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How much are you wanting to buy? I might be willing to sell some silver bars/rounds if you want at least 5 oz.
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Senators Charles Schumer and Joe Manchin are trying the drug trade angle to get bitcoin banned or the major exchanges closed down. I hate to give them any ideas, but if they really wanted to smear bitcoin and give it a bad reputation they would use the magic keywords that make most sane adults instantly lose rational thought and grab the pitch forks and torches: child exploitation material (putting it nicely). The day the popular media reports that these low lifes are using bitcoin to trade/pay while hiding their identities, is the day bitcoin suffers a major blow. I fear it is going to happen.
It's obviously not the currency's fault, but that won't really matter to the general public.
I'm sure an incident is being manufactured even now.... |
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A ratio of 25%/75% btc/metals currently seems pretty sound to me.
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Gold is pretty much worthless as a commodity. Gold is the most irrational commodity that humans trade. It has no use other than it's shiny and it's perception of value. Only a true idiot would believe gold has any meaning or value. It is a business though and a very profitable one. Where profit exists, money will follow.
This is just flat-out false. Gold's chemical, electrical, and even some of its physical properties make it such that its rarity is the only thing keeping humans from using it in a variety of ways on a daily basis. If gold were as common as dirt, it would be coating our flatware; inside our electronics (much more so than now!); adorning our books, paintings and clothing; inside our bodies (teeth, metal plates and rods, etc.); within most places of manufacture; and would just generally be the second most-used metal next to iron. Gold's intrinsic value is why it became desirous enough to start being used as money in the first place. |
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My attempt to answer like an Anti-IP Libertarian:
Copying someone's wallet file isn't theft, but emptying it is. Theft takes the use of property away from its owner, "IP theft" does not.
It's amazing how "mechanical" our world has become. Let me give you a different scenario. You and your wife have shot a private porn movie (for your own eyes only). I take a copy of it, but you don't lose the original. Would you not have felt you lost something ? (like your exclusive right to view it) How exactly do you "take a copy", considering it's locked up in our gun safe at home? |
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I intend to take my bitcoins to the grave, or will them to my descendants.
The fact is, even if bitcoins "fail" (whatever that means,) they'll still be around. And considering what they are, and how they operate, they will still have some pretty amazing uses, even if supplanted by another, incompatible block chain that's superior in every way (Bitcoin 2, let's call it.)
Even if bitcoins somehow fell to a price of <$0.01USD again, I think the idea of it staying that low for the rest of my life is far-fetched. But even if it did, I wouldn't be concerned. If nothing else, at that price I'd just buy up every last one I could and make use of them myself. A credit-keeping system among my friends. As currency for an online game I would develop. Whatever.
A world-wide crackdown might stifle and suppress use of bitcoins so that it's practically never heard from again within the bulk of society. But make no mistake, until the internet becomes obsolete, bitcoin will NOT die.
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The fundamental value of bitcoin is that people want to use it to transport value over time.
No, a lot of people seem to think that, but it's not the case. Bitcoins are a poor long-term store of value. Their fundamental value is that people want to use it to transport value over space. Like from the U.S. to Africa. People also want to do it securely, anonymously, and without a central authority. THAT is the inherent value of bitcoins, folks. Forget it at your own peril. it isn't secure. bitcoins are like cash. it isn't anonymous. large cash transfers can't become a motivation until the market thickens up. Secure in the sense that cash is. When someone gives it to you, provided you wait for enough confirmations, it's extremely safe from being "recalled". And no, it's not totally anonymous, but anonymous is what people want, and right now their best bet for transferring value across space and not having the transaction traceable to them is bitcoin. |
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The fundamental value of bitcoin is that people want to use it to transport value over time.
No, a lot of people seem to think that, but it's not the case. Bitcoins are a poor long-term store of value. Their fundamental value is that people want to use it to transport value over space. Like from the U.S. to Africa. People also want to do it securely, anonymously, and without a central authority. THAT is the inherent value of bitcoins, folks. Forget it at your own peril. |
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I accessed my Instawallet through Tor today, then realized that's probably a bad idea in general. Maybe I should create a new one?
That's no problem. Instawallet uses SSL, so all the Tor exit node sees is an encrypted connection to Instawallet. The exact URL you are accessing is also only sent in encrypted form. I heard that some Tor exit nodes use 'SSL strip' to perform a man-in-the-middle-attack on your traffic (is this common?). But your browser should warn you, if the SSL certificate of the site doesn't match. Jav, just so you know, I think Instawallet is great, and I just sent a donation to reinforce that. Keep it free, honest, and as easy to access as it is, and I'll keep recommending it to others, and recommending they donate periodically too.
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The convenience of being able to walk around with a few bitcoins and send/receive on the go is worth the risk.
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Actually - for the masses and little btc amounts - I would suggest something like mybitcoin.com (Paypal-style), where a small amout of bitcoins is stored at a third party and everything ist highly usable for everyday life (it somehow solves 2. and 1.). This might also simplify transactions via Android and provides a save-feel about the coins being backuped by some serious infratructure. Your account can be accessed from everywhere etc. Of course this is not bitcoin as intended, but it would fulfill the needs of a different target group. Bingo. For now, for a few coins, smartphone users don't need a dedicated app. Online sites can give you a free wallet. You can email or text message addresses to each other. That's all you really need for quick and dirty on-the-go bitcoin trading. It's already totally doable.  |
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More precisely:
Which websites do exist, that compete with mybitcoin.com?
I would like to have a usable webinterface within a trustworthy third party. Furthermore I would like to tell all my peers about such website. I can't believe there is no such thing.
https://instawallet.orgI actually prefer it to mybitcoin. Instawallet is immediate, no sign up required. You might want to take a few seconds to ensure you can keep track of your instant wallet though. |
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For the hilarity of all of us, I highly suggest you do respond.
Agreed. You shouldn't let people make uncontested claims like that anyway. At least ask him to cite the statute. Post it back here if he replies. I'm really curious to see if there's actually something like that on Kentucky's books. Hmm. Sent the following: Hi!
As I'm not in this to facilitate illegal activities, could you cite the statute illegalizing virtual currencies?
Much appreciated I am a bit curious as to how he'll respond. |
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LOL @ sent from his iPad hahaha. What a tool.
Just tell him Bitcoin isn't a "currency," it's just math. I don't think math is yet illegal, save within the borders of DC. For you to be prosecuted, the state would then have to prove that Bitcoin was indeed a currency, and wouldn't that be fun?
Frankly, I hadn't even planned on responding to him. It's pretty clear his/her mind is already made up. |
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BTC is a threat because it shifts power, takes uncle gorilla out of the picture in terms of commerce. The most dangerous aspect is that the mobs or other deviants could corner the bit coin market and indeed pose a serious threat to the system. Drugs, porn and crime are hard to control, more so if the commerce of those trades are cryto. Id like to see BTC buying lollipops, pizzas, airplanes, tshirts, mini coopers, dinner with friends, not the above mentioned.
I'd like it all to be nice and sanitary too, but seriously, the genie's already out of the bottle, and there's nothing we can do about it. I mean, how much CASH do criminals hold and use daily? Does anyone go around wringing their hands over that? (Actually, I suppose there are a number of people nowadays who do... control freaks who want every transaction of every person tracked. Prepare for your implant, sir....) Not too worried about criminals cornering the market though. The more that get bought, the higher the price goes, and eventually they can't buy any more. |
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If their US bank accounts are closed they can just open new ones in other jurisdictions under other names.
Bitcoins are not illegal.
No, they're not, and this is just them viciously lashing out at a threat to the core of their system. But that said, clearly, they still plan on attacking it. And in the U.S., what is or isn't legal hasn't mattered to the powers that be in the last few decades (more so in the last 10 years.) I'm beginning to wonder how far this is going to go. Will the feds declare a War on Bitcoins? At this point they're just nuts enough to do something so stupid. |
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This article simply confirms my thesis that Silk Road was not really the original target here, but merely a pretext to shut down bitcoin. I will not be surprised if in the near future they create child pornography sites that are also using bitcoins to further shift public opinion against bitcoins.
Likely true. But if they actually succeed in shoving bitcoin underground (they can't actually destroy it), they'll just be a step away from trying to outright ban cash too.... |
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 It sure was a quick jump from targeting the drug site to "We need to kill bitcoins!" |
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This should be interesting. If the Kentucky revenue service does come after you run to the press.
I don't see why they should. Virtual currencies are illegal? Really? So Paypal, Linden Dollars, eBay Bucks, etc. are all in danger of being kicked out the state? Possessing or trading them will result in jail time? And this from KENTUCKY'S legislature? Please. It's a dumb, poorly-thought-out law, even if it actually exists (and I'm not exactly finding it right off. Go figure.) |
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So... I find out about bitcoins, and am naturally excited, seeing its potential. I invest in some, and decide one of the big things that is (for now) holding it back is a lack of ready liquidity. Lots of people are reluctant to invest, thinking they'll be "stuck" with them, and those who want them may not have ready access. I place an ad on craigslist, offering to buy and/or sell, for a small fee. Within hours I get this email: > You do understand that the bitcoin program is in fact not legal in this state. There is a 2007 law that outlawed virtual currency in KY. It falls under the tax codes. It is punishable by 1-5years and a min fine of 50k. You will remove this ad. If you fail to do so your account will be turned over to kirs. I will email from other accounts asking for info to get your address unles your dumb enough to reply. The facebook account and ad have 24h to be closed. > > I hate tax dodgers like you.. > > http://westky.craigslist.org/sys/2427861692.html> > > Sent from my iPad 2 Now, obviously I'm not taking anything down. I'm just floored by the level of hostility some folks have toward bitcoins. I'm sure the Silk Road stories aren't helping any, but still... wow.  |
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