Since the offer says your service performs all the support and maintains the systems, does that mean the customer doesn't determine the choice of miner, which pool is used, etc?

FellowTraveler, developer of Open Transactions, has engaged in many conversations here in the Bitcoin forums:
  http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?action=profile;u=846;sa=showPosts

There are many who are interested in Open Transactions and the type of offering you are describing.  I don't think there has been any other implementation other than BlindBitcoin.

  - http://support.mtgox.com/entries/20192703-ddos-in-progress-2011-06-14

Right now hashing is done 6 trillion times a second but only 1 of those hashes over the next ten minutes is actually kept.

You aren't the first to wish there was an alternative that didn't require the 5,999,999,999,999 hashes each second that got tossed or to wish that the fair amount of energy that was consumed to create those hashes wouldn't need to be expended.

Unfortunately, not a single person has proposed a workable alternate method for enabling a decentralized currency.  The proof of work method done through hashing today stands alone in solving the problem.

Would you happen to know another method that has somehow been overlooked thus far?

[edited]

Without the baggage of decentralization there are a number of transaction systems that would do what you ask.

 Some options that I can think of:
 - http://truledger.com
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Open_Transactions

[Edit: you only asked that mining activity not issue new currency, not about how to eliminate the mining function entirely.  sorry.]


There is an effort already underway like what you describe: BeerTokens
 - http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=9493.0

The operator of Mt. Gox exchange has said that the terms of service agreement is being updated.  Perhaps it will show when the planned updates to site are brought online.

In the meantime, the Bitcoin wiki probably has the most complete information.


  With Mt. Gox, $1K/day and $10K/month may be withdrawn.  To obtain higher amounts requires a request for limits to be increased.
  - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mtgox#Withdrawing_Funds

  With TradeHill there are no per-day or per-month limits appently:
  - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/TradeHill#Withdrawing_Funds

  There are no "maximium deposit" amounts other than what common sense would tell you knowing that neither is based in the U.S. and as such, neither is FDIC insured.

Both exchanges will use SSL https://  support so browser communication to the exchange is as secure as what SSL provides.  As far as using TOR neither exchange operates a hidden service.

- http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Tax_compliance

A fantastic source of information is the interview Bitcoin lead developer Gavin did on Omega Tau:
 - http://omegataupodcast.net/2011/03/59-bitcoin-a-digital-decentralized-currency

The Bitcoin wiki has the most current and accurate details of most everything though.

FYI, there's now a Bitcoin wiki article addressing taxes:
  - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Tax_compliance

I think the closest of something that runs in the tray would be the BitTicker app, but that is for Mac OS X.
  - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BitTicker

There are some other data services but not anything that runs in the task bar from what I can tell:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mtgox#Data_Services

There are some mobile apps that are along the same lines:
  Bitcoin Alert, BitcoinApp, BtcMobile
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:Mobile

If these aren't close enough and you believe there might be others with the same desire to use this, one method of getting it built is to set up a bounty and pledge funds toward the development:
  - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Active_Bounties

It sounds to me like it did a double spend attempt.  The first one spend probably went through eventually, after it was included in a block.  Thus what you are seeing is your second attempt stuck at 0/unconfirmed.  It will never confirm because it has already been spent.

[Upate: I'm not sure how that database wouldn't know that the first transaction had been made.  Perhaps the database rolled back the transaction when it recovered after the crash?]

I don't think there is anything you can do about it other than send any coin balance to a new wallet and toss [Update: "archive" never toss, in case you receive payments to it] the old one.  (though once merge wallet is available that would be an option too: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=8091.0 ).

I may be wrong on all this, but from the info you provided this sounds plausible.

You should check block explorer also.  I would bet the unconfirmed spend was not included in any block there either.

There is no threshold on the amount when sent to Mt. Gox.  There is a theshold when withdrawing from the exchange to your Dwolla account -- that limit is $1K per day, $10K per month.
  - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/MtGox#Withdrawing_Funds



When the ACH transaction that Dwolla did with your bank is completed, then and only then will the funds be available to Dwolla.  As you realized, you can monitor the status of that by logging into your Dwolla account.

Dwolla is a cash service.  Getting cash into dwolla is what takes a long time.  From there, sending the cash already sitting in your Dwolla to either Mt. Gox or wherever is fairly quick.   Technically, it happens instantly -- Dwolla's debits your Dwolla account for the amount you sent and then credits the Dwolla account to whom you sent funds.

Now, the method that the exchange uses to then credit your account at the exchange with the funds received will vary per exchange.  

Mt. Gox processes Dwolla transactions hourly.
  - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/MtGox#Dwolla

But until those funds are in Dwolla (which you can easily monitor by logging into Dwolla), there is nothing that Mt. Gox can do about it.

Nice!

What is in demand is a widget that works on a third party site but allows me to enter values like what you have.

Here's more info on transaction fees:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction_fee

Withing days (hours?) version 0.3.23 of the Bitcoin client will be out and the minimum transaction fee will be reduced to 0.0005 BTC.  That's about a penny's worth of bitcoin.

The decentralized nature of Bitcoin might make the fee a little harder to understand.  Because there is no central authority to mandate the fee amount, bitcoin lets the miners individually establish whatever fee, if any, they wish to require.  

If the fee is too low and the miner wishes to exclude any transactions because the fee is too low, then that transaction will have to wait until a future block is solved by either a miner who is more generous or a miner who is more hungry and will accept the fee that was too small for the earlier miner.

Though it would be nice if bitcoin could also handle really small transaction amounts, it wasn't designed to do so.  There is an expense to transmitting and storing these ultra-small transactions and though bitcoin is an incredibly cost-effective replacement for payment networks, it probably is too expensive for nickel and penny-sized transactions.

Bitcoins still works well for a service that charges really small amounts, but instead of passing each transaction on to bitcoin, the service has an account for the user and bitcoin is used simply as the method to top up the account, or used to withdraw funds after some threshold is reached.  

witcoin.com is one example of a microtransaction service where actions cost even less than a penny's worth of witcoins (the name for bitcoins held in a user account on witcoin).  When earnings are significant enough to warrant a withdrawal, then withdrawing to a bitcoin address can be made.

  Issue 271, Ability to sign transactions offline, would be quite useful for keeping that machine permanently disconnected.  A standalone airgap system for use as a "savings" wallet.
  - http://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/271

The OP (original poster)  was a feature that would be useful, if it existed.  These forums run on Simple Machines Forum (SMF) software which has no "thank you" option.

Bitcoin Market discontinued trading for bitcoins due to massive amounts of fraud occurring:
 - http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=12678.0

VirWoX still accepts PayPal to add funds, though you need to buy L$ (Lindens) and then trade those for BTCs.
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/VirWoX

If you already had a trust rating you might find a seller on the #bitcoin-otc marketplace willing to accept your PayPal or gift card offers, though without a rating / history a seller usually cannot be found.
  - http://bitcoin-otc.com

One method that sems to work well is to trade a MoneyPak for bitcoins.  Occasionally there is a seller in -otc accepting MoneyPak.  Otherwise, there is at least one exchange offering it:
  - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Buying_bitcoins

  - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Selling_bitcoins

The target is 10 minutes, but it will vary, sometimes wildly from that target.
  - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Block


Bitcoin wasn't developed to be a transaction network for point-of-sale like the payment card networks.  There had to be a tradeoff in order for bitcoin to be decentralized (no central authority).

 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/In-store_Transactions

There had been discussions as to ways bitcoin might be augmented to support this, though no definitive plans by anyone have been announced.
  - http://www.quora.com/Can-Bitcoin-be-used-for-mobile-payments


Because of transaction spam abuse, the client was modified to force transaction fees.  When making that decision was made just a few months ago, they likely couldn't fathom $30 BTC/USD, and thus the 0.01 BTC minimum fee was not expected to ever be excessive.  Beginining with v0.3.23 the minimum fee will be 0.0005 BTC, ... under two cents worth, at Bitcoin's recent high trading price.

The fees go to the miner who includes the transactions in the block that was solved.

Well, Memory Dealers isn't hiding it:   (in Silicon Valley)



  http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=13687.0  
  http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=12921.msg178485#msg178485

I'm guessing it is because the ecommerce software used does not already accommodate bitcoins and so as not to delay offering that option, the company says it accepts bitcoins, but it just isn't possible using though the online shopping cart interface just yet.

There aren't a ton of people who have experience adding bitcoin as a payment option.  Those that do offer that might find their schedule become busy after posting their availability here:
  - http://www.bitcoinjobs.com/post/6340808691

There are a ton of non-major sites that are accepting bitcoin, some of them accept only bitcoin.
  - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade  

and there are others coming onboard:
  - http://www.editgrid.com/user/mahkul/Earn_BTC_for_promoting_Bitcoin

But generally, most software companies determine features based on demand and there likely hadn't been customers of theirs demanding support for bitcoin. Yet.

The sites you see accepting bitcoin are like Derek Siver's "dancing shirtless guys" -- those with the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous.  What are needed next are the first followers:
  - http://sivers.org/ff

I'm not entirely sure I understand how the prices are determined.

Because Mt. Gox has one rate, BTC/USD, I'm assuming all the others are based on the BTC/USD then converted to the other currencies using the XE exchange rate for each.

But I know that soon Mt. Gox will have BTC/JPY and BTC/EUR:
  - http://www.bitcoinmoney.com/post/5765886176

So, will the BTC/USD be used for all other currencies except for computing BTC/JPY and BTC/EUR, with those coming straight from Mt. Gox?   Or will there be some other approach?

With TradeHill, this is the case already ... I can deposit in Chile (CLN), Peru (PEN), India (INR), USD and LR USD (they treat Liberty Reserve as its own currency).  I can withdraw in each of those as well, except for PEN which is not available for withdrawal just yet.