Showing posts with label Mt.Gox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mt.Gox. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Bitcoin 101 - What is Bitcoin? - A Beginning Video for Bitcoin New Comers

The bitcoin logo
The bitcoin logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



Having trouble understanding Bitcoin as a beginner? Well, even Bitcoin's anonymous developer, Satoshi Nakamoto, commented on how difficult it is to explain Bitcoin to a beginner.

But we've been teaching Bitcoin for over a year now and we're starting to figure it out. This video is the result of a talk we did at Harvard University in April 2014 for Bitcoin beginners. Many of them mentioned that this talk helped them to finally understood the basic idea and we hope it works for you too. Even better, it is a story, covering the failures and difficulties of creating a digital currency, so for non-techies it is more accessible as well.


Our Notes:
A new video but an old story for people on this site.  The news of Bitcoin continues to grow and more people are becoming very interested in all of the potentials behind this digital currency, and all for good reason, so we take those new to the trend back to the very beginning.
 
Enhanced by Zemanta

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Bitcoin 101 - The Nightmare of a 51% Attack - Part 1 - Calculating The Costs

The bitcoin logo
The bitcoin logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



Proof of work is a new technology, and it has amazingly protected Bitcoin for five plus years. Still, there may be no greater point of weakness in Bitcoin. While a 51% attack doesn't appear to offer a lot of financial gain, monetary gain may not be the motive of the attacker. In part one, we go through a cost analysis of the current hardware needed to launch a successful 51% attack to get a better picture how much it might cost. Unfortunately, the numbers are lower than expected, and most of the previously published values come in three to fifty times higher than actuality. In part two we will talk more about what an attacker might be able to do (double spending is not the worse tool at their disposal) and we prod at some possible solutions. Stay tuned.

Welcome to WBN's Bitcoin 101 Blackboard Series -- a full beginner to expert course in bitcoin. We hope you enjoy. And remember the official WBN launch is coming up : July 1st, 2014.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Friday, March 21, 2014

Bitcoin 101 - Multi-Signature Addresses pt2 - Spending, Protocol & Coding

The bitcoin logo
The bitcoin logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)




This part two of a two part series on muti-signature addresses and wallets. This is important technology for massively improving bitcoin security. In part one we generated a multisig address/wallet. In this part, we'lll walk you through all the steps necessary to spend the funds, going line by line through some simple python code and generating a payment in bitcoind.

In many ways, multisig addresses are the answer to most of bitcoin's concerns and fears of theft. And now its time to scale up massive implementation for them. Originally introduced into the bitcoin client a few years ago, multisignature addresses massively more secure than regular ones. Their adoption by all wallet manufacturers is coming. But, for you techies and voyeurs, we'll jump inside the ideas of multi-sig and even program the stuff. Hope you enjoy.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Bitcoin 101 - Multi-Signature Addresses pt1 - Coding This Major Security Improvement

The bitcoin logo
The bitcoin logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



Just like the Wright brothers, on those first flights at Kitty Hawk, didn't concern themselves that much with landing. And improvements like anti-lock brakes and seat belts help protect passengers in cars. Bitcoin is now in that 'second phase' where security is becoming massively important. Fortunately, because the currency is programmable, anything is really possible. Originally introduced into the bitcoin client a few years ago, multisignature addresses massively more secure than regular ones. Their adoption by all wallet manufacturers is coming. But, for you techies and voyeurs, we'll jump inside the ideas of multi-sig and even program the stuff. Hope you enjoy.


Enhanced by Zemanta

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Mt. Gox Disappears! Is Bitcoin Finished?

The bitcoin logo
The bitcoin logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



Late Monday, the Bitcoin-trading site Mt. Gox went dark, leaving everyone questioning the future of the virtual currency. There have been reports of a security breach, compromising over $300 million dollars from investors. Annie reports on this news, and what it means for the future of Bitcoin.

Read More:
LulzSec Rogue Suspected of Bitcoin Hack
http://www.theguardian.com/technology...
"More than $9m of online currency was stolen in weekend attack on Bitcoin currency exchange that could cost members of Anonymous and LulzSec thousands of dollars each."

Feds Seized $2.9M in Bitcoin Funds From Mt. Gox, Court Docs Show
http://gigaom.com/2013/08/19/feds-sei...
"The federal government sent a strong signal to Bitcoin traders earlier this year when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security seized an account belonging to Mt. Gox, the most popular exchange for people to buy and sell the crypto-currency. It was unclear at the time just how much currency the government confiscated."

Bitcoin Fails Finland's Money Test, Judged Commodity
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/...
"Bitcoin doesn't meet the definition of a currency or even an electronic payment form in Finland, where the central bank has instead decided to categorize the software as a commodity."

Latest Instance of Pony Botnet Pilfers $200k, 700k Credentials
http://threatpost.com/latest-instance...
"Attackers leveraged a Pony botnet controller to not only siphon away a large batch of account credentials but also to make off with over $200,000 in Bitcoin and other virtual currencies over a four month span, according to researchers this week."

Authorities See Worth of Bitcoin
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/S...
"Senior U.S. law-enforcement and regulatory officials said they see benefits in digital forms of money and are making progress in tackling its risks."

Bitcoin ATMs Landing In The US
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-5761...
"Robocoin's bitcoin ATMs are hitting the United States later this month, Reuters reported Tuesday."

Bitcoin Currency Inspires Tulip Mania Comparisons
http://news.discovery.com/history/bit...
"Unlike dollar bills, gold bars or your friend's mint-condition Beanie Babies, bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that doesn't exist in any tangible form."

Tulip Mania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania
"Tulip mania or tulipomania was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed."

Our Notes:  Present Bitcoin value at the time of this writing is $557.99 per coin US.  Not exactly the bursting of the bubble.  One has to wait and see for a few more days, the impact all of this news is having on all investors.  Something not taken into consideration in the above video is the fact that Bitcoins remain intact even after something like this.  The owners have not lost their Bitcoins unless their information was hacked along with the actual Bitcoins.   We find the security breach story a bit strange to say the least and may just be somewhat misleading.
Enhanced by Zemanta