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PAPA_JUNIOR: Thanks anyway.

dermaink: transisto prob did it

xXSqUaLLXx: PAPA_JUNIOR, If the btc were withdraw, then he should have received an email for confirmation of withdraw also.

xXSqUaLLXx: On his email. I guess. Which then should have also been confirmed from there. So the mail should have issue I think.

PAPA_JUNIOR: xXSqUaLLXx, never email. only in the transaction history

xXSqUaLLXx: The mail used for btc-e

xXSqUaLLXx: Unless you can move btc without needing confirmation also.

xXSqUaLLXx: PAPA_JUNIOR, So what does he see in the transaction history then.

GoMaDD: aserapig, i know what a ip whitelist is. but where can i set it for btc-e?

PAPA_JUNIOR: at 21:01 withdrawl all of BTC

dermaink: i set one last year when they tryed to get into my account

xXSqUaLLXx: He MUST have received an email on the btc-e mail... Doesn't he ?

StonesP: giving up on crypto

PAPA_JUNIOR: No

COUNTERint: Predatory

dermaink: they got into his email also then

PAPA_JUNIOR: thats weird

GoMaDD: .ok never mind found it. thanks!

xXSqUaLLXx: That's what I say PAPA again. If you make a withdraw , I don't think you can move btc without clicking the email received by btc-e for the withdraw.

gailloski: PAPA_JUNIOR scammer apart, ltc moon guys

xXSqUaLLXx: So that mean : Email must be compromised. And if he has access to it, he should change password asap also.

COUNTERint: Inside

PAPA_JUNIOR: I see

dermaink: thanks for all the chickun will have a lot more when gdax goes chickun lol

xXSqUaLLXx: Ltc is dead, sorry but no.

StonesP: btc why

xXSqUaLLXx: Gdax chikun what a joke.

StonesP: xadg

xXSqUaLLXx: Coblee is all in in eth. since he dumped all his ltc in 2015 totally legit.

PAPA_JUNIOR: gailloski, hope this never happens to you or anyone else.

dermaink: they tried to do it to me last year

malatenango: arizzzeee chickun

PAPA_JUNIOR: Thanks anyway guys

xXSqUaLLXx: PAPA_JUNIOR, Use this rule for you and people you know. Always set 2FA (google authenticator) on anything. Mail / exchanges especially. It add great layers of security.

xXSqUaLLXx: PAPA_JUNIOR, And then you can strenghten securities with other things.

dermaink: ip lock best choice

xXSqUaLLXx: PAPA_JUNIOR, Better safe than sorry. Password is NOT enough.

GoMaDD: lol 2fa != google auth. it's just one way

COUNTERint: Job.

aserapig: white list can be set under profile and security section, there is a choicetop middle for whitelist

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BTC-E | Bitcoin Exchange, Namecoin Exchange, Litecoin ...

Currently, based on (1) price per hash and (2) electrical efficiency the best Bitcoin miner options are:

Manufacturer

$474.97

$499.97

$33.87

Bitcoin mining is the process of adding transaction records to Bitcoin's public ledger of past transactions or blockchain. This ledger of past transactions is called the block chain as it is a chain of blocks. The block chain serves to confirm transactions to the rest of the network as having taken place.

Bitcoin nodes use the block chain to distinguish legitimate Bitcoin transactions from attempts to re-spend coins that have already been spent elsewhere.

Bitcoin mining is intentionally designed to be resource-intensive and difficult so that the number of blocks found each day by miners remains steady. Individual blocks must contain a proof of work to be considered valid. This proof of work is verified by other Bitcoin nodes each time they receive a block. Bitcoin uses the hashcash proof-of-work function.

The primary purpose of mining is to allow Bitcoin nodes to reach a secure, tamper-resistant consensus. Mining is also the mechanism used to introduce Bitcoins into the system: Miners are paid any transaction fees as well as a "subsidy" of newly created coins.

This both serves the purpose of disseminating new coins in a decentralized manner as well as motivating people to provide security for the system.

Bitcoin mining is so called because it resembles the mining of other commodities: it requires exertion and it slowly makes new currency available at a rate that resembles the rate at which commodities like gold are mined from the ground.

A proof of work is a piece of data which was difficult (costly, time-consuming) to produce so as to satisfy certain requirements. It must be trivial to check whether data satisfies said requirements.

Producing a proof of work can be a random process with low probability, so that a lot of trial and error is required on average before a valid proof of work is generated. Bitcoin uses the Hashcash proof of work.

Bitcoin mining a block is difficult because the SHA-256 hash of a block's header must be lower than or equal to the target in order for the block to be accepted by the network.

This problem can be simplified for explanation purposes: The hash of a block must start with a certain number of zeros. The probability of calculating a hash that starts with many zeros is very low, therefore many attempts must be made. In order to generate a new hash each round, a nonce is incremented. See Proof of work for more information.

The Bitcoin mining network difficulty is the measure of how difficult it is to find a new block compared to the easiest it can ever be. It is recalculated every 2016 blocks to a value such that the previous 2016 blocks would have been generated in exactly two weeks had everyone been mining at this difficulty. This will yield, on average, one block every ten minutes.

As more miners join, the rate of block creation will go up. As the rate of block generation goes up, the difficulty rises to compensate which will push the rate of block creation back down. Any blocks released by malicious miners that do not meet the required difficulty target will simply be rejected by everyone on the network and thus will be worthless.

When a block is discovered, the discoverer may award themselves a certain number of bitcoins, which is agreed-upon by everyone in the network. Currently this bounty is 25 bitcoins; this value will halve every 210,000 blocks. See Controlled Currency Supply.

Additionally, the miner is awarded the fees paid by users sending transactions. The fee is an incentive for the miner to include the transaction in their block. In the future, as the number of new bitcoins miners are allowed to create in each block dwindles, the fees will make up a much more important percentage of mining income.

Excerpt from:

Everything you need to know about Bitcoin mining What is ...

Major Magazine Publisher to Accept Bitcoin Payments

Time Inc., publisher of e. g. for People, Sports Illustrated, InStyle and Time, now accepts bitcoin as a payment.

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It can be used to buy apps, games, and other digital content from Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox Games, Xbox Music, or Xbox Video stores. Be aware, that Money added to the Microsoft account using Bitcoin cannot be refunded.

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Mozilla, the community behind Firefox and Thunderbird, now accepts Bitcoin donations.

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PayPal does first steps for a integration of bitcoin.

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The Wikimedia Foundation now accepts Bitcoin. They will work together with coinbase.

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The German Newspaper "taz", also called "die tageszeitung", now accepts Bitcoins as donations. All the content on taz.de/ is available for free, based on their model of donations. So far, more then 10 BTC got donated, which is a lot, compared to the approx. 10 000 donations (in German), received in June.

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Latvian airline airBaltic has become the worlds first airline to accept Bitcoin as payment for its tickets to 60 destinations in Europe, Middle East, Russia and the CIS.

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Dell is now accepting bitcoin payments from consumers and small business shoppers across the U.S. for all items available on Dell.com, including the Alienware line of products.

read more (via http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/direct2dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2014/07/18/we-re-now-accepting-bitcoin-on-dell-com.aspx)

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Bitcoin is the currency of the Internet: a distributed, worldwide, decentralized digital money. Unlike traditional currencies such as dollars, bitcoins are issued and managed without any central authority whatsoever: there is no government, company, or bank in charge of Bitcoin. As such, it is more resistant to wild inflation and corrupt banks. With Bitcoin, you can be your own bank.

If you are new to Bitcoin, check out We Use Coins and Bitcoin.org. You can also explore the Bitcoin Wiki:

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Will I earn money by mining? Security guide

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Bitcoin Forum Bitcoin Stack Exchange

Bitcoin Core is the the backbone of the Bitcoin network. Almost all Bitcoin wallets rely on Bitcoin Core in one way or another. If you have a fairly powerful computer that is almost always online, you can help the network by running Bitcoin Core. You can also use Bitcoin Core as a very secure Bitcoin wallet.

The CSS used by this subreddit is the Erdune Theme modified by /u/Annihilia and /u/konkedas .

Logo design by /u/Annihilia. Check out his other work here.

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We previously collected donations to fund Bitcoin advertising efforts, but we no longer accept donations. The funds already donated will be spent on some sort of advertising, as intended. (10.35799117 BTC spent so far.)

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Bitcoin /r/Bitcoin - reddit

My Wallet is a free online bitcoin wallet, which you can use to make worldwide payments for free. We make paying with bitcoins easy and secure available anywhere on your phone or desktop.

We are not a bank; you retain complete ownership of your Money. We cannot view your balance, see your transactions or make payments on your behalf.

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By 2015, cash could be looking like an endangered species

Blockchain.info uses industry standard AES encryption to protect your wallet from thieves and hackers. The amazing part is the encryption is all done within your browser, before it is saved on our servers, so not even we have access to your account!

My Wallet builds on the security of bitcoin by providing a host of features to help you keep your money safe including Paper Wallets, Offline Transactions, https:// and Remote Backups.

The beauty of bitcoin is that it's fully decentralized, no government or corporation can block payments or revoke accounts.

With My Wallet you retain full control of your private key meaning wallets can never be seized or blocked and can be imported into any desktop bitcoin client. Read How It Works.

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Bitcoin Wallet - Be Your Own Bank - Blockchain.info

Why Bitcoin Popular Opinion What is Bitcoin?

With the Bitcoin price so volatile everyone is curious. Bitcoin is extremely complicated and no one definition fully encapsulates it. By analogy it is like being able to send a gold coin via email. It is a consensus network that enables a new payment system and a completely digital money.

It is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. Bitcoin was the first practical implementation and is currently the most prominent triple entry bookkeeping system in existence.

The first Bitcoin specification and proof of concept was published in 2009 by an unknown individual under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto who revealed little about himself and left the project in late 2010. The Bitcoin community has since grown exponentially.

Satoshi's anonymity often raises unjustified concerns because of a misunderstanding of the open-source nature of Bitcoin. Everyone has access to all of the source code all of the time and any developer can review or modify the software code. As such, the identity of Bitcoin's inventor is probably as relevant today as the identity of the person who invented paper.

Nobody owns the Bitcoin network much like no one owns the technology behind email or the Internet. Bitcoin transactions are verified by Bitcoin miners which has an entire industry and Bitcoin cloud mining options. While developers are improving the software they cannot force a change in the Bitcoin protocol because all users are free to choose what software and version they use.

In order to stay compatible with each other, all users need to use software complying with the same rules. Bitcoin can only work correctly with a complete consensus among all users. Therefore, all users and developers have a strong incentive to protect this consensus.

From a user perspective, Bitcoin is nothing more than a mobile app or computer program that provides a personal Bitcoin wallet and enables a user to send and receive bitcoins.

Behind the scenes, the Bitcoin network is sharing a massive public ledger called the "block chain". This ledger contains every transaction ever processed which enables a user's computer to verify the validity of each transaction. The authenticity of each transaction is protected by digital signatures corresponding to the sending addresses therefore allowing all users to have full control over sending bitcoins.

Thus, there is no fraud, no chargebacks and no identifying information that could be compromised resulting in identity theft. To learn more about Bitcoin, you can consult the original Bitcoin whitepaper, read through the extremely thorough Frequently Asked Questions, listen to a Bitcoin podcast or read the latest Bitcoin news.

Original post:

What is Bitcoin? Learn everything you need to know. What ...

There is at least one legal way to get your euros out of Greece these days, to guard against the prospect that they might be devalued into drachmas: convert them into bitcoin.

Although absolute figures are hard to come by, Greek interest has surged in the online "cryptocurrency", which is out of the reach of monetary authorities and can be transferred at the touch of a smartphone screen.

New customers depositing at least 50 euros with BTCGreece, the only Greece-based bitcoin exchange, open only to Greeks, rose by 400 percent between May and June, according to its founder Thanos Marinos, who put the number at "a few thousand." The average deposit quadrupled to around 700 euros.

Using bitcoin could allow Greeks to do one of the things that capital controls were put in place this week to prevent: transfer money out of their bank accounts and, if they wish, out of the country.

"When people are trying to move money out of the country and the state is stopping that from taking place, bitcoin is the only way to move any value," said Adam Vaziri, a board member of the UK Digital Currency Association. "There aren't any other options unless you buy diamonds, and that's very difficult to move."

But Marinos said the bitcoin buyers' main aim was to shield their money against the prospect that Greece might leave the euro zone and convert all the deposits in Greek banks into a greatly devalued national currency. If voters reject the demands of international creditors in a referendum on Sunday, this becomes much more likely.

"A lot of people are keeping all the bitcoins they buy on our platform, until they understand what to do with them," Marinos said. "In their eyes, now they have bitcoins, they're safe."

That said, the value of a bitcoin, a web-based digital currency invented six years ago that floats freely and is not backed by a government or central bank, has been highly volatile.

It peaked at over $1,200 in late 2013 before crashing almost 70 percent in less than a month after a hacking attack on the Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox in early 2014.

This week, as Greece defaulted on a debt to the IMF, the price jumped to a 3-1/2-month high of $268 BTC=BTSP on the Bitstamp exchange -- up more than 20 percent since the start of June -- while the number of daily transactions reached a record 150,917.

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Digital Dodge: Some Greeks Using Bitcoin to Evade Currency ...

A customer uses the worlds first ever permanent bitcoin ATM unveiled at a coffee shop in Vancouver, British Columbia 29 October, 2013.

The world is watching with bated breath as the Greek people consider how to vote in the countrys upcoming referendum. A yes vote on Sunday will see Greece accept the terms of the troikas bailout, and commit itself to further austerity; a no vote will see the country taking the first step towards exiting the Euro entirely.

But not everyone is afraid of the prospect of Grexit. For proponents of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency, a shaky Mediterranean economy implementing capital controls amid the prospect of full-blown exit from the euro recalls halcyon days gone by.

In theory, when the conventional financial system is experiencing turbulence, alternative currencies such as bitcoin should have their time to shine. The decentralised nature of the currency means that its impossible for any central bank to impose controls on it, while the pseudonymity at its core could make it the perfect vehicle to get money into and out of the country while avoiding legal reprisals.

As a result, Tony Gallippi, the co-founder of bitcoin payment processor Bitpay, tweeted on Sunday night that he expected the price of bitcoin to rise to between $610 and $1,250 if Greece exits the Euro. The currency is currently worth $250. On Reddits bitcoin subforum, users are sharing tips on how to buy bitcoin in the country, and commenting on reports of bank runs in the capital: Shouldve bought bitcoins.

Part of the reason why the crisis is so tempting for proponents of the cryptocurrency is the echoes of a previous crisis in the Eurozone: the banking collapse in Cyprus in 2013, which saw that nation also impose capital controls to prevent massive outflows of currency from the panicking country.

That collapse came at the same time as the first major boom in the price of bitcoin, which began the year at less than $20 and peaked at ten times that by early April before it all came crashing down.

At the time, many credited the price rise to interest in the currency sparked by the banking crisis, but Nathaniel Popper, author of the book Digital Gold: the Untold Story of Bitcoin, says that they are labouring under a misapprehension.

Speaking on the Guardians Tech Weekly podcast, Popper explained that the rise was more likely caused by an influx of money from Silicon Valley. In those days, if someone buys $1m of bitcoin in one go that will make the price rise, he said.

For now, the price of bitcoin has steadily risen as the Greek crisis has intensified, from $240 on Wednesday to $250 over the weekend. It remains a long way off its 2014 highs of $1,000 per coin, but what happens after Sundays vote is anybodys guess.

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Bitcoin fans eye potential in Greek crisis | Technology ...

June 11, 2015, 4:43 PM EDT E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons

Its been barely a week since the BitLicense was released, and it has already driven a bitcoin startup out of New York.

ShapeShift.io, a bitcoin startup that allows people to quickly exchange digital currencies without an account or arduous signup process, has completely cut off service to New York in response to the states new regulatory policy for digital currency businesses. The BitLicense, which was finalized last week, sparked fear among the bitcoin community during its revision process over the past year, and now that it is out, has courted criticism for the various licenses and approvals it requires of companies that store and transmit money for customers. It is seen as too stringent and restrictive of innovation.

The BitLicense backlash began last week with official statements and responses from bitcoin startup executives as well as policy pundits. ShapeShift is the first business to promptly get out of dodge in response to the policy. (Bitcoin wallet provider Xapo moved its headquarters to Switzerland last month, but stated that it was not out of fear of regulation.)

The company has suspended service to all users in New York State, and is redirecting its homepage for Internet visitors there to PleaseProtectConsumers.org, with a long note about the issue of identity theft and how bitcoin and the blockchain can prevent it.

A blunt passage toward the end of the text reads: Bitcoin and blockchain technology have enabled a new standard of financial privacy and consumer protection Unfortunately, in spite of the technological achievements that now protect consumers, some jurisdictions have legally mandated the continued extraction of sensitive private information. Then it lists those jurisdictions; they are New York State and North Korea. That likely isnt the company, in terms of privacy law, New York wants to keep. ShapeShift is inviting other digital currency companies to do the same: cut off service to New York and redirect its web site there to the PleaseProtectConsumers page.

It is quite a statement by a buzzy startup and a big name in the bitcoin community.

While Shapeshift has so far raised only a seed round of just under $1 million from Roger Ver (nicknamed Bitcoin Jesus) and Barry Silbert (founder of the Digital Currency Group), CEO Erik Voorhees is a widely followed voice in the digital currency world who founded Coinapult and worked at BitInstant. Vorhees founded ShapeShift and ran it using an alias at first until he came out as its CEO in March.

When the Bitlicense was announced last week, Voorhees tweeted that California is winning. ShapeShift investor Roger Ver, meanwhile, tweeted a longer screed:

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Bitcoin company ditches New York, blaming new regulations ...

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether Bitcoin is more like Ponzi scheme or a pyramid scheme.

Whatever it is, though, it isn't a currency. It's a tech stock. Each Bitcoin is really a share in a systemthat seems to make it cheaper to transfer things onlinemoney, stocks, bonds, even the deed to your houseby cutting out the middleman. Well, kind of. Bitcoin doesn't remove the middleman so much as replace himwith middlemen who don't make you pay much, but make society as a whole do so instead. Is this progress?

It's supposed to be. Ever since the early days of the Internet, people have been trying to figure out how to transfer money online without having to go through the financial system. The problem, though, is if Isend youmoney, how do you know I haven't already spent it or sent it to somebody else? You don't. So the only solution has been to have a trusted third-party, like a bank, sit in between us. I send the money to the bank, it verifies that I actually have this money to send, and then it sends it on to you, all for a 2 percent fee, of course.

Bitcoin's breakthrough is to have a decentralized network of "miners" sit in between us instead. Now, remember, these miners are trying to win new Bitcoins by solving computationally-taxing math problems. The clever part, though, is that in the process of doing so, they also create a public ledger of every single Bitcoin transaction, what's called the blockchain. That includes every Bitcoin that's ever been won, every Bitcoin that's ever been used, and every Bitcoin that's ever been transferred. So now we don't need a bank to know that I have the money I'm sending to you, and that I'm only sending it to you. The miners confirm all this. And the best part is that instead of having to pay the bank myself to do this, the system pays the miners in new Bitcoins.

The question, though, is howyou get people to mineBitcoin to begin with. Sure, you can tell them that Bitcoin is digital money they can use to buy things online, but they already have money they can already use to buy things online. And while merchants would be more than happy to save the 2.5 percent they pay in credit card transaction fees, customers are a lot more more blas since they don't pay them directly.The answer, then, was to do what makes anything popular: make it exclusive. Specifically, Bitcoin limits the total number of coins that will ever be created to 21 million.Now, for Bitcoin's first year and a half, as Nathaniel Popper documents in hispage-turning history Digital Gold, there were still only a handful of people, if that, mining it. But that began to change when libertarians, who were convinced, just convinced, that the Federal Reserve's money-printing would mean the doom of the dollar, discovered Bitcoin and its non-inflatable money supply. A boom was born.

But what made people mine Bitcoins is what has kept from spending Bitcoins. Think about it like this. Bitcoin's finite supply means that its price should go up, and keep going up. So if you have dollars that are losing a little value to inflation every year and Bitcoins that are gaining it, which one are you going to use to buy things with? The question answers itself, and it raises another. Why would this ever change? Unless you can't buy something online with dollarslike drugsyou'd always want to use your dollars instead. Buying things with Bitcoin would be like cashing out your Apple stock in 1978 to go grocery shopping even though you have plenty of actual cash lying around.

The catch-22is people buy Bitcoins because they think the price will go to infinity and beyond once everybody uses them, but they don't spendtheir own Bitcoins because they think the price will go to infinity and beyond once everybody else uses them. And so nobody uses them. But if nobody uses them, then the price will stay stuck at something a lot less than infinity let alone beyond. So the Bitcoin faithful have tried to not only convert people, but also convince them to martyr themselves, financially-speaking, for the crypto cause. It goes something like this. Hey, do you want to hear about the future? It's a digital currency called Bitcoin that lets you spend or move your money online without paying any fees. Sounds great. How does it do that? Well, Bitcoin saves you money by making transactions irreversible. So ... if I get scammed, I got scammed? There's nothing I can do about it? Yes. Okay, but is it at least easy to use? The thing is, I don't actually use it. I just hoard it. I'm waiting for some greater fools to push up the price by using theirs. Oh. Yeah. So you should buy some Bitcoins and use yours. I'll get back to you on that.

But Bitcoin is good for something other than redistributing wealth from one libertarian to another. That's transferring money, or anything else for that matter, online. "The design supports a tremendous variety of possible transaction types," Bitcoin's shadowy inventor Satoshi Nakamoto wrote back in 2010, including"escrow transactions, bonded contracts, third party arbitration, multi-party signature, etc." So anytime you needto send any kind of financial asset or agreement to somebody else, you can send it along with a Bitcoinand, through the beauty of the blockchain, avoid having to pay a lot of fees. That's why Wall Street banks are looking into whether they can build their own blockchains to cut costs before their competitors do. And while sending money is cheap within the U.S., it's not not across international bordersthe average transfer fee, according to the World Bank, is 7.5 percent. It's not hard to imagine, in other words, that Bitcoin could claim a big chunk of the $500 billion remittance market, although the difficulty of actually getting the physical cash to people in developing countries is still a significant hurdle.

Wait a minute, though. How does the blockchain cut costs again? Remember, instead of you paying the bank a fee to process a transaction, the Bitcoin system pays miners new coins to do so. Then these transactions get added to the list of all others in the public ledger, the blockchain. Butanytime it seems like you're getting something for nothing the costs are probably just being hidden. What are those costs? Well, Bitcoin mining is a pretty expensive business. Even the most specialized computers, which mine Bitcoins and only mine Bitcoins, require a lot of energy. So much so that Bitcoin miners have set up shop in far-flung places like Iceland where geothermal energy is cheap and Arctic air is cheaper stillfreefor them to run and cool off their machines at the lowest possible price.

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Bitcoin isnt the future of money its either a Ponzi ...

This May 1, 2014 photo taken in Washington, DC shows a bitcoin medal. Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced on April 29, 2014 it would give $100 in Bitcoin to its 4,500 students starting in the Fall of 2014. The project started by two MIT students aims for a better understanding of emerging technologies. AFP PHOTO / Karen BLEIERKAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images ORG XMIT: - ORIG FILE ID: 529392797(Photo: KAREN BLEIER, AFP/Getty Images)

It's official: Companies dealing in cybercurrecy bitcoin now have to get a bitlicense to operate in New York state a rule that could spread to other states if successful.

Just weeks before he is set to leave his regulatory role for private practice, Ben Lawksy, head of New York's Department of Financial Services (DFS), released rules Wednesday outlining what bitcoin peddlers need to do to obtain and retain a "bitlicense" to operate in state.

DFS has regulatory oversight over dozens of N.Y. licensed banks and insurance companies, including Goldman Sachs, MetLife and Barclays. As head of DFS, Lawsky has has made it his mission to regulate cybercurrencies, which have been tied to some high-profile drug cases and other illegal activity.

The 44-page document of final rules released Wednesday explains such details as cost of an application ($5,000) for a license, as well as what the license will allow companies to do.

"License required," the document warns. "No person shall, without a license obtained from the superintendent as provided in this part, engage in any virtual currency business activity." In other words: No license, no bitcoin activity in the Empire State.

The barriers to entry can be high. Companies seeking a bitlicense will need to have a compliance officer, for example, who will be responsible for making sure the firm is in compliance with its bitlicense rules, and all other applicable federal and state laws that apply to bitcoin, such as money trasmitter laws and laws to protect against money laundering. Such protections can get expensive.

Lawsky's bitlicense has been controversial among folks who argue that the rules threaten to raise costs and restrict innovation. Some opponents have argued that the license will give large institutions such as big banks that are fearful of competition of the competition the advantage over smaller startups when it comes to growing the cyber coin.

Lawsky on Wednesday vowed that he did his best to balance the rules and make them fair for both operators and the bitcoin users he is seeking to protect.

"Getting that balance right is hard, but it is key," Lawsky said in a speech at the BITS Emerging Payments Forum in Washing, DC, where Lawsky announced the new rules. "We want to promote and support companies that use new, emerging technologies to build better financial companies. We just need to make sure that we put appropriate regulatory guardrails in place," he said.

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'Bitlicense' rules regulating bitcoin released

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CNN explains: What is Bitcoin?

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

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Nasdaq will start using Bitcoin technology - May. 11, 2015

Let #39;s Talk Bitcoin! #187 - Thinking with Tokens
Andreas and Stephanie interview Adam about his recent focus on tokens built on top of the Bitcoin Blockchain and his open source startup Tokenly.

By: Let #39;s Talk Bitcoin!

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Let's Talk Bitcoin! #187 - Thinking with Tokens - Video

Bitcoin and GBP look Weak
So I #39;m looking across the market this week and today I #39;m going to show you some trades on GBPJPY, USDCAD and BTC. Sign up for the syndicate for $1: ...

By: Jason Stapleton

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Bitcoin and GBP look Weak - Video

Bitcoin 101: What Happens When We Decentralize Money?
What happens when we decentralize money? We get financial fairness, financial innovation, and financial freedom. Scott Rose speaks about Bitcoin being independent money at Nerd Nite Austin...

By: scotty321

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Bitcoin 101: What Happens When We Decentralize Money? - Video

News Bits: The Bitcoin Foundation is broke
News Bits on: Rand Paul Accepting Donations In Bitcoins - Former Nike CIO Joins Bitreserve Oliver Janssens and the Bitcoin Foundation #39;s Woes Video sources: https://www.youtube.com/watc...

By: Bitcoinist.net

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News Bits: The Bitcoin Foundation is broke - Video

The Bitcoin Foundation's new chief says that crowdfunding could help secure the future of the group that promotes the development of the digital currency.

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Bruce Fenton, once a Morgan Stanley stockbroker, has just been appointed executive director, according to the foundation's blog, replacing Patrick Murck, who was interim executive director.

The foundation faces financial problems linked to the drop in the value of its bitcoin holdings.

"I'm confident that we can run a lean and effective foundation and run at a budget surplus by using our resources carefully," Fenton said via email, adding he has not had a chance to review the foundation's assets in detail yet.

"I'd also like to see us use more decentralized tools like crowdfunding," Fenton said. Crowdfunding can be a creative way for members to support the projects they care about, he added.

He also stressed the need for feedback and engagement from corporate and individual members of the foundation.

Fenton, founder of investment firm Atlantic Financial in Massachusetts, worked at Morgan Stanley in the 1990s, specializing in emerging technologies. He is a member of the Bitcoin Association, another bitcoin promotion group, and has organized the Dubai Bitcoin Conference and advised bitcoin startups.

Fenton takes the helm of an organization marked by controversy. His appointment follows the rejection of board member Olivier Janssens' claim that it is effectively bankrupt.

Among its founding members are Charlie Shrem, who pleaded guilty to transmitting money linked to the Silk Road online drugs site, and Mark Karpeles, who presided over the collapse of MtGox, once the world's largest trading place for bitcoin. Board members have quit in frustration or spoken out against the foundation.

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Bitcoin Foundation new boss looks to crowdfunding to secure future

The newly appointed head of the Bitcoin Foundation, a group that promotes development of the digital currency, believes crowdfunding is one part of the solution for its troubled finances.

A one-time Morgan Stanley stockbroker, investment advisor Bruce Fenton was appointed executive director based on a vote of five ayes to one abstention by the groups board of directors, the foundation wrote on its blog. He replaces Patrick Murck, who was interim executive director.

The move follows an admission by the foundation that it faces large financial problems linked to the drop in the value of its bitcoin holdings. It rejected board member Olivier Janssens claim that it is effectively bankrupt.

Im confident that we can run a lean and effective foundation and run at a budget surplus by using our resources carefully, Fenton said via email, adding he has not had a chance to review the foundations assets in detail yet.

Id also like to see us use more decentralized tools like crowdfunding, Fenton said. Crowdfunding can be a creative way for members to support the projects they care about, he added.

He also stressed the need for feedback and engagement from corporate and individual members of the foundation.

Fenton, founder of investment firm Atlantic Financial in Massachusetts, worked at Morgan Stanley in the 1990s, specializing in emerging technologies. He is a member of the Bitcoin Association, another bitcoin promotion group, and has organized the Dubai Bitcoin Conference and advised bitcoin startups.

Fenton takes the helm of an organization marked by controversy. Among its founding members are Charlie Shrem, who pleaded guilty to transmitting money linked to the Silk Road online drugs site, and Mark Karpeles, who presided over the collapse of MtGox, once the worlds largest trading place for bitcoin. Board members have quit in frustration or spoken out against the foundation.

Tim Hornyak reports on IT, telecommunications, science, and technology in Japan for the IDG News Service. More by Tim Hornyak

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New Bitcoin Foundation chief eyes crowdfunding

Bitcoin is completely decentralised, which means that no single authority can prevent trades from being made, or blacklist buyers and sellers. Photograph: Siegfried Layda/Getty Images

Paedophiles are using the digital currency bitcoin to buy child sexual abuse images online, according to the Internet Watch Foundation.

In its annual report for 2014, the group, which is tasked with attacking the problem of child abuse images online, said a number of the most prolific commercial child sexual abuse websites started accepting the currency as a payment for images last year. It discovered 37 websites selling the images for bitcoins between January and April 2014.

The group said that illegal content was being sold in folders on legitimate websites which had been hacked, and that URLs for the websites were distributed via spam emails.

Bitcoin has a number of properties which make it well suited for trading illegal material such as child sex abuse images. The cryptocurrency is completely decentralised, which means that no single authority can prevent trades from being made, or blacklist buyers and sellers.

It is also largely pseudonymous, and there is nothing inherent to a bitcoin wallet that links it to any real-world individual. When the currency is used with care, it can be nearly impossible to discover the people behind online trades a fact which was responsible for bitcoins first major real-world use, underpinning the online drugs marketplace the Silk Road.

But while the currency is often described as anonymous and untraceable, there are a number of elements to its design which law enforcement authorities have been able to use to track down people attempting to use bitcoin illegally. The decentralised nature of the currency means that every single transaction is made in public, and in order to convert bitcoins into a conventional currency, they must typically be bought and sold through a bitcoin exchange. Those exchanges are often legally required to keep detailed records on customers, in order to comply with money-laundering regulations.

The IWF said it was working with several of the worlds largest bitcoin exchanges to share intelligence and develop strategies for preventing the currency being used by distributors of child sexual abuse images.

Emma Hardy, the IWFs director of external relations, said: One area we look at in particular is the commerciality of child sexual abuse images and videos people who want to buy and sell this type of content online.

We noticed for the first time ever last year that cryptocurrency or bitcoin was being used.

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Paedophiles sell child abuse images for bitcoin