Try running with the -rescan flag. From the command prompt, in the directory containing Bitcoin, run "bitcoin.exe -rescan"

If you don't have any Bitcoin addresses, there are a few ways to get one:

* You can download the official client software at http://bitcoin.org/
* You can go to http://mybitcoin.com and create an account
* You can go to http://instawallet.org and just use the address they give you (be sure to bookmark the page!)

Any of the above will give you a bitcoin address to receive funds. It will be a long string of alphanumeric characters, something like "1BaLgPERNW98ckXJpKeeNVw7U8CU8YYTK1"

Once you have a Bitcoin address, copy it to the field on Deepbit. From then on, whenever you have been awarded enough bitcoins, they will be sent to that address. (You decide what "enough" is via the "Minimum value for automatic payment" field.)

The client software and the two sites I listed above all have easy-to-use interfaces for sending bitcoins. There will be a receiving address field and an amount field. Try sending 1 BTC to the address I gave you above.

Do you have the client software yet? And if so, have you given Deepbit an address and withdrawn your 10 bitcoins to that address? I'm trying to figure out what point to start at, here.

EDIT: Just logged on to Deepbit to make sure I'm using their terminology. Have you filled in the field "Your bitcoin address for receiving rewards"?

That would be awesome. Does bitcoin really need its own top level, though? Why not alt.bitcoin.*? (Perfect for the Anarchists, Lunatics, and Terrorists around here, after all.)

I'm interested. I'll message you in a moment.

Interested, but only if you send first. I'll message you in a moment.

I'd say reaching 20 USD before the end of summer is much more likely than not. This is because I think the correct valuation of a bitcoin at the moment is higher than 20 USD. Consider: if Bitcoin becomes even a niche success---say, the standard currency for online gambling in a few regions---it will have to be valued at well over 1000 USD to accomodate all the demand. I'd say there's at least a 2% chance of that happening, which gives a value of 20 USD even if the only other possible outcome were total loss.

Over summer, many bitcoin users who are in school---like myself---will have more time to pursue Bitcoin-related projects. I have a business idea or two myself that I'd love to implement, and plenty of friends who still haven't heard my "sales pitch" and whom I'll see this summer. We're also seeing more and better press hits lately. It's probably a matter of months before Gavin is being interviewed on network TV. Meanwhile, look how fast we moved from $1 to $2---do you really think the jump from $10 to $20 will be much harder? I would only be mildly surprised to see us touch $20 this month.

To answer this question I'd have to know what would happen to the bitcoins already held by Americans.

A ban with no "teeth"---one that could be enforced only ineffectively---might actually have the greatest negative effect on the value of bitcoins. American businesses would have to shut down or at least relocate at great expense, resulting in a massive decrease of value in the Bitcoin economy. Americans who anticipated their bitcoins becoming worse than useless would be willing to sell them at any price. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 99% decrease in value within an hour of the announcement, if it came as a complete surprise.

On the other hand, if the US government were somehow able to disconnect Americans from the bitcoin network---perhaps by requiring ISPs to monitor their traffic, or something---most American-held bitcoins would disappear from circulation. This sudden decrease in supply might be enough to counteract the loss of American economic activity. So there could be very little change at all.

As much as many folks here hate the idea of "cooperating" with governments, I think it's important to get some state recognition so that banning Bitcoin becomes politically complicated. Some folks have suggested that some failed economy like that of Zimbabwe might adopt the bitcoin as a peg. If they did so, banning bitcoins would amount to banning trade with Zimbabwe, and have all sorts of foreign-relation implications. I can't see even the USA doing something like that lightly.

It sounds as if Madhatter was presented with a difficult choice---go broke honoring his word, or destroy his hard-earned reputation here---and decided on the latter. I'm sure it was a difficult choice for him, and I won't venture to tell him what he should have done. But, having sold his integrity, he shouldn't be shielded from the consequences just because the choice was hard.

Assuming these allegations are true, I won't condemn Madhatter; I simply won't do any business with him.

I've spent very little time on this because I don't think most of my family will bother. My mother will just not be interested, and my father is kind of technophobic and will probably go the "it's a trap!" route. I told my brother and he didn't seem interested in the slightest; I told my cousin and he seemed a bit more interested, and I may talk more about it to him if I can. Really, I don't have the sort of "soft skills" people keep talking about.

I think the best way might be to buy them something. I really like the fancy coffee idea in particular. I'm trying to do most of my "cashing out" by buying stuff rather than exchanging for USD.

Why the surcharge increase on the ฿20 bill? Especially with bitcoins having appreciated since they were introduced. Are they so expensive to produce that you have to use the larger denominations to subsidize the smaller, or what?

I was hoping the surcharge would drop low enough that I wouldn't feel like a sucker buying ฿1 bills. 0.100 over face value would have seemed reasonable.

Infinitevs, at the speed you're dealing with it may be marginally profitable for you to mine (I haven't done the computation), but it's probably not worth putting in a lot of effort. Join a pay-per-share pool like Deepbit or the variance will make you crazy.

Just made my first order!

If other stores all acted like the exchange rate was 8.00... they'd be right. 

15 sounds good to me. Sending you a PM.

Agreed. Instawallet is good for this too. Double spending is theoretically possible but I'd say most people don't have the technical knowledge to do it (actually, has anyone released a skiddie tool for this purpose yet?)

Speaking for myself, if I were one of those early adopters sitting on 100kBTC, I might think it was time, not to "cash out", but to start paying myself... maybe $1000-$2000 a week. The way things are going, this could be sustainable forever.

@doood: My sex life is far too healthy for me to have a definite answer to that question. 

Hm.... that is possible, if the bets are wildly unbalanced. I was assuming they'd be close to even between the two possibilities. If that actually happens, I guess I'll just make up the difference from my cut.

It is our first! And believe me, I'm already expecting it to be a lot of work. (I'll probably still manage to be surprised by it, though)

My wife Jennifer and I are having a baby in September! Or maybe October---the due date is September 30, so there's room for it to go either way. But anyway, this is exciting!

And soon (possibly next week) we're going in for an ultrasound and finding out the sex! Even more exciting!

Do you want to use this as a way to make some quick bitcoins and help out a young couple at the same time? Then, ladies and gentlemen, place your bets.

How it works

I'm running a parimutuel betting pool on the sex of my baby. Bet as much as you want by sending bitcoins to one of the following addresses:

IT'S A BOY! at 163oWWKA3C9uQ2UHept19wEPq54JdUGKii
IT'S A GIRL! at 17Qcg9sYFuGSQSj5qPD8K7xRNfHkgNigYb

Send these bitcoins from your own wallet! If you use a service like MyBitcoin your winnings are likely to be lost!

When we find out the sex, I'll take all the bets and split them up between the addresses on the winning side, in proportion to the size of the bet. I'll also take a cut---ten percent, plus any "remainders" after people's winnings are rounded down to fit into eight decimal places. Hopefully it will be enough to help defray the exciting new expenses of being a parent!

Demo

Say the bets break down like this:
Joe bets 5 BTC on "boy"
Susan bets 2 BTC on "boy"
Ed bets 1 BTC on "girl"
Agnes bets 3.14159 BTC on "girl"

That's a total of 11.14159 BTC---7 for "boy" and 4.14159 for "girl". After I take out my 10% cut, there's 10.14159 left in the pool.

Now let's say it turns out it's a girl. Then Ed and Agnes win the pot! I split it up "equally" by sending 2.42115492 to Ed and 7.60627608 to Agnes. (Agnes bet more, so she wins more proportionally.)

On the other hand, if it's a boy, I'll send 7.16245071 to Joe and 2.86498029 to Susan. You can see that you stand to win more by being on the less popular side---it's like a metaphor for Bitcoin itself! 

Q&A

Why would I bet on this when BitLotto only keeps 1%?
Because that guy is spending his take on hookers and blow, and I'm spending mine on diapers and college. (In all seriousness, I'm totally cool with the lotteries and what they're doing. This is not an attempt to compete with them on equal grounds---it's more like a charity raffle in my own name.)

How do I know I can trust you?
I have a minor but positive reputation here. If you don't trust me anyway, I guess you shouldn't bet, or bet very little. Personally, I think my cut is good enough that there's no need for me to try and cheat on top of it.

Do you already have some sort of information on the sex that you're withholding?
Not a thing. I can tell you that Jennifer's family all expect a girl (because they've had a lot of boys lately), and my family all expect a boy (because they've had a lot of girls lately). She also expects a boy, but cheerfully admits it's a wild guess. I'm equally prepared(?) for either one.

I'm still not totally clear on how this works?
Then ask away!

Yeah.... my vote has changed since last time.

How about a a poll on whether 1 BTC = 20 USD before the end of Spring?