Online Cash Bitcoin Could Challenge Governments, Banks

The importance of anonymous cryptocurrencies.

-- Tom

 

5 Bitcoin Projects That Could Make Payments Far More Anonymous.

-- Tom

 

How to build a wallet (Part 1 of 2).

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin startup Circle unveils no-fee digital currency banking.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin exchanges reportedly probed over link to Silk Road.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin Had A Big Day

-- Tom

 

Darkcoin, the Shadowy Cousin of Bitcoin, Is Booming by Andy Greenberg (Wired).

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin is a bad payment option.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin startup runs your miner for less than you might pay for electricity.

-- Tom

 

The Coinbase Blog - Coinbase now supports the Bitcoin Payment Protocol.

-- Tom

 

Is Bitcoin staging a stealth comeback?.

-- Tom

 

Threshold signatures and Bitcoin wallet security: A menu of options.

-- Tom

 

Bitcoin Is On A Major Tear.

-- Tom

 

"How Bots Manipulated The Price Of Bitcoin Through "Massive Fraudulent Trading Activity" At MtGox"

For a decade, Barclays (among others) rigged the precious metals markets with bursts of sell orders to maintain the illusion that the ultimate indicator of status quo failure was not flashing red. It now appears that Bitcoin suffered the same (but buying burst) manipulation in the last year as The Willy Report notes that last year, a number of traders began noticing suspicious behavior on Mt. Gox. Basically, a random number between 10 and 20 bitcoin would be bought every 5-10 minutes, non-stop, for at least a month on end until the end of January. Each time, (1) an account was created, (2) the account spent some very exact amount of USD to market-buy coins ($2.5m was most common), (3) a new account was created very shortly after. Repeat. In total, a staggering ~$112 million was spent to buy close to 270,000 BTC – the bulk of which was bought in November. So if you were wondering how Bitcoin suddenly appreciated in value by a factor of 10 within the span of one month, well, this is why. Not Chinese investors, not the Silkroad bust – these events may have contributed, but they certainly were not the main reason. But who did it? and why?"

Full story here: http://www.zerohedge.com/node/488930

 

Despite the best efforts of governments around the world (IMO), it is alive and well.

 

Bitcoin is certainly vulnerable to pump and dump scams, given its tiny market capitalization. Anyone with enough money and Bitcoins could do it. It does seem that someone at Mt Gox (insider or hacker) was responsible, stealing money from other accounts to fund their efforts. I also suspect that Bitcoin miners were involved.

Bitcoin may survive, or not. But the core P2P design of Bitcoin is here to stay, I think.

 

Why Bali Should Become A Bitcoin Island.

-- Tom

 

Deanonymisation of clients in Bitcoin P2P network (PDF download: 448.3 KB)

-- Tom

 

What does a Bitcoin robbery look like?
http://www.cso.com.au/article/546403/what_does_bitcoin_robbery_look_like_/

 

Lesson: Never store Bitcoins in cloud wallets

 

Maintain a sense of humor at all times.