+1

I'd certainly be willing to pay extra for a "collector's" bitcoin, such as one of the pizza bitcoins or one of the genesis coins.

It would be REALLY cool if the bitcoin client could do this whole process automatically. Don't even have a wallet.dat flile; just have the user input a passphrase that will automatically convert to an SHA2 hash and store in memory throughout the session. Bloody brilliant idea, OP.

I do worry about accidental duplication of passphrases, though. I would want to come up with one that combines an easy to remember phrase, some arbitrary data (DOB, birthplace, mother's maiden name...), and some random data (Rand()).

More particularly, buy drugs off of Silk Road with your BTC. Drugs are a great store of value, they have a long shelf-life, and are easily convertible. You'll be building the bitcoin economy and be able to hoard to your heart's desire!

Reposted from: http://studentlibertyfront.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/thoughts-on-the-plummeting-bitcoin-exchange-rate/


The bitcoin exchange rate has been plummeting recently from an all-time high of $35 to just under $8 today. Even as I write this, the price of bitcoin is spiraling downwards.

What is the cause of this depressing trend?

Lots and lots of bad news in a very short period of time has led investors to lose confidence — plain and simple. No one wants to hold onto an asset that hackers are able to steal out from under you at a whim. What people need to understand is that bitcoin is not the problem — people are the problem.

Bank hacks were common in the ’80s and early ’90s, and hackers are finding ways to undermine the bitcoin banks of today. People are stealing millions of dollars worth of assets from these bitcoin banks. Banks and exchanges such as Mt. Gox, Bitomat, and most recently MyBitcoin have faced the same problems that banks and exchanges have always faced. Security should be the tantamount concern of any banker, and of anyone looking to put their money into a bank.

If you see that a bank is put together with shoestrings and duct-tape, would you trust it with your money? Of course not! But for some reason, people continue to flock to the zero-fee bitcoin banks that provide no contact info, no support mechanism, and no accountability insurance. Why are people trusting their bitcoins — their money — to people who are running shoestring and duct-tape operations?

Thieves will always try to find new ways to steal your money. Shoestring entrepreneurs will always try to entice you to trust them with your money by offering “zero-fees” and other incentives. And you — yes, YOU — are usually stupid enough to trust them. And for the record, I’m one of you too.

The upside of all of this bad news is that new exchanges and banks that are audited by trusted third parties are beginning to spring up. These exchanges and banks are NOT run on shoestrings, but you’ll pay a premium to use their services. Just like it should be. Quality products offered in a free market should cost more than shoddy knock-offs and prototypes. If you aren’t willing to pay for quality, fine. That’s your choice. But don’t blame bitcoin, God, the government, or anyone but yourself (and maybe the thieves) when your money gets stolen.

I’m switching to CampBX, a bitcoin exchange audited by McAfee (an online security leader). I suggest you do the same. And if you don’t take my advice, then I hope you’ll sell your bitcoins and run. I’ll be glad to buy them off of you while the exchange rates are low, because the price will only go up as shoestring banking goes the way of the Dodo.

+1

I also like the idea of offering insurance. The problem I see immediately with the insurance idea though is that no one will want to pay for insurance from someone untrusted. We need a sort of Misean regression theorem for trust...

I think the simpler solution to the apparent disconnect between the regression theorem and cryptocurrencies is that cryptocurrencies break the regression theorem. I like Mises and all, but really? People are trying to apply the economics of the 1940s to the monetary system of today...

On the one hand, I like the GLBSE sell-off idea. I would even be willing to buy a few shares (10 or so). I also like the idea of it being a privately-funded bailout.

On the other hand, I'm really looking forward to the release of their source code! I'd like to be able to offer my brokerage customers a digital wallet service that's easy to use. Of course, I'll have to alter a few lines of code to require 3 confirmations instead of 1, but meh.

I'm waiting for the coming lawsuit. The owner of MyBitcoin has to have some paper trail (DNS registration, etc.). I'm sure it's only a matter of time until the people who lost tons on MyBitcoin file a lawsuit. Theft is theft, pure and simple.

I have to say that I agree that people should be more careful with their bitcoins, but let's not lose sight of who the victims are here. Theft is theft, and fraudulent businesses like MyBitcoin.com only harm the long-term prospects of bitcoin as a viable alternative currency. It's time that people wake up and start filing lawsuits.

I'm curious if anyone has tried backtracking on blockexplorer to see whether or not the funds being dumped are from MyBitcoin addresses.

Works! Absolutely awesome. It would be great if it went out to eight decimal places, though.

I definitely support the idea of pointing the traffic at M$. Let their legal boys handle it.

Finally got connected to Mt. Red. Someone must be overloading the server (or trying to DDoS me personally, but I doubt it, since I can still browse teh webz).

The hacker running the botnet is probably some asshole script kiddie. When I was studying computer hacking and security, we used to set up wargames servers and hack for fun and educational value. Hell, I'll even support the guys over at Anonymous and Lulzsec- at least they have principles. This script kiddie is just an antisocial douche.

Because they're FUCKING SCRIPT KIDDIES!

I can't seem to connect to Mt. Red. Keep getting "Upstream RPC Error," whatever the hell that means. Seriously; getting pissed at all this botnet/hacker bullshit.

If the last 6 months or so have taught us anything, it's that TCP/IP needs to have some built-in mechanism of shutting down DoS attacks. That being said, is there any pool that is not under a DDoS at the moment??? Btcguild- Down. Bitcoinpool- down (for me at least/unconfirmed), Bitcoins.lc- down (apparently, haven't tested myself).

I'm a blogger, a research fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation, a small business owner, and a law student at Drexel University. My name is Mike Moceri. I am not a spammer, and have been on these boards for a while now. Jailbreak?

kthxbye

Hi, my name is Mike! I'm a Research Fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation in Pennsylvania, Project Lead for a small bitcoin educational company, and am a law student at Drexel University. I also blog a lot about bitcoin. I hope that they'll let me post in the rest of the forums soon.

kthxbye