just popping for an update if anyone cares…holy fuck what a day, moved out and painted the rooms white ( finished at 11:30PM 
), looking forward to having a tenent!
Crazy yoyo action in the 440-430 range has me feeling bullish
Plus a fortune cooki…
Bitcoin Forum
This site is set up by MyTrafficValue.com, the platform that owns Paidverts.com.
I deposited .1 bitcoin and am going to give it a try.
Wish me luck!
Bitcoin Forum
Man, you ever even had any of the honey puffs? Sometimes I get the feeling you're too mixed up with the straight community.
I better not find out you have a day job. 
Bitcoin Forum
Launched in 2011 by an ensemble of dedicated open-source developers led by Bitcoin’s rebellious hacker Amir Taaki, Libbitcoin was born a tool of resistance.
Offering an alternative to the original Bitcoin client, its goal was to diversify the Bitcoin development ecosystem, ensuring no single development team retained effective control over the network. “Centralized software is vulnerable to the dictates of whoever controls development of that software code, and any dictates pressured onto them,” Taaki’s Libbitcoin manifesto reads.
Five years later, Taaki has vanished from the Bitcoin scene. But Libbitcoin, a set of cross-platform, open-source libraries that serve as building blocks for a variety of Bitcoin applications, continues to grow. They are now maintained by a loosely tied team led by Seattle-based software architect and former naval aviator Eric Voskuil, and form the basis of services including Airbitz, DarkWallet (alpha) and OpenBazaar (soon in alpha).
Bitcoin Magazine sat down with Voskuil to learn more about this maverick implementation.
Eric, first of all, what happened to Amir? Do you know what he’s up to these days?
Yes.
…Yes?
I’m in touch with him. He’s doing well. But it’s not really my place to say more.
OK, so Amir seems gone for now. One of the reasons he launched Libbitcoin was to diversify the development ecosystem. Do these ideals live forth?
I don’t speak for other Libbitcoin contributors; each has their own reasons and their own opinions. But Libbitcoin’s core values have always been privacy, scalability and integrity. Indeed, if any individual or group can change consensus rules – consensus means agreement by all – Bitcoin’s integrity has been compromised.
Bitcoin, therefore, needs more than one body of main developers. I don’t have any issues with the Core guys, technically or philosophically. I truly think they are doing great work and for the right reasons. But that is a sword that can cut both ways. Just as there has been cause for concern in the past – think of the Bitcoin Foundation funding development – we can assume there will be in the future.
Why is a homogeneous development ecosystem such a problem? No one is forced to run the software.
True, but Bitcoin requires decentralization for survival. If there is only one team of experts maintaining the only implementation, the whole ecosystem is extremely weak. If that team ends up on one or two payrolls, or is perhaps co-opted by state actors, there are obvious implications. It’s even worse than just having one Web browser, because the lack of diversity in browser choices is not as damaging to people as losing decentralized money.
To be strong, Bitcoin needs expert volunteers working in a global virtual community on various implementations that people actually use. This provides credible balance in the case of real conflict. Libbitcoin is playing the long game, and is making major investments in several important areas. This ultimately complements and improves other implementations, just as it benefits from them.
It’s interesting that similar arguments have recently resurfaced. The Bitcoin Classic team in particular maintains that diversifying the development ecosystem is a key goal.
The important benefit of developer diversification is greater resistance to centralization pressure. Libbitcoin is first and foremost a tool of resistance, though to be effective it must also be great technology. A code fork that simply changes a consensus rule because there is not universal agreement is not resistance, it’s an attack.
Fortunately, Bitcoin has always anticipated this scenario. The uncertainty may not be good for the exchange price in the short term, and people who aren’t paying attention may lose money. But Bitcoin will be stronger for it. Bitcoin has to be able to withstand such attacks.
Increasing the block size limit by one megabyte is an attack?
A dissenter always has the option to start another coin. But an attempt to cause a change in consensus rules without actual consensus is an attempt at theft. Such changes will favor some parties at the expense of others. It’s impossible to predict specifically who will be harmed when a money is altered, since value is subjective. But the question becomes moot in the case of consensus. With consensus the change is an increase in value for all, since all prefer the change.
In Bitcoin, larger hash power currently has an increasing advantage as blocks grow in size. Similarly some businesses may benefit from the possibility of higher transaction volume and minimal fee pressure. Except to the extent that these parties are also coin-holders, the theft is not of their value. At the same time they have a financial interest in changing the rules.
I’m not keen on any block size limit increase presently. I assume we may need to do so at some point, but given the minimal fee pressure we see today, there is absolutely no urgency. And given the lack of consensus it would not be appropriate to try.
Wouldn’t it be better to avoid rising fees for now, to incentivize adoption? Be a bit more pragmatic?
Decentralization is the purpose of Bitcoin and essential to its existence.
Larger blocks create centralization pressure, an observation that does not seem to be in dispute among developers. And given the current state of the ecosystem, with a handful of pools directing most of the hash power and an apparent declining number of validating users, it seems one megabyte is problematic enough.
By analogy, imagine a door lock company advertising that they have the best locks on the market. People need to be able to get through doors, and their lock makes that really easy, so that the most people possible can get through! The company considers security important … but not at the expense of ease-of-use. Can this reasonably be described as ‘pragmatic’?
If Bitcoin centralizes and succumbs to the censors, it will have nothing to offer its users.
Cheap and fast transactions offer a certain value, don’t they?
Sure, but costs are not reduced through the magic of Merkel trees, or some other mundane technology employed by Bitcoin. Costs are reduced by removing the state from the control of money. Censorship resistance is the only way Bitcoin achieves cost benefits over other financial technologies.
PayPal set out to do the same things as Bitcoin, and failed. Upon running afoul of the censors, their business model was forced to change. The cheap, rapid, programmable, international peer-to-peer payments they imagined never materialized.
Similarly, if Bitcoin cannot resist state controls, countless intermediaries, high transaction costs, inflation taxes, bail-ins and state-by-state currency controls will remain the norm, and it won’t be able to achieve lower cost.
Satoshi said Bitcoin should be able to scale on-chain. He thought fees would be cheap, and he said that the block size limit could be lifted when needed.
Look, there is no question whatsoever that the threat Satoshi was working to defeat is the state. And a path to Visa-level transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain is quite clearly a fatal blow to censorship resistance. His explanation of how the block size limit could be raised does not imply any contradiction, it’s just Satoshi saying that when a block size increase makes sense it can be done. The decentralist perspective is not that the block size limit can never change.
Scarcity of block space would probably drive transaction fees up as well, to the point where perhaps only the wealthy can transact on-chain. Surely we must compromise somewhere?
I’m aware of these arguments, but this is a ‘split-the-difference’ negotiating tactic based on a faulty premise. It’s sort of like declaring that only the wealthy can fly because aircraft are expensive. But not everyone needs to own a private jet. The analogy in the legacy financial system would be consumers buying a cup of coffee using the SWIFT network directly.
There will inevitably be layering on Bitcoin, as analogous systems have done for centuries.
What’s interesting about rebuilding the SWIFT network? What happened to the vision of electronic cash?
The “electronic cash” envisioned by Satoshi is cash; it is not notes, scrip or bank credits. We have come to think of bank notes as cash, but they are actually contracts for debt. The note holder is owed something by the issuer. Cash is a commodity with certain properties that make it useful as money. Cash is largely gone from the world, and people cannot return to physical commodity money, as it cannot be moved online. Bitcoin is really our only option to guard against inflation, counterfeit, capital controls and high costs in general.
And given that bitcoin – lowercase b – is cash, and the blockchain is the definitive truth on where the money is, Bitcoin – uppercase B – is a settlement system. If it wasn’t, it must use something else for settlement – and that isn’t the case.
Some might take issue with this vision, but that’s because they imagine existing banks, financial institutions, and – most importantly – censorship. A global censorship-resistant settlement network is not like anything we’ve ever seen before. It is, indeed, the goal many people are working towards.
That system will allow people to buy their coffee with electronic cash, but Bitcoin will never carry every coffee purchase on-chain. Those who make the Visa-analogy either don’t understand how Visa works, or don’t understand how Bitcoin works. And let’s not kid ourselves: Users really don’t care how their transactions are cleared.
Rising fees might hurt Bitcoin startups as well.
Indeed, much of the block size argument is coming from outside of what I consider Bitcoin. Organizations that operate centralized services, like web-wallets and APIs. The more successful they are, the less decentralized Bitcoin becomes.
What people don’t seem to realize is that you can’t make money on Bitcoin in the way they are used to making money. A large part of the Bitcoin industry is fumbling around, burning off capital on stupid stuff. It’s a common pattern in a new industry, I think. It’s an interesting problem, profiting from a system that defies centralization and intermediaries, and that requires free software. … But Bitcoin doesn’t exist to be a profit vehicle for startups.
So how do you suggest Bitcoin move forward?
Fundamentally, the objective is human liberty. The perpetual ubiquity of decentralized money is necessary in advancing this goal. Individual users must validate their own money for Bitcoin to survive.
But this magnificent opportunity is falling away because it’s easier to use centralized services. It’s my desire to see developers contributing to the strength of Bitcoin, not inadvertently contributing to its demise. Libbitcoin is our contribution to helping them succeed.
The post ‘Bitcoin Always Needed More Than One Body of Developers’: An Interview With Libbitcoin’s Eric Voskuil appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.
Bitcoin Classic has been a point of controversy since its announcement. Taking on Bitcoin Core head-to-head, Classic proposes an immediate block size increase to 2 MB, with provisions for future increases. The block size debate has always been contentious, apt to erupt into name-calling and mudslinging. But now, with Core facing serious competition from Classic, this scalability issue may soon be forced to come to a head.
Also read: Bitcoinist Weekly News Re-Hash: Bitcoin Classic Gaining Steam
On February 22, 2015, reports surfaced of bitcoin mining pool Multipool.us opening a pool for Bitcoin Classic. Multipool.us dedicated an entire petahash of mining power to the Classic pool. Furthermore, according to BitcoinWisdom as of February 22, the entire Bitcoin network is running on slightly more than 1.5 petahash — which is actually a decline in power. Therefore, Multipool.us’ 1 petahash Classic pool has almost the same amount of mining power as the entire Core network.
However, this news isn’t as huge as it sounds. According to our report on Bitcoinist.net, these reported statistics for hashing power are likely not totally accurate, as the data coming from Multipool and others seem to display total network hashrate instead of the numbers on their individual pools.
Additionally, only 3 Bitcoin Classic blocks were mined between October 2015 and February 22 2016, which is hardly cause for concern among Core supporters. Classic’s block size increase will not activate until it gains a large majority of the Bitcoin network’s hashpower, and three mined blocks over the course of 4 months doesn’t exactly spell out pending success for Classic.
It still stands, though, that Core hashpower seems to be falling in the face of Multipool.us’ dedication of a massive amount of mining power to the Bitcoin Classic BIP, which is certainly cause for attention.
Just a day later, on February 23, we reported on the Bitcoin Core 0.12.0 release, which brought some new features and improvements to the Core protocol in the face of growing competition from Classic.
The biggest improvement made in this client update a 700% increase in signature validation speed. This speed increase was achieved by decoupling Core from OpenSSL and replacing it with Libsecp256k1, a validation solution that has been in development for 5 years.
The new Opt-in Replace-by-Fee feature allows senders set up transactions that can be replaced in the future with payments that include a higher fee. This new Core feature lets users minimize fees while maximizing chances of transfers getting included in the next block, since fees will only be raised if it is needed to get the transaction picked up by the network. This feature improves one of the biggest inconveniences of the Bitcoin network, in which transactions can get delayed for long periods of time due to the fees offered on the payments being too low, pushing senders to re-send their payments with fees that could be too high.
These new features, among many others, have made it theoretically easier to run a Bitcoin node, which gives Core an advantage as it faces off with Classic, which is quickly growing in popularity.
On the 24th, a day after the new Core client release, 5 North American Bitcoin ATM operators switched their machines from Core to Classic, striking a small yet visible blow to Core’s network dominance. Sumbits, Tobitcoin, Herocoin, Coinucopia and Bitlove all decided to switch their ATMs to classic, a move that affected 29 machines across North America.
Block size drama surrounding Blockstream increased tensions even further between the Core and Classic camps this past week. Popular mining pool F2Pool announced that it would withdraw support from the February 21 consensus roundtable meeting unless Blockstream CEO Adam Back clarifies his position in the blocksize debate.
Back, head of the company that has been accused by community members of trying to take over the Bitcoin ecosystem, changed his official position title from CEO to “Individual” just when the February 21 roundtable seemed to reach consensus.
This move offended F2Pool, who says they felt betrayed and cheated by Back’s “sneaky” approach to influencing the block size debate. The move is confusing; why wouldn’t Back want to represent his company when voicing his stance on the block size? Given Blockstream’s perceived reputation of trying to control the discussion, Back’s decision to designate himself as an “individual” rather than a CEO may be seen as a sneaky way to let his company influence the debate without bringing unwanted publicity.
At any rate, Back’s decision stirred up even more drama surrounding the block size debate, possibly disrupting a potential consensus on how to tackle the scalability issue.
The Classic-centric news stories of this past week show that the discussion is far from over, and there will probably be a lot more anger and argument before a true consensus is reached. Plus, with Classic apparently gaining more support by the day, the drama may soon come to a head, forcing a scalability solution — whether it is reached peacefully or not.
What do you think about all this Core vs. Classic drama? Let us know in the comments below!
The post Bitcoin Classic Drama Hits New Highs, Debate Continues appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
Bitcoin, after bouncing off the weekly support level, has kept its growth trend. But one can’t really say that this movement is certain.
CoinTelegraph.Com News
Check out these bitcoin images:
PayPal Commerce Factory Sydney – Bitcoin
Image by developer_steve
From Bitcoin and beyond we look at where it all began from its inception to its current day notoriety helping shape the way in which we pay. We also look at what it means for consumers and merchants and how it can be easily integrated into new and existing platforms.
PayPal Commerce Factory Sydney – Bitcoin
Image by developer_steve
From Bitcoin and beyond we look at where it all began from its inception to its current day notoriety helping shape the way in which we pay. We also look at what it means for consumers and merchants and how it can be easily integrated into new and existing platforms.
A few bitcoin images I found:
Bitcoin Litecoin IMG_3449
Image by btckeychain
Bitcoin Litecoin IMG_3447
Image by btckeychain
PayPal Commerce Factory Melbourne – Bitcoin
Image by developer_steve
From Bitcoin and beyond we look at where it all began from its inception to its current day notoriety helping shape the way in which we pay. We also look at what it means for consumers and merchants and how it can be easily integrated into new and existing platforms.
This past week saw a lot of hot news stories coming from the Bitcoin community and the organizations powering the growth of the ecosystem. Bitcoin Classic appeared in the news a few times throughout the week, reminding us that the block size debate is far from over. In terms of price, not much happened at the macro level. Hardly any change took place between the open and close of the week, with the price falling less than one percent in total. However, the day-to-day activity certainly gave traders a lot to be excited about, with a lot of big declines and welcome gains.
Also read: Tendermint Thinks it Will Be Better Than Bitcoin
Total Change: -0.10%
Our week began on Monday, February 22, 2015 with the bitcoin price at $ 437.07, holding on to the gains made in the previous week. Monday saw fairly calm market activity, the price hovering in the mid-to-high $ 430s. Bitcoin peaked at $ 440 in the evening, but quickly returned to that $ 430s range that characterized the day’s activity.
In the news, we reported on Multipool.us launching a Bitcoin Classic mining pool. Multipool.us dedicated on petahash of mining power to the Classic pool, which represents a large amount of mining support for Bitcoin Core’s newest competitor.
Tuesday started at $ 437.96, but would quickly fall dramatically. At 3 AM, the markets took a dive, and the bitcoin price fell from $ 435 at the top of the hour to $ 422 at the close, with an hourly low of $ 416. The price stayed in this lower range for the rest of the day, floating between the high $ 410s and the mid $ 420s.
Meanwhile, on Bitcoinist, we reported about the new release of Bitcoin Core version 0.12.0 and its new improvements. Additionally, we reported on a development from the Free Ross campaign. FreeRoss.org released a rare home video of Ross Ulbricht. The Free Ross campaign is ran by Ulbricht’s mother, who is fighting to help her son get an appeal for what they believe was an unfair sentencing for his involvement with Silk Road.
The 24th started out on a negative note, the price plunging from $ 419 to the low $ 410s in the opening hour of the day. Throughout the rest of the day, though, the markets staged a modest recovery from this dive, rising back into the mid $ 420s. Towards the end of the day, the price took a small dip, falling to the low $ 420s to close out the day.
More Bitcoin Classic news came to light on Wednesday the 24th. We reported that five Bitcoin ATM operators switched to Classic. Sumbits, Tobitcoin, Herocoin, Coinucopia and Bitlove switched to the Bitcoin Core competitor. This change affected 29 Bitcoin ATMs in North America.
Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool threatened to withdraw consensus support from the February 21 roundtable due to allegations regarding Adam Back’s self-designation as an “individual” rather than the CEO of BlockStream when announcing his support for consensus.
February 25 opened with the price at $ 419.22, almost no change over the start of the previous day. The markets stayed quiet during the 25th, staying well within the low $ 420s range.
In the news, we reported on newly-surfaced court documents suggesting that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and Carnegie Mellon University colluded to attack the TOR network. In November 2015, the Tor Project accused the FBI of paying $ 1 million USD to the university in exchange for its help in revealing users on the TOR network. These court documents at least partially confirmed these claims, reporting that the FBI did in fact use the university’s academic resources to aid in the takedown of the Silk Road 2.0 marketplace.
E-Coin announced a major rebranding, changing its name to Wirex and adding new services to its platform. These services, including a new mobile app and two-way bitcoin debit cards, are aimed at “bridging the gap between blockchain technology and traditional finance.”
Friday the 26th kicked off with the bitcoin price at $ 420.32, a little more than a dollar above the opening price on Thursday. The first half of the day saw extremely flat trading activity, with the price refusing to budge above or below $ 424. However, the price jumped upwards heading into the evening hours, reaching a peak of $ 435 at 7 PM. This explosion in buying leveled out, as the day came to a close, bringing the price down to the low $ 430s.
At Bitcoinist, we posted a new job listing. We are looking for a sales manager to lead the charge on securing ad deals for our website to help build revenue. We are looking for someone with experience in online sales who can help build one of the most trusted websites in the Bitcoin news industry.
Also on the 26th, popular wallet-exchange hybrid Coinbase published a blog post telling the public that it is “not a wallet.” Responding to criticism regarding the company’s privacy policies and exchange-hosted wallets in general, Coinbase explained that it is not meant to be a place to store large amounts of bitcoins. Instead, the company’s goal is to bridge the gap between the legacy financial system and the bitcoin economy, and then later evolving into a “retail exchange” as Bitcoin becomes more prominent in the mainstream.
February 27 started out at $ 431.46, a significant gain over the start of the previous day. Coming off the high of Friday’s rally, the markets stayed very calm for most of the day, with very little fluctuation in the bitcoin price. The fell into the mid $ 420s at 7 PM, though, where it would stay for the remainder of the night.
Sunday, February 28 began with the bitcoin price at $ 424.81, remaining in the mid $ 420s range following the late-day fall on Saturday. After minimal activity during the early morning hours, the markets picked up at 9 AM and the price began moving upwards. Bitcoin returned to the mid $ 430s and then plateaued at midday, staying in that range until the evening hours. The price began moving upwards again, climbing to $ 437. The day closed at $ 436.65, making for a very small decline of 0.10% for the entire week.
What do you think will happen in the Bitcoin world in the coming week? Let us know in the comments below!
The post Bitcoinist Weekly News Re-Hash: Bitcoin Classic Gaining Steam appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
I like to see you happy and euphoric Adam, it really makes me ultimately happy 
Bitcoin Forum
Artists are being inspired by bitcoin’s mystery, but are they converting into digital currency users?
CoinDesk
New bitcoin images:
PayPal Commerce Factory Sydney – Bitcoin
Image by developer_steve
From Bitcoin and beyond we look at where it all began from its inception to its current day notoriety helping shape the way in which we pay. We also look at what it means for consumers and merchants and how it can be easily integrated into new and existing platforms.
PayPal Commerce Factory Sydney – Bitcoin
Image by developer_steve
From Bitcoin and beyond we look at where it all began from its inception to its current day notoriety helping shape the way in which we pay. We also look at what it means for consumers and merchants and how it can be easily integrated into new and existing platforms.
On March 23 & 24 2016, taking place at the QEII Centre, in the heart of London, The London Bitcoin Forum is bringing together 900 attendees, more than 60 expert speakers and 20+ media partners for a prestigious two-day event featuring powerful keynote talks, plenty of networking opportunities, demos and panels about upcoming challenges and opportunities provided by Bitcoin and the Blockchain Technology in this new emerging reality where collaboration is the key.
Disclaimer: This is a press release. Bitcoinist.net is not responsible for the contents of this press release.
Attendees that participate will have the opportunity to meet those at the forefront of the Bitcoin &Blockchain community and gain new insights from important talks like: Public vs Private Blockchains, Financial Smart Contracts, Distributed Ledger Technology. Unlike many other events, the London Bitcoin forum will feature an important debate on Scaling Issues, Blocksize Limit, Forks and also a panel on Global and UK Regulation & Compliance. New Speakers are welcomed to register until March 5th.
With a large select audience of experts, financial executives, entrepreneurs, fund managers, journalists and an impressive speaker line-up, The London Bitcoin Forum offers a unique opportunity for sponsors to showcase companies, product innovations or services to those that really matter, get in touch with investors or use it as a recruiting platform in the -Career Opportunities with Blockchain Companies- section. In this section companies looking to expand their teams are invited to present their Bitcoin related job offers, internships and career opportunities. Anyone passionate about Bitcoin &Blockchain interested in helping build the future is also invited to take part in this section for career insights and maybe find their new employer. The forum will feature a panel dedicated to Bitcoin Casinos and Gambling websites focusing on talks about how Bitcoin can reshape the online gambling industry and showcase some of the best online casinos which accept Bitcoin. Early bird tickets for the forum are now live at www.londonbitcoinforum.co.uk. The early bird rate (£115 for a Full 2-Day Pass) will apply until March 5th. Students have the opportunity to purchase a ticket for just £75.
For more information on the London Bitcoin Forum, please visit
www.londonbitcoinforum.co.uk.
Primary Contact: contact@londonbitcoinforum.co.uk
Speakers: speakers@londonbitcoinforum.co.uk
Sponsorship & Exhibitions: sponsors@londonbitcoinforum.co.uk
Press Office: press@londonbitcoinforum.co.uk
Tickets: tickets@londonbitcoinforum.cu.uk
Phone: +442071172612
Fax: +442071172613
The post London Bitcoin Forum – The Conference for Bitcoin & Blockchain Innovations – Kicks Off March 23rd appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
New Bitcoin-mining hardware may increase mining profits by 30%, claims the Indian scientist, Rakesh Kumar.
CoinTelegraph.Com News
Check out these bitcoin images:
PayPal Commerce Factory Sydney – Bitcoin
Image by developer_steve
From Bitcoin and beyond we look at where it all began from its inception to its current day notoriety helping shape the way in which we pay. We also look at what it means for consumers and merchants and how it can be easily integrated into new and existing platforms.
PayPal Commerce Factory Sydney – Bitcoin
Image by developer_steve
From Bitcoin and beyond we look at where it all began from its inception to its current day notoriety helping shape the way in which we pay. We also look at what it means for consumers and merchants and how it can be easily integrated into new and existing platforms.
PayPal Commerce Factory Sydney – Bitcoin
Image by developer_steve
From Bitcoin and beyond we look at where it all began from its inception to its current day notoriety helping shape the way in which we pay. We also look at what it means for consumers and merchants and how it can be easily integrated into new and existing platforms.
The University of California Berkeley announced on February 26th that 80,000 students and faculty members have been victim to a cyber attack within the schools records system. The compromise revealed to the hackers large amounts of data filled with social security numbers, credit card credentials, and bank account information. Paul Rivers, UC Berkeley’s chief information security officer said in a statement:
Also Read: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Announces Switch to Bitcoin Classic
“We looked at all the available evidence of what the attackers did, and as we looked at that, we don’t see any evidence that these are the kinds of attackers that did access the data, or did anything to take that data. However, in an abundance of caution, we don’t want to depend on our judgment alone. — We want to be transparent and (let people) make their own choice on how they should respond.” — Paul Rivers, University of California Berkeley
The University of Berkeley attack is just another example of centralized planning gone wrong. After the past few years of government breaches and financial institutions losing data to hackers people still haven’t learned. Berkeley says currently there is no evidence that the attackers actually took the personal information but it wanted to alert school members that it was a possibility.
Berkeley’s hackers gained access to the financial management software in December due to a “security flaw,” within the school’s system. Officials at the university say they have contacted the FBI and local law enforcement about the incident. In the press statement Berkeley says that 57,000 current and former student’s information was potentially compromised. The university says that credit protection services will be offered to victims of the case free of charge. The rest of the numbers applied to vendors working at the school and former and current employees. Paul Rivers, UC Berkeley’s chief information security officer, explains:
“The security and privacy of the personal information provided to the university is of great importance to us. We regret that this occurred and have taken additional measures to better safeguard that information.” — Paul Rivers, University of California Berkeley
This is another shining example of how centralization has serious faults. Blockchain technology and zero-knowledge proof systems would be ideal for these organizations to research. Concepts like MIT’s Enigma are pushing the envelope with this type of trustless technology and it’s making its way into Bitcoin core discussions as well. Businesses, financial institutions, and schools need to realize that housing personal data in a centralized way will always be open to points of failure. Until these organizations realize this it’s open game for hackers, the NSA, and malicious entity’s prying into the public’s private affairs.
What do you think about the University of California Berkeley hack? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of California Berkeley, the Zero-Knowledge Privacy Standard, and Pixbay
The post University Data Compromised When Will Proponents of Centralization Learn? appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
People have argued that the Bitcoin mining process is inefficient, wasting electricity and creating a negative impact on the environment. Some people have even suggested that this inefficiency has put Bitcoin at a great disadvantage, making it vulnerable to more environmentally friendly blockchain projects. Tendermint is one of those projects, and the team behind it believes that they have come up with a blockchain solution that is more effective and efficient than Bitcoin, and even the highly-praised Ethereum.
Also read: Bitcoin Ransomware Targets LA County Health Department
Jae Kwon, creator of Tendermint, got the inspiration for his project from those arguments that Bitcoin mining was inefficient and harmful. While doing research on Byzantine fault tolerance — the ability of the network to prevent the Byzantine Generals’ Problem — Kwon came across the 1988 paper, “Consensus in the presence of partial synchrony.”
After reading this paper, Kwon says things “started to click.” Reading about “classical” Byzantine fault tolerance methods created the early conception of Tendermint in Kwon’s mind. Kwon said:
“Everything started to click and I realized that classical BFT algorithms from academia could be adopted to secure blockchains. Not only is it more energy efficient, it turns out it’s much faster to commit transactions, it’s scalable, you can run parallel blockchains, and it’s potentially much more secure. I wanted to create a possible competitor to Bitcoin.”
Ethan Buchman of Eris Industries joined Kwon shortly after Kwon embarked on his project of making a Bitcoin competitor. The pair forked Ethereum’s virtual machine and integrated with with Tendermint’s Byzantine Consensus Algorithm. This algorithm claims to provide:
As a “blockchain ‘agnostic’ platform,” Tendermint has the ability to run “hundreds” of parallel blockchains, which theoretically gives the platform the ability to host applications with features to suit pretty much everyone’s needs.
Kwon told Bitcoinist that once Tendermint becomes available to developers:
“I expect some of the Ethereum smart contracts to become standalone TMSP [Tendermint Socket Protocol] applications. As well as existing blockchain stacks will get ported to TMSP, like Bitcoin and goethereum. Besides cryptocurrencies and asset applications, we expect to see new database applications built for the blockchain as well. Applications that involve lightclients like payment applications for mobile phones and nameresolution for browsers are also anticipated.”
Tendermint claims that developers can use this platform to “modularize and specialize multiple parallel blockchains.” Through the Tendermint Socket Protocol, developers can code in any language, which the Tendermint team thinks will entice “regular developers” to get interested in building blockchain applications, since they won’t have as steep of a learning curve.
One of Tendermint’s biggest points of pride is that it can reportedly provide all these services without “all the energy required for PoW consensus,” unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, which they believe is “quite a feat.”
The development team also has plans for expansion and new applications on the Tendermint platform. Dustin Byington told Bitcoinist that they are creating a Tendermint application called “GovernMint.” This application will reportedly address issues surrounding “management and governance of blockchains and validator sets.” Byington gave an example of where GovernMint could be used:
“If you have a consortium of 40 banking nodes, how do they decide how to add or remove a node? How do they decide to accept or reject a proposed application?”
According to Byington, Tendermint-based GovernMint “will address [the above] issues and many more.”
But can Tendermint really deliver all that it has promised? They say that “only time will tell,” but time has not been so kind to Ethereum, a distant relative of Tendermint. When the project first launched, Ethereum promised that its conceptual smart contracts platform would make possible functions that we could never dream of doing on the Bitcoin blockchain. A lot of time has passed, though, and Ethereum hasn’t achieved much more than releasing its token, Ether, spending a lot of money, and making a lot of promises that haven’t been realized yet.
As ambitious as Tendermint sounds, it’s easy to assume that the project will end up a lot like Ethereum — a lot of talk and not many results. But maybe Tendermint is right, maybe Proof of Work is holding Bitcoin and Ethereum back, and maybe Tendermint really does have a Bitcoin-killing platform. History may not be on Tendermint’s side, but its developers soldier on.
What do you think about Tendermint? Let us know in the comments below!
The post Tendermint Thinks It Will Be Better Than Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
Tatiana and Josh interview William Kehl of Coinigy & Perianne Boring of Digital Chamber.
William Kehl, President of Coinigy Inc, is an early Bitcoin adopter, miner, trader, developer and designer. He founded iPhoneFreelancer and several other successful startups over the years. Formerly Director of Web Operations for a global VOIP provider, William is a full stack developer with an emphasis on blockchain market tech. Along with his business partner Rob, William founded Coinigy.com in 2014 to provide professional-grade tools and API access for individuals and institutions interested in Blockchain Market Intelligence. Perianne Boring founded the first DC-based advocacy organization for the digital currency and digital asset community. Prior to forming the Chamber, she worked as a financial services television host and Forbes contributor. She began her career as a legislative analyst in the US House of Representatives, advising on finance, economics, tax and healthcare policy.
More Info:
www.Tatianamoroz.com
www.Vaultoro.com/?a=100068
www.DigitalChamber.org
www.Coinigy.com
The Let’s Talk Bitcoin Network
Wall of Coins is a peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace that lets users buy and sell bitcoin without compromising privacy or security. Customers report that this exchange is fast, with an average order fulfillment time of around 10 minutes.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored story. Bitcoinist is not responsible for the products and/or services of this company.
A Wall of Coins representative said:
“Wall of Coins is the easiest place to liquidate Bitcoin on the planet. You get cash immediately and securely at the price you determine. Say goodbye to waiting days for an ACH transfer, and say so-long to paying any fees.”
Being able to cash out your coins without waiting on an ACH transfer is actually kind of a big deal. Competitors that do use the ACH transfer system, like Coinbase, generally require sellers to wait around 2-4 business days before their fiat appears in their bank accounts. These delays make bitcoin fairly illiquid, greatly diminishing the utility of the Bitcoin network’s fast confirmation times and borderless transactions.
The exchange touts its speed and efficiency in connecting buyers and sellers through its Buying Wizard. With the Wizard, users get funds sent directly to any address they choose, eliminating any waiting time that may come from internal confirmation processes on other exchanges. Users should be able to have their funds sent to any Bitcoin market instantly. To use the Wizard, traders enter their bitcoin addresses and wait for the order to complete, and then their coins “are sent instantly to the market.”
Wall of Coins claims top-notch security as well. Genitrust CEO Robert Genito says that his team at Wall of Coins employed security analysts and “ethical hackers” to build the exchange from the ground-up, ensuring that it protects user funds.
One of the exchange’s strongest security features is a unique technology it uses called “Rapid Cold Storage.” This system allows Wall of Coins to send transactions from cold storage just as fast as transactions sent from multi-sig wallets. Therefore, Rapid Cold Storage is comparable to hot wallets in speed, but boasts increased security, keeping keys away from online systems. Furthermore, the company says that their offline machines actually offer “more robust” protection than multi-signature technology, suggesting an extremely secure storage system.
To protect buyer privacy, Wall of Coins does not require users to give up banking information, allowing them to trade without linking an account.
Sellers can also get cash immediately sent to any secure financial system they choose, including bank accounts, credit unions, Moneygram and Western Union.
The team running the company is composed of experienced Bitcoiners. According to them:
“We are all seasoned veterans, with some of us having sold Bitcoin since 2011. We understand these problems intimately, and have developed technology to solve all problems related to selling coins for cash.”
Operating for over a year, Wall of Coins customers have made their satisfaction known. The company provides users with a free customer service hotline operated in a live call center, as well as a live chat system on the website.
The team also works to provide stress-free trading to its customers by doing “all the heavy lifting for its sellers.” With its peer-to-peer market and its emphasis on security, Wall of Coins aims to provide a trading experience where users don’t have to “worry about finding liquidity for large orders, or the fear of robbery.”
Wall of Coins has also made its API available to anyone. Through the API “we’ve allowed ANYONE to offer the same Buy/Sell functionality [as us],” Genito says, “what does this mean? Well think of Gildera and Airbitz: Airbitz was able to offer their users the ability to load their wallet with bitcoin (using Gildera) — we did something similar with Post Share wallet almost a year ago.”
This company is run by Genitrust, a privately-funded corporation. Since its creation in 2013, Genitrust has specialized in Bitcoin software solutions. The profits they have made from their endeavors in early mining, GPU co-location, ASIC mining, ASIC co-location through HashingPlex, and the “Sell Bitcoin” app on Wall of Coins have gone back into the Bitcoin ecosystem to ensure its continued growth.
What do you think about Wall of Coins? Let us know in the comments below!
The post Wall of Coins: Effortless Marketplace for Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
Socialist governments like to keep control of the entire economy in their hands by controlling the means of production, but Bernie Sanders doesn’t simply call himself a socialist.
CoinTelegraph.Com News
Ransomware remains one of the most worrying threats to IT infrastructure in this day and age. Hackers are not worried about who they target with this malware, as long as there is a monetary gain on the horizon. The Los Angeles County health department is one of the latest targets in a major ransomware attack. This news comes on the heels of the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center facing a similar threat, forcing them to pay US$ 17,000 in Bitcoin to have access restored.
Also read: Cannabis Executive Doesn’t Understand Bitcoin
While this ransomware attack against the Los Angeles County Health Department is not on a scale of the same level as the Presbyterian Medical Center, the threat is still a big cause for concern. Ransomware encrypts files stored on computers and servers, preventing users from accessing the data they need at that time. The only way to bypass this encryption is by paying a fee in Bitcoin.
The initial discovery of this ransomware attack happened on Wednesday, as remnants of this malware were discovered on no less than five different computers. However, no reports have been made about any ransomware preventing staff from completing day-to-day operations, and no money has changed hands by the look of things.
Los Angeles County Health Department officials reported this incident to local law enforcement, as well as the county’s chief information office. No further details were provided to the media at the time of publication, other than reinforcing the statement no Bitcoin ransom had been paid, nor will they ever do so if the problem arises.
One of the main questions is whether or not other Los Angeles County departments were targeted with ransomware over the past few weeks. County spokesman David Sommers did not respond to the question when LA Times asked him about it. However, he did disclose how IT professionals are working hard to prevent any cyber attack from taking place.
The healthcare industry seems to be a new favorite target for hackers looking to spread their malware.Keeping in mind how patient records and files will need to be available to access at any given time, removing a ransomware infection becomes too costly and time-consuming. This is part of the reason the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center paid the US$ 17,000 fee, as they could not risk facing more delays without a guaranteed solution to the problem.
While some people might feel ransomware is becoming the next buzzword in the world of cyber attacks, there is a positive side to this number of attacks as well. The more common ransomware becomes, the easier it is for security experts to stay one step ahead of the risk and prevent these attacks from successfully infecting computers.
It is always a good practice to have proper computer security precautions in place to avoid the risk of a ransomware infection. In the case of the Los Angeles County Health Department, staff has limited to no access to the county’s data, which may have prevented a lot of damage.
What are your thoughts on the number of ransomware attacks? Are hackers becoming more sophisticated, or have security experts caught up with this threat? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: LA Times
Images courtesy of Los Angeles County Health Department, Shutterstock
The post Bitcoin Ransomware Targets LA County Health Department appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
There’s a recent article posted on the Cannabis Business Executive (CBE) called, “Is BitCoin an Answer to Marijuana’s Banking Needs? No Way, No How.” The opinion-editorial written by the author gave certain reasoning to why the digital currency was unfit for the marijuana industry. However, it seems the journalist also didn’t do his research like so many others before him.
Also read: New UK Cybercrime Report Makes No Mention of Bitcoin
Unfortunately, in legalized states such as Colorado, banks are unwilling to take cash coming in from cannabis businesses. Financial institutions are scared to accept this money as it comes into these companies in large amounts. This is highly evident in the Netflix documentary, “High Profits,” where hundreds of thousands of dollar bills are awkwardly managed by businesses on film.
Unaccountability is the CBE author’s problem with Bitcoin being used within the marijuana industry. He explains, “I do not endorse BitCoin for cannabis because I want every last dollar of this industry accounted for and taxed and regulated, without obfuscation.” This rationality is quite unrealistic considering the protocol is a digital ledger unlike the pen and paper accounting done on the show High Profits. Maybe he’s content with these businesses having to deal with cash in a very dangerous manner. The operation filmed on High Profits showed hundreds of thousands of dollars located in an unguarded home and young store clerks walking this cash in bags to the state department. There’s nothing accountable or responsible within an operation that works with money like this, and the fact it happens is absurd.
Netflix original High Profits shows large amounts of cash kept on site.
The writer in CBE’s article says he wants every dollar accounted for, but doesn’t realize the blockchain is a digital ledger that records everything. This data is cryptographically secure, time stamped and quite fast for merchants of any business. Users could purchase Bitcoin instead of using cash and buy the high-grade marijuana from these locations. Merchants wouldn’t even have to use paper money at all and could operate a 100% digital shop, fully accounted for with each transaction.
But no, the writer doesn’t realize the blockchain is a digital tool that can house massive amounts of data and wealth within its network. Despite this truth, he would seem to be ok with businesses filled to the brim with cash exposed to criminals rather than having an accountable record of safely stored bitcoins. As well as the digital currency’s convenient storage features these cannabis companies could also convert the Bitcoin into digital dollars within a bank account immediately. However, the author says he has a “very limited” understanding of the currency but seems to know enough to say “no way,” and writes a very vocal opinionated stance against the technology.
Another aspect of the opinion piece that clearly shows flaws is his trust in government backing. The writer believes that because officials have “declared it to be legal tender,” fiat money has derived this power with no consequence. It is evident that fiat currency is backed by legal force and accepted because governments say so. Yet, this government issued currency has had so many severe issues such as devaluation and horrible boom and busts from inflation. Furthermore, the Cannabis Business Executive journalist praises the bailouts of 2008 saying:
“In the 2008, the U.S. poured trillions of dollars into our economy to avoid a loss of confidence in the U.S. dollar. Quite frankly the process worked amazingly well, and our economy has rebounded from a heart attack that could have been fatal to our currency, and with it, our economy.”
The author concludes that the cannabis industry will deal “primarily” in cash and most likely not deal with Bitcoin. Because people are being fed inaccurate information like this editorial, they will likely stick with cash. Why doesn’t any of these entrepreneurs realize how dangerous it is to have these businesses hold so much money out in the open. The system could operate in the most transparent way possible and not have thousands of dollars to safeguard and account for manually.
Fiat currency is also devalued by the central banking system and fractional reserve practices. Someone who bolsters quantitive easing may not be the logical person to listen about emerging markets. With a currency such as Bitcoin it has a limited supply, and as time progresses, it’s scarcity should bring substantial value to the protocol rather than hyperinflation brought on by the Federal Reserve’s printing press.
Not only does the author bolster the bailouts of 2008, but also helps promote what he calls “invasive government oversight.” Even though he believes the acts are “invasive,” the author details he still helped develop “Seed-to-Sale tracking,” a process of using tech to monitor every movement of a legal marijuana plant’s life. There’s not much you can take seriously within the words of this opinion piece but information like his editorial confuses people. One thing is for sure many of these businesses surely could use a bank, and there is one open 24 hours a day seven days a week. A lot of these entrepreneurs are steadily searching for a bank to use and, unfortunately, don’t see the decentralized protocol right in front of them.
Cannabis industry executive’s should, at least, consult someone who can tell them about Bitcoin from a studied background. Or maybe do some significant research about the digital currency before writing a counter-argument against the technology. Obfuscation is all his article contains and its a shame that some of these entrepreneurs don’t understand how cohesive these two budding economies could be.
What do you think about the opinion that Bitcoin will not mix well with the cannabis industry? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Pixbay, Netflix, and Shutterstock
The post Cannabis Executive Doesn’t Understand Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
The first annual Blockchain Madness, a live-streamed cross-campus student trivia tournament hosted by the Blockchain Education Network, starts March 15.
Six teams of blockchain and Bitcoin all-stars from elite universities across North America will compete in this year’s tournament, fighting for the Blockchain Cup and prestige. Teams from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and the University of California-Berkeley representing the United States will battle it out against three Canadian teams from the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University and Queen’s University.
Since there are three Canadian teams versus three American teams, a bit of friendly competition has been created.
“I’m very excited for our club to represent Canada and to test my knowledge against other Bitcoin enthusiasts from across North America,” Alex Altman, one of the founders of the Laurier Bitcoin Club, told Bitcoin Magazine.
Nchinda, the executive director of the MIT Bitcoin Club, adds that “BEN is showing promise to realize the goal of a network of clubs interested in the research and development of blockchain technology in a way CCN [College Cryptocurrency Network] never did. I await the next challenge.”
Ryan Loberg, captain of the Queen’s team, says, “Thank you BEN for putting this together and getting students involved in Bitcoin and blockchain technology.”
Nicholas Abouzeid, Director of Operations for the Blockchain Education Network, provided the following statement to explain the motivation behind organizing the tournament:
“We believe in providing an environment that allows students to connect and where successful grassroots initiatives become global movements. In December, we piloted a trivia competition between the MIT and McGill student clubs. Now with six schools across North America, Blockchain Madness is a way to discover trailblazing student clubs around the world and identify top students with proven technical skills and experience. We want the students who compete in March Madness to be seen as student all-stars, in a way similar to basketball players who compete in March Madness.”
There will be three head-to-head matches, and the winning team from each will compete in a final round. Each match is set up in a similar way to a Jeopardy game. There are four categories with five questions in each category. Teams alternate choosing which question is asked and both teams are able to answer each question. If the team answers the question correctly, it is awarded points, and if it answers incorrectly it loses points.
There are a few variations from a typical Jeopardy game. There are two “DISRUPT” tiles, where the tile has a multiple of the number of points, or other fun variations to present unknown elements into the game that can help a team catch up or cement a victory. The last tile is called a “Last Chance,” and each team is able to wager as many points as it has up to that point before seeing the question.
Purse.io is the title sponsor of the event, and to celebrate, each campus is being given a refferal link for their campus, with a prize for the team that creates the most buzz.
In addition, for two weeks leading up to the event, the Blockchain Education Network will post trivia questions daily to Twitter. Each question will have a certain value attached, and it will tally the scores from the community and create a scoreboard. Whoever has the most points by the start of Blockchain Madness will receive a prize.
The post Six Universities to Compete in Cross-Campus Blockchain Trivia appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.
New bitcoin images:
Bitcoin, bitcoin coin, physical bitcoin, bitcoin photo
Image by antanacoins
Bitcoin coins photo.
Physical bitcoin statistic coin Antana.
Check out these bitcoin images:
Brownian Bitcoins Piles
Image by fdecomite
Bitcoin Currency MVI_3164
Image by btckeychain
Different stores and representations of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin IMG_3147
Image by btckeychain
Different stores and representations of Bitcoin.
Bitcoinist is accepting applications for the Sales Manager job opening. This is your chance to work for one of the fastest-growing Bitcoin media outlets in the world.
The position will be part-time and primary responsibilities will include:
This sales manager role will be aided by the recent surge in popularity at Bitcoinist. Through providing credible, innovative, thought provoking, and timely news, we have driven our Alexa Ranking to the top 70,000 websites worldwide — and we are growing fast! This growth is projected to continue as cryptocurrency and the Blockchain ascend into the media spotlight.
We are at a stage where the Bitcoin ecosystem is growing rapidly. The blocksize and software upgrade debates are raging, the block reward will soon be halving (projected for summer 2016), investment from large banks in Blockchain initiatives is increasing quickly, and daily Bitcoin transactions have grown consistently for 2 years in a row. All of these developments are making for a boom in the Bitcoin media industry, and this job offer is a terrific opportunity to ride the wave. In the Sales Manager position, you can help Bitcoinist in our quest to be the number 1 Bitcoin news site in the world through coordinating efforts in Sales.
Bitcoinist already has committed and skilled sales and writing teams that any Bitcoin fan will likely enjoy working alongside. If you’re new to Bitcoin, we will work with you to learn the technology and empower you to perform as our Sales Manager role. This is a crucial part of our team, and we are looking forward to the contributions that a Sales Manager will bring.
If interested in applying for the Bitcoinist Sales Manager position, please send your CV to info@bitcoinist.net.
A sincere thank you for your support from the entire Bitcoinist Team.
The post Bitcoinist Jobs: Accepting Applications For Sales Manager appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
