Bitcoin by the stats

[the founder]

I doubt paypal has this many problems...  

I used an average of 15 dollars,  considering it was at 30 just 8 weeks ago... and now is trading at 10...    These are the most recent largest and only largest published attacks,  chances are that smaller levels of theft are taking place on a massive scale.

Mybitcoin :  $1,300,000
Polish Exchange : $255,000
Dudes Desktop wallet stolen : $375,000
Goxed : $10,350 plus surrounding problems (this figure is most likely on the low end, but i'll use it).
unreported : I rounded to accommodate this below.

Seriously,  we have a total market cap of 7,000,000 bitcoins total,  all worth about 10 bucks each...  a total market cap of 70 million.... that's it guys.. that's everything... Now we are seeing over the past month or so at least $2,000,000 stolen, hacked or lost.  

So $2,000,000 of every $70,000,000 are being hacked / destroyed / stolen / lost each month

If we take this out over the course of a year you're looking at $24,000,000 stolen out of a total of $70,000,000 (if this rate of crap continues and the value hovers about where it is now)

1/3 of our value is stolen each year?

Seriously people?

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[Bitcoin Swami]

Probably not a good time to be loosing faith.  Pull yourself together! (smacks you) Flexcoin! FTW

[the founder]

I'm not losing faith, I'm way to far into this to lose faith! 

[the joint]

I'm not losing faith,  but we as a community have to work together..  support people that try to start bitcoin ventures...  promote them.. etc etc...

Absolutely.  People need to start spending BTC more regularly on everyday items and perishables (e.g. buy some TP to go with that mac 'n cheese then brush your teeth with Bitcoin toothpaste).  We need stable vendors who offer same-as-market prices including shipping.  If people can buy the same market items they normally do with BTC at greater convenience (i.e. in less time and the products arrive at your doorstep), this will increase demand.  People will have an incentive to buy BTC at market value at the exchanges and immediately use them because it makes life easier.  There won't be so much immediate emphasis on trying to be like an early adopter.  Seriously, how many people are praying the market tanks so they get that 2nd chance at glory?  We need STABILITY in everything -- stability in security, stability in growth, stability in value.  Think of systems theory and the importance of homeostasis and balance.  

Edit:  See www.bitmunchies.com for a beautiful example of what the Bitcoin community needs more of.

[the founder]

See www.bitmunchies.com for a beautiful example of what the Bitcoin community needs more of.

And I just placed an order and just paid for it...   I'll enjoy my first bag of ACT II® Butter Lovers Microwave Popcorn when it comes in the mail to the office!

[the joint]

See www.bitmunchies.com for a beautiful example of what the Bitcoin community needs more of.

And I just placed an order and just paid for it...   I'll enjoy my first bag of ACT II® Butter Lovers Microwave Popcorn when it comes in the mail to the office!

Hey Flex (I'm going to call you Flex  )  I just posted this on meta.  Let me know what you think.  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=34506.0   it pertains to the same thing.  Enjoy your popcorn! 

[fornit]

Mybitcoin :  $1,300,000
Polish Exchange : $255,000
Dudes Desktop wallet stolen : $375,000
Goxed : $10,350 plus surrounding problems (this figure is most likely on the low end, but i'll use it).

notice how all of those examples featured some extremly stupid behavior?
for me, thats one of the growth pains gavin andersen mentioned. people need some time to realize computer security is serious stuff when real money is involved. on the other hand, nobody talks about how much money is lost to paypal scams, paypal closing accounts and similar behavior by other payment processors. its just more obvious with bitcoins because there is no other party involved and always only yourself to blame.

[the founder]

oh I'm sure that massive amounts of fraud happen at paypal and others...  but in this case I wouldn't say "extremely stupid behavior" ...

Mybitcoin :  $1,300,000   --- this wasn't "stupid"  this was outright madness....

Polish Exchange : $255,000 -- okay this was stupid... dude deleted his exchange's wallet with 17,000 coins in it...

Dudes Desktop wallet stolen : $375,000 --- okay this was stupid as well,  using a compromised windows box as his sole wallet.

Goxed : $10,350 plus surrounding problems (this figure is most likely on the low end, but i'll use it).  --- this wasn't stupid as well,  this was a mixture of growing pains (from hobby to real business) mixed with some serious hacking.

I agree with you 50% of it was stupid...  the other 50% .. that's more like criminal behavior mixed with simple growing pains..

[btcvc]

I'm not losing faith,  but we as a community have to work together..  support people that try to start bitcoin ventures...  promote them.. etc etc...

Absolutely.  People need to start spending BTC more regularly on everyday items and perishables (e.g. buy some TP to go with that mac 'n cheese then brush your teeth with Bitcoin toothpaste).  We need stable vendors who offer same-as-market prices including shipping.  If people can buy the same market items they normally do with BTC at greater convenience (i.e. in less time and the products arrive at your doorstep), this will increase demand.  People will have an incentive to buy BTC at market value at the exchanges and immediately use them because it makes life easier.  There won't be so much immediate emphasis on trying to be like an early adopter.  Seriously, how many people are praying the market tanks so they get that 2nd chance at glory?  We need STABILITY in everything -- stability in security, stability in growth, stability in value.  Think of systems theory and the importance of homeostasis and balance.  

Edit:  See www.bitmunchies.com for a beautiful example of what the Bitcoin community needs more of.

Bitcoin Venture Capital has been actively working to try to cultivate BTC based businesses that sell real goods online. We have an abundance of startup ideas and potential investors, but are always actively seeking new businesses based in BTC.

[the founder]

Hey "The Founder" ... was out looking at the flexcoin site .... really like the project.  Mind if I ask a couple questions?

1)  How do you keep users BTC secure? Backed Up? etc.

     --- daily incremental and nightly full back ups to remote location...  

2)  How do you perform instantaneous transfers and avoid fees between flexcoin users?

     -- secret !  LOL!  flexcoin to flexcoin transfers don't go over the next block,  so the miner isn't involved hence there are not fees.

3)  I see you pay a dividend to your clients, how does the corporation profit as I am sure they need to? (A cut off the top before transfer out dividends?)  I like your BTC bank is corporate backed and hope that there is some profit to keep it successful and in operation.

     ---  (your account balance / total balance of all flexcoin accounts) * ((all fees collected – miner fees) * 0.7)  we keep the 30% of total fees collected AFTER we pay the miner... we pay 70% of those fees back to the account holders.
    

it's not going to be a money making operation unless the adoption rate is high...  if it is high.. we'd have fixed all of bitcoins commerce problems / helped stabilize and grow the whole bitcoin community and generated a profit as well.   For this to work for us,  the adoption rate has to be decently high...  we figured by allowing people to transfer instantly without next block wait and for free to a simple Id rather than huge bitcoin address would fix the problem.

That's in addition to being able to take your bitcoins with you via your iphone or android and pay for coffee at the coffeshop with them by using your smartphone as a debit card.

[the joint]

Bitcoin Venture Capital has been actively working to try to cultivate BTC based businesses that sell real goods online. We have an abundance of startup ideas and potential investors, but are always actively seeking new businesses based in BTC.

Beautiful.  Keep up the work!!  If there is any way I can help, let me know! 

[the joint]

By the way, Bitcoin Venture Capital needs a slight modification on the homepage.  It says "Why work for something guaranteed these guys" and then "When you for something guaranteed by this?"  Please change the first one to read "BY these guys"....otherwise it's just a little ironic.   

[evoorhees]

Not to belittle the victims of these incidents, but consider that the devastation helps innoculate the Bitcoin ecosystem against similar attacks in the future. MtGox is now more secure than it was, and new exchanges are matching or beating MtGox security. Anyone with large amounts of Bitcoins will be doubly sure not to keep them in dangerous places. People will be very careful about who they trust. Etc.

All these attacks, to the extent they are gruesome, educate the community about vulnerabilities. And indeed, it's better that they happen during this early adopter phase, instead of later on when our grandparents have portions of their savings in Bitcoin.

Hang in there everyone. More attacks are sure to follow. Learn what you can from them and adapt.

[btcvc]

By the way, Bitcoin Venture Capital needs a slight modification on the homepage.  It says "Why work for something guaranteed these guys" and then "When you for something guaranteed by this?"  Please change the first one to read "BY these guys"....otherwise it's just a little ironic.   

Thanks for catching that.  I can't believe how long that's been up there without anyone noticing. I should have employed a proofreader and paid them in bitcoin.

[johanatan]

Goxed : $10,350 plus surrounding problems (this figure is most likely on the low end, but i'll use it).  --- this wasn't stupid as well,  this was a mixture of growing pains (from hobby to real business) mixed with some serious hacking.

So, you count having a complete site database handed to you as 'serious hacking'?

[the joint]

By the way, Bitcoin Venture Capital needs a slight modification on the homepage.  It says "Why work for something guaranteed these guys" and then "When you for something guaranteed by this?"  Please change the first one to read "BY these guys"....otherwise it's just a little ironic.   

Thanks for catching that.  I can't believe how long that's been up there without anyone noticing. I should have employed a proofreader and paid them in bitcoin.

Haha, no prob.  This one's on me!

[hawks5999]

By the way, Bitcoin Venture Capital needs a slight modification on the homepage.  It says "Why work for something guaranteed these guys" and then "When you for something guaranteed by this?"  Please change the first one to read "BY these guys"....otherwise it's just a little ironic.   

Thanks for catching that.  I can't believe how long that's been up there without anyone noticing. I should have employed a proofreader and paid them in bitcoin.

I'm for sale...

[hawks5999]

oh I'm sure that massive amounts of fraud happen at paypal and others...  but in this case I wouldn't say "extremely stupid behavior" ...

Mybitcoin :  $1,300,000   --- this wasn't "stupid"  this was outright madness....

Madness?

This...


is....


SPARTA!!!!1111!!!1

[the joint]

By the way, Bitcoin Venture Capital needs a slight modification on the homepage.  It says "Why work for something guaranteed these guys" and then "When you for something guaranteed by this?"  Please change the first one to read "BY these guys"....otherwise it's just a little ironic.   

Thanks for catching that.  I can't believe how long that's been up there without anyone noticing. I should have employed a proofreader and paid them in bitcoin.

I'm for sale...

Haha get in line, I've proved my usefulness    Rock paper scissors, best 2 out of 3.

[hawks5999]

By the way, Bitcoin Venture Capital needs a slight modification on the homepage.  It says "Why work for something guaranteed these guys" and then "When you for something guaranteed by this?"  Please change the first one to read "BY these guys"....otherwise it's just a little ironic.   

Thanks for catching that.  I can't believe how long that's been up there without anyone noticing. I should have employed a proofreader and paid them in bitcoin.

I'm for sale...

Haha get in line, I've proved my usefulness    Rock paper scissors, best 2 out of 3.

I can meet btcvc at U Village, Lincoln Square or any of the hundreds of Starbuck's in the greater Seattle area to discuss face to face.

Also, should be:
I've proved my usefulness.

Periods still count, ya know.