www.robowars.org

RoboWars Australia Forum Index -> Off-Topic

Bitcoin - The Future of Digital Currency
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8  Next

Post new topic   Reply to topic
  Author    Thread
marto
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 5459
Location: Brisbane, QLD


 Reply with quote  

Ah so thats what cause the slump to $10 over the weekend. Back up to $20 but was nearly @ $30 previous week. I gave it a go but am experiencing issues just getting the currency (mostly due to CBA). Anyway I am playing with a bit of spare cash so if I lose it not a big deal just still be pissed off.

Also would you trust a windows PC with $500,000 damn get that stuff off the internet and put it on a USB drive.
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

Post Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:27 am 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail MSN Messenger
bytraper



Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 195


 Reply with quote  

lol, who has spare cash?????

Post Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:32 am 
 View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger
Knightrous
Site Admin


Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Posts: 8511
Location: NSW


 Reply with quote  

Getting the currency is a bit of a bitch. Sign up at E-Gold to trade US$ to E-Gold $, then sign up at Mt Gox to trade E-Gold $ to Mt Gox $, which you can finally trade for BTC's... But everyone along the way takes a chunk of commission and shit (Hey, isn't this just like normal banks?). Mining for bitcoins is a bit of time waste unless you have a pair of ATI 6850's to crunch away at 400+mhash/sec to bring any coins in.
_________________
https://www.halfdonethings.com/

Post Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:43 am 
 View user's profile Send private message
Kenvs001



Joined: 04 May 2011
Posts: 66
Location: Sydney NSW


 Reply with quote  

Just a bit of background info on Bitcoin mining

It is possible to "mine" bitcoins provided you are running Radeon graphics cards. You essentially run all of the behind the scenes number crunching to validate bitcoin transactions (you need to DL the client).

For this service you are paid in the bitcoins as they are released based on the predetermined release rate. If you are looking at mining bitcoins seriously make sure you are running duel ATI's (as per their forums) otherwise you will find the power used to run your computers costs more than the bitcoins earned via mining.

From what i understand of the numbers ATI based video cards run many simple operations compared to Nvidea which run few complex video operations, as such ATI has the highest hashing speed per kWH. (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison)

Post Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:05 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message
Spockie-Tech
Site Admin


Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia


 Reply with quote  

Lots of Interesting Movement in the BTC world recently.

A big spike to over $30/coin prompted someone with a lot of coins to sell off a huge amount and dropped it to $10.. but it quickly bounced back to $20/coin and seems to have stabilised there for the moment which was impressive, some were crying doom when they saw it plummeting and sold off, only to look pretty sheepish and lost out when it bounced back within a day or so.. day trading is a dangerous game Smile be interesting to see what the next wave does..

Its likely to wobble around all over the place for a little while until the supply/demmand thing settles, right now its a highly speculative and small market, so wobbles are to be expected. still, look at the logarithmic graph for a more real indication of its continuous uptake.

The mining game is silly in my opinion. If you have a bunch of radeon gfx cards available cheap and get free or cheap power then its probably worth it.. but the nextwork is ramping up so quickly, you wouldnt want to be paying retail rates for hardware or power

The bitcoin network has gone from 1 to 10 terahash's per second in just a few months and I read is now more powerful at crunching hashes than the top *400* supercomputers of the world *combined!* Crazy stuff.

Starting to get lots of mainstream press too, with all sorts of wackos and n00bs jumping in to tell everyone why it wont work, or will bring on singularities, raptures, world revolutions and alien landings.. so much so they had to put all the n00bs in a holding pen on the forum for a while until they overcome the urge to push post on every thread they can find.. lots of pissed of n00bs and trollers from that Smile

As far as buying coins go, You can send Aus$ direct to Mt.Gox through Technocash for a single 5% fee if you dont mind waiting a couple of days. Create a MtGox account, select add funds, and then look for the AUD$ options. Other exchanges starting to spring up and some guys working on the idea of an Australian one, but regulations and stuff sound like it could be tricky.

Ebay and Paypal hate it (and Btc hates them due to scammers and chargebacks), and are freezing anything to do with virtual currency trades, so dont go shopping there. Not surprising since it threatens the Ebay/Paypal monopoly bigtime in the not too distant future.

Exciting stuff to watch.. Senator Bigmouths, Joe Averages, Dudley Dogooders and Dick Dastardlys all round Smile Stay tuned for next exciting episode in the continuing saga of the rise of the Bitcoins. Very Happy
_________________
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

Post Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:29 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website MSN Messenger
Knightrous
Site Admin


Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Posts: 8511
Location: NSW


 Reply with quote  

Still looks a lot more like a opensource shares trading game then a currency at the moment, will be more interested when people start using it as a currency instead of some way of "trying to get rich quick" Smile It's similar to if I take $10k over to the US and cash it in for US$ (10,535.46 USD at the moment), then wait till the aussie dollar falls into the shitter again (US$0.90=AU$1) and bring it back and make a profit...
_________________
https://www.halfdonethings.com/

Post Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:37 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message
Spockie-Tech
Site Admin


Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia


 Reply with quote  

There are plenty of people who accept payment in Btc at the moment, just look at the market wiki..

Trying to bootstrap a currency is never going to be an easy task, since its got to be turned back into the local paper to pay for stuff for quite a while yet, but I think its making a credible stab at it..

--

The Universe - some facts to help you live in it"..

"Monetary Units: None.

In fact there are three freely convertible currencies in the Galaxy, but none of them count. The Altarian Dollar has recently collapsed, the Flainian Pobble Bead is only exchangeable for other Flainian Pobble Beads, and the Triganic Pu has its own very special problems.

The exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu is simple enough, but since a Ningis is a triangular rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles along each side, no one has ever collected enough to own one Pu. Ningis are not negotiable currency, because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in small change.

From this basic premise it is very simple to prove that the Galactibanks are also the product of a deranged imagination."
.. Douglas Adams
_________________
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

Post Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:43 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website MSN Messenger
Knightrous
Site Admin


Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Posts: 8511
Location: NSW


 Reply with quote  

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/06/bitcoin-price-plummets-on-compromised-exchange.ars

How much are BTC's worth today?
_________________
https://www.halfdonethings.com/

Post Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:52 am 
 View user's profile Send private message
seanet1310



Joined: 08 Nov 2006
Posts: 1265
Location: Adelaide


 Reply with quote  

Mt.Gox seams to be meddling in the currency quite a bit for a free market system. IV here http://www.dailytech.com/Bitcoins+Largest+Exchange+Mt+Gox+Hacked+Closes+After+Massive+Selloff/article21942.htm A lot of the crash was caused by
'One account with a lot of coins was compromised and whoever stole it (using a HK based IP to login) first sold all the coins in there, to buy those again just after, and then tried to withdraw the coins. The $1000/day withdraw limit was active for this account and the hacker could only get out with $1000 worth of coins.'

Anyone with the spare cash could crash the currency by repeating this processes themselves if they hate the idea of bitcoins. All you need is the ability to absorb the losses (or plan to pick up cheap in a few min and recover costs later) and as far as i can tell if the account was not compromised then there is no problem with someone doing it in theory however i Suspect Mt.Got would be baby's about it and continue to revert


Anyway very poor security reading how they do it for such a system with so much 'value'
Without backing there is no where to absorb costs with theft resulting in the user loosing out without compensation unless a large enough breach crashes the value

EDIT: the poor security is in relation to the traders not the bitcoins
_________________
Remember to trust me, I am an Engineer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp8hvyjZWHs


Last edited by seanet1310 on Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:21 am; edited 1 time in total

Post Mon Jun 20, 2011 9:47 am 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
Knightrous
Site Admin


Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Posts: 8511
Location: NSW


 Reply with quote  



SQL exploited Smile
_________________
https://www.halfdonethings.com/

Post Mon Jun 20, 2011 10:43 am 
 View user's profile Send private message
marto
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 5459
Location: Brisbane, QLD


 Reply with quote  


quote:
Dear Mt.Gox user,

Our database has been compromised, including your email. We are working on a
quick resolution and to begin with, your password has been disabled as a
security measure (and you will need to reset it to login again on Mt.Gox).

If you were using the same password on Mt.Gox and other places (email, etc),
you should change this password as soon as possible.

For more details, please see this:

https://support.mtgox.com/entries/20208066-huge-bitcoin-sell-off-due-to-a-compromised-account-rollback

The informations there will be updated as our investigation progresses.

Please accept our apologies for the troubles caused, and be certain we will do
everything we can to keep the funds entrusted with us as secure as possible.


The leaked data includes the following:

- Account number
- Account login
- Email address
- Encrypted password

While the password is encrypted, it is possible to bruteforce most passwords
with time, and it is likely bad people are working on this right now.


Any unauthorized access done to any account you own (email, mtgox, etc) should
be reported to the appropriate authorities in your country.


Thanks,
The Mt.Gox team



I was tossing up whether to leave the coins on the exchange or whether to pull them down to the PC. I didn't trust myself with the codes as I am pretty sure I would transfer them to USB and lose them. So I decided to leave them on there bad choice sounds like they have NFI what they are doing. I guess I should grab a USB stick or two and make them very valuable. The currency is still inherently secure its just idiots with poor security who get hacked, have 0 protection as its like getting cash stolen.

Steve
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

Post Mon Jun 20, 2011 10:50 am 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail MSN Messenger
Knightrous
Site Admin


Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Posts: 8511
Location: NSW


 Reply with quote  

It is a shame though that something as simple as a SQL hack can tear down the value of a currency from Aussie dollar to Zimbabwe dollar in a weekend. Is there anyway a currency can avoid such hyper inflation/deflation? How do the shop keepers go with pricing their products in relation to the this constant flux. Put up a product worth US$30 as 1BTC to relfect it's value, then the next day the market falls and you have to put the same item up for 30BTC to reflect the value due to market fall.
_________________
https://www.halfdonethings.com/

Post Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:05 am 
 View user's profile Send private message
marto
Experienced Roboteer


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 5459
Location: Brisbane, QLD


 Reply with quote  

I guess you would have to index it against the current USD -> bitcoin rate for the time being. Either that or you are betting on the value of the bitcoin $ always going up in the long term. Its been quite stable for the last few months with nice incremental growth until all these security hickups start coming out.

Although in a sort of round about way I don't think its a bad thing as it will mean that the currency gets a lot of publicity as long as no one manages to crack the distributed hashing network to steal coins in the long term I think it should all work out ok.

Also new update on their site claiming it wasn't SQL hack. (appears someones computer with access to the database got hacked) That is probably not as bad but doesn't fill me with confidence.

Time will tell.
_________________
Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

Post Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:02 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail MSN Messenger
Knightrous
Site Admin


Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Posts: 8511
Location: NSW


 Reply with quote  

Due to the hack, spam is already flying out from the now publically available database (I have a copy here...)



quote:

Return-Path: <goemitar@bonecrusher.gulfsouthmedia.com>
X-Original-To: xxx@xxx.xxx
Delivered-To: xxx@xxx.xxx
Received: from bonecrusher.gulfsouthmedia.com (bonecrusher.gulfsouthmedia.com [209.223.236.66])
(using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits))
(No client certificate requested)
by homiemail-mx1.g.dreamhost.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D7394768074
for <xxx@xxx.xxx>; Sun, 19 Jun 2011 16:15:41 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from goemitar by bonecrusher.gulfsouthmedia.com with local (Exim 4.69)
(envelope-from <goemitar@bonecrusher.gulfsouthmedia.com>)
id 1QYRDR-00058u-6X
for xxx@xxx.xxx; Sun, 19 Jun 2011 18:15:41 -0500
To: xxx@xxx.xxx
Subject: Mt Gox has been hacked
X-PHP-Script: www.goemitar.com/mailto.php for 84.194.195.139, 173.245.53.210
From: A Bitcoin Supporter <Bitcoin@unknown.com>
Message-Id: <E1QYRDR-00058u-6X@bonecrusher.gulfsouthmedia.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2011 18:15:41 -0500
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report
X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - bonecrusher.gulfsouthmedia.com
X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - xxx.xxx
X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [639 634] / [47 12]
X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - bonecrusher.gulfsouthmedia.com


Dear Sir or Madam,


A few hours ago the Bitcoin trading website Mt Gox has been hacked. Malicious
individuals have been able to obtain a database containing usernames, email address
and encrypted passwords. This information has been posted publicly on the internet.

As a Bitcoin supporter I'm now sending a message to every email address contained in
the hacked database. This is to warn you that your username, email address and
password have been leaked. I therefore strongly advice you to change your passwords.
If you have used the same password on different websites it's highly recommended to
change your password on all of your accounts!

For a more secure alternative to Mt Gox, the community appears to be moving to
TradeHill. So this is no reason to lose faith in Bitcoin itself. It must be seen as
a warning that not every website can be trusted with your data however! Their link
is http://www.tradehill.com/?r=TH-R15683 (Note: You can remove the Referral Code
when registering if you want!) This is certainly not the only website where you can
exchange Bitcoins, also check out
http://www.thebitcoinlist.com/dp_bitcoin/bitcoin-exchange/


Sincerely,

A Bitcoin supporter
1CWSjov2N7ix41bZ8bJfHXkdLLbkUsG9Y7





quote:

Return-Path: <bittrader566@yahoo.com>
X-Original-To: xxx@xxx.xxx
Delivered-To: xxx@xxx.xxx
Received: from mail.daveblood.com (li9-33.members.linode.com [67.18.176.33])
by homiemail-mx1.g.dreamhost.com (Postfix) with SMTP id AB1B17680C9
for <xxx@xxx.xxx>; Sun, 19 Jun 2011 18:23:59 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 6976 invoked by uid 500); 20 Jun 2011 01:23:58 -0000
Date: 20 Jun 2011 01:23:58 -0000
Message-ID: <20110620012358.6975.qmail@mail.daveblood.com>
From: bittrader566@yahoo.com
To: xxx@xxx.xxx
Subject: Was this the last straw with Mt Gox?


The latest in a string of hacks to Mt Gox has made me move to Trade Hill. Use this
referral code to get 10% off all trade fees: TH-R13698

Sign up at Trade Hill today!

http://www.tradehill.com/?r=TH-R13698




quote:

Return-Path: <sales@gbvault.com>
X-Original-To: xxx@xxx.xxx
Delivered-To: xxx@xxx.xxx
Received: from gbvault.com (173-167-31-134-michigan.hfc.comcastbusiness.net [173.167.31.134])
by homiemail-mx2.g.dreamhost.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id E07E0448079
for <xxx@xxx.xxx>; Sun, 19 Jun 2011 19:49:49 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from JEFFERSON ([107.10.208.130]) by gbvault.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(7.5.7601.17514);
Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:48:59 -0400
From: "GbVault" <sales@gbvault.com>
To: <removed>
Subject: We Accept Bitcoins - GBVault
Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:47:01 -0400
Message-ID: <002601cc2ef4$8aeae6d0$a0c0b470$@com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/related;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0027_01CC2ED3.03D946D0"
X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 12.0
Thread-Index: Acwu8aI/dCsKQWUZTQGlb1fk96VQoA==
Content-Language: en-us
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 20 Jun 2011 02:48:59.0622 (UTC) FILETIME=[9B1DC860:01CC2EF4]

<http://www.GbVault.com> http://www.GbVault.com

Online Data Backup



Costs nothing to get started, just download and try it free. now accepting
Bitcoins (BTC)

<http://www.gbvault.com/> cid:image002.jpg@01CC2ED0.1B2A1600




I think these guys might just end up in the Lulzsec IRC with a bit of dox attached Rolling Eyes
_________________
https://www.halfdonethings.com/

Post Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:21 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message
Spockie-Tech
Site Admin


Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia


 Reply with quote  

An interesting day indeed..

Rather sad to see the usual tendency of people who know the least to make the most noise about it. The amount of idiots out there going "OMG, Told U it wuz a sCam, Lolz" has reconfirmed my theory that the collective intelligence of most human beings goes down as the number of them goes up.

From what I know so far..

It was not any sort of "Hack" against bitcoin, the protocol, concept or even an SQL database injection vulnerability..

An external auditor with read-only access to *one* Bitcoin exchange (Mt.Gox) had *their* computer compromised (want to bet it was a Windows machine ? Wink ).

The "hacker" (as if they deserve that term) used that computer to *read* the Mt.Gox user database, gained access to a number of high-btc user accounts and used them to execute a bunch of repeated buy/sell orders that *temporarily* ate up all the bids/asks on *that* exchange, which dropped the value of BTC *on that exchange* to 0.01 for a very short period.

What BTC is worth at just *one* exchange right now today is irrelevant, despite all the gleeful doom mongers crying death. What matters is what they are worth *on average across the market* over the next few years. I'll bet that they regain their value within a week or two and keep going up from there.

The Bitcoin concept and network is as strong as it always has been and I see no reason that this event will be anything more than a blip that will scare off lightweights who were hoping to make a quick buck.

Worrying about one exchange sites problems affecting the currency as a concept is about as sensible as changing all your value into another form because someone robbed a bank somewhere.
_________________
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

Post Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:03 pm 
 View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website MSN Messenger
  Display posts from previous:      

Forum Jump:
Jump to:  

Post new topic   Reply to topic
Page 2 of 8

Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8  Next

Forum Rules:
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 

Last Thread | Next Thread  >
Powered by phpBB: © 2001 phpBB Group
millenniumFalcon Template By Vereor.