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No, I don't think so. Even if every government in the world banned bitcoin exchanges, there would still be a value, and everyone would be free to trade them back and forth. There is already a very active community at http://localbitcoins.com/ where people exchange bitcoins for cash, gold and services without the need for an exchange. In reality, few governments can agree on anything, so we'll see some make moves against exchanges, but not many. Even if my country banned bitcoin outright, I'd be happy to fly down to say Thailand with my bitcoins printed on paper/emailed/etc for a few months and party hard every year....

You do know that for each transaction you do you change your wallet-address and there is no easy way to trace this.

It will look something like if you do a single transaction to a company.
addr1(10btc) -> ( addr2(2btc), addr3(8btc) )
and you don't know if addr2 or addr3 would be the new wallet or destination address. All you know is that some BTC moved from one address to two other BTC addresses.
Most important part here would be to always use new keypairs for the destination-address(es) to make it harder to trace..

The destination address to the company will be generated on the fly by the recipient to allow for simple detection of when the transaction has been performed.
Try to trace something that has been going thru a couple of tumblers, and ending up in a few 100 different wallets.. On top of that do a couple of transfers in/out of a few exchanges located in a few different jurisdictions.. And then for withdrawing money using https://localbitcoins.com/ and getting cash...

Unless you are someone really sought after it will cost more to trace that than it's worth..
There have been quite a few articles about how bitcoins has been traced, but also different ways to obscure who's the actual owner of said coins...

I'm not saying it's completely secure and anonymous, but it can be anonymous enough depending on how it's used and how big of a target you have painted on yourself.

One of the latest anonymization techniques available you can find here:
https://news.ncsu.edu/2017/02/...

But if you want to stay fully anonymous:
- Use TOR when announcing transactions.
- Always generate new wallets at transaction-time.
- Don't pay for services that can be linked back to you..

How do you turn bitcoin back into cash or gold without a paper trail?

Certain ATMs don't have KYC, but the better way to anonymously sell your bitcoin is with either localbitcoins https://localbitcoins.com/ or mycelium localtrader https://mycelium.com/lt/help.h... in person. This also makes it easy to quickly transfer bitcoin where you don't have to wait for confirmations - https://opendime.com/

Yes, by default it's not anonymous, that i agree with.. The thing is that if done right it can be made more or less fully anonymous before sending it to a bitcoin-exchange to get some funds..

1. Sell something and receive bitcoins..
2. repeat 1 as many times as you want.. nobody can trace who's the owner of the account at this point..
3. Send thru a bitcoin-tumbler.. there are many, and a few good ones..

When wanting to exchange from bitcoins to cash use a service like https://localbitcoins.com/ - No way for anyone to track you as long as you deal only in cash... maybe only make exchanges in different cities.
Another way to obscure the data would be to have several accounts on bitcoin-vaults / exchanges and make a few trades, like buying dodgecoin and then buying back bitcoin before transferring it to another place.. make sure you only do transfers between exchanges in different countries...

Also, only connect to these accounts/make bitcoin-transfers on public wifi, and if really paranoid use it only in combination with TOR...

So there... fairly secure.....

Even local bitcoins would do it: https://localbitcoins.com/buy-bitcoins-online/cad/ Or just set up account with mtgox, btc-e or any of various other exchanges, and get money wired to your bank account, what is the problem?

So what? Why does the price of bitcoin even matter? Bitcoins strength lies in its ability to be used as a payment processing network - and at a fraction of the cost of traditional payment networks (visa, mastercard, paypal, SWIFT, etc).

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A Fraction of the cost, 76 times more annoyance.

I tried to buy a few few bit coins "just for fun" last week. I still can't figure out how to make it happen. From what I understand I have to find someone who lives near me who not only uses bit coins, but wants to sell some, and then arrange to meet them in person, possibly in a dark ally, and then give them guy some cash. Then I have to go release some kind of escrow thing saying that the transaction is complete within 1 hour of the appointed meeting time or bad things happen. After that I wait for the stranger to press his magic button on the escrow, and THEN I get my bit-coins... I think. Simple, right?
https://localbitcoins.com/guides/how-to-buy-bitcoins

All the people that say "You can't buy anything with it, it's worthless" or "it's too volatile to be of any value" are missing the forest for the trees.

The simple fact of the matter is that even on the most fundamental level, bitcoin takes Visa/Mastercard/Amex/Discover/PayPal and all of the associated fees out of the equation. If you buy something in bitcoin you're saving the merchant anywhere up to 5% of the cost of goods sold which, in turn should reduce the price you pay. The price may be volatile at the moment, but it is certainly by no means undervalued given the size of the potential market. Buy some coin by transferring money into an exchange and buying them (might cost you up to 20 bucks and 0.5% in fees) or buy them in cash for "free" with localbitcoins.com and just don't spend them any time the price is lower than what you paid for them. Alternatively, provide a good or service and accept payment in bitcoin yourself.

The fact that bitcoin is peer to peer and run by the community should be enough reason for any Slashdot user to take a serious look at it now that it has received enough scrutiny to know that the math is safe.

Also at the decentralized bitcoin exchange site LocalBitcoins.com people trade with various alternative payment systems, including Kenyan M-PESA. Because at LocalBitcoins.com trading happens peer-to-peer (no centralized accounts) the site can support almost any payment method the users can throw at it.

Which brings me to the point... Nigeria is not behind, but might be actually a forerunner. There has existed some bitcoin trading in Nigeria for some time now:

https://localbitcoins.com/country/NG

Other African countries where trading happens are Ghana https://localbitcoins.com/country/GH and South Africa https://localbitcoins.com/country/ZA

Supposedly bincoin is good for traditional Nigerian online businesses?

(disclaimer: I am working with the project)

Also at the decentralized bitcoin exchange site LocalBitcoins.com people trade with various alternative payment systems, including Kenyan M-PESA. Because at LocalBitcoins.com trading happens peer-to-peer (no centralized accounts) the site can support almost any payment method the users can throw at it.

Which brings me to the point... Nigeria is not behind, but might be actually a forerunner. There has existed some bitcoin trading in Nigeria for some time now:

https://localbitcoins.com/country/NG

Other African countries where trading happens are Ghana https://localbitcoins.com/country/GH and South Africa https://localbitcoins.com/country/ZA

Supposedly bincoin is good for traditional Nigerian online businesses?

(disclaimer: I am working with the project)

Also at the decentralized bitcoin exchange site LocalBitcoins.com people trade with various alternative payment systems, including Kenyan M-PESA. Because at LocalBitcoins.com trading happens peer-to-peer (no centralized accounts) the site can support almost any payment method the users can throw at it.

Which brings me to the point... Nigeria is not behind, but might be actually a forerunner. There has existed some bitcoin trading in Nigeria for some time now:

https://localbitcoins.com/country/NG

Other African countries where trading happens are Ghana https://localbitcoins.com/country/GH and South Africa https://localbitcoins.com/country/ZA

Supposedly bincoin is good for traditional Nigerian online businesses?

(disclaimer: I am working with the project)

Usually you use Local Bit Coins or any of the methods listed on this new user's guide.

need an internet connected device to send/receive money

Not exactly cash, but you can make transactions via SMS.

And the site you use to convert your dollars to bitcoin will be illegal. What then?

Then you buy trade goods with USD, and sell them for BTC. You could also exchange BTC in person (http://www.localbitcoins.com/, http://www.bitcoin-otc.com/), or even arrange to get paid directly in BTC. The exchanges are merely a convenience; they're not essential for Bitcoin to function.