That actually sounds like a great way to handle interest payments in a deflationary currency.

Of course, it'll probably take a while before it needs to be implemented, considering the current volatility.

If that's all you're looking for, someone already produces it.

http://paymyaddress.com

I've made a number of purchases from them, both for myself and for others, and find their cards to be of good quality.

Nice!

Perhaps he could allow all three options: no PIN, numeric PIN, or alphanumeric PIN. Might be a little redundant, but shouldn't be much more coding either.

(And if not, I suppose one could always tweak the code... a change like that might only take a moment.)

Maybe someone thought it would get their transaction processed really, really, really quickly?

Hmm... JIT mining, where additional hashing power comes online when large fees are detected... workable?...

Great link. Thanks!

Yep. I've already been doing it with a small wallet. So far, no thefts....

That one almost seems foolproof, as long as it's solid. Just make it look like it should be heavy.

Good point.

Few things would ruin the introduction of a new voting method faster than finding it's been taken over power-wise within days of operation.

I think any "industrial" use of bitcoins is a good idea, provided fees are included, and there's not too much bloat. (Otherwise, an alternate chain could handle it, and I still think it would just strengthen Bitcoin by confirming the validity of the design.)

This particular use of bitcoins sounds quite promising.

Hmm. I first I started thinking along the lines of "Wal-Coins", then maybe coins advertising local mom-and-pop shops.

But then I remembered Wal-Mart cards already exist.

I think the idea of other companies getting into bitcoins is good and will happen, but I think those into it for the advertising will want the cheapest possible medium, and probably one more familiar to the populace. I suspect plastic cards and possibly paper coupons/vouchers will be the preferred method--but the idea itself is still sound.

Too bad BitBills bit the dust, but isn't BitCardz coming about? Perhaps they could be contacted about this.

What scenario are you thinking? The one that got those guys caught (from S.Korea to Japan,) some other, or in general?

My first thought would to be to actually make it into real jewelry. I don't know that women wearing jewelry won't get stopped and charged a tariff for wearing it into the country though, so that may be out.

I have no serious beef with closed-source software in general. If you want to keep RealCoin closed-source, I'm not going to scream and holler until you change it. More power to you.

But I personally prefer open-source, and the more I learn the more I prefer it. Of course I use closed-source code, but I've noticed my drifting toward more and more open-source material years ago. It's transparent. It's usually free. It allows greater innovation and error-checking. And while I don't usually play with the code, I can if I want. That all just seems to fit the spirit of the developing information age more closely. Centralization vs. decentralization. Control to others vs. trust in an "authority."

And with Bitcoin, I have an open-source alternative to RealCoin... so until something seriously superior about it materializes, I have no reason to even try it. It would be against my preferences. Kind of like asking someone who prefers a kosher diet to try this new bacon diet. Nah, I'll pass.

Again though, good luck. I'm still interested in seeing how this all pans out; I'll probably check it out in-depth after the switch to open-source occurs.

IIRC, Bitcoin had CPU mining integrated into the client up to version 0.3.0.

But really, past a certain point, it's not necessary, because the average Joe can't really earn anything that way anyhow.

Think about it. The intent (in part, according to the creator) of RealCoin seems to be to allow just anyone to hit a button on their computer, generate stuff, and trade it in for cash at a profit. Without effort. Forever.

How realistic is that? When the early adopters first generated bitcoins, sure, they cranked out a bunch, but they had to wait YEARS before they even knew the system was going to succeed, never mind actually profit. I'm certain many of them didn't make it... they gave up or cashed out too early. And at this point, even if bitcoin mining was CPU-based, there is (and would be) so much hashing power dedicated to it, the idea of the average person making any significant amount of bitcoin in exchange for the time and electricity devoted to it is a joke.

RealCoin doesn't seem to have a way around that. Even if it's initially successful, and 100 people join in and start mining, and actually make a few bucks a week mining, after two weeks the difficulty will adjust so high due to everyone wanting to do it that profits crash. So you get two weeks of the average Joe getting coins then... everyone gets a pitiful fraction, but the early adopters still hold the king's ransom.

Mining only generates the coins, and serves to distribute the initial batch. It can never be a long-term plan for adequate distribution on it's own.

There won't ever be a system where we all produce profit at the push of button, immediately and forever. It's just not possible. (I'd love to be proven wrong, but I won't hold my breath.)

Wait a minute. The expectation is that we will all run this code on our computers, without knowledge of exactly what's going on under the hood, and without the ability to look at the source?

No offense, but, after having gotten used to the transparency bitcoin offers... screw that.

The high granularity just ensures that bitcoins can continue being used as money despite a very high exchange rate. It's not moving the decimal; there is no increase in the number of base units, so there is no inflationary effect. Bitcoin just has a design that allows very precise measurements of value.

This high granularity can only increase the value of the currency, especially since we know it can be used for small values far into the future. A digital coin with several decimals of division is more usable than one with few.



Good question. There would be a slight bit of pressure to decrease the value of USD since they'd become less useful overnight. But the overall effect might be quite different.

It seems like I won't be able to get onboard with this one. Between the pre-mining and the level of centralization, there are too many angles I don't agree with, and not enough added benefit to counter it.

Good luck to you though; here's hoping you don't get Luked.

IIRC, tapping the QR code copies the actual address to the clipboard. Not very intuitive, but should work for you.

That seems like asking for trouble. Ah well, thanks for distributing it though.