[The current auction began at 2014-10-25T00:00:00 UTC and ends at 2014-10-26T00:00:00 UTC. As of this update, there are no bids!]

Hi, folks, Walter Rothbard here, Bytecoin enthusiast.

I need to build my stock of Bytecoin, so I'm going to be running one-day auctions, selling 1.0 LTC per day to the highest bidder in Bytecoins.

The current auction began at 2014-10-25T00:00:00 UTC and ends at 2014-10-26T00:00:00 UTC.  As of this update, there are no bids!

After that another Litecoin goes up for sale, taking bids for 24 hours, terminating at 00:00:00 UTC.  I'll do this for several days, selling 1 Litecoin per day.

Place your bids by posting on this thread.  I'll contact the winners by PM with an address to send payment, after which I'll send the Litecoin.  I'll update this post to declare the winners and keep track of payment status.  Bids for each day's new auction can begin immediately at 00:00:00 UTC.

Make sure you understand where you are relative to the UTC timezone so you can understand when each auction starts and ends.

I've conducted a set of auctions like this before, if anyone wants to see the history:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=184481.0
I also did a similar set of auctions for BBQCoin:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=184482.15

For more information about Bytecoin:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=169559.0

To download the Bytecoin client:
http://goo.gl/e5rrcV

Past winning bids:
2013-04-25T00:00:00Z 8.5 BTE Buffer Overflow
2013-04-26T00:00:00Z 8.5 BTE Buffer Overflow
2013-04-27T00:00:00Z 18.0 BTE shakezula
2013-04-30T00:00:00Z 21.453 BTE shakezula
2013-05-01T00:00:00Z 50.0 BTE WishIStartedSooner
2013-05-02T00:00:00Z 50.0 BTE WishIStartedSooner
2013-05-03T00:00:00Z 50.0 BTE WishIStartedSooner
2014-10-21T00:00:00Z 5.0 BTE m0gliE
2014-10-22T00:00:00Z 1.0 BTE smoothaces
2014-10-23T00:00:00Z 9.9 BTE smoothaces
2014-10-24T00:00:00Z 5.0 BTE smoothaces
2014-10-25T00:00:00Z 8.0 BTE martinw79

Confirmation means reducing the likelihood that a transaction can be double spent down to an acceptably unlikely level.

There is a lot of math in the Satoshi whitepaper about how the likelihood that a transaction can be double spent reduces with each block the transaction is buried under.  All of this math is based on average 10 minute blocks and the parameters with which Bitcoin was implemented.

If you change all those parameters, like the timing of the blocks, you will also be changing the difficulty of rewriting the block chain and thus changing the likelihood that a transaction can be double spent.

You cannot merely make blocks faster and claim that your blockchain has "faster confirmations."  You have to do the math!

I'm renting out my signature for a week for 10.0 BTE - send me a PM if you are interested.

Put (nearly) whatever you like in my signature.

For more information about Bytecoin:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=169559.0

http://www.alcor.org/blog/androklis-polymenis-donates-1-million-nxt-alcor/

Androklis Polymenis, a digital currency entrepreneur, has recently donated 1 million NXT coins to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation located in Scottsdale, Arizona.

After Alcor converted the 1 million NXT coin donation by Polymenis to bitcoins (and then to dollars) the end result was an approximately $46,000 donation to Alcor. The donation will be used to enhance marketing efforts, special projects and continued day to day operations at Alcor.

I thought it might be interesting to collectively track and discuss this information over time:

http://coinmarketcap.com/

Right now the top ten coins are:
Bitcoin
Litecoin
Peercoin
Namecoin
Quark
ProtoShares
WorldCoin
Megacoin
Primecoin
Feathercoin

Very notable also is currency #11: Nxt, which has risen 87.41% in the last 24 hours, according to the site.  This is especially notable given that nearly every other currency has fallen in lock step the last 24 hours.

I'm particularly interested in watching the top ten over time.

At the moment, I can't say that I fully understand why all of these are on the list.  I understand positions 1 through 4.  What has Quark got that is making it number 5?  Feathercoin had a huge surge of interest earlier this year, so I can see why it is still hanging around.  And Primecoin is very unique and I can see why it is there.  ProtoShares is an interesting idea, although I'm not sure it deserves to be #6.  What about WorldCoin and Megacoin - why are they up there?

Edited to add:
This links shows XRP as well:
http://coinmarketcap.com/ripple.html

Up 218% in 24 hours?

http://coinmarketcap.com/

Playing with the self-moderated option.

Walter L.J. Rothbard, anarchist and perpetual latecomer to all that is good in Bitcoin.  Freedom lover.  Altcoin enthusiast.  Dinosaur.

Some personal reading recommendations:
The Uncle Eric Books by Richard Maybury (especially Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? and Whatever Happened to Justice?)
What Has Government Done to Our Money? by Murray Rothbard
Time Will Run Back by Henry Hazlitt
For a New Liberty by Murray Rothbard

And a viewing recommendation:
The Philosophy of Liberty

When I view a profile and look at the post count - does that count subtract posts made on forums I ignore?

I thank the U.S. Senate for the attention they have brought to Bitcoin today, and the resultant price rise.

Now - any word on getting all the various shuttered Bitcoin businesses back in business?  Did the Senate lift a finger to help Tangible Cryptography?  To bring back BitInstant?  To get MtGox's bank accounts working again?

Or was the whole plan here to first crush the original Bitcoin startups with stringent financial regulation, then declare Bitcoin "legitimate" so that established players could take over?

Since Bitcoin news is heavily involving China these days, it's a great time for me to present some articles to my fellow anarchists (and anyone else who is reading along) about how anarchy could be implemented as a solution to a knotty problem in China.

I read these articles a few years ago with little understanding of the issues involving Taiwan and mainland China.  I came away with an understanding of that issue plus some great insight into how anarchy should look in practice as people are given the true right to govern themselves (not the fake right called Democracy).

A brief introduction to the China/Taiwan issue: The Republic of China was founded in 1912 and governed mainland China until 1949.  The RoC withdrew to the island of Taiwan.  Mainland china was then governed by a different, Communist government called the People's Republic of China.  (Do not get the RoC and the PRoC confused.)  Today while some feel that Taiwan should be "independent," this idea is offensive to many.  It is offensive to those that feel that the RoC is the proper government of all of China.  It is offensive to those that feel that the PRoC is the proper government of all of China.  There's a lot of tension between Taipei (Taiwan/RoC) and Beijing (PRoC) - and the issue may seem strange to those with a western idea of "independence" that conflicts with the view of "One China."

Bevin Chu presents the real solution: market anarchism: let each person decide who they want to govern them.  It could be the RoC, or the PRoC, or some other institution.

http://archive.lewrockwell.com/chu/chu13.html

Chu was a bit hard to follow but I felt that the effort to read his articles were rewarding to me because he really did depict anarchism well.  I moved from an understanding that called for the abolition of government to an understanding that if everyone were simply granted the right to secession at an individual level we would have what we need.  I've sometimes seen this called panarchy, or individual sovereignty.

Chu's other articles were pretty good as well:
http://archive.lewrockwell.com/chu/chu15.html
http://archive.lewrockwell.com/chu/chu10.html
http://archive.lewrockwell.com/chu/chu11.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/author/bevin-chu/

I stumbled across this project on a Google search for something else:

http://bitcoinscrypt.org/

This doesn't seem like a good idea to me, as I've never agreed with the arguments that oppose ASICs and want to try to prevent it with Scrypt.  I appreciate Scrypt coins for the diversity they provide, but I don't agree with the fundamental argument made.  I also don't agree with the unsupported assertions that confirmation times are faster when blocks are faster, and I doubt they've got any math to back up that assertion.

The real reason I'm posting is this:
http://bitcoinscrypt.org/?p=91

They claim they aren't allowed to mention their coin on "BTCTalk forum."  Are they talking about this place?  What's the real story here?  Is it just that, like any other altcoin, they would have to keep the discussion in the alternative cryptocurrencies forum?

This is why I am involved in Bitcoin:

The economy is not a machine.  It is an ecology made of biological organisms -- humans.  It is far too complex for any government to fully understand or improve, but governments try to do this.  They play God.  The result is bankruptcies, unemployment and poverty for millions of good people who have never harmed anyone.

The Clipper Ship Strategy, Richard J. Maybury

It may be 1 year, 10 years, or 100 years before Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency reaches general acceptance.

In the meantime, if you are mining and saving Bitcoin, you are participating in the premine.  If you are buying and saving Bitcoin, you are funding the premine.

By the time Bitcoin reaches general acceptance, some number of cryptocurrencies may also reach wide acceptance.  If you are mining and saving, or buying and saving, those coins, you are participating in the premine.

There's nothing in the world wrong with premining.  We are all doing it.

At the next Bitcoin halving, I intend to launch a new altcoin.  The code will be near-identical to Bitcoin's, with minimal changes made to accommodate a new address prefix, new ports, new genesis block and block chain, and possibly a reasonable starting difficulty.  The genesis block will contain the hash of Bitcoin block 420000.

This will be around 2016-11-12T05:06:56Z, so I should have plenty of time to get the project started.

I'm tentatively calling this coin Thirdcoin, Bitcoin itself being "Firstcoin" and Bytecoin being "Secondcoin."  I might be interested in suggestions for new names, although I've always liked the idea of a triangular coin.

Thirdcoin will have a testnet.  Not sure when I plan to launch that.

I'm open to suggestions, or to somebody else doing the entire project.

ThirdCoin github repository is here: https://github.com/wRothbard/ThirdCoin

Comparing the JSON RPC commands available in Bitcoin and Bytecoin, I've noticed that Litecoin and its many clones seem to still be running an old version of this API.  Are there any plans to bring the newer features from Bitcoin into these coins?  It sure looks like it would make it easier to program certain applications.

Altcoins: because maybe a global transaction register doesn't scale so well after all.

[I]

April 9, 2013: evil hoarders (people who have a higher demand for Bitcoin than I think they should have) are driving the Bitcoin price up.

April 11, 2013: evil exchanges (people who didn't invest as much in the quality of their exchange platforms as I think they should) crashed the price of Bitcoin!

April 12-May 1, 2013: Evil speculators (people who buy and sell Bitcoin when I think they should not) and evil manipulators (people who bring fiat currency into Bitcoin when I think they should not) are driving the price of Bitcoin up, down, and all over the map.

May 3, 2013: Evil alt-coin creators (competitors who create similar products that I think they should not create) are driving the price of Bitcoin down.

I would be so much better off, if other people did not have the freedom to do these things that I wish they would not do.  Therefore, these people must be evil.

[hates the state]

I confess I've never logged onto Silk Road, but of course I keep up with what news I hear.

Yesterday I got to read this fascinating selection of quotes from Dread Pirate Roberts:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/29/collected-quotations-of-the-dread-pirate-roberts-founder-of-the-drug-site-silk-road-and-radical-libertarian/

DPR, we are kindred spirits!  It sounds like you are my favorite type of person, one who hates the state and would push the button.  Moreover, it sounds like you're a great teacher.

So, if you're out there reading somewhere, DPR, I salute you!

Does github have any statistics showing which github-hosted projects are the most forked?

I'm curious how Bitcoin compares!

[0.00075000]

http://exchange.bytecoin.in/

2013-04-30 10:29:03    buy    0.00075000    155.00000000    0.11625
2013-04-30 04:32:29    buy    0.00455000    0.61000000    0.0027755
2013-04-30 04:30:32    buy    0.00056500    2.00000000    0.00113
2013-04-30 02:15:19    buy    0.00055000    4922.00000000    2.7071
2013-04-30 02:15:19    buy    0.00055000    2.00000000    0.0011
2013-04-30 02:14:51    buy    0.00052500    78.60009150    0.04126504
2013-04-30 02:14:27    buy    0.00052500    5000.00000000    2.625
2013-04-30 02:14:04    buy    0.00051000    75.00000000    0.03825
2013-04-30 02:14:04    buy    0.00051000    155.31215945    0.0792092
2013-04-30 02:13:44    buy    0.00051000    2000.00000000    1.02
2013-04-30 02:13:27    buy    0.00051000    75.00000000    0.03825
2013-04-30 02:13:13    buy    0.00051000    75.00000000    0.03825
2013-04-30 02:12:52    buy    0.00050000    17.13045000    0.00856522