It’s just not true that people are doing multiple billions a year of Bitcoin transactions. The number is well below that $ billion of the outstanding value of the currency.

FIFY

If you want to dig your ancestors out of their graves to send them on a starship you could, but I don't think any of them will be up to using bitcoins.

There will be a final crash one day - hopefully not too long from now, so that it doesn't destroy too many people's savings - because there are indeed fatal flaws within Bitcoin itself. I just hope to be able to have some fun and take some of the wide-eyed fanboiz' money until then.

Strange.... exciting? 

I can normally login and see me order status here:

http://store.avalon-asics.com/?product=avalon-asic-batch-2

But even that redirects to the 'prepping for batch #3' page.


Where's my batch #2 Unit!?!?

Analysis: Banks find NFC a buyer's market
Would you like anonymity with that?

Charis Palmer
2013-02-28

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/334761,analysis-banks-find-nfc-a-buyers-market.aspx

...
Meanwhile, those that are keen to bypass banks and card schemes and their pesky thirst for data have been busy building mobile apps for decentralised digital currency Bitcoin.

Bitcoin may not deliver as much anonymity as cash, but in a world where banks, card schemes, social networks and retailers are increasingly finding ways to connect data on consumers, it’s likely to keep chipping away at traditional banking.

Can an online market for meth, smack and pot win?
An Internet marketplace for drugs called Silk Road is continuing to profit despite legal attempts to shut it down

Jeb Boone
2013-02-27

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/27/can_an_ebay_for_meth_smack_and_pot_prevail_partner/

...
Rather than getting busted, Silk Road appears to be getting more robust.
...
To avoid the easily-tracked trail left by credit cards, customers must make purchases usingbitcoin — a digital currency championed as a way of maintaining online privacy. Bitcoin is not completely anonymous on its own, but it can be customized to obscure a user’s identity.
...
Still, law enforcement agencies are thought to be devising strategies to take down online offenders using vulnerabilities posed by bitcoin.

And banning the service would come with its own collateral impact. For example, bloggers in places like Saudi Arabia and Vietnam can use bitcoin to pay for hosting services on WordPress, reducing the likelihood that local authorities could discover their identities.
...
To stem the flow of drugs into the online market, law enforcement may need to rely on the skills acquired in policing hacker collectives rather than regulating a burgeoning market for online currency. In spite of bitcoin’s use for illegal online purchases, the transaction is not dissimilar from a typical cash purchase of drugs in the real world illicit marketplace.
...
Matonis said. “We already use paper cash anonymously and untraceably in our lives today. The only thing bitcoin does is retain that same privacy in the digital environment.”

Will The Commonwealth Bank Support Bitcoin?

Luke Hopewell
2013-02-27

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/02/will-the-commonwealth-bank-support-bitcoin/

...
So why aren’t big banks supporting Bitcoin yet? Well according to a tweet from the Commonwealth Bank, we just might see it in the future.
...
This might just be the Commonwealth Bank’s social media team being nice and doing its job, but it’s not absurd to think that a big bank could get involved in the Bitcoin game in future, is it?

Even conversations I have had with senior Commonwealth Bank executives demonstrate that the bank is certainly aware of Bitcoin at a decision-making level, so what’s stopping it from being here tomorrow?
...
Either way, we have asked the Commonwealth Bank about their position on Bitcoin and will update you when we hear back.

Bitcoin virtual currency stages epic comeback, hits new all-time high of $32

Josh Ong
2013-02-28

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/02/28/bitcoin-virtual-currency-stages-epic-comeback-hits-new-all-time-high-of-32/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

...
Mainstream support for the currency is growing.
...
We took a long look at Bitcoin’s prospects last September and concluded that it wasn’t going anywhere, despite fluctuations in price.
...

Tabletop Bitcoin ATM Is Huge for Payment Privacy

Jon Matonis
2013-02-27

http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/tabletop-bitcoin-atm-is-huge-for-payment-privacy-1057110-1.html


It looks like a high school science project, but this countertop machine may be a bulwark of financial privacy in the age of digital money.
...
Now, with a device that directly converts paper cash to bitcoin anonymously, the interaction is between human and machine. The value of that subtle difference should not be underestimated.
...

In bid for credibility, largest Bitcoin exchange moves to Silicon Valley
Move is designed to make Bitcoin more accessible to American consumers.

Timothy B. Lee
2013-02-27

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/02/in-bid-for-credibility-largest-bitcoin-exchange-moves-to-silicon-valley/

The world's leading Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, has announced a partnership with the Silicon Valley startup Coinlab. Under the agreement, Coinlab will handle Mt. Gox's American operations, which account for a large majority of the exchange's business.
...
As a Japanese firm, Mt. Gox struggled to develop the partnerships it needed. But according to Vessenes, CoinLab's location and conventional investor backing allowed the firm to score a partnership with Silicon Valley Bank.
...