Micro (u or μ for the purists) is 1E-6.  1E-9 is Nano (n).  The current granularity is 10nBTC because we only represent down to 1E-8.

If we ever expand beyond the current 64 bit integer representation of 1e-8 BTC, then mining could go on for quite a while, if I recall correctly.  I'll poke through the source code in a bit, but if I recall, the subsidy is right shifted off the end until it goes to zero.  Switching to 128 bit integers would let it keep shifting off longer than the current setup.  Of course, we are talking about tiny amounts, even with massive deflation.

If the backup wallet from USB doesn't work (it'll depend on how many spare keys the wallet had when it was backed up vs. how many keys you've used since then), grab pywallet and set it to work on the old drive ASAP.

FYI, I would be willing to pay a modest premium for coins that can be traced directly back to notable events.  The less mixed the better.

U mad?

While I agree that they could be better at communication, your rant is way over the top; you just come across as nutty.  There has been no loss of trust in the bitcoin network, except possibly from you, and I think the network will survive if you leave in a huff.  I also very much doubt that they have contempt for any of their account holders.

I personally do have a little contempt for you, but that is mostly because I know what most of the words you used actually mean, and you apparently do not.

DRM?  Sounds like a bad idea.

Smartphone access sounds like the best idea of the ones you've posted, but that is something built on the API, not in the API itself.

In the API, you need the usual functions to get account info (balance, transactions, deposit addresses), and to send coins (to addresses or flexcoin names).  Also, to enable shopping carts and such you need a way to tell the system to expect payments, and things to do when the payments arrive (callbacks, sweep policies, re-transfers, etc).

I had intended to go, but had some stuff come up.  I'd still really like to, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to.

I should know for sure before too long.

The first part is relatively easy.  The second part is much harder.  The third part could turn out to be impossible.

Check out the stratum thread.  An overlay network would probably be a better place to put fee information.  I made a post that described sorta what a fee description message would look like.  It was overly simple, in that it didn't include portions for the fee policy knobs, but those could be added easily enough.

Are you setting the active (bootable) flag in the partition table?

Heh.  Time to resurrect this thread?

Think it through a bit more.  You have an awful lot of hidden guns in your plan.  Also, you are making a huge number of assumptions that don't appear to be valid.  For example, you think that only the truly disabled will opt out of working, and that the demand for free stuff will settle to some tolerable limit.  Any newspaper should be enough to convince you that those two particular assumptions are wrong.

I suppose it helps a lot that bitcoin mining doesn't require much data, so only a few IO pins are needed.  Do you know if these 2 layer boards have any thermal problems?  I know that some BGAs can't dissipate enough heat out the top even with heatsinks.

Sure, I agree that people prefer stable government, and will occasionally resort to pitchforks to enact their preference.  But that has nothing to do with money.


This also has nothing to do with money, and is actually an argument against your premise.  What is necessary for mass adoption in your model is less-than-mass adoption, just a herd big enough to grow into a bigger herd, and if you keep working backwards, you'll see that the only thing needed is a nucleus big enough to build on (plus time and value).


Ahh, naughty boy, trying to pass off your own prejudices as universal truths.  That's why I jumped on your post.    At least you had the decency to recognize it.

In the real world, currency stability is a consequence of widespread use, not a cause of it.  The dollar is sorta stable because everything else is referenced to it.  To some extent, everything is referenced to it because it is stable, but a new currency starting up doesn't have that option.  Even the US dollar started out pegged to ("as clones of" would be a better way to put it) Spanish dollars.  Seen in reverse, the Roman currencies were abandoned in ancient times because they became unstable as people stopped using them, rather than the other way around.  And towards the end, the Roman coins were debased to such an extent that they were nearly homeopathic, barely better than our own modern coins.

The good news is that in the current world, bitcoin is still mostly used for USD -> bitcoin -> USD transactions.  I know that seems like a bad thing because we want bitcoin to take off, but it really is good, because for most people, they can use bitcoin without caring what the exchange rate is, or how the rate will change over time.  I want to send $500 to someone so I convert to bitcoin at rate X, and I don't really care what X is, because I immediately send, and when the recipient gets them, they convert back at very nearly X.  And if "very nearly X" isn't good enough, he can use a service (there are already several) to do the exchange instantly, turning the already small risk of a rapid change in price into a known fee.

So, regular people on the street don't (need to) care about exchange rate volatility and can essentially ignore it.  But traders and speculators like the volatility, because changes in the price are opportunities for them.  The real fun starts when more traders and speculators get on board, because the higher the rate goes, and the harder it is to swing the price, and the more stable it becomes.  Once the exchange rate is high enough, then prices will start to show more stability, and then the second phase can start, where people can hold their savings in bitcoins without it being a crazy gamble.  That phase is when the old currencies start to wither and die.

Which systems have you tried that aren't easy to use?  Because the ones that I've seen accept bitcoins over the network and deposit dollars into your bank account automatically.  I can't really imagine anything being easier than that.

This cycle takes decades.  Essentially, they can't start the next round of bait-and-switch until most of the people that lived through the end of the last round are dead.

Funny.  You say that I'm wrong, but then you edit out part of my post, and the part that you actually respond to is the part that you cut.  I put it back, so you can see where you went wrong.

Your immediate goal is to reduce exchange volatility risk.  Already done.  There are like a half dozen services that will do this for you, or you can do it yourself using any exchange with a half-decent API.

Any sovereign state can be taken as an example of bitcoin exchange rate stability being a necessary precondition for mass adoption of bitcoin?  I'm missing something.

Probably.  But you are in good company.

Citation needed.

I find it extremely unlikely that you actually desire a stable exchange rate.  What you really want is something else, and you think that a stable exchange rate gives you that something else.  So, what do you really want?