The Bitcoin

[Tombstoner]

Rather than explaining it myself, here's the Wikipedia page on it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin
If anyone wants to get into mining, I can quickly get you set up if you can't figure it out; if you want to mine as part of a pool (which you likely do,) click on this and sign up (a bit of shameless self-promotion): Tombstoner.triplemining.com/register
If you want an alternate mining pool, try mining.bitcoin.cz

[Yuzihax]

don't we have a general board for stuff like this?

[Tombstoner]

That is technically taken up by Spam and Win, yes. I just use the temp forum for all I want to show or tell GCL.

[Adrian Malacoda]

I read about Bitcoins earlier but never bothered to "get into" it. Which is a shame, because several organizations I admire (Wikileaks and FSF in particular) now take donations of bitcoins.

[ciel4]

I've given it some serious thought myself in the recent past.
I have at least 2 major concerns regarding whether or not Bitcoins are worth collecting.

1.) I have qualms about the currency's obviously questionable legitimacy and whether or not it will persist as a valid form of currency. Legitimate or not I'm still somewhat interested in mining just in case it actually does turn out to be worth something, except...

2.) My main interest in acquiring Bitcoins is actually not for monetary gain, but for the anonymity it could provide me in using it, specifically as I might choose to use it for donating to some controversial causes, (e.g. the organizations Adrian mentioned). That said, here's what the Wikipedia article has to say about Bitcoin's anonymity.

Interviewed by the press, one of the Bitcoin developers, Jeff Garzik, wrote that all Bitcoin transactions are recorded in a public log, though the identities of all the parties are anonymous, concluding that "Attempting major illicit transactions with bitcoin, given existing statistical analysis techniques deployed in the field by law enforcement, is pretty damned dumb"

Whether or not you believe me, I have no intention of attempting "major illicit transactions," but I'd still like to know before I get into Bitcoin whether there's any way I can improve my anonymity in using it.

This is probably not the right forum to ask such a question, but, is there any way to make Bitcoin transactions even more anonymous?

[iimarckus]

I am very skeptical of Bitcoin, especially with the huge crashes it’s been having lately. People have been trying to game it, using beefy machines to “mine” bitcoins. I suspect it’s just a bubble. The EFF recently stopped taking Bitcoin donations, because while they like the features, they didn’t want their acceptance of bitcoins to be seen as an endorsement of the currency.

Jul 8, 2011 13:29:04 GMT -5 ciel4 said:

My main interest in acquiring Bitcoins is actually not for monetary gain, but for the anonymity it could provide me in using it, specifically as I might choose to use it for donating to some controversial causes, (e.g. the organizations Adrian mentioned).

Bitcoin is most definitely not anonymous. It is heavily tied to public/private key encryption, which is entirely traceable (its strength is in authentication and encryption, not anonymity).

If you want anonymous currency, invest in silver.

[ciel4]

Jul 8, 2011 20:51:54 GMT -5 iimarckus said:

If you want anonymous currency, invest in silver.

;D Now that's what I'm talking about.

I've decided to give Bitcoin a shot anyway. I've started mining solo. I know pooling is generally much better, but I'm mostly just curious and want to test it out independently first. If I feel like it's worth the trouble I'll consider doing more.