Bitcoin press hits, notable sources

[cypherdoc]

Bitcoin, the City traders' anarchic new toy

(Reuters) - Financial traders have a new toy: Bitcoin, a digital currency variously dismissed as a Ponzi scheme or lauded as the greatest invention since the Internet.

Naomi O'Leary
London, 2012-04-02

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/01/traders-bitcoin-idUSL6E8ET5K620120401

great find.  i always knew they were here.

[julz]

Not a press hit..  but a notable use of bitcoin.

Bitcoin prices being offered at InfoSec Southwest 2012
march30- april1, austin texas

Demolition Derby CTF


http://www.infosecsouthwest.com/demolitionderby.html


...
Prizes
Prizes for this competition will be based on points collected from captured flag files. Top-ranking competitors will all receive a complimentary pass to next year's conference, as well as their choice of one of the following prizes:
A 25 BTC Casascius Bitcoin, courtesy of Trammell Ventures
A Bug Hunter's Diary, The IDA Pro Book, and Gray Hat Python book bundle, courtesy of No Starch Press
wi*spy 2.4x, courtesy of Harris Crucial Security
DIY Security Camera Kit, courtesy of Harris Crucial Security
In addition to the prizes awarded for points, each flag file will contain an encrypted Bitcoin private key which will have some Bitcoin value sent to it. The list of Bitcoin addresses for the keys and their values has been posted here and can be independently verified using Block Explorer. Once the competition is complete, we will publish the encryption key used to encrypt the Bitcoin private keys here on our website. At that point, the "gold rush" phase will be on for the competitors to decrypt and import these keys into their Bitcoin wallet and "sweep" (claim) the Bitcoins for themselves. Each flag file will also contain the cleartext Bitcoin address for the encrypted private key so that competitors may verify the key's value on the Bitcoin network and keep a running total of how much BTC their flags are worth.
GOLD RUSH!!! The encryption key pair used to encrypt the Bitcoin keys included in the flag files has been posted! Grab them here!
...

[julz]

Related to the Reuters hit above..   same author released a brief overview of bitcoin:

Factbox - What is Bitcoin - currency or con?

Naomi O'Leary
2012-04-01

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/01/uk-factbox-bitcoin-idUKBRE8300JP20120401

http://www.iii.co.uk/news-opinion/reuters/news/30724

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin is a mathematical money system driven by code. It allows users to send money directly from their computer to another on the other side of the world.
...

[julz]

Same ol'...

Deadly drugs for sale in online universe called Dark Web

DRUG dealers are operating beyond the reach of law in a sinister parallel online universe called the Dark Web.

Brian Flynn
2012-04-01

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4232399/Deadly-drugs-for-sale-in-online-universe-called-Dark-Web.html


...
Software diverts traffic through a chain of PCs around the globe — making it impossible to trace users. Buyers use a legal virtual currency called Bitcoins, which the website launders through a string of fake transactions to hide their origin.
...

discussion thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=74959.0

[mrb]

Bitcoin, the City traders' anarchic new toy

(Reuters) - Financial traders have a new toy: Bitcoin, a digital currency variously dismissed as a Ponzi scheme or lauded as the greatest invention since the Internet.

Naomi O'Leary
London, 2012-04-02

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/01/traders-bitcoin-idUSL6E8ET5K620120401

Reposted on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3785672

[bitcoinBull]

Bitcoin, the City traders' anarchic new toy

(Reuters) - Financial traders have a new toy: Bitcoin, a digital currency variously dismissed as a Ponzi scheme or lauded as the greatest invention since the Internet.

Naomi O'Leary
London, 2012-04-02

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/01/traders-bitcoin-idUSL6E8ET5K620120401

Reposted on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3785672

Front-page, nice.

[molecular]

Bitcoin, the City traders' anarchic new toy

(Reuters) - Financial traders have a new toy: Bitcoin, a digital currency variously dismissed as a Ponzi scheme or lauded as the greatest invention since the Internet.

Naomi O'Leary
London, 2012-04-02

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/01/traders-bitcoin-idUSL6E8ET5K620120401

ahahaha. sorry to spam the thread, but this quote from above article apparently made at the Digital Money Forum in London is priceless and should go down in the history books for later reference:

"Bitcoin is not going to fly because there is no central bank or power base. It's doomed to fail."

[julz]

Bitcoin ‘Is a Better Form of Money Than We Have Right Now,’ Pro Trader Says

Financial traders try to avoid getting Zhou Tonged.

Adrianne Jeffries
2012-04-02

http://www.betabeat.com/2012/04/02/bitcoin-is-a-better-form-of-money-than-we-have-right-now-pro-financial-trader-says/

[julz]

Watch Bitcoin Robbery in Slow Motion

Jon Matonis
2012-04-02

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/02/watch-bitcoin-robbery-in-slow-motion/

[julz]

It Makes Total Sense That the Bankers Who Destroyed Our Economy Are Now Trading Bitcoin

Mario Aguilar
2012-04-02


http://gizmodo.com/5898303/it-makes-total-sense-that-the-bankers-who-destroyed-our-economy-are-now-trading-bitcoin

At its core, Bitcoin is worthless.
That people continue to trade the invented digital currency is understandable because it's possible to turn a quick, risky buck.
...

[julz]

This puzzled 'international ECommerce specialist' still hasn't understood that the utter non-reliance of bitcoin upon it's founding coder is a strength.

Forbes Still A Bitcoin Fan?

2012-04-02
Melody Wigdahl

http://www.onlinepaymentnews.com/forbes-still-a-bitcoin-fan-4922.html/

... considering that the ‘alternative’ currency is anonymous, decentralized and virtually nothing is known about the coder that originally created the system – and who now seems to have disappeared…..one has to wonder why it continues to get so much press?

[edd]

This puzzled 'international ECommerce specialist' still hasn't understood that the utter non-reliance of bitcoin upon it's founding coder is a strength.

Forbes Still A Bitcoin Fan?

2012-04-02
Melody Wigdahl

http://www.onlinepaymentnews.com/forbes-still-a-bitcoin-fan-4922.html/

... considering that the ‘alternative’ currency is anonymous, decentralized and virtually nothing is known about the coder that originally created the system – and who now seems to have disappeared…..one has to wonder why it continues to get so much press?

That's pretty humorous. Do we need to know anything about Leibniz or Newton to use calculus?

[julz]

Payment expert dubs Bitcoin a perfect fit for online gambling

Jamie Hinks
2012-04-02

http://calvinayre.com/2012/04/02/marketing/bitcoin-a-perfect-fit-for-online-gambling/

...
No backing from a central bank is why this youthful currency has a chance to thrive among huge swathes of the planet that are critical of the banking sector.
...

(calvinayre.com is an online gaming news site,  Calvin Ayre being the founder of the Bodog online gaming and entertainment brand)

[JBDive]

First off I want to know which of you had a Pint and made this quote because it's marvelous!

"Bitcoin is not run by people with hot sexual appetites for hotel maids"  one trader and Bitcoin enthusiast told Reuters over a pint of Guinness in London's financial district.

Second off the above reference as well as this one:

'Workers at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in London and New York have been visiting online Bitcoin exchanges as often as 30 times a day, according to documents seen by Reuters. Neither bank wanted to comment.'

bother the heck out of me. The last thing we need is somebody with the pockets of G.S. to come in and either push the market down to basically a collapse, try and own the entire market or have their programmers go to work in developing trading programs and totally skew the market and screw over the smaller players. Right now I don't see it being of much interest to them as the volume is just to low but if they came in full bore the only ones getting anywhere with Bitcoin at that point would be Goldman or those early miners who are sitting on thousands of coins.

[julz]

Bitcoin Draws the Attention of British Traders

Kit Dotson
2012-04-02

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2012/04/02/bitcoin-draws-the-attention-of-british-traders/

Bitcoin is making the news again after British traders have gotten wind of the speculative potential of the currency and began to try their hand at buying into it like any other commodity market.
...

[cypherdoc]

think of all this additional trading contributing to the liquidity of Bitcoin.  this is only a good thing.

think of it being like the early days of the COMEX for gold futures trading.  no economy around gold at all; just billions traded each day equivalent to currency trading.

[julz]

Of course.. as Reuters provides a syndication service - Naomi O'Leary's Bitcoin 'financial traders' story is now popping up on news sites everywhere:

Bitcoin, the City traders' anarchic new toy
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46923238/ns/business/#.T3pUfKv3hM8

Bitcoin: digital currency attracts financial traders
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/bitcoin-digital-currency-attracts-financial-traders-20120403-1w9o7.html

Bitcoin: digital currency attracts financial traders
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/bitcoin-digital-currency-attracts-financial-traders-20120403-1w9o7.html

Bitcoin, the financial traders' anarchic new toy
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-city-traders-anarchic-toy-091725129.html

British Traders Have Discovered BitCoin
http://www.businessinsider.com/british-traders-have-discovered-bitcoin-2012-4

Bitcoin: a digital currency loved by geeks, scammers, forex traders.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Bitcoin%20digital%20currency%20loved%20geeks%20scammers%20forex%20traders/6397262/story.html

Bitcoin, the financial traders' anarchic new toy
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/sns-rt-us-traders-bitcoinbre831081-20120402,0,3906784.story

2012-04-05
Bitcoin: City traders’ anarchic new toy
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2012/04/05/2003529529

[cypherdoc]

Of course.. as Reuters provides a syndication service - Naomi O'Leary's Bitcoin 'city traders' story is now popping up on news sites everywhere:

Bitcoin, the City traders' anarchic new toy
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46923238/ns/business/#.T3pUfKv3hM8

Bitcoin: digital currency attracts financial traders
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/bitcoin-digital-currency-attracts-financial-traders-20120403-1w9o7.html

Bitcoin: digital currency attracts financial traders
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/bitcoin-digital-currency-attracts-financial-traders-20120403-1w9o7.html

Bitcoin, the financial traders' anarchic new toy
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-city-traders-anarchic-toy-091725129.html

that is very good.  keep up the good work!

[julz]

A fascinating (and complex) post about 'mental poker'. (URL dated April 1st - but the topic is too complicated for me to judge if any of it is a joke!)
Reminds me of the Bitcoin brain wallet.

Poker is hard, especially for cryptographers

Matthew Green (cryptographer and research professor at Johns Hopkins University)
2012-04-02

http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2012_04_01_archive.html


I may not be a poker player myself, but decentralized mental poker appeals to me, mostly because it would be a lot harder to shut down -- especially if it was tied to a peer-to-peer currency such as Bitcoin. (On the other hand, you'd be playing for Bitcoin. So there's that.)
...
...
This has been a long post, and while I hope it's given some of the flavor of the problem, obviously there's still tons I haven't said.

For example, how do you check for winning conditions? How do you handle players who 'drop out' when the cards don't go their way? And finally, how would you tie the result of the game to a Bitcoin 'pot'? (Bitcoin script seems like a great candidate for this, but unfortunately it's not well supported on the actual Bitcoin network.)

[julz]

tom's hardware now including Bitcoin mining in it's 2012 benchmarks!

GPGPU Benchmarks

2012-04-03

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-benchmarks-charts-review,3154-3.html


Bitcoin Mining

Apart from synthetic benchmarks, Bitcoin mining is one of the few practically useful, albeit somewhat narrowly focused, examples for GPU computing. A problem of using Bitcoin mining as a benchmark is that the existing OpenCL miner will typically not support a new graphics card generation upon release. Thus, we have to keep updating the OpenCL miner and benchmark results.

discussion: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=75144.0