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Bitcoin


paime

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i only just heard about this the other day.  It's pretty interesting but sounds very volatile just now so i'm going to stay clear.  I like the concept of a universal currency though.

 

I read an explanation of how it works and is calculated but I couldn't make any sense of it.  Sounds pretty complicated (or i just wasn't in the right frame of mind to absorb that info).

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It's all about doing stuff online in exchange for the coins, which you can then use as a virtual currency. There's been a big hoo-haa recently due to people having malware installed on their machines that are then used to mine bitcoins.

 

I had a bit of a look at it, but not really done much with it.

 

The about page and other details are here - http://bitcoin.org/en/about

 

The BBC chief Apple fanboi has written a piece about it here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22110345

Edited by MattJimF
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Dont get involved right now. It's tanking.

 

Was reading about a guy who got a 30K loan a year ago and ploughed it right into bitcoin, as of last week that 30K had risen to over 300k. Now it'll be back down to about 80k (or so). 

 

Seems very volatile.

 

Edit: Fire in for the bants though

Edited by ca_gere
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One of the guys I used to work with brought bitcoin to my attention but I couldn't get my head around it.

 

He was banging on about this website called the silk road where you could buy virtually anything you could think of and they use bit coin as the currency because it's anonymous.

 

Using computing power to mine bitcoins? How? What? Why? Where? When? WTF?

 

Na, I just don't get it.

 

Good on your mate though, Milner.

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If you look up the Tor network, the Silk Road and The Hidden Wiki, its a scary fucking place. You can pretty much by ounces of coke, an AK-47 or a hitman. Anonymously. using Bitcoin.

I'm staying well rid.

A guy I work with has been "mining" it for like 3 months and he's up to about 0.8 bitcoins. LOL. Which is about $30.

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A guy I work with has been "mining" it for like 3 months and he's up to about 0.8 bitcoins. LOL. Which is about $30.

 

There is little point mining bitcoins now unless you have access to hundreds of computer's worth of processing power (or a botnet), as the amount of power you would be paying to keep your computer(s) on "mining" 24/7 will far exceed any bitcoin return.

 

Good guide here though, for anyone interested in giving it a go: http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/08/how-to-mine-bitcoins/

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If you look up the Tor network, the Silk Road and The Hidden Wiki, its a scary fucking place. You can pretty much by ounces of coke, an AK-47 or a hitman. Anonymously. using Bitcoin.

I'm staying well rid.

A guy I work with has been "mining" it for like 3 months and he's up to about 0.8 bitcoins. LOL. Which is about $30.

 

 

I only heard of bitcoins quite recently when I read an article about The Silk Road. Is The HIdden Wiki something similar with even less restrictions because you can't buy weapons on Silk Road as far as I know.

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Im struggling to get my head round the logistics of the silk road and the hidden wiki - do they just send them in the mail to you? Surely there's no such thing as total anonymity in the modern world?

 

I havent ever used Silk Road, but i have used other services off the internet. Things get sent to you through the royal mail. 

In terms of Silk Road, you have to use that TOR network to get onto it, from there it kinda works like Ebay from what i can gather, you find good sellers, you buy stuff from them, and you leave feedback. Your almost untraceable on the TOR network due to how it works, and they make you pay with BitCoins which leaves little for people to trace you back on, although its not as anonymous as they might make you think, from what i read last night. I am quite amazed the police dont shut these sites down as soon as they find out about them, there are several others out there like Silk Road and some have been going for 6/7 years now. 

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There are plenty of videos on YouTube, walkthroughs in how to access the 'deep web' and just footage of other people exploring it. Pretty interesting stuff, but I'll stay well clear, thanks.

 

[EDIT= Well clear of accessing the 'deep web' myself, I mean. The videos are fine.]

Edited by Adam Easy Wishes
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I only heard of bitcoins quite recently when I read an article about The Silk Road. Is The HIdden Wiki something similar with even less restrictions because you can't buy weapons on Silk Road as far as I know.

Pretty much. I remember alot of people that used it were trying to get it more controlled as there's, apparently, also an awful lot of kiddie porn that goes through it all, due to the anonymity. People wanting to be anonymous to carry out illegal activities trying to regulate it? That's pretty much impossible.

From reading/hearing about some of it, the way they send you an AK-47 is in several packages with instructions on how to assemble it, and all the money is held in escrow and not released to the seller until the goods are received. Meaning that if the goods don't make it the buyer can get their money back. I still can't wrap my head around how the fuck that works other than if it's based on good will/reputation but apparently it's how it works.

I'm happy with just going to work, then the pub & then home to bed.

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Apparently Silk Road wont sell anything that is designed to intentionally hurt someone, so no guns, credit card numbers or things like that. The site also guarantee's transactions, i read a few things where "dealers" have put up special offers and got people to pay upfront before running off with the cash, only for the admin of the site to re-imburse everyone. If thats the case they must make a shit load of money off it. None of the sites i have checked out offer anything like that, you pay your money and you take the risk in regards to it actually showing up. 

I get quite interested in these kinda things, i find it amazing, if not somewhat scary at times. 

Those Annoymous guys use the TOR network for a lot of what they do, again from what i have read it seems like they are trying to take the lead in "controlling" this hidden web, shopping kiddie porn people, and others using it to do things they dont agree with. Its a scary thought to have a faceless organisation controlling a hidden part of the web. 

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I havent ever used Silk Road, but i have used other services off the internet. Things get sent to you through the royal mail. 

In terms of Silk Road, you have to use that TOR network to get onto it, from there it kinda works like Ebay from what i can gather, you find good sellers, you buy stuff from them, and you leave feedback. Your almost untraceable on the TOR network due to how it works, and they make you pay with BitCoins which leaves little for people to trace you back on, although its not as anonymous as they might make you think, from what i read last night. I am quite amazed the police dont shut these sites down as soon as they find out about them, there are several others out there like Silk Road and some have been going for 6/7 years now. 

 

I don't really understand how it works but apparently the authorities simply aren't able to shut them down. All to do with this TOR thingy which I'd never heard of until recently.

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Yeah but there are sites outwith the TOR network that have been on the go for a long time offering similar, if not quite so extravagant services. I personally used a couple for a few years, with no issues at all. Packages coming through the standard mail, and easy to access to web sites. I dont get why these places are not shut down immediately by the Police. One i can think of was a .com address that could be found on google!! It was on the go for years and years, not sure if it still is now as i stopped using them. 

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A herbal thing, dont worry i wasnt buying AK's whilst planning on shooting up Tory Academy.

 

There were quite a few sites when i used them. A few you had to be invited to, but a few you could just Google  sign up for, and bang 2 weeks later you got a "letter" through the post. A few in Europe, some in Canada and a few in the states, and they would all ship world wide, except Australia. I never understood why they were not shut down within a year, in my circle of friends they were common knowledge, which i would have thought ment they were pretty well know and as such the Police would be aware of them. 

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