Any noobs looking to use your bitcoin for Xmas shopping, here's a Purse tutorial for Amazon discounts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waF3E9QIIGc

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 11:43PM by benperrin117 http://bit.ly/2efxpFo

Taught a classmate in school about how Bitcoin works!

http://bit.ly/2eujXLf via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2dXp2zx

I'm not sure if this is allowed but Notepad++ accepts bitcoin donations and I think they deserve some love.

I have no affiliation with Notepad++ but as a developer I've been an avid user of this app for some time. I recently installed an update and decided it was time for a donation.I know there's a lot to talk about with regard to the future of Bitcoin but I think it's easy to forget about the victories already achieved. The speed, security and ease of use with which I can donate money to a dozen open source projects I've never given money to before is awesome.Anyway, I apologize if this is against the rules. Felt like sharing the love. via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2dXpZYO

Andrew Miller (Ph.D. C.S.): "Segwit is awesome engineering & I #longbet it will be ratified in Dec. I admire Core for maintaining a consistent technical vision. Core has done such a good job in handling of bugs/security & continued improvement, their karmic balance outweighs any grievances."

https://twitter.com/socrates1024/status/793234632678383616

Submitted November 01, 2016 at 10:09AM by eragmus http://bit.ly/2eh0Cji

Bitcoin Origins

Afternoon, All.Today marks the eighth anniversary of the publication of the Bitcoin white paper.As a special tribute, I will provide you with a short story on the origins of the Bitcoin tech.I've been out of the game for many years, however now I find myself drawn back - in part due to the energy that's being added by the incumbents, in part due to information that's become public over the past year.I haven't followed the Bitcoin and alt coin tech for the past five or six years. I left about six months before (2).My last communication with (2) was five years ago which ended in my obliteration of all development emails and long-term exile. Every mention of Bitcoin made me turn the page, change the channel, click away - due to a painful knot of fear in my belly at the very mention of the tech.As my old memories come back I'm jotting them down so that a roughly decent book on the original Bitcoin development may be created.The following are a few of these notes.This is still in early draft form so expect the layout and flow to be cleaned up over time.Also be aware that the initial release of the Bitcoin white paper and code was what we had cut down to from earlier ideas.This means that some of the ideas below will not correspond to what would end up being made public.Bitcoin LogoBitCoin OriginsSix Months In A Leaky BoatIntroductionI have always found that there’s a vast gulf between knowledge and understanding.Wherever I looked I’ve found very intelligent folks who had immense knowledge in their subject but with little understanding of what to do with it, how to mould it, how to create something new.They could only ever iterate incrementally to improve the knowledge in their given field.Understanding comes from experiences outside of knowledge in a particular subject.The following story is about a most unique project and the understanding that was used and applied to the e-cash problem which resulted in the experiment called Bitcoin.It is to show the thought process, stream of consciousness, arguments, examples, concerns and fears that went through our minds has we tussled with this beast and hammered out something that may actually work.There is no verification of truth here. There is absolutely no evidential proof that I had any part in the project. All evidence was purged in late 2011 - the reason will become apparent. Only (2) should know of my involvement (until now). Take this as just a fictional story if you wish.Who am I ? I went by the ‘net handle Scronty back then.scrontsoft.comI have always been interested in computer and electronic technology since the age of eleven. Seeing what others had made these machines do, and then trying to push it a little bit further out.Whenever there was a problem to be figured out I would always begin with what the current state of knowledge was - after all, we all stand on the shoulders of all those who have gone before.Quite often I found that the assumptions folks hold for a particular problem are the things that are holding them back from figuring out a new solution.So I would begin by questioning peoples basic assumptions on various subjects“What if that wasn’t true ?""If it didn’t exist what could it be replaced with ?”This usually resulted in annoying all of these knowledgable folks.“That’s the way it’s always been”“That’s the best industry standard for this”“All the letters after my name means I’m right and you’re wrong”“That’s what’s written in this book I’m holding”“Everyone quotes from this person so he must be right - so I quote from him as well”You get the idea.You see it on every single message board since the mid-nineties onwards.There’re also a lot of egotistical chips on folks shoulders where you’d find that they’d look down on others and belittle them on topics that they themselves had only just learned a few weeks earlier.This is particularly true in programming and crypto forums.StartA couple of guys worked with an online betting company.They had a problem.For punters to use their service they had to provide credit card details and pay for chip tokens.However, many times a punter would play the online pokey machines, lose all of their money and then reverse the credit card charge saying “It’s unauthorised. It wasn’t me”.Sometimes the company’s network would not record the funds transfer correctly and so the punters funds were removed from their credit account into the company’s account but no record of it was made on the company’s end - so the punter didn’t receive any play tokens and, again, tried to reverse the charges.The large credit card issuing companies also actively stopped allowing credit cards to be used for online gambling and began refusing to reverse the charges.What these guys needed was a way to transfer funds between punters and the online betting companies so that both parties could trust that everything was above board.That a payment could not be made by mistake and once a payment went through it was unchangeable, irreversible.(2) had been on the periphery of the cypherpunks group since the mid 1990’s. When I entered the project in early 2008 he had been working on the problem part-time over the past five years. Over the previous year or so he’d been working on the problem full-time. He was writing a white paper for an e-cash system for the online betting/gambling company to use ( or to license out the solution to multiple companies ) plus writing the code for it.He was attempting to implement a working example of electronic cash.There were other cryptographers who he was communicating with however it just wouldn’t “work”. There were always too many attack vectors with the solution and even though, from a cryptographic point-of-view, the white paper and code was appropriate, he found it unsatisfactory.After talking to his friend (3) it was decided that maybe they had their noses too close to the grindstone and that they should find someone who wasn’t a cryptographer to look over the ideas.The problem is that to find such a person is very difficult. He’d have to be smart enough to understand cryptography (or learn it), also be interested in the subject but also not currently be a cryptographer.Usually the folks who were smart enough and had an interest were already cryptographers.Through various IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels (3) came across me and I ended up being put in touch with (2).With my work in the Win32 Asm community I’d shown I was smart enough and could figure out the solutions to difficult problems.Plus I’d made sure my public profile was always dealing with grey-to-white topics (no online gambling stuff).Request For HelpI was asked to take a look over what had been written in the white paper and see what needed to be changed as the code implementing it just wasn’t working - the pieces wouldn’t fit together or the whole thing would fail if certain pre-conditions in the network weren’t met.(2) wanted to publish the white paper before the end of the year (2008).I began reading through the document - understanding very little.Hashing and encrypting and decrypting and private keys and public keys.Different types of hashing algorithms, encrypting then hashing and hashing then encrypting.Oh my!“Just tell me what I need to change to make it work” - (2) kept asking me.“I dunno what the [redacted] I’m reading here” - I replied.(2) thought that maybe he’d made a mistake and he’ll just try and find someone else.I told him that he’s going about fixing it the wrong way.“How should it be fixed ?”, he asked.“Well, first I need to know what I’m reading. So you’re going to have to give me info on the various crypto stuff in here”, I said.“No no no”, he said. “ If you learn the meaning of the cryptographic jargon you will be influenced by it and would no-longer be the “non-cryptographer” that we need to look over the white paper”.I told him that without learning the jargon I cannot read the paper in the first place.Also - as I learn I will understand more and will be able to tell you what you need to change.If or when it got to the stage that I’d learned too much and also had my nose too close to the grindstone then I could leave the project and he could find someone else to replace me.He agreed that having me learn a bit about cryptography may be a good idea (:roll-eyes:).He told me to get started.I asked where the information was.He said “Google it”.I said “Nope. You’ve been working in this area for the past few years so you can give me a link to the websites with the info."He returned with a list of website links and said to go through that and look at the white paper.The list had about 109 links in it - bloody [redacted].One-by-one I began going through the information.After a few weeks I’d gone through about half-a-dozen papers/websites which hadn’t cleared up anything.Once three or four weeks had gone by I threw my hands up in disgust and told him “At this rate I’ll be here all year and still not understand all the pieces. You’ve got to filter this down for me. You’ve already read all of these documents and websites so give me a list of the most important docs/websites you think would be helpful in understanding your white paper”.He came back with a list of about 23 white papers and websites.“Now list them in the order you think I should read them in”.He came back with a sorted and filtered list of crypto-docs and websites.I began reading through them - starting at the first.TransactionsGiven a computer network there had to be transactions sent to a recipient.The initial white paper was pretty much a shuffling of the various cryptographic e-cash white papers at the time. We knew that when someone wanted to send a payment to another person it would have to be transmitted across a network securely.But how to solve the double-spend problem ?A piece of physical paper cash can only be in one place at a time - you cannot double-spend a physical currency note. All current electronic cash solutions relied upon a central server to control the allocation of coin and to make sure no coin could be double-spent.But if that server went down, or was unaccessible due to a DDOS attack or government intervention ( or someone just tripping over a power cord ) then no more money.We knew that a coin would initially be minted somehow.I found most of the methods written in white papers and on websites were rubbish ( Personal opinion here. No disrespect to those who wrote those white papers ).They either tried to pretend to act as central banks or tried to allow a “mates club” whereby they all agreed who's going to get coin at a particular time.Kind of like politicians using an "independent" third party to give themselves a pay rise.One day he came back to me saying his friend (3) wanted to communicate directly with me but he was a super-paranoid fella and I had to encrypt any messages using private/public keys.It was a [redacted] nightmare.I had to:Generate the private/public keysMake sure the public key was sent to a very specific location so that we could “trust” that the public key was validUse this quirky little command line proggy where I included my email address plus a link to the private keyEmbed the generated data into the emailThis was all so he could confirm that the message was indeed from me and had not been intercepted or changed.Then he decided that I’d also have to generate new private/public keys for every single email just in case a previous email had been intercepted.I told (2) that this just wasn’t going to happen.I’ve always disliked using command line programs directly and always thought that they should always be executed from a GUI ( Graphical User Interface).I said “You’re going to be my filter for this project and main conduit in this team. I send emails to you, you communicate with whoever you need to and send their replies back to me. Or you send their requests to me and I reply back through you.And what’s this annoying command line proggy anyway? What the [redacted] is it doing?(2) gave me the link to the information - it was in that list of 109 docs/websites but not in the filtered list of 23.It was to Hal's website where he very clearly explained how something called "Hashcash" worked.Hals RPOWFrom there I went on to Adam's site:Hashcash(which was not even in the original list at all).I read the Hashcash white paper sections until I hit the calculations and my eyes begun to glaze over.HashcashI read the first few paragraphs and knew this was something interesting.I asked (2) if he could check whether this document was the final version or if there had been improvements/ amendments/ updates to it.He said he thought I was wasting my time with this and I should continue with the other docs/websites in the list he’d provided me.I told him that I’m the only one who would know what info is important and to look into the Hashcash origin for me. He came back a couple of days later and said it was confirmed that the public document linked was the final version of the Hashcash paper.I asked how he could confirm it?He told me that he’d contacted the original website author Hal and asked him for any updated document and Hal had replied back with the exact same public link.He’d even copy/pasted Hal’s reply in the email to me.I said “Wait… What ? …”“You actually contacted the original author of the reference material ?”He said “Yep. Who else would I go to to confirm the document, except to the author themselves ?”I told him it was really quite rare to have someone check with the original author or sources. Most folks read something and take that as fact, or read the reference documents and take those as fact.If someone read about the Boyer-Moore search algorithm they take it as fact that what they’ve read is the official final solution. I haven’t heard of anyone contacting Boyer or Moore to check for any updates/ improvements/ amendments.The Boyer-Moore search algorithm is something that went through the rounds on the Win32Asm community forum for a while.I found this quite intriguing. Even with (2)’s occasional grating personality it would be very useful to have someone who’s prepared to hunt down the original authors like this.I asked him if he'd contacted the Hashcash author and he said he'd sent emails to every single author of all of the websites/ white papers and only about a dozen or so had ever replied back to him.I had begun to write up a list of what the various problems were for creating an e-cash system from the other e-cash system white papers and websites I had been studying.I was still referring back to the white paper (2) had supplied me however it was really just a mishmash of what everyone else had been doing over the years.Hence why it failed like all of the others.One of the problems was a trusted time stamp so that folks would know that funds hadn’t been double-spent. Another was the minting of the tokens in the system and trusting the minting source.If I recall - practically every single white paper out there ( including the one suppled to me ) used a trusted third party as the source for a time stamp and a convoluted method to check it hadn’t been tampered with.And the minting either used a trusted third party to generate coins on a regular basis or had a network of nodes agree on how many tokens to generate and give to each other.(2) said that we need to use the trusted third parties because how else can we trust the time stamp and the minting of the tokens.I told him he was thinking of it in the wrong way.You’re assuming a trusted third party is needed, just because every single other cryptographic white paper says that’s how you do it.But you’re also saying that you can’t rely on a trusted third party because that makes a single point attack vector that can bring the whole system down to its knees.“Remember Sherlock Holmes” I said. “ ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth ?’.The assumption of a trusted third party in an functioning e-cash system must be eliminated as impossible for this to work.So if we cannot have a trusted third party for this, what are our other options ?”“I have no idea”, (2) replied. “Do you believe this proof-of-work thing you’re looking into can be used for this somehow ?”.“I dunno. It definitely has some possibilities. It’s made for making sure the data being sent and received comes from a known trusted source and that it hasn’t been tampered with”.It forces the user computer to generate a hash of the data to find a hash with a prepended number of zeroes. If the hash isn’t found it increments a value and hashes again. It just keeps repeating until a hash is found with the correct number of prepended zeroes.This means that the user computer has to spend time working on the hashes until it finds one and only then can it stop.It was designed to eliminate the email spam problem that we all have because a spam-sender would need to use a lot of computing resources to generate hashes for all the emails sent out ( the data that’s hashed includes the recipients email address so a new hash is required for every single email recipient ).It also has a throttle so that the difficulty in generating a hash can be increased over time as the general computing hardware improves.The minting problem is also sorted due to the electricity used in generating a hash can be used to mint the e-cash and put it into circulation.Effectively - the real fiat-currency cost (via electricity consumed) of generating the valid hash is how much e-cash is given to that minter.It also sets what the price of the minted e-cash should be, as there is a direct correlation between a real-world electricity bill and the digital e-cash amount minted.Taking the time used to generate the hash with how much energy the cpu used during the generation ( only the time spent on hashing - not other computing resources ) with the local electricity costs of the suburb/county/province/state/nation the minter resides within, then each minter could have a locally-adjusted e-cash value added to their account.It would mean that someone minting in a country with cheap electricity due to state-subsidised support would receive less e-cash because less real-world fiat currency was expended in the generation of the hash.So now we had a mechanism in which this e-cash would work.I'll stop this story here for now and post a follow-up depending upon its reception.The follow-up will contain some of the details of how the idea of a chain of blocks came about, plus some of the tech that was left out of the initial white paper and public code release ( it was, after all, just the first experiment to check whether this tech would actually work ).As a side-note:When you read the Bitcoin white paper again, the Introduction, Calculation, Conclusion and References sections were written and edited by (2) and (3).The Transactions, Timestamp Server, Proof-of-Work, Network, Incentive, Reclaiming Disk Space, Simplified Payment Verification, Combining and Splitting Value and Privacy sections were from text copy/ pasted from emails from me to (2) explaining how each part worked as they were being figured out.I wrote the Abstract text when (2) asked me to write the Introduction. (2) used it as the Abstract section because he found it too terse for an introduction.(2) and (3) edited the entire document and removed any double-spaces from it, adding titles to the various sections and adjusting between 2% and 5% for spelling errors and grammar/ sentence structure.You can see the original Abstract with double-spacing here: Public Mailing-list PostingThere was a huge misunderstanding between us all during the formation of the white paper which I'll mention next time.Cheers,Phil(Scronty)vu.hn via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2fbGSee

Andrew Miller (Ph.D. C.S.): "Segwit is awesome engineering & I #longbet it will be ratified in Dec. I admire Core for maintaining a consistent technical vision. Core has done such a good job in handling of bugs/security & continued improvement, their karmic balance outweighs any grievances."

https://twitter.com/socrates1024/status/793234632678383616 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eh0Cji

Bcoin is now live on Purse.io wallets, SegWit supported

just got the email update.

Submitted November 01, 2016 at 02:29AM by dbthegimp http://bit.ly/2folk3b

Chart of the week: Bitcoin closer to digital titanium than digital gold

http://bit.ly/2efqwE9

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 11:58PM by sy5error http://bit.ly/2fa9ULr

Is this a good speed for a r7 260x?

http://bit.ly/2f6Jsnp

Submitted November 01, 2016 at 07:31AM by Frankval323 http://bit.ly/2eOd4aX

We need more people using Bitsquare. Ability to use Interact e-transfer in CAD now available!

No fees, no need to trust a third party. This is how Bitcoin is suppose to work. I am currently the only one with open orders in the BTC/CAD market. Help me add some liquidity.

Submitted November 01, 2016 at 01:42AM by smitemesmith http://bit.ly/2eNGndL

Will O'Brien: "8 years ago today, Satoshi Nakamoto published the bitcoin whitepaper. Read it again here."

https://twitter.com/willobrien/status/793108701213175809

Submitted November 01, 2016 at 12:54AM by a56fg4bjgm345 http://bit.ly/2fnSxeW

Bcoin is now live on Purse.io wallets, SegWit supported

just got the email update. via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2folk3b

We need more people using Bitsquare. Ability to use Interact e-transfer in CAD now available!

No fees, no need to trust a third party. This is how Bitcoin is suppose to work. I am currently the only one with open orders in the BTC/CAD market. Help me add some liquidity. via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eNGndL

Bcoin, the advanced new fullnode wallet implementation, is now live on Purse for all user balances and funds.

http://bit.ly/2f2e63y via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eV29tF

Halloween @sof's bar Paris Bitcoiners Bar

https://twitter.com/Adrian_Sauzade/status/793163820957130752 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2fxJfwr

Are Schnorr signatures expected to be included in 0.14?

Schnorr signatures are the next step after SegWit to improve scalability and also privacy. But unlike SegWit, it's difficult to find a concrete roadmap for when it will be ready. Some developers have implied that it will be ready next year. It would be nice to know when it should be expected.

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 10:35PM by veteran1234 http://bit.ly/2f9Etkf

BitGo is now running Bitcoin Core 0.13.1 #segwit

https://twitter.com/BitGo/status/793133010308562944

Submitted November 01, 2016 at 01:13AM by brg444 http://bit.ly/2efv4dn

Any noobs looking to use your bitcoin for Xmas shopping, here's a Purse tutorial for Amazon discounts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waF3E9QIIGc via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2efxpFo

Will O'Brien: "8 years ago today, Satoshi Nakamoto published the bitcoin whitepaper. Read it again here."

https://twitter.com/willobrien/status/793108701213175809 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2fnSxeW

Switzerland's SBB Will Offer Franc-to-Bitcoin Trading

http://bit.ly/2fvmuJC

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 10:12AM by castom http://bit.ly/2e3oraI

BitGo is now running Bitcoin Core 0.13.1 #segwit

https://twitter.com/BitGo/status/793133010308562944 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2efv4dn

Chart of the week: Bitcoin closer to digital titanium than digital gold

http://bit.ly/2efqwE9 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2fa9ULr

New York's bitcoin hub dreams fade with licensing backlog

http://reut.rs/2dUv4AY

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 01:43PM by manWhoHasNoName http://bit.ly/2eqoqPg

Where to buy bitcoin miners other than eBay.

Look to start mining bitcoins as a hobby. I am ideally looking to spend between $1000 to $2000 on them but most places i search i hear of only bad things, scams and such.

If someone could give me a few websites/companies that sell machines that aren't scam sites. I also would be using my credit card to make the purchase in case of any issues that way.

I have seen bitmain.com who make Antminer R4 and other stuff but are sold out. If anyone could give me some direction on who is a little reputable that would be great.

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 11:40PM by omega0male http://bit.ly/2e5J99V

what version of core works with armory 0.93.3

hi all,i'm hoping someone can help. what version of core works with armory 0.93.3I have the blockchain and armory synced, and can see some balances, but when I go into my wallet properties there are no addresses there.any help would be greatthanks via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2dVo2Mi

Are Schnorr signatures expected to be included in 0.14?

Schnorr signatures are the next step after SegWit to improve scalability and also privacy. But unlike SegWit, it's difficult to find a concrete roadmap for when it will be ready. Some developers have implied that it will be ready next year. It would be nice to know when it should be expected. via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2f9Etkf

This is PayPal for sellers today: Chargeback to scammer + 20 USD chargeback fee

http://bit.ly/2dUKeWQ

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 06:06PM by Amberloom http://bit.ly/2eqJjK4

Bitcoin be like...

http://bit.ly/2fwkaSC via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2e4QwOW

ViaBTC's hashrate has fallen ~30% in the past 20 days (around 50 PetaHashes). May go sub 5% soon

https://twitter.com/alistairmilne/status/792995262499348480

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 03:44PM by alistairmilne http://bit.ly/2eZB5fm

Bitcoin segwit and Needham report: The bitcoin price is surging in October

http://bit.ly/2fmlMyR via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2f4vwdm

This is PayPal for sellers today: Chargeback to scammer + 20 USD chargeback fee

http://bit.ly/2dUKeWQ via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eqJjK4

Global LocalBitcoins Volumes Hit All-Time High at $15 Million for Last Week; New Records In USA, Brazil, Malaysia, Sweden and Venezuela

http://bit.ly/2fvkP6T

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 12:11PM by TechWizardry http://bit.ly/2e3tw2P

/r/Bitcoin FAQ - Newcomers please read

Welcome to the /r/Bitcoin Sticky FAQYou've probably been hearing a lot about Bitcoin recently and are wondering what's the big deal? Most of your questions should be answered by the resources below but if you have additional questions feel free to ask them in the comments.The following videos are a good starting point for understanding how bitcoin works and a little about its long term potential:Video 1: What Is Bitcoin & Why Should You Care?Video 2: The real value of bitcoin and crypto currency technologyVideo 3: Bitcoin Is Independent MoneyVideo 4: Bitcoin 101 - Balaji SrinivasanFor lots of additional video resources check out the videos wiki page or /r/BitcoinTV.Key properties of bitcoinLimited Supply (there will only ever be 21,000,000 bitcoins created and they are issued in a predictable fashion, you can view the inflation schedule here)Open source (You can read the source code yourself here)Decentralized (Bitcoin is globally distributed across thousands of nodes and as such can't be shut down similar to how Bittorrent works)Permissionless (No one can prevent you from interacting with the bitcoin network of your own free will, even in areas currently unserved by traditional banking. This makes it a truly global payment platform)Censorship resistant (No one can censor or block transactions that they disagree with, see Operation Chokepoint)Push system (there are no chargebacks in bitcoin because only the person who owns the address where the bitcoins reside has the authority to move them)Designed to fit all the fundamental properties of money better than gold or fiatAdditional Bitcoin statistics can be found here. Developer resources can be found here and here. Peer-reviewed research papers can be found here. Scaling resources here, and of course the whitepaper that started it all :Where can I buy bitcoins?You can buy or sell any amount of bitcoin and there are several easy methods to purchase bitcoin with cash, credit card or bank transfer. Some of the more popular resources are below, more can be found here and here.CircleCoinbaseLocalBitcoinsLibertyXMycelium LocalTraderBitfinexBitstampKrakenHere is a listing of local ATMs. Also, Lawnmower is also a handy way to make small recurring purchases of bitcoin. If you would like your paycheck auotmatically converted to bitcoin use Cashila or Bitwage.Note: Bitcoins are valued at whatever market price people are willing to pay for them in balancing act of supply vs demand. Unlike traditional markets, bitcoin markets operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Here are a couple useful sites (bitkoin.io, preev.com) that shows how much various denominations of bitcoin are worth in different currencies. Alternatively you can just Google "1 bitcoin in (your local currency)".Securing your bitcoinsWith bitcoin you can "be your own bank" and personally secure your bitcoins OR you can use third party companies aka "bitcoin banks" which will hold the bitcoins for you.If you prefer to "be your own bank" and have direct control over your coins without having to use a trusted third party, there are many software wallet options here. If you prefer easy and secure storage without having to learn computer security best practices, then a hardware wallet such as the Trezor, Ledger, Case Wallet, or KeepKey is recommended. A more advanced option is to secure them yourself using paper wallets generated offline.If you prefer to let bitcoin banks manage your coins, try Coinbase or Circle but be aware you may not be in control of your private keys in which case you would have to ask permission to access your funds and be exposed to third party risk.Note: For increased security, use Two Factor Authentication (2FA) everywhere it is offered, including email!2FA requires a second confirmation code to access your account, usually from a text message or app, making it much harder for thieves to gain access. Google Authenticator and Authy are the two most popular 2FA services, download links are below. Make sure you create backups of your 2FA codes.Google AuthAuthyAndroidAndroidiOSiOSWhere can I spend bitcoins?Comprehensive lists can be found at the Trade FAQ or The Bitcoin Directory, some more commons ones are below.StoreProductSteam, Disco Melee, HumbleBundle, GreenmanGaming, and Coinplay.ioFor when you need to get your game onMicrosoftXbox games, phone apps and softwareSpendabit, The Bitcoin Shop, Overstock, Rakuten, DuoSearch and BazaarBayRetail shopping with millions of resultsGyftGift cards for hundreds of retailers including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Whole Foods, CVS, Lowes, Home Depot, iTunes, Best Buy, Sears, Kohls, eBay, GameStop, etc.NewEgg, TigerDirect and DellFor all your electronic needsCashila, Bitwa.la, Coinbills, Piixpay, Bitbill.eu, Bylls, Coins.ph, Bitrefill, Pey.de, LRoS, Wagepoint, Hyphen.toBill paymentFoodler and TakeawayTakeout delivered to your door!Expedia, Cheapair, Lot, Destinia, BTCTrip, Abitsky, SkyTours, Fluege the Travel category on Gyft and 9flatsFor when you need to get awayBoltVMVPS serviceCryptostorm, Mullvad, and PIAVPN servicesNamecheapFor new domain name registrationStampnik and GetUSPSDiscounted USPS Priority, Express, First-Class mail postageReddit GoldPremium membership which can be gifted to othersCoinmap and AirBitz are helpful to find local businesses accepting bitcoins. A good resource for UK residents is at wheretospendbitcoins.co.uk.There are also lots of charities which accept bitcoin donations, such as Wikipedia, Red Cross, Amnesty International, United Way, ACLU and the EFF. You can find a longer list here.Merchant ResourcesThere are several benefits to accepting bitcoin as a payment option if you are a merchant;1-3% savings over credit cards or PayPal.No chargebacks (final settlement in 10 minutes as opposed to 3+ months).Accept business from a global customer base.Increased privacy.Convert 100% of the sale to the currency of your choice for deposit to your account, or choose to keep a percentage of the sale in bitcoin if you wish to begin accumulating it.If you are interested in accepting bitcoin as a payment method, there are several options available;BitpayCoinbaseCoinifySnapcardGoCoinCan I mine bitcoin?Mining bitcoins can be a fun learning experience, but be aware that you will most likely operate at a loss. Newcomers are often advised to stay away from mining unless they are only interested in it as a hobby similar to folding at home. If you want to learn more about mining you can read more here. Still have mining questions? The crew at /r/BitcoinMining would be happy to help you out.If you want to contribute to the bitcoin network by hosting the blockchain and propagating transactions you can run a full node using this setup guide. You can view the global node distribution here.Earning bitcoinsJust like any other form of money, you can also earn bitcoins by being paid to do a job./r/Jobs4BitcoinsCoinality job boardBitgigs job boardxbtfreelancer.comYou can also earn bitcoins by participating as a market maker to allow users to perform CoinJoin transactions with your bitcoins for a small fee (requires you to already have some bitcoins)JoinMarketBitcoin ProjectsThe following is a short list of ongoing projects that might be worth taking a look at if you are interested in current development in the bitcoin space.ProjectDescriptionLightning Network, Amiko Pay, and StrawpayPayment channels for network scalingBlockstream and DrivechainSidechains21, Inc.Open source library for the machine payable webShapeShift.ioTrade between bitcoins and altcoins easilyOpen Transactions, Counterparty, Omni, Open Assets, Symbiont and ChainFinancial asset platformsHivemind and AugurPrediction marketsMirrorSmart contractsMediachainDecentralized media libraryTierion and FactomRecords & Titles on the blockchainBitMarkets, DropZone, Beaver and Open BazaarDecentralized marketsSamourai and Dark Wallet - abandonedPrivacy-enhancing walletsJoinMarketCoinJoin implementation (Increase privacy and/or Earn interest on bitcoin holdings)Coinffeine and BitsquareDecentralized bitcoin exchangesKeybase and BitratedIdentity & Reputation managementBitmesh and TelehashMesh networkingJoyStreamBitTorrent client with paid seedingMORPHiSDecentralized, encrypted internetStorj and SiaDecentralized file storageStreamium and FaradamPay in real time for on-demand servicesAbraGlobal P2P money transmitter networkbitSIMPIN secure hardware token between SIM & PhoneIdentifiDecentralized address book w/ ratings systemCoinometricsInstitutional-level Bitcoin Data & ResearchBlocktrail and BitGoMultisig bitcoin APIBitcoreOpen source Bitcoin javascript libraryInsightOpen source blockchain APILeetKill your friends and take their money ;)TippingUse ChangeTip.com (/r/changetip) for tipping people on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Google+, GitHub, Slack and more! (you can even use custom monikers to tailor your tip to the discussion or add a bit of humor). Read more about ChangeTip at their reddit wiki.Bitcoin UnitsOne Bitcoin is quite large (hundreds of £/$/€) so people often deal in smaller units. The most common subunits are listed below:UnitSymbolValueInfomillibitcoinmBTC1,000 per bitcoinSI unit for milli i.e. millilitre (mL) or millimetre (mm)microbitcoinμBTC1,000,000 per bitcoinSI unit for micro i.e microlitre (μL) or micrometre (μm)bitbit1,000,000 per bitcoinColloquial "slang" term for microbitcoinsatoshisat100,000,000 per bitcoinSmallest unit in bitcoin, named after the inventorFor example, assuming an arbitrary exchange rate of $500 for one Bitcoin, a $10 meal would equal:0.02 BTC20 mBTC20,000 bitsFor more information check out the Bitcoin units wiki.Still have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below or stick around for our weekly Mentor Monday thread. If you decide to post a question in /r/Bitcoin, please use the search bar to see if it has been answered before, and remember to follow the community rules outlined on the sidebar to receive a better response. The mods are busy helping manage our community so please do not message them unless you notice problems with the functionality of the subreddit. A complete list of bitcoin related subreddits can be found hereNote: This is a community created FAQ. If you notice anything missing from the FAQ or that requires clarification you can edit it here and it will be included in the next revision pending approval.Welcome to the Bitcoin community and the new decentralized economy! via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2cCRH9B

No.1 bitcoin mining pool and asic chips producer: bitmain to conduct AMA on 8btc, 3rd Nov

Leave your questions: http://bit.ly/2dUu3ZQ via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eqo0bK

New York's bitcoin hub dreams fade with licensing backlog

http://reut.rs/2dUv4AY via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eqoqPg

ViaBTC's hashrate has fallen ~30% in the past 20 days (around 50 PetaHashes). May go sub 5% soon

https://twitter.com/alistairmilne/status/792995262499348480 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eZB5fm

Japanese financial services group to enter cryptocurrency business - EconoTimes

http://bit.ly/2eT54Tv via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eZAM4s

There Will Be No Bitcoin Split - John Blocke

http://bit.ly/2dUivWA

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 03:02PM by BeijingBitcoins http://bit.ly/2eqbAAl

New mining rig

Hi guys me and my mates are really close to start our own mining rig. Our plan is to build an 91Th/s rig. But we are a bit insecurr about the bitcoin difficulty. So we are really thinking about mining litecoin. Any thought of profits and costs here? Litecoin is about 3$ a piece but how many do you get per block average??? In comparison against the bitcoins average 20 (never mined before)

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 04:02PM by TinyTauren_ http://bit.ly/2flUzwe

There Will Be No Bitcoin Split - John Blocke

http://bit.ly/2dUivWA via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eqbAAl

Nodes running 0.13.1 rising every minute!

628 now.. still well over 50% running older core software and not upgraded. Some not for quite a while, over 5% running 0.11.2, why. Comen on... upgrade!

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 09:41AM by albabit http://bit.ly/2eKGK8L

Switzerland's SBB Will Offer Franc-to-Bitcoin Trading

http://bit.ly/2fvmuJC via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2e3oraI

Global LocalBitcoins Volumes Hit All-Time High at $15 Million for Last Week; New Records In USA, Brazil, Malaysia, Sweden and Venezuela

http://bit.ly/2fvkP6T via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2e3tw2P

Local Bitcoins worldwide volume reaches a new all-time high on record USD volumes.

Malaysia, Brazil, Venezuela, and Sweden also saw record highs.

When all currency volumes are converted to USD, nearly 16 million USD in value are now exchanged each week.

Paxful also continues to see all time highs almost every week, purportedly from backpage.com demand. Anyone have any other insights on paxful volume?

http://bit.ly/1oiH67o

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 08:47AM by mattius459 http://bit.ly/2eKmmEN

Nodes running 0.13.1 rising every minute!

628 now.. still well over 50% running older core software and not upgraded. Some not for quite a while, over 5% running 0.11.2, why. Comen on... upgrade! via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eKGK8L

Two economies with the world's strongest currencies - Switzerland & Iceland - are encouraging Bitcoin usage.

https://twitter.com/BambouClub/status/792798970435239936

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 02:46AM by Byzantine-General http://bit.ly/2fkOHn0

Princeton Course On Bitcoin Starting Soon?

Does anyone know if the Princeton Coursera Course is starting in October?

link to course

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 02:00AM by verba_tim http://bit.ly/2ebVwVd

Local Bitcoins worldwide volume reaches a new all-time high on record USD volumes.

Malaysia, Brazil, Venezuela, and Sweden also saw record highs.When all currency volumes are converted to USD, nearly 16 million USD in value are now exchanged each week.Paxful also continues to see all time highs almost every week, purportedly from backpage.com demand. Anyone have any other insights on paxful volume?http://bit.ly/1oiH67o via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eKmmEN

antminer s9

Hi, is there anyone else that did the upgrade firmware on the s9 but got the socket connected failed and know what to do. thank you

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 07:48AM by MenCriss http://bit.ly/2eSi5gd

Swiss railway ticket machines to sell Bitcoin digital currency - BBC News

http://bbc.in/2f5ZRHj

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 10:39PM by quadrilliondollars http://bit.ly/2ebisEi

Two economies with the world's strongest currencies - Switzerland & Iceland - are encouraging Bitcoin usage.

https://twitter.com/BambouClub/status/792798970435239936 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2fkOHn0

Is Having to Scale Bitcoin Using Other Layers Really THAT Bad??

I just listened to the latest Let's Talk Bitcoin podcast and both hosts seemed to be pretty down about the fact that the entire world will never be able to have 100% of their transactions on the main chain as was originally envisioned. Is that really such a bad thing though?

Isn't the Internet kind of the same? Multiple layers of an onion that all piece together to form something that the end user never has to think about using. Isn't that what Bitcoin would basically become if we build other protocols on top of or in conjunction with Bitcoin? So long as these layers don't involve central points of failure or trust I don't really see why it's such a bad thing.

If we build these layers so that they still embody the same principles of not harming decentralization or fungibility it really shouldn't matter right?

Help me see what I'm missing here in this debate please.

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 12:24AM by Kitten-Smuggler http://bit.ly/2f6l0B1

Another Perspective: Bitcoin is stable, it’s just the CNY, USD & GBP that are crashing.

https://twitter.com/koqoo/status/792721012806803456

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 12:52AM by kkoolook http://bit.ly/2ftPz8j

$10 worth of bitcoin back in 2010 = $7 million USD today. #truestory

https://twitter.com/koqoo/status/792775534765809665

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 03:55AM by kkoolook http://bit.ly/2ecbUFa

Android vulnerability. Be careful with your phone wallets.

http://bit.ly/2fsKlti

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 09:21AM by identiifiication http://bit.ly/2e0wiWN

Why is the "Latest stable version" in this subreddit's side still 0.13.0?

Latest stable version: 0.13.0 (Aug 2016). Shouldn't it be 0.13.1 now?

Submitted October 31, 2016 at 01:32AM by shadowrun456 http://bit.ly/2ebD0wq

$10 worth of bitcoin back in 2010 = $7 million USD today. #truestory

https://twitter.com/koqoo/status/792775534765809665 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2ecbUFa

Release of Bitcoin Core 0.13.1: Activation Plan for SegWit

http://bit.ly/2dTgD0h via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eoF2XJ

Princeton Course On Bitcoin Starting Soon?

Does anyone know if the Princeton Coursera Course is starting in October?link to course via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2ebVwVd

How was fiat first distributed?

In crypto we do ICO and then traders buy it.

But how does it work with USD. Like the government print a lot of money but how did they first distributed it and who did they gave the money to?

I post this here instead of /r/economics because bitcoiners are usually smarter

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 06:10PM by Investwisely11 http://bit.ly/2eIFRNW

Who could have the greatest impact on Bitcoin by publicly supporting it?

No text found

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 05:11AM by throwawizard http://bit.ly/2eJB8f5

How do I run a Node?

So I recently got a new gaming computer, and I'd like to give back to the community which has given me so much. I'd like to run a node, but I'm not sure where to start. Any suggestions?

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 08:14AM by Atlas_84 http://bit.ly/2eaOQqA

What is your favorite metric for measuring bitcoin's growth?

No text found

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 12:47PM by coinsprinkler http://bit.ly/2fj1h6l

is there any way to automatically buy/sell bitcoin below/above a certain preset price point?

i don't get why this isn't standard feature of exchanges like coinbase, circle, etc. via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2e1Nivw

Another Perspective: Bitcoin is stable, it’s just the CNY, USD & GBP that are crashing.

https://twitter.com/koqoo/status/792721012806803456 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2ftPz8j

Why is the "Latest stable version" in this subreddit's side still 0.13.0?

Latest stable version: 0.13.0 (Aug 2016). Shouldn't it be 0.13.1 now? via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2ebD0wq

Is Having to Scale Bitcoin Using Other Layers Really THAT Bad??

I just listened to the latest Let's Talk Bitcoin podcast and both hosts seemed to be pretty down about the fact that the entire world will never be able to have 100% of their transactions on the main chain as was originally envisioned. Is that really such a bad thing though?Isn't the Internet kind of the same? Multiple layers of an onion that all piece together to form something that the end user never has to think about using. Isn't that what Bitcoin would basically become if we build other protocols on top of or in conjunction with Bitcoin? So long as these layers don't involve central points of failure or trust I don't really see why it's such a bad thing.If we build these layers so that they still embody the same principles of not harming decentralization or fungibility it really shouldn't matter right?Help me see what I'm missing here in this debate please. via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2f6l0B1

"Satoshi clearly establishing that Bitcoin is a settlement network /s" - Cofounder & Core dev of OpenBazaar - Dr. Washington Sanchez

https://twitter.com/drwasho/status/792595422376144897 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2f2D6VY

Largest Swiss railway company turns 1000+ ticket machines into bitcoin ATMs

http://bit.ly/2fjFpHW

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 09:23PM by manWhoHasNoName http://bit.ly/2f2diJs

The truth behind SBB Swiss train company selling Bitcoins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcnjdQmbwBA&feature=youtu.be via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2fjYsSe

Moody’s: Deutsche Bank Nearing “Default Point”

http://bit.ly/2f53Eo6

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 10:25AM by kitsboy http://bit.ly/2eaxcTF

With Bitcoin now over $700, there's 25% extra FREE credit for r/bitcoin users on Anonymous Bitcoin Phone Numbers, until November 1st.

http://bit.ly/2dSPZ7w

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 12:23AM by _jstanley http://bit.ly/2eoc7CZ

Swiss railway ticket machines to sell Bitcoin digital currency - BBC News

http://bbc.in/2f5ZRHj via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2ebisEi

Does coinbase's multisig bitcoin tool really works?

I am having problem sending my bitcoins using http://bit.ly/2dSPHO5 even if i put highest HD index to 500 it shows zero balance. Please help via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eo8oFx

The story of bitcoin [Documentary]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cjbSgy3vSw via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eo8UDE

Pirate Party wins Icelandic election? Bitcoin on road-map to become legal tender?! Lol NO! Neither :D

http://bloom.bg/2f0EF7k

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 07:15PM by CashUsher http://bit.ly/2eIKlnD

Largest Swiss railway company turns 1000+ ticket machines into bitcoin ATMs

http://bit.ly/2fjFpHW via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2f2diJs

Weed Growers Are Racing to Register Their Strains on the Bitcoin Blockchain

http://bit.ly/2e9Km3B

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 04:06AM by AliBongo88 http://bit.ly/2f4dc2L

/r/joinmarket - New release 0.2.2 with new features, most important one to allow transactions to complete with fewer makers

http://bit.ly/2eZ8bKu

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 01:45AM by The_CohibAA http://bit.ly/2eHmjtj

Is now a good time to invest?

Should I buy a bunch of bitcoin now?It seems like the price of bc is suppose to be high by Christmas via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2e0XpRp

Pirate Party wins Icelandic election? Bitcoin on road-map to become legal tender?! Lol NO! Neither :D

http://bloom.bg/2f0EF7k via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eIKlnD

How do I run a Node?

So I recently got a new gaming computer, and I'd like to give back to the community which has given me so much. I'd like to run a node, but I'm not sure where to start. Any suggestions? via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eaOQqA

How was fiat first distributed?

In crypto we do ICO and then traders buy it.But how does it work with USD. Like the government print a lot of money but how did they first distributed it and who did they gave the money to?I post this here instead of /r/economics because bitcoiners are usually smarter via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eIFRNW

Android vulnerability. Be careful with your phone wallets.

http://bit.ly/2fsKlti via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2e0wiWN

Moody’s: Deutsche Bank Nearing “Default Point”

http://bit.ly/2f53Eo6 via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2eaxcTF

Sold my last bits of Ethereum for Bitcoin

I have bought a little portion of Ethereum through the presale some time ago. Today I've sold the last part of my Ethereum-stash for Bitcoin.

Why? Ethereum did not convince me. It didn't convince me in the beginning (pre-sale was hyped as well, I took a small risk) and it doesn't do it now:

The main client needs to sync and takes a long time if you don't do it regularly. That is, if it does sync at all (it got stuck a million times now)

The terminology - what's this gas anyway? - and handling is way to difficult, even when I'm not a complete noob in the land of cryptocurrencies.

I don't see the use. I can see the many uses for Bitcoin, mainly as a ledger registering some sort of unchangeable truth. It might be slow and heavy, but it's decent enough to build upon. Ethereum has seen some hardforks now, mainly after attacks of some sort, changing the 'truth' of the ledger in a way. It doesn't seem stable at all having so many issues. It also doesn't solve a real problem now, as far as I can see.

I hope I haven't made a mistake and got rid of my chance of becoming a millionaire. At least I got some good bucks out of it now.

Hooray for Bitcoin!

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 06:48AM by amnesiac-eightyfour http://bit.ly/2dZkZy7

I just paid a taxi driver in Manchester my fair in bitcoin.

He did not take credit card. He drove me to an ATM at gas station, but it was out of order. The gas station and not hotel I was staying at did any have provide cash back so I convinced him to download breadwallet and I paid him his fare in bitcoin. First time I have ever used bitcoin in such a circumstance, but really shows the potential. The driver had heard about Bitcoin before so wasn't completely new to it and he also transfers a lot of money because of family from Africa. Hopefully one more believer.

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 03:25AM by 70ph3r http://bit.ly/2f3Sd0c

What is your favorite metric for measuring bitcoin's growth?

No text found via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2fj1h6l

Cloud Mining verses Do it Yourself Mining

http://bit.ly/2f4hVSj

Submitted October 30, 2016 at 09:41AM by seasafe http://bit.ly/2e9MN65

Sold my last bits of Ethereum for Bitcoin

I have bought a little portion of Ethereum through the presale some time ago. Today I've sold the last part of my Ethereum-stash for Bitcoin.Why? Ethereum did not convince me. It didn't convince me in the beginning (pre-sale was hyped as well, I took a small risk) and it doesn't do it now:The main client needs to sync and takes a long time if you don't do it regularly. That is, if it does sync at all (it got stuck a million times now)The terminology - what's this gas anyway? - and handling is way to difficult, even when I'm not a complete noob in the land of cryptocurrencies.I don't see the use. I can see the many uses for Bitcoin, mainly as a ledger registering some sort of unchangeable truth. It might be slow and heavy, but it's decent enough to build upon. Ethereum has seen some hardforks now, mainly after attacks of some sort, changing the 'truth' of the ledger in a way. It doesn't seem stable at all having so many issues. It also doesn't solve a real problem now, as far as I can see.I hope I haven't made a mistake and got rid of my chance of becoming a millionaire. At least I got some good bucks out of it now.Hooray for Bitcoin! via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2dZkZy7

Weed Growers Are Racing to Register Their Strains on the Bitcoin Blockchain

http://bit.ly/2e9Km3B via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2f4dc2L