Quote from: dacoinminster on August 03, 2011, 03:04:31 PM

Quote from: Xephan on August 03, 2011, 02:52:37 PM

Quote from: dacoinminster on August 02, 2011, 09:56:57 PM

Seriously. Don't trust the exchanges, don't trust online wallet services, don't trust your anti-virus software, and don't trust anybody online.

Quote

When I needed people to trust me to hold bitcoins for a contest, I deposited 50 bitcoins as a bond with a well-respected forum member,

Am I the only one who finds it ironic? Cheesy

After all, the two person would be in cahoots so while A claims to have left insurance with B, they are actually on the same team.

This is the sort of paranoia we need more of around here!

In this case, a less trusted forum member (me) was leveraging the trust of someone who was much more trusted. Michael Hendrix met all my requirements for how to choose someone to trust if you must (listed above), except obviously he had no insurance himself. In that forum thread I was telling the people placing bets that they don't need to trust me if they trust him, since he was holding my bond.

We could have been in cahoots, but there wouldn't be any point to doing that. Michael already has a lot of trust - he doesn't need my help to scam people if he decides he wants to do so.

Building trust seems akin to a social version of Proof of Work.