This is just one reason why we must educated people to 100% stay away from ripple and stick with Bitcoin.

The Ripple payment network is facing criticism this week over revelations about the fungibility of its assets. It’s come to light that Ripple gateways — the onramps and offramps of the network — have the ability to “freeze” user funds at will. Furthermore, Ripple Labs has already used its influence to convince Bitstamp, a prominent gateway and exchange, to freeze $1 million worth of funds belonging to Ripple’s departed founder Jed McCaleb

Gateways have two methods of freezing funds, each intended for different scenarios. The first is dubbed a “global freeze.” This would cease all trading activity of every IOU issued by that gateway across the board. The global freeze is intended for cases when the gateway’s wallets have been compromised, or when it wants to migrate users to a new issuing account, according to a bulletin by Ripple Labs.

The second method is more targeted. The “individual account freeze” enables the gateway to cease all trading of one person’s funds, preventing them from sending the IOU’s to another person or gateway on the Ripple network. This method is intended for users with “suspicious or unusual account activity,” users who have violated the gateway’s terms of service, or in the case of a dispute resolution being handled by a third party.

http://bitcoinist.net/not-decentralized-ripple-freezes-1m-user-funds/

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-06/skynet-almost-sentient-hfts-start-trading-bitcoin

As WSJ reports, some of the U.S.’s biggest proprietary HFT traders say they see potential for big profits in trading bitcoin.

We are about 1 day away from 2/3 of bitcoins being mined that will ever exist (14,000,000 out of 21,000,000).

A day of celebration similar to that of the next halving event


https://blockchain.info/charts/total-bitcoins?timespan=all&daysAverageString=1&scale=0&address=

A few months ago I stumbled upon a website that gathered information on whole "wallets" by linking addresses together that are used to sign the same transaction. Now I can't seem to find it for the life of me. Can someone please share the websites URL again for me?

Hello, does anyone know if the Wallet32 developer for android visits these forums and/or does he already have a thread? A quick forum search did not show one for me..

I'm trying to request that he add support for the Trezor via an OTG cable for android devices.

I see that his email is: ken@bonsai.com on google play but I prefer open discussion if anyone knows what forums/threads he hangs out on

http://www.coindesk.com/masked-card-lets-online-shoppers-pay-anywhere-bitcoin/

Online privacy company Abine has announced the launch of Bitcoin Anywhere, enabling Coinbase wallet holders to make bitcoin purchases at any e-commerce site

Problem that I see with this is giving them access to your coinbase account. Instead they should provide a QR code and wallet address that you send the correct amount of bitcoins to then it creates the gift card. Otherwise if that company gets hacked they could potentially withdraw your coinbase bitcoins, potentially force your CB account to buy more bitcoins through instabuy and send them and they know exactly who you are via coinbase so not really anonymous. I suppose they want/need to know who you are for AML/KYC purposes in the USA

When most anti-bitcoin people talk about bitcoin all I hear is how the price is not stable and it can't be used everywhere yet and not everyone uses bitcoin yet. To me this just shows how much growth potential there is with bitcoin. It shows me how much added value bitcoin will/would have with massive acceptance and usage. To me the fact that the bitcoin economy is growing and it continues to get new developments (think Bitcoin 2.0 world) shows me that it's on the right path to increase in adoption and usefullness.

Why do people see "doomed to failed, because it's not already big", while I see "Has tremendous growth potential, because it's not already big nor the defacto world currency".

All opinions, insight etc is GREATLY appreciated. I seriously have the hardest time wrapping my head around this one.

Bears feel free to flame-on, I'm greatly interested in what you all have to say along with the bulls.

[interest rates can’t fall — the zero lower bound isn’t a theory, it’s a fact]

It would be awesome if we make this a community effort to find the worst predictions/statements that well known economists have made. Lets consolidate these in one place for everyone to see

Paul Krugman, New York Times

Remember, interest rates can’t fall — the zero lower bound isn’t a theory, it’s a fact, and it’s a fact that we’ve been facing for five years now.

--Negative interest rates are starting most notably in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and in a few corporate bonds such as Nestle

Paul Krugman, The Red Herring

"The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in "Metcalfe's law"--which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants--becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's.

--The internet has provided countless jobs (think companies like Google), it opened the gateway for 'at home' stock traders and high frequency trading...I could never list all the impacts the internet has had on economics

Franklin Raines (Fannie Mae CEO) Speech to Congress in 2004

These supbrime assets are so riskless that their capital for holding them should be under 2 percent.

--Then the government rescued Fannie Mae in 2008 during the subprime loan crisis

Joseph Cassano (AIG) in 2007

It is hard for us, without being flippant, to even see a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see us losing one dollar in any of these Credit Default Swap transactions.

--Also required government intervention in 2008

Donald Luskin in 2008

Anyone who says we’re in a recession, or heading into one—especially the worst one since the Great Depression—is making up his own private definition of 'recession'

--The Recession began that very year.

Ben Bernanke in January 2008

The Federal Reserve is currently not forecasting a recession.

--Recession began that year. The Fed either lied to us or they are terrible at analyzing the economy.

Hey guys I'm looking to get rid of my extra PayPal funds.  I'll trade my $15 worth of PayPal for your $15 worth of bitcoin. Obviously I've been around here for a long time and there is very little risk with me. You will have to send first unless I already know and  trust you. Post or PM me. Thanks.

If your old school my name is Lyth0s on the WoT and I have one documented paypal transaction without any reported problems.

I'll try to keep this thread updated with the latest important economic troubles of the fiat world with small commentary and how it relates to bitcoin when appropriate.

Hello, I've been on the freenode for cryptocrypt and can't seem to find anyone on it. If you are already a member of cryptocrypt.org can you please either send me an invitation code or get a site admin or goat to hook me up with an invitation code?

Thanks for your help!

Intel just recently announced that they intend to issue a computer-on-a-stick called the Compute Stick...The Windows 8.1 version of this comes with 1.33GHz Intel Atom processor, 32GB of storage, 2GB of RAM, support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, HDMI output and a microSD port and will retail for $149....Basically, it's cheap and portable computer and it can easily hold a Bitcoin wallet or even run a full Bitcoin node....One look at it and ordinary Bitcoin users might immediately think of using it for cold storage or as a cheap way to run a full Bitcoin node to support the network. The Compute Stick could alternatively be used to create paper wallets.

http://cryptocoineconomics.com/content/intel-compute-stick-and-bitcoin



The linux version will only be $89 and could serve as a great way to increase the number of full bitcoin nodes running. They don't have a lot of internal space, but it would be easy to expand with either USB storage or adding a micoSD card to it.

Can someone quickly give a non-finance guy the layman's definition for these terms?

Base Money: Actual USD in circulation?
M1: Checking/savings account, travelers checks?
M2: M1 + other assets like stocks/bonds?

[19psYZCYpe1QMdhTr8gDR6cNy8JUyJm685]

Hello,

So I've been on my soap box for a few weeks informing anyone who will listen about Bitcoin, bitcoin wallet apps (mainly mobile), its use case with remittances especially to the philliapines via coins.ph etc. So far this week I've got 5 newly interested parties, who now all have bitcoin wallets with small amounts of bitcoin. All of which are planning to "read up more about it" and seem enthusiastic. 1 person who is now using coins.ph/bitcoin to make their monthly remittances. And 1 person who has now also got their significant other into bitcoin using some of the coins I gave them.

To spark interest in the technology and show people how easy it is to use I've been giving them $3 each when they setup a new blockchain.info wallet app on their phone. Once they realize that there is no middle man, the transactions are super fast and have almost no fee, they are all hooked.

I plan to continue my efforts to raise bitcoin awareness this year and plan to give $3 to all new bitcoin users that I meet in person.

With this being said if anyone would like to contribute to my efforts I am accepting donations here: 19psYZCYpe1QMdhTr8gDR6cNy8JUyJm685


I will be continuing my efforts whether or not I receive any financial assistance in doing so, but some crowdfunding of increasing the amount of bitcoin users would be a great addition to my efforts.



If you'd like to "donate knowledge" I'm also interested in some of the main methods on which you get people interested in bitcoin? And how often can you convince people to download wallets and obtain bitcoin? Also any ideas of where people could immediately spend their $3 of bitcoins on? I always tell them about eGifter, Gyft, Newegg, Overstock, but usually $3 is too small of a purchase so they just hold on to them and I encourage them to send bitcoins to their other family members.



I'll be making occasional updates on newly acquired bitcoin enthusiasts

http://www.geekcipher.com/featured/fdic-operation-choke-point-could-bitcoin-be-the-answer/

The U.S. House of Representatives committee on oversight and government reform released a staff report on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) involvement in the “Operation Choke Point” on December 8th, 2014. This report details how the FDIC is bullying payment processors and banks to stop working with many legitimate services that the FDIC doesn’t approve of, such as ammunition, payday loans, pornography, coin dealers and dating services.

It is probably about time for these industries to start looking into cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Monero for payment processing.

So I just signed up for ChangeTip: https://twitter.com/Lyth0s/status/548360650741657600

I plan on making a few small tips to large businesses and entrepreneurs to see if it sparks any interest or response from them. Let's see how it all goes

If they don't claim the tip, does it just stay in my ChangeTip account? And does the tip I send them ever expire if they don't claim it after xx days?

[DestroMemo.com]

DestroMemo.com

I would like to introduce you guys to DestroMemo.com. DestroMemo.com allows you to store encrypted messages that will be destroyed after 1 successful view or 3 incorrect decryption attempts with plans to add more features in the future.

Purpose
I have noticed that many websites tend to keep private information stored in their database or in backups of the databases for a VERY long time. The problem here is that if your forum account or website ever gets hacked then the hackers now have the information regarding BOTH what you purchased AND your address that it was sent to. This is also true for many online marketplaces, such as anonymous versions of eBay. Also if the NSA or other government entity ever gains control over or hacks these sites, once again that private information is readily available to them.

My service allows you to disconnect the link from what you are discussing/purchasing on the forums and the private information that you would like to give to the other forum/marketplace member.  

Example 1: Person A wants to buy a bar of gold from Person B via an anonymous bitcoin auction site. The deal is made as normal on the auction site and then person A sends person B a DestroMemo link with the password to decrypt the message. Person B then reads the DestroMemo and sends the package to that address. Upon reading the DestroMemo it gets destroyed, never to be on the internet again. 6 months later the auction site gets hacked/raided and the hackers try to find out what address the bar of gold went to that they know Person A bought. They can see the DestroMemo link and password that Person A sent to Person B on the auction site, but when they visit DestroMemo the encrypted message no longer exists. If DestroMemo is then hacked/raided that information is still no longer available and thus there is no connection between Person A's bar of gold and the address it was sent to.

I'm sure there are many other use cases for DestroMemo and I will list the most important ones as time goes on.

There is only a 0.0015 Bitcoin fee ($0.50) to store your encrypted message on DestroMemo, so it is quite economical for all transactions to use it as well as whenever you want private information to only be accessible by the receiving party.

All comments/suggestions are greatly welcomed!

Hello guys.

I have these bitcoin for sell.

"Bitcoin Accepted Here" stickers are $2.50 each (including shipping) and are about 1.5 inches x 4 inches and made from very high quality UV protected vinyl. Also have "OpenBazaar" Stickers $2.50 each, which includes shipping.




PM me if you're interested.

[Lyth0s Escrow Service]

Lyth0s Escrow Service


Hello everyone,

I'm Lyth0s and I've been on these forums for over 2 years. I am now starting my own escrow service to help facilitate transfers of both physical and digital assets for the bitcoin community.

My fees are only 1% of the trade. If you'd like anything escrowed please just PM me or post in this thread.




Here are some escrows that I can help facilitate:

Physical Trades: Such as Bitcoin miners, computer parts, other products
Digital Trades: Such as cryptocurrency swaps, domain name transfers, steam trades, activation codes
Holding funds: collateral, gambling, bets, signature campaigns
ICO/IPO's for coin launches

If you have other ideas just let me know.


Trust

I have conducted many trades and have all positive trust ratings. In the past I have conducted 1000's of USD a week in digital game currency trading. On these forums I also run give bitcoin discounts on Gaw purchases and I have conducted free bitcoin miner giveaways all with good outcomes.

My giveaways went smoothly: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=850112.0  (currently paused while looking for new mining options)

My Bitcoin payouts (Gaw Discounts) are going smoothly: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=750909.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=66213 <--Hit "Show Ratings" all are positive

I'll remove this feedback below as I receive feedback on my escrow services
predilection 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-12-02   0.00000000      Bought on GAW, gave me a rebate! Transaction was quick! Thanks!
metal494 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-11-29   0.00500000   Reference   Successfully paid me on time, and for the correct amount for all my purchases, NICE!
mearylll 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-11-27   0.00000000   Reference   Delivered the 1MH ZenCloud MultiHashlet to me as promised (as a winner from his giveaway). Thank you!
fbarcelo 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-11-15   0.00000000      Successfully paid me on time, and for the correct amount, for the November Signature
Just Magicmann 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-11-11   0.00000000      Won a 1Mh ZenCloud MultiHashlet in this user's giveaway. Thanks a bunch!
Mizuoppai 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-10-18   0.00850000      Promptly paid the discount rebate from purchase of miners through their affiliate link in their summary.
fbarcelo 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-10-10   0.00000000      Successfully paid me on time, and for the correct amount, for the October Signature
demonz 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-10-02   0.03767700   Reference   Received 1.5% discount purchasing from gaw miners. Very easy transaction!
ryukamiho 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-10-01   0.00080000      Used his discount link at gawminer shop that if you buy any hashlet you can get 1,5% of the btc you paid back from him.

I just got it in my wallet.
coinrance 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-10-01   0.00000000      Order via his referral link, received correct payout on the same day.
SkrapR 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-28   0.00000000      Used GAW Miner Discount twice payed the next day nice one!
CaptainTE 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-27   0.00000000      I bought some items from GaWminers using the link he provided. He promised 1.5% back in BTC on the total purchase amount. He sent me back 1.5% BTC without problem into my account within the day.

He keeps his word!
Unacceptable 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-27   0.00739000      Great guy & great deal !!! Thanks for the 1.5% discount/refund !!!!!!!!!!!
khornate 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-19   0.00060000      Provided me with btc cashback from a purchase, a pleasure to deal with.
tkari 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-19   0.00700000      success. thanks
Cheeli0 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-19   0.00000000      Delivered the promised 1.5% back from using the link in his signature.
Axiste 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-17   0.00000000      Used his link to buy Hashlets (I used a Credit Card)
True to his word, I he sent me back 1.5% of the purchase price in BTC.
almondtoast 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-17   0.03343085      1.5% GAW Miner referral returned back, thanks!
msarro 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-16   0.00000000      Placed an order with his ref link, paid out the next day. Thank you!!!
Nevril 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-16   0.00000000      lyth0s gave me the GAW Hashlet discount as stated in its signature after just one day. Absolutely trusted.
Vortex20000 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-16   0.01060000      Paid $5 for article writing service.
DARKANGEL6415 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-14   0.00300000      i got the btc he promised me for using his link will use again
gabrielrcouto 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-14   0.00000000      GAW Miner discounts, paid me on the same day!
Rookie41 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-11   0.00000000      Bought cloud miners through his referral link for which he promised a "1.5% return in BTC". He kept his word and paid very fast (even paid a little more for answering a few quick questions). Excellent person to do business with.
sonxhous 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-11   0.00400000      I purchased GAW Miners' Hashlet via the link lyth0s provided, and he promptly rewarded me with 1.5% of the purchase price in bitcoin sent to my wallet. Great deal! Thanks.
yan7181 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-10   0.00000000      i invested again, slightly more this time after the confidence gain from the Lyth0s. and again, he responded very fast, and will invest again.
yan7181 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-08   0.00000000      i did received back 1.5 % in btc
trustworthy guy
Liberator 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-04   0.00065400      True To The Word
SamuelN 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-03   0.00000000      Paid my promised 10% btc back for hashlet purchase in hours
crocko 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-09-02   3.00000000      As promised I received 1.5% ref back commission for the purchase with his discount code.
dirtbikerr450 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-08-30   0.00101700      Very good gave me the money on time
BitCoinPokerBro 0: -0 / +0(0)   2014-08-29   0.01000000   Reference   Lytho's provided 1.5% ref back commission for purchasing through his referral link which was paid within a week. Vary easy to work with.
kimosan 4: -0 / +4(4)   2014-08-21   0.00000000      Purchased a couple Furys from him. I sent BTC first, no escrow and he shipped them out fast. Easy transaction.
TookTheRedPill 1: -0 / +1(1)   2013-09-18   0.00000000      Shipped him my Jalapeno in exchange for $240 through paypal, had no issues. Very polite and helpful as this was my first transaction through Bitcoin Talk

Could someone please explain to me how escrow services work on BTCTalk? I assume the following:

1. Buyer and seller agree on price and item
2. Both send me a PM on agreement/terms of the sale
3. Buyer sends me the BTC
4. Seller ships item to the Buyer and gives me the tracking info
5. Buyer likes items received and then tells me to release his funds to the seller
6. I send the seller the BTC


Now that sounds all fine and dandy for transactions that work without problems. It also works well if the buyer never sends me the bitcoin payment (as I can verify this).

BUT what happens if the seller sends the item to the buyer then the buyer states the item was received damaged or the item is not the item they purchased etc....how does the escrow obtain reasonable evidence that the seller did indeed ship the correct item in good working order?

If you're already performing escrow services on BTCTalk I would greatly appreciate your response as well.

Thanks guys.