Difficulty usually uses a formula which averages hashrate since the last difficulty change. If a coin adjusts difficulty every two weeks and network hashrate was 2GH/s for 1 week, then .5GH/s for the next week, you'll end up with a difficulty reflecting a 1.25GH/s hashrate. In some cases, this averaging can lead to "difficulty death spirals" if miners pump and dump, where difficulty is too high for the network, leading to extremely long confirmation times, which leads to a lot of people abandoning the coin, which causes even more hashpower to leave the network until you can't get a block confirmed.

Because of the "difficulty death spiral" and some other reasons, a particular coin's difficulty may have other mechanics at play than what I went over. (for example, Bitcoin has a floor and ceiling on maximum % deviation from previous difficulty... I think it's 20%, maybe 40%. If hashpower quadruples for a couple weeks on Bitcoin network, difficulty will only rise 20%, not 400%. If hashpower then disappears and we're left with the original hashpower, blocks would take only two minutes over the target confirmation time, rather than 30 minutes extra)

I wonder if this news makes Peercoin devs cry. "We've finally completed our months-long process of converting this bold new idea into a coin. A grand vision made with heart. What's this -- A FUCKING DOG?!" Oh, well. Doge mining's been giving me some nice payout boosts on Middlecoin.

This obviously has no relevance to exchanges or merchants, but it may have implications for miners and full-node operators depending on how much they stretch the definition of "issue." I'd guess running a full node could be considered facilitating a felony (or Russian equiv.). Facilitating the issuance of Bitcoin, or receiving bitcoins issued.... Well, I guess they could probably stretch that to include everyone if they wanted (directly or indirectly increasing the market value of bitcoin, thereby indirectly making the facilitation of currency issuance more lucrative). Gosh - just imagine if a Russian merchant KNEW accepting Bitcoin would make the "facilitation of issuance" more lucrative... that's gotta be execution-worthy.

Pre-9/11 in the US, we used to call definition-stretching "legislating from the bench." We now call it "indirect pre-emptive terrorism inhibition." That could mean anything, of course.... 

5/5/12 update: Offer's closed until I quit a job. I'm not around often enough.

Want escrow fast? If you're the seller, follow this procedure:
1) PM me saying you'd like me to handle escrow for a transaction. If you think I may not accept it (see "unaccepted goods" section in "The short"), please give me some basic details of what you want to sell, first.
2) I will provide you a UNIQUE link to a Google form which looks exactly like this: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1RaU5FgYerUcee2LATXJdFlWogfWNZlFfeoT4spng1U8/viewform
3) Carefully fill it out and follow the instructions given upon submitting the escrow details. (don't forget to include me in the PM you send the seller!)
4) I will provide an escrow address and add transaction details to this sheet.

That's it. I'll be providing additional forms for services or non-tangible goods and unusual contracts within a couple weeks. PM if you need them immediately.

Info:
Escrow service is currently available. I may take up to 20 hours to respond to an inquiry, though it'll likely be within 3 hours if I'm awake. Please follow the instructions at the top of this thread to receive escrow service. If you need help or want clarification on something, please PM me - I don't bite. If you're finding the form inadequate, feel free to write up your own purchase agreement. If you do, know I need the a BTC address from the seller to release escrow to once the transaction's complete, both of you to PM me saying you agree to use me as escrow, and for the buyer to PM me, quoting the purchase agreement and saying he accepts the terms the seller has provided.


Fee: Free (tips appreciated)
Coins handled: BTC, LTC, DOGE, COYE (possibly others on request)
History (+ alt. contact info & tip addr): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Ao892S4MOoDZdFFTc0tFbWVxUTZFVzVOMWxzV3pkclE&gid=1
Arbitration: non-binding (either party may arrange for a third-party arbitrator in case they disagree with my judgment on a dispute)
Dead man's switch: Wife is able to handle any "work leftovers" in the event of my death and will be able to respond to communications directed at me.... unless she dies at the same time.
Coin control: Temporarily, no (unable to get a version of Armory to run reliably... watching for a solution)

Accepted goods: virtually everything physical, group buys (I've denied everyone who asked, but I'm cool with it so long as it isn't a pre-order), some non-tangible goods such as coin transfers, game codes, and hashpower contracts. I'm willing to handle escrow for certain raffles/contests. I'm willing to attest to the authenticity of certain information... for example, if you'd like to prove you live somewhere without sending over your documents to an unknown, I can look over the documents and attest to facts presented on the document.
Unaccepted goods: account transfers, pre-orders, most equity sales, fiat<->coin exchanges, and anything giving the slightest hint of being reversible.

Special services offered
Multisig -- provided through Casascius' Bitcoin Address Utility, multisig escrow is a little more labor-intensive for everyone involved, but provides insurance against me running off with funds or dying without a proper dead man's switch. This service is free.

Man-in-the-Middle -- I will allow items to be shipped to me for inspection and testing (if hardware) prior to shipping to the buyer. This strongly protects the seller from a buyer claiming he didn't receive what was advertised or that it was DoA. This is often cost-prohibitive as I require my shipping costs to be pre-paid along with an extra mandatory fee of $15 equivalent in crypto or cash for my time.

PGP-encrypted communications -- Available at request and free. I obviously will not handle escrow for illegal goods. No nukes!



What do you do, exactly?
I hold money and enforce contracts. Suppose you want to sell your iPod to someone who's never met you. The other person should not trust you unless you have a solid reputation. They will likely refuse to purchase your iPod unless they have some form of protection, which is where I come in. I will effectively give you my reputation. The buyer sends me coins, I tell you I've received the coins, and you would then ship them the iPod. The buyer receives the iPod, says it's fine to release escrow, and I then send the coins to you.

What happens if there's a dispute?
1) Either the buyer or seller disputes the other person's fulfillment of the purchase agreement. From the earlier example, let's say the buyer of your iPod says you didn't actually send the iPod, but instead sent an empty box.
2) When a dispute is stated, a "dispute window" opens, which breaks down as follows:
Day 1| I will ask both of you to provide as much evidence as you can supporting why you should receive the coins in escrow. I'll check as much information as I'm reasonably able to (for example, I'd check with a colocation company if a miner was allegedly sent from their facility).
Day 7 (or after you've both presented your case)| I will make a judgment on where I believe funds should go. I will then provide a deadline date 7-30 days (at my discretion based on case murkiness) in the future where I will execute my judgment.
Day 7, possibly up to day 37| Either of you may arrange and pay for a reputable third-party arbitrator to make a binding decision. I will simply hold funds until the arbitrator has made his decision. In case one involved party arranges and pays for an arbitrator and the other involved party refuses to have the case heard by the arbitrator, I will hold escrowed funds so long as I find the arbitration provider to be reputable and the circumstances are otherwise reasonable (at my discretion). In cases where the person refusing to have their case heard by the arbitrator has refused for at least 21 days, escrow will be released to the other person regardless of my original judgment.
End of dispute window| If no third-party arbitrator was arranged for by this time, I will execute the judgment I originally gave.

How thoroughly do you check information and analyze in case of a dispute?
Here is a partially-redacted example of a judgment write-up
(a)Facts & Escrow Contract Details:
1) On X Xnd, 201X, X ("buyer") contracted with X ("seller"), where the seller was to X for X bitcoins.
2) I accepted the escrow transaction and am currently holding X bitcoins.
3) The X X'd by the seller was to meet certain requirements specified by the buyer. Specifically, the X was to "X"
4) The seller was required to X the X "X"
5) The X was to be X'd "X" (X Xth, 201X)
6) I have not received any communication from the buyer since the contract went into effect.

(b)Second-hand Information:
1) Seller messaged me on X Xth, 201X saying "X doesn't communicate with me anymore."
2) Seller stated he/she completed Xing the X "2 weeks ago." (X Xrd, 201X)

(c)This matters because:
1) Contract implicitly should not remain outstanding after X Xth, 201X except in extraordinary circumstances. No such extraordinary circumstances were brought to my attention.

(d)It is my findings that:
1) Based on the evidence presented by the seller (a X to X which appears to be the X the buyer requested), he has fulfilled all obligations he is able to under the circumstances. The seller may not have fully complied with the buyer's requests, and may not have X'd X to the X. Without the buyer's input, I assume the seller has held up his end of the deal.
2) Because this contract has exceeded its implicit duration and the buyer has not responded to a message I sent X ago, I assume the buyer is indeed unresponsive.
3) The buyer, by not releasing escrow in a timely manner nor disputing the seller's work, has effectively breached contract.

(e)Based on my findings, I will act to:
1) Release the full amount of escrow (X bitcoins) to the seller fourteen days after this message is sent (this message was sent on X Xth, 201X) if the seller does not respond by the end of X Xst, 201X (US Eastern time) to either release escrow to the seller, present evidence that the seller has not acted in good faith and failed to uphold his end of the contract, or demand to use a third-party arbitrator.

I do not generally act as an arbitrator and try not to take escrow transactions where I may need to act as one when the situation is unclear. However, I believe I am acting in good faith to enforce the given contract in extraordinary circumstances. Given the X is X, I do not believe I have justification nor authority to X the X created by the seller to ensure it is as was specified in the contract.

Most likely, the most beneficial result will be the actual police report which you can use to time-stamp an allegation of theft. You basically use them as a kind of "extra-official" notary service. It's also quite possible you have no use for this time-stamping service since you probably won't be able to take the person to civil court.

Online privacy is still somewhat sacred, but the government is God. If you ask police to do more than time-stamp, where they'll need to violate someone's privacy and serve demands to private companies holding the thief's information, you're SoL without solid evidence of who committed the theft... which you can't obtain without the police demanding private information. Great chicken-egg problem. If the government wants to do that based only on its own allegations, however, it will go right ahead - no problem. Maybe you can also get police to investigate by owning them and relevant people in the judicial system... maybe you are the mafia... this may result in superior performance.

Depending on the size of companies involved in keeping your thief's personal information, they may be willing to divulge solid information, or at least hints, if you privately contact them man-to-man to request information. It's theoretically possible that a company could look into a matter, decide you are very likely right, and provide enough information to take to the police and have them go up chains to finally arrive at the thief's identity. I have never been successful at that, however, and you'll need to present a lot of information which you likely don't have.... I've just taken IP addresses matching time-stamps of unauthorized access on accounts, contacted the owner of the IP address (has always been Amazon AWS), and then AWS Abuse staff tell me "we have not identified the user of that account as a thief. He has registered as a provider of mobile services." Can't really take that to the police.

<$1 gets some music from Civ 4 & 5.

$1+ gets music + the set of games listed at the top (Civ 3 & 4 + three other SM games).

$9.37+ (this is dynamic based on "average" donation) gets everything less Civ 5 Brave New World DLC.

$15.01+ gets everything.

If you only run the card with low hashrate, does it hash at normal rate? If not, there's probably something going wrong with the card (it could just be heat -- is temp similar to the others while running?).

If it does hash normally, it's probably not power (outside reason you gave) since that'll tend to present as a lot of hard reboots and components shutting off intermittently. RAM's a pretty reasonable guess.... 1GB runs 2 270s absolutely fine. 2GB may be just a smidge too low for 3 280s.... should it be the RAM, given this is probably close to the edge, you could probably solve by disabling all non-essential system services and programs running in the background.

You are not stealing from old-timer bitcoin millionaires. You're stealing from new people who are just starting off in Bitcoin. It's an important distinction. You could be stealing confidence in cryptocurrency, entrepreneurial spirit, and perhaps what someone may otherwise be able to use for financial security. There is nothing "Robin Hood" about this, and no way to justify it.

New people have this thought that "Bitcoin is weird, so this seems more plausible." I don't disagree that Bitcoin-related news and business tends to be a little more skewed toward the weird, but there has never been someone publicly offering 4% hourly rates at no limits who does not eventually run off with the money. This is not the exception.

You would not hand over money to someone wandering around in a mall who says he's a millionaire and will repay you 4% hourly or 12% daily (which makes absolutely no sense, anyway). This is the same situation, except there's even less required of the scammer since he does not even need to get off his ass.

I believe you are using the bounty tag incorrectly.

Everyone knows Russians only accumulated bitcoins through malware and ponzi scams, anyway.

Saw some newer people sending money here. Figured it was time to kill it before it gets any larger.

Bitcoinchef.info is a manifestation of a very common ponzi scam. The goal is to take money in from unwitting individuals at a rate which exceeds what they pay out. They DO initially pay out so that they can build a reputation of reliability and collect larger sums. Eventually, they run off with everything currently deposited, so this is a very high-risk, zero-sum game with odds heavily in ponzi op's favor. You're very likely to lose everything if you keep playing.

Just the facts:
1) the Bitcoin millionaire's (who is also "CEO") business email is bitcoinchef@yahoo.com.
2) The "bitcoin millionaire" does not prove he has an address with old bitcoins in it to support his claims.
3) "William M. Tracy" didn't appear on Twitter until "bitcoinchef" was created, and he's done nothing but spam his ponzi link.
4) This has been done literally hundreds of times, and there has never been an exceptionally generous guy paying out 4% hourly interest on loans who doesn't eventually disappear.


SEO:Bitcoinchef.info is a ponzi bitcoinchef is a scammer is ponzi scam @bitcoinchef legit? is real? William M. Tracy bitcoin

Unless you were really bearish before and think the drop was a correction, this is a pretty clear overcorrection, so I'm buying a little. Everyone knew a Gox implosion has been imminent for about a year.

That'd almost be worth it just for the historical level of ridiculousness. I'd fully support this progression of events.

........ inflatable..... Why would.... I.... 

Bah. TPTB moved this thread or something. Was unsubscribed, which started getting me concerned when it's showing I have 1.7MH/s for a couple hours (heavy snow interfering with Internet connection)

Heh, this triggered a memory I almost completely forgot.

Back in 2011 or early 2012, back when GLBSE was still existing, some of us pitched in and bought stakes in a race horse. Made two runs, then was "liquidated."

ETA: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=46929.0 Only one actual race, I guess.

I don't think they referred to they draws like that back then. shittyOnderkleding doesn't make any sense for an artist. I guess it'd reinforce the idea of him being batshit insane, though.

Daughter's two, so she'll only eat a sandwich and a half (which seems a lot for someone who weighs 30lbs, but whatever). Wife'll eat a sandwich and a bite. I'll eat two and a third. Five sandwiches, $5 (excl. tax). Fries and drinks are a racket.

Is there an expiry date? I really don't see myself using a giftcard to Burger King more than once a month if I really try (and it's the only fast food place in the village, and it's probably my favorite fast food place within 50 miles..... God, I miss Bojangles so much ).

It costs about $5 for three of us to eat at BK, so... that's a long time to hold onto it. It'll probably lose a significant amount of value just to inflation.

I ate pizza with chopsticks while jumping vertically over a cow boy wearing ugly shoes while my eye was aching hardly working on some super flamboyant monkey and contracted 1HCuY8KrfwWBtS69iHEfryK4YqPpa9pr5S sideways due to period.

Meanwhile far far above there was a strange glowing orb banner with some exuberant shit goats munching madly on spermwhale coins with wild orange psychaedelic smarties for £100/hr. Priceless penis piercings worthless tomorrow due to period.