Saw a hilarious tweet yesterday on bitcoins and libertarians.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>the best part about bitcoins is that you get to watch libertarians slowly discover why financial regulations exist to begin with</p>&mdash; Pocius Pocius (@The_Pocius) <a href="https://twitter.com/The_Pocius/statuses/435568115791826945">February 18, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Yea, except the same thing happened to Silk Road 2.

Bitcoin is a bubble. It is a good idea but has huge flaws that will prevent it from ever becoming more than a niche product for savvy internet users.

The hoarding is also one of the problems. If bitcoins were becoming more widely used then we would see transactions in bitcoins pick up. That's not happening. People are hoarding them with the expectation that they will go up. Since the market is thinly traded, they've been going up.

Respect your opinion but I believe the jury is still out. It may not be bitcoin but crypto-currency is coming. No harm in speculating a little. What are the flaws you mention? Agree totally about the hoarding issue, most argue quantum computing will kill current encryption entirely, not just bitcoin.

For the record I'm not gung ho bitcoin, just think its interesting with little monies invested.

Silk Road 2 and Mt. Gox were corrupt and needed to be weeded out.

It took 250 years for the dollar to get this point.

high cheek bones, loved the weiner.

- 400 Bitcoin ATMs set to rollout in Dubai
- Pantera's Bitcoin Investment Fund backed by three reputable VC's
- Xapo Cold Storage Vault receives 20 million investment
- Warren Buffet struggles to comprehend crypto-currency along with the other 98%
- US Treasury to appoint virtual currency chair

6/21/14 Bitcoin Update

- Expedia accepts Bitcoin for hotel reservations
- Dish Network accepts Bitcoin payments for monthly service
- Reeds Jewelers accepts Bitcoin at brick and mortar stores
- Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl - http://www.stpetersburgbowl.com
- US Marshals Service auctioning off 30,000 Bitcoins seized during Silk Road raid
- Ebay CEO admits Paypal is actively integrating Bitcoin as a payment
- Apple allows active Bitcoin wallet apps in their online Apple Store
- Swiss rule to allow Bitcoin ATM network
- Bolivia bans Bitcoin as well as all virtual currencies
- 120 million in VC money pumped into Bitcoin ecosystem so far in 2014
- Israel/Austria stand up first Bitcoin ATMs in country

Haven't checked for a while, is bitcoin increasing in value the last few months? I have a few bitcoins, use them to play poker with on an online site. Seals with clubs, come join the fun

9/8/14 Bitcoin Update
Price: $465 Circulation: 13,239,225 Cap: 6.2 Billion

- Ebay payment processor Braintree announces acceptance/integration of Bitcoin payments
- UK Chancellor to outline 2015 budget plans for Britain to become Bitcoin hub
- Dell.com & Newegg.com accept Bitcoin as payment
- Two Bitcoin ETFs heading to market soon with tickers "COIN" and "BIT"
- Apple IOS allows 'Blockchain.info' Bitcoin wallet App (recommended btw)
- xHamster.com accepts Bitcoin
- Circle.com poised to be next US Bitcoin onramp
- Venture capitalist Tim Draper wins 30K Bitcoin auction by US Marshals service

Wow. It's at 465? Hope people cashed out when it was 800-900

New York Looks to Slap Digital Currency With Death Sentence

Link

Remember the pain and suffering we all experienced when China banned Bitcoin last year? Well, a new form of punishment is on the horizon for Bitcoin thanks to New York’s Superintendent of Financial Services, Benjamin Lawsky. This new artificially imposed homicide might as well be called – Death by Regulation.

Imagine walking up to a New York street vendor in Times Square to purchase a foot-long hot dog and being asked to provide your name and home address. If you’re paying with cash, no need to fret. But if you’re paying in Bitcoin or some other digital currency, be prepared to answer a series of questions before enjoying your tasty treat.

benjamin_lawskyThe State of New York is proposing BitLicense, a set of rules and regulations that would mandate licenses for merchants that accept Bitcoin and its digital cousins. The proposal creates expensive costs and barriers-of-entry for vendors, and infringes upon the rights of both businesses and casual users alike, according to a recent article published by the electronic frontier foundation.

The fact is, the World looks to New York for guidance as it relates to financial and banking regulation and if this proposed legislation passes, it would mean an end to Bitcoin in New York, and likely set a wrench into motion that could “gum up” the entire cryptocurrency machine. In essence, the Bitlicense would become the Ebola Virus of digital currency with Benjamin Lawsky becoming “patient zero”.

The open comment period on these regulations is expected to end soon, after which time, the Department of Financial Services will release an updated version of its proposed regulatory framework. That means that digital currency adopters worldwide have a limited amount of time to speak out against these new proposals or face regulation that is sure to strike a crippling blow to cryptocurrencies across the globe.

Bitcoin in KC

http://www.kansascity.com/news/busin...le3986699.html

your hash must be terrible.

I have had a miner running for about a year mining litecoins.

But really just hold on to them for awhile. Dont be one of the dumbs who invest their cash in it. I only invest money in computer parts, but since I'm a computer guy anyways. If they dont materialize anything in value, worst case I have some decent GPUs that I can do stuff with.

I've got a friend who spent like 50k setting up miners..lol he isnt very happy since they started falling. I just let the miners run. If it rises again, I will be cashing out my litecoins. But right now just going to hold on to them.

Bitcoin is just free market money. If enough accept it for exchange then I'm fine with it.
If it's risky in some way than it's one those who accept or use them. Live and let live on it as far as I'm concerned.

LMAO I tweeted my bit coin aficionado friend this article and came here to post but you beat me to it.

A Fed loving big govt pov of course. Might was well say the truth, govt forces their idea of money to be accepted. Govt doesn't have to support a currency...it should be a market that supports is with govt being a player in the same market.

So I have like $2,000 worth of Bitcoin, just to mess around on this small poker site that ONLY takes Bitcoins just to mess around. Never really play on it, just bought some as a terrible idea of an investment. Ever since I bought it 9 months ago it appears to keep dropping.

What should I do? Sell or keep?

...

Also, a free market doesn't dictate supply via a central bank.

Make sure they are secure and hold them for three years, you won't be sorry. Definitely get them the hell off that poker site if they're still there.

Microsoft is now accepting the digital currency bitcoin.
Bitcoin is accepted as "a payment option to buy apps, games and other digital content from Windows, Window Phone, Xbox Games, Xbox Music or Xbox Video Stores," according to the Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30)'s payment and billing policy.

"The use of digital currencies such as bitcoin, while not yet mainstream, is growing beyond the early enthusiasts," said Eric Lockard, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Universal Store at Microsoft, posted on the company blog.
"We expect this growth to continue and allowing people to use bitcoin to purchase our products and services now allows us to be a front edge of this market," he continued.
Microsoft joins a handful of other companies that accept bitcoins as payment, including PayPal and a scattering of restaurants, car services and at least one bar in New York City.
Related: I lived on Bitcoin for 24 hours
Bitcoin is the most popular form of digital currency, though it is still controversial and nebulous, since it is not government-issued currency and has experienced extreme volatility.

"First they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win"

Hold it. Value is waaaay down. Wait for it it climb up a little bit then sell at a value you like.

At what price did you buy in?

I would sell it immediately while you can still get a decent price. This thing has nowhere to go but down. I gave this same advice earlier in this thread when the price was around $800.

So, why don't you put up a chart of the stagnating transaction volume using bitcoins?

Its tough to say. I bought some at 450. It's been hovering in the mid 3's for a bit.

I'd say hold it if you can tolerate the risk.

Litecoin mirrors bitcoin and is about 3 dollars per.

If anyone is wanting to play around cheap, litecoin would be a cheap way to get a little coin.


I am holding a bunch of different coins, but its just a fun long shot...I was playing around with mining for a while.

Ihttp://blog.cex.io/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/4_2.png

Awesome.

Now if more and more places are accepting bitcoin but you're not seeing a noticeable increase in transactions, which direction do you think that bitcoin is more likely to move in?

To be honest there is no real use case at the moment for an average American to use Bitcoin except as a purely speculative investment. That will change with time however as there is equal monies being pumped by VCs into Bitcoin startups as there were back in the early nineties for the Internet.

Now remittances in Mexico and Asia, the unbanked in Africa and as a store of value for Argentinians & Venezuelans. There is something to watch.

This thing is bigger than most can comprehend. I really recommend doing your homework, read the Satoshi whitepaper.

http://media.coindesk.com/2014/10/SOB-7.jpg

what direction does that graph look like its going to you?

If anyone is interested in playing around with some digital currencies, here is a link that if you sign up, gives you a tiny bit of free coins per day

https://qoinpro.com/<wbr>d942e212f85ca6f66bc41a893527db<wbr>da

I get coisn too if you use that link

or just

use

https://qoinpro.com

if you h9 me and dont want me to get a penny worth of coins a day

It's a noisy data series. Draw a trend line through the middle of it and you'll notice that despite more and more merchants accepting bitcoin, you're not seeing a commiserate increase in transactions which implies that it is still a niche thing and people are holding bitcoin with the expectation that they will go up instead of spending them.

your straight edge must be different than mine

I see a fairly noticeable upward trend from around 45k to 75k when you go thru the middle, and correct the outliers etc

and thats just over the last year

Noticeable and significant are two different things.

well YOU are the one that said it was not noticeable

now you move the goalposts

/shrug

by the way it seems on the surface to be signifigant since the graph EXCLUDES popular addresses (the exchanges etc) and so represents mainly small user transactions, apparently

Poor wording in my earlier post.

Aside from that, given the scale of transactions on any given day in any major currency, an increase from 45k to 75k is not really noticeable increase.

You are absolutely correct. The mere fact that we are talking about this 5+ years after inception is the real story. The Bitcoin protocol "the network" has not been hacked (some say will never be hacked) as more and more people are using it everyday.

I wait on the day where I can pay to read a single Wall Street journal article by scanning a QR code with my phone and paying $.25 worth of bitcoin.

This is what I'm not understanding. I'm about as ignorant to bitcoin as a person can be, so be patient, but if there's a finite amount of it how will it ever become something everyone will buy/use?

In its totallity there will only ever be 21 million whole bitcoins ever "mined". They will be 99.99999% fully mined in the year 2140 or somewhere close. Each bitcoin is divisible to eight decimal places. .00000001 and that number is called a "satoshi" after its inventor. There is a strong push to make the number .000001 called a "bit" for easier public perception.

Its very nerdy at this point but time will take care of that as developers and such make using bitcoin easier and more mainstream.

Here is a nice introductory, short video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um63OQz3bjo

Ok, so instead of "making" more bitcoins they'll just be sold in smaller parts.

So instead of going FIAT they sell in "Mills" or less. Pretty much dividing down?

As price necessitates, yes.

The blockchain ledger records and validates every transaction no matter how small. Essentially the entire supply is accounted for and logged for all of history from 2009 on. Keys you own unlock the value stored in various addresses on the blockchain.

Enjoying the Bitcoin Bowl on ESPN.

Because I'm freeeeeeeeeeee! Free falllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllling

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...an-to-another/

...

http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/11/tech...in-technology/

The Nasdaq stock exchange is tapping Bitcoin's powerful new transaction technology to create a more secure, efficient system to trade stocks.

Most people have heard of Bitcoin (XBT) as a system of electronic money -- one that hasn't really caught on yet.

But what gets less attention is blockchain, the technology that powers the Bitcoin system. It's a computer program that automatically processes transactions and creates a perfect, reliable digital record.

High-tech bankers are starting to realize this could revolutionize trading. Nasdaq (NDAQ), a favorite exchange among many technology companies, is making the first move.

On Monday, the stock market announced it will start using a blockchain system to keep records for its Nasdaq Private Market, which handles trading of shares in the pre-IPO phase before a company goes public.

Nasdaq sees the blockchain's perfect recordkeeping as a major step in the right direction for more transparency. The pre-IPO market doesn't typically see as much trading and what does occur is often by a tight circle of employees and early investors.

"Blockchain technology will provide extensive integrity, audit ability, governance and transfer of ownership capabilities," Nasdaq said in its public announcement.

This doesn't mean Nasdaq is using actual Bitcoins as currency. But Nasdaq will be interacting with the Bitcoin system to slip data into the blockchain.

By using Bitcoin's core technology, this is a major acknowledgment of Bitcoin's contribution to finance and trade. This is the first time the world has seen a trading system that doesn't require a trusted middleman. It sounds boring, but in the banking world, it's revolutionary.

CNN explains: What is Bitcoin?

It seems odd to equate Bitcoin with better security. The world's first true big digital currency is generally known for two things. One, its popularity in online black markets. Two, the epic fall of Mt. Gox, a major Bitcoin exchange market that wiped out $400 million in people's savings.

But these have nothing to do with the digital currency itself. Bitcoin's perfect recordkeeping actually helped convict a black market kingpin. And computer security experts say Bitcoin's technology actually makes it more secure than any other money transfer system.

Nasdaq's experiment is a limited one. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal referred to Nasdaq's pre-IPO market, which launched in January 2014, as "a fledgling marketplace." But if it works out, expect to see it use the blockchain concept elsewhere.

"Utilizing the blockchain is a natural digital evolution for managing physical securities," Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld said in a statement.

Bitcoin Price: $290

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/french-bitc...-funds-1512360

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...oin-technology

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/30/bu...pany.html?_r=0

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...048468-001.htm

Former head of collapsed bitcoin exchange is arrested over disappearance of hundreds of millions of dollars of virtual currency


The former head of a collapsed Bitcoin exchange has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of hundreds of millions of dollars of the virtual currency.

Mark Karpeles, the former head of defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, was arrested on Saturday in Tokyo, Japanese media reports have said.

The French-born Karpeles, 30, is suspected of falsifying data on the outstanding balance of the exchange, at one point the world's largest hub for trading the digital currency.

Police were unable to immediately confirm the reports, but footage on local television showed the former chief executive being led away from his home and into a police car, with a baseball cap pulled low across his face.

If found guilty, the France-born Karpeles could face up to five years in prison, or a fine of up to 500,000 yen ($4,000).

Karpeles' lawyer said his client denies wrongdoing, the Kyodo News agency reported.

Mt Gox said 750,000 customer Bitcoins and another 100,000 belonging to the exchange were stolen due to a software security flaw when it filed for bankruptcy in February 2014.

The lost funds represented the equivalent of £307million ($480million) at the time of the bankruptcy filing.

Mt. Gox also said more than £17million ($27million) was missing from its Japanese bank accounts.

Karpeles, who had blamed hackers for the disappearance, later said he had recovered 200,000 of the lost Bitcoins.

The relationship between the lost Bitcoins and the inflated account was not immediately clear.

Known as a self-proclaimed geek who said he was uncomfortable in his native France and hadn't been back in years, Karpeles became interested in Bitcoin when a customer of his web-hosting services wanted to pay in the virtual currency.

Mt. Gox subsequently shot from obscurity to dominate global trade in Bitcoin, but as early as 2012 employees at the Tokyo-based exchange challenged Karpeles on issues such as whether client money was being used to cover costs.

Japanese authorities have previously acknowledged they were baffled by the Mt. Gox case because they had never dealt with possible crime dealing with Bitcoin. Experts also said it might be difficult to take action because of the absence of laws over virtual currencies.

BITCOIN: THE HIGHS - AND THE LOWS

January 2009: Officially launches - but the value of a Bitcoin is virtually nothing
July 2010: Mt Gox (Bitcoin currency exchange) is launched in Tokyo
January 2011: One Bitcoin is the equivalent to $1
March 2011: Karpeles buys Mt Gox from founder Jed McCaleb
December 2011: One Bitcoin is the equivalent to $2
December 2012: One Bitcoin is worth $13
December 2013: Bitcoin is briefly worth $1,000 - and rebounds to $1,000 again in January
February 2014: Mt Gox ceases trading and files for bankruptcy
March 2014: Mt Gox announces it has found 200,000 Bitcoins ($115million)
April 2014: Karpeles refuses to attend a bankruptcy hearing in Texas, USA
April 2014: Worth drops to just $340 a Bitcoin
August 2015: One Bitcoin worth $277.82
August 2015: Mark Karpeles is arrested by police in Tokyo

Anybody ever want to buy bitcoin for cash lemme know. Its been holding strong lately and the market has matured

Price: $377

http://www.economist.com/news/leader...-trust-machine

Price: $431

Price: $521

Bitcoin baby, bitcoin. Yahoo...keep going up baby

What's your plan with your bitcoin?

Pay for my childrens college with it.

Also Ethereum.

Bitcoin: $642
Ethereum: $14

How am I supposed to get hookers and blow with bitcoins?

Bitcoin: $803
Ethereum: $7.75

Bitcoin: $908
Ethereum: $7.21

When are you selling and how much profit? ?

Yeahhh buddy. Ive never had more bitcoin before. Just traded a bunch last night at peak

Everyone has their price. Mine is a little ways away.

Uh, that's the best way...

Bitcoin: $1037
Ethereum: $9.65

s

You haven't "made" anything unless you sell it.

The problem with the dollar is that it's not backed by anything, ie gold.

The bitcoin has the same problem.

One is a ponzi scheme, but which.

Nope.

This guy gets it.

I have to keep a decent amount on file to pay my gaming customers their monthly payments.

Bitcoin plummets over 23 percent after nearing all-time high as 'volatile little bubble' bursts

Bitcoin tanked as much as 23 percent Thursday afternoon after nearing an all-time high earlier in the trading day.
The world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap traded as low as $887.47, down from the day's high of $1,153.02, according to CoinDesk data. The high for the day was just shy of $1,165.89 set on November 30, 2013. The price has recovered somewhat from the day's low to about $973.89 at the time of publication.

A stack of bitcoins stand on top of U.S. one dollar bills.
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
However, bitcoin beat its high on some other cryptocurrency exchanges. Whereas CoinDesk's price index takes into account many different bitcoin exchanges – individual exchanges, where users can trade bitcoin, noted their own highest prices were exceeded. Among these were one of China's biggest and most liquid exchanges, BTC China.

Industry experts said the rapid rally in bitcoin created a little bubble which is now bursting but the long-term prospects are still positive.

"Once we broke through the nominal all-time high, liquidity dried up – no shorts, no sellers, which means a volatile little bubble formed quickly," Peter Smith, chief executive of bitcoin wallet Blockchain, told CNBC by email.

"We are seeing the effects of that now. It's still fairly thin trading volume though. I expect the market will find a floor and stabilize somewhere in the $850 to $1,000 range, but we'll see."

Wild swings in bitcoin's price are not unusual and volatility is a characteristic of the virtual currency.

Yuan rise behind bitcoin fall?

CNBC recently outlined the reason behind the latest rally in bitcoin. One key reason has been the recent devaluation of the yuan as well as the threat of capital controls across many countries. The majority of bitcoin trade comes out of China so it has a big influence.

But on Thursday, the yuan rose against the dollar. The reason behind this was a sell-off in the dollar due to uncertainty around the future of U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes, as well as state intervention by China in its currency. The rise in the yuan led to a fall in bitcoin.

"It is absolutely tied to China. If the yuan goes up, bitcoin goes down," Dan Collins, CEO of technology consultancy firm CCO Global, told CNBC in an interview on Thursday.

Bitcoin price today: $1188

If you bought $100 worth of bitcoin in 2009, and kept it until today, you would have $21.2 million dollars.

Food for thought.

If anybody needs any, let me know as well. I'm always selling at least a little.

My buddy is an electrician. For months now he has been working wiring up a warehouse with bitcoin mining computers. The company he is doing this for is now looking for more warehouses. They must be making bank.

Depends mainly on electricity cost plus efficiency of mining rig.

I got in at 200 and just sold at 1050 to restart, kicking myself for only affording 10 at the time. Life is fun that way.

It should come back down, hoping anyway. :)

You know what makes me sick? I was in on bitcoins when they first came out. I almost bought 100$ of them but I was a broke college student and couldn't afford to do it at the time. I could be rich right now if I just pulled that trigger.