Bitcoin

[????]

Anyone got any? Thinking about buying a couple as a punt....value fell today. Any thoughts, experience etc?

[Horsebox]

Haven't got any myself and feel that I've missed the boat, even after the value has dropped to ?250 or thereabouts... I'll probably read this in a couple of years and kick myself...

I have read repeated advice that you should store your bitcoins/wallet offline on a portable drive, rather than on your desktop device.

[jctg]

Does anyone have a picture of a bitcoin?

[Jah Lush]

WTF is a bitcoin?

[Annette Curtain]

Serious question

Say you buy something with a bit coin, but it's not priced at the full value of that bitcoin

Is there bitcoin change ?

[granadaland]

No, Bitcoins work to 8 decimal places.

[binary_star]

jctg Wrote:

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> Does anyone have a picture of a bitcoin?

http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/largest-bitcoin-exchange-suspends-withdrawals.si.jpg

[red devil]

???? Wrote:

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> Anyone got any? Thinking about buying a couple as

> a punt....value fell today. Any thoughts,

> experience etc?

How did your punt on RBS go?...

[binary_star]

Annette Curtain Wrote:

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> Serious question

>

> Say you buy something with a bit coin, but it's

> not priced at the full value of that bitcoin

>

> Is there bitcoin change ?

granadaland Wrote:

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> No, Bitcoins work to 8 decimal places.

That's not strictly true - Bitcoin has infinite divisibility but the smallest denomination is a "satoshi" (0.00000001 BTC). That's the smallest amount that can be handled in a transaction.

8 decimal places is the smallest you can go for a transaction but apparently software can be modified to handle smaller amounts: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ

I guess it's a bit like the penny - fractions of pennies are possible (e.g. interest/loan repayments) but the bank wont let you withdraw or make transactions with anything lower than one.

My partner has Bitcoin and I've been looking into buying, just as an experiment really.

[Too Good To Be True]

Can you spend them anywhere other than the Pembury Tavern in Hackney?

During the recent boom, I've been taking the ELL round there to spend spend spend.

[El Pibe]

how the hell does infinite divisibility work.

I'd be hard pressed to find a datatype on any platform in any language that supports that.

Only so many 1s and 0s on a bunch of bits of metal on a piece of plastic

[jctg]

I don't think anyone truly understands how it works. Same as those online bank card reader things.

[Sue]

Horsebox Wrote:

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> I have read repeated advice that you should store

> your bitcoins/wallet offline on a portable drive,

> rather than on your desktop device.

xxxxxx

Wasn't there somebody recently who had done that, but mistakenly thrown it away, thereby depriving himself of the millions of pounds stored within it?

[Voyageur]

Read today that they may be heading for a significant crash - can't remember where..

[binary_star]

El Pibe Wrote:

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> how the hell does infinite divisibility work.

> I'd be hard pressed to find a datatype on any

> platform in any language that supports that.

> Only so many 1s and 0s on a bunch of bits of metal

> on a piece of plastic

In the same way that all money is infinitely divisible...just like you can infinitely divide a penny or any other form of currency...!?

"Money is infinitely divisible in the sense that it is based upon the real number system. "

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_divisibility

However as I said previously, there is a minimum denomination required for transactions (usually a 'satoshi' although apparently transactionsmof smaller amounts are possible). The fact that machines aren't able to calculate massively divided numbers is another matter.

And there are plenty of places to spend, buy or trade them. The market is extremely volatile and crashes happen frequently.

[Lowlander]

The time to speculate was in the past on this one. It's not transparent (shadowy founder), the Chinese Government have just banned conversion to RMB within China, and the volatility is horrendous.

Save your cash for the next virtual currency like Litecoin or NameCoin.

Lastly, if you see a gravy train, it's usually too late to board...

[El Pibe]

I was taking issue with the practical realities of infinite.

It's all fine to say that mathematically

def div_by_two(x)

x /= 2

div_by_two(x)

is possible.

In the real world you'll end up stuck at an atom surely?

In terms of systems being able to express that, you'll soon run out of digits on the right side of the dot, (or more likley throw a max recursion error in the above case).

Given that it is a currency that exists only within the electronic sphere it has to be limited by the physical limitation of the bits in the register surely?

Admittedly our prices are supplied at up to 24 dp which I always thought a little bit ott.

Oh god, I bored myself writing that...

[Help-Ma-Boab]

*scans pub at Xmas EDF drink, selects seat carefully* ;)

El Pibe Wrote:

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> I was taking issue with the practical realities of

> infinite.

>

> It's all fine to say that mathematically

>

> def div_by_two(x)

> x /= 2

> div_by_two(x)

>

> is possible.

>

> In the real world you'll end up stuck at an atom

> surely?

>

> In terms of systems being able to express that,

> you'll soon run out of digits on the right side of

> the dot, (or more likley throw a max recursion

> error in the above case).

> Given that it is a currency that exists only

> within the electronic sphere it has to be limited

> by the physical limitation of the bits in the

> register surely?

>

> Admittedly our prices are supplied at up to 24 dp

> which I always thought a little bit ott.

>

> Oh god, I bored myself writing that...

[StraferJack]

"*scans pub at Xmas EDF drink, selects seat carefully* ;) "

shall we scarper for a quick pint hmb?

[El Pibe]

don't worry hmb, at least I'm self aware enough to know when I'm boring people, I'll be sure to telegraph it you with some eye twitching or something if I sense it coming on; give you plenty of opportunity to slink.... ;-)

[El Pibe]

That was an eye twitch btw

[Help-Ma-Boab]

Only jesting EP (I tried to insert one of them eye twitches -beyond me :)

SJ: Aye!

El Pibe Wrote:

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> That was an eye twitch btw

[El Pibe]

:)

[binary_star]

El Pibe Wrote:

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> In the real world you'll end up stuck at an atom

> surely?

>

> Given that it is a currency that exists only

> within the electronic sphere it has to be limited

> by the physical limitation of the bits in the

> register surely?

That's true of any currency, but it doesn't mean it's not infinitely divisible.

Of course, you can come to a point of precision in any transaction that becomes useless because at very very small amounts the cost required to calculate the amount would outstrip any value gained from calculating it.

Anyway, point is yes you can get change from a bitcoin and you can even get change from 0.00000001 BTC if you want to hack together a system together to give it to you.

[binary_star]

If you fancy being a bit more bored by it all, there's an interesting discusion "What are the ramifications of an infinitely divisible currency like Bitcoin?" here: http://www.quora.com/Bitcoin/What-are-the-ramifications-of-an-infinitely-divisible-currency-like-Bitcoin