A faster first confirmation is an enormous benefit if we want alternative currencies to be used in brick and mortar stores and restaurants. You can't have each person in line waiting 10 minutes or more.

There are many alternative virtual currencies to bitcoin, such as litecoin, novacoin, etc., that have significant advantages to bitcoin, and there are probably many more currencies that will be even better yet to come. Given that, I've felt for a while that bitcoins are valuable now, but they've got an expiration date, because in the end, even if it takes decades, people will choose the best, most advanced, and most effective currency. So it surprises me when I read things like "I expect the price to hit four-digit numbers by the end of 2013 or in 2014, with further exponential growth continuing in coming years." from notable people in this field. What is driving this enthusiasm for bitcoins in particular? I've always thought the ability to change the properties of a currency is very limited. Am I wrong in this assumption and am I missing something? Do people assume that bitcoin is going to be the one to go in the thousands simply because it's the first? It seems to me that people in the end will choose the best option, but maybe I'm wrong.

Thanks! I'm confused though, the API doesn't seem to be displaying numbers. Like http://explorer.litecoin.net/q/totalbc just has information, as opposed to http://blockexplorer.com/q/totalbc, which displays a value.

Never mind I just figured it out. They should have a bit more specific instructions .

I know that there will be a maximum 84 litecoins, but I can't seem to find any website that tells me how many there are now, even an estimate. Also, on the off chance, is there a website that provides this number through an API? Thank you.

I've heard it said numerous times that bitcoins are anonymous. But how can that be the case if all transactions between every bitcoin address is public in the block chain? If for example I use BitInstant to buy bitcoins through a cash deposit—which requires using my name‚and have it sent to a specific bitcoin address, then couldn't BitInstant just save my bitcoin address to my name and be able to track exactly where those coins go forever using the block chain?

As long as you're buying bitcoins with dollars, I can't see how anyone could be sure they're completely anonymous.

You don't understand the definition of a fair shake. It's the opposite of an unfair shake. So I'm saying that you're being "unfair". If you think it sums it up nicely, then you're admitting to being unfair.

You guys really aren't giving Krugman a fair shake here. Faxes are seen as having little importance today, but when commercial fax came out, the impact was MASSIVE. Now look at the section of the article where he makes his predictions. It's titled "Paul Krugman prognosticates." That sounds a lot like he's being more playful rather than making completely serious predictions, like he's mocking the idea of being able to make huge bold predictions like that with absolute certainty, like the author he cited did earlier. He's basically asking us to not take it completely serious. And finally, the internet has NOT turned out the be what people thought it would be in when this was published in 1998. Remember this was right before the Dot-com bubble burst. Everyone thought everyone would be buying all of their groceries online, and all business would be done online, and internet magic dust would be sprinkled on all politicians so all governments will be perfect.

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Wow, getting diddled by a 1400 year old. Sounds... dry.

I was looking for a client that didn't require dowloading gigabytes of crap, haha. Thanks!

I think porn companies would be very wary of accepting bitcoins for two reasons: The first being that the tech savvy people who use bitcoins probably all already know how to get good porn for free, and how to easily pirate all the good non-free stuff. The second reason is that the porn industry in the past decade or so has been a repeated target for the U.S. government over "obscene" content. I don't think many companies out there would be willing to go out and accept an untraceable currency with limited benefit under this much scrutiny.

I guess it's just best to think in the long term and not focus on what's happening this very minute. I once had Apple stock, then sold it as it was falling at $400 a share. It later went up to $700 a share.

At least you have a real graphics card. I have an Intel HD Graphics 4000. -_-

I've thought about the shadier sounding websites like BitInstant, but I think it's safer to stick with the more difficult but established services.

Hm. Maybe it's gone forever? Lol.
Aside from the big websites that have a visible company behind them like Mt.Gox, I have a very hard trusting all of these small and single-purpose payment systems and exchanges.

I'm sure that in time, currency exchanges like Mt.Gox will offer the ability to go short.

Is there anything that indicates the trustworthiness of this? This program seems really, really fishy to me. The domain was just registered today, and it seems just a bit too advanced that the program would have an SMS alert feature. Sending SMSs from computers to cellphones costs money, and I don't see where this guy is getting that money from.

God, these all look so dumb. They're just like all the other crappy $1 an hour websites, except that you get to get paid in a currency that reminds you of post-WWI Germany.

How do we know you won't scam us, as we've been warned in a related topic on this board?