Just a short snippet regarding the recent businessweek article. Online gambling sites adopt Bitcoin in an effort to circumvent the law Beb Jerset 2013-01-04 http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/4/3834810/us-online-gambling-sites-turn-to-bitcoinentire text: Online gambling sites are turning their attention towards Bitcoin, with BusinessWeek describing how one site is letting US users pay with the digital tender following a huge poker site crackdown in 2011. Money never hits US banks at all, allowing the sites to operate without fear of reprisal from the government. Even the payouts are quicker — what normally takes up to 12 weeks with a US bank transfer takes only a matter of hours with Bitcoin. The new use for the decentralized currency will no doubt raise some legal questions, but for now the online US gambling community has found its workaround. |
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Keiser Report: Hierarchy of Fraud (E388) Host Max Keiser talks to John Perry Barlow, founding member of the EFF and board member of the Freedom of the Press Foundation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcV7nQtEXnA&feature=youtu.be... In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to 'the Thomas Jefferson of the internet,' John Perry Barlow about his new website, pressfreedomfoundation.org, started with John Cusack and Daniel Ellsberg and dedicated to circumventing financial blockades and, thus, enabling donations to such groups as WikiLeaks and others dedicated to transparency and journalism. ... Bitcoin first mentioned at around 21:40 John Barlow:
We will accept donations in bitcoin...
Personally I think Bitcoin's got a ways to go before I consider it to be a reliable and fungible currency.
I think that it's somewhat subject to manipulation.. but it is actually reaching a point where I think it's an increasingly reliable currency,
but you know a really reliable currency has to be credible in all venues.
You can't just have this sort of... Unix weenies thinking that Bitcoin is good.. you gotta have the people down at the grocery store thinking it's good - and we're a long ways away from that.
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Wired, Tired, Expired for 2012: From Stellar to Suck Michael Calore 2012-12-24 http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/12/wired-tired-expired/?pid=4182&viewall=true... Longtime readers will be familiar with Wired/Tired/Expired, our snarky cultural scorecard that began appearing in the magazine way back at the dawn of Wired. (Actually, it started as Wired/Tired, and Expired was added in 2002.) Not content to let a good idea sit on the shelf, we've asked product reviews editor Michael Calore, the office's most opinionated loudmouth, to weigh in on the topics most deserving of this year's honors. Actually, on second thought, maybe we should have let this sleeping dog lie. ... Payments WIRED Venmo It's a simple tool for sending money to your friends. Venmo is mobile-centric, so it's built to work over SMS. There are also simple apps for iOS, Android, and the web. Best of all, if you tie it to your regular debit card, there are no fees involved. Once you establish a tit-for-tat friend relationship with somebody, you can send them money just by typing a quick text. Venmo is simple, elegant and awesome. This year, I used it to pay a $5 bar tab, split a $32 charge for a pizza delivery, and buy a $1,000 bass guitar from a friend. And did I mention there are no fees? TIRED PayPal PayPal is getting long in the tooth, and it needs to innovate. Better systems for mobile micro-payments between consenting adults have emerged. Also, NFC-based credit systems like Google Wallet and POS systems like Square are planting flags in PayPal's potential growth areas. It's still popular on Craigslist, eBay (duh) and other near-anonymous person-to-person markets, but PayPal needs to unlock the social component of swapping cash if it's going to avoid getting passed. EXPIRED Bitcoin At the height of its popularity, Bitcoin was trumpeted as a viable alternative currency for the internet age, a monetary system engineered to prevent theft, gaming, and criminalization. Then came the malware, the black market, the legal ambiguities and The Man. Today, you can't even use it to buy Facebook stock. ... Note that iTunes also got an 'Expired' - so there's no point complaining to the author that Bitcoin still exists and is running fine. He knows - but just doesn't care. |
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How Washington went social in 2012: the top 10 moments in politics and technology Jolie O'Dell 2012-12-26 http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/26/politics-social/... 3. Romney’s tax hack When a hacker managed to get hold of Mitt Romney’s tax returns — documents more than a few Americans were eager to see — he held them for ransom in a most unconventional way. No, not a bucket of fried chicken. The story: “In the letter, the hacker threatened the release of the tax returns to ‘all major news media outlets’ if the $1 million Bitcoin ransom is not received (the hacker also politely suggested people should ‘Google it if you need a lesson on what Bitcoin is’). The person also set up a bit of a race for Romney: first to pay the sum will receive the goods.” ... |
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Fear Not Deflation Jon Matonis 2012-12-23 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/12/23/fear-not-deflation/... Deflation in the context of bitcoin has been cited frequently in the popular press as a detriment to its widespread adoption. ... Krugman could not be more wrong. Deflation is not a problem in the traditional monetary system and it will not be a problem in the bitcoin economy. ... |
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Bitcoin’s Potential Impact on the Global Gaming Industry Steven Stradbrooke 2012-12-21 http://calvinayre.com/2012/12/21/business/bitcoins-impact-on-global-gaming-industry-ao-vid/One of the more popular discussion panels at the recent Social Gaming Asia Summit 2012 featured BitInstant’s Erik Voorhees and Roger Ver discussing the Bitcoin ‘crypto currency’ and its potential impact on the global gaming industry. The dynamic duo wowed attendees with their description of a payment system that offered both transnational convenience, security and anonymity. CalvinAyre.com’s roving reporter Angelia Ong was sufficiently intrigued to corral Voorhees and Ver for an in-depth followup. ... |
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I just want to take the opportunity to say 'pussies!'. Hopefully they'll come round and get out from under the shadow of the EFF's lawyers. |
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2012 Year in Review – Top 10 Gambling Related Stories (Part 1) Hartley Henderson 2012-12-20 http://www.osga.com/artman/publish/article_10661.shtml... 4. New Virtual Currency for Wagering: Since the passing of the UIGEA and the difficulty getting payments to and from offshore gambling sites, many in the industry believed that the only real solution for U.S. facing gambling sites would be for the offshore sites to coordinate their own type of banking system or use a currency that can't be seized by the DoJ. In 2012 that currency became a reality for some offshore sites. Bitcoin has been around for a few years but the complexity of how the system works and the huge fluctuations in valuation have made it unfeasible for most. Last year Switch Poker decided to offer Bitcoin as a payment option and numerous bitcoin only sportsbooks, poker rooms, bingo sites and casinos became quite large and profitable. Seals with Clubs, Strike Sapphire and BC Casino had revenues that were as large as many offshore casinos and poker rooms and Satoshi Dice, which only launched in April of 2012 has processed over $15 million in bets, averaging over $50,000 a day in wagers and the projections just soar from there. There are indeed some limitations to bitcoin, but the currency can be bought and sold like any other currency and all transactions are open source and are verified by bitcoin users making it impossible for customers to contend they didn't actually place a wager. Consequently charge backs don't happen. Most importantly all bitcoin transactions are anonymous so it would be impossible for the DoJ to determine if a transaction has taken place in the United States, Europe or even Antarctica. Winnings are always paid back in bitcoin from the casinos and the customers have to use one of many bitcoin currency exchanges to sell it back for real American dollars. Consequently the banks can't block the transactions under the UIGEA because payments don't come directly from an offshore gambling establishment but rather from a bitcoin trader. And using a currency exchange isn't illegal under the UIGEA or any other American law. For that reason after my article was written about bitcoin on OSGA.com, numerous U.S. facing offshore operators sent emails asking for more information on the currency and ways that they could incorporate it as a payment method into their existing sportsbooks, casinos or poker rooms. ... |
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15 More of The World’s Most Dangerous People, Selected By You Robert Beckhusen 2012-12-20 http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/12/more-dangerous/... We’ve published our list of the 15 people most responsible for turning this world haywire. But 15 dangerous folks weren’t nearly enough, you told us in your comments, your tweets, and your Facebook mentions. So here’s a second helping of dangerousness, all thanks to you. ... Satoshi Nakamoto. The pseudonymous creator of the Bitcoin digital cryptocurrency has seemingly disappeared into the shadows, but his invention lives on with potential to disrupt the powers-that-be. What happens when crooks can move money effortlessly online, without ever being traced? We might soon find out. ... So satoshi didn't make the Wired editor's picks - but a Wiki Weapon project guy, Cody Wilson did: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/12/most-dangerous-people/?pid=1696(minus Bitcoin funding mention) |
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How geeks do charity: Use your GPU to churn out goats Todd Bishop 2012-12-20 http://www.geekwire.com/2012/geeks-charity-bitcoin-mining-give-goat/... CoinLab, a Seattle-based tech startup that focuses on the Bitcoin digital currency, has come up with a way for PC users to take advantage of their spare GPU cycles to raise money to buy goats for impoverished families around the world. Yes, real goats. This is not FarmVille. The software program is grounded in the mechanics of the Bitcoin system — in which units of the digital currency are generated in exchange for adding computational power to the Bitcoin network. ... |
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Fascinating to see the damage MtGox is doing themselves by the way they communicate(or rather - fail to) their AML procedures. My adventure in donating bitcoins to the Internet Archive A Bitcoin Adventure in Four Parts Brewster Kahle (digital librarian) 2012-12-19 http://blog.archive.org/2012/12/19/i-donated-bitcoins-to-the-internet-archive/... Last year, we received a few thousand dollars in bitcoin contributions. So far this year, Internet Archive supporters have donated 186 bitcoins worth U.S. $2,400 at the current exchange rate. ... Surprisingly the author still maintains an upbeat tone after this rigmarole... Ah well, we all know there is a fair way to go in terms of convenience/usability. |
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blockexplorer.com seems to be stuck around block 212404 over 300 blocks behind ?
My bitcoind and bitcoinwatch.com show we're past block 212735
Did I miss an announcement/discussion about this?
I'm surprised not to see any talk about this - as I know at least one android app uses blockexplorer for its data, and I assume other services depend on it.
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Single Bitcoin mention ALL CHANGE HAS CASH HAD ITS DAY? Adrian Lee 2012-12-18 http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/365599/All-change-has-cash-had-its-day-... It’s been revealed that the Bank of England is considering the introduction of new harder wearing and environmentally friendly bank notes. The arrival of plastic money, from as early as 2015, could mark the end of a 300-year tradition of using paper currency in Britain. Yet as part of a wider technological money revolution the idea of carrying any form of cash could eventually disappear altogether. ... In the nearer future the wallet, bulging with notes and plastic cards, could become a museum exhibit. In its place we’ll have virtual wallets on our computers and phones, which will allow us to see how much money they have in an instant. We will no longer spend cash but some form of e-money which can be paid with a wave of a mobile phone over a bar code. There’s already one form of digital currency, called Bitcoin. So far however no one has solved a big problem. What happens in this future cashless society when we lose our mobiles down the back of the sofa? ... |
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The Deep Web Tommy Gavin 2012-12-17 http://www.universitytimes.ie/2012/12/17/the-deep-web/... One of the reasons the site can operate with impunity is because the preferred currency is the Bitcoin, another indispensable service to the anonymous web user of distinction. Not reliant on a bank or government, Bitcoin uses a log across a peer-to-peer system, run by the people who use it. They are mathematically derived valued function that supposedly can’t be stolen because the user is embedded in the function from which they were derived. To generate them, you download a Bitcoin software client, which generates 36 character addresses or accounts to receive Bitcoin payments. The currency is stored on your computer in a “wallet” and you can send them to the wallets of others. The sender’s computer sends the information to the network, which validates the transaction. Due to the fact that the only information identifying a user is the Bitcoin address, the transaction is almost anonymous (though the transactions are recorded in a public log, so law enforcement could in theory use network analysis techniques to track down individual users). ... The typical tabloid response to the Deep Web is one of “ban this filth,” but nobody talks about banning paper to stop people printing child pornography. Even if something could be done about the anonymity and the hidden nature of the Deep Web, what would it be for? These are questions we need to think long and hard about, because things aren’t going back to the way they were. |
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Although this article mentions Bitcoin as a donation option - it seems it's not directly mentioned on the pressfreedomfoundation.org site. WikiLeaks re-opens donations under newly-formed Freedom of the Press Foundation New non-profit will build a support network for government transparency Joshua Kopstein 2012-12-17 http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/17/3774958/wikileaks-re-opens-donations-under-freedom-of-the-press-foundation... Backed by Pentagon Papers publisher Daniel Ellsberg, Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow and others, the group is channeling tax-deductable donations for Wikileaks and other organizations through PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and of course, Bitcoin as part of a new effort to "promote and fund aggressive, public-interest journalism focused on exposing mismanagement, corruption, and law-breaking in government." ... |
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Digital Currency Outfit Bitcoin-Central Makes Milestone Towards Becoming Like a Bank Kyt Dotson 2012-12-14 http://siliconangle.com/blog/2012/12/14/digital-currency-outfit-bitcoin-central-makes-milestone-towards-becoming-like-a-bank/Contrary to reporting this week (BBC), Bitcoin-Central did not gain the ability to act like an actual bank—but what they’ve gained is no less fundamental a milestone for a Bitcoin outfit. ... Bitcoin still growing up, but this is a giant leap towards broader acceptance ... If we see more exchanges similar to Bitcoin-Central take this step–combined with the APIs and financial services that court retailers and service providers—it’s very likely that more groups will start accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment and that will no doubt be a watershed event for the cryptocurrency. |
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