Dear Bitcoin Market Member,

Bitcoin has survived another year and it has grown significantly!  If you've been out of the loop, I recommend visiting the project headquarters at http://www.bitcoin.org/ .

To remain competitive, Bitcoin Market has a new website.  It will offer automated trading as well as the traditional escrow trading found on the old site.  However, the new website will use some different conventions.  One of the biggest, is a switch to a currency pair system.  For example, PayPalUSD will become BMBTC/PPUSD.  This means BTC (Bitcoins) will be deposited to and withdrawn from BM (BitcoinMarket) but USD will be deposited to and withdrawn from PP (PayPal).  More details on this system can be found at https://184.106.171.80/info/faq/#currency_pairs  .

On March 1, the Beta site will become available at https://www.bitcoinmarket.com/ and trading will cease on the old site.  The old site will remain at https://98.168.171.31/  to allow account access for Bitcoin withdrawals.  Due to changes in the login process, you will need a temporary password for the new site.  To request your temporary password, enter this email address at https://184.106.171.80/process/reset_password/  .  You may then sign in using this email address and your temporary password.

This will be the only email notice.  If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this message.

Thank you,
Dustin
dwdollar

Also, I'd like an invite if anyone has one.

There are currently 5.49 million BTC in circulation, and 1050 reachable nodes running. Statistically, we should each have a little over 5228 BTC. Which one of you took my share?

Just wanted to say that PayPal accidentally double-charged me for a small transaction, resulting in a $30 overdraft fee from my Credit Union. Then they did it again. Twice. The duplicate charges were reversed, but the damage was already done. To make matters worse, they did it A FORTH TIME today. I already asked my Credit Union to reduce the first set of fees, and they already told me they wouldn't do it again.



EDIT: In case anyone is wondering, this is the reason I'm selling my Bitcoins as fast as I get them. I need to pay $70 USD in fees to get my account back up to a positive balance ASAP.

I've been playing too much Mass Effect lately, and I got to thinking: "How would the internet work in space colonies, sans FTL communications?"

For colonies in orbit or on the Moon, latency would be a matter of seconds. Traditional HTTP protocol would still work, albeit slowly. I imagine most users would use an Earth-based proxy server that would fetch pages on their behalf and then compress the HTML and associated media into a single archive, thereby reducing the number of round-trips needed to load a page to just one or two.

For colonies on Mars or further out in space, latency would be measured in minutes. Nobody is going to want to wait that long for an HTTP connection to open, so a second, local caching proxy would be needed. Requests for static pages would be served from the local cache, which would receive regular push updates from earth. Dynamic content would be retrieved in much the same way as described in the previous scenario, though the extreme latencies involved would eventually force major content providers to setup localized mirrors.

Further out in space, latency would be measured in hours or even days (if humanity ever ventures beyond our solar system, communications could indeed take years). All traditional internet protocols would be utterly useless at this point, which is where Freenet comes in. Each town would have a powerful server node with many Terabytes of storage containing highly compressed copies of the most popular pages. When a page is requested, the node would follow standard Freenet protocol to retrieve it, and then store it locally for future reference. The pages would then be re-retrieved and the local copies updated regularly.

I have a Google AdWords account with $74.45 USD in it that I don't really need. Make me an offer and I will use that money to run your Ad. I'll even manage the campaign and write the keyword list for you. email/PM/post here if you're interested.

Much in the same way that a shiny penny is "worth" more than a corroded one, would you prefer freshly-generated bitcoins?

A coupon code good for $50 towards your next facebook advertising campaign. Anyone interested?

Ghostery is a browser plugin that detects and optionally strips Javascript intended to track your browsing activity, similar to noscript, but better.

Drugs are illegal, porn is NSFW, and gambling is a scam. Is there anything that can be done to reduce the impact of these things on the reputation of the community without outright banning their discussion? Perhaps a no-rules subforum not indexed by search engines and "not affiliated with the project" could be added?

[EDIT: I really messed up the organization on this one, so I deleted the poll and rewrote this post.]

EDIT: I really messed up the organization on this one, so I deleted the poll and rewrote this post.

It seems to me that most people in the Bitcoin community are Rightist Libertarians, some to a more extreme extent that others. I'd like to do an informal survey of the politics here so as to see if the impression I received is accurate or the product of a vocal minority. Please choose the description in the poll above which best describes your political beliefs, using the chart below as a reference. If you are unsure about where you lie on the chart, please take this quiz. To start, I am a staunchly leftist libertarian, which means I believe in socialism so long as it does not interfere with personal or political freedoms.

I wrote this after trying to explain Bitcoin to my mom. Brackets indicate a link to be added later. Suggestions welcome.

EDIT: I, the original author of the following document, hereby declare it free from all copyright, so that it may be modified and redistributed openly by anyone for any purpose.

What is Bitcoin?

   Bitcoin is a free (as in speech and as in beer) program that allows you to securely and anonymously send money over the Internet – without paying any fees.

Why would anyone make something that useful and give it away for free?

   Bitcoin's creator original Satoshi Nakamoto believed in the principals of [Free Software]. He felt the need for something to exist, so he made it. Now he shares both the software and it's underlying code with everyone, so that others may learn from and improve upon his work.

How do I use Bitcoin?

   First off, download the program from the [project website]. Once you have it installed, you can get your first 0.05 BTC for free from [Bitcoin Tap], and then purchase more at [an exchange]. Now open the program, click send, and enter an address and amount. You will receive Bitcoins automatically when they are sent to you, even if your computer is off.

How does Bitcoin Work?

   Think of a single Bitcoin as a large sheet of paper watermarked with a serial number. To send a Bitcoin to someone, you write their name on the paper, sign it like a check, and then post a copy in a public location. They can then resend it to someone else, and so on.

Wait, I thought you said “anonymously”!

   Although every transaction is publicly visible, it is in most cases impossible to trace a Bitcoin address back to an individual. Also, you may create a new address for yourself at any time.

Does this mean Bitcoins aren't divisible?

   Not at all! The actual process if far more complicated than that (and automated). Rest assured that your Bitcoin transfers are accurate to 8 decimal places.

What stops the same coin from being sent to two people?

   Because every Bitcoin user keeps a log of every transaction, this would be noticed immediately, and only one person would actually get the money. To be safe, don't assume you have actually received a payment until it is marked with at least 1 confirmation.

What is Bitcoin Mining?
   
   The Bitcoin network has no centralized infrastructure, but rather depends on the contributions of individual users to function. You can contribute to the network be checking generate Bitcoins and [forwarding a port], and you will be [paid modestly] for doing so.

Where are my Bitcoins stored?

   On the your hard drive. Make sure to backup frequently! Alternatively, you can place them in a [wallet service] for safe keeping and easy access from other computers.

Hey, I though you said “without paying any fees”!

   Transaction fees are entirely optional and often unnecessary. You can, however, specify a fee to pay from the option menu, which usually results in your transactions clearing faster.

Why are addresses so long?

   Addresses are randomly generated so as to preserve anonymity, and lengthy to ensure security. Use the address book feature to keep track of them.

How long does it take so long for transactions to clear?

   A transaction will register almost instantly, but to prevent double-dealing and other deception, it must be verified at least once before being considered complete, and six times before being considered confirmed. One verification takes approximately 10 minutes. Far better than the 3-5 days for a check, huh?

[Pay With PayPal.]

Hi, all. I have been running a Bitcoin miner for a while, but haven't really contributed to the project in any other way. I decided it was my turn to give back, so I spent the better part of my Saturday writing a simple Bitcoin exchange in PHP. I don't have very many coins to sell, but I am generating more at a rate of about 100/month. Additionally, I would greatly appreciate it if some of you would stress test the system by doing stupid things and/or intentionally trying to abuse it, and discretely inform me of your results. I am open to any suggestions, and will be giving rewards. There are more details on the site. Pay With PayPal.

EDIT: Some bugs resulted in several incomplete transactions. Those affected have been refunded and given a few BTC as compensation. The problem has been resolved, and the exchange is open for business.