Bitcoinica Issue II

I feel that the owners of Bitcoinica and its administrators should have regular blog posts or twits on what is happening so that the users of Bitcoinica can be kept up to date.   Being aware of what is happening and what is being done does give the users more relief and trust in Bitcoinica.

Bitcoinica Issue

The Bitcoinica issue is not solved yet.  And honestly speaking how it will be solve will help implications on the reputation of Bitcoin.   I really hope that it can be solved with proper compensation for those involved and that a full account of what happened be published.

Bitcoinica site is taken offline for security investigation

Bitcoinica is one of the major forex exchange of Bitcoin, similar to the world of Forex outside.  Today the owner Zhou Tong, one talented individual who singlehandedly found the web site had taken down the site as he had found something suspicious and feel that it is safer to take the site off line while doing investigations.  Wishing the Best for Zhou.

Visible Bitcoin

I would say that we handled currency notes and coins so often that without handling them, we do not feel comfortable.  It is true that credit cards and cash storage cards reduced the usage of money notes and currencies.   But to most of us, we still want to feel a coin or two.  Casascius coins are laser engraved with the Bitcoin information and are physically available.   Some of the collectible Casascius are actually in gold and silver, really a collectible item by itself.  So for those interested in Bitcoin but want to feel the physical presence of Bitcoin, do try to order one!

The Casascius Coin are uniquely designed for Bitcoin.   It is backed by real Bitcoins.   The "private key" is on a card embedded inside the coin and is protected by a tamper-evident hologram.  The hologram leaves behind a honeycomb pattern if it is peeled. If the hologram is intact, the bitcoin is good.   At the moment it is a collectible item, but I hope that as time passes more and more people will make use of the coin for transaction purposes.  Kudos to Casascius for giving us such a beautiful physical form of the Bitcoin.   Some description as well as the lovely photos above and below are being provided by Casascius Coin for illustration purposes.

Value of the Bitcoin

Lets discuss what makes a dollar worth a dollar or rather the value of that dollar.   Previously such currencies were backed by precious metals such as Gold.   US$1 may be worth a certain amount of Gold and using precious metals to back the dollars allow some value to be assigned to the dollar.   But nowadays all money are in Fiat, they are not backed by precious metals but rather by the promises of the governments issuing the currencies.

Bitcoin makes use of the concept of work.  It assumed that computational work is of value and that computational work was done to mine the Bitcoin.   The Bitcoin assumption was valid as till now despite hacking and large ups and downs of the Bitcoin, it still retain a value.  At the moment it is about US$5 to 1 Bitcoin, meaning that people or investors are valuing the work done to mine each Bitcoin at US$5.   This is how the Bitcoin derived its value.

Guiminer

For those using Windows Vista or Windows 7, I think that the easiest to use mining software will be that of the Guiminer.   It has a very simple graphic interface with extensions and commands for those who are more experienced.   You basically can't go wrong with using this as it is just click and play with a lot of the more popular mining pools' configuration already inbuilt.   Strongly recommended for those who are just starting out.

Bitcoin ATM Part II

This is the second part of the Youtube Series on Bitcoin ATM

Bitcoin ATM Part I

Bitcoin users are extremely innovative.   Do look at what has been done!  An ATM For Bitcoin.

The Efforts to make Bitcoin Mainstream

Bitcoin is an extremely innovative currency.   But innovation does not mean that it is automatically adopted especially by the economies that are already totally controlled by Fiat Money.   Bitcoin is also not dominated by Geeks, we have a lot of thoughtful Economists and Idealists who are trying their very best to bring Bitcoin mainstream.   Some of them are spending their time as well as Bitcoin to promote the usage of Bitcoins to the major organizations such as donating to these organizations in Bitcoin hoping that they will realize the advantages and adopt it.   With the efforts of all, geeks, economists and everyone involved in Bitcoin, I am sure that Bitcoin will be successful.

Bitcoin at $10

I think this should be of interest to Bitcoin speculators and investors for their reference.  Priceonomics value Bitcoin at $10 each.   But at this moment the main exchange Mtgox is trading Bitcoin at a narrow range of about $5.   Of course those holding long positions on Bitcoin will certainly wish that Bitcoin reaches $10.   I for one hope that Bitcoin prices will appreciate so that more and more miners come in and more and more awareness generated on Bitcoin and more and more users use Bitcoin!

Bitcoin Exchange

Bitcoin adopters are super innovative group of people.   Look at this Bitcoin Exchange.   They have actually launch an Exchange similar to those of New York Stock Exchange, but powered by Bitcoins.   This exchange allows users to setup IPO, sell and buy shares etc.   As efficient as any Exchange.  The most important thing is it allows Bitcoin users to attract investments to their Bitcoin project and hence grow their project as well as Bitcoin.

You can see that you can own shares as we as get funding for your projects, interesting and innovative right?   It is certainly not easy to setup an exchange.   Some examples you may be interested in:

Buying and Selling Bitcoin

Buying Bitcoin is relatively safe if you are buying from those big exchange like Mtgox.   The smaller exchanges are also quite reliable.  If you are doing an exchange with an anonymous person, the danger lies with them because when they send out Bitcoins it is irreversible, but you can charge back your credit card or Paypal.   Of course you are facing the same dangers of chargebacks if you are selling Bitcoins.  For this it is 100% safer to go through the exchanges.

Is it a good time to Mine Bitcoin?

I think I have given an introduction on Bitcoin, how to install the client and how to start mining.   But is it time to invest in Bitcoin rigs to start mining?   Granted that normal computers can no longer do effective mining.   It will take customized Bitcoin rigs or FPGAs given the current difficulty.   Is it time?   You can use a Bitcoin Calculator to decide for yourself.   My opinion is, given the current difficulty, a lot will depend on the availability of cheap electricity for yourself.   Buying FPGA is a heavy investment, but you can get relatively cheap boards with PCI-e 16 and also go to Ebay to buy some cheap GPUs to start mining.   Second hand stuff will cost much more reasonably and to allow you to proceed with the mining without incurring heavy costs.

Bitcoin Mining using GUIMiner

I love using GUIMiner, it is extremely friendly to users and extremely easy to setup.   Below are the instructions.

This is another video using another pool.