(I don't have any but . ..) What is the advantage of putting all my Bitcoins in a Bitcoin bank?
Nothing. You should not leave your coins on an exchange when it's easy to print a paper wallet or at least store an encrypted wallet on your PC at home which you leave turned off.
I can see (for a few milliseconds while passing through) converting real works $$$'s to/from either a credit card or REAL bank account . . . into Bitcoins, then I KEEP the Bitcoins.
You are 100% correct. My bitcoins were on Mt. Gox for less than 1 minute. Just long enough to trade and transfer.
I thought that was part of the purpose/advantage of Bitcoins, they're Peer-to-Peer and need no bank.
Again, you are 100% correct.
It seems to me the only purpose of putting Bitcoins in a Bitcoin Bank . . . is to lose them when it goes under.
It's laziness. You don't have to 1. Download the wallet (same as any other Next Next Next Windows install) 2. Copy a code and put it in the Send Bitcoins page at Mt Gox 3. Encrypt your wallet with a long passkey.
Physical assets (tangible cash, or jewelry in a safety deposit box) . . . sure, in a real bank.
Other than having a place to risk losing it all. What is the advantage of having a Bitcoin bank? When I can perform all my necessary transactions Peer-to-Peer, and only need have ANY funds "in" a bank . . . for the brief sub-second time it takes to convert it to/from some other currency.
And I'm not asking that they do the currency conversion for free . . . charge a fee.
But why do people "deposit" Bitcoins? I've searched, and read . . . I'm just missing something obvious I guess.
People. Are. Lazy. I have a friend that I told 7 times to move his money off of Gox because they were shady. I even sent him $2 worth of bitcoins to force him to open a Coinbase account. I sent him screenshots showing him exactly how to do the transaction. He's a software developer, so this stuff isn't beyond him. He never listened and lost all his bitcoins (more than 10).
Except that I can make unlimited copies of my mattress and store them away from my house. And I can encrypt them so it's a mattress that nobody can tear open, no matter how long they try.
Make your trade and then pull your coins into a local offline wallet. You can store a paper wallet at a bank safety deposit box or you can make multiple backup copies of an encrypted wallet and burn them to CDs and put them in various safe places, etc. So yeah, most people know where their coins are because they control them themselves.
And, even worse, you could have pulled your bitcoins out of there (or bought bitcoins at the current price) and transferred them anywhere in the world up to about 3 weeks ago. And none of these people did. Despite there being a 6-month delay on cash withdrawals for a year and a complete lack of cash withdrawals for over 3 months.
Stuffing your savings into your digital pillow case is a VERY good idea in the bitcoin world. Because you still get interest while it's in your pillowcase.
Bitcoins are like putting cash in a safe that can teleport anywhere in the world instantly. They can also move your cash to any other teleporting safe in the world by just entering an address and pressing send.
But, it turns out that the process of putting cash into or getting cash out of this special safe has to be handled by a transaction of somebody else who already has cash in their safe. So sites came up allowing you to trade bitcoins. You give them cash to transfer the coins to your safe. But these sites did it by maintaining a giant online safe with all their coins in it, and database entries as to how much of that each person should have.
People figured out ways to trick their database into thinking they has more cash in their account then they should have and then transferred the additional cash to their safe. Mt. Gox was stupid and never ran inventory to notice that they should have more cash in their safe than they do.
If you keep your own cash in your own teleporting safe, it's pretty secure. If you keep your cash in someone else's safe with just a database entry saying how much you should have, that's not very safe. One mistake on their part and you are in trouble.
And up to about 3 weeks ago, you could transfer your bitcoins to anywhere in the world from Mt. Gox at any time for free. But you couldn't get your cash out. Anybody who didn't move their bitcoins out when this was the case is just stupid.
"Bitcoin is sort of a funny arrangement. You've got your mathematically clever, cryptographically secure, hard inner kernel; but the moment you step away from that it's pure Wild West."
Seriously? I'm in Southern California and I've driven to Yosemite (multiple times) Oregon, Yellowstone, Carlsbad Caverns, Arizona, Las Vegas, etc. What's the point of owning a car if you don't get to enjoy it on a long drive?
You mean the ice that's so thick that they had to shut down the crab season 3 years in a row in Alaska and the fact that you can't even take boats through Northern Canada anymore?
Consider a FICO credit score. The algorithm to get this value is not at all obvious from the data sets used to generate it. And it has tremendous value in commerce. So a FICO score is copyrightable and if you want to show one to consumers, you have to make up your own algorithm.
It would be if it were accurate. That's why Thomas Bros. invented the method of putting purposeful mistakes in the data (so, this street really DOESN'T go through after all?!?) so that anyone copying it could be shown to be violating creative copyright. Stick with OpenStreetMap tiles and you should be fine.
Every large city I have ever been to has ridiculous grocery prices, usually because there are tiny grocery stores with no selection and virtually no competition or buying power.
In the suburbs there are 6-10 large chains competing for your money and they have deals all the time. Plus, my wife loves the 99 cent store. Nothing like getting 2 organic bell peppers or a small crate of mushrooms or a bag of onions or potatoes for 99 cents.
Ever since the LA Kings built Staples Center, LA is basically this way now. Downtown LA is now like Downtown Disney. But go 3-6 blocks in any direction and you might not live through it.
Slashdot Mirror
(I don't have any but . . .) What is the advantage of putting all my Bitcoins in a Bitcoin bank?
Nothing. You should not leave your coins on an exchange when it's easy to print a paper wallet or at least store an encrypted wallet on your PC at home which you leave turned off.
I can see (for a few milliseconds while passing through) converting real works $$$'s to/from either a credit card or REAL bank account . . . into Bitcoins, then I KEEP the Bitcoins.
You are 100% correct. My bitcoins were on Mt. Gox for less than 1 minute. Just long enough to trade and transfer.
I thought that was part of the purpose/advantage of Bitcoins, they're Peer-to-Peer and need no bank.
Again, you are 100% correct.
It seems to me the only purpose of putting Bitcoins in a Bitcoin Bank . . . is to lose them when it goes under.
It's laziness. You don't have to 1. Download the wallet (same as any other Next Next Next Windows install) 2. Copy a code and put it in the Send Bitcoins page at Mt Gox 3. Encrypt your wallet with a long passkey.
Physical assets (tangible cash, or jewelry in a safety deposit box) . . . sure, in a real bank. Other than having a place to risk losing it all. What is the advantage of having a Bitcoin bank? When I can perform all my necessary transactions Peer-to-Peer, and only need have ANY funds "in" a bank . . . for the brief sub-second time it takes to convert it to/from some other currency. And I'm not asking that they do the currency conversion for free . . . charge a fee. But why do people "deposit" Bitcoins? I've searched, and read . . . I'm just missing something obvious I guess.
People. Are. Lazy. I have a friend that I told 7 times to move his money off of Gox because they were shady. I even sent him $2 worth of bitcoins to force him to open a Coinbase account. I sent him screenshots showing him exactly how to do the transaction. He's a software developer, so this stuff isn't beyond him. He never listened and lost all his bitcoins (more than 10).
Except that I can make unlimited copies of my mattress and store them away from my house. And I can encrypt them so it's a mattress that nobody can tear open, no matter how long they try.
Yes. Notice that bitcoin is the only method of still supporting Wikileaks, for instance, if someone wanted to do that.
Make your trade and then pull your coins into a local offline wallet. You can store a paper wallet at a bank safety deposit box or you can make multiple backup copies of an encrypted wallet and burn them to CDs and put them in various safe places, etc. So yeah, most people know where their coins are because they control them themselves.
Everybody but the MSM was aware of it. We were all shocked they kept pointing people to Mt. Gox.
The other exchanges noticed immediately (within 1 day) and closed withdrawals for 1-3 days to solve the problem and then reopened.
And, even worse, you could have pulled your bitcoins out of there (or bought bitcoins at the current price) and transferred them anywhere in the world up to about 3 weeks ago. And none of these people did. Despite there being a 6-month delay on cash withdrawals for a year and a complete lack of cash withdrawals for over 3 months.
Oh yeah... "IS THIS THE END OF WINE AS WE KNOW IT?!?" Just had to get that out there to complete the analogy...
Excellent example.
Stuffing your savings into your digital pillow case is a VERY good idea in the bitcoin world. Because you still get interest while it's in your pillowcase.
Bitcoins are like putting cash in a safe that can teleport anywhere in the world instantly. They can also move your cash to any other teleporting safe in the world by just entering an address and pressing send.
But, it turns out that the process of putting cash into or getting cash out of this special safe has to be handled by a transaction of somebody else who already has cash in their safe. So sites came up allowing you to trade bitcoins. You give them cash to transfer the coins to your safe. But these sites did it by maintaining a giant online safe with all their coins in it, and database entries as to how much of that each person should have.
People figured out ways to trick their database into thinking they has more cash in their account then they should have and then transferred the additional cash to their safe. Mt. Gox was stupid and never ran inventory to notice that they should have more cash in their safe than they do.
If you keep your own cash in your own teleporting safe, it's pretty secure. If you keep your cash in someone else's safe with just a database entry saying how much you should have, that's not very safe. One mistake on their part and you are in trouble.
Does that help?
And up to about 3 weeks ago, you could transfer your bitcoins to anywhere in the world from Mt. Gox at any time for free. But you couldn't get your cash out. Anybody who didn't move their bitcoins out when this was the case is just stupid.
"Bitcoin is sort of a funny arrangement. You've got your mathematically clever, cryptographically secure, hard inner kernel; but the moment you step away from that it's pure Wild West."
Well said. That's exactly it.
Actually, bitcoin went up about $60 yesterday. I think the feeling around the bitcoin community is, "Finally! Good riddance!"
Renault Alliance was Motor Trend's Car of the Year. My dad bought one and it sucked. I quit listening to anything they had to say after that.
They have to be. If not, they go the way of Fisker Karma.
Seriously? I'm in Southern California and I've driven to Yosemite (multiple times) Oregon, Yellowstone, Carlsbad Caverns, Arizona, Las Vegas, etc. What's the point of owning a car if you don't get to enjoy it on a long drive?
You mean the ice that's so thick that they had to shut down the crab season 3 years in a row in Alaska and the fact that you can't even take boats through Northern Canada anymore?
No wonder he made the right decision on this case.
Because he followed the science of a young-earth creationist?
Consider a FICO credit score. The algorithm to get this value is not at all obvious from the data sets used to generate it. And it has tremendous value in commerce. So a FICO score is copyrightable and if you want to show one to consumers, you have to make up your own algorithm.
It would be if it were accurate. That's why Thomas Bros. invented the method of putting purposeful mistakes in the data (so, this street really DOESN'T go through after all?!?) so that anyone copying it could be shown to be violating creative copyright. Stick with OpenStreetMap tiles and you should be fine.
What particular lie did you find at the Creation Museum? Can you please present your scientific evidence backing that up? Thanks.
Every large city I have ever been to has ridiculous grocery prices, usually because there are tiny grocery stores with no selection and virtually no competition or buying power.
In the suburbs there are 6-10 large chains competing for your money and they have deals all the time. Plus, my wife loves the 99 cent store. Nothing like getting 2 organic bell peppers or a small crate of mushrooms or a bag of onions or potatoes for 99 cents.
Yeah, we have "townhouses" in America too. They're for people still trying to realize the American Dream.
Ever since the LA Kings built Staples Center, LA is basically this way now. Downtown LA is now like Downtown Disney. But go 3-6 blocks in any direction and you might not live through it.