Members jayare Posted August 7, 2012 Members Share Posted August 7, 2012 Hi all..I was talking with my 20-something nephew last night and he was trying to explain the Bitcoin virtual world to me. I got about half of what he was saying....Anyone have any experience with this "Virtual Money"??Apparently its the big thing in his world!ThanksJohn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scarecrowbob Posted August 7, 2012 Members Share Posted August 7, 2012 THe wiki does a good job of summarizing: Bitcoin is a decentralized electronic cash system that uses peer-to-peer networking, digital signatures and cryptographic proof so as to enable users to conduct irreversible transactions without relying on trust. Nodes broadcast transactions to the network, which records them in a public history, called the blockchain, after validating them with a proof-of-work system. Users make transactions with bitcoins, an alternative, digital currency that the network issues according to predetermined rules. Bitcoins do not have the backing of and do not represent any government-issued currency.[4] It is the first[dubious] of a new generation of currencies known as Cryptocurrencies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin Basically, it is a decentralized way of sending currency around on the interent. Once you have bitcoins, apparently there are no transaction fees. Additionally they are pretty anonymous. So I imagine that there are all kinds of terrible things that you could do if you could figure out how to send money anonymously around in the world... I suppose that you could get some bitcoins, fire up your .onion browser, and have someone mail you 10lbs of cocaine. However, the more interesting use case is that you can get web hosting to publish your anti-government rantings without having a direct paper trail between you and a hosting provider: when the Syrians find you it's because your cousin turned you in instead of a pro-Assad IT guy looking up your whois. However, its not very well established and there are still a lot of "unknown unknowns" floating out there with bitcoins, so that fact (combined with my general lack of need for that level of privacy in my transactions) means that I personally haven't ever had any dealings with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jayare Posted August 7, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 7, 2012 Thanks...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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