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'Coin Pocket' Becomes First Bitcoin Wallet App on iOS After App Store Policy Change

Coin pocket ? What a name.....ick

Is BitCoin still the "in thing' ??

We do realize that money is just what the government/and all agreed upon some what...

After gold disappeared, you can no longer put a figure of what money is worth these days ..

And Bitcoin just ditches this "paper" away, and calls it 'virtual'....... (I guess this makes more sense anyway, than people exchanging pieces of paper at a super-market claiming it to be $50)

Still Bit coin is noting new... it just builds on the convenience of not having to use paper and no "notes" to withdraw..

I can't believe Apple got sucked into this... 'virtual currency'
 
Great news! Bitcoin has so much potential to disrupt so many things we take for granted. It takes some time to get used to the idea, I learnt about mining 2011 but didnt invest until 2013 when the price was $13. Most people who read this now will be sceptical for months/years before they finally understand how incredible decentralized trust is.

It's like the internet but instead of transmitting data it can be used to transmit ownership. Currency is one app, like the internet is used to send mails. But saying bitcoin is a digital currency is like saying the internet is digital mail.

Once you understand why internet got big you will understand why bitcoin(or something similar) will get big.
 
I feel like bit coin is only cheap right now because charges are in bit coin and one currency.

Banking is only expensive because of all the people that need to intervene to manage it and make it secure for trading.

Bit coin is still risky, the maket is up and down the security (Mt.Gox) is not there and the coins are easily lost stolen etc and last time i read most coins were held by the creators as a bank roll that the rest of the market is basically paying for.

Even with all that, there are a tonne of new business areas if it really does go more mainstream that are great for those able to capitalise. Also it beats current banking by miles even with the costs that will come later on. crypto currency will probably be adopted by traditional banking eventually.
 
gnasher729 said:
Around where I live, people have received blackmail letters. Either pay some significant amount of money in bitcoin, or schools / neighbours etc. will be "informed" that you are a pedophile. Which in some areas of England, where even pediatricians have become victims of clueless mob attacks, is quite a nasty threat. Yes, untraceable money is a great idea.
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Like any other way of dealing with these kinds of situations you should be someone who knows what they are doing. I am sorry but if you're one of those people that answers to Nigerian Prince's, then yes please refrain from using bitcoin. But to sarcastically remark that untraceable money is a great idea is a little over the top. It obviously has it's benefits. I've been giving my father money through Bitcoins on several occasions now, I live in the Netherlands and he's in the US. Any amount of money i'd sent would have come with a large fee, which now it hasn't. Also, he had it instantly, no waiting for western union. No getting in trouble with the bank over fees. Just full control over the money you sent.
 
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fun173 said:
I actually got my Bitcoin app (link in sig ;)) approved a few days ago after a few previous rejections. not sure if they had to do with the anti-bitcoin stance or not however I'm just psyched it's in the store finally!



Little fun fact for everyone, Mt.Gox was initally developed as an online trading platform for magic the gathering cards and the name represents that. Magic The. Gathering Online Xexchange
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Interesting! That's something was not aware of. I lost some money when Gox went down. But, I am glad to see this policy change and these apps....as it sets Bitcoin up to be more acceptable among users....which makes Bitcoin more valuable.

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Firelock said:
The U.S. dollar is just as "virtual" as bitcoin. The difference is one is regulated and the other isn't.
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Hehe. Yeah that's mostly true unfortunately.
 
Call me paranoid, but I cannot ever see a situation where I would allow my wealth to be stored in a virtual wallet, in an unregulated environment as an encrypted mass of ones and zeros. I know little about bitcoin as I have no interest in it, other than to know that if my hard drive was compromised (failed, crashed, hacked or suffered a virus) basically leaving me with zero ability to recover it, then the coins it contained are lost forever.

I remember how annoyed I was with myself when I lost hundreds of photos that I hadn't backed up (the sync job failed without my noticing), losing lots of memories.

Imagine how I would feel if instead it meant that suddenly I had nowhere to live....
 
WBRacing said:
Call me paranoid, but I cannot ever see a situation where I would allow my wealth to be stored in a virtual wallet, in an unregulated environment as an encrypted mass of ones and zeros. I know little about bitcoin as I have no interest in it, other than to know that if my hard drive was compromised (failed, crashed, hacked or suffered a virus) basically leaving me with zero ability to recover it, then the coins it contained are lost forever.

I remember how annoyed I was with myself when I lost hundreds of photos that I hadn't backed up (the sync job failed without my noticing), losing lots of memories.

Imagine how I would feel if instead it meant that suddenly I had nowhere to live....
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If you've got a bank account, your wealth is already stored in a virtual wallet; an encrypted mass of ones and zeros. Physical money is just paper that at any time could become completely worthless -- it's all a matter of perspective.

The only 'real' money that will consistently stay relevant are assets such as gold, but we all know what the US economy thought of that ...
 
keysofanxiety said:
If you've got a bank account, your wealth is already stored in a virtual wallet; an encrypted mass of ones and zeros. Physical money is just paper that at any time could become completely worthless -- it's all a matter of perspective.
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Except that real money in a real bank or credit union is insured. If the bank burns down, the system is hacked and obliterated, or somebody grabs the cash and flees to some other country, there is FDIC or its equivalent to restore your accounts, put the cash back, and make it all right. Bitcoin? Nope. Your Bitcoin house folds and you're SOL.

Bitcoin is not actually a currency, it is a commodity. The argument that it's just as secure, or insecure, as the Dollar or Pound or Yen is specious. While there may be some question as to the stability of real currencies, there is a country to back them. A government, tax revenue, and GDP. Even the Zimbabwean currency is worth something. Bitcoin is just a number. It is worth nothing whatsoever except for the imaginary value investors put on it. There is nothing to back it up.

Nope, I don't do Bitcoin. It shows every sign of being another pyramid scheme that is going to collapse. There's nothing supporting Bitcoin except for hope and naiveté.
 
keysofanxiety said:
If you've got a bank account, your wealth is already stored in a virtual wallet; an encrypted mass of ones and zeros. Physical money is just paper that at any time could become completely worthless -- it's all a matter of perspective.

The only 'real' money that will consistently stay relevant are assets such as gold, but we all know what the US economy thought of that ...
Click to expand...

Indeed you are correct, but at least there it is regulated. To a degree anyway...

Also, if I have a problem I know exactly who to talk to about getting it resolved. In bitcoin land, I might as well talk to my imaginary friend, Bob.
 
I have no doubt it will rival Western Union, but for the vast majority of consumers I don't think it solves any real problem. I don't believe the average citizen posses the technical skills to use crypto securely, nor do I believe most citizens want to be their own bank and shoulder the responsibility that entails.
 
sprezz said:
and how is this easier than just sending money from one bank to another using the IBAN? it's basically a long number that identifies the account, just like a wallet hash address...
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This is what I was wondering.
 
Still don't know a single person that uses, or has a desire to use, Bitcoin. Seeing as how hardly any merchants accept it and there have been so many security issues with it in the past, why are so many here in such a rush to use it (outside of the obvious use cases for people doing illegal activity)? I am legitimately curious.
 
sprezz said:
and how is this easier than just sending money from one bank to another using the IBAN? it's basically a long number that identifies the account, just like a wallet hash address...
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Try sending $1 to 80 different people around the world:
http://www.fentonreport.com/news/bi...st-me-less-than-a-dollar-no-other-system-come

It is hard and expensive to send money outside some local system. Even on local systems there usally are some hidden yearly fee or something. Bitcoin makes sending money over internet much cheaper, faster and easier for most people in the world. On reddit I just write "/u/changetip $0.1" and the writer I am replying to gets $0.1. It's that easy.
 
keysofanxiety said:
If you've got a bank account, your wealth is already stored in a virtual wallet; an encrypted mass of ones and zeros. Physical money is just paper that at any time could become completely worthless -- it's all a matter of perspective.

The only 'real' money that will consistently stay relevant are assets such as gold, but we all know what the US economy thought of that ...
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Difference is that it's all on you. If your computer crashes you are screwed. The chance of all the banks crashing and loosing all your data are slim. And even then they would get you your money back.
 
What is Bitcoin

Ok, so I downloaded the app. Now will someone please explain to me what bit coin is? Or at least post a link. I have no idea what this app is supposed to do.
 
grabbyg said:
Ok, so I downloaded the app. Now will someone please explain to me what bit coin is? Or at least post a link. I have no idea what this app is supposed to do.
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This app is a Bitcoin wallet, where you can store your Bitcoins. If you don't have any, you can get fractions of it for free, every hour, by following the BTC links in my signature.

Of course what you can get for free isn't worth much right now, but it could be worth a lot more later.

At the very least, you'll be able to test that the app is working. Try to always send at least 50 000 satoshis at a time to your wallet, to lower the transaction fees which are required to keep the network alive (a satoshi is the smallest Bitcoin fraction).

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KdParker said:
iPhone 1.
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The iPhone wasn't the first smartphone on the market.
 
Firelock said:
The U.S. dollar is just as "virtual" as bitcoin. The difference is one is regulated and the other isn't.
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That's not an insignificant difference. The U.S. dollar is "backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government." That makes the dollar very real unless you are a Gold Standard guy. But a Gold Standard guy wouldn't think much of bitcoin either because...

Bitcoins, OTOH, are neither backed by anything or anyone nor possess an inherent value. $1 is worth a $1 ever day. You can't say the same for a bitcoin because its value is based more on trading like a pink sheet stock.

It's only value to users is that it's more anonymous than U.S. currency, making it popular with criminal sorts (note: that is not to say all bitcoin users are criminals.) Of course, when used to launder, bitcoins are eventually exchanged to an industrialized government's currency at some point given bitcoins volatility. That should tell you the confidence that's even it's users have in the "currency".
 
I'm 100% on board with ditching the USD completely, but my one remaining concern is its inability to scale. The growth of the population expected to grapple for bitcoins, combined with the already nearly exhausted finite supply of them, is the simplest formula for catastrophic deflation there is.

Runaway deflation is equally and oppositely disastrous as runaway inflation. Having it built in to the structure of a currency doesn't bode well for the future of that currency.

There are solutions to this, but will require a new currency. Exciting times we're heading into. A thousand years from now, that we went along with our archaic national currencies for so long it will be a point of deep embarrassment.
 
Firelock said:
The U.S. dollar is just as "virtual" as bitcoin. The difference is one is regulated and the other isn't.
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More to the point, one is backed by a nation-state and the other isn't. Between BitCoin (and similar) and 3-D printing, the seeds of the technology behind The Diamond Age are starting to fall into place. We'll see if the powers that be will be able to stop it, because one of the net results of the technology in the book was the collapse of the traditional nation-state.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
That's not an insignificant difference. The U.S. dollar is "backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government." That makes the dollar very real unless you are a Gold Standard guy. But a Gold Standard guy wouldn't think much of bitcoin either because...

Bitcoins, OTOH, are neither backed by anything or anyone nor possess an inherent value. $1 is worth a $1 ever day. You can't say the same for a bitcoin because its value is based more on trading like a pink sheet stock.

It's only value to users is that it's more anonymous than U.S. currency, making it popular with criminal sorts (note: that is not to say all bitcoin users are criminals.) Of course, when used to launder, bitcoins are eventually exchanged to an industrialized government's currency at some point given bitcoins volatility. That should tell you the confidence that's even it's users have in the "currency".
Click to expand...

Bitcoin is actually backed by the computing power it takes to produce a bitcoin. The technology inherently creates a finite supply as with gold but unlike many government currencies.

To be clear, I'm not saying any of this is good, bad, or if I even entirely understand it.
 
Parasprite said:
Bitcoin is actually backed by the computing power it takes to produce a bitcoin. The technology inherently creates a finite supply as with gold and unlike many government currencies.

To be clear, I'm not saying any of this is good, bad, or if I even entirely understand it.
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I don't think you understand what "backed" means. A computer, at least not in 2014... maybe in some future "I, Robot" world, cannot "back" a currency. Only an industrialized government with laws, a police/military, and hard financial assets can do that. The U.S. dollar is one of the most favored currencies in the world, even by its enemies, because it's a strong country that isn't going to whither overnight taking its currency with it.

Bitcoin is phoney money, backed by nothing, guaranteed to be accepted by no one. Its value is contrived only by what others are willing to pay for it at any given moment, again, very much like a speculative stock.
 
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