Jacob Appelbaum: "Bitcoin Prediction: Major bugs in the near future ..."

[qarl]

Jacob Appelbaum: "Bitcoin Prediction: Major bugs in the near future will mess with the 'market'".

http://twitter.com/#!/ioerror/status/78480502641803264

http://twitter.com/#!/ioerror/status/78520413315006465

grumble.

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[BotherMeNot]

I agree.  For one thing it relies on encryption and a public log.  Encryption can be broken and with bitcoins as is, you can't force new encryption standards on old bitcoins.  As for the public log, if someone branches from it or introduces their own log then we loose credibility of the currency.

Bitcoins is a good proof of concept, but I think the concept will be taken over and improved upon by companies who don't respect the same level of anonymity that Bitcoins and Tor promote.

[Astro]

Considering what a little "announcement" on mtgox has done to the price today, any actual bug like this would crash the price back to $1.

[paulie_w]

why doesn't he just say what it is? why do some people choose to create panic?

[qarl]

why doesn't he just say what it is?

he's effectively bragging that he knows more than us.

can someone who knows what he's talking about speak to it, please?

[Denicen]

I agree.  For one thing it relies on encryption and a public log.  Encryption can be broken and with bitcoins as is, you can't force new encryption standards on old bitcoins.  As for the public log, if someone branches from it or introduces their own log then we loose credibility of the currency.

Bitcoins is a good proof of concept, but I think the concept will be taken over and improved upon by companies who don't respect the same level of anonymity that Bitcoins and Tor promote.

This is very silly, i've seen it mentioned several times that the encryption can be improved if need be.
Also: Lol at a company taking over the bitcoin concept, did you read a couple news reports about bitcoin and think you are an expert or something?

[FreeMoney]

Pfft, I expected a long analysis, twitter, classy.

[TraderTimm]

The 'public log' is the blockchain.

I suggest you read the whitepaper about 'forking' the blockchain, since your statement seems to suggest it is trivial.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34237903/Bit-Coin-Whitepaper

[xf2_org]

I agree.  For one thing it relies on encryption and a public log.  Encryption can be broken and with bitcoins as is, you can't force new encryption standards on old bitcoins.  As for the public log, if someone branches from it or introduces their own log then we loose credibility of the currency.

You appear to know very little about how bitcoin works.

[qarl]

Jeff - do you know what Appelbaum's concern is?

[syn]

Appelbaum is claiming he has knowledge of a specific bug.

He says that we need to direct our questions to Gavin.  Is Gavin aware of this? 

My understanding of Appelbaum is that he would not risk his reputation on spreading lies, but I don't know him personally.

Can anyone confirm that Gavin (or other lead developers) have gotten specifics from Appelbaum?

[xf2_org]

Jeff - do you know what Appelbaum's concern is?

No.

I do know that bitcoin has a history of newbies appearing, claiming to have found some major hole in bitcoin, and then nothing coming of it.

Beware fact-free FUD.

[hoo2jalu]

....
My understanding of Appelbaum is that he would not risk his reputation on spreading lies, but I don't know him personally.

Jacob Applebaum is an idiot! I repeat: Jacob Applebaum is a fscking idiot!

He is a posturing publicity whore who cannot hack shit. Just look at this Tor commits - all he works on is lame stuff, not core Tor code!

[BotherMeNot]

To each there own opinion, but I didn't read any news reports and don't think I'm an expert in BitCoins.  Thanks for the whitepaper link!  I did read up the wiki article when it was mentioned that people could be traced, but they didn't go into it in enough detail.  I'll see if it fits the concept of a group over taking the public logs by creating their own mining pools larger than what's currently out there.   By branching, I mean extending upon so that a new currency (or version of) is created on top of the old.  A poor choice of words on my part.

As for encryption, I haven't ran into any articles detailing how the current methods can be improved upon.  If you can provide me with links, that would be swell.

[xf2_org]

Can anyone confirm that Gavin (or other lead developers) have gotten specifics from Appelbaum?

I am still waiting for a response...  <insert sound of crickets chirping>

[hoo2jalu]

why doesn't he just say what it is? why do some people choose to create panic?

Because Jacob Applebaum is an idiot, and has only heard things second hand (rumor). And that is assume he even knows what he is talking about. (Doubtful)

Look at all of the "security work" he's been involved in. He is Press Frontman, not actual hacker or talented coder!

Jacob Applebaum is idiot!

[qarl]

I do know that bitcoin has a history of newbies appearing, claiming to have found some major hole in bitcoin, and then nothing coming of it.

agreed.  but given Appelbaum's core involvement in wikileaks and Tor - i don't think it's wise to treat him as a typical n00b.

[Jack of Diamonds]

I do know that bitcoin has a history of newbies appearing, claiming to have found some major hole in bitcoin, and then nothing coming of it.

agreed.  but given Appelbaum's core involvement in wikileaks and Tor - i don't think it's wise to treat him as a typical n00b.

He hasn't contributed any real code to the TOR project at all. Check his commits.

[gigitrix]

You're all reading far too much into it. He thinks this will happen. For all you know, this is either some random prediction based on "complex software has bugs" (not an unture statement in general), or Appelbaum could have looked into bitcoin without a fundamental understanding of all the protection layers the blockchain has. He could even be trying to distort the price for personal gain (although I do not believe this myself).


tl;dr: dox or gtfo.

[Chris Acheson]

Dude probably just wants to buy some bitcoins for cheap.