BITCON... WHY its totally FLAWED

bordsilver said:
Apologies in advance if I'm repeating previous discussions (the Bitcoin threads are getting quite large), but I've seen numerous references to one of the attractions of Bitcoin being its "anonymity".

The closest to a real discussion on here that I've found was Bullion Baron's questions way back on Page 18. I stumbled across this interview with Bitcoin Watch founder Jeff Garzin that discusses the issue including getting the US Govt etc on board.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhj1zeisqWY[/youtube]

Key part starts at about 2:45.

Also this article An Analysis of Anonymity in the Bitcoin System
Any response from the experts?
 
All bitcoins are assigned to a public key only, no other infromation is in the blockchain. The person who has the private key for the public key is the one who has access to those bitcoins.

If there is any kind of public connection between you and a public key then the transactions for that public key are NOT anonymous. If there isn't then it is anonymous.

So, it all depends. For most people it won't be. But if you really want it to be anonymous then I'm sure you can do so, you just have to be careful in who you do transactions with.
 
hawkeye said:
All bitcoins are assigned to a public key only, no other infromation is in the blockchain. The person who has the private key for the public key is the one who has access to those bitcoins.

If there is any kind of public connection between you and a public key then the transactions for that public key are NOT anonymous. If there isn't then it is anonymous.

So, it all depends. For most people it won't be. But if you really want it to be anonymous then I'm sure you can do so, you just have to be careful in who you do transactions with.
So you're saying that Bitcoins are inherently open/public and that, just like any internet activity, you need to actively take steps to deliberately make the transaction anonymous (through TOR or something - whatever that is)?
 
bordsilver said:
So you're saying that Bitcoins are inherently open/public and that, just like any internet activity, you need to actively take steps to deliberately make the transaction anonymous (through TOR or something - whatever that is)?

I would say it has the facility for anonymity. That doesn't mean that all accounts are anonymous.
 
I've actually been thinking about this in terms of my account and just how anonymous it is. I think once you do a transfer into a fiat currency bank account you've now created a connection between yourself and that bitcoin public key.

If you are buying stuff on the internet, it all depends what the person's reporting requirements are. Do govt's regard swapping bitcoins for other goods as a taxable event? Seems like effectively barter to me atm but I really have no idea what silly rules govt has made in this regard.
 
Making transactions fully anonymous is easy, I'm not going to go into the technicalities or ways, but if you are truly interested install the TOR browser bundle and hit up the Silk Road forums (not the market itself). There is so much information on remaining completely off the grid even when cashing back to fiat, it is quite impressive.

Another good site to check out for randomising payments is Bitfog, once again you need a TOR capable browser.

(For a certian person participating in this discussion who will need this to understand, TOR is a browsing function (or stand alone browser) that when set up properly makes any websites you look up, and everything you do via TOR anonymous and unable to be traced back to your location).


RetardedMonkey said:
Prospector, can you tell me when to get out of BTC this time? I want to sell at top and buy back in :P

Hahaha well, I've just effectively paid $120.75 for some and I'm planning on selling at either $148ish or $198ish (or much less?)...I'll just keep an eye on the market depth.

...and if they drop, well I'll just sell them on eBay haha, even after eBay fees they still seem to sell for well over "spot" price.
 
RetardedMonkey said:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=14085.msg1883478#msg1883478

Ozco.in's payout script was hacked. They just deposited 934 BTC that was borrowed to pay their miners and now it's all gone to one address.

Wow - hacking BTC is becoming huge business.

Imagine how many people are trying to work out how to hack Mt Gox right now...I hate to think.

I like 85% sure Gox hold everyones BTC in a giant pool, if someone got in properly then could clean it out.

If you ever try blockchain transaction traces from Gox wallet to Gox wallet, they never hit the blockchain, thats dodgy if you ask me and reeks of a pooled account.

Could be ripe for an MF Global CFD type scandal in the BTC world!

Anyone keen for a good BTC scam read, check out the story of Silk Road seller EnterTheMatrix, they were a top 1% seller worldwide (doing millions and millions of USD turnover a year)and after two years at the top they pulled a huge exit scam...I can't help but admire the balls on him/her/them.
 
Yeah, at current rates OzCoin just got hacked for about $110,000 USD.

The issue with hacking MtGox and clearing them out, is that you run the risk of them becoming worthless overnight.

Better off siphoning them out of it slowly...
 
Even if Mt Gox went down right now - never to return, I now feel BTC would survive, maybe only at $5 or less on other exchanges - but the economy would keep flowing.

Black market sites are apparently worth over 100 million USD a year in turnover now, so plenty of people would still need to buy and sell Bitcoins, and thats not even considering the more legitimate places that accept them (and gambling sites), which are becoming more and more common.
 
Why is bitcoin designed to be mined, using a whole heap of electricity?
Why not just create the maximum amount from the begining?
Seems very wastefull and will become more wastefull as the difficulty increases, just think its bad for the environment.
Donn't get me wrong here, I'm not having a go at bitcoin, just cant see the point of wasting so much energy to create something that is basically a tiny electric charge on a computer. Can anybody explain?
 
aleks said:
anyone know currently what is the best way to transfer funds from mtgox to btce?

You mean in $?
Best be probably to get BTC, then send BTC to BTC-E, and then convert to LTC or else if that is your plan.
But I guess you want to send $ and get the better BTC price on BTC-E... I don't know how to do it, but let us know if you figure a way to do so!
 
I just wanted some money to a BTC-E account, not really keen on sending BTC than would mean taking a $7/BTC hair cut
 
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