The CIA created bitcoin? That's the first time I've heard that. Seems like the creation of bitcoin harms, rather than protects, the US Dollar.  But hey, it could've happened!

Yes, you could do this. I have no moral qualms about it whatsoever. Put it this way: Last year, my bicycle was stolen. I was furious. I loved that bike. Let's say I'm walking down the street tomorrow, and see my bike leaning up against a post. Is it immoral or criminal for me to hop on my stolen bicycle and ride away?

However, I urge caution. Firstly because you run a risk of fines and/or incarceration. I pay my taxes because I don't like running that risk. Secondly, because becoming reliant on government money is a kind of death, in terms of your independence, prosperity, and mental health. It's like moving back in with your parents, except in this case your parents are violent sociopaths.

Man, I must have one thick skull! 

Okay, so if I have 20 coins when I backup, spend 10, have 10 left, when I restore the network will see that I have 10 coins and that will appear in my balance.

And if I have 20 coins when I backup, gain 10, have 30, when I restore the network will see that I have 30 coins and that will appear in my balance?

Okay, so the bitcoins aren't stored on your wallet. It's more or less a password that confirms through the network that the coins are yours...I get that. What do I actually need to do when restoring? Do I replace the wallet.dat with the backup?

So I think I get this. Let's again say I have 10 bitcoins on my computer client and 20 bitcoins on my backup. I want to have all 30 of my bitcoins on my computer client. So I remove wallet.dat from my client and replace it with wallet.dat from my backup. I can then open the client and send those 20 coins to my original address which contains the 10 bitcoins. Then I remove the backup wallet.dat and replacement with the original. Right?

Ok, that answers my question regarding opening a file. But once I open the file, how do I get the coins onto my bitcoin client? Let's say my client holds 10 BTC, and I hold 20 BTC on my backup wallet.dat. How do I make my client see that I have 30 coins? Could I put a portion of my backup onto my client (I.e. Leave 15 coins on my backup wallet.dat so I have 15 coins on my client?

Or does it not work that way? Thanks for your help.

Hey all, seems the consensus is that backup wallet.dat files should be kept encrypted. I've never done this before, and am struggling. Here's what I've done so far:

- Downloaded truecrypt
- Created a "volume"
- Dragged and dropped my wallet.dat file inside my volume.

Now here's where I get confused. When I try to open the volume file on my comp, it gives me this string of gobblygook text. Is that my wallet.dat contents? If so, why didn't it ask for my password before I opened it?

I can also access wallet.dat through the TrueCrypt application, but when I try to open it it opens with EyeTV (a cable converter).

More questions:
- If I email the encrypted volume file containing wallet.dat, do I need truecrypt to open it on another computer?
- Assuming I can find the wallet.dat, how do I get the bitcoins onto the bitcoin application that sends/receives money? What if the bitcoin application already exists on that computer? Can you create another one? Or do the coins add on to the balance of the existing app?

It's all very confusing. I am impressed with those who see this stuff as second nature. HELP.

Dwolla told me the same thing after I sent an email complaining that my transaction had not gone through after 5 business days and 7 actual days (they quote 1-3). They wrote: "We've had an incredible influx of users from bitcoin and we are working to compensate for the sudden rush in traffic."

How cool would it be to include a QR code representing your wallet on your t-shirt? If someone wanted to pay you or donate, they use their bitcoin app on Android to take a picture of the QR code on your shirt and send money.

Thanks to all the people who offered to help with my website. User richwest did a great job for me. The bitcoin community is amazing. Also, this was my first time paying in Bitcoin for a service. It worked wonderfully. I'm also happy to announce a new bitcoin vendor - myself. If you live in the NYC area, and if you own a pool or hot tub, I'm your guy.

Check out his work and my new website: http://www.aguamenti.com

Nick

Thanks for the responses. If you could please send a link to websites you've worked on, it would be appreciated.

Also, logo design is a plus. If you can come up with a great logo for me, there's some extra BTC in it for you.

Hi, I recently bought a domain for my small business (servicing/repairing swimming pools) from GoDaddy and tried to set it up with one of their templates. I'm not doing so well. I should learn but the curve seems pretty overwhelming. I need someone to do a simple, 6 or 7 page website for me, with all the links as they should be. I'll send you all the text I want on each page, and what pages I want, but otherwise you can be creative with or without the template I already have set up.

My bounty is 10 BTC. I know it's not a lot, but I'm really just looking for something simple, not fancy. BUT I do want BANG for my BUCK. I know I'm not paying for corporate shine here, but I want it to be appealing to my customers.

I may not have many posts here as reputation, but I am active in the YouTube community under the same username, BookofNick, where I interviewed Bruce Wagner about BTC. If you're interested, please send me a couple samples of your work to my email at thebookofnick@gmail.com

Thanks,
Nick

Clouds, THANKS, you were right, it was in the "other" library folder.  Problem solved.

Hi, I have this same problem on my Mac. I did a search for the file "wallet.dat" and can't find anything. According to the Wiki, they should by default do to library>app support>bitcoin, but in App support, there is no Bitcoin folder. I want to back up for security purposes. Can anyone help?

I think it's great news for BTC in the long run. When people start piling out of the USD, they will turn to all sorts of alternatives. Gold, silver, foreign currencies, and of course BTC. I hope we see lots of currency competition.

That being said, there's not really a credit limit. If a bunch of people can sit in a room and enough of them raise their hands and the limit is increased, then it's not much of a limit. If I max out my credit card, it gets declined when I try to use it. I cannot vote to extend my credit line. If the government maxes out its credit card, it can vote to extend its credit line, as of course it will.