LocalBitcoins.com is sponsoring a motorcycle trip throughout Africa. The idea is to find an willing exchanger (Bitcoins -> Cash) from each country/city during the trip and blog about the experience. Therefore we are in an urgent need of exchangers, who would like to exchange bitcoins to cash in each country.

We need local contacts in the following African countries for an extremely interesting upcoming adventure. If you know anybody in these countries/cities, or if you are in them, please get in touch with us asap:

Morocco
 -Casablanca
 -Marrakech

Western Sahara

Mauritania
  -Nouakchott

Senegal
 -Dakar

Mali  
 - Bamako

Burkina faso
 -Ouagadougou

Togo
 -Lomé

Benin
 -Cotonou

Cameroon
 -Douala

Nigeria
 -Abuja

 Republic of Congo
 -Brazzaville

Democratic Republic of Congo
 -Kinshasha

Angola
 -Luanda

Namibia
 -Windhoek

Bostwana
 -Gaborone

South Africa
-Cape Town

To contact the motorcycler (Borja) directly to set up an exchange: borjaserra@hotmail.com
To set up an exchange advertisement: https://localbitcoins.com/advertise/
If you have any problems setting up an ad for your local place, msg me here.

It is time to have an another hackathon! We organize it this time near Helsinki, Finland.

Hackathon - people gather together at one place, hacking, programming, brainstorming, developing and launching a product in one weekend!

Meet other skillful technologists. Form teams. Share ideas. Execute.

Also if you are a designer/marketer/any other skill set, please come. Some projects have need for diverse skillsets

LocalBitcoins.com will sponsor refreshments etc.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/215318135290614/?fref=ts
Web site: http://www.bitcoin-hackathon.com

Welcome!

Example:

Bistamp issues ripples in USD and BTC
mtgox issues ripples in USD and BTC

These can be withdrawn and deposited at will. Then these can be traded on free markets, without fees. And if the transfers are isntant, it is also very useful for those who do the arbitrage.

Looking at the colored bitcoins concept, I see immediately how this could be very useful: easy way for anyone to issue stocks, IPO's, collect funding, connect assets to real-world resources etc.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=106373.0

Howeve, I find the colored bitcoins concept not very smart way to do it, mostly because bitcoin isn't meant for this kind of trade. A more suitable way would be to create a new cryptocurrency which would allow creating these operations in that chain. Like namecoin - a special distributed database.

Anyone ever got similar idea or working on it?

[Bringing Money and Payments to the 21st century!]

Payments hackathon is a programming/hacking/freeform event we are organizing in Finland, 7-9 December. It is bitcoin-related, while the theme in broader scope is payments in general.

Tagline (would be nice to have under the logo): Bringing Money and Payments to the 21st century!

http://paymentshackathon.com/index.php/Main_Page

The logo will be competition, and the 5 BTC will go to the winner which I will decide on next Sunday (21th this month). To participate, just submit your logo to this thread.

Note that the event is non-profit, therefore we are not able to pay more than 5 BTC. However if you make great logo for us, you are also supporting the bitcoin movement

Edit: one additional rule - we might close the competition earlier if a suitable winner is found. So be quick!

Helsinki Payments Hackathon, 7-9 December: hackers will gather in Helsinki geekdom for a weekend of intense coding an collaboration.

This event is for the general public, and not only programmers. We actively welcome people with diverse skills like media or activism. There are many interesting non-programmer ideas around.

Refreshments and food are sponsored.

Free event. If you want to help the organizers, sign up to the facebook/google plus events, so we can better estimate requirements for space/refreshments.

http://paymentshackathon.com/index.php/Main_Page
https://plus.google.com/events/cbladfq3nbsrgt67phl18srghck
https://www.facebook.com/events/122012891283837/

Note: while the theme is payments generally, there will be lots of cryptocurrency enthusiasts, and many projects will probably involve bitcoin

PS. if you want to participate in any way, feel free. Msg me your email as a private message so I can add you to the wiki.

OK, I don't want to be nationalistic, but what about a little competition between countries in bitcoin adoption metrics?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitpay-exceeds-1-000-merchants-130000458.html

"As a result of the secretary of the Central Bank of Finland publicizing that bitcoin is legal to use in Finland, many businesses have seized the opportunity to accept bitcoin. Some of the rather unique merchants in Finland include a dentist office, a veggieburger restaurant chain, and a funeral service."

Skilled short-term speculators buy low and sell high, making the price more stable in the longer term. Stability makes the currency more useful.

Also speculators need leverage so that they can benefit from their skills. So a bitcoinica clone is needed. Anyone working on this, or are there already tools for these?

Hi,

The current state of bitcoin wallets for iPhone is problematic, since Apple seems to ban all the bitcoin-wallet Apps from app store.

Therefore I created easywallet.org, which is a hosted web wallet, which works with combination of Barcodes Scanner app, so you can send and receive bitcoins using QR code. The bitcoin "app" itself is just a bookmark, so Apple can't ban it.

https://easywallet.org/bitcoin_for_iphone

I need a video, in which you demonstrate using easywallet.org on iPhone, which can be put on youtube. Just a basic video, where you use the service, and demonstrate different functionalities.

- How to get started using it on iPhone (add the bookmark, install the barcodes scanner app)
- Demonstrate how to send bitcoins from device to device (instant transactions between easywallet.org instances)
- Demonstrate how to send bitcoins from mobile to random bitcoin address on internet
(copy bitcoin address, paste http://goqr.me/, send to that address using mobile)

Also additionally, if you are good writer, you can suggest new textual instructions to easywallet.org

Send the offers to mail support@localbitcoins.com or to this thread / private messages.

Recently we made a feature to release escrow using SMS message. This makes it possible to do bitcoin cash transactions without internet connection - less hassle.

We will offer 8btc for the best visualization of the following processes. Eg. stick-figure visualization, or anything else, you can use your imagination Extra tip will be provided if you invent something funny.

For the seller, the process is following

1. Offer
2. Fund the escrow, get SMS code & number, write them down to your phone
3. Meet & receive the escrow
4. Send the release SMS message
5. Both receive confirmation SMS (if they have provided phone numbers)
6. Everybody is happy, bitcoins transfered to buyer

For the buyer:

1. Offer
2. Take down or memorize secret escrow code
3. Meet & give cash
4. Receive SMS message from localbitcoins with the secret escrow code
5. Happy, bitcoins transfered

So there is 2 codes, one with you can release the SMS, and other by receiving it from localbitcoins you are sure that the escrow is released.

Rules: just put your result to this thread, if I find it satisfactory, I will send the 8btc to you. I can send it to only one person, so also speed matters

The Hackathon is over, thanks for everyone who participated in any way! Results etc below.

====

We previously had one Hackathon in Finland, and it was a success. Now we will have another in Berlin. Welcome!

Hackathon - people gather together at one place, hacking, programming, brainstorming, developing and launching a product in one weekend!

Meet other skillful technologists. Form teams. Share ideas. Execute.

Gain fame & prizes by winning the competition.

http://bitcoin-hackathon.com/index.php/Main_Page

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/320236274729013/

Just turn up!

Edit: and any ideas are welcome: just send me a message. Also if you want to sponsor the event in some way, contact me (for example, if you have a business you want to promote or something).

http://brontecapital.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/macroeconomics-of-chinese-kleptocracy.html

After reading the article, I really thought that bitcoin could be huge thing in china. Especially since the investment vehicles for the poor and middle-class are very limited (for example, they can't invest outside the country), it could really change things. Have to start translating my projects to chinese

[Features]

The site: http://localbitcoins.com/

Features

- tries to resolve your location based on your IP, but you can also specify zipcode/postal code search
- anonymous by default, no email addresses shown. You decide afterwards if you accept the offer, and of course you can use throw-away email.
- specify your price using equation - makes it easy to make competitive pricing strategy
- transactions and reputation system. collect reputation via confirmed trades. It is possible to do the transaction on-the-spot with just an one device. Also it is possible to do the transaction with SMS message - quick and easy.

How to run a bitcoin cash exchange for fun and profit - guide

We also wrote a short tutorial for using the site: http://localbitcoins.com/cash_exchange_howto

Features under development

- better process for buyers/sellers
- better UI

Any suggestions are welcome! Especially feedback how well the location works for you, eg. how well your location is determined with the IP, etc.

I spotted this today at one anti-banking facebook group: http://fthebanks.org/

I think that the market for that kind of audience (the anti-banking people) is really big, say what you say. How could we make bitcoin more approachable to those people?

Usually the "problems" they find with bitcoins are:

- No central control, "anarchistic"
- Limited supply causes hoarding and speculation
- Misunderstandings and myths, like "Bitcoin is a company", "Bitocin was hacked lately, right?", "I heard Bitcoin CEO Zhou Tong is only 17 years old"

These people usually don't like things such as automated trading, HFT, speculation etc.

The points to emphasize to these people IMHO:

- No banks needed, hold your own cash
- "Peoples money": everyone is equal pariticpant in the protocol
- Central Banks can't devalue the money by printing it (Don't use "goverment", because these people might favour strong goverment  )

Any thoughts?

I added a new feature to easywallet.org, which allows sending bitcoins to any email address. The process

1. when sending, a new easywallet instance is created with the funds, and the secret link is sent to the receiver
2. If the receiver doesn't visit the secret URL within 2 weeks, funds are returned to the sender wallet

This protects against email delivery errors, spam filters etc.

To create new wallet: https://easywallet.org/
FAQ: https://easywallet.org/faq

Also, first localization was added (finnish). I plan to add more languages. I'm most interested about countries/languages which could benefit from bitcoin most - 3rd world countries, eg. Pakistan. If anyone can help/give advice with this, send me a message!

Easywallet.org features:

- works like a native app with iPhone - easy and fast
- also works the same way in android
- Easy to use currency conversions
- Anonymity & privacy: new bitcoin addresses generated generously, and all bitcoins within the service are mixed => very good level of privacy provided, outsiders can't figure out your financial information from your purchases/transactions
(note: the static address and transaction history is enabled by default, because the wallet is targeted towards newbies. Turn these features off, if you want anonymity/privacy.)
- Fees are 0.002BTC per outgoing transaction, which includes bitcoin network fee. Transactions between easywallet instances are free and instant.

To create a new wallet: https://easywallet.org

FAQ etc.: https://easywallet.org/faq

Also includes simple API. I myself have a very simple setup, where my wallet has always at least certain amount of bitcoins in it (min 50 EUR, max 100 EUR, for example). If I receive too much bitcoins, or the exchange rate goes up, the cron script automatically deducts from my easywallet. Or when I spend too much bitcoins, drinking at Room 77, the script automatically reloads my wallet each hour.

https://github.com/kangasbros/Easywallet.org-tools

Coupon feature: https://easywallet.org/coupons

Perfect for re-selling bitcoins easily to your friends!

The security precautions:

- Encrypted everything: All private keys and other crucial information is stored on ecrypted truecrypt volumes. This protects against Linode-style attacks, because if you reboot the server you need to mount the devices.
- Tor: all outgoing connections are done via Tor. This adds anonymity.
- Key hashing: only salted hashes are stored in the database. If the attacker gets the database, it isn't possible for him to get the actual URL keys. This means also that the admin of the site can't figure out the secret URLs.
- Hourly backups.

Any feature requests, feedback, etc. very welcome!

I was thinking, if running an instawallet clone is a legal venture?

The risks:
- Money laundering charges, because this type of apps are very effective method for large-scale money laundering.

The other side:
- People are already running numerous exchanges. How could a very simple wallet web app possibly be in violation of any law?

My jurisdiction is Finland, EU, but feel free to discuss any area at all.

[Now we need to expand this meme to bitcoin users, bitcoin itself etc. Most creative submission will get one bitcoin from me (Deadline tonight 12:00 German time). Maybe more if I'm really impressed]

Lately there has been floating these new types of memes around, eg. "politicians seen by their parents, the public..." or "entrepreneurs seen by customers, investors,..." etc.

My favourite one by far is this (programmer myself):



Now we need to expand this meme to bitcoin users, bitcoin itself etc. Most creative submission will get one bitcoin from me (Deadline tonight 12:00 German time). Maybe more if I'm really impressed

Edit: The meme doesn't necessarily need to be this one, I can send bitcoins for other bitcoin related "art" as well 

I just recently moved to a new apartment, and I have to wait 2-3 weeks before they can setup my internet connection. That really sucks. Perhaps some of my neighbours would see the opportunity and earn a couple of bucks with his wlan router.

I will start developing it later when I have finished my current bitcoin projects. However that will take time, so be free to implement the idea 

Perhaps this could be even a profitable business, a company would offer the software/wifi routers and take a small cut from internet subscriptions.

To those that don't know, DD-WRT is an open source firmware for wifi routers, so additional functionality on top of it can be implemented easily. http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index

Hi, I wrote this little tutorial for those who are interested in developing bitcoin web apps with python/django

http://blog.kangasbros.fi/?p=85

This is my first time writing something like this, feedback welcome!

Edit: the github repo: https://github.com/kangasbros/django-bitcoin-instawallet