The Management posted:

does he not have his profits in a brain wallet or some other system that the man cannot seize? I was led to believe that bitcoins are outside the grasp of government thugs

Werthog 95 posted:

why does EVERY loving "biohacker" have this stupid loving facial hair

TVarmy posted:

even if he did keep his assets in buttcoins, he'd still give them up. the government would rubber hose decrypt them by offering a plea deal where he gets less prison time if he hands over the private keys.

quote:

Here's some general tipping etiquette to get the most out of your tips. Please encourage others to read this:

-Add the word 'private' to most tips to keep threads tidy.
-Try to tailor fun custom monikers to the communities you're tipping in.
-This isn't just about collecting tips. It's about giving tips.
-Tips of higher value make a much better impression outside of giveaway threads.
-If somebody clearly does not want to be tipped, do not tip them, even as a joke.
-Do not engage in drive-by tipping sprees. It really pisses people off and mucks up the works, and is the primary reason why some people have been banned from other subreddits 'for tipping'.
-Find original content, share some insight, then leave a tip at the end.
Different communities have different minimum tip standards.

-All tip amounts are welcome in /r/ChangeTip, /r/BitTippers, and /r/FreeBits. Go subscribe!
-In /r/Bitcoin, we need to aim for at least 100 bits, but preferably $.25 or more.
-When tipping anywhere else on reddit, I cannot stress enough how important it is to tip at least $1.00, because any less will almost always leave a bad impression since they're most likely not accustomed to microtransactions. If you're not sure how it will be perceived, you can always ask first, and/or use the 'private' function.

quote:

[–]MagicalTux 21 points 5 hours ago*

I got an automatically-updated json file with list of image names here: http://xkcd1446.org/list.json

quote:

[–]Tom2Die 3 points 4 hours ago

You can has cheezburger. /u/changetip

quote:

[–]tf2honeybadgerBlack Hat 5 points 4 hours ago*

Maybe he can pay back Mt Gox customers with that.

(ps, look who you just tipped!)

quote:

[–]changetip 4 points 4 hours ago*

The Bitcoin tip for 1 cheezburger (6,530 bits/$2.50) has been collected by MagicalTux.

vOv posted:

theyre disqualifying 'radiactive' elements like uranium so i guess they understand nuclear chemistry about as well as they understand anything else

Mr. Nice! posted:

gold wasn't even the first currency. clay tablets stamped with poo poo were the first.

ruby idiot railed posted:

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-13/forex-investors-may-face-1-billion-loss-as-trade-site-vanishes.html

Shady investments, but without bitcoin

quote:

None of my $1 Twitter tips from last week were collected (self.Bitcoin)

In the spirit of Tipping Tuesday, I decided to empty out my ChangeTip account on random content creators I like. I used Twitter, as my previous experiences YouTube suggested that ChangeTips tend to get lost in the flood of comments. My hopes were high. Maybe one of my favorite YouTube personalities or bloggers would give ChangeTip, and bitcoin by extension, a try.

The results? None of them collected. None of them responded. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. During the rally, each of the $1 tips I left had actually gone up to around $1.25, but no one seemed to care.

These were web savvy people, and I know for a fact that several have at least talked about bitcoin in passing on their videos or blogs. So I'm guessing that the problem is that ChangeTip, for all its innovation and deserved recognition inside the bitcoin community, still seems kind of scammy to people who don't know what it is.

Since they don't care, and you folks do, I'm tipping $0.50 each to the first 5 people who post a bitcoin-related joke.

quote:

Whats overstocks favorite method to secure a blockchain?

Proof of Byrne

quote:

What's a Bitcoin's favorite sport? Nakamotocross!

quote:

What's a blockchain's favorite drug? Hash!

quote:

A sysadmin was deleting website referrals to Bitcoin harvesters. He was arrested. With what crime was he charged?

Contributing to the de-link-uency of miners!

quote:

I'm like a really down to earth guy because you know... gravity.

quote:

How many frenchmen does it take to mine a bitcoin? It's impossible, they keep trying to surrender to it.

quote:

Sorry, that was lame. Here's a better one. - Snap, I lost my key! - Which one? - The private one. - Ok, you're screwed.

quote:

Ok ok I got one!

How many Republicans does it take to change a lightbulb?

None. They'd rather sit in the dark and blame Obama.

ruby idiot railed posted:

http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/167719/WhyFromNigeria.pdf

This is why. I don't know that anyone's actually named the phenomenon.

The abstract basically describes Bitcoin itself to a T.

Weatherman posted:

isn't thermos like 19 years old? how would he know what a $300k developer is like?

quote:

In these charts I've calculated the line of best fit through the log of price from Bitstamp. This is the middle of the yellow line. Then, I've created bands of width LN(0.3) to give each of the colours. There's nothing special about the width, other than it roughly keeps all price volatility within the rainbow. All these charts show are the difference between the price trend and actual daily price. The "Buy!" and "Sell!" labels are not financial advice. There is no guarantee history will repeat itself and return price back to the red of the charts.

fermun posted:

the Chinese exchanges all operate on a monthly subscription model, you pay a flat rate to be able to buy and sell there and then no fees on individual transactions

quote:

19th century British monarchy, the ultimate libertarian paradise.

quote:

You know that one of the most renowned austro-libertarian scholars of our time argues that ancient monarchy would be a less authoritarian regime of government than democracies? And his arguments are quite good. You should read his own texts for a decent description of the arguments, but the tl;dr is basically two points:

Kings are "long-term parasites", while democratic leaders are "short-term" ones. Kings see the kingdom as their property, and will avoid to damage it too much, so that it can keep benefiting him and his heirs forever. Democratic leaders have only their terms to extract everything they can, and that tends to make them much more destructive.
In democracy this illusion that "we are the government", that anybody can be there etc makes the subjects much more prone to accept abuses. While in monarchy the distinction between the host and the parasite is much clearer to everyone. People tend to tolerate abuse less.

I'm not sure whether I agree with that, since we have counter-examples in our world: Saudi Arabia and North Korea (which technically has been an absolutist monarchy for three generations). OTOH, there are prosperous monarchy-like places, like the Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain (the religious authoritarianism that exist in these places is IMHO unrelated to the government system). But I wonder if the success of these last ones is not much more related to their small sizes (or decentralization in the case of the Emirates), and the jurisdiction competition that small governments suffer.

quote:

I've always said it, Democracy is a sham. What we need is a benevolent dictator.

With a Dictator at the very top, he should have everything he wants, and no one should be able to "buy" him with their wealth. (He has everything he could possibly desire).

But with Democracy, those with money can buy any politician they want. Doesn't matter who is in office, they can be persuaded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BmdovYztH8

Who REALLY controls the country??

quote:

Believe it or not, Monarchies was more libertarian (at least economically) than our modern Republics and democracies, yes I have the right to vote but I get hosed royally by whoever is in charge of the state.

I don't displace to the poll anymore.

I prefer to have a King that leave me loving alone than an elected president who fuckup with my liberty on a daily basis and tell me that is for my own protection...

Even marriage in Austria (at the time of Mozart) was not regulated by the state, it was just a private contract between the two parties.

quote:

There will come a time in the not too distant future when the average person will be able to totally evade taxes. They will trade encrypted digital information for encrypted money.

Some will start to exchange physical goods as well. This will start to represent a significant decrease in revenue for the state, which hasn't happened in modern times.

The state will then have to react by 1) cutting spending significantly, which will severely damage the economy as we have seen with even minor austerity, 2) increase taxation significantly, which has it's limits of effectiveness, or 3) print their way out of it, leading to hyperinflation and collapse.

So my point is - a drastically different world without huge taxation on everything is coming. A world where government revenue is significantly lowered. If you think that infrastructure will fall apart and healthcare and education won't function, then you must acknowledge the imminent collapse of a society brought about by encryption.

Either that, or you could ask the question "could these things function without the state?", and genuinely attempt to research the implications.

Erenthal posted:

christ all mighty, im reading through that reddit thread and bruce fenton might be the stupidest goddamn person alive based on the solid non-understanding he's displaying

Boxturret posted:

but that would be an initiation of force!

quote:

A couple weeks ago I bought a plane ticket on Destinia.com because they take bitcoin and they had better selection than cheapair.com

They sent me a confirmation and I was stoked. But then I arrived at the airport with my email confirmation and guess what? They NEVER BOUGHT THE TICKET!?!

I checked my confirmation number on their website and it confirmed that I had indeed paid, via bitpay, the entire amount and that I indeed had a reservation, but United informed me that the agent NEVER BOOKED THE TICKET.

Their only phone number is in Madrid and google voice wasn't getting through for whatever reason. I sent a bunch of emergency emails/messages on their website trying to figure out what happened.

I ended up buying a (much more expensive) last minute ticket at the airport with my credit card to an airport 2 hours away from my original destination.

After I had already missed my flight they sent me an email telling me that they messed up the the price they originally quoted me, that it was 7 euros short of the actual plane price so they never bothered to actually buy the ticket. Nor did they ever bother to contact me to let me know. Anywhere at all.

To add insult to injury they told me that if I send them another 170 euros (with my credit card?) they would go ahead and get me a different flight.

I told them I wanted a refund. And (after giving me more poo poo) they told me to give them a bitcoin address.

By this time bitcoin was at $450 compared to the $320 or whatever it was when I had bought it. I figure since they took bitpay that they had saved it all in cash and I asked if I could just keep the money in store credit since I knew the bitcoin price was about to come down after such a huge spike.

No, they told me it was impossible "Because airlines don't take bitcoin". I took this to understand that they had never actually exchanged the money and were still holding the bitcoin I originally sent which actually made me feel much better and I sent them the bitcoin address and told them to make sure they sent me the original number of bitcoins I had sent them.

They were more than .5btc short!!! When I told them about the error, they told me that was the originally cash value of the bitcoin I originally sent and they would not send me my original bitcoin.

So here I am $350 and .5btc poorer (plus a 2 hours spent in a taxi) than when I first booked with Destinia and I have absolutely nothing to show for it except and lot of wasted emails.

Anyway, gently caress them. I can't wait until expedia expands airlines to their btc booking options.

quote:

Someone has to take the risk on the volatility of Bitcoin, and it's not going to be the companies accepting it.

If they refunded the Bitcoin amount then you'd have people requesting refunds on holidays they bought if the price rockets up because they can get the refund, then rebuy the holiday and pocket the difference.

Something you have to accept when using Bitcoin.

quote:

This is why I have zero interest in using bitcoin for consumer purchases. It's amazing the response you get when you breath the word chargeback.

quote:

So Bitcoin worked as it should. Horrible service from Destinia though. Would you be complaining so much if bitcoin value would have dropped and you received more bitcoins than you originally sent?

Ron Paul Atreides posted:

wait, he used bitpay. But they say they got butts.

if they keep butts why use bit pay

prefect posted:

why would you have a name for exactly 52 units of currency?

QuarkJets posted:

Was the response some iteration of NO CHARGEBACKS?

surebet posted:

quote:

Bitcoin is a tiger pup, stretching its limbs and jumping about.

Bitcoin is Pacman. It upgrades by consuming delicious and bountiful enemies – glowing ghosts.

Chocobo posted:

i'd buy mark a beer

or a sake

or a liter of cola

Exinos posted:

Can you mess with dollar amounts or just the goofy poo poo bitcoiners have come up with like 1 lawksy?

Like, if someone does the whole "changetip this person $1.00" it instead sends a tip for $0.02?

Improbable Lobster posted:

it's flapping its wings on my screen

surebet posted:

0.00468413 transactions per second

Greyhawk posted:

so this* just went online about 500 meters from where i am right now

i wonder if i should tease the coiners a bit about mining with that thing



* it's the worlds most energy efficient supercomputer topping the green500 list at more than 5 gigaflops/watt

Alan Smithee posted:

unfair comparison. Doobie dogs processes no transactions at lunch

Greyhawk posted:

in about 5 hours bitcoin will have a one year performance of -50%

http://oneyearbitcoin.info/

Alan Smithee posted:

Mark Karpales in the Kitchen with the katana

Roger Ver in the ballroom with the liberator pistol

Ross Ulbricht in the bedroom with the bong pipe

Erik Voorhees in the bathroom with the machete

quote:

Ok, let me get this straight: I like Bitcoin. With all the Western Union ad memes I just get annoyed; why? Because I think Bitcoin is not (yet) a good contestant or even alternative for WU.

From a consumer's perspective;

Contestant A: Western Union

Send actual USD. Input $100 in the system, and pickup $95 on the other side anywhere in the world.
No AML docs required below a certain amount.
Above a certain amount you need to show ID. No registration required though.
The cash received is 99.9% guaranteed not to be counterfeit cash.
No risk of getting ripped off inside the WU office - unlike localbitcoins.com transactions.

Result: $95. Took about an hour max.

Contestant B: Bitcoin

AML/KYC verified Accounts needed at an exchange. ID, Proof-of-residence, names, sometimes a selfie.
Both parties need to have Bitcoin wallet software.
Transmitter pays a small fee.
Receiver runs counterparty risk from that moment.
Receiver needs to wait a few blocks before able to transfer to exchange. (hour?)
Receiver needs to transfer to exchange, wait 6 confirmations or more.
Receiver exchanges to USD pays fee in the 1% range.
Receiver does USD withdraw (pays fee).
Receiver needs to wait a few days for the USD over wire/swift banking system.
Optional: Receiver does a cash withdrawal from bank account. Pay fee.

Result: $96-ish (estimate) after paying fees (3 to 4 times), and average volatility both ways after about 3 to 5 working days.

Alternative would be - localbitcoins for cash- but that would have even worse fees, and still requires you to leave you home might as well use WU

Again, I love Bitcoin - but the industry is not mature enough to go fight a behemoth like WU.

Come on guys, let's stay realistic......

Edit: I just know I'm going to get downvoted for writing this, but we really should focus on fixing the problem (making Bitcoin suited for money-transmission disruption) instead of looking the other way.

quote:

Just to give you a real life example. I had to pay recently to 2 different people about $300 each, one in Philippine and one in Vietnam, I wanted to use Bitcoin because I already had (otherwise I would had used kraken, which doesn't require any ID for these amounts). They didn't even know about Bitcoin, so I created an account for them in the first exchange market I found in google in their respective countries (2 minutes each including email verification), I sent the BTC to their exchange wallets and explained to the one in Vietnam how to withdraw to his bank account, while the one in Philippine directly told me his bank account number and name (long term relationship so he trusts me), so I did all the steps. Both of them received their cash in their local currency in their bank account, next day for the one in Philippine and about 2 days for the one in Vietnam.

It took me less than 30 minutes of non exclusive time, because I was doing other things while I was waiting for the confirmations, and from now own they will accept Bitcoin as payments, they both agreed it was very convenient.

I can tell you that if they didn't accept the transaction in BTC I would had hired someone else to do the job. Now think of someone who has to do 2 or 3 transactions like this per day, can you imagine wasting your whole day from the your office/home to the WU office, queue up, fill forms, back to your office/home ...

You could say that this is not the $100 example you are talking about, but this example was real.

quote:

While we are nitpicking

-and pickup $95 on the other side anywhere in the world.

Need to change clothes, do hair, make up (if female), put on shoes, go to car/bus/train/taxi/metro (costs money), get to wu, get in the row, get money and go back, while i'm chilling at home without all the hassle and i receive my money with bitcoin.

You don't have to sign up on the exchange at all to buy bitcoin, i can buy pretty much instantly from https://www.bitonic.nl without any id, and who sais the receiver wants to cash out the bitcoin to usd? This is send bitcoin and receive bitcoin that's it.

quote:

Nevermind that most of the world doesn't give half a poo poo about the USD anyway, just most of Reddit since Americans are the majority demographic.

quote:

It would be a very bad thing for Bitcoin if it were as good as WU right now. That probably sounds crazy, so bear with me while I explain.

There's a famous book called The Innovator's Dilemma which introduces the concept of "disruption". Like most subtle and technical concepts, disruption has been warped by pop culture to mean almost the opposite of its original idea.

In the original formulation, the key aspect of a disruptive technology is that it is worse than the incumbent technologies. An innovation that makes something better would be merely a "sustaining" innovation, which the incumbent companies will coopt and use for their own benefit. We have a prejudice that big companies cannot grasp new technologies, but the history doesn't bear that out. Big companies are extremely good at using their giant piles of cash to do anything that will be better for their sales, including adopting new technology.

Instead, the way disruption happens is that a new technology is invented that is worse than existing technologies. It's slower, more expensive, less efficient. But because no two technologies have exactly the same properties, there are some quirks that make the technology interesting for new use cases that the old technology couldn't cover. Eventually, the new market might grow to eclipse the original.

An example: personal computers were worse in every way than minicomputers. They were slower, more expensive per cpu, and more expensive per MB of storage. They couldn't run any of the existing software, and weren't powerful enough to be shared by multiple people. Businesses that sold minicomputers to other businesses had absolutely no interest in personal computers.

But, they had the interesting property of being small, and cheap-per-unit (even if more inefficient). This was not at all useful for existing customers, who had plenty of space and cared about efficiency rather than unit cost. But it meant that a small group of hobbyists were interested in what you might be able to do with it in a person's home.

Hopefully, Bitcoin is in the same place. It's currently worse than real money on almost every metric. It's more volatile, less secure (from a real world hacking perspective), less convenient, more expensive. The experience of buying something with Bitcoin is much worse than a credit card. If I'm wrong, then we should expect banks to coopt it. They'll realize it's cheaper, or faster, or whatever, and start offering their centralized version of it to their customers.

But if I'm right, then banks will be forced by economic common sense to ignore it, while we nerds play with the part that's new: trustless decentralization. Maybe we'll be able to build a whole new market for new types of activities, the way personal computing did.

Personally, I think our best bet to do that is with smart contracts, and the possibilities of decentralized organizations and truly "programmable money". But regardless, we need to claim our own turf before we can possibly be better on theirs.

evilweasel posted:

You missed the best part: Tibbaine Co. Ltd has taken the position that the loan "was not intended to be repaid" according to the Trustee's report which is the reason they're refusing to pay it back (also disputing the amount, but that's not as hilarious).

Dex posted:

also i haven't looked at bitcointalk in forever, is there still somebody rating obvious scams as a+++ and slightly less obvious scams as a++, or did that fad die out