Bitcoin—the currency of choice for buying illegal goods online—has cultivated quite the bad-boy image. But some entrepreneurs believe a wholesome makeover could take this unregulated digital currency mainstream, and what could be more wholesome than holiday shopping?
On Black Friday, Bitcoin boosters are urging shoppers to ditch their credit cards and open up their Bitcoin wallets. And shoppers like David Allison are doing just that. He's been giving a lot of thought to what he'll buy for his wife this Christmas.
"My wife and I are expecting a baby in March," he says. "And I know she loves the concept of nesting."
He's been eyeing a piece of jewelry he found on a site called Bitdazzle. It's called a "Nesting Together" necklace. The product image shows three little metallic eggs nestling inside coiled silver wire, kind of like a tiny bird's nest with chicks ready to hatch.
"It's pretty cute, and I think that she'd like it," Allison says, hovering over the "Add To Cart" button. "Bitdazzle shows me, too, that it's 0.042 Bitcoin."
Or $34. A nice stocking stuffer, he says. Especially because he's essentially getting it for free.
About a year ago, Allison earned himself one Bitcoin. He didn't pay for it. He got it through a process called mining. Basically, he programmed his computer to solve really tricky puzzles while he slept. Back then, one Bitcoin was worth a measly $10 or so. But by the time I interviewed Allison, his Bitcoin had skyrocketed to nearly $800.
"I've just held them," he says. "I saw the value continuously increasing. But now it does seem like a great time to spend."
Allison thinks it's a great time to spend because now he can actually buy things he wants.
Online drug dens like the infamous Silk Road have been shut down, and mainstream Bitcoin markets like Bitdazzle are popping up in their place, offering crafty, legal products like handmade soaps, jewelry and other gift-worthy knick-knacks.
Hieu Bui is one of the entrepreneurs behind Bitdazzle. He's the CEO of a startup based in downtown San Diego. (Full disclosure: Allison and Bui both work at the same startup incubator, but for different companies. They're not close friends outside of the startup scene.)
Bui sees mainstream potential for Bitcoin, but only if it can shed its negative associations. He says his company is proactive about keeping Bitdazzle legit.
"Everyday, our team that you see behind me actually looks through every merchant who signed up, all their products and we ban things that aren't above board," Bui says.
But if everything's on the up-and-up, why should shoppers use Bitcoin at all? If they don't need to be untraceable while buying stuff that could land them in jail, what's the point?
2013年12月1日 星期日
Did Satoshi Nakamoto transfer 1,000 bitcoins to the Silk Road?
Two computer scientists in Israel say a bitcoin transaction now worth more than $1 million suggests a possible link between a creator of the virtual currency and Ross William Ulbricht, the 29-year-old accused of running the Silk Road underground online marketplace.
The 1,000-bitcoin transfer was found during an analysis of the movement of the Silk Road’s bitcoins, according to a forthcoming research paper written by Adi Shamir and Dorit Ron of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
The finding suggests a partnership or investment in the Silk Road on the part of someone involved very early on in Bitcoin “but this is pure speculation,” the researchers wrote.
The amount was transferred on March 20 from an account established just a week after the bitcoin network launched in January 2009. Early bitcoin accounts are believed to be controlled by Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for the person or group of people who created Bitcoin.
The receiving account has been linked to “DPR,” short for “Dread Pirate Roberts,” the operator of the Silk Road who authorities alleged is Ulbricht. The bitcoins were worth about $60,000 at the time, but the price of bitcoin has since surged.
“The short path we found suggests (but does not prove) the existence of a surprising link between the two mysterious figures of the Bitcoin community, Satoshi Nakamoto and DPR,” they wrote.
Nakamoto’s real identity has never been uncovered despite attempts to figure out who has the cryptography and mathematical skills to create such a system. He stopped writing posts on a bitcoin forum in 2010.
The 1,000-bitcoin transfer was found during an analysis of the movement of the Silk Road’s bitcoins, according to a forthcoming research paper written by Adi Shamir and Dorit Ron of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
The finding suggests a partnership or investment in the Silk Road on the part of someone involved very early on in Bitcoin “but this is pure speculation,” the researchers wrote.
The amount was transferred on March 20 from an account established just a week after the bitcoin network launched in January 2009. Early bitcoin accounts are believed to be controlled by Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for the person or group of people who created Bitcoin.
The receiving account has been linked to “DPR,” short for “Dread Pirate Roberts,” the operator of the Silk Road who authorities alleged is Ulbricht. The bitcoins were worth about $60,000 at the time, but the price of bitcoin has since surged.
“The short path we found suggests (but does not prove) the existence of a surprising link between the two mysterious figures of the Bitcoin community, Satoshi Nakamoto and DPR,” they wrote.
Nakamoto’s real identity has never been uncovered despite attempts to figure out who has the cryptography and mathematical skills to create such a system. He stopped writing posts on a bitcoin forum in 2010.
Bitcoin digital currency tops $1,000 as acceptance grows http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-bitcoin-tops-1000-20131127,0,2685716.story#ixzz2mHiwlpME
Bitcoin, the unregulated digital currency that once was valued at $10, hit a record Wednesday, trading above $1,000 per bitcoin on the Mt. Gox online exchange.
Speculators from China and the U.S. have been snapping up the digital currency as it becomes a more popular form of payment.
Demand has been strong in China where Baidu, a popular online search engine, accepts bitcoin as payment for services.
The digital currency has been rising steadily over the past few months and it has become more widely accepted. Virgin Galactic, the firm that aims to send tourists to space, announced this week it will accept bitcoin as payment for travel.
The University of Nicosia in the island nation of Cyprus said recently it will accept the virtual currency bitcoin as payment for tuition and other school fees. The largest university in Cyprus, the school said it will also offer a master's degree in digital currency next spring designed to increase understanding of "the technical underpinnings of digital currency."
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing where officials urged greater oversight of bitcoin after the Federal Bureau of Investigations shut down Silk Road, an illicit online marketplace for drugs and other services where bitcoin was the preferred form of payment.
Speculators from China and the U.S. have been snapping up the digital currency as it becomes a more popular form of payment.
Demand has been strong in China where Baidu, a popular online search engine, accepts bitcoin as payment for services.
The digital currency has been rising steadily over the past few months and it has become more widely accepted. Virgin Galactic, the firm that aims to send tourists to space, announced this week it will accept bitcoin as payment for travel.
The University of Nicosia in the island nation of Cyprus said recently it will accept the virtual currency bitcoin as payment for tuition and other school fees. The largest university in Cyprus, the school said it will also offer a master's degree in digital currency next spring designed to increase understanding of "the technical underpinnings of digital currency."
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing where officials urged greater oversight of bitcoin after the Federal Bureau of Investigations shut down Silk Road, an illicit online marketplace for drugs and other services where bitcoin was the preferred form of payment.
Bitcoin value soars above $1,000 on Mt. Gox exchange
The dollar value of a single Bitcoin is on the rise.
Mt. Gox, a popular exchange for Bitcoin traders, has seen the conversion rate on its service explode over the last several weeks. On Wednesday, Bitcoin trading surpassed the $1,000 mark on Mt. Gox, hitting a high of $1,073.
Bitcoin currency trading has become a popular enterprise. Consumers head to exchanges like Mt. Gox and others and give up a certain amount of their local currency for a single Bitcoin. Because Bitcoin is decentralized, conversion rates can vary between exchanges. Mt. Gox, for example, tends to offer a slightly higher value than other exchanges.
Still, Mt. Gox's latest trading underscores the rapidly increasing popularity of Bitcoin. At the beginning of November, the currency conversion for US dollars was hovering at around $200 per Bitcoin. In just the last four weeks, it's up to more than $1,000 with no sign of slowing down.
Trading Bitcoins has become sport for many of tech's biggest names. The Winklevoss twins have been the foremost supporters of Bitcoin and are believed to have invested a collective $11 million in Bitcoins. That was long before Bitcoin hit its recent highs.
Mt. Gox, a popular exchange for Bitcoin traders, has seen the conversion rate on its service explode over the last several weeks. On Wednesday, Bitcoin trading surpassed the $1,000 mark on Mt. Gox, hitting a high of $1,073.
Bitcoin currency trading has become a popular enterprise. Consumers head to exchanges like Mt. Gox and others and give up a certain amount of their local currency for a single Bitcoin. Because Bitcoin is decentralized, conversion rates can vary between exchanges. Mt. Gox, for example, tends to offer a slightly higher value than other exchanges.
Still, Mt. Gox's latest trading underscores the rapidly increasing popularity of Bitcoin. At the beginning of November, the currency conversion for US dollars was hovering at around $200 per Bitcoin. In just the last four weeks, it's up to more than $1,000 with no sign of slowing down.
Trading Bitcoins has become sport for many of tech's biggest names. The Winklevoss twins have been the foremost supporters of Bitcoin and are believed to have invested a collective $11 million in Bitcoins. That was long before Bitcoin hit its recent highs.
Bitcoin’s skyrocketing value ushers in era of $1 million hacker heists
A company billing itself as one of Europe's biggest Bitcoin exchanges said it suffered a coordinated attack that succeeded in stealing almost $1 million worth of the digital currency, marking the latest in a string of high-stakes heists hitting companies that hold large sums online.
Kris Henriksen, CEO of Denmark-based Bitcoin Internet Payment Services (BIPS), made that claim last week in a Web post that said the attack began as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. Two days later, Henriksen said, the same attackers targeted the BIPS network again and managed to use the damage they previously inflicted to somehow tamper with the channel that connects BIPS data storage systems to company servers.
"On November 15, BIPS was the target of a massive DDoS attack, which is now believed to have been the initial preparation for a subsequent attack on November 17 that overloaded our managed switches and disconnected the iSCSI connection to the SAN on BIPS servers," the CEO wrote. "Regrettably, despite several layers of protection, the attack caused vulnerability to the system, which has then enabled the attacker/s to gain access and compromise several wallets."
The missing funds totaled 1,295 BTC, or about $1 million, according to a post on Coindesk, which cited this block in the official Bitcoin ledger. BIPS quickly closed its Bitcoin wallet service for consumers after discovering the theft. It advised existing users to transfer their bitcoins to competing wallet services and pledged to notify all users affected by the security breach.
The BIPS attack is at least the third major heist to hit Bitcoin services this month. In early November, the founder of Australia-based inputs.io said the service was robbed of 4,100 bitcoins—valued at about $1.2 million—in two separate attacks. China-based Bitcoin exchange GBL reportedly vanished with $4.1 million worth of customers' digital currency. Another Chinese exchange, BTC China, has also sustained massive DDoS attacks that are costing it dearly, according to an article published Tuesday by Wired.
Bitcoin heists that use malware, social engineering, or hacks to steal huge numbers of bitcoins are by no means new. But given the recent surge in the value of the digital currency, the proceeds of such attacks have mushroomed. Large-scale attacks that previously generated revenue measured in the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars are now worth millions.
Kris Henriksen, CEO of Denmark-based Bitcoin Internet Payment Services (BIPS), made that claim last week in a Web post that said the attack began as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. Two days later, Henriksen said, the same attackers targeted the BIPS network again and managed to use the damage they previously inflicted to somehow tamper with the channel that connects BIPS data storage systems to company servers.
"On November 15, BIPS was the target of a massive DDoS attack, which is now believed to have been the initial preparation for a subsequent attack on November 17 that overloaded our managed switches and disconnected the iSCSI connection to the SAN on BIPS servers," the CEO wrote. "Regrettably, despite several layers of protection, the attack caused vulnerability to the system, which has then enabled the attacker/s to gain access and compromise several wallets."
The missing funds totaled 1,295 BTC, or about $1 million, according to a post on Coindesk, which cited this block in the official Bitcoin ledger. BIPS quickly closed its Bitcoin wallet service for consumers after discovering the theft. It advised existing users to transfer their bitcoins to competing wallet services and pledged to notify all users affected by the security breach.
The BIPS attack is at least the third major heist to hit Bitcoin services this month. In early November, the founder of Australia-based inputs.io said the service was robbed of 4,100 bitcoins—valued at about $1.2 million—in two separate attacks. China-based Bitcoin exchange GBL reportedly vanished with $4.1 million worth of customers' digital currency. Another Chinese exchange, BTC China, has also sustained massive DDoS attacks that are costing it dearly, according to an article published Tuesday by Wired.
Bitcoin heists that use malware, social engineering, or hacks to steal huge numbers of bitcoins are by no means new. But given the recent surge in the value of the digital currency, the proceeds of such attacks have mushroomed. Large-scale attacks that previously generated revenue measured in the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars are now worth millions.
Bitcoin Black Friday Goes Live and Other News You Need to Know
Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world.
Today, we're looking at three particularly interesting stories. Starting today, more than 400 retailers are coming together to open Bitcoin Black Friday, a web marketplace that only accepts Bitcoin as payment. If your shopping plans are more traditional, though, Apple’s seasonal deals are now live on its website. And finally, some Microsoft news: insiders tell Bloomberg the company’s board is narrowing down its search for its next CEO.
Today, we're looking at three particularly interesting stories. Starting today, more than 400 retailers are coming together to open Bitcoin Black Friday, a web marketplace that only accepts Bitcoin as payment. If your shopping plans are more traditional, though, Apple’s seasonal deals are now live on its website. And finally, some Microsoft news: insiders tell Bloomberg the company’s board is narrowing down its search for its next CEO.
This The Bitcoin Rout That Was Bound To Happen?
Bitcoin is in freefall this morning as liquidation (volume has picked up during the selling) seems to be taking place after the brief foray with Gold parity over the weekend.
At 1 am AEDT this morning Bitcoins were fetching the still heady price of $1150 US dollars but right now they are trading at $846 and falling so fast it’s hard to get an up-to-date chart.
At 1 am AEDT this morning Bitcoins were fetching the still heady price of $1150 US dollars but right now they are trading at $846 and falling so fast it’s hard to get an up-to-date chart.
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