Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion

[billyjoeallen]

http://www.rre.com/blog/90-why-we-started-abra

To design Abra we turned to the traditional Hawala model.  (...)  Traditional Hawala’s are generally illegal in the United States as no one is allowed to hold or remit funds on behalf of someone else without being a licensed money transmitter both with FinCen (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) and with the US State regulators where the consumers’ reside.  In the case of Abra, however, consumers and Tellers are always holding their own money just as with the standard open source Bitcoin software.  Abra Tellers simply buy and sell digital currency directly to and from other consumers in their neighborhood in small amounts.

I am not a lawyer, but that explanation of why Abra is not a money transmitter is seems totally bogus.  When you use Western Union, you give your cash to one teller here, and another teller over there gives his cash to the other customer.  No cash is actually moving between the two locations, and there may not even be transfers between bank accounts.  Yet WU is definitely a money transmitter...

I agree in U.S. Law such a service is absolutely a money xmitter business, but what if the tellers are in the receiving country only? Anyone can legally buy bitcoin in the U.S. and send it to anyone they want (except drug dealers, terrorists, etc). Migrant worker remittances usually only flow one way: from the rich country to families in a poorer country.  It would be foolish for those poorer countries' governments to discourage a more efficient remittance option. It just sucks money out of their economy to do so.

[dreamspark]

http://www.coindesk.com/third-usms-bitcoin-auction-bidder-interest/

[NotLambchop]

Look at you creeping up on 270 again.  Pretty sneaky, Bitcoiners!

[drbrock]

http://www.theverge.com/a/anatomy-of-a-hack#mailcom

Scary stuff. 2-factor everything people.

Thats a great read.

Before buying my first bitcoin in December of last year I spent probably about three months looking at types of wallets and ways to keep your stash secure. In the end I have opted for the brain/paper wallet methods for my main holding and use online exchanges such as blockchain/coinbase for very small amounts for trading/gambling/purchasing.

I think really security is the BIGGEST problem for most people (even someone like me who is NOT a programmer/hacker but IS very competent on computers) had to really rack my brain with all this security stuff.

Again great read... I am not sure what I would do if I somehow ended up with crazy amounts of bitcoins. I think I would be very paranoid

[tarmi]

"The US Marshals Service (USMS) has announced that 14 bidders participated in today's auction of 50,000 BTC, worth $13.4m at press time, placing 34 bids over the course of the six-hour event.

The figure was up slightly from the 11 bidders and 27 bids entered in December's auction, but down from the 45 bidders and 63 bids during the first auction in June."


...


so we are like 100 $ down from december and we got +3 bidders.

not so bullish.

[macsga]

http://www.coindesk.com/third-usms-bitcoin-auction-bidder-interest/

The US Marshals Service (USMS) has announced that 14 bidders participated in today's auction of 50,000 BTC, worth $13.4m at press time, placing 34 bids over the course of the six-hour event.

The figure was up slightly from the 11 bidders and 27 bids entered in December's auction, but down from the 45 bidders and 63 bids during the first auction in June.

Fair deal imho.

[thezerg]

http://www.rre.com/blog/90-why-we-started-abra

To design Abra we turned to the traditional Hawala model.  (...)  Traditional Hawala’s are generally illegal in the United States as no one is allowed to hold or remit funds on behalf of someone else without being a licensed money transmitter both with FinCen (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) and with the US State regulators where the consumers’ reside.  In the case of Abra, however, consumers and Tellers are always holding their own money just as with the standard open source Bitcoin software.  Abra Tellers simply buy and sell digital currency directly to and from other consumers in their neighborhood in small amounts.

I am not a lawyer, but that explanation of why Abra is not a money transmitter is seems totally bogus.  When you use Western Union, you give your cash to one teller here, and another teller over there gives his cash to the other customer.  No cash is actually moving between the two locations, and there may not even be transfers between bank accounts.  Yet WU is definitely a money transmitter...

I agree in U.S. Law such a service is absolutely a money xmitter business, but what if the tellers are in the receiving country only? Anyone can legally buy bitcoin in the U.S. and send it to anyone they want (except drug dealers, terrorists, etc). Migrant worker remittances usually only flow one way: from the rich country to families in a poorer country.  It would be foolish for those poorer countries' governments to discourage a more efficient remittance option. It just sucks money out of their economy to do so.

Worst case, Abra could get a money transmitter license and so shield all of their Tellers from having to do so.  All bank employees don't have individual money transmitter licenses...

[hodlmybtc]

https://twitter.com/cryptokees/status/573577241235423232

[Wary]

http://www.theverge.com/a/anatomy-of-a-hack#mailcom

Scary stuff. 2-factor everything people.

Thats a great read.

Before buying my first bitcoin in December of last year I spent probably about three months looking at types of wallets and ways to keep your stash secure. In the end I have opted for the brain/paper wallet methods for my main holding and use online exchanges such as blockchain/coinbase for very small amounts for trading/gambling/purchasing.

I think really security is the BIGGEST problem for most people (even someone like me who is NOT a programmer/hacker but IS very competent on computers) had to really rack my brain with all this security stuff.

Again great read... I am not sure what I would do if I somehow ended up with crazy amounts of bitcoins. I think I would be very paranoid

With crazy amount of bitcoins you would be able to afford Trezor and computer, dedicated to bitcoins only.

[macsga]

https://twitter.com/cryptokees/status/573577241235423232

30% feels wonderful! Tarmi sees "not so bullish" if 30% up is "Not so bullish" what is?

[aztecminer]

https://twitter.com/cryptokees/status/573577241235423232

gratz marshal's ................. 

[Sitarow]

[coinableS]

https://twitter.com/cryptokees/status/573577241235423232

Can someone be my eyes on this tweet?

Behind work firewall, can't access the twitter.

[tarmi]

https://twitter.com/cryptokees/status/573577241235423232

30% feels wonderful! Tarmi sees "not so bullish" if 30% up is "Not so bullish" what is?

30 % up?

"anonymous source confirmes" lol

you must be pretty stupid to pay even one single batch 30 % up on current prices. that could be Tim dollar averaging his 600 coins.

[ssmc2]

https://twitter.com/cryptokees/status/573577241235423232

Can someone be my eyes on this tweet?

Behind work firewall, can't access the twitter.

Auction bids 30% above market. Use web proxy like I do.  

[Specular]

https://twitter.com/cryptokees/status/573577241235423232

Can someone be my eyes on this tweet?

Behind work firewall, can't access the twitter.

[coinableS]

https://twitter.com/cryptokees/status/573577241235423232

Can someone be my eyes on this tweet?

Behind work firewall, can't access the twitter.

Auction bids 30% above market. Use web proxy like I do.  

Thanks, most proxies are blocked too... freaking Baracuda!

[adaseb]

Who is this CryptosKees dude? Is he credible?

[ChartBuddy]

Coin
Explanation

[chriswen]

More rumours.

https://twitter.com/BitcoinSource/status/573577540066918400