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Bitcoin's Software Gets Security Fixes, New Features
itwbennett (1594911) writes "The software driving Bitcoin's network was upgraded Wednesday, with security fixes addressing a problem that defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox blamed for losing nearly half a billion dollars worth of bitcoins. The latest version of bitcoin's software, 0.9.0, contains more than a half dozen fixes for transaction malleability, according to the release notes for the software. Bitcoin Core also contains a new feature for payment requests. Previously, merchants couldn't attach a note describing an invoice, and people also could not supply a refund address to a merchant. The latest version automatically supplies a refund address."
This wouldn't have prevented the Mt. Gox implosion since they weren't using the reference implementation. The foundation also renamed the software to "Bitcoin Core" to avoid confusion between Bitcoin-the-network and Bitcoin-the-reference-implementation,
Are you fucking kidding me? Bug fixes for a currency?
I'd be real curious to see how many Bitcoin users are also Amway and Herbalife salesmen.
I don't respond to AC's.
Thanks, Dorian!
Do people expect someone to take seriously a piece of software to manage financial transactions with a version like that?
Sorry, but some of us have always looked at BitCoin and thought some combination of "why?" and "no frigging way".
New stories over the last few months aren't doing anything to change that.
This whole thing sounds like it's several years away from being trustworthy, by which point it will either be regulated by governments, or controlled by corporations.
But, hey, if you want to put your money into a currency which is still getting bug fixes, go right ahead. That's your choice.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Do people expect someone to take seriously an operating system with a version like that?
Sorry, but some of us have always looked at Linux and thought some combination of "why?" and "no frigging way".
New exploits over the last few months aren't doing anything to change that.
This whole thing sounds like it's several years away from being trustworthy, by which point it will either be non free, or controlled by corporations.
But, hey, if you want to put your money and time into an OS which is still getting bug fixes, go right ahead. That's your choice.
If you want to join the experiment and get some Bitcoin, this software is not a good choice for your wallet. The official Bitcoin client does not support any way of securing your Bitcoins against theft through malware. While the wallet can be encrypted, you have to decrypt it to use it, and at that time, your BTC are up for grabs by any of a multitude of BTC stealing trojans. (The official client software is what's called a hot wallet. You shouldn't use a hot wallet for any amount that you can't afford to lose.) Also, backups are an issue. You absolutely have to have a backup, or a hard disk crash or other computer problem can irrevocably wipe out your entire wallet. But backups are difficult with the official Bitcoin client: In order to be sure that all keys are in the backup, you have to keep making backups, because new information is added to the wallet file from time to time, and without that information, you can't access all your BTC.
Problem is, the value of BitCoins exceeds the market demand / use for them. This means it is well into "speculation" arena, and will remain so, until there is a large thawing of coins by the people currently hording them. As these people age, their goal of making a fortune will diminish as "unrealized" profit becomes lost to Bitcoin dustbin.
The problem with hording, is that the value is gone once the person who hid it is dead, and nobody knows it even existed. But unlike Gold, bitcoins burried will be lost forever if there is nobody to remember the password for the wallet.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/...
Once BitCoin starts to become viable alternative currency, actively traded for goods and services, then I'll become a believer in the value. The problem right now, the only people using BitCoins, are traders. It may end up being just a tool to hold accumulated wealth, and that would be a shame.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Why does that sound like those "Ty Beanie Babies" which were worth bazillions for a while and are now essentially worthless?
It's like a stock market frenzy to own the latest fad, and getting in an out makes you money, and the last one holding the bag is out of luck.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
To me, a version 1.00 means it's not ready for primetime. I'd say that's accurate, even though the crap we're hearing about isn't the software itself.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Correct. Right now the "market capitalization" of all existing Bitcoins is roughly 6 billion USD, but if you unload 2 million USD worth of BTC (a day worth of mining) onto the market without being super careful, you move the price by close to one percent. If that isn't overvalued, I don't know what is.
Some Beanie Babies are still worth a fortune. The problem is, they are the ones nobody wanted in the first place, or are the ones that everyone STILL wants.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
I know this because I can observe the marketplace, and understand how the market works. Right now, Bitcoins are exceedingly un-useful besides speculation. Speculation requires patience. When that patience wears thin, you'll see the real value in BitCoins.
If you can name, without Googling it, three major retailiers/service providers that take BitCoin, I'll be surprised. There are a few minor places that like being seen as "cutting edge" that take Bitcoin, but for the most part, there is no utility for BitCoins. When that changes, you'll start to see the real value of BitCoins.
There is a long term option that BitCoins become "Wealth Holders", where people store wealth apart from banking and government entities. I'm starting to think this might actually be the "killer app" of BitCoins.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
It is possible to have a wallet that requires 2 signature to make a valid transaction (good for companies) and also, a wallet that may be operated by one of 2 private keys ( good for couples or partners)
It is not much different from hiding the gold. if you are the only one that knows where it is, it may be lost after you are dead (people may find a "treasure" later, as people may "guess" a password later)
Higuita
all transactions are public... who said that bitcoin aren't traceable? they are anonymous as if you shut up, no one knows to whom that address belongs
Higuita
But I was told that manipulating currencies was always bad, and that Bitcoin was completely different than The Dreaded Fed (TM)!
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
TigerDirect, Overstock.com, and Gyft.
Be surprised. :-)
I think BTC will do well in the long run, simply because of low transaction cost/friction. Not to mention the small size and light weight. ;-)
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait
A better title would be: Bitcoin protocol is insecure if used badly
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Version 1.0 of Linux came out 2 years after its initial alpha release in 1992. If you used it in production prior to that you deserved everything you got, because before then even Linus is saying "not production ready" with the version number.
Uhm. The public ledger makes it rather explicit that every transaction can be traced between two points.
You can always manually specify a refund address, maybe you'll chose the one you already spent from, thus increasing taint.
I..e. Bob sends Bitcoin to Alice, Alice can't deliver the goods and decides to refund, and thus refunds to Bob.
With refund addresses newly generated, people can only see that Alice made another transfer to X. X could be Bob (and if the amount is rather distinguishing, could be a reasonable assumption), but it could be Eve.
Note also that this is just a change in the reference client which can be safely ignored. You don't have to provide a refund address.
Bitcoin isn't like your normal economy you might know so well, because it is a deflationary currency, so people want to keep their coins because the value increases over time.
New things are always on the horizon
They're putting them on horses, assembling them into an army and rampaging across Asia?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
....after the Bitcoin horse has bolted
You can buy lots of nice things with Bitcoin right now, I do all the time. Food, computer parts, bed sheets, all sorts of things. Bitcoin allows sellers to sell without getting robbed by banks. Obviously you should get the reviews of people you deal with in any currency.
If you give cash, bitcoin, gold, or anything else to anonymous drug dealers or shady investment manager snake oil merchants you will be robbed. Don't do that. This isn't something that only happens in the bitcoin world.
Right now, Bitcoins are exceedingly un-useful besides speculation.
That just isn't true. I brought a nice meal with bitcoins earlier today. You can also buy all sorts of legal things from some really huge suppliers like overstock.
Bitcoins have essentially no banking costs unlike the huge costs involved with accepting VISA or Mastercard. They are the perfect tool for small merchants who can't afford to have their entire profit margins eaten by banks.
That's so far from the truth on all points it's hard to respond to.
All world currencies and share prices are based on wishful thinking. You are not going to get the gold standard back.
I am a bit of a bitcoin skeptic, but I see a very plausible niche as a competitor to credit cards. There are hidden costs and risks to small vendors using bitcoins, but when competing with 3% off the top, there is room for insurance (or self-insurance) to cover the glitches.
Another one I've run across lately is Zinc. I'm testing it out with a hard drive I needed to replace a bad drive in my media server. In addition to allowing you to pay with Bitcoin (or Dwolla, if that's your bag), it'll shop your purchase around among other vendors for a better deal. I put the order together on Amazon (which which I could've used Gyft, and have done so in the past), but they ended up placing the order with Newegg instead (for which there isn't otherwise a way to pay with Bitcoin) to knock a few dollars off. It's supposed to arrive tomorrow...we'll see.
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
As bitcoin uses public / private key cryptography you could have clients only have the public key until you need the private key.
So the client would be able to see that someone has sent them bitcoin but not be able to use them as they do not have the key allowing a store to validate that someone has sent in the coins.
Paper wallets is one implementation of this idea, where there is a piece of paper with 2 qr codes with your public and private keys.
Give everyone your public key but when you need to send the coins somewhere you need to scan the qr code to import the key.
You could probably come up with a system requiring you to assemble the private key from several parts.