Bitcoins: Why They're More Than a Bubble The volatile rise-and-fall of Bitcoin has prompted lots of stories explaining why the online virtual currency is a classic bubble. Many compare it to tulip mania in 17th century Holland, where prices of rare tulip bulbs soared to absurd heights and then crashed, ruining the speculative investors who had bought them. But the Bitcoin phenomenon is more than a bubble. The scale of the recent boom-and-bust has been staggering indeed. Such monumental appreciation and volatility are clearly the result of speculation — people buying the online currency just because they think its value will rise, not because they want to use it to purchase goods and services. (MORE: No Money, No Problems: Canada Considers Completely Digital Currency) The technicalities of the Bitcoin system are complex, but to make this online currency more successful than previous versions, the designers overcame two key challenges. Unlike assignats, Bitcoins have no backing at all. Governments will fight back, no doubt.
Feds seize money from Dwolla account belonging to top Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox The Department of Homeland Security has apparently shut down a key mobile payments account associated with Mt. Gox, the largest Bitcoin exchange. Chris Coyne, the co-founder of online dating service OKCupid, tweeted out an e-mail he received from Dwolla this afternoon. Dwolla confirmed the change to the New York Observer , which first reported the story. "The Department of Homeland Security and US District Court for the District of Maryland issued a ‘Seizure Warrant’ for the funds associated with Mutum Sigillum’s Dwolla account (a.k.a. It isn't yet clear why this seizure happened, and Dwolla isn't saying anything beyond confirming the court order. Using a payment service like Dwolla is one of the easiest ways for US residents to buy Bitcoins.
Amazon’s new “virtual currency” of dubious benefit to customers Straight from Amazon's press room comes the news that Amazon has officially launched Amazon Coins, which the company excitingly claims are "a great way for customers to save money when they buy apps, games and in-app items" for Kindle Fire users. To help everyone start using Amazon Coins, Amazon has deposited 500 of them into the accounts of all existing and new Kindle Fire users in the US. Amazon Coins were initially announced back in February, with the company saying they're primarily designed to benefit developers and consumers. "For customers, Amazon Coins is an easy way to purchase apps and in-app items on Kindle Fire, and for developers it’s another opportunity to drive traffic, downloads and increased monetization," proclaims this morning's press release. The biggest problem is the inevitable misalignment between "coins" purchased and "coins" used. From Amazon's perspective this is fabulous.
Wary of Bitcoin? A guide to some other cryptocurrencies It might have passed you by, but an essential part of the Internet's infrastructure took a heavy knock last week. The Silk Road—you know, the website where you can buy any drug imaginable—was subjected to a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Calling the Silk Road "essential" might seem an exaggeration, but it isn't if you're one of its many regular users. Right now, Bitcoin is undeniably a mainstream currency, even if it is not necessarily popular in the sense of being used by a significant proportion of society. That isn't to say Bitcoin doesn't have issues, though. For all Bitcoin’s problems, the underlying concept is an attractive one: a cryptographically secure and anonymous currency that doesn't take a cut from transactions. For all the Bitcoin hype, it's not hard to see that there's a big problem in how bitcoins are actually used. Businesses have started accepting Bitcoin to their credit.
When Governments Take Your Money, Bitcoin Looks Really Good The tiny island of Cyprus became the center of the financial universe over the weekend, after its leaders, facing financial collapse and pressure from EU authorities, announced a plan that would let the government withdraw money directly from citizens' savings accounts in order to fund a massive bailout of its flailing banking sector. As of publication, the measure seemed bound to be rejected by Parliament. But the idea lingers, and has sent shockwaves across a Europe struggling for financial stability. Hear that? If you had money in a Cypriot bank on Sunday, your accounts are now a few percentage points short thanks to the "tax" on deposits—6.75 percent if you had under 100,000 euros in savings, and almost 10 percent for anything higher—a move that raised 5.8 billion euros. Cypriots are righteously pissed. Filip Singer / EPA The entire global financial system is based really on one thing and one thing only: trust. Whatever the considerations, the golden rule is now broken. @sfnuop
Why Bitcoins Are Just Like Gold King Tut's golden burial mask, via Bjørn Christian Tørrissen Plenty of people still have a difficult time wrapping their heads around what bitcoin is or why it even has value, especially as the virtual cryptocurrency continues to scale record heights. How isn't this a Ponzi scheme, many have wondered? A good way to look at it is to compare it to gold. The only reason gold has value is because one day, way back when, long before recorded history, society simply decided that this yellowish precious metal should represent “money.” As a representative (and thus store) of value, it became a universal intermediary between goods and services. Uninscribed Lydian coins made from electrum, a naturally occurring gold and silver alloy, 6th century BCE. Why the chemical element Au? Gold bars in Fort Knox. Bitcoin, in its present form, has a stark resemblance to gold. Bitcoin, of course, has been around only since 2009, so it doesn’t have the same kind of long term credibility. So why bitcoin? @sfnuop
Trade - Bitcoin A propos de la page "Nous acceptons Bitcoin" Voici une liste des sites qui acceptent Bitcoin. Les nouveaux fournisseurs de services sont les bienvenus puisqu'ils aident à établir la devise. Attention: Il est de votre responsabilité de vous assurer de la réputation des fournisseurs de services cités dans cette page. Note: Cette page est en cours de mise-à-jour. Convention de mise en page Si le service, le site ou le commerce est basé principalement en France ou est principalement destiné à un public francophone, merci d'ajouter le drapeau français en fin de ligne à l'aide du code suivant: [[Fichier:Drapeau_france.jpeg]] [ www.example.fr] Site basé en France. Si le service, le site ou le commerce est correctement et presque entièrement traduit en français, merci d'ajouter le mot français en gras dans la description (ex.: Site en français, traduit en français). '''français''' apparaîtra comme ceci: français Proposez un site, une adresse Utilisateur:Ilovebitcoin.fr
Crypto-anarchisme Le crypto-anarchisme – ou la crypto-anarchie – est la réalisation dans le cyber-espace d'une forme d'anarchie par l'usage de la cryptographie. En assurant la confidentialité, l'authenticité et l'intégrité de leurs communications, les logiciels de cryptographie offrent en effet aux individus une totale liberté d'échange en garantissant leur anonymat et le respect de leur vie privée. Origine[modifier | modifier le code] Dans son “Manifesto Crypto Anarchiste” de 1988 publié dans la liste de diffusion cypherpunk, Timothy C. Étymologie[modifier | modifier le code] « Crypto » dans la crypto-anarchie ne doit pas être confondue avec le préfixe « crypto- », qui désigne une idéologie ou un système cherchant intentionnellement à dissimuler ou détourner la « vraie nature ». Le manifeste de la crypto-anarchie[modifier | modifier le code] « Un spectre hante le monde moderne, le spectre de la crypto-anarchie. — Timothy C. Motivations[modifier | modifier le code] La Loi[modifier | modifier le code]
Bitcoin La mise en forme de cet article est à améliorer (novembre 2023). La mise en forme du texte ne suit pas les recommandations de Wikipédia : il faut le « wikifier ». Logo. Le Bitcoin (₿, BTC, XBT[n 1]) (de l'anglais bit : unité d'information binaire et coin « pièce de monnaie ») est une cryptomonnaie autrement appelée monnaie cryptographique. Le G20 refuse de considérer le Bitcoin comme une monnaie, il le définit comme « crypto-actif »[5]. Bitcoin s'appuie sur un logiciel pour créer et gérer les bitcoins. Pour chaque nouveau bloc accepté, l'activité de vérification-sécurisation-enregistrement, dite « minage », est rémunérée par des bitcoins nouvellement créés et par les frais des transactions traitées[9]. L'unité de compte de Bitcoin est le bitcoin. ) a été déposé par Ken Shirriff pour faire partie du bloc des symboles monétaires et accepté en 2015 par l'organisation Unicode[13],[14]. Le système fonctionne sans autorité centrale, ni administrateur unique. . positions sceptiques
Bitcoin: The Cyberpunk Cryptocurrency Gold in them bits: Inside the world’s most mysterious Bitcoin mining company This is the first in a two-part series exploring Butterfly Labs and its lineup of dedicated Bitcoin-mining hardware. In part one, we look at the company and the experiences customers have had with it. In part two, to be published on June 29, we share our experiences running a Bitcoin miner for a couple weeks. Spoiler alert: we made money. The more I dig into Bitcoin, the stranger it gets. While reporting on a Bitcoin-based gambling story earlier this year, I interviewed Bryan Micon, who works with a Bitcoin-based poker site called Seals With Clubs. His latest target is Butterfly Labs (BFL), a US-based company that makes ASIC-based Bitcoin miners. New orders for the next-generation machines flooded in. BFL initially estimated a ship date of late November 2012, but the deadline passed and the ASIC machines didn't appear. Soon after, Micon put his bitcoins where his mouth was, placing bets on the BFL's ability to deliver hardware: The bet But BFL has its defenders.
Peer-to-peer lending Peer-to-peer lending (also known as person-to-person lending, peer-to-peer investing, and social lending; abbreviated frequently as P2P lending) is the practice of lending money to unrelated individuals, or "peers", without going through a traditional financial intermediary such as a bank or other traditional financial institution. This lending takes place online on peer-to-peer lending companies' websites using various different lending platforms and credit checking tools. Overview[edit] The interest rates are set by lenders who compete for the lowest rate on the reverse auction model, or are fixed by the intermediary company on the basis of an analysis of the borrower's credit.[1] Borrowers assessed as having a higher risk of default are assigned higher rates. Characteristics[edit] The key characteristics of peer-to-peer lending are: Early peer-to-peer lending was also characterized by disintermediation and reliance on social networks but these features have started to disappear.
Jeffrey Tucker: Bitcoin Makes The Dollar Look Like A Dinosaur AF Bitcoins | Bitcoins charts and analysis