The Demise of BitPak

About three weeks ago, I received notification that BitPak, the first Bitcoin wallet for iOS, had been removed from the Apple App store.  I had not been given any reason why, just a simple electronic notification that it had been done.  I was traveling at the time, and did not have the time to contact Apple to inquire about this.

About a week later, someone from Apple called me on the phone to let me know that BitPak had been removed from the App Store.  The guy on the phone sounded like a nervous teenager.  I asked him why this had happened, and he said "Because that Bitcoin thing is not legal in all jurisdictions for which BitPak is for sale".  I inquired as to which jurisdictions Bitcoin was deemed to be illlegal in, and he told me "that is up to you to figure out".  I asked him which laws Bitcoin violated, and again, he replied that "that is up to you to determine".  I told the kid on the phone that he has in fact told me nothing and was most unhelpful. 

Unfortunately, my other business ventures are taking up all of my time and resources, and this I no longer have the time to deal with this.  I would have continued BitPak development had the app stayed in the store, but with it gone, I see little point.  I had been working on a revision which would have put the block chain in the cloud.  That development has now ceased. 

So I am willing to pass this on to whomever may be interested in picking BitPak up and doing something with it.  I have put a significant amount of money intogetting BitPak developed, and I have not come close to recoupign that investment.  If someone has a commercial idea for BitPak, I'll happily sell it for a royalty.  If not, I'll post the code somewhere with an opensource license.

I still believe that the most logical place for a Bitcoin wallet to reside is on the mobile phone.  it is extremely unfortunate that Apple has chosen to take this stand.  I know that there are people working on dedicated dongles to overcome this issue.  And maybe that is the way this will play out.

Feel free to contact me if you have any idea for BitPak.  And thank you for the support I received while it was live in the store.

All the best,

-Rob Sama

My app has been approved.  BitPak, the bitcoin wallet for iOS is now available in the app store http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bitpak/id489248095?mt=8&ls=1.  This is the first wallet for iOS approved.  I would appreciate all the support I can get for it.  The app is priced at $3.99, or roughly 1BTC.  A video and FAQ is available at www.bitpak.com. 

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has about it.

Thanks

So I started a new site, Bitcoin Decals, at www.bitcoindecals.com.  I have two stickers for sale there: an oval international bumper sticker that says "BTC" and a transparent window decal saying "Bitcoin Accepted Here".  I created this a a means of teaching myself how to use Bitcoin in an e-commerce environment, and also to make a little money.  The stickers are very high quality.  I'm only accepting bitcoins for payment:1 BTC for the oval sticker, and 1.5 BTC for the window sticker.

Right now I'm only accepting domestic orders (United States), until I figure out what to charge for International shipping.  I'm open to any suggestions you may have there.

New alternative currency in use in Brazil:

After school and on weekends, Carlos Leandro Peixoto de Abril sells ice cream made by his grandmother from a stoop alongside the family's cinder-block home.

Instead of Brazilian reais, though, the 11-year-old prefers payment in capivaris—a local currency emblazoned with the face of a giant rodent. Bills in hand, Carlos then heads to a local grocer and buys ingredients, at a special discount, for another batch of grandma's goods.

The capivari circulates only in this dusty, agricultural town 60 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. The money is an effort by the town, one of the poorest in southeastern Brazil, to encourage its 23,000 residents to spend locally.

Ten months after introduction of the capivari—named after the capybara, a pig-sized rodent common in a local river—the currency is lifting fortunes of local retailers and gnawing holes in the pockets of consumers. Capivaris pay for everything from haircuts to restaurant tabs to tithing at churches. The mayor even has plans to open a "Capivari Megastore," where local artisans and growers can showcase wares.

Entire article available here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904583204576542851688284590.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_editorsPicks_2.

I was wondering if there was a Bitcoin Consortium set up akin to the Wi-Fi consortium, to test and validate products and ensure adherence to the standard.

It occurs to me that in the future, with private companies issuing Bitcoin wallets and other forms of software, that users will want some assurance that these products work.  Especially given that these companies or their products will be holding real money.  I know there's been a lot of talk about that guy who supposedly lost $500k in Bitcoin recently, but that's nothing compared to what could be lost if say a large private provider of wallet services or software just absconded will all the cash deposited.  I know that accounting firms offer things like SAS 70 audits, but that doesn't seem to fit the bill here.  Any thoughts?

Why exactly owns the Bitcoin logo?  Does anybody?  Some type of seal that is easily recognizable and is trademarked would be essential to making such a consortium work. 

Anybody out there have experience trading there?  It looks like their "buy it now" price is $15/BTC.  That seems way cheap.  What's to stop someone from engaging in a massive amount of arbitrage?  Is that price for real?  Is Bitcoin7.com for real?

Thanks

I posted the following on my blog, but I figured that people here would be able to point me to the answers more easily.  I apologize in advance if this has been discusses ad nauseam already.


Bitcoin utilizes something called elliptical curve encryption in its processes. I remember back in the day, attending Bob Hettinga’s “Digital Commerce Society of Boston” meetings, and hearing this discussed then That was about 15 years ago now. I’m not a cryptographer, but from what I remember, elliptical curve encryption offered extraordinarily strong encryption without requiring an extraordinary amount of processing power. It was envisioned at the time that this method of encryption would be extremely useful in mobile devices.

My question is simple: Has the NSA broken elliptical curve encryption yet? And if they have, would they have it within their power to destroy Bitcoin?

If the NSA has broken elliptical curve encryption, they surely wouldn’t announce such a capability. But it does mean that if the US Federal Government wanted to, they could crush Bitcoin in seconds flat, inflating it beyond measure. By doing so, they would announce to the world that they can break elliptical curve encryption, but maybe that would be worth doing in certain circumstances.

But put aside the NSA for a moment. Theoretically, there is also what I would call the MC Frontalot problem as well. In his song, Secrets From The Future, he writes:

You can’t hide secrets from the future with math.
You can try, but I bet that in the future they laugh
at the half-assed schemes and algorithms amassed
to enforce cryptographs in the past.

The point being, that even the best cryptography today is likely to be broken, even by brute force, at some point in the future. So my question is, how is the Bitcoin development community planning to work around the MC Frontalot problem? IPhysical currency gets recalled and re-issued with new anti-counterfeiting measures added periodically, but what's the equivalent for Bitcoin?  I assume somebody has already asked this question, but I thought I’d ask it here in any event.