(Go: >> BACK << -|- >> HOME <<)
Jump to content

Bitcoin: Difference between revisions

Edit links
Page extended-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→‎External links: bitcoin.org is not the Bitcoin Foundation (bitcoinfoundation.org)
→‎External links: Remove external links that don't satisfy the criteria set forth in Wikipedia:External_links
Line 223: Line 223:
== External links ==
== External links ==


{{Wiktionary}}
{{Commons category|Bitcoin}}
{{Commons category|Bitcoin}}
{{Wikibooks|Professionalism|BitTorrent and BitCoin}}
{{Wikibooks|Strategy for Information Markets|Micropayments}}
* [http://bitcoin.org Bitcoin site maintained by the core developers]
* [http://bitcoin.org Bitcoin site maintained by the core developers]
* [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page Bitcoin wiki]
* [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page Bitcoin wiki]
* [http://historyofbitcoin.org History of Bitcoin Timeline]
* [http://historyofbitcoin.org History of Bitcoin Timeline]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/01/03/five-years-of-bitcoin-in-one-post/ Five Years of Bitcoin] (synopsis in ''The Washington Post'' January 3, 2014)
* {{Dmoz|Science/Social_Sciences/Economics/Financial_Economics/Currency_and_Money/Alternative_Monetary_Systems/Bitcoin/|Bitcoin}}
* [http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf ''Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System''], the original paper on Bitcoin by [[Satoshi Nakamoto]]
* [http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf ''Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System''], the original paper on Bitcoin by [[Satoshi Nakamoto]]
* [https://ia601904.us.archive.org/1/items/gov.uscourts.mdd.238311/gov.uscourts.mdd.238311.4.0.pdf ''United States of America v. Ross William Ulbricht''], a [[grand jury]] [[indictment]] prominently featuring Bitcoin


{{Bitcoin}}
{{Bitcoin}}

Revision as of 22:35, 6 January 2014

Bitcoin
A common Bitcoin logo and wordmark from bitcoin.org
Unit
Symbol BTC, XBT,[1] , ฿[2][note 1]‎
Denominations
Subunit
 .00000001satoshi[3]
Demographics
Date of introduction3 January 2009 (2009-01-03)
User(s)International
Issuance
LedgerTransactions are verified and secured by decentralized peer-to-peer network.[4]
Valuation
Issuance25BTC with every block (approximately every ten minutes). The rate of new Bitcoin creation will be halved to 12.5 BTC per block in 2017, and again every four years until there are 21 million BTC[5]: 17 
 SourceTotal BTC in Circulation
This article contains special characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment system and digital currency introduced as open source software in 2009 by pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto. It is a cryptocurrency, so-called because it uses cryptography for security.[6] Users send payments by broadcasting digitally signed messages to the network.[7] Transactions are verified, timestamped, and recorded by specialized computers into a shared public transaction history database called the block chain.[8] The operators of these computers, known as miners, are rewarded with transaction fees and newly minted bitcoins.[9]

Bitcoin has been a subject of scrutiny due to ties with illicit activity. In 2013 the FBI shut down the Silk Road online black market and seized US$28.5 million worth of bitcoins.[10] However, the United States is currently considered to be Bitcoin friendly compared to other governments.[citation needed] In China, new rules mean bitcoins cannot be exchanged for local currency,[11] and the European Banking Authority has warned that Bitcoin lacks consumer protections.[12] Theft of bitcoins can occur, and chargebacks are impossible.[13]

Commercial use of Bitcoin, illicit or otherwise, is currently small compared to its use by speculators, which has fueled price volatility.[14] Bitcoin as a form of payment for products and services has seen growth, however, and merchants have an incentive to accept the currency because transaction fees are lower than the 2-3% typically imposed by credit card processors.[15] Notable vendors accepting bitcoin include OkCupid, Reddit, and Virgin Galactic.[16]

"Bitcoin", capitalized, refers to the protocol and transaction network but "bitcoins", lowercase, refers to the currency itself.[17]

Transactions

Further information: Bitcoin protocol

Block chain

Integral to Bitcoin is a public transaction log or database, the block chain, that records bitcoin ownership currently as well as in the past. By keeping a record of all transactions, the block chain prevents double-spending.[18] Those that maintain the block chain are called miners and are rewarded with newly created bitcoins as well as fees. Payment processing work done by miners verifies each transaction as valid and adds it to the block chain.[19] Bitcoin payment processing fees are optional and generally substantially lower than those of credit cards or money transfers.[20] Currently, doing the work of payment processing is rewarded with newly created bitcoins, but this reward is halved every few years,[21] eventually being phased out once the Bitcoin ceiling of 21 million units is reached. Payment processing will then be solely incentivized by transaction fees. Today, transactions that pay a fee may be processed more quickly.[citation needed]

Exchanges

Through various exchanges, bitcoins are bought and sold at a variable price against the value of other currencies.[22] While there may be a seemingly large number, exchanges regularly fail, taking client bitcoins with them.[23] A published research study showed that of 40 Bitcoin exchange markets studied, 18 ended up closing over a period of 3 years.[24] Bitcoin prices are fragmented and vary widely across exchanges.[25]

Wallets

Example wallets
Electrum - a digital Bitcoin wallet
A paper Bitcoin wallet

Wallets allow a user to make and accept payments using Bitcoin. At the most basic, a wallet stores a public key, which some refer to as a Bitcoin address, and its associated private key. They come in a variety of forms: apps for mobile devices and computers, hardware devices, and paper tokens. When making a purchase with a mobile device, the use of QR codes to simplify transactions is ubiquitous.

Bitcoin functions using public-key cryptography, in which a pair of cryptographic keys, one public and one private, are generated.[26] In the case of Bitcoin, the public key functions as an address to which payments can be sent, and the private key acts as a safeguard; it must be presented when making a payment from an address. Because anyone with a private key can spend all of the bitcoins associated with its corresponding public key, securing and protecting is important to prevent theft, which has occurred on numerous occasions.[24] The practical day-to-day security of Bitcoin wallets remains an on-going concern.[27]

Obtaining bitcoins

The main ways to acquire bitcoins are: exchanges (where bitcoins can be bought and sold for cash), mining, and selling items for bitcoins.[28]

History

Main article: History of Bitcoin

First mentioned in a 2008 paper published under the pseudonym "Satoshi Nakamoto" (a Japanese name that roughly translates as "Thinking clearly inside the foundation"),[29] Bitcoin became operational in early 2009, with the release of the first open source Bitcoin client and the issuance of the first bitcoins.[30][31][32] The currency had early technical problems such as a 2009 exploit that allowed the creation of unlimited bitcoins.[33][34]

On average, bitcoins have appreciated rapidly in relation to other currencies including the US dollar, euro, and British pound.[22] In 2011 the value of one bitcoin rapidly rose from about $0.30 to $32, before falling back down to $2.[35] Bitcoin began attracting media attention in late 2012, and numerous news articles have been written about it. In 2013, some mainstream services such as OkCupid, Baidu, Reddit, Humble Bundle and Foodler began accepting it.[36] That year also saw the first interventions by law enforcement. Assets belonging to the Mt.Gox exchange were seized, and the Silk Road drugs market was shut down.[37]

During November 2013, the China-based Bitcoin exchange BTC China overtook Japan-based Mt.Gox and Europe-based Bitstamp to become the largest Bitcoin trading exchange by trade volume.[38] On 19 November 2013, the value a bitcoin on the Mt.Gox exchange soared to a peak of US$900 following a United States Senate committee hearing, at which the committee was informed that virtual currencies were a legitimate financial service.[39] On the same day, one bitcoin traded for over RMB¥6780 (US$1100) in China.[40] With roughly 12 million bitcoins in existence as of November 2013,[41] the new price increased the market cap for Bitcoin to at least US$7.2 billion.[42]

On 5 December 2013, the People's Bank of China announced it was prohibiting Chinese financial institutions from using bitcoins.[11] Following the introduction of these new rules, the value of bitcoin dropped[43] and Chinese internet giant Baidu reversed its policy of accepting bitcoins for certain services.[44] Starting in October 2013, Baidu had been allowing clients of website security services to pay with bitcoins.[45] Buying real-world goods with any virtual currency has been illegal in China since at least 2009.[46]

Certain non-profit or advocacy groups accept bitcoins including Free Software Foundation,[47] WordPress,[48] Tor Project,[49] and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.[50]

Economics

The highly volatile value of Bitcoin has led to some questions about its ability to function as a currency.[51] Few are willing to use a currency with a highly variable value.[52] Its deflationary bias, which incentivizes hoarding and removes money from circulation, is also cited as a stumbling block to Bitcoin becoming a functional currency.[53]

Even if Bitcoin fails to make it as a currency, it may continue to prove useful as a payment processing system. Volatility has little effect on its utility in this regard since money would need to be converted to bitcoins only for the short time it takes to make a payment or transfer.[54] Processing fees are substantially lower than those of credit cards or money transfers.[20] Some feel that Bitcoin may be especially well suited to facilitating cheap cross-border money transfers.[54]

Currently Bitcoin does see limited use as a currency.[55] By November 2013 there were about 1,000 brick and mortar businesses willing to accept payment in bitcoins,[56] and more than twenty thousand merchants online.[57]

Alternative to national currencies

Bitcoins are accepted in this café in the Netherlands as of 2013

Some have suggested that Bitcoin is gaining popularity in countries with problem-plagued national currencies, as it can be used to circumvent inflation, capital controls, and international sanctions. Bitcoins are used by some Argentinians as an alternative to the official currency,[58] which is stymied by inflation and strict capital controls.[59] In addition, some Iranians use bitcoins to evade currency sanctions.[60]

Financial journalists and analysts have suggested that there was a link between higher Bitcoin usage in Spain and the 2012-2013 Cypriot financial crisis.[61]

Bubbles

Many have mentioned speculative bubbles in connection with Bitcoin, and Reuters journalist Felix Salmon correctly predicted the bursting of one such Bitcoin bubble in April 2013.[62]

Noted individuals who have named Bitcoin a bubble include Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; a core developer of the Bitcoin protocol, Mike Hearn; and Economist John Quiggin.[63]

Nick Colas, a market strategist for ConvergEx Group, is among those who see Bitcoin's quick rise in price as nothing more than normal economic forces at work.[64]

Speculation

Bitcoins are often traded as an investment[65] by speculators who expect the currency to increase in value as its popularity widens.[66] The European Banking Authority has warned that the risks of engaging in such speculation go beyond the possibility that the value of Bitcoin drops.[67]

Bitcoins have been described as lacking intrinsic value because their value depends only on the willingness of users to accept them.[68] Their vulnerability to hacking and theft also makes their use as an investment more questionable.[52] Velasco and Medina counter this argument by noting the abstract work involving in minting a bitcoin: while the use value of a bitcoin is not universally agreed upon, its labour value is firmly established[69].

Derivatives of bitcoins are thinly available. One organization offers futures contracts against multiple currencies.[70]

Bitcoins have attracted the attention of some Wall Street types with Peter Thiel's Founders Fund investing US$3 million and the Winklevoss twins making a US$1.5 million personal investment[71] as well as making an attempt to launch a Bitcoin ETF.

Reception

The above diagram explains public-key cryptography using Bitcoin as an example.

Economists have had a mixed reaction to Bitcoin. Some have responded positively to Bitcoin, including François R. Velde, senior economist of the Federal Reserve in Chicago who described it as "an elegant solution to the problem of creating a digital currency."[72][73]

Other economists commenting on Bitcoin have been critical. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman has suggested that the structure of the currency incentivizes hoarding and that its value derives only from the expectation that others will accept it as payment.[74][75]

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has expressed a "wait and see" attitude when it comes to Bitcoin.[76]

In November 2013 Richard Branson announced that Virgin Galactic would accept Bitcoin as payment, saying that he had invested in Bitcoin and found it "fascinating how a whole new global currency has been created", encouraging others to also invest in Bitcoin.[16][77] PayPal President David A. Marcus has said he thinks that Bitcoin is a "great place to put assets" but that it won't be a currency until its price volatility reduces.[78]

Lack of anonymity

See also: Comparison of anonymous cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin have been criticized for its proof of knowledge by the free software movement activists including Richard Stallman and calls for reformed development.[79] Zerocoin was a proposed add-on to Bitcoin, which employs cryptographic accumulators and digital commitments with zero-knowledge proofs to eliminate trackable linkage in the Bitcoin block chain, which would make Bitcoin anonymous and untraceable, however it has been suggested by Zerocoin developers that instead of building on top of the Bitcoin protocol, Zerocoin may decide to launch as an alternative cryptocurrency instead.[80][81][82][83][84]

The block chain is a public ledger of every bitcoin transaction. Bitcoin does provide anonymity in that a bitcoin address does not directly identify its owner. However, tracking the flow of bitcoins through the address can give clues as to who the owner is.[85] Bitcoin uses cryptography but does not do so to protect the identities of its users. Bitcoin is anonymous in that it is difficult to associate Bitcoin transactions with real-life identities.[86] In addition, Bitcoin intermediaries such as exchanges are required by law in many jurisdictions to collect personal customer data.[59]

Physical bitcoins

A stack of gold-colored coins with the Bitcoin logo, the B with two vertical lines through it
It is possible to buy physical representations of bitcoins; Each of these coins can be broken open to reveal a piece of paper with the private key (unlike electronic Bitcoins) to a bitcoin wallet.[87]

1-factor physical bitcoins have been cracked,[88] new 2-factor coin registration (eg private key and unique email/password) like Titan Mint have been developed. However, it is still possible that the creator of physical bitcoins hold the private keys, most of the benefits modern cryptography like bitcoin provides.

Criminal activity linked to Bitcoin has largely centered around theft of the currency, the use of botnets for mining, and the fact that some will accept bitcoins in exchange for illicit substances. Certain nation states may feel that its use in circumventing capital controls and for gambling are also undesirable. While some governments have taken a hands-off approach, others have moved to regulate Bitcoin and similar, private currencies. This may stem from a perceived association with criminal activity, the ability of Bitcoin to evade capital controls, and the fact that the currency lacks consumer protections.[citation needed]

Black markets

Several news outlets assert that the popularity of Bitcoin hinges on the ability to use them to purchase illegal substances.[89] In 2013 The Guardian reported that the currency was primarily used to purchase illegal drugs and for online gambling,[90] and The Huffington Post stated that "online gambling accounts for a huge portion of Bitcoin activity."[91] C. 2013 legitimate transactions were thought to be far less than the number involved in the purchase of drugs,[92] and roughly one half of all transactions made using Bitcoin were bets placed at a single online gaming website.[93] In 2012, an academic from the Carnegie Mellon CyLab and the Information Networking Institute estimated that 4.5 to 9% of all bitcoins transacted were for purchases of drugs at a single online market, Silk Road.[94] As the majority of the Bitcoin transactions were at this time speculative in nature, this academic asserts that drugs constituted a much larger percentage of the products and services bought using the currency, however.[94] The Huffington Post stated in 2013 that online gun dealers use Bitcoin to sell arms without background checks.[95]

Criminal activity

Bitcoin's association with criminal activities has historically hindered the currency from attaining widespread, mainstream use and has attracted the attention of financial regulators, legislative bodies, and law enforcement.[96] The Washington Post has labeled it "the currency of choice for seedy online activities,"[97] and CNN has called Bitcoin a "shady online currency [that is] starting to gain legitimacy in certain parts of the world."[98] Its links to criminal activities have prompted scrutiny from the FBI, US Senate, and the State of New York. The FBI stated in a 2012 report that "bitcoins will likely continue to attract cyber-criminals who view it as a means to move or steal funds".[99]

Some have suggested that due to its close association with illegal purchases, governments could outlaw Bitcoin. This assertion has been made by Steven Strauss, a Harvard public policy professor, and was also mentioned in 2013 SEC filing made by a Bitcoin investment vehicle.[100] Bitcoins are not currently illegal in the US, however. FBI Special Agent Christopher Tarbell has stated that "bitcoins are not illegal in and of themselves and have known legitimate uses".[101]

See also: Legal status of Bitcoin

Many governments have made announcements regarding Bitcoin, and these decisions also likely affect treatment of other cryptocurrencies as well.

Some, including Australia, Canada, Finland, and Germany have simply stated that normal earned income rules apply to Bitcoin.[102] Other states reject the label of currency but will collect taxes on Bitcoin transactions such as Norway.[103] (Germany may technically fall into this latter category as it refers to Bitcoin as a unit of account,[104] which is one of several roles fully fledged currencies play.)

Still more have issued statements that assert Bitcoin is not regulated in their jurisdictions, such as Singapore and Poland.[citation needed] Denmark is among those that, as of 2013, have stated future regulations may be imposed.[103]

In the United States, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has established regulatory guidelines for currencies such as Bitcoin, classifying certain firms engaged in the exchange and mining of Bitcoins as money services businesses.[105] New York state has considered the possibility of regulating Bitcoin.[106]

Money laundering

Some regulatory and law enforcement authorities, including the European Banking Authority, feel Bitcoin may be used for money laundering.[107] A 2012 report by the FBI acknowledged such fears but stated that there were no known instances of this occurring.[99] Some say one obstacle to bitcoins becoming widely used to launder money is the fact that its transaction history is public.[108] During a US Senate hearing in 2013, Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network stated, "cash is probably still the best medium for money laundering."[109]

Theft

Theft of bitcoins has happened on a regular basis. Generating and storing keys offline mitigates such risks, however.[110]

Unauthorized mining

In June 2011, Symantec warned about the possibility of botnets engaging in covert mining of bitcoins.[111] Some malware used the parallel processing capabilities of GPUs built into many modern video cards.[112] In mid-August 2011, Bitcoin mining botnets were detected again,[113] and less than three months later Bitcoin mining trojans infecting Mac OS X were also discovered.[114] In April 2013 electronic sports organization E-Sports Entertainment was accused of hijacking 14,000 computers to mine bitcoins; the case was settled in November with the organization fined US$1 million if it breaks the law within the following ten years or $325,000 if it does not.[115]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ This also is the baht symbol

References

  1. ^ Jon Matonis (17 September 2013). "Bitcoin gaining market-based legitimacy as XBT". Coindesk. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  2. ^ Matonis, Jon (22 January 2013). "Bitcoin Casinos Release 2012 Earnings". Forbes. New York. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Responsible for more than 50% of daily network volume on the Bitcoin blockchain, SatoshiDice reported first year earnings from wagering at an impressive ฿33,310. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Cracking the Bitcoin: Digging Into a $131M USD Virtual Currency". Daily Tech. 12 June 2011. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Barber, Simon; Boyen, Xavier; Shi, Elaine and Uzun, Esrin (2012). "Bitter to Better - how to make Bitcoin a better currency" (PDF). Financial Cryptography and Data Security. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 7397. Springer: 399. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-32946-3_29. ISBN 978-3-642-32945-6.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Ron Dorit; Adi Shamir (2012). "Quantitative Analysis of the Full Bitcoin Transaction Graph" (PDF). Cryptology ePrint Archive. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  6. ^ Wary of Bitcoin? A guide to some other cryptocurrencies, ars technica, 26 May 2013
  7. ^ Jerry Brito and Andrea Castillo (2013). "Bitcoin: A Primer for Policymakers" (PDF). Mercatus Center. George Mason University. p. 5. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  8. ^ For transaction verification, etc. see Jerry Brito and Andrea Castillo (2013). "Bitcoin: A Primer for Policymakers" (PDF). Mercatus Center. George Mason University. p. 5. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
    • For specialized computers, see Popper, Nathaniel (DECEMBER 21, 2013). "Into the Bitcoin Mines". Dealbook blog. The New York Times. Retrieved 5 January 2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Kharif, Olga (14 October 2013). "Bitcoin Mining Rush Means Real Cash for Hardware Makers". bloomberg.com. Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  10. ^ "FBI Says It's Seized $28.5 Million In Bitcoins From Ross Ulbricht, Alleged Owner Of Silk Road". Forbes. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  11. ^ a b Kelion, Leo (18 December 2013). "Bitcoin sinks after China restricts yuan exchanges". bbc.com. BBC. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  12. ^ Smith, Geoffery (12 December 2013). "European Banking Watchdog Warns on Bitcoin". WSJ.com. Dow Jones. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  13. ^ For theft, see Nathaniel Popper (5 December 2013). "In the Murky World of Bitcoin, Fraud Is Quicker Than the Law". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
    • For lack of chargebacks, see Jerry Brito and Andrea Castillo (2013). "Bitcoin: A Primer for Policymakers" (PDF). Mercatus Center. George Mason University. p. 12. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  14. ^ Grocer, Stephen (2 July 2013). "Beware the Risks of the Bitcoin: Winklevii Outline the Downside". Moneybeat. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  15. ^ For growth in merchant numbers, see "BitPay Passes 10,000 Bitcoin-Accepting Merchants On Its Payment Processing Network". Techcrunch. Techcrunch.com. 16 September 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  16. ^ a b Branson, Richard (22 November 2013). "Bitcoins in space". Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  17. ^ Bustillos, Maria (4/2/13). "The Bitcoin Boom". The New Yorker. Conde Nast. Retrieved 22 December 2013. ...there seems to be a consensus forming around Bitcoin, capitalized, for the system, the software, and the network it runs on, and bitcoin, lowercase, for the currency itself {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Wallace, Benjamin (23 November 2011). "The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin". Wired. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  19. ^ Ashlee Vance (14 November 2013). "2014 Outlook: Bitcoin Mining Chips, a High-Tech Arms Race". Businessweek. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  20. ^ a b Wingfield, Nick (30 October 2013). "Bitcoin Pursues the Mainstream". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  21. ^ Ritchie S. King Sam Williams David Yanofsky (17 December 2013). "By reading this article, you're mining bitcoins". qz.com. Atlantic Media Co. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  22. ^ a b "Bitcoin Markets (mtgoxUSD) - Bitcoin Charts". Quandl. Retrieved 20 November 2013.: 3 
  23. ^ Steadman, Ian (26 April 2013). "Study: 45 percent of Bitcoin exchanges end up closing". Wired. Retrieved 28 April 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ a b Moore, Tyler and Nicolas Christin (April 2013). "Beware the Middleman: Empirical Analysis of Bitcoin-Exchange Risk. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC'13)" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  25. ^ Kaminska, Izabella (25 November 2013). "Information asymmetry, crypto currency edition". FT Alphaville. The Financial Times Ltd. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  26. ^ "Bitcoin: Bitcoin under pressure". The Economist. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  27. ^ Rubens, Paul. "BBC News - Cybercrime shopping list study points to falling prices". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  28. ^ "How do I get Bitcoins? (For Beginners)". The Bitcoin Bulletin. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  29. ^ "A Quick and Complete History of Bitcoin So You're Not Totally Lost". Gizmodo. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  30. ^ "Block 0 – Bitcoin Block Explorer". Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ Nakamoto, Satoshi (9 January 2009). "Bitcoin v0.1 released". Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ "SourceForge.net: Bitcoin". Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ Wallace, Benjamin (23 November 2011). "The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin". Wired. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  34. ^ "Vulnerability Summary for CVE-2010-5139". National Vulnerability Database. 8 June 2012. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  35. ^ "When will the people who called Bitcoin a bubble admit they were wrong?". The Washington Post. 8 November 2013.
  36. ^ Van Sack, Jessica (27 May 2013). "Why Bitcoin makes cents". Boston Herald. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  37. ^ For asset seizure, see Dillet, Romain (16 May 2013). "Feds Seize Assets From Mt. Gox's Dwolla Account, Accuse It Of Violating Money Transfer Regulations". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  38. ^ 2013-11-18, As Chinese Investors Pile Into Bitcoin, China's Oldest Exchange, BTC China, Raises $5M From Lightspeed, Techcrunch
  39. ^ 2013-11-19, 'Legitimate' Bitcoin's value soars after Senate hearing, BBC News
  40. ^ Lee, Cyrus (22 November 2013). "China no plans yet to legalize use of Bitcoins". ZDNet. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  41. ^ Raskin, Max (18 November 2013). "U.S. Agencies to Say Bitcoins Offer Legitimate Benefits". Bloomberg. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  42. ^ Wasserman, Todd. 18 November 2013 Mashable. "Bitcoin Tops $600, Up 60x Over the Last Year"
  43. ^ "China bans banks from bitcoin transactions". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 December 2013.
  44. ^ "Baidu Stops Accepting Bitcoins After China Ban". Bloomberg. New York. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  45. ^ Kapur, Saranya (OCT. 15, 2013). "China's Google Is Now Accepting Bitcoin". businessinsider.com. Business Insider, Inc. Retrieved 26 December 2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  46. ^ China bars use of virtual money for trading in real goods PRC Ministry of Commerce, Monday,June 29, 2009 2100 GMT
  47. ^ https://www.fsf.org/donate/
  48. ^ http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/pay-another-way-bitcoin/
  49. ^ https://blog.torproject.org/blog/announcement-tor-project-now-accepting-bitcoin-donations
  50. ^ https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/eff-will-accept-bitcoins-support-digital-liberty
  51. ^ Moore, Heidi (3 April 2013). "Confused about Bitcoin? It's 'the Harlem Shake of currency'". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  52. ^ a b Popper, Nathaniel (18 November 2013). "Regulators See Value in Bitcoin, and Investors Hasten to Agree". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  53. ^ Posner, Eric (11 April 2013). "Fool's Gold 2.3k 417 3 Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme—the Internet's favorite currency will collapse". slate.com. The Slate Group. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  54. ^ a b Roose, Kevin. "How Bitcoin Can Go Mainstream, in One Easy Step - Daily Intelligencer". Nymag.com. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  55. ^ "Bitcoin: more than just the currency of digital vice". The Guardian. 4 March 2013. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  56. ^ Joon Ian Wong (28 November 2013). "CoinMap: Bitcoin-Accepting Merchants Increased 81% in November". CoinDesk. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  57. ^ Timothy B. Lee, The Washington Post (24 November 2013). "Answers to Bitcoin questions: Largely unregulated, the Web currency is growing in popularity". The Columbian. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  58. ^ "Bitcoins gain traction in Argentina". Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help). Blogs.ft.com (16 April 2013). Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  59. ^ a b Lee, Timothy B. (19 August 2013). "Five surprising facts about Bitcoin". Washington Post blog. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013.
  60. ^ Raskin, Max (29 November 2012). "Dollar-Less Iranians Discover Virtual Currency". BloombergBusinessWeek. Archived from the original on 17 April 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  61. ^ Salyer, Kirsten (21 March 2013). "Fleeing the Euro for Bitcoins". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  62. ^ For Salmon's April 3rd prediction, see Salmon, Felix (3 April 2013). "The Bitcoin Bubble and the Future of Currency". medium.com. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  63. ^ For Alan Greenspan, see Kearns, Jeff (4 December 2013). "Greenspan Says Bitcoin a Bubble Without Intrinsic Currency Value". bloomberg.com. Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  64. ^ Boesler, Matthew (7 March 2013). "ANALYST: The Rise Of Bitcoin Teaches A Tremendous Lesson About Global Economics". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  65. ^ Gustke, Constance (23 November 2011). "The Pros And Cons Of Biting on Bitcoins". CNBC. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  66. ^ Gloria Goodale, Christian Science Monitor (17 September 2013). "The Rise Of Bitcoin: Is It A Solution Or Menace?". Business Insider. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  67. ^ "Warning to consumers on virtual currencies" (PDF). European Banking Authority. 12 December 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  68. ^ Hough, Jack (10 June 2011). "The Bitcoin Triples Again". The Wall Street Journal. New York. Archived from the original on 12 April 2013. To recap, it's is a purely online currency with no intrinsic value; its worth is based solely on the willingness of holders and merchants to accept it in trade. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  69. ^ Velasco, S. and Medina, L. The social nature of cryptocurrencies, or: what would Marx say about bitcoin?. 2013
  70. ^ Foxman, Simone (2 April 2013). "How to short bitcoins (if you really must)". Quartz. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  71. ^ Simonite, Tom (12 June 2013). "Bitcoin Millionaires Become Investing Angels". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  72. ^ Skoyles, Jan (20 November 2013). "Is bitcoin better than gold?". Resource Investor. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  73. ^ Cawrey, Daniel (7 November 2013). "Federal Reserve economist says bitcoin is a remarkable technical achievement". CoinDesk. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  74. ^ 'Bits and Barbarism', New York Times, Paul Krugman, 22 December 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  75. ^ Paul Krugman (28 December 2013). "Bitcoin Is Evil". krugman.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  76. ^ Myhrvold, Conor (28 March 2012). "Larry Summers and the Technology of Money". MIT Technology Review. MIT. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  77. ^ Holpuch, Amanda (22 November 2013). "Virgin Galactic to accept Bitcoin for space flights". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  78. ^ Shankland, Stephen (10 December 2013). "PayPal president David Marcus: Bitcoin is good, NFC is bad". CNET. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  79. ^ "Software activist calls for 'truly anonymous' Bitcoins to 'protect democracy'". Telegraph. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  80. ^ Miers, Ian; Garman, Christina; Green, Matthew; Rubin, Aviel D. Zerocoin: Anonymous Distributed E-Cash from Bitcoin (PDF). 2013 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. Berkeley, CA, USA. pp. 397–411. doi:10.1109/SP.2013.34.
  81. ^ "A Few Thoughts on Cryptographic Engineering: Zerocoin: making Bitcoin anonymous". Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help). Blog.cryptographyengineering.com (11 April 2013). Retrieved on 20 April 2013.
  82. ^ 'Zerocoin' Add-on For Bitcoin Could Make It Truly Anonymous And Untraceable, Forbes, 26-05-2013
  83. ^ zerocoin.org, 26-05-2013
  84. ^ This is Huge: Gold 2.0 - Can code and competition build a better Bitcoin?, New Bitcoin World, 26-05-2013
  85. ^ McMillan, Robert. "How Bitcoin lets you spy on careless companies". Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  86. ^ The Economist. "Monetarists Anonymous". Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help). 29 September 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  87. ^ Bustillos, Maria. "The Future of Bitcoin". The New Yorker. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  88. ^ http://www.coindesk.com/defcon-hackers-crack-physical-bitcoin-casascius-coins/
  89. ^ "Monetarists Anonymous". The Economist. The Economist Newspaper Limited. 29 September 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  90. ^ Ball, James (22 March 2013). "Silk Road: the online drug marketplace that officials seem powerless to stop". theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  91. ^ Wyher, Tommy (19 October 2013). "The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin". The Huffington Post. Thehuffingtonpost.com, Inc. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  92. ^ Mardlin, John Jeffrey (2 October 2013). "How Will The FBI Shut Down Of Silk Road Affect Bitcoins?". Quora. Forbes. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  93. ^ Geuss, Megan (24 August 2013). "Firm says online gambling accounts for almost half of all Bitcoin transactions". Ars Technica. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  94. ^ a b Christin, Nicolas (2013). Traveling the Silk Road: A Measurement Analysis of a Large Anonymous Online Marketplace (PDF). Carnegie Mellon INI/CyLab. p. 8. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  95. ^ Smith, Gerry (15 April 2013). "How Bitcoin Sales Of Guns Could Undermine New Rules". huffingtonpost.com. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  96. ^ For lack of mainstream use, see Chen, Adrian (1 June 2011). "The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable". Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help). Gawker.
  97. ^ Timothy B. Lee and Hayley Tsukayama (2 October 2013). "Authorities shut down Silk Road, the world's largest Bitcoin-based drug market". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  98. ^ Sanati, Cyrus (18 December 2012). "Bitcoin looks primed for money laundering". money.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  99. ^ a b "Bitcoins Virtual Currency: Unique Features Present Challenges for Deterring Illicit Activity" (PDF). Cyber Intelligence Section and Criminal Intelligence Section. FBI. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  100. ^ Strauss, Steven (14 April 2013). "Nine Trust-Based Problems With Bitcoin". huffingtonpost.com. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  101. ^ McMillan, Robert (2 October 2013). "Bitcoin Values Plummet $500M, Then Recover, After Silk Road Bust". Wired. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  102. ^ For Australia, see "ATO targets Bitcoin users". Financial Review. Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd. 24 JUN 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  103. ^ a b Frances Schwartzkopff and Peter Levring (18 December 2013). "Bitcoins Spark Regulatory Crackdown as Denmark Drafts Rules". Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  104. ^ Vaishampayan, Saumya (19 August 2013). "Bitcoins are private money in Germany". Marketwatch. Archived from the original on 1 September 2013.
  105. ^ Lee, Timothy (20 March 2013). "US regulator Bitcoin Exchanges Must Comply With Money Laundering Laws". Arstechnica. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013. Bitcoin miners must also register if they trade in their earnings for dollars. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  106. ^ "Virtual Money Draws Notice of Regulators". The New York Times. 14 November 2013.
  107. ^ "EBA Warning on Virtual Currencies" (PDF). European Banking Authority. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  108. ^ Meiklejohn, Sarah; et al. (23 October 2013). "A Fistful of Bitcoins: Characterizing Payments Among Men with No Names" (PDF). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). {{cite web}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help) Paper is explained by Kirk, Jeremy (28 August 2013). "Bitcoin offers privacy-as long as you don't cash out or spend it". PC World.
  109. ^ Leger, Donna (18 November 2013). "Bitcoin: What is it? What should government do?". USA Today. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  110. ^ Timothy B. Lee (19 November 2013). "12 questions about Bitcoin you were too embarrassed to ask". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  111. ^ Peter Coogan (17 June 2011). "Bitcoin Botnet Mining". Symantec.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  112. ^ Goodin, Dan (16 August 2011). "Malware mints virtual currency using victim's GPU". Archived from the original on 23 December 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  113. ^ "Infosecurity - Researcher discovers distributed bitcoin cracking trojan malware". Infosecurity-magazine.com. 19 August 2011. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  114. ^ "Mac OS X Trojan steals processing power to produce Bitcoins - sophos, security, malware, Intego - Vulnerabilities - Security". Techworld. 1 November 2011. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  115. ^ "E-Sports Entertainment settles Bitcoin botnet allegations". BBC News. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bitcoin.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bitcoin&oldid=589507467"