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Community Roundup #21 '" Solving Problems

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Ciao, peeps.

The Internet has been abuzz with the recent debate regarding Bitcoin's potential, some dare say inevitable, hard fork to revise the block size. At its current size of 1 MB, the concern is that the size will eventually become insufficient to meet Bitcoin's ever-increasing demand and popularity. Since we are talking about a hard fork '" meaning miners will eventually have to decide on which blockchain to continue mining; the blockchain we currently have, or the new blockchain with the revised block size '" the debate is not taken lightly.

Stephanie, Andreas and Adam recently interviewed the Bitcoin Foundation's Chief Scientist Gavin Andresen regarding the subject. While Mr. Andresen is for a larger block size, Peter Todd presents an opposing view. All of this tantalizing discussion is captured on Episode 217, which in the first 24 hours after being published gained over 3,700 downloads on Soundcloud, and over 5,600 views on LTB. That has to be some sort of a record for an LTB podcast.

Perhaps it is the flatlining Bitcoin price that lets our mind wander on to something new(er), and to more exciting platforms and projects. Enter appcoins and altcoins.

Shawn mentions Siacoin, "an alternative to Storj" on the forums. From Sia's project page:

Sia is a new decentralized cloud storage platform aimed at giving users control of their data. Storage is pulled from a large network of hosts, each using Sia's blockchain to form storage contracts with clients. [...]

Anybody with spare storage space can join the network as a host and get income from that storage.

Shawn also started a thread called "Abra: send money without even knowing you're using bitcoin." The core idea of Abra '" a Western-Union-meets-Local-Bitcoins app of sorts '" is to use Bitcoin for fiat currency transmissions, while individuals using the Abra app, iOS and Android, will serve as tellers for cash deposits and withdrawals.

LTB member "maestro" discusses a coin that was launched some two years ago: Diamond (DMD). While the project's home page promises 50% interest per year, superior proof-of-work and proof-of-stake security and "ultra fast" transactions, Adam raised a valid question that we should all keep in mind every time we discuss a new token, app, or project. He asked:

What problem does the project or token aim to resolve?

If an altcoin is launched just because there's a system to do it, be it proof of work or proof of stake, it probably will not serve for any other purpose than speculative trading on whatever trading platform the asset happens to make it. This is not to say speculative trading or pump-and-dump schemes on exchanges are something inherently bad. They can offer a fun and exciting way to dabble into day trading (hopefully) without risking more than your lunch money. But investors should be extra cautious when throwing money into an altcoin or appcoin project, when there's no clear purpose for the coin or the project to exist, other than a notion of "because they can."

LTB member Clay is experimenting with Bitcoin Trivia, gamifying texting as a means to get friends and family interested in Bitcoin. He wrote:

Yesterday marked the first day of Bitcoin Trivia. The rules are simple: I text a bitcoin-related question worth x amount of bits and the first person to answer correctly within an hour wins. After the winner is declared I post a screenshot of the transfer from my wallet to the winner's address. This process has been made super easy with the address book in Mycelium. The reason for the time limit is to associate the group text and bitcoin trivia with a sense of urgency and hopefully making it a higher priority than it would be without the time limit. If the question is not answered within the hour I am happy to simply keep my bitcoin.

[...]The key to the daily trivia questions is that they must be easily searchable.

Well done Clay! A simple, fun and effective way to pique your friends' interest in the magic of Bitcoin.

Bitcointalk.org was hacked, again. BCT is the most popular forum for cryptocurrency discussions, project announcements and the lot, so the forum gets more than its fair share of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. This time around, though, passwords were compromised, so be sure to log onto your Bitcointalk account, if you have one, and change your password. Even better, use a password manager such as KeePass or LastPass to perform password management for you.

While you're on Bitcointalk, use the referral link on your Let's Talk Bitcoin! profile page and have people sign up on LTB using you as a referral '" cha-ching! goes your LTB Companion Wallet.

Be excellent to each other.

Tuomas

Community Manager

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Saturday 30 May 2015

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Charles Hoskinson: Thoughts on Ross

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From time to time, I enjoy investing an afternoon considering politics and the state of affairs here in the United States. Our country is the first hyperpower forcing all other nations to consider us in whatever policy happens to be the day's grock. This reality is divorced from ethical or moral metrics and the war on drugs is no different.

For whatever reason (religious, practical, dystopian, etc), policymakers in the United States have continuously decided to label a behavior or substance as dangerous to the social fabric(tm) of our society. Prohibition is the standard example and its spectacular failure is somehow forgotten. We saw and acknowledge the rise of the modern mafia. We saw the decentralized nature of resistance through bootleggers (some say one who's kid become president and the FBI form to stop the bootleggers empowering J. Edgar Hoover to terrorize two generations of Americans via illegal spying and blackmail (including Martin Luther King. Yet why have no lessons been learned?

The war of drugs is a leviathan that has imprisoned millions of Americans (vastly disportionate for minorities, formed massive bureaucracies such as the DEA and their state equivalents, and like Hoover's FBI slowly transformed society to both militarize the police and make their actions somehow ok. Where in this process have we asked what the goal exactly is? Why are we as a country destroying families, imprisoning millions and treating addicts as hardened criminals? Why have we created an industry that robs us of our constitutional rights and turns our police force into something resembling the Stasi?

I honestly don't have a good answer. There is perhaps an historical context that could be explored and used to synthetically explain why we are somehow comfortable as a nation using a plato like ideal social fabric(tm) to justify incarcerating millions for non-violent crimes. Yet this leaves a putrid taste in my mouth.

The United States drug policy is simply put immoral to the core. If drug use results in damage to one's relationships, then hold people accountable for their actions. But instead we say that Heroin somehow is more damaging than alcohol? Marijuana is a gateway to personal destruction (except for when our presidents smoke it [1] [2] )? I guess Colorado is doomed then :).

Now enter Ross Ulbricht the dread pirate roberts. He isn't a very nice person. No one running a drug cartel really is a nice person. But he isn't a Zetas Cartel kingpin proudly displaying the heads of his enemies. He is a programmer who saw an opportunity to use emerging technology to enrich himself without regard to the current egregious law. He believed that he could stay hidden thanks to the nature of Tor and Bitcoin. He also believed that a decentralized marketplace could reduce the violence associated with the drug trade (which is fair considering that violence comes from the prohibition not the other way around).

And the fruits of his labors were a modest marketplace that was the safest and lowest violence drug exchange in the world. It also allowed suppliers to directly sell to consumers cutting out the middleman who usually end up being pretty evil. Compared to the Golden Triangle, a relatively small amount of funds changed hands and consumers got their substances. The vast majority didn't go crazy and grab chainsaws for some Tony Montana action. The vast majority didn't destroy their families and social networks. The vast majority are still living their lives amongst us going to work, church or vacations. Somehow the social fabric(tm) the government must protect hasn't been torn.

Yet Ross now gets to spend the rest of his life in prison as a living symbol of the war on drugs. He has effectively become its Nelson Mandela. The Silk Road won't go away. Those who are knowledgeable about cryptography and the nature of the internet will cite technology like Openbazaar and other such systems as the bittorrent moment of online drug trade. Ross's imprisonment will send no message contrary to what the prosecutor suggests, it just increases the stakes for anonymity and the amount of potential profit from the trade.

The countermeasures will inevitably be a war on cryptography (I should trademark that one) and internet anonymity. To protect the social fabric(tm), the United States must rob us of our privacy and autonomy. We must accept that all packets need to be inspected. Secrets are illegal. And no doubt massive government budgets must be increased. Think of your children!

I'm really done with this madness. We supposedly have a republic and have the right to change things. At this moment, I'd like to divide the bitcoin space into two groups. Those that complain about the injustice of Ross's sentence and those that do something about it. I'm going to do something about it. My company is going to build some great tools to preserve personal privacy (that thing we have a constitutional right to) and make sure they are open source and well distributed.

I'm also going to ask everyone in this space to be in the second bucket. Do something about this injustice. Think about the software you could write. Organize meetups and spread the word. We didn't like our money or the banks so we made new money. Is in inconceivable that we can make a new society with a social fabric that's actually worth protecting?

Charles

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Let's Talk Bitcoin! #217 The Bitcoin Block Size Discussion

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On Todays Show

Stephanie, Andreas and Adam speak first with Bitcoin Foundation Chief Scientist Gavin Andresen about the Bitcoin Block Size debate, where it came from, why it matters and what he thinks we should do about it.

During the second half of the show, Bitcoin Developer and outspoken block size increase opponent Peter Todd joins the discussion to share his perspective on the issue, the problems he sees and why taking action now actually prevents the problem from finding a market solution.

If you really want to understand all the intricacies and varied opinions that surround the issue, head over to the Bitcoin Development Mailing List archive where you can find literally the entire history of public bitcoin development discussion, this link will take you to all of Mays messages

Subscribe to the LTBn All Podcasts feed or the Let's Talk Bitcoin! show only feed and never miss an episode again.

Sponsors for Episode 217

ShapeShift.io

Credits for Episode 217

Content for todays episode was provided by Peter, Gavin, Stephanie, Andreas and Adam

This episode was edited by Adam B. Levine

Music for todays show was provided by Jared Rubens, and General Fuzz

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Reactions to Silk Road Operator Ross Ulbricht's Life Sentence

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Ross Ulbricht, the convicted founder and operate of online black market Silk Road, was sentenced to life in prison yesterday after being found guilty of narcotics and computer hacking charges in February. The severity of the sentencing quickly set off a firestorm of comment and criticism, with debates centering on the alleged hypocrisy of the federal government and […]

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Bitcoins and Gravy #69: Grantcoin is Here to Empower!

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On today's show I have the privilege of speaking with the three founders of the Grantcoin. Grantcoin is a global alternative currency distributed by a non-profit organization, The Grantcoin Foundation. Their mission is to incentivize a sustainable economy and environment. Grantcoin is sold on exchanges and given as grants to people, businesses and organizations that are making the world a better place. Friends this is a lively interview where we push technology to it's limits by using Skype in a 4 way call from 4 different locations around the United States.

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Hidden in each episode of Bitcoins and Gravy is a Magic Word. I know that it may sound absurd, but listen for the Magic Word and you can earn LTBcoin! First set up a free account at LetsTalkBitcoin.com. Then tune in to your favorite LTB podcast and when you hear the Magic Word, don't delay! Submit it to your account and by doing so you will earn a portion of the week's LTBcoin distribution. Setting up an LTB account has always been fast and easy... and now it's profitable!!!

TRANSCRIPTIONS

Great news listeners! Our transcription page is now live on the website thanks to the continuing hard work of one of our loyal listeners who is also a consultant to the show.

We are striving to roll out each new transcript within a short period of time following the release of each podcast. We are also working on eventually going back and transcribing MOST of the archived episodes, starting with Episode #51 and working our way back until we completed the very first episode, Episode #1, Numero Uno of Bitcoins and Gravy! Our ultimate goal is have most episodes of Bitcoins and Gravy transcribed and available to you the listener for free. These Professional transcriptions are provided each week by one of our fans who can be found at:

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CREDITS

Grantcoin website: http://ift.tt/1Ji5iMr
@Grantcoin Twitter account: https://twitter.com/grantcoin
Grantcoin business plan (27 pages PDF): http://ift.tt/1LOTAub
Grantcoin white paper (15 pages PDF): http://ift.tt/1JdfSGm
Grantcoin market on Bittrex: http://ift.tt/1LOTAud

Ode To Satoshi

Ode to Satoshi lyrics & melody by John Barrett
Copyright 2014 RJM Publishing - BMI Nashville.

Lead Vocal, Harmony Vocals, Harmonica, Snare Drum: John Barrett
Harmony vocals: John Barrett, Connie Sinclair and Lij Shaw
Guitar: Jonathan Brown
Mandolin: Ben Miller
Bass Guitar: Michael Rinne

Initial tracks recorded by Mark Thornton of Sidekick Sound Studios, Madison, TN.
All other tracks Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at The Toy Box Studio, Nashville, Tennessee
Engineer: Lij Shaw. Assistant to engineer: Don The Don Bates
Produced by John Barrett & Elijah Lij Shaw

Crypto (The Official Cryptocurrency Song)

Words and Music written by John Barrett. All instrumentals by the incredibly talented Jamie Sparks.Mastered at The Tree House Studio, Nashville, Tennessee.Copyright 2015 by RJM Publishing - BMI - Nashville, Tennessee.Produced by John Barrett and Jamie Sparks.

Special thanks to Alan Baird for his dobro, guitar and mandolin playing on many of the shows. Now that's some pickin man! Thanks also to Alex Munoz Guijarro for his excellent pedal steel playing on many of our shows.

Interviews for this episode were recorded and edited by John Barrett at The Tree House Studio - Nashville, Tennessee. All shows are produced by John Barrett with the moral support of his trusty sidekick Maxwell Rascalnikov CoyoTe Rex, aka Max.

Theme song Gravy by the band, Eleanor Roosevelt with Lij on fiddle.

And a big thank you to the moral support from my friends at The Tennessee Bitcoin Alliance:TennesseeBitcoin.org

Questions or Comments?

Bitcoins and Gravy Hotline: (615) 208-5198

Hey yall! Leave me your questions, comments or suggestions about the show and please speak slowly and clearly. I would love to use your voice on the show and your feedback really is valuable to me!

(NOTE: If you would rather I did not use your voice, please say so on the message and I can simply reply to your question without using your voice).

Email me to say Howdy!: howdy@bitcoinsandgravy.com

Visit the Website: BitcoinsAndGravy.com

Bitcoins and Gravy Tipping Addresses:

Bitcoin: 1ByqQXLTm9JZGSwnfqCCakaifBt3grQkXS
Litecoin: LgqYgxLTBPgr8C1JGLLJVLK4ZN1fveprAp

And if you don't feel like contacting me - no worries! Just kick back, relax and enjoy the show!I hope you enjoy listening to my guests as much as I enjoy talking with them!

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BitSpark Wins Innotribe 2015 Singapore Semi-Finals and Announces New Offline Service

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Bitcoin remittance startup BitSpark, alongside four other fintech startups, won the Innotribe 2015 Singapore Semi-Finals held Thursday at the Red Dot Design Museum. The event was organized through a partnership with NextBank Asia and sponsored by international bank Wells Fargo and European startup accelerator Level39.

BitSpark will now progress to the finals, which will be held in October at Singapore Sibos, where it will have the opportunity to win $50,000 and as well as support from the international payment network SWIFT.

Other winners of the Singaporean competition were social consumer credit rating startup Trustingsocial, automated risk management platform provider Jewel Paymentech, online payment processor Codapay, and mobile payments solution provider goSwift. Each of the 15 startups that participated in the event had to pitch the company to a panel of judges, which was composed of financial technology experts and entrepreneurs from the Asia-Pacific region.

BitSpark will be competing against 20 other fintech startups in the finals. Besides the Asian competition winners, finalists from Innotribe competitions held in North America, Africa and Europe will also be competing. The North American showcase has yet to held, and so far only one other digital currency startup progressed to finals. Elliptic, a secure storage service for a variety of assets using the blockchain, won the European showcase in April.

Connecting offline remittances

BitSpark secured a spot in the finals with a new service they announced during the competition. BitSpark CEO George Harrap told Bitcoin Magazine the new service is a way for offline remittance agents to offer online remittances through the startup’s Bitcoin international technology.

“With Bitspark, traditionally offline small business remittance shops (who can service the unbanked) are brought online, and online remittance services (who cannot access the unbanked/unconnected) are now able to connect with unbanked customers,” said Harrap.

The new service aims to solve of one of Bitcoin remittances’ biggest hurdles: digital. The vast majority of senders and receivers are still offline, cash-loving and might not have the best access to the Internet.

Online is still tiny part of global remittances, around 10 to 15 percent, though that is changing. BitSpark will continue to follow the company’s philosophy of “bitcoin in the background,” or cash-in and cash-out, so consumers don’t need to bother handling the digital currency.

BitSpark already operates its online Bitcoin remittance service in a several parts of Asia, including mainland China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Hong Kong. The startup uses only Bitcoin as payment rails, and users send and receive fiat. It has previously explored ways to cater to offline remitters with pre-paid cards in the Philippines and a physical point-of-presence in Hong Kong.

Developing an agent network

BitSpark will try to entice remittance agents to join the startup’s service by offering a subscription-fee model instead of the commission model offered by Western Union, MoneyGram and others. Attracting agents and building a large agent network is crucial for the success of the service.

Instead of giving a cut of each transaction to BitSpark, agents within their network will pay a yet-to-be-defined monthly fee to be part of the service. According to Harrap, the pricing model will put much more cash in the pockets of agents compared to existing remittance companies.

The Bitcoin startup said it already has a number of operators signed up, but whether the different fee model will be compelling enough to incentivize the number of agents it needs to join is a big if. Established offline remittance services offer a trusted brand and large customer base, both of which are huge for getting volume and subsequent agent earnings. Though it varies from country to country, in many places agents make between 30 percent to 45 percent.

That percentage might seem small, but even with a large cut going to remittance companies such as Western Union, agents are likely making a good living from the large volume provided by such brands.

BitSpark did not elaborate in detail about the new service but said more information would be available closer its launch in July.

The post BitSpark Wins Innotribe 2015 Singapore Semi-Finals and Announces New Offline Service appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

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Deep Web Documentary Shines Light on the Rise and Fall of the Silk Road

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On February 4, 2015, a young man named Ross Ulbricht was convicted of seven charges laid in a U.S. Federal Court in Manhattan. On May 29, 2015, he was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.

He was accused of being the owner and operator of the Silk Road website, the most popular online drug marketplace.

The indictment charged Ulbricht in seven counts, including narcotics trafficking, narcotics trafficking by means of the Internet, conspiring to commit narcotics trafficking, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiring to commit or aid and abet computer hacking, conspiring to traffic in fraudulent identification documents, and conspiring to commit money laundering.

Filmmaker Alex Winter has written, directed, and produced a film outlining the story of the rise and fall of Silk Road called Deep Web. It premieres on May 31st at 8PM on Epix.

The documentary tells the story of the rise and fall of Silk Road, bringing the viewer into the world of U.S. law enforcement agencies during their early monitoring and seizure of the website, follows Ulbricht’s court case, and documents the present work of one group of people trying to rebuild a decentralized version of the Silk Road.

It includes testimonials from government officials, law enforcement, crypto-anarchists, ex-Silk Road vendors, and people who knew Ulbricht personally.

The filmmakers provide an impartial recounting of this shocking story while bringing to light important topics of discussion.

“I really tried to shine a light on aspects of the story that I wasn’t seeing,” says Winter. “It’s a complex thing to tell a story about for that reason. It’s very easy to paint a story black and white, So a lot of painstaking effort was made to dig into the roots of what these movements are about and examine the grays of what’s seen as a black and white story.”

The documentary’s footage of Ulbricht reveals an idealistic, fun-loving, and liberty-minded young American man whose life is paradoxically juxtaposed with that of a drug kingpin. His character straddles the line of between hero and villain throughout the story.

Creating such a comprehensive look at this whole story wasn’t without its challenges for the filmmakers.

“Creating this film required a fairly comprehensive understanding of the tech,” says Winter. “You also have to have an understanding of the people in the tech communities and get at what their motives are and what they’re trying to accomplish; look at hard truths that may not be palatable to people, and just try to paint a human face of the individual convicted of this crime since the counter narrative is so strong; trying to swim against that current is also challenging.”

Bitcoin Magazine spoke to Lyn Ulbricht, Ross Ulbricht’s mother at the SXSW premiere of Deep Web.

“He was pretty upset,” said Lynn Ulbricht. “It was very tough on him. The trial was emotionally draining; very hard on all of us. Since then, he really tries to be positive. He’s strong and resilient. He tells me that when he was feeling restless he started working out. He’s coping but it’s tough. He’s very cut off. I’m proud of him. “

“This case is very important,” concluded Lynn Ulbricht. “There’s evidence pointing to the fact that the Silk Road server was accessed illegally. It sets precedent going into the digital age that will affect all of us. It’s not just about Ross.”

News that two federal agents used their government position for the robbery and extortion of large sums of money from the Silk Road has recently surfaced.

Ulbricht’s attorneys filed a motion for a new trial on March 6 on the grounds that the government’s failure to provide this exculpatory material in a timely manner denied Ross his fifth amendment right to due process and fair trial.

Not denying that the criminal case against these former agents alleges corruption, judge Katherine Forrest has denied a retrial for Ulbricht. According to her ruling, “This motion for a new trial…does not address how any additional evidence, investigation, or time would have raised even a remote probability that the outcome of the trial would be any different.”

Winter is hoping to bring this story to everyday people and make them think about things that they would’ve otherwise given thought to.

“I hope that this project challenges people enough to dig deeper. I hope that people have enough humanity to question things. I hope that it provides impetus for more nuanced discourse about the internet and the movements around the internet that I think are very important.”

Overall, this gripping documentary demands the viewer’s’ attention and contains the staunch realization that we are entering the “future”. Along with that comes problems like cyber crime and unknown hacking methods used by both citizens and governments. Some questions to be asked are: Is it safer for drug deals to go on online? What are the US citizen’s relationship to their government? Is this altering?

The post Deep Web Documentary Shines Light on the Rise and Fall of the Silk Road appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

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EP 69: Grantcoin is Here to Empower!

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Magic WordHidden in each episode of Bitcoins and Gravy is a Magic Word. I know that it may sound absurd, but listen for the Magic Word and you can earn LTBcoin! First set up a free account at LetsTalkBitcoin.com. Then tune in to your favorite LTB podcast and when you hear the Magic Word, don't delay! Submit it to your account and by doing so you will earn a portion of the week's LTBcoin distribution. Setting up an LTB account has always been fast and easy . . . and now it's profitable!!!

TRANSCRIPTIONSGreat news listeners! Our transcription page is now live on the website thanks to the continuing hard work of one of our loyal listeners who is also a consultant to the show.We are striving to roll out each new transcript within a short period of time following the release of each podcast. We are also working on eventually going back and transcribing MOST of the archived episodes, starting with Episode #51 and working our way back until we completed the very first episode, Episode #1, Numero Uno of Bitcoins and Gravy! Our ultimate goal is have most episodes of Bitcoins and Gravy transcribed and available to you the listener for free. These Professional transcriptions are provided each week by one of our fans who can be found at:

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CREDITS

-- Grantcoin website: http://ift.tt/1Ji5iMr-- @Grantcoin Twitter account: https://twitter.com/grantcoin-- Grantcoin business plan (27 pages PDF): http://ift.tt/1LOTAub-- Grantcoin white paper (15 pages PDF): http://ift.tt/1JdfSGm-- Grantcoin market on Bittrex: http://ift.tt/1LOTAud

Ode To Satoshi

Lead Vocal, Harmony Vocals, Harmonica, Snare Drum: John BarrettHarmony vocals: John Barrett, Connie Sinclair and Lij ShawGuitar: Jonathan BrownMandolin: Ben MillerBass Guitar: Michael Rinne

Initial tracks recorded by Mark Thornton of Sidekick Sound Studios, Madison, TN. All other tracks Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at The Toy Box Studio, Nashville, TennesseeEngineer: Lij Shaw. Assistant to engineer: Don 'œThe Don' BatesProduced by John Barrett & Elijah 'œLij' Shaw

Theme song 'œGravy' by the band, Eleanor Roosevelt with Elijah 'œLij' Shaw on fiddle.

And a big thank you for moral support from my good friends at The Tennessee Bitcoin Alliance:TennesseeBitcoin.org

Questions or Comments?

Email me to say Howdy!: howdy@bitcoinsandgravy.com

Visit theWebsite: BitcoinsAndGravy.com

Bitcoins and Gravy Tipping Addresses:

Bitcoin: 1ByqQXLTm9JZGSwnfqCCakaifBt3grQkXSLitecoin: LgqYgxLTBPgr8C1JGLLJVLK4ZN1fveprAp

And if you don't feel like contacting me, just kick back, relax and enjoy the show.I hope you enjoy listening to my guests as much as I enjoy talking

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The Bitcoin Game #18 - Jeremy Gardner & Adam Hayes

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Hello, welcome to episode 18 of The Bitcoin Game, I'm Rob Mitchell.

In today's show we start with a presentation by Jeremy Gardner, who co-founded the College Cryptocurrency Network and is Director of Operations at Augur. In his talk, Creating a Sustainable Blockchain Ecosystem, Jeremy gives his views on blockchains now and into the future.

Then we turn to experienced market trader and economist Adam Hayes, who presents What Factors Give Cryptocurrencies Their Value: An Empirical Analysis.

Note that some audience questions aren't audible.

MAGIC WORD

Listen for the magic word, and submit it to your LetsTalkBitcoin.com account to claim a share of this week's distribution of LTBcoin. Listeners now have a full week from the release date to claim a magic word. The magic word for this episode must be submitted by 1:00pm Pacific Time on June 5, 2015.

SHOW LINKS

College Crypto Network
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Augur
http://www.augur.net

Adam Hayes' Cryptocurrency Papers
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Texas Bitcoin Conference
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Send Small Donations to Red Cross for Nepal Earthquake Recovery
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SPONSOR

Bitcoin Keychains by Bkeychain
You've seen these keychains on dozens and dozens of websites, it's about time you had one of your own! These substantial metal keychains make great conversation starters, and they also make great gifts to or from Bitcoiners. You can find a list of online retailers at Bkeychain.com, and several support Bitcoin so much, they don't even accept fiat currency. So what are you waiting for?
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MUSIC

All music in this episode was created by me, or with friends and family. Ganesh Painting Company is the name of one of the jam bands I feature live recordings of regularly. Some of the musicians you're hearing are Mike Coleman, Rick Marshal, and Mark Denham. Feel free to contact me if you want more info about any music you hear on the podcast.

Thanks for listening!

STAY IN TOUCH

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Email me at Rob at TheBitcoinGame.com

BOUNTY FOR TYPOS AND ERRORS

Found an error or typo on this page? Is the magic word not working for you? Be the first to let me know privately (such as sending me an email or private message), and I'll send you some LTBcoin.

The Bitcoin Game box artwork created from an illustration by Rock Barcellos.

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Silk Road Operator Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

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Ross Ulbricht has been sentenced to life in prison for the operation of Silk Road, the now-defunct online dark market.

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The Tatiana Show: Dealing with Sociopaths

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Today's guests on The Tatiana Show, Julia Tourianski and Gigi Bowman, talk about sociopaths in the Liberty and Bitcoin movements. Tatiana describes her own experiences with Galt's Gulch and PANDA, and the disappointment and disillusionment that came with those experiences. Together, they discuss what we can do as a community to make it easier to come forward about these people.

Video Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqQW5a4dJMk

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Bitcoin Gets ‘Slashdotted’ and the Creation of Mt. Gox

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From DIGITAL GOLD by Nathaniel Popper

Headphones on and an oversize can of MadCroc energy drink by his side, Martti sat at his dorm room desk, giddy. Slashdot, a go-to news site for computer geeks the world over, was going to post an article about Martti’s pet project. Bitcoin, largely ignored over the last year, was on the verge of receiving global attention.

The campaign to get Bitcoin real press coverage had begun a few weeks earlier, not long after Martti finished his three-month internship at Siemens. A new version of Bitcoin, version 0.3, was being prepared for release by Satoshi, and the regulars on the forum saw a perfect opportunity to get the word out. Martti agreed with a handful of other users that Slashdot would be the best place to do this.

“Slashdot with its millions of tech-savvy readers would be awesome, perhaps the best imaginable!” Martti wrote on the forum. “I just hope the server can stand getting ‘slashdotted.’ ”

A small crew went back and forth about the right language to submit to the Slashdot editors. Satoshi got his hackles up when someone suggested Bitcoin be sold as “outside the reach of any government.”

“I am definitely not making any such taunt or assertion,” Satoshi wrote.

He quickly apologized for being a wet blanket: “Writing a description for this thing for general audiences is bloody hard. There’s nothing to relate it to.”

After Martti suggested his own changes, the final version made the more modest assertion that “the community is hopeful the currency will remain outside the reach of any government.”

When the item went online, shortly after midnight in Helsinki, it wasn’t anything more than the single paragraph the Bitcoin team had submitted.

“How’s this for a disruptive technology?” it began. “Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer, network-based digital currency with no central bank, and no transaction fees.”

Despite the modesty of the item, the Internet chat channel that Martti had established for the Bitcoin community quickly lit up. NewLibertyStandard wrote: “front page!!!”

Regulars like Laszlo made a point of being on the Bitcoin chat channel, to answer questions and serve as a tour guide of sorts for any newbies who checked in after reading the story. In his dorm room, Martti posted a message on Facebook: “If I was a smoker, I would have smoked two packs already.”

Martti watched as the counters, which tracked the number of users on the forum and the chat channel, ticked steadily upward. Messages crowded his forum in-box; and the Bitcoin website, running on servers that could not handle more than one hundred viewers at a time, began to slow. Within an hour, the limit was reached and the whole site went down. Martti scrambled to scale up the site’s capacity with the company that rented him space. But this, and the derogatory comments that showed up under the Slashdot item, did not dampen his enthusiasm. This was what he’d been waiting for for months.

Chapter 5

July 12, 2010

When he awoke late, the morning after the Slashdot posting, Martti Malmi saw that the attention was not a hit-and- run phenomenon. People weren’t just taking a look at the site and moving on. They were also downloading and running the Bitcoin software. The number of downloads would jump from around three thousand in June to over twenty thousand in July. The day after the Slashdot piece appeared, Gavin Andresen’s Bitcoin faucet gave away 5,000 Bitcoins and was running empty. As he begged for donations, he marveled at the strength of the network:

Over the last two days of Bitcoin being “slashdotted” I haven’t heard of ANY problems with Bitcoin transactions getting lost, or of the network crashing due to the load, or any problem at all with the core functionality.

But while the Bitcoin software itself was working well, new users quickly ran up against the limitations of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Those who immediately wanted to acquire more Bitcoins than were available from Gavin’s faucet were left with only a few meager options, one of them a creaky, unreliable service that Martti had set up a few months earlier.

Jed McCaleb was one of the people who encountered this weakness. A native of Arkansas, Jed had been raised by his single mother, who made a living as a journalist. From a young age, Jed had been something of a math and science prodigy, and this allowed him to make it to Berkeley for college. Jed, though, had trouble sticking with things, and he soon dropped out of Berkeley and moved to New York. There he and a partner set up what became one of the main successors to Napster. His software, eDonkey, made it possible for individuals to trade large files like movies and it proved so successful that the Recording Industry Association of America sued Jed and his business partner. They eventually paid $30 million to settle the case and shut eDonkey down, but they also earned a few million along the way.

Despite being a soft-spoke introvert, Jed had a cool way about him that helped him make friends and girlfriends. When one of his romantic flings ended up pregnant, he and the woman, MiSoon, decided somewhat spontaneously to keep the baby and make a go of it. They used some of Jed’s earnings to buy an estate with a pool an hour or so north of New York City, just as they were expecting a second baby. In the sprawling, mostly empty house, Jed threw himself into an online game he had created called The Far Wilds, which had attracted only a few aficionados. He spent endless hours in a first-floor bedroom, which he had turned into a den. Books about neuroscience and artificial intelligence piled up around him—as did old food, attracting bugs that MiSoon initially tried to get rid of, but later came to accept as one of the side effects of Jed’s brilliant mind.

When Jed came across the Slashdot post about Bitcoin he was immediately intrigued. It seemed to fulfill many of the ideals behind Napster and eDonkey—taking power from authorities and giving it to individuals. But when Jed tried to buy some actual Bitcoins, he ran into the limitations of the few existing sites that sold them.

MiSoon was nursing their newborn son when she wandered into Jed’s study one night and encountered his frustration.

“There’s this really cool thing called Bitcoin— it’s like this nerd, libertarian thing,” Jed told MiSoon, in his hushed, intense voice. “But it’s so lame. I can’t buy any at night.”

Jed said he wanted to build a site himself where he could buy coins at any hour. When MiSoon arose the next morning, it was done. With some experience in amateur foreign-currency trading, Jed knew the basics of what an exchange required. But he had never actually set up a website before, having previously worked more on the sophisticated back-end software. His new Bitcoin exchange was something of a fun experiment.

He and MiSoon discussed possible names for the site. He mentioned an old domain name that he owned and was not using—mtgox.com. Jed had bought the site in 2007, for use as an online exchange to buy and sell the cards used in the role-playing game Magic: The Gathering hence the acronym for Magic: The Gathering Online Exchange. It had operated for just a few months before Jed shut it down and the site had been vacant since.

“Yeah, you should use that,” MiSoon replied. “That’s kind of weird and easy to remember. Why not if you already have it registered?”

Seven days after the Slashdot post, Jed casually advertised his new site on the Bitcoin forum:

Hi Everyone,

I just put up a new Bitcoin exchange.

Please let me know what you think.

Mt. Gox was a significant departure from the exchanges that already existed, primarily because Jed offered to take money from customers into his PayPal account and thereby risk violating the PayPal prohibition on buying and selling currencies. This meant that Jed could receive funds from almost anywhere in the world. What’s more, customers didn’t have to send Jed money each time they wanted to do a trade. Instead, they could hold money—both dollars and Bitcoins— in Jed’s account and then trade in either direction at any time as long as they had sufficient funds, much as in a traditional brokerage account.

These advances made it significantly more convenient to buy and sell Bitcoins, but also brought new dangers that threatened to betray some of the currency’s basic principles. Satoshi had designed Bitcoin to eliminate the need for trusted central authorities. It was supposed to be a new money that people could hold on their own, without a bank, secured with a private key that only the user knew. Mt. Gox customers would be moving back to the old model in which a single institution—Jed’s company—held everyone’s money. If Jed offered good security measures, this might prove safer than holding coins on a home computer. But Jed was not a security expert, and if he did somehow lose the private keys to the exchange’s digital wallets, his customers had little recourse. Unlike the banks that Bitcoiners had bashed, Mt. Gox had no deposit insurance and no regulators overseeing the safety and soundness of Jed’s operation. The choice was between security and principles on one hand and convenience on the other.

The post Bitcoin Gets ‘Slashdotted’ and the Creation of Mt. Gox appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

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Koinify to Stop Token Sales Ahead of Platform Pivot

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Blockstream Starts Development on the Lightning Network

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The authors of the much-discussed Bitcoin Sidechains paper “Enabling Blockchain Innovations with Pegged Sidechains,” released in October, have formed the company Blockstream to develop new ways to accelerate innovation in digital currencies, open assets and smart contracts. In November, Blockstream closed a $21 million seed funding round with nearly 40 investors, including well-known pioneers of the Internet and financial services sectors.

The Bitcoin Sidechains paper envisages an ecosystem of “sidechains” separate from the main Bitcoin blockchain but interoperable with it. A sidechain can carry bitcoin as currency, in which case users will be able to seamlessly transfer bitcoin between the sidechain and the main blockchain. At the same time, the sidechain can implement changes from Bitcoin Core. For example, a sidechain can implement more powerful scripting features or more watertight privacy.

For a readable explanation of sidechains, see “A simple explanation of Bitcoin ‘Sidechains,” by Richard Gendal Brown, executive architect for banking innovation at IBM UK.

“[A]t any point, whoever is holding these coins on the sidechain can send them back to the Bitcoin network by creating a special transaction on the sidechain that immobilizes the bitcoins on the sidechain,” explains Gendal Brown. “They’ll disappear from the sidechain and become available again on the Bitcoin network, under the control of whoever last owned them on the sidechain.”

The deployment of sidechains interoperable with Bitcoin requires the implementation of suitable hooks in Bitcoin Core. That will inevitably take some time, but it’s worth noting that some Blockstream team members are also Bitcoin Core developers.

In February, developers Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja released a first draft version another much-discussed paper, proposing a decentralized Bitcoin Lightning Network where related transactions can take place instantly on “micropayment channels” off-chain, and only the final settlement is processed by the blockchain. According to the authors, lightning networks would enable bitcoin scalability, efficient micropayments, and near-instant transactions.

The implementation of lightning networks would also require appropriate tweaks to Bitcoin core. Some developers have noted that there is a certain degree of affinity between sidechains and lightning networks.

“Other approaches seek to modify Bitcoin protocols in various ways,” wrote Robert McGrath. “For example, Sidechains aim to create alternative blockchains hanging off the main blockchain, which would help limit the costs of the main blockchain. Another variant is the Lightning network, which aims to allow some transactions to be performed “on the side,” and on send the results to the main blockchain.”

Rusty Russel, an Australian developer known for his work on the Linux kernel, wrote a series of blog posts about interesting features of lightning networks. “The key revelation of the paper is that we can have a network of arbitrarily complicated transactions, such that they aren’t on the blockchain (and thus are fast, cheap and extremely scalable), but at every point are ready to be dropped onto the blockchain for resolution if there’s a problem,” he said. “This is genuinely revolutionary.”

Now it appears that the development efforts for sidechains and lightning networks are coming together. Russel, who joined Blockstream a few weeks ago, is working on lightning networks, and one of his first actions was to set up a Blockstream-hosted mailing list for “Discussion of the development of the Lightning Network, a caching layer for bitcoin.” The new mailing list archives are freely accessible.

“They hired me,” Russel said on Reddit. “We agreed I’d be working on developing lightning. I set up a mailing list and am developing a toy prototype to explore the ideas. Will put on github once that’s ready (two weeks?) but it’s a long long way from anything someone could use. I’m excited about lightning, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

The post Blockstream Starts Development on the Lightning Network appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

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Bitcoin in the Headlines: A Clash of Economics

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Despite featuring its fair share of salacious material this week's news cycle was more mature in its assessment of bitcoin as a financial technology.

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Two Bitcoin Companies Make the Fox Business List of 30 Hot Fintech Startups

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Fox Business published a list of 30 top fintech startups to watch in the Bay Area. The list includes two Bitcoin companies that offer simple and effective solutions for important real-world problems.

BTCjam allows users to invest their bitcoin and earn a high rate of return. This process is secure and allows investors to participate in peer-to-peer lending. BTCjam is also a great place for those seeking loans, and especially for the residents of developing countries without a national credit scoring system who are subject to aggressive predatory lending practices when they need to borrow money from traditional lenders.

Using cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, and tapping foreign lenders, helps BTCjam avoid regulatory issues, TechCrunch reported in 2014.

“We are one of the first real use cases for bitcoin,” said founder Celso Cardoso Pitta Jr. “Today people circle around buying and selling of bitcoin, but I don’t think bitcoin increases in value because it’s a commodity or a currency. It needs to be useful.”

BTCjam is a marketplace where people from around the world connect to borrow and lend using bitcoin. By the end of 2014, the company had facilitated bitcoin loans in excess of $10 million dollars in value with more than 100,000 users worldwide. BTCjam created an online credit scoring system to qualify borrowers from all over the world and allow them to build a transparent credit profile on the platform.

“Our disruptive credit model is providing a new path to financial freedom for users from over 200 countries around the world,” states the BTCjam website. The investors, who loan their money to qualified borrowers, can earn interest up to 19.3 percent. Therefore, the BTCjam solution seems a win-win for both borrowers and investors – provided, of course, the borrowers repay their loans.

Credit ratings on BTCJam are determined by many variables. Borrowers can improve their score by having their identity, address, credit score and social accounts verified, and developing a good credit history on BTCJam. The company recently announced its new feature AutoInvest, which automatically diversifies an investment budget into select loans that meet an investor’s selected portfolio criteria and risk preferences.

Epiphyte (a name that will be familiar to readers of Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon) provides enterprise software solutions for financial service providers to securely integrate with cryptofinancial networks. The company’s software allows financial service providers to convert the currency of one nation to bitcoin, make an international transfer, and change the bitcoin into the currency of the destination country. Epiphyte, a winner of the Innotribe Startup Challenge in October 2015, claims that its software operates well with crypto-financial networks and bridges the traditional financial services with the latest in bitcoin technology.

Epiphyte’s solution avoids traditional money movement avenues and instead converts currency to bitcoin, moves the coins, then cashes them out on the other end in the local tender. The bitcoin are moved for a fraction of the cost of traditional money transfers using exchanges such as Coinbase and BitPay, which take on the currency risk.

Banks, for example, will be able to integrate with cryptocurrencies over traditional protocols such as SWIFT. Epiphyte’s first product provides banks with a low-risk way to provide services to their customers. The company is rolling out a pilot implementation of this product.

The value proposition of the company is to help banks to provide lower-cost international remittance services by leveraging the innovative solutions provided by Bitcoin startups, which, again, is a win-win for banks and Bitcoin companies, and, of course, for consumers.

The post Two Bitcoin Companies Make the Fox Business List of 30 Hot Fintech Startups appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

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Bitcoin is Better with Friends

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One of the best ways to educate friends about bitcoin is to simply send them some bits. The power of the Bitcoin network becomes real to newcomers when they receive bits and instantly have the ability to send them anywhere in the world for free.

We’re constantly striving to make it easier for people to send bits to friends, and today we're excited to highlight a few updates that we recently pushed out on mobile:

Google App Invites: Android users can now use Google App Invites to seamlessly invite Google contacts to download Coinbase on Android. We are one of 5 launch partners for Google's new App Invites toolkit and we’re offering a double sided 100 bit referral bonus. Both you and your friend get 100 bits for each new app download.

alt

More intuitive send/request page on iOS and Android: Based on feedback from the community, we’ve made it easier to send and request bitcoin on mobile. You can now send to and request from recent contacts and Google contacts by scrolling through the recipient field and clicking rather than entering a full email address.

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Bitcoin makes it easier for friends from around the world to transfer value. If you have friends either domestically or abroad that you would like to educate about Bitcoin, we hope you’ll share some bits with them via our iOS and Android apps!

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The Tatiana Show with guest Pamela Morgan

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Meet Pamela Morgan - Tatiana's favorite Bitcoin lawyer. On today's installment of The Tatiana Show, Pamela gives a clear introduction to the concept of decentralized law and unlocks the mysteries of "smart contracts." Pamela also talks about the importance of multi-sig security for online accounts and other developments in technology designed to prevent theft, corruption, and embezzlement. She also delves into topics of related to today's legal systems, such as decentralized, international jury pools. Together, Pamela and Tatiana examine the implications of all these concepts on liberty, personal accountability, and justice, both at home and abroad,

Pamela Morgan is an attorney, educator, entrepreneur, and public speaker. She has spent almost her entire career working in and advising small businesses. She began focusing her law practice on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in early 2014. She is a widely respected authority on multi-signature governance, smart contracts, and legal innovation with cryptocurrencies. Third Key Solutions is the culmination of her work advising bitcoin startups in multi-signature governance processes and key management. Follow Pamela @pamelawjd or visit empoweredlaw.com

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akYw1KmRz0o

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BREAKING: Bitcoin Company Bitspark Wins Semi-Finals at SWIFT Supported Innotribe Competition

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Developer Creates Solution for Bitcoin Ransomware

Over the course of 2015, many individuals and companies have been affected by ransomware. While this may have nothing to do with Bitcoin at first ...

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Circle's Bitcoin App Receives Honourable Mention at Google I/O

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Circle's bitcoin Android app has received an honourable mention at Google's I/O Conference. The two-day event, which showcases the tech giant's latest products, featured Circle's app in its best-in-class category, which "recognises excellence in applying material design in the creation of engaging user experiences". As the only bitcoin or financial application showcased,Circle's offering was featured […]

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Australia's Commonwealth Bank Latest to Experiment With Ripple

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Australia's Commonwealth Bank announced it would use Ripple technology at its subsidiaries, with a view to incorporating digital currencies in future.

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Thursday 28 May 2015

Creator of Silk Road Website Faces Sentencing for Drug Scheme

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Silk Road Operator Ross Ulbricht to Be Sentenced Tomorrow

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Convicted Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht faces decades, if not life, in prison at a sentencing hearing tomorrow in New York.

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Dream Lover Now Lets You Pay Bitcoin for Virtual Romance

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Users of virtual relationship service Dream Lover can now spend bitcoin to communicate with adult models.

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BTC-e Blames New US Policy for Wire Transfer Issues

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European bitcoin exchange BTC-e is reportedly experiencing problems with US bank wires.

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'New Frontier' of Bitcoin Cybercrime Explored at Barcelona Event

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Bitcoin attackers present "a new frontier" for cybercrime, a gathering of top security specialists heard in Barcelona this week.

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Bitnodes Launches 'Power-Efficient' Bitseed Rival

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Addy Yeow, the developer behind Bitnodes, has released a new hardware bitcoin node. According to the website, which monitors bitcoin node performance worldwide, the Bitnodes Hardware B1 model comes equipped with the latest version of Bitcoin Core and is said to be a "low footprint quad-core single-board computer built and configured to operate a dedicated bitcoin full node". In […]

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Pinn Wins Top Prize for Hand-Free Bitcoin Payments App

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Pinn placed first at a recent demo day for a solution that enables bitcoin and fiat payments without the user every touching their cell phone.

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Tembusu Systems to Launch TRUST Digital Money Platform for Businesses and Governments

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Tembusu Systems Pte Ltd., a digital currency platform provider based in Singapore that counted Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis among its advisers, announced that it will soon begin implementing digital currency payments using its TRUST framework.

According to the Tembusu website, Tembusu’s TRUST framework is a global infrastructure that lets verified individuals transfer and manage assets instantly, securely, simply and inexpensively. Based on blockchain technology, it enables payment using different currencies – real-world, digital or even gold and silver. The system was developed to integrate traditional currency platforms with the emerging blockchain technology that drives digital currencies such as bitcoin.

“TRUST is taking its first step into getting widespread adoption and integration with existing systems,” said Tembusu co-founder and CEO Andras Kristof. “We’re planning to try out several possible use cases with current payment systems in Singapore, and the success of this trial will see the use of digital currency payment systems being extended into real-world context.”

A first demo, conducted in local uptown bar The Spiffy Dapper – which also hosted Singapore’s first Bitcoin ATM in 2014 – showed how the TRUST framework could be easily implemented with a computer or mobile device attached to existing POS systems. An interesting feature of the TRUST system is that it allows consumers to withdraw cash through participating businesses by processing currencies from their digital wallets to the POS systems. Businesses will then be able to cash out the digital payment into cash for consumers over the counter.

“The potential for blockchain technology is seemingly limitless, and Tembusu Systems is continuously exploring using our TRUST platform in other applications,” said Tembusu co-founder and COO Jarrod Luo. “Our goal is not to replace other payment systems like NETS and credit cards, or even checks. In fact, we are hoping the TRUST platform can be developed to integrate with these other systems, to become an organic payment integrator in time to come.”

TRUST, a next-generation distributed blockchain technology, stands for “Tembusu Reputation-based Universally Secure Transaction System.” The Tembusu website outlines the advantages of the platforms for consumers and businesses, and includes as well a section titled “TRUST for Governments.”

The government section outlines the benefits of TRUST from the point of view of central banks, law enforcement and regulatory bodies: Every user on the TRUST network is a real and identifiable person, every transaction is permanently recorded and verifiable on the blockchain (so taxes can be easily filed and verified), and the cost of maintaining and creating physical money can be reduced by using a robust, persistent, low-cost cryptocurrency.

These statements seem to imply that Tembusu is planning to develop custom implementations of the TRUST platform for governments. In fact, governments are warming up to the idea of state-controlled cryptocurerncies, with rumors of “Fedcoin” in the United States and some kind of “Eurocoin” in Europe. Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis wrote a blog post in February proposing a cryptocurrency dubbed Future Tax Coin (FT-Coin). Varoufakis is not impressed by bitcoin as a currency, but he is persuaded that its underlying technology could be put to effective use in troubled economies.

Varoufakis was an adviser to Tembusu Systems and helped to build a key part of its founding strategy until the end of 2014. Though Varoufakis has not played any active role for Tembusu since his decision to stand in Greece’s elections, the company still considers him as an adviser because of his foundational contributions. Therefore, it seems plausible that systems such as TRUST for governments could be candidates for actual implementation in Greece. In fact, Tembusu System stated that it is keen to explore working partnerships with institutions that want to leverage the power of the blockchain for their operations.

Image via tembusu.sg.

The post Tembusu Systems to Launch TRUST Digital Money Platform for Businesses and Governments appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

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