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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2013 12:07:10 GMT
... (save the world's bandwidth!) ... I tried reading a Chinese book once. I don't know Chinese. It still made more sense to me than that post. Just like a Chinese proverb, the more you think about it, the more complex it seems ... But it's not, it's just a Numbers Racket If you just think about it real quick, then: * Some people were getting their computers to make up really, really, really ... really long, unique "strings" (vjewhfwehgu4749toihgo89234r843t3hergherlnjbtrout0) <---- only much, much, much longer than that ... so it takes a while to make one ... and then storing them in online databases. * They released lots of bumph on the web about how great this would be, in the future. This was like Facebook was, before anyone knew what Facebook was. Only bigger. It was currency without borders, money without control by the man, it would rise above the political nature of real world currencies, it would become the currency to rule them all* Some other people decided that that sounded just great, and that it might be "fun" to own one of the "strings", but couldn't (be bothered to) do the mining ... And so databases that once stored useless and worthless "long strings" (vjewhfwehgu4749toihgo89234r843t3hergherlnjbtrout0) became known as "exchanges" and started selling them to anyone who wanted one (using real world money) ... exchange rates to the major real-world currencies were born. * Miners made some (real) money and much more in "bitcoin stash" (virtual "paper" money) ... except that bloke who chucked his away * More and more people were convinced - by the media, both social and formal - that they needed to get into bitcoins (because they were the future, man) - So many people that the miners couldn't mine them quick enough and the price rocketted as existing owners sold (some of) their stash. * ... (who+ knows what happens next, that's where it is right now) ... + actually ... anyone with a bit of understanding of the history of similar markets, should be able to make a pretty fair guess ... and just in case anyone needs a primer, Google "South Sea Bubble", that should get you started
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bitcoin
Dec 4, 2013 20:36:36 GMT
via mobile
Post by boothenpaddock86 on Dec 4, 2013 20:36:36 GMT
Brother there is a limit of 21m conis to ever be issued ,11m have already been mined and the next 10m will be mined in the next 30yrs,it gets harder and harder to mine them as with gold Hope that makes it a little clearer
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2013 2:04:33 GMT
Brother there is a limit of 21m conis to ever be issued ,11m have already been mined and the next 10m will be mined in the next 30yrs,it gets harder and harder to mine them as with gold Hope that makes it a little clearer That was my exact thought as well. Only very recently there was a 40% ramp up in mining difficulty. I looked into building a serious mining rig a few years back but it got beyond me very quickly with water cooled multi-processor motherboards and what not.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Dec 5, 2013 2:09:15 GMT
Anyone got a fiver I can borrow?
Bitcoins? Mining? What the fuck?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2013 3:41:27 GMT
Brother there is a limit of 21m conis to ever be issued ,11m have already been mined and the next 10m will be mined in the next 30yrs,it gets harder and harder to mine them as with gold Hope that makes it a little clearer No. You have been told that there will only be 21-million "puzzles". However, in reality there is an infinite number of possible puzzles. Only the "rule" set by the (current) exchange(s), says that they will stop at 21-million. There is nothing to stop the existing exchanges - or anyone else - from releasing more "puzzles", when number 20,999,999 comes around. Just like the gold-standard for real currencies, the method they are using to equate to a raw material (gold) - and so keep it as a scarse resource - will (I would imagine) be abandoned. Assuming the 21 million is mined ... which means the "currency" holding its value ... then I think - like Cabbage Patch Dolls; they will release BitCoin V2 and expect everyone to start "investing" again. Note: I am not saying you cannot make money in "bitcoins" right now. And I am definately not saying that you couldn't have made money over the last 12 months. If you bet, then this is definately worth looking in to. I am saying that its a numbers racket and at some point it will collapse. They all do. The trick is to be in and out before that happens. It's like musical chairs; just don't be the last one standing and you'll have had a fun time.
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Post by boothenpaddock86 on Dec 5, 2013 3:56:04 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2013 8:18:56 GMT
I agree almost entirely with that article. But I am surprised you linked it as a reason to think it is anything other than what I have posted it is? (long term ... maybe medium term ... it is a risky investment, because it might "collapse" - systematically or economically - and only time will tell) Each bitcoin is worth what someone will pay you. Right now, hype means the price is very high. It appears that (short term) that price will increase But there may come a time when they won't pay you much at all (that might come soon, or it might not) - that was the case about 12 months ago. So, what will keep it high? Currencies are very strange things - Economically, this could be seen as a test (and could be a reason why it was invented) of whether the value of a currency is related to the "power" of a state. Will people still trust it, when the sh1t hits the fan? It's original attraction - and probably another of the original reasons behind the uber-boffin behind it, creating it - was that it would be anonymous (like a Swiss bank once was) and free of transaction charges (no man in charge). But the IT that backs it does not guarantee anonymity (though it tries very hard) on it's own, and if it is to become a fully fledged currency it will be forced under (various countries) regulation. And then, just like Swiss Banks, it will be forced to reveal the parties involved in transactions. If it refused, it would almost certainly become illegal tender and so only any use in "non official" transactions. If it accepts, will it be as widely used as it is now? But again, it is (probably!) currently a decent short term investment. Especially if you enjoy betting or small volume trading ... futures and stuff ... And if you have been a bitcoin holder for a while ... well, well done you
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2013 4:31:03 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2013 11:05:38 GMT
You should change your name to "Threadkiller". Far more apt. in fact Admin can you change his name to "Threadkiller" for a day or two. A bit like a yellow card?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2013 11:58:25 GMT
You should change your name to "Threadkiller". Far more apt. in fact Admin can you change his name to "Threadkiller" for a day or two. A bit like a yellow card? In what way does posting on-topic links to current information - and a tiny bit of opinion - on a thread, "kill it", **************? Or do you think I work for the Bank of China ... ? And Admin have already changed my username once, in the last 17+ years ... Let's not over work them, eh ************** ... especially not on a Saturday
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bitcoin
Dec 9, 2013 4:55:09 GMT
via mobile
Post by boothenpaddock86 on Dec 9, 2013 4:55:09 GMT
China have classed btc as a commodity which people can use freely peer to peer.the only reason they have done this is to protect their currency and keep it strong,they do not have to worry about btc at the moment as they are currently main stakeholders.America on the other hand has a very weak economy with spiraling debt which doesn't give them the opportunity to class it as anything at the moment as people would simply go elsewhere to trade and deal in btc. Its going to be very interesting
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2013 1:24:42 GMT
A well written article - and written just in English - from both sides of the argument (though it is probably a bit more negative than positive on bitcoin it is not so negative on virtual currencies in general). www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25332746And I agree bp86, whatever it does or doesn't become, it is and will be interesting
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Post by boothenpaddock86 on Dec 14, 2013 3:00:26 GMT
A well written article - and written just in English - from both sides of the argument (though it is probably a bit more negative than positive on bitcoin it is not so negative on virtual currencies in general). www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25332746And I agree bp86, whatever it does or doesn't become, it is and will be interesting yes sfs there are 1 or 2 points worth noting, although you have to be aware the bbc have their own agenda as they are on the side of the banks and government,they will try and confuse the issue by putting a so called balanced opinion on the subject,dont get me wrong anything could happen its like on odds on favorite falling at the last fence no one can predict the future. tbh i now see it as a fight for financial freedom as opposed to any personal financial incentive
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2013 4:00:05 GMT
... tbh i now see it as a fight for financial freedom as opposed to any personal financial incentive I think a lot of early/current investors think the same. As the article hints, possibly those with large holdings think the same (whoever they are). But I think it is that subversive nature that - as a currency - will give bitcoin problems (medium/long term). I think it is partly the reason why Bank of China took the stance that it did. In essense, they said it is no different than someone bartering with any other form of good, but that it should not be treated as a currency (because of the subversive nature of it ... anonymous transactions etc). The Bank of China has no problem with people bartering with goats; but they won't let you deposit one in your account. To be successful as a currency it will almost certainly have to reign in its more subversive elements and - because many current investors are putting their money in it because (in the current anti-NSA climate) it is subversive - that may see many desert it. But I don't think the BBC is particularly supporting the man. Instead, I think - in its Auntie way - it is concerned that many people are throwing money at bitcoin with little understanding of what it is and what could happen. This is worth a read: www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25255957(sorry it is the BBC, again; again linked because it is well and simply written) It is not about bitcoin. It is about currencies (and gold). It is interesting to compare the latter half of the article to the siutation with bitcoin. Well worth a read
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Post by boothenpaddock86 on Dec 14, 2013 8:40:48 GMT
when the bbc say bitcoin could be superseded by another crypto currency could they possible mean this one www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25326289this also acts as a anonymous payment method,although they have only just filed for a patent and this could take upto 2 years to be granted if granted.probably just a scare tactic in all honesty,they know the game is up and cat is out of the bag,they can not compete with a free payment system and so will play dirty and try to rob as much as possible from us before they leave.this man will be in charge of the rbs robbery www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25103344 has the same forward hand gesture as blair did when he was lying as its a world wide system it would be very easy to set up in any country so most governments would be foolish to ban it out right. as regards the gold article i was interested in investing in gold and silver until recently when both gold and silver started a longterm downward trend,this is very unusual apparently, and could suggest manipulation so i think il wait and see
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2013 11:28:07 GMT
when the bbc say bitcoin could be superseded by another crypto currency could they possible mean this one www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25326289this also acts as a anonymous payment method,although they have only just filed for a patent and this could take upto 2 years to be granted if granted.probably just a scare tactic in all honesty,they know the game is up and cat is out of the bag,they can not compete with a free payment system and so will play dirty and try to rob as much as possible from us before they leave.this man will be in charge of the rbs robbery www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25103344 has the same forward hand gesture as blair did when he was lying as its a world wide system it would be very easy to set up in any country so most governments would be foolish to ban it out right. The article is written for people who know less about the subject than you. So I think they just mean that any other cirtual currency could come along and take bitcoins place. Which is true, but no more or less likely than bitcoin becoming widely accepted. And you may be correct in thinking that a lot of the big holders of bitcoin right now are just waiting and then will sell their entire holding in one go. Crashing the market on their way out. A famous "investor" named George Soros was/is pretty famous for tricks such as that. As for liars ... politicans and bankers. Never trust either as regards the gold article i was interested in investing in gold and silver until recently when both gold and silver started a longterm downward trend,this is very unusual apparently, and could suggest manipulation so i think il wait and see Gold has been a very safe investment for a very long time. As economies recover and then prosper its value does usually drop; only to bounce back as soon as economic times are tough. The time to get into gold is usually just before people start to worry that economies are in trouble, not when they are starting to believe they will recover. BUT: The last half of that article I linked, up a post or so, talks about when Nixon took the US $ out of the Gold Standard. It was ultimately that decision that allowed bitcoin and the like to exist now. It is an interesting article because it tries to demonstrate that - technically - there is no difference between the $ and bitcoin. It demonstrates that, nowadays, no currency is any more than a promise by a government to exchange a piece of paper you are holding (a dollar bill) for a "dollar in value". Obviously Nixon, back in the early 70s, had no idea there would ever be such a thing as the web. And so no one, at the time, needed to feel threatened by unhooking their currency. Especially not the most powerful nation on the planet. So, bitcoin - and the others - are an interesting experiment for that reason, if nothing else.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2013 4:32:24 GMT
www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-17/china-bans-payment-companies-from-clearing-bitcoin-news-says.htmlStories emerge (as in, never fully believe anything some one else reads in a Chinese newspaper) that bitcoin is now not legal for 3rd party "Exchanges/Traders". The article linked appears to suggest this was always the case, after the annoucement of a couple of weeks ago ... but that was interpretted incorrectly. If the stories are true, it will become all but impossible to change bitcoins into real-world currencies, within china. The exchange rate (in China) dropped, then recovered ... but it likely to drop again if these stories prove entirely true. Any large drop in China will likely knock on to the exchange-rate in the rest of the world.
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Post by scfctilidie on Dec 18, 2013 15:38:53 GMT
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Post by RichieBarkerOut! on Dec 18, 2013 18:16:41 GMT
It looks like my decision to put £10 on a nag named Zigger Zagger last week is proving to be a more astute investment than Bitcoin at the moment.
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Post by boothenpaddock86 on Dec 19, 2013 3:41:29 GMT
only a temporary down turn at the moment,china owned more than 50% of btc and banning the only exchange in china was a big blow.although it could be a blessing as the coins may go into safer hands and not that of people controlled by a unreliable communist dictatorship.China may well reverse the decision in the future anyway,next up will be Russia to make a decision,at the moment they are pro btc but so were china originally.As your primarily investing in the technology i still think the med to long term would be good investment even if you only buy a small amount.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2013 4:09:21 GMT
As well as a report on the news out of China, the article linked has a very good explanation of how the system works. It also includes a change in how the BBC is referring to bitcoin. Calling them tokens is, I think, a very good compromise. only a temporary down turn at the moment,china owned more than 50% of btc and banning the only exchange in china was a big blow.although it could be a blessing as the coins may go into safer hands and not that of people controlled by a unreliable communist dictatorship.China may well reverse the decision in the future anyway,next up will be Russia to make a decision,at the moment they are pro btc but so were china originally.As your primarily investing in the technology i still think the med to long term would be good investment even if you only buy a small amount. I agree with a short term strategy. If some one has some where from £350 (at the time I posted) to a grand to WASTE (as in, you will not cry for years, if you lose it) then buying 1 or 3 bitcoins RIGHT NOW is probably going to net you something like 50-100% profit over the next couple of weeks (when the price should bounce back, if the hype around it continues and no other major real-world currencies/countries "ban" it). Medium to long term ... I am unsure how many "financial knocks" it can take, before the easy of using it will no longer be true. I would not, currently at least, be using it to store or grow my nest egg. Secondly, rumours are that several very-rich US Internet-Luvvies (e.g. the Winktosser twins) are heavily invested in bitcoin. There is nothing countries who have a traditional dislike/distrust of the USA like more than to see it (or its great and good) take a tumble. That said, its just as likely the Ruski Mobs are in it up to their elbows and that might give VladP, over in Moscow, pause for thought. All that said, I still wouldn't be trusting too much of my life-savings to it, at the moment. And whether the bet on Zigger-Zagger (the horse) was a more sound investment than bitcoin tokens ... I guess that would depend when you bet on bitcoins and when (if) you got out?
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Post by dutchstokie on Dec 19, 2013 10:55:12 GMT
(Oooo thanks for the topic; I had 10 mins before putting tea on The very cleverest thing they did ... whoever they exactly was/is ... was to name them bitcoins. Or anything, coins. They are not coins. They are an investment vehicle. The vehicle invested in, is created by computers solving very, very (lots of verys) complex mathematical equations. That is called bitcoin mining. The people doing the "mining" have expensive and powerful machines. So to become a miner it's all about the "fastest" rig you can build (for your budget), that runs on the least power (that costs you as little as possible to buy). Whatever "coins" your machine "makes" (mines) you "store" (and/or sell). So the "currency" - I do wish they would stop calling them that - is infinite. The exchanges need never run out of "problems" that need to be solved. I guess it became a "currency" (rather than just a "Numbers Racket") when third party businesses (and now governments, central banks) decided to accept them as payment for goods. In essense, taking ownership of an investment in exchange for whatever it was they were selling. No different than the same people agreeing to accept "Shares in Marks & Spencer" (or whatever). But everyone called it a currency. And, like any investment - from a share in a plc business, to the house you own, to the currency used in the country you reside - the value of it can go up and/or down, depending on what someone else will pay you for it.
At the moment, people will pay a lot.
It will implode. But will it isn't the question.
The question is - given that you could be getting into the market still at the start, in the middle, or at the end (no one knows) and given that it could be made illegal in any country at any point ... and so maybe rendered worthless, and loads of other "potential issues" - how much are you willing to bet on the investment? And how long will you let that bet ride?
(you also need to make sure you can trade in a secure way. So a crash course in Internet Security is very much required before you go and buy ... or mine)
Mining Yes. That's right. After a few thousand years of trying, someone finally turned lead into gold. Well, silcon and electricity into gold. You can build your own rig, download the appropriate software and start making money for nothing (provided you trade the bitcoins for real gold/cash) for £10,000? Maybe less ... Well, you could start to do it for £300, but your £300 machine would die before you actually mined 1 "coin". But £10,000 is probably a good starter machine. Then you get more machines.
Then there's your electricity bill. Such machines have stupidly large 1000W power-packs. They run 24x7. You might need air-conditioning running, nevermind the internal cooling system you fit to the machine. Hey, maybe you can come up with some low-power solution, that runs on hundreds of R-Pis, or something!?
But, if you have the initial investment money, you know what you are doing (with a PC etc) and can figure out ways to reduce the costs involved (power), you can become a profitable miner (while you sleep).
Criminality? As has been pointed out in various other threads; lots of free software (browser toolbars, free anti-virus packages) are now very likely to come with bitcoin miner included. BUT YOU DO NOT MAKE THE MONEY - THE COMPANY WHO WROTE THE SOFTWARE/TOOLBAR DO. It will be almost impossible to tell that such software is running on your machine (if the writer was smart enough).
Often, you will have agreed to install the bitcoin miner, and agreed to let the programmer have the money; when you agreed to the End User License (that thing you never read, but just "Agree to", when you intall some software).
(As ever ) Be careful what you download. If it looks to good to be free, it isn't (one way or the other).
Cloud mining ... find the (currently unknown) developer who will write the first/most-efficient suite of packages that will - given a current and variable bitcoin value - allow people to mine in the most cost-effective part of the cloud. Invest in that developer. Cross fingers it doesn't all go Pete-Tong before that product goes to market. <-- that's where the smart money should be looking to go I tried reading a Chinese book once. I don't know Chinese. It still made more sense to me than that post. Don't worry about it, just go and drink lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of Stella Then you won't even care !
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2014 2:52:31 GMT
Just in case anyone is playing this market and daft enough to be reading this ... Something to watch out for ... garwarner.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/gameover-zeus-now-uses-encryption-to.htmlThis is both clever and nasty (though it relies on social engineering to start the attack and so a degree of stupidity is essential) ... It seems it is in competition with the CryptoLocker malware, another (infamous) password steeler than is after your "coins". As an aside ... because it has been a few weeks ... Bitcoins trading at around £560 on mtgox exchange, as I posted. Up (and then down, and then up and then down ...) £200 in 6 weeks. It is, slowly and somewhat erratically, on its way back up to the $1000 mark (on somewhat lighter traded volumes). If you had bet a grand, six weeks ago (after the last big dip), you'd have won around £600 plus your bet back. A very decent, short-term, return.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2014 12:30:25 GMT
just out of interest....what the fuck are you all talking about???
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2014 2:00:10 GMT
just out of interest....what the fuck are you all talking about??? I, Mr Mills, am talking about the future. A time when old-money will only be found in the dusty display cabinets of museums, or mentioned in grainy TV documentaries about the olden days ... and down that crack between the arm of your sofa and the first cushion. In the future no one will have to do any real work, just sit and watch their Robotic Vaccum Cleaner mine bitcoins, while it scrubs away the ketchup stains from the back seats of your electrified Ford Cortina. In the future the match-girls of today (well, a few hundred years ago) will forlornly wander the streets of Old Boslem town, crying, "Anyone got change for a bitcoin?", having had their last three prospective customers apologise for not buying, because they weren't breaking into a £2894756492.76 coin, just for a book of matches. In the future your car will drive itself to somewhere spelt almost identically to the place you actually wanted to visit; before turning around when half way there and going back to get you. All software will be open source and available for free by pushing the nose (twice) of the little yellow frog that lives under your garden shed. Instead of tiny-tankards, or monographed Bibles, people will setup Facebook accounts as christening gifts; babies will be LinkedIn two weeks before they are born and Paypal will send them a Zero-Balance email at the end of their first week of life (but not to worry, they can still shop). In the future people won't make babies the way they do today ... Instead they will bid for them on eBaby.com/IHaveHadEnoughPeaceAndQuiet and before they are shipped - by autonomous flying drones, known as storks - babies will have a USB slot inserted where their arsehole used to be; for those very private deposits, when you simply can't trust wi-fi. Every marriage will be an arranged marriage, setup before birth on IWillNeedAShagOneDay.org and everyone will follow everyone else on Twitter (but all that following will mean no one has any time to type any twits of their own). In the future every photo ever taken will be instantaneously uploaded to flickr and the most-viewed category will be the glorious black hues of the modernist-inspired "It Just Went Off In My Pocket" genre. Sexting will have grown into a global self-help movement, activating parental-filters will stop you annoying your children, Lightening McQueen will have been beatified and it really will be Google's Earth. I, Mr Mills, am talking about the future. And the future is bitcoin.
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Post by yeokel on Feb 5, 2014 12:19:27 GMT
Thanks for that. It's much clearer now!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2014 7:04:59 GMT
Being as Bitcoin is accepted by no countries on this planet and was mostly used for Silk Road transactions to buy and sell illegal drugs...i'm not so sure that Bitcoin will actually be part of the future. After all, the future is already here.
Electrons not atoms.
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Post by boothenpaddock86 on Feb 10, 2014 19:24:59 GMT
Being as Bitcoin is accepted by no countries on this planet and was mostly used for Silk Road transactions to buy and sell illegal drugs...i'm not so sure that Bitcoin will actually be part of the future. After all, the future is already here. Electrons not atoms. silk road accounted for only 3.5% of bitcoin when it closed although has recently re-opened. these are the main money laundering,drug dealing,terrorist financing corporate criminals. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18880269
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2014 2:07:39 GMT
More trauma in the land of bitcoin. So, this is either yet another buying opportunity, or it is the very start of what will be a very quick death*. Russia - Russia, FFS! - has decided bitcoins might be used for dodgy things and has confirmed it is illegal for Russian business and citizens to exchange them: www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26118002As the article also discusses - maybe more worryingly? - Mt Gox, one of the (many) exchanges that help you buy and sell coins, has gone (a bit) tits up. Leading many to claim they are currently unable to sell their stash of coins. There is a simmering argument, between the exchange (Mt Gox) - which is based in Japan - and the "core bitcoin coding team" (or at least a few folk who Mt Gox say ... and those folk themselves say ... are responsible for the software behind the whole bitcoin system): This is almost certainly more of a concern for bitcoin investors/punters than Russia adding its name to the list of countries not happy with the capitalist piss-takers behind the (massively over-hyped) virtual money scheme. ... Personally, I think it is more likely the Mt Gox issue is an issue with the Mt Gox wallet system, rather than the bitcoin system as a whole ... but there is a "quirk" in the bitcoin system (long known, apparently) that - it appears from this distance - has been exploited via Mt Gox's own software. That said, this type of thing is the most likely reason bitcoin will fail; a very quick and publicly explained fix is going to be needed, if confidence that the Emperor is indeed wearing the latest Summertime fashion, is to be maintained) * I will not be making a bet, during this particular opportunity. No doubt at all, though, that many others will.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2014 10:28:39 GMT
Being as Bitcoin is accepted by no countries on this planet and was mostly used for Silk Road transactions to buy and sell illegal drugs...i'm not so sure that Bitcoin will actually be part of the future. After all, the future is already here. Electrons not atoms. silk road accounted for only 3.5% of bitcoin when it closed although has recently re-opened. these are the main money laundering,drug dealing,terrorist financing corporate criminals. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18880269Sorry, I was talking about the total percentage of Silk Road transactions, not BitCoin as a whole. Speculation makes up almost all the other Bitcoin exchanges, doesn't it?
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