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I heard on CNBS [sic] today that Apple is trying to find out how the FBI cracked its way into the infamous San Bernardino iPhone (used by the terrorist). And then plug that security hole.
Apparently Apple is going to up the stakes by strengthening their encryption even more. They are also looking at stronger cyber-defenses of their iCloud.
If (and a "Big If") the above is true, AAPL is beginning to look more like a country (or an independent multinational taht at least under some circumstances can act as it so chooses). Which in the case of privacy is OK with me.
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A few minutes ago I tried to send 0.20 BTC (39f4e42176d7d3438222f9438c16371ce7e468dc9b6abcfb8c034bf3659c8c92)
through the mixer and used bitmixr.io instead of bitmixer.io.
Now, I suffer financial loss because bitmixr.io appearently is a fraud. Not only will I report this incident to the national fraud reporting centre but I will also avoid using this service in the future. It is just too easy to mistake the con for the real site.
Mistakes a in using Bitcoin happen more than they should. Once you send it, it's gone! That is so with every transaction. EXTREME CARE should be used, and EVERYONE should follow all directions exactly in all BTC transactions. Download the Letter of Guarantee from bitmixer.io, examine it and verify it. Follow instructions..., and you should be fine. |
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Thank you all above posters for sharing insights into AAPL v. FBI. I am not a technical guy from either the hardware side nor software.
The general impression I am getting, though, is still the news is rather good re privacy. It DOES look like the FBI can crack the iPhone now in a real emergency, which is good.
But it also looks like it is not very easy nor very cheap. Resources must be expended. The most important insight I believe I get from this is that .gov will not be able to have wholesale access to our personal info.
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I have had bills in almost perfect condition rejected by banks just because of a small crimp or a little tear in one end of the banknote. Good luck trying to pass such written on bills in a store. Why not using other kinds of marketing material like printing out business cards with the public and private keys on them and handing them out to people?
I have spent many, many bills with writing on them! Including the "END THE FED" ones (must be someone in town who does not like the Federal Reserve, LOL...). But, yes, OK, there are probably more efficient ways to spread the word by using private/public keys... Perhaps another way to do that would be to set up PUBLIC throwaway email accounts at gmail (etc.) with blockchain.info wallet addresses w/ passwords. Put up a new one every time someone has claimed BTC... As in: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Free Money! Get your Free Bitcoin Here! | | Create your Bitcoin wallet and get some free here: FreeBitcoin312@gmail.com | | Follow the instructions, have fun, maybe get rich! Lots of fun too! | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (not quitting my day job, hah...) |
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I use bitmixer.io from time-to-time to protect my own privacy. They do a great job separating your initial receiving address and the address they send your BTC to.
Follow instructions carefully! Take your time the first few times you use their service... Download the Letter of Guarantee.
If you study the various threads re mixing, you will find bitmixer.io gets the most compliments.
I am in their Signature Campaign because I am a happy customer and happy to promote a great service, but otherwise am not affiliated with them.
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Well their own currencies sucks,having bitcoin,will mean have something like gold,or the strongests fiat,being dollar euro or others,this are very strong and almost stable at their values,soo i believe this is what people are investing at bitcoin ,to protect their capital at euro/dollar.
OK, I hear you, but...: 1) Latins "down there" have to be able to buy & hold Bitcoin. That is very hard in most cases, for various reasons. 2) Prospective Latin buyers need to feel confident that they can spend their BTC when they need to, it's hard to spend BTC in LatAm. 3) Bitcoin is still a tad too technical. If it's hard for it to catch on (massively) in Europe & the USA, well... The above comments, of course, may be subject to change. I wish Latin Americans well (and hope BTC is an answer for many) who are in crappy authoritarian places with bad money. |
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Is Liberland still considered a country ?
I've heard that they are not recognized as such by the UN. So, what is the actual recognition for Liberland?
Liberland isn't recognized by anyone. It doesn't exist officially. IS is much more recognized as it has soldiers, some kind of a government, as it's collecting taxes and enforcing rules of its own making. Liberland has nothing besides a website. And it doesn't even a country code top level domain like .de or .it. ^^^ This ^^^ To my knowledge, there is NO free (available) real estate in the WORLD where a group of adventurers could go and stake a claim to form a new nation. There is NO WAY Europe would allow a libertarian country to set up shop. NFW! bitcointalk's own "TPTB_need_War" has floated the idea of some immigration to Pitcairn Island, more-or-less a British colony now with less than 100 people living there IIRC. It would not take too many immigrant voters to change any rules there. But, Pitcairn is very remote, and TPTB's ideas have not been tested. I doubt even THAT would work. There is no escape. countryfree, alas, has it all correct. |
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Again, the gold or Bitcoin dichotomy is a false one!
BOTH assets have different characteristics, meaning that holding BOTH is perfectly OK. They work differently. They BOTH have a place in many people's portfolios.
Gold and Bitcoin offer good diversification.
BOTH assets may have YUUGE price increases if/when the financial system destabilizes.
One is not better than the other. They BOTH are good.
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The good news is that the FBI was able to crack the iPhone belonging to the terrst [sic] is California.
The good news is that Apple can now redouble its encryption efforts so that the FBI cannot break the NEXT generation of iOS.
I have a Bitcoin wallet on my iPhone. Now that Apple has (apparently) NOT been coerced to backdoor its OS, I think that we can all feel a little bit better.
But who really knows.....
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Defacing paper currency is usually illegal in most countries.
Yet, I have seen "END THE FED" stamped on US money.
Not to mention telephone numbers and other small notations.
I see no harm in putting a public & private key on a US$20 or a €20. Just don't get caught!
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"Is gold better than Bitcoin?"
It all depends on the person and the circumstances. Gold will be better if you want something secure. A Store of Value that has been so for 5000 + years. "There is always someone around who will accept your gold as payment".
Bitcoin has other advantages. It is easy to take huge amounts anywhere. There is an even greater possibility of BTC reaching very high prices (over $10,000 say), although gold may do that as well.
Bitcoin and gold are complementary! Hold both!
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I have to say, some of the platinum eagle coins are absolutely stunning and it certainly is a precious metal. Don't know about its long term usefulness but if I had the money I'd buy some. Those palladium ballet coins Russia put out some years ago are nice too. That's knd of an oddball metal.
Yes, palladium is an oddball metal with interesting properties. It can hold some 900 times its own volume of hydrogen gas. Palladium is impermeable to all gases EXCEPT hydrogen. These two properties are unique to Pd as far as I know. Some observers think that Pd could be very important if hydrogen fuel cell technology becomes big. Like the other platinum-group metals, it is used as a catalyst in certain applications (Ford was experimenting with using Pd at scale several years ago). Pd also is the best alloy to make white gold (nickel, the other metal used) is slightly toxic. |
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I read something a year or two ago that the Liberland experiment was NOT going well due to interference by Croatia and/or Serbia.
Do you (or anyone) have any other news?
Such a development (acceptance of a new state based on freedom) would be a hugely positive thing for the world. Which is why they will never allow it...
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... Venezuela is now one of those candidate investments that Rothschild suggested looking at: " The original quote is believed to be "Buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own."" (The above version (there are several versions of Rothschild's quote) here: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/08/contrarian-investing.asp) Venezuela is not quite ready for such investments. But, it may be at some point once Chavez/Maduro Socialism falls. Any such investments would be risky. But someone is likely to make a pile of money once the smoke clears in Venezuela (all that oil is not going anywhere anytime soon). |
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Digital bitbox begins sales (limited). Price: $120. https://digitalbitbox.com/betashopFirst hardware wallet is the to support libsecp256k1, and that it has a flexible API and full native app.
The hardware device allows for offline transaction signing, offline and anytime backups to a micro SD card, AES-encrypted USB communication, and 2FA support. Users have full control over their private keys; and the wallet is multisig compatible.When I first heard about digitalbitbox, it looked like it was going to be a simple (not complicated = not many features but easy to use) device. Looks like my thinking may have been wrong. I will be very interested to hear user experiences! I am happy with my Trezor and Ledger Nano as they are indeed rather simple to use, and ease of use is my main criterion after security. |
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I've always stuck with Gold and Silver so far, but it sounds like a decent idea to branch out into Platinum now. Are there any platinum coins made by a major mint, or is it to better to buy it in bar form if you're going for large physical volume?
The US used to make Platinum Eagles, they can be found at apmex.com. The main problem with them is the very high premiums (over $200 / oz over spot). More easily available are the platinum 1 oz coins from Australia (Platypus and Kangaroo), Canada (Maple Leaf) and even Austria (Philharmonic). All of these can be found at apmex as well. providentmetals.com currently offers the Canadian and Austrian. Provident offers the option of buying with Bitcoin.  * * * Platinum seems to have one other price dynamic of interest. Its use for industry will go up in GOOD economic times (as with silver), but it looks like investment demand (jewelry as well) for Pt is fairly constant. This means, IMO, that unlike Au and Ag, that Pt is for optimists! Gold & silver are well known for being SHTF investments, while increased Pt usage (eg, by China to clean up their air pollution) would likely happen when economic activity increases. So, Pt would be a slightly different "vector" (diversification) in the precious metals space. |
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OP does raise an interesting question (but not explicitly):
What might happen to Bitcoin in a financial event of similar severity to 2008/2009?
Bitcoin has not yet seen this, and I really do not have a good feel as to what would happen. On the one hand BTC might do very well if the banks are not functioning (properly), or perhaps people would bail-out of Bitcoin because they need CASH LIQUIDITY. (I have no idea)
Of course, BTC might do well (go up vs. other assets, like the US dollar).
My *guess* would be that Bitcoin needs a few more years to increase acceptance among users and merchants before it would be a robust and frequently used currency in a crunch.
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... Gold and silver are both very well known for being suitable for as investments. Yet, there are some platinum bullion coins (Canada, Australia and Austria now mint them, the USA used to). available. Platinum is considered "the third precious metal", Russia even minted Three Rubles and Six Rubles coins in the 1800s for circulation (they are collectors items now and very expensive). I am curious to hear community views on Pt as an investment.Some perspective on precious metals: 1) Gold is almost exclusively used as a Store of Value (jewelry too), and has been for 5000 + years. Only small amounts used in industry. 2) Silver (if I understand correctly) is about half industrial use and half as jewelry and for HODLing & investment. 3) I do not have the breakdown of Pt re use in industry vs. investment, but Pt is used as a catalyst, both in cars and chemical plants. * * * Unfortunately, American Platinum Eagles (now out of production, maybe they'll make them again) are priced extremely high, currently selling around a 25% or higher premium to metal value (apmex.com). Australian Pt Platypus and Canadian Pt Maple sell for some $90 over spot (so around 10%). I believe the high premiums are because Pt is relatively ILLIQUID vs. gold and silver (although I have seen that US Silver Eagles sell for some 20% + premium too, other silver "rounds" can be had for 5% over spot). EDIT: Platinum coins (Maple and Austrian) are currently available at providentmetals.com, yes, you can pay with Bitcoin. |
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