The author of the article obtained as its source Micon and thus promoted SealsWithClubs where he is Chairman, but at least a link to a list of poker sites would have been a nice service to the readers.

Mem's List shows some of the features of each:

 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=75883.0

There had been reports that the withdraw isn't instant like that.  Perhaps it varies based on factors such as payment method or customer status (e.g., new account).  But yours could be withdrawn instantly?

[Edit: The poll question was reworded to be more clear:

 "if the 'plan' to halve reward is changed, will you quit bitcoin?" ]

If you wanted to, you can speed that up by using the blockchain that has already reached block 170,000. 

Shut down your client, remove the blk000*.dat  and blkindex.dat then unzip the blockchain download.

 - http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/blockchain/

The network effect just keeps compounding ...

There are individual sellers in a few areas of Thailand:

 - https://localbitcoins.com/country/TH

There might be another combination that works.  BTC-e takes Webmoney Z.  Entelnova sells Webmoney Z by accepting Thai bank transfer or cash deposit at a bank in Thailand.

 - http://entelnova.com/indexwmz.htm

There might be other approaches that work.  The operator of Bahtcoin might know sellers in the country, for instance.

If you can't find a trade here, VirWoX accepts moneybookers when purchasing SLLs.  You can then trade SLL for BTC:

 - http://www.VirWoX.com

Which banks would you be able to deposit to?

If a transaction from SatoshiDICE was a double spend it will either stay at 0/unconfirmed or will revert to 0/unconfirmed if the rare (unseen ?) situation exists that it had at least one confirmation previously.  

SatoshiDICE will then send a replacement payout, though it may not be immediate (many hours or a couple days even, possibly, has been the situation in the past).

I don't know what Multibit does if you happened to spend a coin that ends up later becoming a double spend.  The bitcoin.org client doesn't handle those well, and the solution is to do wallet surgery with pywallet to remove all transactions and rescan.   For Multibit you don't have that option.

Normally, the response would be a lecture about how MoneyPak can't be used for buying bitcoins.

There is an exception at this particular moment.


And that almost seems to be the solution, except:


So, ... that is about the only option you'll find today I suspect.

Now back to the regularly scheduled lecture:

MoneyPak is an excellent way to cash out of bitcoin where you then use that MP to reload a debit card or PayPal, for instance.

But MoneyPak is a horrible way to try to buy bitcoins.  Here's why:

The problem is no commercial service can accept MoneyPak as payment for the purchase of bitcoins.  Green Dot doesn't want that happening.  They only allow you using the MoneyPak codes with authorized merchants or for loading funds to your own debit card.  So the only ones where trading MoneyPak for bitcoins  is happening is with individuals who accept MoneyPak for payment when selling bitcoins person-to-person and are small enough to operate below Green Dot's radar.  The person that accepts MoneyPak then uses it to load a PayPal account to to add funds to a reloadable debit card.

Cashing out your bitcoins to MoneyPak is not a problem, and there are a couple of commercial services which offer this:

 - http://www.BTCPak.com
 - http://www.FastCash4Bitcoins.com
 

MoneyPak is a bearer instrument -- anyone who knows the code can spend it.

There are a few ways these MoneyPak codes can end up in the hands of thieves and criminal hackers who then trade them for bitcoins.

The theif might even provide what seems to be a valid MoneyPak code and the person selling bitcoins might see the funds loaded into the PayPal account or wherever the code were used but then later the funds are reversed after the rightful owner of the code reports theft.

To regain access to the funds, the person that accepted the MoneyPak needs to provide to Green Dot a copy of the receipt used to purchase the MoneyPak, using cash.  Even with that, if there is someone else with the same receipt reporting the theft, that person would likely lose the dispute as another person was actually the party that bought the MoneyPak from the store.

So it comes down to ... you are offering a payment method that is reversible and is frequently used to defraud.  Do you already have a trust history perhaps?

The #bitcoin-otc Web of Trust (WoT) will show trust history of a trader.  If a person is considering trading bitcoins for someone else's MoneyPak, that person's trust history might help to determine the level of risk -- but even then, proceed with caution.

Put a time component on that.  Say November 15th comes and not a single person has a BFL ASIC in their hands, that wouldn't be surprising.  But days, weeks or maybe several months later and they might deliver.  

Here's a bet right now about 25:1 odds saying they do deliver, as stated, by mid-2013:
 - http://betsofbitco.in/item?id=665

If you created the thread you can move it.  Link is in the Bottom left. .. Move topic.

18:00 (6PM) at Antalya Restaurant. Directions: http://goo.gl/maps/P4hcb  Schedule: http://www.bitcoin2012.com/schedule

 - https://twitter.com/BitcoinConf2012/status/246370424743673857

Actually,the Blockchain for iOS app is back in Apple's App Store, though if that is permanent this time is yet to be seen.

That is awesome!

A couple of requests.

 - Stronger color contrast for the chart. 
 - Bold / emphasize the symbol at the top
 - Context sensitive listing search - predict which symbol I'm trying to retrieve as I type each character, and let me press enter once the right one is displayed without me typing it in completely.  Also list the name so I know if I have the right one.

Here's a thread in the German forum.  

The assertion is that an attempt to send a deposit to Intersango's bank in Polant was rejected.

Here's the Google Translate of that post to English:


 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=109433.0

Is this a new problem, or an isolated incident?

If it is showing on the blockchain then there is nothing more for BitInstant to do.


Has your client downloaded all blocks and is now current?

 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ#I_was_sent_some_bitcoins_and_they_haven.27t_arrived_yet.21_Where_are_they.3F

A couple suggestions,

When it fails and you are asked to do the CAPTCHA, ... don't go back to the previous form and try again,

REALLY use the form with the CAPTCHA.

And another thing ... the timing seems to be really tight.  Enter the CAPTCHA part first, then enter your OTP with plenty of time before it expires.  If GLBSE's site is running slow, it seems to not process the login request right away and by the time it does, the OTP is then no longer valid.  So you want to submit the form as soon as you've entered the OTP.

And yet one more thing.  If the time on the device with Google Authenticator is wrong, the OTPs it generates will be invalid.  Perhaps reboot the device and hopefully that will trigger the device to do a time synch that is more accurate.

I was demonstrating ICBIT to someone who, like me, occasionally does trading on the exchanges but did not previously have experience trading futures contracts.

The first question was one that I had ... why would you risk going long when the contract already trades 15% higher than the spot market?

And, of course, the answer is ... leverage.   If I am right in predicting the direct the exchange rate will move, I can gain more by buying BUZ2 contracts and use some of the leverage it offers  than I can by simply using those same funds and buying bitcoins at an exchange.


Here's my most recent trade:

Bought 5 BUZ2 contracts at $12.99:

2012-09-11 105 Buy                         BUZ2     12.99   5
2012-09-11 105 Trading fee for trade id 6  BUZ2    -0.025


Since that time (but before selling) I received variation margin adjustments

2012-09-12 105 Variation margin            BUZ2     0.02355995
2012-09-13 106 Variation margin            BUZ2    -0.0057161

(net variation margin adjustments:  0.01784385 )


So then I sold 5 contracts at $13.50 (it was a limit order and sold 2 first and then 3 more later):

2012-09-14 107 Sell                        BUZ2     13.5    2
2012-09-14 107 Trading fee for trade id 13 BUZ2    -0.01
2012-09-14 107 Variation margin            BUZ2     0.05102684

2012-09-14 107 Sell                        BUZ2     13.5    3
2012-09-14 107 Trading fee for trade id 12 BUZ2    -0.015
2012-09-14 107 Variation margin            BUZ2     0.07654026



Adding these all together I received 0.14541096 in margin adjustment but lost 0.05 in trading fees with a net gain of 0.09541096.

I didn't use the full margin available as I want to lessen the chance of seeing forced margin selling.  So I had 3 BTC leveraged to control 5 BTC worth of BUZ2 contracts.

I calculated my ROI of the 0.09541096 gain on roughly a 3 BTC investment and get the result - a 3.1% gain.

Had I bought straight BTC at the spot markets during the same time, I would have bought 3 BTC (the BTC/USD at the time was $11.10), and today sold at about $11.70.   The gain on that would have been $0.60 per BTC less fees of about $0.11, netting an ROI of 4.4%.

[Update: I needed to recompute the above numbers after making an error, including a variation margin twice.  With this specific trade I made less than had I traded on the spot market.   This is because the rise in the futures contract was less than the rise in the spot market over the same period, plus my price that I bought was at the upper range of the spread, as was my selling.]

Of course, the leverage knife cuts both ways.   I've also done trades on ICBit where I've speculated on the wrong direction, and lost more than I would have had I simply traded at an exchange where I was not using any leverage.

But I thought I'ld share this trade just in case it helps anyone wishing to see the numbers for an actual trade.

Bitcoin Conference 2012 in London is one reason, I believe.

Lots of announcements and sharing of Bitcoin innovations.