Online Cash Bitcoin Could Challenge Governments, Banks

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Florida Targets High-Dollar Bitcoin Exchangers
Krebs on Security

State authorities in Florida on Thursday announced criminal charges targeting three men who allegedly ran illegal businesses moving large amounts of cash in and out of the Bitcoin virtual currency. Experts say this is likely the first case in which Bitcoin vendors have been prosecuted under state anti-money laundering laws, and that prosecutions like these could shut down one of the last remaining avenues for purchasing Bitcoins anonymously.

Working in conjunction with the Miami Beach Police Department and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office, undercover officers and agents from the U.S. Secret Service’s Miami Electronic Crimes Task Force contacted several individuals who were facilitating high-dollar transactions via localbitcoins.com, a site that helps match buyers and sellers of the virtual currency so that transactions can be completed face-to-face.

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Bitcoin Enables Drug Dealing, Just as Major Banks Do.

-- Tom

 

Another Major Bitcoin Exchange May Be Under Threat.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin prices crater as Mt. Gox suspends both BTC and cash withdrawals.

-- Tom

 

It's only Bitcoin prices at Mt. Gox that have "cratered".

Prices on Bitstamp, BTC-e and Huobi have dropped, but no where near as far as on Mt. Gox. Maybe Mt. Gox has been playing the pyramid game to cover various losses that it has incurred.

 

The elite's sure don't like when you threaten their fiat currencies, do they?

 

Bitcoin withdrawals still on hold, prices plunge.

-- Tom

 

We're still in the beta phase of digital currencies.

-- Tom

 

Meet Patrick Byrne: Bitcoin Messiah, CEO of Overstock, Scourge of Wall Street.

-- Tom

 

How Dogecoin Occupied Wall Street.

-- Tom

 

MtGox and malleable transactions.

-- Tom

 

Mt. Gox Blames Bitcoin – Core Developer Greg Maxwell Responds [Update: Further Technical Details].

-- Tom

 

Apple Has a Good Reason to Want to Block Bitcoin Apps.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin: Problems already cloud the currency's future.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin: Can you live on virtual money for a day?.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin: Three scenarios forecast the future of money.

-- Tom

 

I keep watching and waiting, but I'm just not seeing the signs that Bitcoin has a real future. I do agree that some form of crypto-currency will have a place, because the currencies of nations are continually dropping and risking collapse. But, it won't be Bitcoin. All other forms are jokes right now and basically riding the coattails of Bitcoin..that will have to change and soon. A few things have to happen before we see any tangible results:

1. Mt. Gox and other unreliable firms are going to have to be pushed aside and replaced with something far more reliable.

2. Governments are going to have to get on board with the currency and find some way to regulate and live with it. You are not going to get away from regulation, taxes, etc. It won't happen no matter what your little utopian, "stick it to the man" minds want to believe. It'll certainly happen if governments are suddenly gone..but believe me, you don't want that either.

3. Bugs/vulnerabilities in the software are going to have to be dealt with sooner rather than later. If you want people to put their faith in a currency, they have to have some sort of assurance that their money is safe and they have some recourse should things go badly wrong. Right now, they don't.

4. Hoarders are going to have to become spenders. People have to have access to the currency. Not everyone needs or should become crypto-millionaires, as current national currencies don't work that way either. The haves and the have nots will always be a thing. But "mining" and hoarding are going to have to have more alternatives.

5. The currency has to stabilize reasonably. The reason that it has not is because of all of the above reasons. This currency cannot live if today it is worth 700 dollars, Tuesday it is worth 1000, and Wednesday it shoots up another 1000 or drops below 100. Currency will always fluctuate, but it cannot do so wildly and wildly so often.

These things have to change if Bitcoin and its relatives are ever going to make it past the rich hobbyist and handful of businesses accepting it stage. Otherwise, it will take its place in the annals of tech history as and entry in another "Top 10 Failed Ideas" article.

 

Mt. Gox Bitcoin Bank Run Intensifies, 1 Million Customers at Risk dated Feb 7, 2014.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin price tumbles as Mt. Gox claims core glitch prevents transfers.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin Has Almost Totally Erased Yesterday's Big Crash.

-- Tom

 

Could This 20-Year-Old Kid Make Bitcoin Obsolete?.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin Exchanges Under ‘Massive and Concerted Attack’.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin exchanges buckle under strain of phantom transactions.

-- Tom

 

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Bitcoin exchanges suspend conversions as hacker attack intensifies
TheGuardian

Moves follow crackdowns by China and Russia on use of the cybercurrency amid fears over criminal use

Three online exchanges for the bitcoin virtual currency have suspended conversions into state-backed currencies, saying they are under attack from hackers suspected of trying to create fraudulent transactions.

The value of the currency has plunged as the attack has intensified, from $926 on 5 February to $530 on 12 February on MtGox, one of the affected exchanges. Bitstamp, based in Slovenia, and BTC-e, in Bulgaria, also halted withdrawals indefinitely on Wednesday as they came under attack.

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