Well, if you guys don't thing the market was manipulated then let's agree to disagree on that.

If there is no stability in the value of a bitcoin how can you expect it to be adopted? If you sell me something today and I pay you with bitcoins on what basis are you calculating how much coins I should pay you? Do you just pick a number out of thin air? No, you peg it to a Fiat currency and if those bitcoins are worth a 1/4 of their value a day later wouldn't you be a bit pissed? How can bitcoin be widely adopted in that kind of environment?

You were hacked... I'm sorry to have to inform you, but yes this is exactly what has happened to the rest of us here

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=173354.0

I had even more than 10k USD in my account, they have no intention of making good on what is completely their fault.


To the last person posting above, it looks like you have a windows virus or something else going on there... For all of us in the thread I linked above, most of us use Linux and have only had issues with btc-e and NOT mtgox.


What a terrible thing for the community to have to go through... All of this DDOS and hacks are making the general public want to stay away for the time being.

Hello all.

Does anyone know the easiest method to obtaining bitcoins with Paypal? And yes I am already aware of using virwox

Very true.

Only purchase if you know what you are purchasing. I do not expect any random person to purchase any of these.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I completely endorse it.

This is THE MOST AMAZING bashing ever 
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000161076&play=1
Bitcoins go against everything we beleive in. Like central banking system. What if I don't believe in such system?
CNBC is doesn't really bash bitcoins like other channels, but heck, they sure find the most amazing guests to talk about them

Probably our inbox is packed.  We are not accepting new PO "yet".  Hopefully sometime today.  If the markets can delivery timely quotes and volatility is less than 30% an hour we will start accepting POs.  I will get funding instruction to all new clients (like yourself) in the next couple hours.

Yes, it is fair now, after he modified OP, earlier it was $270 per btc, when btc was less than 200. Anyway, I am glad that it is fair now, and my sentiment no longer apply.

here is a map of BOA locations, looks like there are a number of states without them.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Bank_of_America_footprint.png/800px-Bank_of_America_footprint.png

You may have to setup state specific accounts with smaller banks, which might be more hospitable to your business.

$100 spread / BTC ? Awesome!   You certainly need some competition.

Cash available for purchase     [$1000]
Bitcoins available for Purchase [20]
Silver Eagle Preorders             [9]

BCB is the best, and his margin is fair, unlike the extortion by EPiSKiNG

I'm founder and owner of a distributed software development company providing elastic teams for our customers across the US and Europe.  Since we were somewhat hit but Cyprus fuckup, now I'm actively researching alternative ways I can collect payment for our services and pay out to my developers.  The economically opressive regime in my country (Ukraine) just pushes us more.

Most likely we'll soon be engaged in some btc-related project or start one.

And yes, we accept BTC for our service :-)

Is the OP even still here?

Man you should have sold 50% and kept 50%

I currently use Bitinstant to my MTGOX account, but I am looking for a reputable service on here that I could find BTC from.
What are peoples favorites?

Who would send bitcoins to a politician?

The first selling point of bitcoin at bitcoin.org is:

"Instant peer to peer transactions"

But "1hour" to get at least 6 confirmations doesn't seem instantaneous to me, does it?

VISA-like transactions, that is 5-15 seconds, is what people regard as "instantaneous".

I don't get it. So please explain.

Imagine bitcoin gets popular:

1) You go to the supermarket or the bakery and pay with bitcoins...

2) You wait 1hour before you can go home???!!
Conclusion, will you never be able to use bitcoins on physical shops or when payment needs to be REALLY instantaneous?

---
Another thing that is terribly slow is opening your wallet to take a look at it. If your wallet is on your pc, and you power it down every night at least, it takes 5-10minutes "to look what is inside your wallet".

That is TOO slow and also consumes too much disk space to be used on mobile phones!

---
I think those the problems comes from the block chain design and the mining.

Don't get me wrong, bitcoin chain mining incentives, its security design and all make a lot of sense and its what makes bitcoin appealing; totally decentralized, limited coin supply, etc.

BUT, at the same time it seems the 10minute cycle, which is perfect for mining, is TOO bad for transactions.

Transactions usually are:
- Lightweight.
- Really instantaneous (<20seconds in the worst case)
- Once confirmed, they should not be reversible.

I know that bitcoin claims that transactions are NOT reversible, but that is also a half truth: only when the transaction is "quite" re-confirmed, it can be trusted have actually happened.

Please, let me know what I am missing.
How is bitcoin handling or will handle this issues?
I think these are really important to get right, specially if bitcoin ever grows up to be widely used just like VISA or paypal.

Should bitcoin provide a separate non-mining (not awarded) block chain for instant transactions (probably with bigger fees, although much smaller than traditional paypal or visa ones)?

The idea is that you create bitcoins just as you do now. It is ok to wait some hours or days for a new bitcoin balance to be "assured", but then you can move that balance to an "instant payment account" that will make transactions on a separate block chain designed for instant payments.

That block chain is just like the mining one, but it is just not rewarded with mining, or it is rewarded with just a really small mining prize  with a very easy POW that can be solved in 2-3seconds by the current bitcoin network power. Transactions that go there are confirmed in 12 to18seconds... THAT is instant payments!

What problems do you see in this approach?

Same. Although, tbh, I factor fees into costs for most things, without thinking about it... you kinda have to. Banks move your money (and make way more than necessary, most agree) and charge for the security and reliability. It'd be a pain to do it any other way (except maybe BTC and the future). I use Amazon like mad. I pay for shipping of course, but as it happens, the total cost with the fees is less than the cost of the items in local stores, typically. Because local stores must pay for many things that Amazon has streamlined out -- clerks when the store is empty, utilities, a marketable location, etc. Amazon can efficiently run one warehouse in who-cares-where, and it is still cheaper.

Soon I expect people will flock to things like Bitcoin for the same reason we shop at Amazon. It just makes more sense; the old way is obsolete. Happily, instead of killing off mom-and-pop shops, we can gladly undercut the banking cartels.

Posting to get out of the newbie forum. However I've been lurking since the dawn of time, so listen if you like.

Like the mechanic's triangle: Anonymity, Speed, and Security are all working against each other here, and generally speaking you can only pick two. Most of us will agree you can't compromise too much on security. Exchanges are already a compromise, see how many have been hacked etc. I'm still pro-Bitfloor but even they have quite a lot of bad blood out there. So let's assume you aren't going for the Paypal for coins thing.

Speed: Yeah, you want it with the price rising, got it.

Anonymity: Sorry, almost everywhere that is fast is not anonymous -- you're flashing an ID somewhere along the line. In the US, the safest fast route with anonymity is something like BitInstant, you could always pay a hobo to pay the CVS clerk if you're paranoid.

Germany rules out a lot of things, but localbitcoins.com etc. is still the best bet for anonymity. Wear a Guy Fawkes mask and find a local dude. Should be able to happen today.

FYI, afaict, Coinbase is at least putting on a good show / genuinely responsible, by limiting transactions. They could make off with a fortune with this predictable-enough rise in value. Pyramid-scheme style, then cut and run. Frustrating yes, but I actually hate Gox alot more for overextending and oversubscribing themselves. Laggy interface, goes down with DDOS and invokes their 85% market share to panic sell... etc etc. Not happy with Gox lately if you can tell... anyway good luck.