Hmm this is frustrating, I don't know how to take a "sipa format" key and turn it into "standard key"

Can anyone help me?  I can just give you my private key with 1btc on it and you can send me a btc if that's easiest. My coin is stuck in purgatory

Please pm if you can help

Can you provide a bit more context? Is this supposed to be a quick "elevator pitch" to commoners there, or a specific announcement of something specific?  I'm happy to prepare something but need more details on the purpose, intended target, and any relevant background info.

This page, specifically for donors, is more updated:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=45943.0. If you really want to get involved, the team is hanging out in IRC #operationbitcoin

"I Was Wrong About Bitcoin" - DailyAnarchist.com

http://dailyanarchist.com/2011/10/02/i-was-wrong-about-bitcoin/#more-5001

There needs to be a mirror of Bitcoin.org in Chinese... this instant! Even if all the links then go to English sites, it's a very important landing page for Chinese who have heard of Bitcoin. It's a starting point. I'm happy to donate 5btc toward that cause.

Be sure to mention/link to this at the appropriate time:  https://bit-pay.com/aboutMobile.html

Is there an "official" homepage for the Bitcoin project in China? I mean a clone/mirror of bitcoin.org?  If so, are these translations available there?

Hmmm okay I tried using bitaddress, generated a new keypair, and sent one coin to the address: 1QGUNoJ799PKGrFuPrXJPRM3ZsHPoHh1rh

I've tried "redeeming" this with MtGox (using the long-ass private key) a couple times now (including yesterday) and nothing is showing up. You can see the 1 btc is still at the address above.

Any help?

bc you've got a very handsome avatar there 

Bitcoins value comes from its usefulness as a ledger system. What you're failing to see is that Bitcoin is two parts:
1) a ledger system with no single point of failure, no requirement of trust in any gov, corp, or individual, no requirement to reveal personal details, and no border/national restrictions on usage. (THIS IS MASSIVE VALUE)
2) a unit of account in said ledger system

You're arguing from the perspective of the Mises Regression Theorem, which is well and good, but you're not seeing that Bitcoin's use value happens to be it's ability to be a brilliant ledger system. Just as gold has original use value because it's shiny and attractive, so too does Bitcoin have original use value in its distributed ledger ability. Grasp that, and combine it with the fact that Bitcoin units are a scarce commodity, and you'll then see why these units themselves command a market price

Put simply, Bitcoin's value - just as with gold - comes from its useful properties. If you need an anecdote, when I lived in Dubai I sent part of my salary back to my US bank account. It required a trip to the bank, filling out forms, paying a fee, and waiting 3-7 days. If Bitcoin existed then, I'd have used it EVERY single time I needed to transfer. The value to me would've been substantial - and this is just one possible use of this incredible distributed ledger system called Bitcoin.



People started mining and buying them because they saw the potential. And Bitcoin IS a money. I use it as money almost daily now, actually. It is not a universal money, or even widely used yet, but it IS money. Bitcoin units became money the first time someone traded for them with the assumption that they could retrade the coins to someone else who would also want them. That's how all real money originates. You can argue how good they are as a money, but you cannot claim they are not a money. Personally, I greatly prefer them as money to Federal Reserve Notes - but you're welcome to stick with the Fed or ECB if you'd like. 



It fits the definition of money extremely well, and in fact it is a superior money to gold in some ways (though gold is superior is certain other ways). I use Bitcoin as money all the time, and thus it is money. Again, you're welcome to tell me it's a "bad" money, just like I'll tell you Federal Reserve Notes are a bad money. Both are used as money, and thus both are money... but one is fiat garbage with value only by coercive decree, and the other has been chosen by a small niche within the free marketplace. 


Are you talking about Federal Reserve Notes?

Your theory is probably true to some extent. But we don't know if that extent is very tiny or very large

Since the dawn of time, forum members have debated whether Bitcoin is a commodity or a currency/money. Let's ignore what the courts might call it (who the hell knows), and examine it in terms of economics.

If we were fortunate enough to live in a world where the government had not destroyed everyone's economic education, we'd know that "currency" and "commodity" are not mutually exclusive concepts.

It's important to understand where money comes from, when it doesn't come from the diktat of kings. In a world without government monopolization of money, would we have money? Of course we would. But how, without coercion, would the marketplace know what to use as money?

First, let's define commodity. A commodity is a subcategory of "goods." Specifically, commodities are goods which have little or no "qualitative variation" across units of them. Coffee beans. Rice. Wheat. Gold. Iron. Every unit is more or less the same as every other. Cars, houses, and computers are not commodities. Sand would be considered a commodity but it is so common that nobody cares enough to trade futures on it =)

And now let's look at "money." If there is no money in an economy, people trade goods with each other in barter. What you find is that they will start accepting commodities in trade frequently, because they know they are more widely desired and tradeable. Coffee beans are more easily traded than sheep (because sheep are heavy and can't be cut in half). Eventually, that commodity which becomes most widely accepted in barter becomes the de facto "money." Societal markets may gravitate toward one or several forms of money - but always money emerges, and it emerges from its prior categorization as a commodity.

So we see that money IS a commodity - it is that most widely desired commodity. It is the commodity which everyone wants to use in exchange. Review the history of gold, as it was always a commodity and gradually was accepted to the point where it was used as money. But its use as money didn't suddenly remove the label of commodity from it. Gold is both money and commodity. (gold was not chosen arbitrarily either - it's specific properties have made it the best form of money).

Just as "skiing" is a subcategory of "sports," so too is "money" a subcategory of "commodity." So let's please stop debating whether Bitcoin is a commodity or a money. It is absolutely a commodity, for each bitcoin is equal to every other - and it is also money to the extent it is used as barter for payment. Bitcoin is already used in many transactions every day, and thus it is very clearly a money as well as a commodity.

We can argue whether it will continue to be a money, or will replace other monies, etc, but it is silly to ponder whether it's a commodity or a money.

It's both.

Man, you didn't even get five words in without making a factual error. Fiat, in the context of money and economics, means "by decree." It refers to something which is money because it is mandated to be such by a government entity. Bitcoin is in no way fiat.

The rest of your post was full of additional fallacies. Did you know that?

So yesterday I thought, I bet this microwave popcorn will collapse maybe even the price of bitcoins.

Well, I went ahead and made the popcorn last night, and guess what! Market price falls down to $4.50!!  I didn't think my popcorn snack would have such an effect!

Market demand for this will be greatly affected by the margin you charge to provide it.

If you cost 1% over what I'd pay with my normal credit card, I'll try to use your service every time. If you charge 10% over, I won't even consider it =)

That's very troubling sentiment... manipulating the money supply is precisely the reason fiat currencies are destined for failure. There is no legitimate reason to manipulate the price higher and higher. It may provide short term happiness to those holding coins, but it distorts the market signals that free-floating prices provide. Such manipulation would be the end of Bitcoin's value.

The movement of prices are not arbitrary. They allocate and coordinate how resources are utilized. If the supply rate of Bitcoins were restricted in order to assure a constantly rising price, you'd instantly create a speculative bubble, for every investor would buy as many coins as possible, knowing the price will be "managed" upward. The price would skyrocket - but to what end? Are Bitcoins worth $50 right now? Or $1,000?  None of us know. And when that bubble you produce pops, the devastation will be ruinous.

The ability of the price to fall is JUST AS important as the ability of it to rise. Tinker with it one way or the other, and you distort human behavior. If you think you're wise enough to distort it in a positive way, then you're suffering from the same affliction and hubris of all fiat central bankers - believing they are smart enough to know the "proper" market price of any asset. It is folly. And it's precisely because so many fall for the myths of central planning that Bitcoin is so necessary, and so valuable.

The day the money supply is tinkered with (including the derivative rate of such supply), I'm gone. I'll peace out like the Lorax.

And you've still never addressed the following - the money printing rate was the same (actually higher in percentage terms) when bitcoins were priced at $0.01 and at $30.  Of all the variables in the Bitcoin economy, the printing rate is NOT one of them. It's perfectly steady, yet you seem obsessed with attributing a declining market price on that aspect. It's as if you're inferring that Bitcoin has lost its way because we're now printing so much money    

If and when the price rises again, people will start complaining instead about bitcoin being "deflationary" - not printing fast enough. Price rising? "Bitcion will fail cause it's deflationary."  Price falling? "Bitcoin is doomed because we're printing so much money!"

While I love a skyrocketing price as much as anyone, for those who understand the true value of these coins, this falling price is a blessing. Be greedy when others are fearful (although I hate quoting the socialist, hypocritical Warren Buffett).

A sad day for those who think different.

That's weird, the IRS is usually so helpful and useful and valuable to everyone.

This is an extremely weird and interesting proposition lol.  I love it!

But I think you should call it something that would promote Bitcoin to non-Bitcoiners. Only those who are already interested in this currency would know of Satoshi.

I like, "Bernanke Loves Bitcoin"... that's an excellent name for a racehorse