
MtGox launches Bitcoins.com, an information site for all things Bitcoin - theboywho
http://www.bitcoins.com
======
oleganza
They do not emphasize wallet security issues enough.

Before buying any serious amount of BTC user must ensure:

1\. Software that he uses actually encrypts wallets (BitcoinQT by default does
not!).

2\. His wallet is backed up in 3 places.

3\. Backups actually work and he tried them.

4\. His computer is not infested with malware.

5\. He has multiple wallets and money is spread across all of them.

So that if he one days makes a payment, enters a password and virus steals his
coins, he will not lose everything.

Blockchain.info is a great service, but only when you enable 2-factor
authentication (otherwise your encrypted wallet can be bruteforced offline)
and make sure you get backups by email.

Finally, everyone should remember:

THERE IS NO "FORGET MY PASSWORD" BUTTON.

If you own your coins, be it in BitcoinQT, Electrum or Blockchain.info, you
must own your password. You lose it - you are done. People are not used to it.
They should be.

~~~
pilker09
Paper wallets using offline-created Bitcoin addresses are the safest means of
storage. I etched my keys onto metal dogtags and have them stored in a
fireproof box.

~~~
user24
> I etched my addresses onto metal dogtags

you mean you etched your keys, right? Nice idea.

~~~
pilker09
Ack. Fixed and thanks!

~~~
user24
No worries. Can you link/write a howto for that?

~~~
pilker09
Here's a quick how-to:

1\. Go to bitaddress.org and save the page to hard drive.

2\. Take computer offline and generate keypairs.

3\. Send coins to generated address(es) and print out private keys.

4\. Etch keys onto metal (I used a Dremel though other methods may be better).
Two copies stored in separate places might be wise.

5\. Burn paper copy of keys.

6\. Wait 10 years, buy Aruba.

------
Aardwolf
How to actually get bitcoins?

I mean, seriously, I tried, but all my attempts were futile.

Why can't I just use a credit card or similar and buy bitcoints?

Back when they were $100, I really wanted to buy a bitcoin, spent half a day
on it, but didn't manage to. I gave up everytime I needed to do something
strange involving permissions with my bank.

Is there an easier way to get them? I live in Europe by the way.

Thanks!

~~~
oleganza
Its hard because it's easy to own and secure Bitcoins, but impossible to own
money in USD, bank accounts or paypal. It's all a huge network of promises
based on debt. When you transfer bitcoin, you really transfer ownership
forever. When you transfer digital dollar, you just rely on a bunch of
intermediate agreements to hold true unless judge decides another way. Paypal
payments are reversible, CC payments too. Even bank wires can be reversed
sometimes because it's still based on an agreement between banks. Even laws
regulating these agreements are also promises to punish or reward people based
on other people's decision.

Bitcoin is the only money you can really own. Other currencies are fragile and
ephemeral.

[http://blog.oleganza.com/post/67362431718/you-can-own-
bitcoi...](http://blog.oleganza.com/post/67362431718/you-can-own-bitcoin-you-
cant-own-your-dollars)

~~~
jonknee
Have you not heard of cash? It's probably the easiest way to get BTC as well.

~~~
oleganza
It's also riskier and a lot more expensive. Bitcoin holders are scattered
across the globe. Finding a seller nearby is hard.

------
lingben
Under "protection":

"The nature of Bitcoin means that, compared to credit cards or other financial
tools, your identity is safer from theft. Your level of privacy is up to you,
and in the online world privacy and protection are an asset."

This is hilarious. Right now basically every week we have news of millions of
dollars worth of bitcoins being stolen from sites. In contrast, with a credit
card every client has full protection including fraud, charge-backs, returns,
etc.

~~~
alexro
How about having your funds sliced by sort of Cyprus scenario? How about
getting ill for half a year and finding out that the inflation has eaten most
of your savings away?

~~~
jonknee
I'll take my chances on a major currency (Euro/USD/GBP) over BTC in terms of
volatility any day. You could find out that your BTC savings have become
nearly worthless in six months. Or if you are unlucky enough to have a debt in
BTC you could find out your debt has skyrocketed because of more BTC
speculation (imagine you had a 1000BTC loan back when it was $10 a coin).

~~~
GhotiFish
yikes!!! That's actually terrifying. The dark side of inflation.

~~~
sireat
The dark side of deflation actually.

------
bernatfp
I wonder how Mt. Gox dares to spend their time creating this (which is nice by
the way) instead of solving their withdrawal issues and finishing their new
trading engine integration, which is pissing off many of their customers.

The only reasonable explanation is that they have given up on decreasing their
churn rate and instead they are focusing on acquiring newbies into their
platform. Actually this is kind of sad...

~~~
lubos
Do you honestly think that any programmer who works on Mt.Gox core product
would have anything to do with this simple static information site?

~~~
bernatfp
No, but I guess this affects the public image of the company.

My understanding is that any serious company with issues of this magnitude
would solely focus on sorting that out first and doing nothing else than that.

~~~
bobbles
Throwing more programmers at a problem is not a real way to actually solve
that problem.

This argument is similar to those people asking things like 'why does india
care about protecting animals when they cant even feed their humans'.

Solving one problem does not mean the other problem isnt still trying to be
solved.

------
canistr
The idea of using Bitcoin at this point in time to physically purchase goods
and services is ridiculous given the speed of speculation. Hypothetically, why
should I pay someone 0.5 BTC at $1000/BTC if in a couple of days I know it's
going to rise to $1000+/BTC? Obviously the seller is betting on their value
going up, but at this point, there's no reason to do anything except hold onto
your BTC until the market actually stabilizes or even crashes.

~~~
giarc
In 2010 a guy paid 10,000 BTC for 2 pizza's, probably roughly equivalent to
$40.

10,000 BTC today = $10.5 million USD.

~~~
canistr
Which is precisely my point. What incentive is there for the buyer to spend
their BTC if the future value will dwarf the present value of the good they
are spending it on?

~~~
ElbertF
What incentive is there for the buyer to spend their money on anything if they
could be buying Bitcoin?

------
ck2
Now that is a clean, friendly design.

I wonder how long until we need a crypto-currency lobby for congress.

~~~
chrismonsanto
> Now that is a clean, friendly design.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the header wasn't fixed. I can't wait
until that fad dies out.

~~~
djf1
What is wrong with a fixed header?

Isn't it more convenient than scrolling back to the top of the page to access
important links?

The only possible issue I can think of is if screen space is limited.

~~~
chill1
Fixed headers consume vertical screen space -- permanently. Instead of
allowing you to scroll down to have maximum vertical space for the content.

------
heliodor
Under "top 8" exchanges they list MtGox first. Does not inspire confidence in
them in light of the news about BTC China being the biggest.

They claim the rankings come from Bitcoin Charts, yet on there BTC China has
60% more volume than MtGox.

------
thomaslutz
Has MtGox resolved their withdrawal issue yet?

------
dcc1
Its just a shameless attempt to advertise mtgox, who by now pretty much pissed
off everyone in the bitcoin community with their crap.

Remember it was mtgox who caused the last crash and have since continued to
screw users while getting into all sorts of trouble in US for dodgy going ons

~~~
user24
except it barely mentions mtgox. If it wasn't in the title of this submission,
I wouldn't know it was by mtgox.

~~~
TomGullen
Don't know if I'd trust MtGox not to evolve it into an advertising platform in
the future when it starts pulling in nice traffic.

------
GigabyteCoin
Wow, they used a BFL Jalapeno as their example miner:
[http://www.bitcoins.com/assets/img/illustrations/digitally_c...](http://www.bitcoins.com/assets/img/illustrations/digitally_created.png)

Interesting choice...

------
Datsundere
How about they process things faster. Maybe add direct deposit like coinbase
from bank but make it faster with less fees. Bitcoin wiki is already very
good.

------
bachback
Wonder how rich these guys are now. The exchange will not survive, because it
is horribly architected.

------
wpietri
But what was wrong with the name Mtgox? That seems perfectly consumer-friendly
to me.

------
infocollector
Can we automatically downvote all Bitcoin news please? Seems like every owner
of Bitcoin these days is either busy writing a blog or making a Bitcoin
related webpage? - Ponzi

~~~
user24
> Can we automatically downvote all Bitcoin news please?

Good idea. An entirely decentralised, pseudonymous, secure way of exchanging
money is not something hackers are interested in.

