No. 1 i don't understand, and No. 3 goes without saying to me, once BitMessage is more developed.

With No. 2, i don't agree. Most people don't run their own SMTP servers, and use SMTP, POP or webmail on some third parties' servers. So, if the government wants to put those public accounts known to be someone's under surveillance, track one's contacts, etcetera, or shut them down, the workarounds are technical and expensive. Even so-called privacy email services like hushmail have in the TOS that they will allow those with proper papers to spy on your account...

GPG continues to be too much of a pain for the average user, precisely because it's an add-on on top of the SMTP system, which was not designed for privacy or personal control. That's one reason why 20 years or whatever since Zimmerman came out with it, pgp is still not commonly used or even known outside the geekoid community...

After those, one is stuck with darknet mail, such as I2P, which require more technical know-how, and are best suited for anonymous comm anyway...

So, i think BitMessage exactly addresses the same privacy and personal control problems of email via SMTP that Bitcoin addresses for existing "most popular" payment systems.

It worked <0.2.4, but now doesn't show the UI, unless started as admin on my Win7 32. I see 2 exe instances open in processes, but no UI as a non-admin user.

Also, need a digital sig or at least some hash sums or a gpg sig for the executable somewhere, so that we know it's legit. No encryption/security app can be taken seriously these days, if the developer doesn't sign it, no matter what kind of code audit it undergoes...

Look forward to this promising project mainstreaming! Thank you for your great work!

-1 To be completely banned, it should convert B to cash. No significant government would allow these machines all over the place laundering money without KYC, and against the current AML laws! 

For many people here, B is a one-way ticket out of fiat, and the goal is to not use fiat unless one absolutely must. So, i think it's perfect as is and will do fine without B>fiat conversion...

If there is no local video surveillance, it would be a great way to buy B pseudonanymously.

Если доступен счёт в ША, который переводит по ACH, Coinbase работает можно сказать гладко, и не обдирает - 1% +15 центов. НО, перевод занимает несколько дней - от 5-7.  

Hope you are right! There will be money to be made in either case.

I am still wondering when JAK Bank will accept Bitcoin.  They've known about it since 2011!

Seems that of all the banks the interest-free ones would be perfect for Bitcoin.

Then anyone could make any number of coins with the same public address, and everyone could verify that they all have the same coin at the same time... 

What you call "terrorism" others call "freedom-fighting", and vice versa!

Over the course of your life, you've unknowingly made all kinds of business deals and taken personal actions that directly helped people whose actions of some kind you would find objectionable. You didn't do a background check on everyone whom you personally helped...

It's part of the Human Condition to unknowingly help such people, because of the vast number of mutual and one-sided beneficial interactions we have with all kinds of people.

"Moral obligations" exist only in the realm of advanced, mentally healthy, living beings; even a lower living being, such as a dog has no moral obligations, not to mention objects of any kind.

The whole premise of this thread is as ridiculous as asking whether or not a rock has any moral obligation not to be thrown at someone! 

Does it qualify for the bounty?

This one says:

Agreed, but who will constitute Bitcoin's mining and processing power, if the largest miners keep getting "nationalized"? And how many people besides you will stick with Bitcoin then?

Мужики, это не Вам в тему, иль Вы уже получили? https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=129878.0

I haven't tried it yet, but if i understand right, our guys already have this going on:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=138588.new;boardseen#new

My prediction remains that if and when the banks and gov's go against B, they will buy out or "nationalize" >51% of the largest pools and miners.

That way they can change the fundamental rules and turn B into a p2p FedPal.

They may not want to completely destroy it for the same reason they let Tor go from the gov use into the wild, knowing what the masses could do with it. B will be useful to the gov's for clandestine ops the same way Tor is. 

Мне думается, что пока у Б нет достойного конкурента, и силовики на неё всерьёз не намылились, даже только как убежище от инфляции фантиков, Б НЕДОоценена в десятки, если не тысячи раз.

Как уже много раз обсуждалось, если лишь лимон народа в мире создаст спрос на Б, на каждого будет всего 10 с мелочью. Относительно любого фантика, такой спрос может устаканить курс намного выше чем сейчас... 

I don't understand all that mama-jambo yet, but it sounds like another MintChip or Farmville money or something? 

Doesn't sound like anything that will compete with Bitcoin?

The only thing it means to me is that Amazon is not planning to accept Bitcoin directly any time soon.
...and that doesn't matter to us either.

I think the bottleneck is not exchanges in India. If i remember right, the TradeHill exchange offered Rupee trade, and didn't do much business in it.

(If i had to guess, i think the bottleneck in India might be the traditional Indian affinity to gold. Might be the same in China. Just my guess, of course.)

In any case, i think you are fortunate not to have an exchange, because i bet we might see some government "nationalize" an exchange in some country. A lot of people will lose their bitcoin and cash, if and where that happens. Maybe it will be MtGox, which would be fun! 

Your country exports a lot of services that are perfect to sell for bitcoin, such as IT services. You have a lot of other goods exporters that ship to countries that mine and have exchanges. For example, see if you can get Indian food store distributors in the US  pay with Bitcoin for goods they get from India.

Once those people can get bitcoin for their goods and services, they can spend it in India on whatever. The next recipients in India will then be able to spend it locally in India on something else, and so on...

Seems a lot safer and less troublesome than converting it to Rupee and back, and paying all kinds of middlemen, such as exchangers.

Maybe create and Indian section on Bitmit as a start.

In India, i think Bitcoin growth will require extra patience. Good luck!

+1 No one in the B community should forget that and how Dwolla led to the demise of TradeHill xchange...

For that and what continues i wish Dwolla the worst possible ending, and urge all B people to abandon it.

If the story below is true, unfortunately Dwolla's demise doesn't seem likely:
http://www.dgcmagazine.com/iowa-now-accepting-some-tax-payments-via-dwolla/#more-1117

I am sorry to have to say that i wouldn't recommend any client, because they are still not ready for the average new user i meet, and the stagnant exchange rates reflect that. Reminds me of the Russian fable about the pike, crawfish and swan, where all are going in different directions trying to accomplish the same thing:




The whole process is still way too much of an uncertain, expensive hassle, despite all the hype and promotion. 

I recommend paper wallets to new users for any B they want to keep long-term. For spending, i recommend they just use the Blockchain online wallet, which they recharge as needed through Localbitcoins or Coinbase, or whatever is in their region of the world.

(We can't afford another Mybitcoin disaster. As far as i am concerned, Tom Williams could be behind any of the current online wallets too, because he got away with the Mybitcoin scam perfectly, and could do it again with minor changes. So could other scammers...)





 

My guess is that they are:

1) various clandestine government entities loading up at taxpayer expense, "just in case".
2) financial sector entities that can somehow write it off their taxes as R&D and electricity expenses.
3) botnets, of course.
4) academia that has unlimited access to really big hardware, and electricity cost is also passed on to the taxpayers and paying students.
5) Google and such corporations, for whom mining costs would be a drop in the sea.
 
Imagine all the possible permutations of  incentives and motivations just these groups have to keep mining.