Hi 1Dq

My name is Nadav, I’m a volunteer with the Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv.

I wanted to inquire about displaying your works at the Bitcoin genesis day party we're throwing on Jan 3rd.

What is the best way to reach you? I'm also available as @shesek on twitter and at nadav@shesek.info.

Some more details on the party are available here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2939936489670078 (scroll down for English)

Thank you!

eznode can use https://prunednode.today to do a trusted fast-sync from a recent snapshot instead of syncing from scratch. This is optional and disabled off by default.

See more details here: https://ezno.de/packages#fast-sync

eznode is a docker-based single-container setup for a personal bitcoin node, featuring:

• Bitcoin Core - Pruned by default with optional trusted fast-sync
• Electrum Server - Personal Electrum server powered by BWT
• BTC RPC Explorer - Personal block explorer and node dashboard
• Specter Desktop - Wallet GUI for hardware and multi-sig setups
• Secure remote access using Tor Onion, SSH tunnels or SSL

Why eznode?

• Simple one command setup
• Lightweight (120 MB docker image)
• Pruning-friendly (requires <5GB of storage)
• Suitable for a dedicated box, but doesn't require one
• Supports Linux, macOS, Windows and ARMv7/v8
• Secure transports out-of-the-box

Quickstart for a pruned node with a block explorer and a personal electrum server tracking your <xpub>, available over a Tor Onion service:


User guide available on the website: https://ezno.de

See it in action (with the trusted fast-sync mode): https://twitter.com/shesek/status/1375144468366700550

Github: https://github.com/ez-org/eznode
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eznode_
Telegram: https://t.co/ez_node

That's strange, it should've used the appropriate port according to the network reported by Electrum.

But glad to hear you managed to get it working!

18443 is the default rpc port for regtest, are you on regtest?

Are you able to access the RPC port by other means? You can try opening http://localhost:18443/ in your browser. If this works, you should see `JSONRPC server handles only POST requests`.

CLI tools for insta-dumping bcash on ShapeShift in exchange for bitcoins (bcash-instadump), creating bcash-compatible transactions (bcash-tx), listing unspent bcash outputs (bcash-utxo) and broadcasting raw bcash transactions (bcash-broadcast).

https://github.com/shesek/bcash-instadump

TL;DR

    $ npm install -g bcash-instadump
    $ bcash-instadump --tor --key LmyBcashKeyWIF --payout 1btcAddrGimmeRogersCoins
    # confirm the details and press Y to get your bitcoins

Yes, that's it! But do read the whole thing to fully understand the risks involved. This program deals with private keys and should be used with care. I recommend that you audit the code yourself (<500 SLOC) before using it, or wait until someone you trust does it.

In any case, you SHOULD MOVE OUT YOUR BITCOINS to new keys before using the tool, such that only the bcash remains on the old ones. This ensures that your bitcoins are never at risk.

Good luck, happy dumping!

HODL.voting is a time-lock-weighted voting system that gives provable long-term bitcoin HODLers a way to express their opinion on proposed protocol upgrades.

To vote, users are requested to lock-up bitcoins for some pre-determined amount of time (using CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY), where each vote is weighted by the number of bitcoins * lock duration. This mechanism lets people who're willing to commit to long-term hodling (and thus have a provable vested interest in bitcoin) get more say.

I built this project for the TLV emBassy 2017 Hackathon (and won the first prize with it!). It is currently running on testnet. Happy to hear your thoughts :-)

Website: https://HODL.voting/

GitHub repo and more info: https://github.com/shesek/proof-of-hodl

Hackathon slides: https://www.docdroid.net/rzFKS1g/proof-of-hodl.pdf.html

Article by Kyle Torpey: https://cryptoinsider.com/new-bitcoin-project-aims-make-online-trolling-expensive/

Hi! Nadav from Bitrated here. That's a great question, thanks for bringing this up. We recently published a post with some more details regarding the attack and state of funds locked in on-going trades. The relevant section for your question is:


You can read the full post here: https://medium.com/@bitrated/bitrated-clarifications-regarding-ongoing-ddos-attack-and-extortion-attempt-61709556a9a9

BTW, it appears like the DDoS attack have stopped for now. Bitrated is back online.

Hey bassguitarman,

Best of luck with your services! Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help or if you have any suggestions or feedback to share with us. You can reach me directly with a PM here, or at nadav@bitrated.com.

Also, you should perhaps add a link to your profile, so that people can see who you are and know how to start a transaction with you as the arbitrator.

The InsideBitcoins article was the first to get published, so I included that. While that article is great, I too find CoinTelegraph's article better. The OP was updated to that link.

We're excited to announce the release of Bitrated V2, a trust platform for the Bitcoin ecosystem.

For these not familiar, Bitrated was launched back in '13 as a service that facilitates 2-of-3 multi-signature transactions for the purpose of arbitration (providing buyer protection in case of fraud) and provides a marketplace for arbitration service.

The new version released today is a complete rewrite of the original system, with a brand new identity & reputation management system, as well as improved usability and user experience.

Check it the new release: https://www.bitrated.com/

Explainer video: https://vimeo.com/116507236

CoinTelegraph article: http://cointelegraph.com/news/113535/bitrated-adds-reputation-system-offering-chargeback-like-process-to-bitcoin

If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback, please don't hesitate contacting us!

Hey CryptoPanda - thanks for the kind words, and sorry that I haven't noticed your messages until now

Bitrated is going pretty well, and is starting to get some more usage over time, albeit a little slowly. I didn't have much time and resources for it, but I'm hoping to change that soon... I'll hopefully have some more news shortly.

About help - right now, the most important thing I'm looking for is feedback. I'll appreciate hearing what you want to see added/changed/improved, so that I'll know what users want and where to focus next. Feel free to contact me here or at nadav@bitrated.com. I'm not seeking funding right now, but I might in the future - contact me if you think it could be relevant for you.

Cheers!

Ouch. I'm very sorry to hear that, crashoveride. It appears like you were indeed scammed. Its just awful that people are using a service like Bitrated as a tool to scam people, where it should serve for the exact opposite purpose.

Just to make it clear - using Bitrated requires using the interface to generate a key pair, and users should only ever pay to the multisig address shown on the website after they created/joined a transaction and accepted the terms. Bitrated doesn't ever send emails (especially not with payment addresses), nor it has any numerical identifier for transaction IDs.

I'm going to add a warning in Bitrated about this, though I'm a bit doubtful that it'll help much - with that scam, the primary interaction users have with "Bitrated" is via the spoofed email, I'm not sure they'll take the time to go over the website and learn how Bitrated should work.

I will also setup DKIM and SPF on our mail servers, to make it harder to spoof emails from our domain for users that have an email client who supports that.

Edit: I also created a post on r/bitcoin to warn users about this.

I'm getting this too. Its really annoying to switch back every single time. Please, at least persist what the user chooses in that footer select box.

(I personally think that changing to USD values by default is wrong and sends the wrong message about what Bitcoin is about. I would ideally prefer changing back to Bitcoin as the default, but I guess that's probably not going to happen)

OutCast3k, congrats on the release! We talked about it awhile ago on IRC, I'm glad to see you released it.


It doesn't do the same thing; Coinb.in has a general purpose tool that can be used for many kinds of multi-signature transactions, while Bitrated was created specifically to facilitate arbitration services and has an interface that was optimized for that purpose. Also, Bitrated does not require setting up an account - its optional and only for arbitrators that wants to be listed on the website, and buyers/sellers don't have accounts at all (and I believe it should be quite easy to use with something like bitmit).

The main advantage is that the payee doesn't have to be active and provide addresses every time someone wants to make a payment. The payer can independently and without any action from the payee create an address and make the payment. As I wrote above, this makes it easier for cases like an open source project development fund, where people can just send payments without talking with the payee first.

I had an idea for a payment scheme that uses key derivation, but instead of the payee deriving the addresses, the payer would do it.

It would work like that:

• The payee publishes his master public key
• The payer generates a random "receipt number" (say, 25 random bytes)
• The payer derives an address from the master public key using the receipt number and pays to it
• The payer sends the receipt to the payee
• The payee derives a private key with that receipt and adds it to his wallet

Advantages:

• It increases privacy by avoiding address reuse
• The process is asynchronous. The payee is completely passive in the payment process and isn't required to provide new addresses before each payment (no payment server required)
• Its usable as a replacement for cases where re-used addresses are the most viable solution (like putting an address in a forum signature or as a development fund in a github readme)
• The receipt also acts as a proof of payment that the payer can provide to the payee
• Also, if the master is known to belong to someone, this also allows the payer prove to a third-party that the payment was made to that someone. If the output was spent, it also proves that he was aware of the payment and has the receipt.
• Its a really thin abstraction layer and doesn't require any protocol changes

Disadvantages:

• Losing the receipt numbers means losing access to your funds, they are random and there's no way to restore them
• It requires sending the receipt to the payee somehow. Email could work for that, but a better defined channel that also can talk to the Bitcoin client and add the receipt would be much better.

What do you think?

This isn't that simple when using arbitration with multi-signature and not an escrow. The company providing the arbitration services doesn't have full control over the funds, and cannot do anything with it without the agreement of the buyer or seller.

To pull a runner, they would have to get the buyer/seller to agree to participate in the fraud. This is not simple to do in a large scale as it requires them to contact every buyer/seller and ask them to commit fraud, which could easily get published publicly by someone honest that was contacted by them. When it becomes public, the buyers/sellers can just move the funds to a new multisig with another arbitrator.

And besides all that - a popular and reputable arbitration company could be making good money from just acting honest and providing arbitration services. I don't think they would destroy their reputation for some quick buck.

One of the interesting use-cases for Bitcoin multi-signature transactions is arbitrated transactions. This allows the buyer/seller to agree ahead of time of an arbitrator that can help resolve disputes and reverse payments, in a way that doesn't put the funds under his full control (unlike an escrow) and does not require him to intervene if the deal ended successfully.

Basically, the buyer deposits his payment to a 2-of-3 multisig address controlled by the buyer, seller and arbitrator. To release the payment, two of the three parties have to cooperate and agree on a transaction that spends the funds from the multisig.

I recently launched Bitrated, that allows to do exactly that. If you're interested, you can learn more in the FAQ page or in the BitcoinMagazine article.

This is a risk, but one that can be extremely small if you're using reputable, high-rated, reliable and trustworthy arbitrators that care about their reputation. Its still pretty early, but I'm hoping that the more well-known arbitrators would build a reputation that could allow people to trust them and know they won't do anything fishy.


We're planning to add a sort of fidelity bond in the form of verified accounts, but I think that reputation would do a much better job at ensuring the arbitrators are reliable.