"Here's what I know for sure: we could regulate it if we wanted. That is very clear," Chilton told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

Errr... does he even understand what he's saying.. It's not clear AT ALL.. And also, I think it's technically IMPOSSIBLE.

It. Has. Nothing. To. Do. With. Them.

All they can do is shut down the US exchanges. All we need is some mechanism for price discovery.. and we can stay in btc's, no need to switch in and out of FIAT. Ever. 

They tried to regulate bittorrent.. That went well.

 

ps I'm a tecchie  , and I almost didn't figure out what to do.

I can guarantee 99% of people won't figure it out..

How is bitcointalk going to fix this ?

 

  I'm gonna take that as - BAD news..

When it rains it pours..

is that good / bad / expected ?

I had to add the line

109.201.133.65 bitcointalk.org

to my /etc/hosts file to access this website ?

Is something wrong with the DNS entries ?

@Etlase2 - just read your DECRITS post you link to. Very interesting. At least it's original.

Well, maybe we need to understand/realise/'get-used-to-the-fact'  that someone/anyone with LARGE computers needs to MAINTAIN the NETWORK ?

Is that so BAD ?

If people want to be able to log on to the network, in the leaf-peer non-miner mode, then someone is going to have to deal with their requests. And there in lies the problem. As they need to be rewarded for doing this, as is only right.

PoS just doesn't make sense to me, as someone who is prepared to get 51% of the HASH power, would surely also be prepared to buy a large enough PoS to mess around with. no ?


The PoW system is the very basis of the timestamp server at the heart of bitcoin. I think ,for now, it's all we have and will have.. Although I do like the whole p2pool mining.. that looks interesting.. maybe it can be embedded deep into a new coin.

AND so - in conclusion, SCRYPT is only valuable in that it can be run at the same time as a normal bitcoin miner, so that a miner can do both. ?

Well, that's something.

So - Is the whole GPU resistant SCRYPT over now ?

Seems like the GPUs have just as much RAM as the CPUs anyway..

ASICs and FPGA boards are still not used for SCRYPT mining though.. right ? Will that stay like that for some time.. ?

I like SCRYPT because it means you can mine bitcoin and 'some' litecoin variant at the same time. Is this still true ?

I am working on something a little different.. something new.. 

I am trying to understand the Scrypt parameters used in Litecoin..

As I understand it,

Computer power : N  = 1024
Memory Usage   :  r   = 1
Parallellization   : p  = 1

Can someone explain how these all fit together and why they were chosen ?

I found this - '.. With the scrypt parameters used in litecoin’s implementation (N = 1024; p = 1; r = 1), each thread needs about 64-128 KB..'

How much memory do you actually need to mine them, then ?

Can someone explain how to make the scrypt function require CONSIDERABLY more memory than is currently required.. enough so that GPU mining really is not possible ? Is this Possible ? say 1 or 2 GB min.. ?

Thanks..

   

Thank you.. I think I get it now..

So - because it's total POT luck if you get the correct HASH.. It doesn't matter what search space you try as long as you keep trying.. i see..

THEN - Why is the NONCE not reset to 0, whenever the MerkleRoot or the Timestamp changes ? Can it be ?

& Just for completeness, am I correct in assuming IF the nonce was of variable length, you would not need the extraNonce in the coinbase txn ?

Just want to make sure I fully understand what's going on.. 

Hello,

I am trying to write a pure JAVA miner, a nice webstart app or applet that can be embedded in webpages, and wanted to clarify my understanding of how things work..

1) If when I add a transaction to my current block, the Merkle Root (of all the transactions) in the Block Header changes, doesn't that mean that ALL the work i have done before is for nothing as I will have to start looking for the correct HASH again ? Wouldn't it be better to not add more transactions, and keep working on my current block, with the current Merkle Root ?

2) This may be answered by the answer to 1), but just in case - Since you get 25 btc for finding a block, much more than you make from the transaction fees, Why not just work soley on finding hashes of blocks with no transactions in it ? This way your Merkle root stays constant until you need to use the extraNonce in the coinbase txn ?  Would this not give you the greatest chance of finding a valid hash of a certain difficulty ?

3) In the Bitcoin Protocol Wiki it says -

'The SHA256 hash that identifies each block (and which must have a run of 0 bits) is calculated from the first 6 fields of this structure (version, prev_block, merkle_root, timestamp, bits, nonce, and standard SHA256 padding, making two 64-byte chunks in all) and not from the complete block. To calculate the hash, only two chunks need to be processed by the SHA256 algorithm. Since the nonce field is in the second chunk, the first chunk stays constant during mining and therefore only the second chunk needs to be processed..'

This I don't get.. Where do the 2 * 64 Byte Chunks come from ? When I Hash my Block Header I get a 32 byte hash.. ?

..

I will be presenting my work as soon as it is more than nothing..  

Thank You!

It is not irrelevant.

You're asking - 'Why people are blaming Gox ?'

People - yes normal everyday humans - associate GOX with Bitcoins. Whether they should or not. Supply/Demand blah blah .. They do.

When GOX provides a low grade shit service, it reflects on Bitcoin. Whether it should or not. Supply/Demand blah blah.. It does.

The price was due a correction, I totally agree, but GOX 'exasperated' the situation with it's dreadful handling.

Of course not using them is the only solution that anyone has, as I choose not to use them, but to NOT tell the public that GOX are MORONS, and to steer clear, seems silly.. it'll just happen all over again. (Not the price crash, the dreadful handling of a bad situation coupled with a horrible smell that's left behind..)

This is not a blame game / troll session. I just want people to know that I think GOX handled the situation very badly - and preferably, not to use them.

The choice, as always, is yours..

I won't say anymore now. That's it. Thanks for listening.  
 

??


To suggest that GOX (as the Largest exchange) is not INTRICATELY and PSYCHOLOGICALLY involved in Bitcoin's price, is frankly, RIDICULOUS.
 
AND - AGAIN - A site that has made MILLIONS $$ can at least make sure it is run right.

GOX doesn't do that.

By all means - keep using them!   .. I think this is known as the stockholm syndrome.

MtGox's message about what happened yesterday, is probably the most offensive, in my face, stupid thing I have ever been told.

I do not use them, their site is RUBBISH, btc-e so much nicer, I just can't understand why GOX WAS the biggest.. ?

I'm sorry - but i must respectfully say IT WAS IN A BIG PART GOX's FAULT.

I have run, and been part of running MANY sites in my 20 year tech career.

When you have made as many MILLIONS as GOX has out of it's loyal user base, YES, you are entitled to expect a certain level of service.

They CLEARLY did not deliver that service yesterday - and YES they are the largest so what happens to them is DOUBLEY-IMPORTANT for the rest of the markets.

Of course the big bitcoin dump affected the price, but the 1 hour lag, that caused MOST OF THE PANIC, is simply unacceptable.

When I go to a restaurant and I have to wait 3 hrs for my starter, and the Chef tells me -

'..Sorry - we let too MANY people into the restaurant so you're ALL SCREWED as we can't keep up with the orders..' - that's the restaurant's fault..

The simplest option - If their servers can't take it, STOP accepting new users untill they can.

There are many others..

It's a free market, use them if you want - Make them the CENTRALISED bottle-neck, BUT I can assure you, this will happen again and again.

+1 btc

Im sorry - success or no success - MTGOX ARE IDIOTS..

btc-e.com has a much MUCH better interface, there's no orders information on gox at all, and they have single handedly wiped 1BILLION dollars of the value of bitcoins..

WHY would you use their site when it's CRAP !?

Ha!.. (Breath)..

It'll take some time for any confidence to return to the Markets, and their rather cheery message about how their success has caused this, only feels like lemon juice on a paper cut..

STOP USING GOX!

Then   will turn to  

 

Also - if PPCoin also uses POW, and having read the specs, it seems like there will be alternate POS and POW blocks, to prevent certain attack vectors, does this not mean that PPCoin will be just as, (1/2), energy hungry as bitcoin ?

1) Can someone explain if POS does actually solve the Byzantine General Problem - and if so why it needs POW aswell. This I don't get..

2) I'm not sure I like the voting in ppCoin.. I want a Mathematical currency. 1+1=2. Etc.. This should not be up for debate.

3) There's nothing for nothing in this world. The Energy used in maintaining the Bitcoin network, by the Bitcoin Miners, is the price we pay for the Crypto-Currency to WORK.. seems fair enough?

If you ask me THE ONLY viable ALT-COIN will be the first coin whose protocol is ABSOLUTELY specified at launch..

All a crypto-currency should be, is basically a piece of paper describing it well enough, so that we can all right our own implementations..

C may be the Grand-Daddy, but Java is the Internet's language.. I want to write one in JAVA from the ground up.. !