Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

[Deozaan]

I discovered Copay (a Bitcoin wallet) last night.

After trying Bitcoin (Core) Wallet, Electrum, and some other wallets I don't remember their names of, I really like Copay for the following reasons:

• Lightweight SPV wallet (on all your devices).
• You control your private keys.
• Supports as many wallets as you want.
• Nice UI!
• Desktop and mobile apps, and even a Chrome extension.
• Easily backup/import your wallet across multiple devices with the keywords (hierarchical-deterministic (HD) wallets).
• Easily create/join shared (multisig) wallets.
• Open source

I really like it. The UI is clean and simple, but still allows me to easily figure out how to do the stuff I want to do. All the other wallets I've tried were either obtuse/confusing or lacking in security (i.e. other parties had access to my private key(s)).

[wraith808]

Looks interesting... thanks!

[Renegade]

http://europe.newswe...ig-fail-418481?rm=eu

BITCOIN: TOO BIG TO FAIL

More at the link.

[wraith808]

Can't get to link.  At least, not without disabling ad blockers.

[tomos]

It seems foolish to me, (a little odd too), that Hearn proclaimed the demise of bitcoin in his article.
In ways, it allows people to respond by simply saying -- but look, it's not dead -- without directly addressing his complaints.

Can't get to link.  At least, not without disabling ad blockers.

-wraith808 (January 24, 2016, 10:02 AM)

I got through (w. uBlock origin) but it wants email address after looking at a couple of pages

[40hz]

I think all it would take to kill bitcoin was two major exchanges getting hacked and looted in quick succession to start a run on the 'bank.' With no fallback or account holder insurance, it'd be gone.

No doubt something similar would take its place down the road. But bitcoin - as Bitcoin - is far from an unsinkable ship.

I think it is mainly managed to survive because it's been found useful to the very people who have the capability to take it down. Not because of anything specifically magical or charmed about Bitcoin itself. Which makes me wonder...

Ah forget it! I'm starting to sound as conspiracy theory loving as Ren. :-))


---------------------

P.S. Hey Ren! How's it going? Move completed ok?

[4wd]

Can't get to link.  At least, not without disabling ad blockers.

-wraith808 (January 24, 2016, 10:02 AM)

I got through (w. uBlock origin) but it wants email address after looking at a couple of pages

-tomos (January 24, 2016, 11:01 AM)

Read it without a problem here, no request for email address.

[Renegade]

Can't get to link.  At least, not without disabling ad blockers.

-wraith808 (January 24, 2016, 10:02 AM)

Odd.

Anyways, here it is:

The death of bitcoin has been proclaimed once again. Prominent developer Mike Hearn’s recent comments that the bitcoin experiment was over mark the 89th time the digital currency has been pronounced dead since it first launched in 2009, at least according to one website dedicated to tracking bitcoin obituaries. While it’s sad to see a talented programmer like Hearn turn his back on bitcoin, there are still thousands of people working on making the world’s first digital currency a success.

The bitcoin network has been running without interruption for seven years now; a feat no banking system can claim. Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain technology—an online ledger that records every bitcoin transaction—represent a fundamental innovation that can dramatically speed up transaction times. The first step is replacing our need for financial middlemen. Next, we can restructure notaries, land registries, stock markets and much more.

People have criticized bitcoin for its price fluctuations but there are applications now that lock the value of bitcoin to dollars, euros or gold; people have insinuated it could be used by drugs or arms dealers operating on the dark web even though the U.K. government said bitcoin was the least likely funding tool for criminality; people have worried that regulation might discourage innovation. Meanwhile bitcoin continues to grow.

Subscribe now - Free phone/tablet charger worth over $60
Hearn’s criticisms that the bitcoin network isn’t set up to support the ever-increasing number of transactions performed on it is more a reflection of the currency’s success. It’s true that if bitcoin keeps growing as quickly as it has in the past few months parts of the network will need to be upgraded. This is a good problem to have.

What began as a small experiment is now a rapidly expanding ecosystem. There are so many people using it now that we have to plan for more capacity. It was never a secret that the software powering bitcoin would have to get upgraded occasionally—just like the software on your iPhone. Let’s look at the data. According to Bloomberg, bitcoin was the best performing currency in 2015. Why? More than 5 million new users started transacting in bitcoin last year alone. More importantly, the total transaction volume has more than doubled over the past 12 months.

bitcoin too big to fail blockchain
A graph displaying the increase in Bitcoin transactions since the beginning of 2009.
BLOCKCHAIN.INFO
The Bitcoin blockchain will catalyze innovation over the coming years. As citizens of the internet we demand transparency and ease of use. In 2016 people expect to be able to send money over the internet as quickly and cheaply as sending an email. The fact that it still takes several days to send an international money transfer is a throwback to yesteryear. Bitcoin solves that problem.

This currency is not a “failed experiment,” as Hearn suggested. Our firm, Blockchain (a bitcoin wallet provider), had its best month yet in December. All successful projects face problems as they grow, thankfully there are a multitude of brilliant minds working to solve them. In five years, hundreds of millions of users will be sending money on the internet as easily as they send chats, and the only obituaries being written will be those of the traditional banks.

Nicolas Cary is the co-founder of Blockchain, the world's leading bitcoin software company with over 5.5 million wallets.

[Renegade]

Ah forget it! I'm starting to sound as conspiracy theory loving as Ren. :-))

-40hz (January 24, 2016, 03:47 PM)

Just wait until you're kidnapped by aliens and see just how much you like the old Buttvader 2000!

P.S. Hey Ren! How's it going? Move completed ok?

-40hz (January 24, 2016, 03:47 PM)

Done over 6 months ago now. But, probably moving again in August... However, this time it will only be a few days drive away, so we won't have to throw everything in the garbage like the last time.

[Stoic Joker]

BITCOIN: TOO BIG TO FAIL

-Renegade (January 24, 2016, 12:36 AM)

I bet they used to say that about the Knights Templar ... Until the first Friday the 13th rolled around.

[40hz]

BITCOIN: TOO BIG TO FAIL

-Renegade (January 24, 2016, 12:36 AM)

I bet they used to say that about the Knights Templar ... Until the first Friday the 13th rolled around.

-Stoic Joker (January 25, 2016, 06:56 AM)

Wow! Way to go SJ!   Interesting observation when you think about the not inconsiderable similarities between the services offered by the two. Or their relative status in the eyes of the respective Powers That Be...

Just goes to illustrate why it may be a good thing to be considered useful by kings - but never so useful that kings start to feel beholden to you after a while. They're somewhat notorious for requesting "new game" by the simple expedient of flipping the table over...and then shooting their unarmed opponent.

Bitcoin holders better hope that doesn't turn out to be prescient on your part. 

[Renegade]

BITCOIN: TOO BIG TO FAIL

-Renegade (January 24, 2016, 12:36 AM)

I bet they used to say that about the Knights Templar ... Until the first Friday the 13th rolled around.

-Stoic Joker (January 25, 2016, 06:56 AM)

Wow! Way to go SJ!   Interesting observation when you think about the not inconsiderable similarities between the services offered by the two. Or their relative status in the eyes of the respective Powers That Be...

Just goes to illustrate why it may be a good thing to be considered useful by kings - but never so useful that kings start to feel beholden to you after a while. They're somewhat notorious for requesting "new game" by the simple expedient of flipping the table over...and then shooting their unarmed opponent.

Bitcoin holders better hope that doesn't turn out to be prescient on your part. 

-40hz (January 25, 2016, 03:14 PM)

You guys are talking about an absolute totalitarian system. So... yeah... I completely advocate... I'll cut it there. Read my mind. Let your imaginations go to very, very dark places. Those places are very well lit.

When you want to restrict my ability to buy milk for my family, you deserve <insert depraved horror here />.

Bitcoin is a way around that kind of economic totalitarianism.

Just wait. It will come. All of our freedoms are being systematically raped and destroyed. All of them.

Bitcoin represents the ability to freely transact with other people without any permission needed.

Look at Europe.

How much can you spend in France in cash? 3,000 euro? Nope. It's only 1,000 euro now. WTF?!? You can't buy a good oven for that. You can't buy a good computer for that.

The war on cash is on. The war on your freedom to buy things without being tracked is on.

This isn't rocket appliances!




































I want to scream.

[wraith808]

Valve is enabling Bitcoin transactions in steam.

http://bitcoinist.ne...on-gamers-worldwide/

Via Ghacks.

[Stoic Joker]

I finally came up with a use for Bitcoin on Tuesday. I bought a 1981 Harley-Davidson (Shovelhead) FLT:

Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

Damn Straight, I took a beating on the selloff...but I got what I wanted. So now it's (finally) restoration project time!

I'm going to call her Alice.

[Deozaan]

I just switched web hosts a few days ago and they allowed me to pay my bill in BTC.

[mwb1100]

I finally came up with a use for Bitcoin on Tuesday. I bought a 1981 Harley-Davidson (Shovelhead) FLT:

-Stoic Joker (February 11, 2016, 12:19 PM)

That's the best Bitcoin story I've heard so far.

[Deozaan]

Someone has issued a challenge worth 1 BTC: Simply crack/bruteforce his 6-character wallet password to claim the bitcoin within.

Details here: No one cracked 0.5BTC PaperWallet with easy password in a year.

One year ago i tried a little experiment with BIP38 paper wallets. [...]

I am quite surprised that "6 character" wallet is still loaded with bitcoin. Looks like encrypted paper wallets give you quite high level of security even with very modest passwords. Lets not forget that hacker has to first get his hands on physical BIP38 wallet before he can even start cracking...

I decided to keep this experiment going for another year. I've also added extra 0.5BTC - so happy cracking!


Details:

pub: 1J5cjne6YVkgRTMTjqnaJVk1CWEEr3CcdX
b38: 6PfRB98F9vZLhSpqY5URas5vYUU3qYQrpkJFTLuCg1FvDni6LwT3qAirkp
pwd: 6 characters (only upper and lower case US alphabet letters)

Here is a small hint for you: If you divide the number of UPPERCASE letters by the number of lowercase letters you get an integer.

-https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/4dkw1q/no_one_cracked_05btc_paperwallet_with_easy/

According to my calculations, this means the password has either 3, 4, or 5 uppercase letters (I'm ruling out the possibility of 0 uppercase letters since it says it has upper AND lower case letters). I'm a bit rusty in the discrete mathematics department, but I think that means there are (52*52*52*52*52*52) - (52*52*52*52) possible combinations. Which totals 19,763,298,048 combinations.

I'm running a brute-force script in a linux VM which takes ~7 seconds to try 25 passwords. Unless I really messed up my math somewhere, it will take over 175 years for me to try them all at this rate.

[Deozaan]

I've been running a vanity Bitcoin address generator for over two months and it finally found one!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my new vanity Bitcoin address:

1DeozaanYaZY4kFr3jHo4jDWamYJ79S1QS

[f0dder]

Congratulations, DeoGeek!

[Mark0]

Persistence is rewarded! 

[Renegade]

But is it full?

[Renegade]

Anyone happy with the new ATH?

[Stoic Joker]

Anyone happy with the new ATH?

-Renegade (March 05, 2017, 11:43 PM)

Um... ATH?? What is this ATH of which you speak? ...I'm waiting to see how the SEC/ETF thing plays out. Is it anything to do with (/like) that?

[Ath]

Anyone happy with the new ATH?

-Renegade (March 05, 2017, 11:43 PM)

Um... ATH?? What is this ATH of which you speak? ...I'm waiting to see how the SEC/ETF thing plays out. Is it anything to do with (/like) that?

-Stoic Joker (March 06, 2017, 06:35 AM)

It's not me, at least I'm not aware of me being internationally known outside of DoCo

[Mark0]

Anyone happy with the new ATH?

-Renegade (March 05, 2017, 11:43 PM)

Surely not "Prof. Bitcorn"!