Last trade 0.95 USD.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703551604576085803801776090.html

Maybe we can help push the dollar along on the road to extinction. 

The Chinese president also said that U.S. Federal Reserve policy was fueling inflation in emerging economies.

Time for more yuan<->BTC exchangers?

I wonder if someone could explain how to insure privacy/security when using freenode/#bitcoin-otc.  Freenode doesn't allow me to use webchat via Tor.  If I register a nick, can others still view my IP?  Do I need cloaking for that?

I was wondering if the community had thoughts on what is the best way to come up with BTC/USD, BTC/EUR, etc. exchange rates for pricing goods and services on a merchant site.  I wrote a little script to grab the LAST trade from MtGox:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require 'open-uri'
btc_per_usd = 0.0
quote_str = open('http://mtgox.com/code/data/ticker.php').read
quote_str = quote_str.gsub(/["{}]/,'')
quote_str = quote_str.gsub(/ticker:/, '')
quotes = quote_str.split(',')
#puts quotes
quotes.each {|q| btc_per_usd = q.delete('a-z:').to_f if q[/last:/] }
#puts btc_per_usd

There are several problems with doing it this way.  The last trade could have been unusually large or small in volume and not indicative of the true current exchange rate.  Also, it doesn't make sense to continually update the exchange rate in real time because the price in BTC of items could fluctuate during the order completion process.  I'm thinking that the rate should be set once per day from a cron job by taking some sort of average of the previous day's MtGox transactions.  Any ideas or scripts you'd like to share?

I wonder what the community thinks about having a "snazzy" Bitcoin merchant directory?  Something like the site below:

http://www.boiseonlinemall.com/online-shopping-mall-directory.php

This is not to deprecate the work that others have done putting together merchant lists (notably http://www.bitcoin.org/trade and http://bitcoinshop.com), but I'm just interested in making Bitcoin look a bit more mainstream.  This merchant directory could also be a revenue stream for someone by charging for banner ads and/or upgraded listings.  I would love to do something like this, but I'm already busy with several other Bitcoin ventures.  I see that someone already has bitcoinmall.com registered.  Any takers for this project?

http://bitcoinwatch.com/

The value of BTC continues to rise, too.  Or is it the USD continues to fall? 

I am offering a service whereby I am selling wireless refill minutes for BTC.  I will offer minutes for most carriers (U.S. initially), including the carriers listed at the end of this post.  The service will be manually processed in the beginning, but if there is sufficient demand I will find a way to automate it.

How to buy minutes:
1. Send an email to bitcoin@nym.hush.com, indicating your carrier and what type of refill you wish to purchase.  Example: Virgin Mobile $20 top-up.
2. I'll reply to you by email with a quote and a Bitcoin address.  Your price will essentially be the face value of the card converted to BTC at the latest MtGox price.  There is no exchange fee, commission or sales tax.
3. When I receive your payment via the Bitcoin address which I provided in the email, I will email you back with the PIN.

Here is a list of the carriers supported:
Airlink Mobile
Airvoice Express
Airvoice GSM
Alltel Wireless
AT&T Go
AT&T Feature Card
Cricket PAYgo
H2O Wireless
I-Wireless
Jump Mobile
Locus
Movida
Net10
Omni Prepaid
Oxygen O2 GSM
Page Plus
PlatinumTel
Ready Mobile PCS
Safelink Wireless
Simple Mobile
STI Mobile
T-Mobile Pay As You Go
T-Mobile Monthly
Tracfone
Tuyo Mobile
Verizon Prepaid
Virgin Mobile

Questions?

I think it would be fantastic if there were more Chinese users of Bitcoin.  First of all, the lessons learned by fending off attacks from the Chinese government would strengthen the Bitcoin network.  Secondly, having Chinese merchants online would expand the Bitcoin economy and give us more things to buy with our Bitcoins.  Thirdly, it's a step in the direction of freedom for the Chinese people.

I'm going to start the ball rolling by offering a 50 BTC bounty for translating the official Bitcoin FAQ (http://www.bitcoin.org/faq) to Chinese.  Please consider adding to this bounty or create one for another task.

Edit: Since we already have a Chinese FAQ, this project will be for translation of the wiki (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/)

Translation of Bitcoin wiki to Chinese (simplified):
Cryptoman   50 BTC
jgarzik    100 BTC
-------------------
Total      150 BTC

The problem: Bitcoin allows you to make anonymous or nearly-anonymous payments, but you must reveal your identity if you wish to have physical goods delivered to you in exchange.

Solution: The anonymous dropbox depot.

How it works: XYZ, Inc., an above-board firm, establishes a physical point of presence (depot) in a metropolitan area.  The XYZ facility has a number of lockboxes, each with a digital keypad lock, the combination of which can be changed remotely by the firm's computers.  On the front of each lockbox is a digital display, also remotely reprogrammable, which indicates the box number.  You wish to order an item from NewAmazon, which accepts BTC as payment.  Here is the process:

1. Visit XYZ's website and obtain a unique box number.

2. Place your order on NewAmazon, pay for it with BTC, and specify the shipping address as:
   XYZ, Inc.
   123 Main St.   
   Box 1234 (the number you got from XYZ's website)
   Your city, etc.

3. In a few days, XYZ receives the package from NewAmazon.  They select the correctly-sized lockbox, depending on the size of your package, and email you the cost of receiving the package, based on their previously-disclosed rate schedule.

4. You send XYZ the fee in BTC for receiving your package.  You can also keep BTC on account with XYZ to avoid this step.

5. XYZ places the package in a lockbox and emails you the code.

6. You go to XYZ's depot and look for the box with your number on the digital display.  You enter the combination which was emailed to you and retrieve your package.

7. If you fail to retrieve the package within the agreed-to time period, the lockbox code is automatically changed.  You must now forward XYZ additional BTC to pay for rent of the box.  When you do, a new code is emailed to you.

Thoughts?  A solution in search of a problem?

Does anyone know of a source of prepaid phone equipment or refill minutes sold for Bitcoin?  As many of you may be aware, in most countries prepaid phones can give you the ability to have an anonymous telephone number.  Refills can be handled online through purchase of a PIN, but online transactions are not anonymous when using PayPal and credit cards.  It seems like a natural fit for Bitcoin.  One could even sell equipment with a commitment to destroy or encrypt shipping records.