My girlfriend has questions for the forum...

[VirosaGITS]

1) How do people think that bitcoin is actually anonymous? You would have to buy them with your debit card/credit card in which banks have your information... why would you think that this stuff is actually anonymous and could be used in such a way?

There are other fairly anonymous ways to buy bitcoin like from forum members or other face-to-face deals. After you have bought bitcoin, there are also means to loose the trail of your coins, making it harder for people to track your spending and ownership. Some would tell you that bitcoin is pseudo anonymous, I would say you can make bitcoin as anonymous as you need.

Just be careful buying bitcoins face to face in the US using localbitcoins. The newest fashion over there are undercover agents that are meeting people over localbitcoins and then arresting them and charging them. Freaking unbelievable!

Is that for real? I would imagine that that would only be applicable to people in NY due to the new laws regarding Bitcoin... Right?

I don't think so, just don't buy a lot at one time. Also be careful of people who will try to run with your money. Always to face to face transactions in a public place where there are lots of witnesses.

I don't think I feel quite comfortable with this... this makes me feel like I'm going to meet some "Heisenburg" of BTC and the deal will somehow go wrong and I will be either shot or get my money/car stolen from me. I think for now I will just buy off exchange sites... I don't see how that way of buying bitcoin will be beneficial.

Also, she says thank you to her posts! She isn't really ready to invest, but she thinks it's interesting...

xD You can do dealings with those people online too. Use escrow and you will be able to exchange funds safely, i'm sure quite a few of the good escrows on the escows list would do this as long as the seller is also on this forum. Nothing should change from a typical escrowed exchange... and your car and your kidney will be safe.

Good luck with your girlfriend.

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[notlist3d]

1) How do people think that bitcoin is actually anonymous? You would have to buy them with your debit card/credit card in which banks have your information... why would you think that this stuff is actually anonymous and could be used in such a way?

There are other fairly anonymous ways to buy bitcoin like from forum members or other face-to-face deals. After you have bought bitcoin, there are also means to loose the trail of your coins, making it harder for people to track your spending and ownership. Some would tell you that bitcoin is pseudo anonymous, I would say you can make bitcoin as anonymous as you need.

Just be careful buying bitcoins face to face in the US using localbitcoins. The newest fashion over there are undercover agents that are meeting people over localbitcoins and then arresting them and charging them. Freaking unbelievable!

Is that for real? I would imagine that that would only be applicable to people in NY due to the new laws regarding Bitcoin... Right?

Just one of the threads that you can find online..

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=543688

Technically if you do it at a certain level you could be considered a money launder.  Think of all the laws exchanges like coinbase have to follow like KYC.  They know who you are and at least where it's sent from site.    They do this to stay legal and not a money launder.

If you met with someone and just did cash for large amount of BTC.  In US you could be considered money launder.  I can't imagine cops coming unless you are known for doing a lot, or you got really unlucky and your coins were used for something really bad to warrant tracing them.   So there is a element of bad luck.

Only way I can think of to get it to more grey area is sell physical coins with BTC on them.  Say to customer they are buying coin which happens to come with X btc on it.  I'm sure that wont hold up great in court but it's better then nothing.

[DannyHamilton]

Is that for real? I would imagine that that would only be applicable to people in NY due to the new laws regarding Bitcoin... Right?

There have been arrests in Florida and Colorado that I know of.

Buying a small amount of bitcoins for personal use, and walking away from any transaction that sounds shady at all shouldn't be a problem, but even outside of New York, there are still federal laws about money laundering and operating as a money service business.

If you are buying and/or selling bitcoins regularly, there is a chance that law enforcement agencies will feel that your actions are "business-like" and therefore they may try to prosecute for operating an unlicensed money service business.

If you are buying from (or selling to) someone that gives an indication that the bitcoins are from (or for) something illegal or suspicious, then there is a requirement to notify law enforcement agencies. Failure to properly notify could result in being charged under various money laundering laws.

Generally, you can avoid these issues by using a U.S. registered exchange business (something like Coinbase).  Of course, if anonymity is important to you, then this becomes problematic.  The exchange is likely to have a lot of identifying information about you as well as information about your bank account.

[notlist3d]

Is that for real? I would imagine that that would only be applicable to people in NY due to the new laws regarding Bitcoin... Right?

There have been arrests in Florida and Colorado that I know of.

Buying a small amount of bitcoins for personal use, and walking away from any transaction that sounds shady at all shouldn't be a problem, but even outside of New York, there are still federal laws about money laundering and operating as a money service business.

If you are buying and/or selling bitcoins regularly, there is a chance that law enforcement agencies will feel that your actions are "business-like" and therefore they may try to prosecute for operating an unlicensed money service business.

If you are buying from (or selling to) someone that gives an indication that the bitcoins are from (or for) something illegal or suspicious, then there is a requirement to notify law enforcement agencies. Failure to properly notify could result in being charged under various money laundering laws.

Generally, you can avoid these issues by using a U.S. registered exchange business (something like Coinbase).  Of course, if anonymity is important to you, then this becomes problematic.  The exchange is likely to have a lot of identifying information about you as well as information about your bank account.

And one thing I did not mention earlier there are some pretty nice laws for fraud on money (like money laundering) for the agency that goes after sellers on LBC and such.  In many cases they can seize money though these transactions.  So if they know you do a large amount of BTC sales it's a good chance they can take a lot of money and it's now the property of uncle sam.

Also I still think part of it is bad luck on where your coins end up.  If you sell coins and they go to darkweb stuff, that will not make the government to happy. And they do go after the big sites to.

Look at bitinstant - http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-first-felon-charlie-shrem-begins-2-year-sentence/   .  Charlie Shrem got 2 years for running a exchange not properly licensed so it was considered money laundering.   So stick with a exchange following rules is best idea.

[Slark]

1) How do people think that bitcoin is actually anonymous? You would have to buy them with your debit card/credit card in which banks have your information... why would you think that this stuff is actually anonymous and could be used in such a way?

Bitcoin is pseudonymous. Your anonymity is lost when you are using satellite services, for example to buy or sell bitcoins.
But when you are dealing only with p2p bitcoin transaction your identity is secured.

2) How many people develop bitcoin? If it's a decentralized currency then if these people control how the currency works, how would that make it decentralized?

There are group of developers who manage bitcoin sourcecode. But they can't change it on their own without acceptance of whole bitcoin network.

3) If it is a currency that can be used in a sort of anonymous way, then how can governments regulate it in a way to make sure that people aren't funding bad organizations like ISIS and drug lords?  "Harpua" has told me about what silk road was and the way the darknet markets work, but how can this be prevented?

Are you not concerned about 'normal' money being used to support terrorists and crime everyday? It is far more obvious that paper dollars are more helpful when it comes to fund crime that bitcoin ever will.

4) My dad works in a government facility where he deals with high clearance documents in a high security facility.  His organization has just been recently hacked by the Chinese government and lost dozens of top secret information including SS#'s, locations of the homes of workers, basically any personal information about the workers of his business and his families (which includes me). How can cryptocurrencies ever be a secure enough form of transactions where governments and top notch hackers can't just find a way to hack into the blockchain database?

Again, do you know how easy it is to hack centralized services and networks? Bitcoin compared to this is impenetrable just because you just simply can't hack whole network to bring it down.

[odolvlobo]

2) How many people develop bitcoin? If it's a decentralized currency then if these people control how the currency works, how would that make it decentralized?

There are group of developers who manage bitcoin sourcecode. But they can't change it on their own without acceptance of whole bitcoin network.

Most people don't realize that there are several groups that work on Bitcoin. In addition to bitcoind (aka Bitcoin Core) there are bitcoinj, btcd, libbitcoin, and pycoin, as well as the proprietary code used by the major Bitcoin firms.

There really is no "the source code". Anybody, can write software that implements the Bitcoin protocol. That is one of the strengths of Bitcoin.

[Possum577]

Pictures or she doesn't exist, haha 

1) Bitcoin isn't completely anonymous...there will always be a way to track who's buying bitcoin unless they use cash and buy a hard wallet. However once you own bitcoin or being paid in bitcoin can be kept anonymous (if not using an online wallet).

2) # Devs is best answered by others

3) Security of the blockchain, best answered by others. But think about this - if we ever lose electricity we lose access to the blockchain, that vulnerability is huge and no one ever talks about it.

"...me and Harpua...couldn't care fewa..."

[RodeoX]

1) How do people think that bitcoin is actually anonymous? You would have to buy them with your debit card/credit card in which banks have your information... why would you think that this stuff is actually anonymous and could be used in such a way?

You can obtain bitcoin in many anonymous ways such as in person sales, mining, selling items for BTC. Banks are only part of the process if you include them.

2) How many people develop bitcoin? If it's a decentralized currency then if these people control how the currency works, how would that make it decentralized?

Bitcoin is open source and anyone in the world is free to work on it. Which fork is chosen to be the "real" bitcoin is a consensus process that is out of any one entities control. The developers have no more control over bitcoin than you or I.

3) If it is a currency that can be used in a sort of anonymous way, then how can governments regulate it in a way to make sure that people aren't funding bad organizations like ISIS and drug lords?  "Harpua" has told me about what silk road was and the way the darknet markets work, but how can this be prevented?

Maybe they can't? That is not my problem. Software does not have to include the ability for a government agency to invade our privacy. Many of us do not want them to track us because it is unethical, unsafe and unAmerican.  Not to mention that only a few of us live in America.

4) My dad works in a government facility where he deals with high clearance documents in a high security facility.  His organization has just been recently hacked by the Chinese government and lost dozens of top secret information including SS#'s, locations of the homes of workers, basically any personal information about the workers of his business and his families (which includes me). How can cryptocurrencies ever be a secure enough form of transactions where governments and top notch hackers can't just find a way to hack into the blockchain database?

The government's "security" is a joke. Which is why it is unsafe for them to maintain files on us. As per your example: they can not retain that data and so should not be allowed to get it. Bitcoin was invented by people who do not believe in the idea of trust. The protocol does not tie identity to money the way all other systems do, so there is nothing to hack. All transactions are public, all code is open source, no data about identity is included.*

* Of course some ways of using bitcoin can lead back to you if a clever and persistent person tries. But this does not lead to your money, just to clues about who might have sent money from a given address. 

[ikydesu]

1) How do people think that bitcoin is actually anonymous? You would have to buy them with your debit card/credit card in which banks have your information... why would you think that this stuff is actually anonymous and could be used in such a way?

2) How many people develop bitcoin? If it's a decentralized currency then if these people control how the currency works, how would that make it decentralized?

3) If it is a currency that can be used in a sort of anonymous way, then how can governments regulate it in a way to make sure that people aren't funding bad organizations like ISIS and drug lords?  "Harpua" has told me about what silk road was and the way the darknet markets work, but how can this be prevented?

4) My dad works in a government facility where he deals with high clearance documents in a high security facility.  His organization has just been recently hacked by the Chinese government and lost dozens of top secret information including SS#'s, locations of the homes of workers, basically any personal information about the workers of his business and his families (which includes me). How can cryptocurrencies ever be a secure enough form of transactions where governments and top notch hackers can't just find a way to hack into the blockchain database?

-snip-
Thanks.

1.) If you buy bitcoin with credit card, it's not annonymous anymore, otherwise earn bitcoin from bitcoin earning method, or if you buy with credit card, trade to darkcoin, or mixing it.

2.) Maybe the devs is only developing the network system can be better CMIIW. "Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority: transaction management and money issuance are carried out collectively by the network. "

3.) Think again, all fiat in this world has been used as crime money calculation.

4.) What the purpose to hack blockchain network database? Even this is open source code.

Maybe if you use blockchain wallet, you can easily to hacked LoL, there are a lot problem about bc.i wallet hacked, it's all about humans error.

[Harpua]

Pictures or she doesn't exist, haha 

1) Bitcoin isn't completely anonymous...there will always be a way to track who's buying bitcoin unless they use cash and buy a hard wallet. However once you own bitcoin or being paid in bitcoin can be kept anonymous (if not using an online wallet).

2) # Devs is best answered by others

3) Security of the blockchain, best answered by others. But think about this - if we ever lose electricity we lose access to the blockchain, that vulnerability is huge and no one ever talks about it.

"...me and Harpua...couldn't care fewa..."

Oh right, like I'm going to post a picture of my significant other so other neckbeards can fap away... I'll pass   

And for #3 there is a thread floating around here that talks about that vulnerability and are trying to launch a satellite so you can connect to a blockchain through radio frequencies or something like that?  I mean I think you are talking about losing the internet, because there are other ways to generate electricity and rig up your own radio.  Though, I don't know if those people in that thread will be able to gather up that much funding to launch a blockchain into orbit...

"Jimmy...??"