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How To Steal Bitcoins In Three Easy Steps
Over the past several months, Bitcoins have soared in popularity, acceptance and price. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before Bitcoin crime followed. As reported here previously, earlier this month, the largest heist in the history of Bitcoin was pulled off when the illegal drug bazaar Sheep Marketplace was plundered, either by hackers or insiders, and about $100 million worth of the currency was stolen from customers.
That was only the most recent heist however: the reality is that Bitcoin theft has been around for years. In June of 2011, a user named Allinvain was the victim of what is arguably the first recorded major Bitcoin theft. As The Verge reports, "Allinvain awoke to find that a hacker had stolen about half a million dollars’ worth of bitcoins. “I feel like killing myself now,” he wrote at the time."
Outright robbery is not the only crime plaguing the new digital currency, as more sophisticated thefts have emerged including ponzi schemes:
The supposedly high-return investment fund Bitcoin Savings & Trust turned out to be a pyramid scheme, its owner charged with ripping off investors for $4.5 million in bitcoins. MyBitcoin, a “wallet” service that stored bitcoins like a bank account, disappeared with about $1 million worth of users’ bitcoins. Several of the most trusted and well-known Bitcoin companies, including the Mt. Gox and the now-defunct Bitcoinica exchanges, have also suffered high-profile thefts.
Victims of credit card theft can cancel a card or reverse fraudulent transactions, but Bitcoin is attractive to thieves because its transactions are irreversible. “Bitcoin is like cash,” says Nicolas Christin, an assistant research professor at Carnegie Mellon University who has done extensive analysis of Bitcoin. “The only way to get it back is by tracking you down and basically beating you up with a lead pipe.”
So it appears that despite the advent of the digital, hard physical objects - like lead pipes - still rule supreme.
But going back to Bitcoin is, where the vast majority still aren't exactly clear what the fiat currency alternative actually is, it’s difficult to understand exactly how digital theft works. What are you stealing, exactly? And once you’ve got it, what do you do with it?
The Verge provides the explanation on how to steal Bitcoins in three easy steps:
1. Copying the keys
There is no such thing as a Bitcoin. The virtual currency is nothing more than a public ledger system, called the blockchain, that keeps track of an ever-expanding list of addresses, and how many units of bitcoin are at those addresses.
If you own Bitcoin, what you actually own is the private cryptographic key to unlock a specific address. The private key looks like a long string of numbers and letters. You may choose to store your key, or keys if you have multiple addresses, in a number of places including a paper printout, a metal coin, a hard drive, an online service, or a tattoo on your body.
All methods can be protected with various levels of security, but all methods are vulnerable to theft since the robbery simply depends on gaining access to the string. “I recommend creating physical paper wallets using an Arch Linux boot which has never been online,” says Marak Squires, an early Bitcoin adopter who is developing a secure Bitcoin bank. “Unfortunately, this is not an option for most people. For the average user there are no good options right now to securely store cryptocurrencies.”
The most lucrative attacks are carried out on online services that store the private keys for a large number of users, as Sheep Marketplace did. It seems these attacks are often carried out by insiders who don’t have to do much hacking at all. Just copy the database of private keys and you can gain control of the bitcoins at all those addresses. You, the thief, can now spend those bitcoins whenever you want, as long as the owner doesn’t move them first.
2. Getting away with it
While Bitcoin has some features that make it great for thieves, it also has some features that make it not so great. The fact that the blockchain is public means that anyone can see to which address the coins were transferred next. After the Sheep Marketplace heist, some users tracked the thief as he or she moved the stolen coins from address to address.
This tracking technique isn’t very helpful for the time being, since the thief’s identity is still unknown. However, Bitcoin forensics is getting better and better as programmers figure out new ways to extract information from the blockchain. A thief may leave traces that are undetectable now but could be uncovered in the future, inspiring a retroactive investigation.
That’s why this step, money laundering, is so important. Laundering Bitcoin is done with “mixers,” also called “tumblers,” which randomly crisscross your bitcoins with other users’ bitcoins so that you get a clean address that the blockchain cannot connect with any of the addresses from which the coins were stolen.
Most of the time it works basically like this: you transfer your stolen bitcoins to a new address owned by the Bitcoin tumbler. That address is still “dirty” because there is a clear path from the victim’s address, so the tumbler leaves the coins there. The tumbler makes a note to transfer the same amount of bitcoins from other users to a new “clean” address owned by you. But it doesn’t make the transfer right away. Anyone watching would probably notice if the same exact amount of bitcoins — say, 96.1 — were moved into a new address, so the tumbler has you withdraw your coins over time in smaller amounts. When you request 10 bitcoins, the tumbler will transfer 10 bitcoins to your clean address. Extra-careful tumblers may also split these payouts further, especially if it is a noticeably large number of bitcoins.
Over time, the tumbler will sip bitcoins from the “dirty” addresses in order to replenish the pool. By the time your dirty address gets tapped, you’re long gone. The tumbler is only accessible through the anonymizing Tor network, making it difficult for law enforcement to trace traffic to it or discover the people behind it.
Of course, that also means you have to trust the tumbler. “Caution: Mixing services may themselves be operating with anonymity. As such, if the mixing output fails to be delivered or access to funds is denied there is no recourse. Use at your own discretion,” reads the Bitcoin wiki.
Another option is to launder the money the way the mob might: spend it at Satoshi Dice or another Bitcoin casino.
3. Get rich
Now you’ve got clean bitcoins — hopefully a lot of them! — and you’ve got your eye on a villa in the south of France. Unfortunately, the landlord doesn’t accept Bitcoin. Like most merchants in the world, she wants a government-sanctioned currency, preferably the euro.
So now you’ve got to convert your bitcoins to euros. But you’ve got a lot of bitcoins. If you’re the owner of Sheep Marketplace, you’ve got $100 millions’ worth. The Bitcoin economy is still tiny and relatively illiquid — there aren’t many buyers who could cash you out for that much Bitcoin all in one sale, and a transaction of that size would surely raise alarms. It also becomes much harder to conceal your identity when you exchange Bitcoin for other currencies. Most exchanges require some type of identifying information, and at the very least you need an account into which the euros can be deposited.
It’s time to get creative. There are several ways you can unload a lot of Bitcoin while maintaining your anonymity. Find a rich buyer who is willing to take the bitcoins without verifying your identity in exchange for a discount on the price, for example. However, the best way to protect yourself is to remain patient. Unload your bitcoins in a series of transactions over weeks, ideally months or even years, in order to avoid arousing suspicion from those watching the blockchain as well as real-life authorities that might wonder how you suddenly came into millions of dollars.
Now, enjoy life in France.
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Hi I'm Tyler Durden.
BTC is a new form of money. It's scarce, divisible, portable, fungible, and durable.
And now I will copy an entire article (but only one and no citations included) to add some fluff to my otherwise empty thought. /sarc
(1913-2013) One Hundred Years of Darkness Ends: Bitcoin Breaks the Bank image sourceJack Mullen
Activist Post
"Those who create and issue the money and credit direct the policies of government and hold in their hands the destiny of the people." - Reginald McKenna President of the Midlands Bank of England
"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." - Henry Ford
"The powers vested in the Federal Reserve Board seem to me highly dangerous, especially where there is political control of the Board. I should be sorry to hold stock in a bank subject to such domination. The bill as it stands seems to me to open the way to a vast inflation of the currency.... I had hoped to support this bill, but I can not vote for it as it stands, because it seems to me to contain features and to rest upon principles in the highest degree menacing to our prosperity, to stability in business, and to the general welfare of the people of the United States." Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Dec 17, 1913
Glinda :“You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.” Frank Baums ‘Wizard of Oz’
The single most important and by far the most powerful blow to post-Rome humanity has been the global banking cartel’s attachment of a counterfeit United States Federal agency (The Federal Reserve) to the organic United States Treasury; a parasite, attaching itself to the economic life blood of the American States.
The so-called “Federal Reserve” act, signed on a lonely 23rd day of December 1913, when congressional representatives had either already gone home for Christmas or were getting ready to depart, was the culmination of more than 100 years of effort on the part of banking cartels scheming to engorged themselves on the wealth of America.
The banking coup of 1913 was masterpiece of deceit finalizing a war between literate well-educated elites attempting to keep mankind and especially property owners free from enslavement by a central bank, and a coven of exorbitantly wealthy elites, showing no concern for mankind and already possessing enormous property and assets. The latter were intensely focused on harnessing the Union of States with the yoke of a debt-based currency; the stolen wealth to fund a grandiose multigenerational obsession to rule the world.
Inventing ‘money’ borrowed into existence steals wealth in two primary ways. First, through interest payments on ‘money’ borrowed. Since no ‘money’ actually exists but is only printed or created as needed, the interest payments are payments for use of something non-existent.
The introduction of non-required interest payments means more money must be repaid than ‘borrowed’. Over time, interest payments will cause more borrowing, since there are always obligations for greater amounts of money than currently exists in the system. Again, because every dollar in the system has been borrowed, there can never be enough money to cover repayment of loans and the obligated interest; money therefore must be created to cover rising interest payments.
Theft occurs as money is transferred to bankers for doing absolutely nothing. These interest payments become claims against real property, so property is stolen by bankers demanding interest to cover use of money merely printed as needed. Note: This concept is applicable to all loans, including non commercial loans such as home loans.
The second reason is a corollary to the first: outright counterfeiting. Counterfeiting is borrowing and spending excess ‘money’, causing money supply growth beyond what is necessary for healthy market credit and stabilized prices. Counterfeiting results in increasing interest payments (stealing wealth through interest payments) and decreasing purchasing power of each existing dollar in the system (as more dollars are available for the same number of goods). Eventually counterfeiting will lead to gradual price increases affecting some groups far more than others.
Counterfeiting is used to fund outrageous expansions of key insider industry, industry shielded from regulation and taxation and protected by artificial barriers erected to eliminate competition.
Typical excuses for counterfeiting wildly include, hyperbolic claims for more military, security and intelligence hardware and manpower. The ‘war on terror’ (since 2001) is an example of a fabricated excuse for counterfeiting money; money to be spent on insider industry. The False Flag attack on the World Trade Centers was a klaxon sounding an urgent warning and government script writers created frightening narratives supporting a call for more security. What followed, naturally, was an explosion in demand for more police state, laws to protect Citizens against terrorism, demand for prisons (as new ‘laws’ are broken), and demand for technology and manpower necessary to support it all.
Counterfeiting of debt-based money results in abnormal growth of privileged industry (protected cartels) destabilizing the market as disproportionate resources, directed to monopoly industry, over-value the monopoly industry, actualizing self-reinforcing and lucrative incentives for corruption, fraud and criminally created demand.
The American economy has been destabilized by monopolies of military, police, prison pharmaceutical-food-healthcare industry. Without competition, and given sources of freely available counterfeit money, these industries have risen to the status of “too big to fail” and “too big to kill”. To continue to survive and grow, metastasizing industries begin to “manufacture” demand for their products and services by creating war, crime, statutes, unhealthy food, and sickness.
It follows naturally and is corollary, controllers of the money supply will absolutely own corporations destabilizing and consuming wealth of the market. The end result will be a small number of protected corporations, in cooperation with subsidiary support companies such as insurance and banking, law production, etc., devouring the wealth and energies of people forced to accept the currency and participate in the market, ie., slavery will emerge.
I believe America is being eaten alive by tumorous growths of monopolized industry. These industries can only survive if:
The final destruction of wealth coming to a debt based ‘money system’ is currency self destruction, happening when interest payments outgrow the supply of money. What follows will be a credit collapse as interest rates rise signaling a credit shortage. A credit crises is self reinforcing and is highly destructive to the economy and inevitably the currency.
The coming, breath taking, collapse has been forestalled by genius market rigging, keeping interest rates low, long term forex scams maintaining control of inflation and tight manipulation of monetary metals prices. The final collapse of the dollar will come fast after a bond ‘event’ results in falling bond prices and the collapse of the US Bond Ponzi-bubble.
The passage of the Federal Reserve Act resulted in a slow growing cancer on the wealth of America; tumors at first small, began to grow as bankers transform citizen pipe dreams into collectivism. Collectivism is a multifaceted deception used to create demand for money as whims for safety and security are satiated with fiscal growth; the growth having no real purpose except to enslave the population to a control system of wealth transfer by deception.
Since 1913, the United States has started or insinuated (through false flag events) itself in non retaliatory major wars on the average of one every 15 years including: WWI, WWII, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War, and the second Gulf War. After 2001, the United States has been in continuous war in the mid East, Africa and clandestine operations around the world.
All wars are funded with borrowed ‘money’, spilling money to bankers while the blood of America’s sons and daughters is spilled on foreign soil. American controllers continued exportation of war and empire through occupation; building more than 1000 military bases in over 100 nations around the world. The United States has 100 military bases in South Korea alone. Occupying foreign nations is a expensive ongoing commitment, draining the resources of Americans and streaming large sums of wealth to bankers; bankers vicariously reveling in bloody combat and the destruction of American wealth.
In addition to offshore wars, the United States has prosecuted an ever increasing 'war' on Americans. War is declared with relentless assaults on American liberty, even those ‘protected’ by the Constitution and Bill Of Rights.
‘Home Land’ wars, such as the fabricated “war on drugs”, or attacks on citizens using pretend police forces like the TSA at public places (flouting the Fourth Amendment) such as airports, are expensive deceptions, serving several purposes, squandering American wealth to monopoly corporations and streaming interest payments to parasite bankers, while de-industrializing and collectivizing the American political economic system.
Continuous war has transformed the United States from a Republic serving the interests of citizens to an Empire serving the needs of financiers (interest payments.)
Glinda: "[Dorothy] Keep tight inside of them [shoes] -- their magic must be very powerful, or she[wicked witch of the East] wouldn't want them so badly!"
The concept of debt money is not new, but an ancient form of magic; magic in the form of human organization. People accepting debt based, otherwise valueless slips of paper, create energy in a spell of belief. Once under the spell, ‘money’ holders participate unconsciously in slavery because participation creates demand for new money and new money transfers productive energies of the holders to the collectors ( money==magic creators.)
The spell of debt-based money (money that has been engineered to lose purchasing power each moment it is in existence) is easier to create than to hold. Holding the spell requires energy and the energy manifests as force. Dollar holders are forced to use only dollars as money, the spell remains in effect only so long as people continue to believe in the magic. As the good witch Glinda explained to Dorothy: “You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.” Glinda explains to the scarecrow, “I didn’t tell her before “Because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.”
To break the slavery, end the wars, stop the misery and suffering, all we need to do is use our power. Recognize Collectivism as a psychological tool for enticing free people to cooperate in their own enslavement. Acknowledge debt-based, central bank issued money, as the currency of slavery and realize accepting debt created banker paper as money is metaphorically accepting chains enslaving the holder into the service of the currency creators.
Breaking free from the spell of debt based money is almost as easy as clicking your heels together and saying three times “there is no such thing as a dollar”. To end the slavery, recognize the dollar and all things dollar (banks, IMF, dollar loans, dollar derivative investment contracts, dollar contracts, dollar based bonds, and dollar based foreign reserves) are fictions and realize by acknowledging and using the currency you are agreeing to transfer your wealth and efforts of your labor to an unrelated third party.
Gold, Silver and Things of Value
The debate about ending dollar debt-based currency often bogs down in arguments about what should back a new currency. Replacing a currency becomes more difficult when replacement options are so hotly debated. Entrenched schools of thought vociferously defend various paradigms regarding the nature of money.
A widely subscribed belief says gold is money and should be considered for backing any new currency that comes into existence. The idea being that gold has historically been an internationally accepted currency because gold has equivalent intrinsic value and will retain its exchange value. Gold is said to have no counter-party risks because the exchange is a direct value for value exchange, similar to a barter except with a fungible currency.
Gold being apparently somewhat low in supply, and having recognized valuable properties, creates demand for the metal resulting in intrinsic value, gold would eliminate risk, and promise the holder a very stable value of purchasing power. Gold has historically maintained its purchasing power over thousands of years.
Gold is not the only metal available with valuable properties suitable for use as a currency; metals such as silver and platinum have each been considered excellent choices for currency.
The downside of metals as money has also been historically recognized and these caveats are significant and must be considered carefully before using metals as a primary media of exchange.
Some arguments such as Gold is too heavy, or not in great enough supply to act as a backer of currency are false (see goldmoney.com for explanation.)
As to gold supplies, there are no actual estimates of all the gold in the world, because much of the world’s gold is off the books, in vaults and out of site. Gold has been plundered and hidden for thousands of years. It is reported and widely believed the Japanese plundered and stole thousands of tons of gold during their conquest of China and island nations in the Pacific prior to World War II. Japan’s gold was hidden, even as WWII came to an end, the Japanese were still hiding stolen gold. Much of the Japanese stolen wealth has been discovered and again stolen by forces operating under NATO and the United States.
The Vatican is purported to have enormous reserves of gold and other caches are located around the world. The bottom line is there are enormous quantities of gold some in plain sight, more occulted and plenty yet to be mined.
Gold supply, however, is also a negative factor in the use of gold as currency. Because large quantities of gold are stored or otherwise offline during a period instituting gold as a currency, this hidden gold supply is not factored into prices of goods valued in gold. With sudden appearances of large quantities of gold, market prices, interest rates, contract values etc., can be destabilized in short periods of time. Also having large caches of gold will give the holders the advantage of being bankers, loaning gold into the system at interest.
Loaning gold or metals at interest is critically problematic. Even though the currency is not borrowed into existence, (like a debt based currency) gold, as a currency, will be lent with interest to fund capital improvements, home buying, etc.
Loaning currency backed by gold (or other metal) at compound interest will result in problems over time, because gold is streamed to bankers in the form of interest. Loans of gold requiring compound interest payments mean more gold must be paid to the bankers than originally lent. Eventually market destabilizing quantities of gold will end up in the hands of lenders leading to rising interest rates.
Gold will be transferred to the very same people having gold to lend in the first place, and eventually all the wealth of the market will be transferred to the bankers. This fact is historically validated and seems to be the theme of the 1901 printing of L. Frank Baum’s The Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz.
To make matters worse, since gold and silver and other metals are globally acceptable currencies, these metals may eventually migrate offshore, leaving Americans in the same positions as the Founding Fathers during the years before the American Revolution. All money of value was streamed to England, leaving very little money for operations in the Colonies.
Therefore, the problem with using commodities with intrinsic value is, schemes will emerge to transfer those commodities to stronger hands, leaving the currency market lacking of supply. Interest rates will remain high and those with commodities to loan will control the nature of the market.
These problems are mitigated somewhat if multiple metal currencies are accepted facilitating competition of interest rates.
Greenbacks
Many thinkers and scholars interested in money have noted very good systems of currency have evolved taking the form of valueless vouchers representing purchasing power. The value of the vouchers is derived from an agreement among holders to exchange vouchers for things of value. Remembering a market is about products and services and not about the currency used to exchange these goods, it should be easily understandable vouchers represent products un-purchased.
Vouchers as currency in a market are, and should be, as good as the products and services they represent. In a market with quality products of diverse kinds, serving diverse needs (a fully evolved market), the value of the voucher should be indistinguishable from the value of goods in the market. The caveat being vouchers are created in numbers proportional to the size of the market of goods and services and as required to keep prices stable.
Vouchers as currency must NOT be loaned into the market place at interest, but rather spent into the market place. Systems of government based on protection of a free market and individual liberty of participants can spend vouchers into the market according to monetary size of the market in terms of goods and services and the requirements for stable prices.
Vigilance against counterfeiting is an added cost of using vouchers, history teaches counterfeiting is the primary nemesis of stable-prices voucher based currencies.
Loans of vouchers into the market will also be possible except not at compound interest rates. Loans can be made for a limited and minimal fee. Fees to be used to cover costs of printing and maintaining credit histories etc.
An example of the use of interest free vouchers is the Greenbacks issued by Abraham Lincoln to fund the North’s war against the South. Lincoln having approached the central banks of the day, looking for loans of debt currency, was shocked at interest rates being asked for painted paper slips (so-called money) the bankers had to loan.
Under the advice of Colonel Dick Taylor, a friend and confidant, the Lincoln government created and spent in the market $450 million in interest free vouchers called Greenbacks.
When Lincoln questioned Taylor about the logistics and implementation of using Greenbacks, Taylor responded with this truly remarkable and simple explanation:
The use of Greenbacks by Lincoln was wildly successful, so much so, bankers writing in the London Times during this period said:
In the end the bankers were successful in insinuating themselves back into their perched position of parasitic control of the national currency, but the history of the Greenback continued far into the 1900s as the last Greenback apparently went out of circulation in 1994.
It is also notable that John F. Kennedy, recognizing the fantastic financial and economic control bankers had over America, decided to work toward ending the Federal Reserve and revisited Lincoln and Taylor’s idea of Greenbacks. With JFK’s executive order 11110 the Treasury Department was instructed to "to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury."
In essence Kennedy was issuing interest free money backed by silver as new currency that would circulate and, if this practice continued, would have driven out Federal Reserve Notes, since they were backed by nothing and were suffering substantial loss in purchasing power.
Both Lincoln and Kennedy died by assassination, one can wonder if attempts to move away from central banking debt currency to interest-free currency might have been a motive in both tragic deaths.
Crypto Currencies: Digital Currency for a Digital Age
In January 2009 the Genesis Block of Bitcoin was mined, producing 50 Bitcoins. According to the legend of Bitcoin, some person or group of people calling themselves Satoshi Nakamoto created the Bitcoin protocol, algorithm and supporting cryptography; introducing the world to a new ‘digital’ currency.
Bitcoin, now joined by other digital currencies including Litecoin, Namecoin, PPC and more, is called crypto currency because it relies on cryptography.
The word crypto is defined as secret or hidden; a crypto currency is therefore something functioning like currency involving secret ciphers or mathematical encoding ensuring a digital Bitcoin is unique and self contained.
Rather than relying on a central issuing ‘authority’, Bitcoin relies on a distributed network of computers, not owned or controlled by a central body, to maintain the integrity of the Bitcoin blockchain and uses sophisticated cryptography to ensure each Bitcoin is unique and includes a digital pedigree eliminating counterfeiting and other financial fraud bedeviling paper and digital non-crypto currencies.
Bitcoins are ‘discovered’ using a mathematical process called mining. The term mining is a metaphor for noting the creation of new Bitcoins is not a process of duplication or printing, but rather, like gold mining and silver mining, Bitcoins require energy and work to bring into existence.
Unlike paper money, Federal Reserve Notes, and other systems of vouchers, Bitcoin is not easily counterfeited. Before Bitcoins were originally issued it was already known only 21 million Bitcoins would ever be ‘discovered’. The mathematical nature of the algorithm ensures 21 million is the total number available in Bitcoin space. Each new block of Bitcoin coming into existence requires more energy to discover than the last one; so, as long as new coins are being mined, users of Bitcoin can assume the mining industry is bullish on Bitcoin.
Unlike paper money and paper voucher systems, Bitcoin is infinitely divisible; therefore, as each Bitcoin becomes more valuable it is possible to spend smaller divisions of your Bitcoin to purchase the value of goods.
Bitcoins are globally accepted now and can be spent or exchanged in nearly every country on Earth. Bitcoins are without a central controlling authority and no interest payment is required for each new Bitcoin discovered. Bitcoins are fungible, and according to market principals will eventually map themselves into the purchase of all goods and services available on Earth. The total GNP of the Earth, circa 2012, is on the order of 85 trillion dollars, meaning, theoretically, at some point 21 million Bitcoins can purchase those products and services, such that each coin could conceivably be worth roughly $4 million in 2013 dollars (a crude estimate).
Bitcoin has the advantage of becoming more valuable as time goes on, since each Bitcoin costs more to ‘discover’ and market acceptance will continue to increase its value faster than mining will dilute value; and, if we assume growth in market size, Bitcoin will not increase in number with increasing market valuations. Further, since each Bitcoin is unique, people losing their Bitcoins will further increase the value of all Bitcoins as less Bitcoins are available to purchase all products.
Like gold and silver and other metals as currency, Bitcoin can be said to have some intrinsic value since each coin is unique, there are a limited number to be produced, and tangible amounts of energy was required in production. The nature of how much intrinsic value is a subject of a philosophical question, but we do know the Internet has intrinsic value and Bitcoin is a derivative of the Internet and is becoming increasingly valuable in Internet transactions. Bitcoin’s ease and low cost of use make it the easiest and cheapest way to do transactions on the Internet. Furthermore, since no central authority is authorizing or tracking or charging fees for transaction, the Bitcoin is clearly bringing added value to transactions made in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin, like gold and silver and metals, can be accumulated by wealthy people hoping to either acquire great stores of wealth or manipulate the marketplace by holding coins off the market or temporarily affecting prices by selling large caches of the currency into the market.
Unlike gold and silver and metals, Bitcoin is infinitely divisible, mitigating the damaging effects of coin hoarding. If coins are held off the market, the value of the remaining coins increases as less are available to purchase all products in the Bitcoin market space. As coins are removed from the market, smaller quantities of remaining coins will be used to maintain price stability.
In the case of large caches of coins being sold into the market to reduce price, the effect on prices will be temporary, and as the coins are sold they go from concentration to dispersion. Coins dispersing outward into the market lead to diminishing effects on the price of the coin and, therefore, the effect of dumping causes changing prices at first and then greater price stability in the end.
If Bitcoin lenders emerged on the Internet, requiring compound interest for use of Bitcoin, interesting and unexpected results may emerge. Bitcoin is not amendable to a fractional reserve banking scam, Bitcoin, to be loaned, has to already exist, so Bitcoin lenders must also have stock piles of Bitcoin. As Bitcoin becomes fully evolved and values approach the purchasing power on the order of one million 2013 dollars, the ability to lend portions of a Bitcoin with promises of more Bitcoin as interest is possible.
Lending Bitcoin at compound Interest would mean streams of Bitcoin would flow toward Bitcoin lenders, but no additional Bitcoin could be loaned in the system to cover interest payments. With only small quantities of Bitcoin loaned at interest, existing Bitcoin supplies could be turned into interest payments as borrowers turn loaned Bitcoin into profit. In contrast to banker-style “print and lend”, interest rates for borrowing Bitcoin would rise very high very fast with any significant borrowing of the coin, quenching the borrowing desire.
Bitcoin lending will quickly result in Bitcoin prices increasing -- again meaning all things priced in Bitcoin get cheaper not more expensive - the opposite of lending money in a debt-based or voucher system.
Many people question whether Bitcoin has been created by the same bankers now controlling the Federal Reserve. Some people refer to the coin as a scam and suggest those putting money into Bitcoin are sure to be robbed. This is a question I cannot answer except to say the following.
Bitcoin is not a currency that would benefit bankers the same way as debt currency or voucher currency because Bitcoin cannot be counterfeited (I hesitate to say can’t) and there is no interest payment associated with each new Bitcoin.
Bitcoin, however, could become a global currency (NWO style), something the bankers attempted with the dollar. Theoretically, the Bitcoin could become the International Reserve Currency and over time other currencies could be eliminated, leaving only Bitcoin as the world’s primary currency. If Bitcoin became the primary world currency all advantages will disappear. Bitcoin wallets would likely become standardized and government issued (with backdoors reducing privacy.) As a global currency, Bitcoin might have to be registered to be spent and the distributive and private Bitcoin blockchain network could become ‘globalized’ (as opposed to nationalized) and become the property of a world government.
Regardless, over time, tighter control of Internet use, and improving technology to monitor Net transactions and the possible introduction of a World Government issued Bitcoin Wallet, it would be very easy to track all transactions and know immediately the currency holdings of all holders of Bitcoin.
Long term, I expect the privacy benefits of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies will be consumed by evolving technology, ‘Skynet’ type technology, designed to totally monitor all digital activity of the human being.
However, in the short run, Bitcoin is the best hope to “Break the Bank” and end the slavery of debt-based currency. Using Bitcoin now for more and more of your Internet purchases, plus transferring some of your debt currency’s declining value into Bitcoin takes power from the bankers.
Banker currency is ancient magic deriving power by belief, an alchemical religion turning nothing into dold. If people stop believing in the debt-based currency and have an alternative, we will live to see the "End Of the Darkness."
When the chains of debt-based currencies are removed, people have a chance to take back their power and keep their wealth; and before Bitcoin and the other coins are consumed by ‘Skynet’ type technologies, perhaps a new system of currency will evolve.
In the meantime, using Bitcoin to make transactions and store some wealth, while also moving wealth into gold and silver, especially silver, will provide the best of all possible worlds. Physical silver will hold your wealth, using Bitcoin will expand your markets and collapse the banker debt-based currency system. When the dollar dies, having all of your wealth out of the dollar would be the best decision you will ever make.
End Notes: Debt as Fiction and Slavery
All national debt denominated in dollars is fiction. Debt instruments created as derivative investment products and insurance scams against derivative debt products are fiction. Bank-created debt and derivative exposure is fiction with the end result being fictional claims against real property.
The Chinese, for example, are not holding American debt, they are participating in a clever forex operation controlling dollar inflation while circulating dollar currency through fictional stages in a circle powered by claims on real American wealth. Debt claims created by borrowing phony, non existence money, is an illusion; it becomes real when those vacuous claims are exchanged (settled) for real property.
Chinese products purchased with dollars are paid for after exchange, in Chinese currency (Renminbi.) Those building products for American purchase are paid in printed Renminbi and the dollars, now exchanged for Chinese currency, are stored in foreign reserve accounts balancing books of printed slips of paper against printed paper. These dollars, which have already extinguished the Chinese debt, are then recycled to buy American debt, sending streams of new dollars back to China as interest on the debt. At the end of this cycle, the Chinese are repaid the money ‘loaned’ and those dollars, plus new dollars sent as interest, are available for purchasing more debt.
Eventually the Chinese hold enough dollars to manipulate dollar inflation and US interest rates (mitigating inflation and prolonging debt based currency slavery) and also maintain currency pegs by buying and selling US Treasuries maintaining low prices for Chinese goods. As enormous sums of dollars (now over $3.6 Trillion) are collected by the Chinese much of American property is now claimed by Chinese held USD.
Many reasons exist for off-shoring of American manufacturing, but interestingly as a significant proportion of American manufacturing ends up in China, the bankers enjoy the benefit of having all those dollars available to be ‘re-spent’ by the Chinese buying US debt. If manufacturing was mostly done in the United States, these dollars would be dispersed out into the population, paying workers and suppliers and power companies etc., and not available for loaning to the Federal Government.
Over time this system of debt purchase, debt repaid plus interest is a continuous open spigot on American wealth, siphoning all wealth out of a nation by creating huge claims against real property (dollars).
Epilogue: The Five Year Plan to Recovery and Sovereignty
To end this nightmare and rebuild America in five years (my guess), it would only be necessary to declare all Federal Reserve Notes void. Repudiate all national dollar debt, exchange void dollars held by America citizens for either Greenback vouchers or Bitcoin at some well thought out rate of exchange.
All foreign exchange reserves would be pronounced void and all debt contracts with foreign nations repudiated.
Next, declare all dollar-denominated agreements, instruments, and systems involving dollar transactions void. Remove and rescind all powers and activities of the Federal Reserve and all banks attached to the Federal Reserve system.
Return the powers and status of the organic United States Treasury and begin issuing new debt-free currency as payment for Federal obligations.
People holding mortgages and other debt products of Federal Reserve Banks would be given full title to any property held as Mortgage Collateral or forgiven all collateral free loans. Formerly licensed Federal Reserve participatory banks should lose all claim to properties under collateral agreements.
Private, non-banking agreements, previously made in dollars, would be renegotiated in terms of the new currency.
All military bases in all nations around the world should be closed; all materials and men and women brought home to a growing jobs market absorbing these men and women as new manufacturing opportunities demanded workers.
Finally, it is necessary to place high tariffs on products that can be manufactured in America. Interest-free loans could be made to those building and restoring American manufacturing, workers to be paid in the new currency.
Many will argue that repudiating and building tariffs against China will lead to war; I would argue that we are prosecuting a war now. Importing nearly every product from China has created a non-sustainable demand for Chinese products. American prosperity was built on pioneering and innovation in diverse fields and technology, manufacturing, and an ethic of prideful work. There is no reality-based way that Americans can continue to maintain their standard of living while also sustaining the Chinese standard of living. The only way America can regain its sovereignty is by ending the foreign trade racket and letting China build products for their own large population and encouraging China to embrace free market philosophies while developing a middle class to consume their products.
Off-shoring all manufacturing was purposefully done to rob and then destroy America. The pain of returning American to a viable country will require standing strong against threats of war and retaliation as phony debt is repudiated. In that case we have a military ready to ensure the safety of our shores and peace in America.
Lastly, during the banker currency withdrawal period many Americans will suffer - withdrawing from toxins such as heroin or debt-based currency abuse is not going to be painless. But to make it easier, all United States stocks of stored foods and emergency supplies (purchased with debt currency) should be distributed for charitable dispensing during the transition from debt currency to a debt-free currency and competing currencies.
Further, all large tracts of land held off the market and off limits by the Federal Government, and agents of the United Nations, should be homesteaded to the American people with special incentives for those planning farms and food creation uses of the land.
After 100 years, Americans are waking up, and those serving freedom and abhorring slavery have an unprecedented opportunity to be knowledgeable about sophisticated slavery and, for once, the power to take immediate action against mankind’s enslavers.
I am looking forward to a truly Happy New Year.
“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home” - Dorothy, “Wizard of Oz”
Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high.
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue.
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops,
Away above the chimney tops.
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere, over the rainbow, bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow,
Why then - oh, why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow,
Why, oh, why can't I?
(From the ‘Wizard of Oz’ )
Harold Arlen and the Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
References:
See also:
- ‘Road To Roota’ , www.roadtoroota.com , Bix Weir
- ‘HistoryRegurgitates’, http://www.thegovernmentrag.com/Mullen_HistoryRegurgitates_19APR2013.htm#.UXUlviqevaA, Jack Mullen
Recently From Jack Mullen:Jack Mullen has been a businessman for more than 25 years, owning 3 radio stations, several technology based companies and a resource development company.
Zero Hedge isn't an arbitrary PDF download.
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That was a nice read. I'm glad I took the time. I have one question. The author surmises that metals will flow back to the monarchs of money. How would bitcoin be immune form the same fate?
"These problems are mitigated somewhat if multiple metal currencies are accepted facilitating competition of interest rates."
The same would hold true for bitcoin. They have the same flaws and benefits in a way. So wouldn't it be smart to hold both or be diversified?
Metals have benefits and flaws as does bitcoin and both "teams" are steadfast in their defense via their "banker garlic" of choice. In the weeks and months of these debates I cannot tell if BTC is the silver bullet just as I do not know if metals are the silver bullet. Time will tell.
tl;dr
Q: Who owns the world's largest Bitcoin wallet?
A: The FBI.
How did they come into possession of it and have they yet been able to spend those coins since the wallet was also password protected?
The answers are not because of weaknesses of bitcoin as a technology....
Ok, let's play that game...
Who has the most gold bullion in the US? The Fed.
Who has the most heavy-duty weapons, tanks, choppers, fighters, bombers, cannons, drones, tech, IT and highly trained bodies to gun for your ass and those of your friends? The Gov.
Who can come after your gold if they wanted to? The Gov.
Point is, my friend, there are NO simple, one-size-fits-all solutions.
Hedge, diversify and plan accordingly.
Gold bitchez!!!!
it's on sale
For Bitcoin to displace existing financial systems, it must be clearly superior to the existing order. It must be able to do everything that can be done now, plus have substantial or even overwhelming advantages. Being slightly better in certain areas is not enough to introduce a major change in doing business, and having a few features that are better than current systems is not nearly enough. And the new technology must not introduce problems that have already been solved or at least mitigated by existing technology.
As an analogy, the automobile was able to displace the horse drawn carriage for these reasons, but the electric car has not been able to make much progress against the internal combustion engine, because the electric car may have some advantages, but none are overwhelming, and it introduces new problems of its own.
Bitcoin proponents like to trumpet a set of improvements that Bitcoin provides, but none of these improvements are substantial for all parties involved. Some of them are conflicting, in the sense that certain parties such as governments see them as being drawbacks, while others view them as benefits. Another conflicting "improvement" is the lack of ability to cancel a transaction or "charge-back" as can be done by Visa. This benefits one party but not the other, and introduces a different weakness to the system. As a consumer I like having the ability to request the cancellation of a transaction if I feel the merchant did not deliver the goods, and I don't want to give up that feature.
Bitcoin also introduces a set of weaknesses that are already mostly solved in the current financial system, such as protection against many forms of fraud. The problem of managing the ever-increasing size of the blockchain is another weakness.
The current system is not perfect, but it does provide many benefits that must be considered by anyone proposing an entirely new system. It is easy to complain about one aspect of the current system, such as the tendency of governments to inflate the currency, while overlooking the fact that the entire system operates fairly well on a day-to-day basis, handling billions of transactions each day with a reasonable level of accuracy.
If Bitcoin technologies cannot displace existing systems, then it becomes a minor niche product, and its valuation will reflect its limited usefulness. It won't go to zero, but it won't be particularly valuable either.
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/12/the-hidden-motives-behind-federal.html
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-21/hidden-motives-behind-federal-r...
same article, taken from activist post and brought to zerohedge.
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/12/1913-2013-one-hundred-years-of-darkn...
great article not copied over.
instead we get 3 paragraphs of opinion and a copy of "how to get away with bitcoin theft in 3 steps without actually describing how any of this technology based theft is accomplished"
With no disrepect to Simon Black intended.... We have a new Simon Black... of Bitcoin
You have to wonder if Simon is just another pseudonym for one of the Tyler(s). We apparently have at least one Tyler here who is anti-bitcoin or is purposely stirring the shit pot to see who is paying attention, for personal amusement or some other reason and/or combo of.
Another aspect of Bitcoin is the issue of intelligence. Many Bitcoin proponents like to tell everyone else how smart they are, and clearly they are very talented in computer hardware and software technology. However, I view this as a major weakness in Bitcoin.
For Bitcoin to achieve general and widespread acceptance and usability, it must be easy to use for the average person, in fact, even for the below-average person. If the Bitcoin user must be an expert on cryptology, mathematics, computer programming, and computer security, then that excludes the vast majority of potential users.
The issue of computer security is especially important here. If it requires specialized knowledge and skill to safeguard your Bitcoins against accidental loss or purposeful fraud, then the average person will fall victim to one or another mishap, and swear off Bitcoin forever. When I read discussions about people who have lost Bitcoins in various ways, the usual response from the experts and insiders is "you should have been more careful" or "you don't understand basic computer security" or even "too bad, you are a loser".
This is not going to win any friends or adherents among the general population.
A strong password is all it requires for security for the average shmuck. These days what is considered strong is a 14 digit password. The problem is the average shmuck doesn't bother to use a password half the time, uses a weak one like 123456 or doesn't bother to change the default pass associated with an account or piece of hardware. Laziness is laziness you can't design an idiot proof system when it comes to stuff like that. That is not changing whether it is the next version of bitcoin, windows, linux, bank account, etc.
"A strong password is all it requires for security for the average shmuck."
Much more is required:
- Multiple back-ups, consistently updated.
- Off-line back-ups to protect against system failure or outside attacks
- Regular updates and maintenance of software such as digital wallets
- Vigilance against software and network attacks
- Methods of dealing with scam artists without the support of banking or credit card security support
- Methods of resolving disputes concerning payments and product delivery
- etc.
Basically, the Bitcoin user must provide much of the support and infrastructure that is now provided by institutions such as banks, credit card companies, governments, and so on.
the average schmuck doesn't use secure passwords.
Secure passwords include punctuation, mixed case, partial words & I'd say a total number of such tokens exceeding 50.
14 characters? Nope, doesn't cut it.
None of this is needed with gold coin, silver coin or paper dollars (there are dollar coins too).
No reason for me to go to bitcoin.
funny how the 'establishment' says there are tons of ways to use bitcoins only when they are stolen but they are worthless to really support... o.O
also.. someone doesn't know what the hell they are talking about with " Just copy the database of private keys and you can gain control of the bitcoins at all those addresses."
that makes no sense
http://blog.skullsecurity.org/2012/everything-you-need-to-know-about-has...
Looks interesting. Beats me.
http://security.blogoverflow.com/2013/09/about-secure-password-hashing/
Bitcoin was always meant to be proof of concept first not resistant to that sort of stuff since it uses SHA-256. Litecoin and various other alt coins are resistant to that very attack because that use Scrypt instead. At some point if Bitcoin wants to stay relevant it needs get away from SHA-256. Cypto-currency ain't going nowhere regardless of what everyone thinks. Bitcoin may go the way of AOL but the underlying technology aka the blockchain and it's ability to function as a distributed transactional ledger isn't. That can function and be implemented independent of any coin itself. It is in and of itself it's own self-replicating infrastructure.
edit:
Researching furthur and to expand upon and correct myself on some of what I posted. This is what happens when you shoot first and ask questions later.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Hashcash
The mining itself is double hashed using SHA256*2. It makes it sufficiently long against hash length extension attacks.
Scrypt is also resistant but from a mining standpoint the main difference is how coins can be mined (ASIC,GPU, CPU, etc.) for using either or.
To wallet addresses and using the above attack on them.
http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/9202/why-does-bitcoin-use-two...
Which goes back to something I posted earlier about wallet passwords to secure them 14 digit passwords are sufficient with this type of hashing because it is computationally unfeasable to brute force them if sufficiently strong i.e. using combinations of CAPITAL LETTERS, lower case letters, 123456, @^*&(, ®©.
When things are sufficiently long that is not computationally feasable to run that type of attack you are back to basics which is brute forcing the password itself.
Like Bitcoin, Lite coin uses elliptic curves systems for public-key cryptography. As a cryptographer said, "Prefer conventional discrete-log-based systems over elliptic-curve systems; the latter have constants that the NSA influences when they can."
The thing with the double hashing is the NSA would be well aware of the concept before releasing SHA256 into the wild and wouldn't release it unless their backdoor still worked under all attempts by the public to reinforce it.
Actually litecoin does use SHA256 to some degree:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=299329.20
The double hashing is an added bonus for the NSA for a different reason. They get 2 key pairs reverse engineered for the price of one for each coin mined successfully to add into the book to use to break more important SHA-256 encoded stuff plus it gives a bigger body of key pairs to look at for exploiting SHA-256. You give these guys too much credit. If they had absolute backdoors like everyone thinks they wouldn't need to operate in the manner they do get in the middle of transactions by grabbing the public keys for things like Verisign and SSL if they could just exploit SHA-256 at will. Exploiting random number generators like elliptic-curve systems is one thing this is completely different.
I trust in this concerning SHA-256
1. It is an open algorithm
2. The constants are sequential prime cuberoots rather than generated by a random number generator.
3. So far no one in the WHOLE cryptography community has found any major flaws in it.
Those are hard facts
Back to the random number generator being compromised in using RSA Dual_EC_DRBG algorithm. If the public and private keys are known the password still isn't. So we are back brute forcing a password and a 14 character or larger password using combinations of CAPITAL LETTERS, lower case letters, 123456, @^*&(, ®© is still computationally unfeasable to go after unless you have a damn good reason to in the first place. If they are breaking out the quantum computers to crack your pass on a bitcoin wallet then got you got bigger problems than your bitcoin wallet if you are on the radar in the first place. Stealing your wallet with a few hundred dollars in it is not worth their time unless you are already on some terrorist list. Get real people....
Has Dread Pirate Roberts FBI seized wallet been cracked and spent yet.............
Babylon: "Oh, by the way, those bitcoins that were stolen from you...yes...we know...we are the nsa and we are here to help you...but yes...that will be zixtyzillion dollars in tax on that stolen bitcoin invisible money-god you had once that you owe the babylonian govt. Pay up now, or go to Guantanamo for the never ending torture classes. Oh, do not scheat us, we are watching you from above 24/7 and in lieu of crawling into a manhole and dying, there really is no escape. You have to come up for air sooner, or later."
Thank you...have a good day.
The FED holds the world's record theft with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgue and Wells Fargo following up. As of last week Target is moving up the list.
Armory is the best way to store your wallet offline. Remeber bitcoin was developed so that YOU could be the bank! Accept the responsiblity!
Geez Prisoners_dilemna, give me the cliff note version why do ya!?!?!
> Now, enjoy life in France.
Now, apply for unemployment assistance and other forms of welfare and enjoy life in France.
Intouchables
Wasn't that a reference to the Cary Grant film in which he plays a retired cat burglar in France? I don't see the appeal of this iCurrency over all the other fiat currencies, but like fracking, easy money is quite tempting for those not concerned about cleaning up the mess. The saying 'the devil you know is better than the one you don't' might apply as well as the PTB always have to come up with new versions of the same BS to keep the sheeple distracted and under control, but what do we really know about this digital fiat currency for the New Age? Is there any truth in this commentary? If you know anything about cointel projects, you have to enjoy this farce.
www.garynorth.com/public/11828.cfm
All I see is them undermining the credibility of bitcoin, it was always going to happen, anything that is a threat to fiat has to be attacked and ultimately destroyed.. gold and silver it is then..
I must say on this inclement day in england my gold and silver look shinier than ever.
Conspicuously missing: legal theft by the rulers like fbi theft of silk road. confiscation of several exchanges money and bank accounts
and of course, there's also this:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=computers-can-be-hacked-using-high-frequency-sound
It is called modulation absolutely nothing new there anything that gives off a repeatable equivalent of a heartbeat can be modulated to beat slightly off rhythm which can then be used to track a device whether it be a computer or cellphone the crystal oscillators can be exploited in this manner. Same with radio transmitters or pace makers......
Bitcoin itself doesn't modulate..... So if you were trying to imply something. Faraday cage or other materials to absorb the frequencies including specific types of glass.
#1 get a computer without any mic or speakers. Attach any if you want while you need it, then unplug when done
#2 if the location of your mic and/or speakers isn't near where any person can get sound TO, such as an office deep in a building that's secured for physical entry, a basement, etc., you're probably okay already except from someone very close physically
#3 the Fraunhoffer example given actually needed the laptops all co-operating to generate & receive the patterns. In a secured system, such as one compiled from source (Linux) you won't have that happen. Nothing runs but what has permission to run & none of it came pre-compiled. Yes, the ultra-paranoid do indeed compile their COMPILER from trusted sources & personally reviewed code before COMPILING what else will come next, like what installs the operating system.
#4 "hrough a tainted USB stick, for example — onto an air-gapped computer and trigger an electronic attack, said Hagerott." - Doesn't happen in Linux
but ... http://www.faradaycages.com/index2.php?p=Content&id=129&nav=Eavesdroppin...
and ... http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/meet-badbios-the-mysterious-mac-...
have me concerned. I see no need for UEFI - it's a solution to a problem that didn't exist. I am happy to download signed firmware patches or none at all, replace a chip myself, etc., I do not need a hot-updated firmware controlling the booting of my machine, much less one that (some do now) can't use MBR booting & so MUST use UEFI. For those nonUEFI forced boards you can turn it off, so to speak.
Many of these bitcoin heists have been inside jobs.
If it's just three 'easy' steps I'm sure there would be many more successful robbers.
Maybe you should stick with stealing 40 million credit card numbers at once from Target or STFU.