I was reading about Kaspersky Lab's Safe Money mode feature in its Kaspersky Internet Security product. Apparently it will see that you are trying to access a financial website (one that it knows about or one that you've marked as being a financial site) and prods you to launch a different, secure mode browser instance.  What also was interesting: 5) Provide an onscreen Virtual Keyboard when entering your credit card or payment information so you can enter your information with mouse-clicks. This will activate a special program to prevent malware from logging any keystrokes on your physical keyboard.
- http://bit.ly/Sxau6T - http://support.kaspersky.com/kis2013/control?qid=208286049 - http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/cab/abn/y12/m08/i24/s04I run Linux and Kaspersky doesn't sell a version for Linux but it does support Windows, Mac and Android (phone and tablet) even. Has anyone used this? Because not all Bitcoin sites offer two-factor authentication yet (or don't implement it following the ideal method), might this be a useful piece of software for Bitcoin users? |
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Recently there was a sale of BTC debt owed by BitFloor, Inc. to one of its accountholders whose bitcoins are being held by the exchange and thus not available for withdrawal. This thread is for others with BTCs on hold at BitFloor to list their offers and for buyers to express their interest. Here was the previous sale. Tangible Cryptography LLC is looking to sell 200.00 BTC (two hundred bitcoins) of debt owed by Bitfloor Inc. While we believe Roman will repay creditors in time, due to our capital needs we are wiilling to sell at a discount to improve our liquidity today.
The sale is for 200.00 BTC (two hundred bitcoins) face value of debt owed to Tangible Cryptography LLC by Bitfloor Inc as a result of depositor funds lost in the hack on the bitfloor exchange earlier this month.
Roman has indicated he is considering providing the ability for creditors to trade debt (transfer debt from one account to another). In the event that is enabled on the bitfloor exchange we will transfer the purchased debt to an account of the purchaser's choosing. If that isn't enabled we will request Roman provide a one time manual transfer of the debt balance to the seller's account (and will provide compensation for time spent). If neither options are possible we will pass through any payments received to a Bitcoin address provided by the purchaser. While the third option is the least attractive, Tangible Cryptography LLC is a trusted member of the Bitcoin community and our services like FastCash4Bitcoin rely on our unblemished company reputation. We feel this makes us a low risk counterparty in any debt sale.
The purchaser is entitled to any and all repayments made as of the date of the sale. Tangible Cryptography LLC will provide a signed bill of sale (PGP signed or physically signed and scanned). Tangible Cryptography LLC will retain no claim on the debt, nor hinder the purchaser in any legal action taken against Bitfloor, Inc to compel repayment.
Asking Price: 140 BTC (70% of face value)
Open to reasonable counter-offers.
On edit: title edited to indicate sale is complete.
Similar offers to buy or sell the "On Hold" debt, or relevant discussion, can be made below. |
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Bitcoin Foundation Launches To Drive Bitcoin's Advancement by Jon Matonis The Bitcoin Foundation launches this week to accelerate the global growth of bitcoin through standardization, protection, and promotion of the open source protocol. As a nonprofit corporation and neutral forum for collaboration, the Bitcoin Foundation follows the successful model of open source bodies like the Linux Foundation and the Tor Project.
[...]
In addition to individual membership, the Bitcoin Foundation provides a way for corporate enterprises from all industries to participate in the expansion of the bitcoin network and platform.
[...]
The Bitcoin Foundation mission leads to the early specific goals of financially sponsoring the efforts of the core development team, funding core infrastructure such as a test network and a DNS seed node, publishing a set of best practices for bitcoin integration, coordinating responses to business and media inquiries, and organizing an annual bitcoin conference with the first one being held in Silicon Valley.
[...]
Initial board members include Gavin Andresen (@GavinAndresen), Mark Karpeles (@MagicalTux), Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis), Patrick Murck (@VirtuallyLaw), Charlie Shrem (@CharlieShrem), and Peter Vessenes (@Vessenes). - http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/09/27/bitcoin-foundation-launches-to-drive-bitcoins-advancement/ |
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A Recap of Mega-Corporate and Government Attention on Bitcoin This Past Year As a result of the secretary of the Central Bank of Finland publicizing that bitcoin is legal to use in Finland, many businesses have seized the opportunity to accept bitcoin. The legal concept of e-money in Germany applies only to instruments that ultimately derive from legal tender currencies, and so Bitcoin is effectively classified as a commodity. Brazil’s [CVM, securities regulator], ordered the administrator of the 'Grupo de Investimento Bitcoin' to suspend what the CVM considered to be an illegal investment fund [which accepted funds only in bitcoins]. Congressman Ron Paul had a subcommittee meet to explore the concept of parallel currencies. [...] Although Bitcoin itself was mentioned only briefly, the hearing provides clear evidence [that the] monetary landscape is changing. NH State Rep Warden asked the Deputy State Secretary if [accepting bitcoins for campaign donations] was acceptable, the Secretary said yes [with restrictions]. A job posting by Lockheed Martin, an American global aerospace and security company with strong ties to the US military, asking for a “Counter Threat-Finance Analyst [with] knowledge of emerging alternative and mobile payment methods (Bitcoin, Secondlife, etc) desired. - http://bitcoinmagazine.net/a-recap-of-mega-corporate-and-government-attention-on-bitcoin-this-past-year/ |
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I know this forum board exists generally so that external news about bitcoin is referenced in one place, but not every blog post from a Bitcoiner would be a good fit here and not every press release from a Bitcoin vendor would go here. Bu this is an article about a business development and is well written so I believe it is appropriate to post in this board (i.e., if the same article were on any other news source it would get posted in this board.) So .. Ogrr, with 3611 users currently, will be merging in 14643 users of MMOExchange, creating a new combined community over 18000 users strong.
MMOExchange users will also gain access to the key feature that makes Ogrr what it is: Bitcoin integration.
Ogrr originally launched last December when Jesse Powell, then using the trading forum d2jsp, was scammed for 20,000 units of d2jsp’s centrally managed internal currency, 'forum gold'. - http://bitcoinmagazine.net/ogrr-merges-with-mmoexchange-quintuples-userbase/ |
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Looks like Josh Sankey took a page out of @TheRealPlato's book and is making his way from NYC to LA with no cash, simply bartering something that he feels strongly about. In Plato's case the barter currency was Bitcoin. In Josh's case it is ... bacon! Seriously ... bricks of bacon. Except this Josh dude has thousands of them to trade! Oscar Mayer.has backed his trip. http://www.baconbarter.com/ Though I didn't yet see in his list of requests any Bitcoin, that doesn't mean he's not looking to do a trade! He's almost halfway across the country, but hopefully someone enroute will get a trade in! It won't be the first bitcoin to bacon barter, as that happened previously at least once, at PorcFest a couple months ago:  And this is for real bacon, not the code word <whisper> bacon</whisper> discussed previously. But it would be neat to see a trade like this made. Josh can be reached: - https://twitter.com/baconbarter - https://www.facebook.com/OscarMayerAnyone? |
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Libertopia is an annual festival of peace, freedom, music, community and ideas that will change the World. San Diego CA Oct 11-14 2012 - http://libertopia.org - https://twitter.com/libertopiafest @LIbertopiaFest - http://libertopiafestival.wordpress.com/Speakers: - Stefan Molyneux (Freedomain Radio), Master of Ceremonies - Johann Gevers (CEO Monetas, building Open Transactions) - Trace Mayer (Run To Gold, and frequent contributor here on BitcoinTalk forum) - Doug Casey (Casey Research) - Jeff Berwick (Dollar Vigilante, and host of Anarchast) - Richard B. Boddie - Ernest Hancock (FreedomsPhoenix.com) - Anglea Keaton (Producer of Antiwar Radio) - J. Neil Schulman and dozens more: - http://libertopia.org/speakers-2/ |
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US Central Command Wants Counter-Terrorism Finance Analyst with Second Life & Bitcoin Experience to Deploy in Afghanistan The analyst will be tracking "Counter-Narco-Terror illicit finance", which means the applicant should know about Sharia-compliant banking and terrorist finance, along with knowledge of "emerging alternative and mobile payment methods", especially Bitcoin and Second Life, which both enable the (relatively anonymous) conversion of real money into virtual currency, and vice versa. (And notably, there seems to be a lot of trade between Bitcoin and SL's Linden Lab currency.) - http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2012/09/us-central-command-looking-for-second-life-bitcoin-expert.html |
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Bitcoin, being a digital currency that can be used anonymously, introduces challenges in numerous ways.
One area where using Bitcoin is a challenge is when there is a dispute regarding a payment. Traditionally, payment records are used to support a customer's claim during a dispute. If that payment was made using a credit card or bank transaction, that information can be verified from those external sources, if necessary. If the payment was made using cash, usually the customer is provided a receipt for the transaction at the time of purchase.
If I pay using bitcoin and my trading partner wishes to defraud me, there are ways to do so. For instance, I cannot prove the address that I sent my payment to was truly an address provided to me by my trading partner.
Another instance is where a counterparty claims to have sent funds to me where there's little I have available to prove that if funds were truly sent, they didn't end up at an address that I had provided.
So if in a dispute if the two parties aren't cooperating with each other, it essentially becomes a he-said she-said as to what actually happened.
This likely is a factor contributing to keeping merchants hesitant to start accepting bitcoins. The last thing a merchant wants is some dishonest person (or a disgruntled customer) claiming the payment was sent and then the merchant has a hard time coming up with a rock-solid defense that the funds were never really sent. The customer can't prove it was and the merchant can't prove it wasn't.
Will all payment requests need to be digitally signed? [Edit: i.e., using GPG or some other signing / certificate method?]
In the example above, if the customer requires the payment request to be digitally signed by the merchant then the blockchain gives evidence that that merchant's payment request was fulfilled. If the merchant provides a payment request only after digitally signing it, then a dishonest customer claiming funds were sent would be harder pressed to explain where the address came from (i.e., can't simply photoshop a screenshot, for instance).
Or does the fact that cash has many of the same problems mean that this isn't different enough to warrant any change in procedure?
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Buying Secrets, Buying Time: Mitt Romney’s Tax Returns and Bitcoin At this time, it should be noted that enforcement officials have not and may not be required to define Bitcoin as money to pursue these individuals. It is also plausible that these actions are motivated by a desire to manipulate the Bitcoin market price, regardless of whether or not this is a hoax. - http://theclag.org/buying-secrets-buying-time-mitt-romneys-tax-returns-and-bitcoin/ |
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Virtual currency gains traction
A global electronic currency that isn't regulated?
Sounds futuristic, but it's here now. Bitcoins are a bank alternative invented by an anonymous programmer in 2009. There's no global, central clearinghouse. Bitcoins are an experimental digital currency bought and sold via online exchanges. In the U.S., the Mt.Gox website is the main exchange, handling most dollar-to-bitcoin conversions.
One of bitcoin's best uses is for making global peer-to-peer payments, says Donald Norman, co-founder of Bitcoin Consultancy, an advocacy group in London. Why? Transferring bitcoins to someone else is usually free. "To send cash payments elsewhere, you usually have to pay fees," he says.
Still, bitcoins aren't for the faint of heart. Their price can be volatile, Norman says. And huge electronic-commerce sites don't accept them yet. "But bitcoins are gaining traction," he says.
- http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2012/08/28/six-cutting-edge-bank-alternatives/ |
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ECurrencyZone has apparently been offering exchange to and from bitcoins since they became Bitcoin-compatible in April. This service is also useful for using bitcoins to send remittance payments to India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Singapore. Bitcoins may be purchased with cash deposit at banks in these countries and in Nepal as well. Their list of exchange methods brings some very interesting opportunities. Here are some Bitcoin firsts: - EGOPay - This is a cash-only payment system (like Liberty Reserve, non-reversible) owned by Payza (formerly AlertPay). ECurrencyZone will cash out to EGOPay, and is the first exchange to do so.
- Cash deposit in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore - There is one other cash deposit method in India (Mr. Bitcoins) but that is only for a single bank (HDFC) whereas the list of banks ECurrencyZone has accounts at for deposit are many.
- Citibank global funds transfer - No other exchange accepts transfers from or cashes out to Citibank global funds transfers.
- Cash out as domestic bank transfer in India and Singapore. Cash out where cash is deposited to the recipient's account in both of those two countries as well as in Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Also, they take Liberty Reserve as funding for Virtual Credit Cards (VCC) [Edit: for a specific, limited use]. (Not sure why they don't take Bitcoin, maybe they just didn't update that page.) A VCC can be used for online purchases. It may also only be used for verifying a U.S. PayPal account or Payza account. (Yes, it is that easy. Which also helps to answer why PayPal sees so much fraud.) They also take Mt. Gox redeemable codes (USD) for any remittance transfer and for most other conversions. - http://www.ecurrencyzone.net/buy.php - http://www.ecurrencyzone.net/sell.php - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/ECurrencyZone[Just a caveat, they are an unknown so far here on this forum, and my cursory check online didn't find much on them either good or bad so any feedback with first-hand experience with them is welcome.] |
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I happened across this press release: July 16, 2012
NEW PAYMENT SYSTEM FOR LITEFOREX’S CLIENTS
LiteForex group of companies is offering its clients a new method of depositing into a trading account and withdrawing funds. Now you have the opportunity to use the Bitcoin system.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency using peer-to-peer technology.
This system has a number of advantages; the main ones are autonomous work with no centralized authority, high security, and absolute anonymity when making payments.
To deposit in the account via Bitcoin system, you need to be logged-in in the system.
Please be aware that withdrawals of funds are allowed only through Bitcoin in case you used this system for depositing in the account. I haven't used them. They are based out of Russia. They do claim to have representatives in a number of countries: - http://www.liteforexpartner.com/contacts/representativeHere is a profile: The largest Forex the broker of Russia, known low deposits for beginning traders. - http://www.pro-master.org/en/forex/liteforex/reg.htm |
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The Bernie Madoffs of Bitcoin? As virtual trading heats up, promises of profits skyrocket - http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/15/3243200/bitcoin-ponzi-schemes-savings-and-trust"I think any 'investment' that promises low-risk high-interest returns is almost certainly a scam. My general advice would be to avoid investing in anything that you don't understand," Mr. Andresen told The Verge in an email. "That includes Bitcoin! But what's this all about? The Bitcoin Project will be making a major announcement in September that should contribute some stability, he said. Still, he predicted things will continue to be exciting in the world of Bitcoin with "continued controversy and chaos."
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