up some more.

There's 11.3 million BTC so far, out of the 15.75 million that will have been issued by November 2016.  i.e., there could be a rush to restock the coffers should difficulty cause BTC production from ASICs to slow to just a trickle.

But that's the thing about speculation.   Nobody knows the future.

[Edit: Incidentally, you asked about the economics of bitcoin, but only discussed mining.  Mining is (should be) just a miniature fraction of the economic factors to consider.]

BillPin app has now recognized Beer as a currency, ...
 - http://blog.billpin.com/2013/07/beer-now-a-legitimate-currency

As a result, after considering what TTBit did using silver dimes I feel it is now time for me to replicate that by issuing MGD (beer) vouchers through Ripple.


1 MGD voucher is equivalent to 1 bottle of Miller Genuine Draft (MGD) (worth $0.25 at this time).  Using ripple you can trade it as if it were a real beer!

I will issue 1 MGD voucher for every bottle sent to me (you pay shipping).

Would there be any interest in this (other than interest from me as "issuer"?   )  

[Edit: This was intended as a joke, but now that I think seriously about it ...  if I provided beer redemption through Billpin, this would work, wouldn't it?]

-1


Is this a cash camp or a card camp (inmates not allowed to carry cash, and instead access to the canteen uses the proprietary card issued to the prisoners)?  Because if you are asking if the prison operator itself wanted to use Bitcoin it could use bitcoins just as easily as dollars for its books ... especially if they already have the concept of debit cards / electronic accounts.  It might be even easier than with dollars since they have a captive audience.   Though the exchange rate volatility would be occasionally brutal on those when it dips, and an incredible morale booster when it rises.


So I'm concluding you are instead just asking for what might work for person-to-person payments (internal) without any electronics.

Bitcoin is an online digital currency.   It can be used offline in some instances but it then requires some level of trust and comes in the form of Casascious physical bitcoins, or with paper wallets secured with a seal as you describe.   But Bitcoin doesn't excel in that environment.  It really needs at least one party in the transaction to have networked communications.

There was an IVR client that got started and then open sourced, but has stagnated.  I'm not sure if that would be something that if developed would be of use:
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=43734.0

But this is really pushing the round peg Bitcoin to fit into that square hole prison environment.  Are cash, cigarettes, and IOUs insufficient?  

Which client, E-Wallet or website are you using?

If Bitcoin-Qt, then if is likely because your client hasn't finished syncing:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ#I_was_sent_some_bitcoins_and_they_haven.27t_arrived_yet.21_Where_are_they.3F

So, you assert that you found a security issue with some site and they refuse to acknowledge it?

So, ... give them a reasonable time to fix it, then publish an alert here (with some info of where the vulnerability lies, or how the exploit works), if it doesn't get fixed.

1995: I'm buying a new television so I searched on Inktomi for "TV Set ratings" and it sent me to Nielsen (show ratings).   Stupid internet, ... my search term included "TV Set".  Part of me wants to quit Internet because of the immaturity.

A merchant that wishes to eliminate exchange rate risk can convert bitcoins to fiat by using a payment processor (or by selling by themselves all their BTC revenues to an exchange with each sale).   Or if a merchant has Accounts Payables in which Bitcoins can be used as payment, those bills can be paid when the BTC revenues occur.

But one reason we have such volatility is that there are so few usable methods for going short.   The ability to go short helps put resistance to any rallies (since bets against the currency are more profitable if sold high) and gives support during a selloff (when short covering occurs).

Perhaps the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust (ETF), the BitcoinFund.eu and other methods make shorting possible and this volatility quiets down.

KEVIN GALLETTE, JACKSON SMITH, and ROY HAHN VS. E-SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT, LLC and DOES 1-20
July, 2013
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

Abstract: Class-action lawsuit filed against online gaming company whose software developers silently added Bitcoin mining to the company's gaming client. 


 - https://i.imgur.com/bxzgoWN.jpg

- http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/5/4495192/esea-served-with-bitcoin-related-class-action-action-lawsuit
 

- http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/1/4290022/esea-league-code-used-idle-users-pcs-to-mine-bitcoins-co-owner

DYM got a mention in this Salon article:

 - http://www.salon.com/2013/07/04/revolutionizing_the_banking_industry_one_cryptocurrency_at_a_time_partner/

bump on this feature request.

That very well could be a valid theory.  The miners are convinced that there is a decent chance of spending 1 BTC today and earning more than 1 BTC over the next year or so as a result.  It's a gamble because nobody (except the manufacturers themselves) knows how many Thash/s are on order -- but gambling never is a rational act.