Gavin Andresen and Amir Taaki, Bitcoin

TWiST #140: Bitcoin, with Gavin Andresen and Amir Taaki

http://www.facebook.com/pages/This-Week-in-Startups/166231286691

What if--instead of whipping out your VISA card--you could pay just as safely and much more anonymously with bitcoin, a growing open-sourced international currency. Never heard of it? Then it's a must you watch this episode of TWiST, where Jason talks to Gavin Andresen, the bitcoin technical lead, and Amir Taaki, founder of BitcoinConsultancy.com about exactly what bitcoin is, how you can use it--and why it will be illegal in under a decade.

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1:00-5:00 Welcome and discussion of Forbes article by TJ Walker on Jason as the host of TWiST.
5:00-7:00 Thank you go GoToMeeting for sponsoring the show.
7:00-7:15 Go to TWiSTList.co and choose a level of support that works for you.
7:15-8:00 Bitcoin: Open-source, peer-to-peer currency.
8:00-9:00 Gavin, tell the audience in simple terms, what is bitcoin? (Watch the clip.)
9:00-10:15 You actually lead the open-source project to make this software? When did it start?
10:15-10:45 Is it as simple as installing the software?
10:45-11:15 So if I throw my computer out, my bitcoins go with it?
11:15-13:00 Where did the money come from and how many bitcoins are out there? Are bitcoins backed by silver or some other asset?
13:00-13:30 So I just set my software to generate bitcoins. What now? (Watch the clip.)
13:30-14:15 How long would it take for me to make a bitcoin?
14:15-15:00 What's the current value of the bitcoin?
15:00-15:30 How many bitcoins are there in existence and how many will there be in existence?
15:30-16:45 Amir, you have a biz called BitcoinConsultancy.com. What do you do?
16:45-17:45 You built the exchange software piece of this?
17:45-18:30 If I want to create my own exchange, and I want to charge 1%, I can just use your software for free and set it up?
18:30-19:15 How are people buying bitcoins?
19:15-19:45 What's the largest bitcoin exchange in existence today? Who owns it and how do they make money?
19:45-20:00 Why is it illegitimate?
20:00-23:00 Having an exchange of virtual currencies seems illegal in the US. But how does someone enforce trading laws if bitcoins are invisible?
23:30-24:45 Who is Satoshi, the founder of bitcoin? (Watch the clip.)
24:45-26:30 Gavin's evaluation of Satoshi's involvement.
26:30-27:30 Were they eventually put out of business because it was illegal?
27:30-29:00 Is that as inspiring as having a global currency?
29:00-31:00 So there's a privacy angle here. If I want a consumer product, you don't get to know everything about me, is that the point?
31:00-32:00 In a way, it's taking power away from governments who would manipulate currencies and it's giving consumers protection. Is it impervious to inflation and manipulation?
32:00-33:10 Gavin, are you really the creator of bitcoin?
33:10-35:15 Tyler: Why are you motivated to promote this? How does anyone benefit?
35:15-36:30 Bitcoins are divisible to eight decimal places, so do you see it as a micro-currency?
36:30-37:15 As an investment property, theoretically, bitcoins are going to go up in value and to what pace will that happen? Is this an investment?
37:15-40:15 Ad for Squarespace.
40:15-43:00 Amir, you're a poker player. What are your thoughts on the poker economy and bitcoins?
43:00-43:45 Are people actually playing poker for bitcoins right now? (Betco.in is one site.)
43:45-45:00 Is it hackable? Have people tried? (Watch the clip.)
45:00-46:00 Is this on the radar of any governments yet? Have you been contacted by the FBI or the CIA?
46:00-47:00 How did the CIA contact you? (Bonus fact: Did you know the CIA has a VC arm? It's called In-Q-Tel.)
47:00-48:00 Amir: Regarding regulation, in the beginning, we spoke to lawyers and they hadn't heard anything about bitcoins.
48:00-49:15 Jason's prediction: This will be illegal in the US within 24 months.
49:15-50:45 Have the anonymous guys embraced this yet? If people mess with bitcoin, will anonymous take them out?
50:45-53:00 If bitcoins are made illegal in the US, how difficult does that make it for everyone else?
53:00-54:00 Disussion of the Humble Indie Bundle.
54:00-55:15 Tyler, do you agree that anonymous has a tremendous amount of power?
55:15-56:15 Thank you to both Gavin and Amir.
56:15-57:00 Thank you to all of the TWiST List members and producers.
57:00-58:15 Tyler: Will bitcoin be able to circumvent government attempts to shut it down after it's deemed illegal?
58:15-1:00:00 Let's say the US goes insane and some idiot is in charge and they attempt to block bitcoins. It won't work, am I right?
1:00:00-1:00:30 Thank you to new TWiST List producers.
1:00:30-1:02:15 This is one of the most interesting thing I've seen in my 20 years in the technology business.
1:02:15-1:04:00 Thank you to everyone, guests and sponsors.
1:04:00-1:05:00 Remember to check out Skweal.com.

Category:

• News
• Science & Tech

Starring:

• Jason Calacanis
• Tyler Crowley
• Lon Harris

Directed by:

• Matt Raub
• Branden Lymer

Produced by:

• Kirin Kalia
• Carolyn Bedgood

Tags:

• twi
• this week in
• network
• new
• media
• web
• tv
• entertainment
• shows
• Jason Calacanis
• startups
• twist
• twistartups
• bitcoin
• gavinandresen
• amirtaaki
• money
• currency
• trading
• value
• economy
• opensource
• global
• privacy
• security
• assets
• wealth
• anonymous
• gaming
• poker

[vipxtrmn8r]

Gavin, you interrupt your guest too often before they can finish a clear explanation. Stop it.

[RoboticusMusic]

@madtrade Never.

[madtrade]

@RoboticusMusic I made 7x my money ! bitcoin went from 0$ to something

and that pay a lot :D

everyone can steal your money moron

just harder to steal with bitcoin

how many money is stolen via malware for other stuff he?!

[WalletBlackup]

Secure and backup your BTC. youtube / ELNWaTjGvhY

[powpanda]

@dommmaster those fees are relatively tiny. they are down to 0.001 now and they are just to give incentive to the mining process once the mining becomes less and less profitable. the miners also act as protectors of the network.

also you can turn off the fee if you want to.

[seymournuggets]

That Tyler fella is gay~!!! I can tell he hates poor Gavin and Amir.

[RoboticusMusic]

@skepticoz NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO­OOOO

[skepticoz]

@RoboticusMusic "ANYONE CAN STEAL YOUR BITCOIN WALLET! "

WTF are you yelling for? Fortunately there are many developments in the pipeline for idiots just like you who cant look after their own data. Even now this is just bullshit that anybody can steal your wallet. How are they going to get access to your computer? Internet? Easy, don't store your wallet on the machine you use to connect to the internet. Back it up to a thumb drive and only plug it in to do transactions & use file encryption.

[skepticoz]

Fuck sake! we're more than 5 min in and this guy's still bragging about himself and his show. Wish he'd STFU and get on with the show.

[RoboticusMusic]

ANYONE CAN STEAL YOUR BITCOIN WALLET! WHATS THE POINT IF THEY'RE NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO COUNTERFEIT IF ANY HACKER CAN STEAL YOUR WHOLE WALLET! WHY DO YOU THINK THE MARKET WENT FROM $30 TO 7$? SELL SELL SELL YOU'LL THANK ME LATER.

[monkeybrainsmediauk]

@calumcoburn there are also problems with gold and silver as history has shown. no form of money has ever been totally fool proof so far.

[monkeybrainsmediauk]

@Lyndsiefinelli Don't bother, the exploited will be the idiot to tries this. It will steal your coins!

[neuronstorm]

@glaatraa 1 cent is too big for the sorts of transactions I had in mind - but even with an alternative client - you still have to play by the network rules, which as I understand it.. currently leave the possibility that a transaction with no fee (or too low a fee) may stay in limbo for an extremely long time - if it makes it into a block at all. The software doesn't have mechanisms for revoking stalled transactions, and would probably require cooperation from the software used by miners too.

[glaatraa]

@neuronstorm You can pay 1 cent transaction fee on bitcoin - the official bitcoin client charges a small free for small transactions (which goes onto the network), but the software is open source and you can recode it how you want. Just download a client that doesn't charge anything. The fee is just payed to expedite the transaction

[dommmaster]

bitcoin big bullshit :).

[dommmaster]

bitcoin big bullshit :) on short i looked over the program and they say it's free no ? but it's recommaned to pay a fee 0.01 per transcation so they create you use they earn money on your back ( real money since they say you can pay with real money ).

[egokick]

o.o the host is fucking retarded, in a smear shit across the walls way.

[neuronstorm]

The biggest problem with bitcoin is the problems associated with microtransactions.

If it doesn't scale well for huge numbers of transactions with tiny value.. it'll never really reach the theoretical potential of a global digital currency.

Eventually it may be replaced (or augmented?) with something that is really good at microtransactions. Hopefully there's some way to make true microtransactions work with it.

[calumcoburn]

@bitbutter I see your response, thanks. I disagree with your responses, and have better things to do now. So best of luck with what your 'aeroplane' ponzi scheme. If you get enough suckers to buy into a system that is totally based on their faith in you and your algo, where they exchange something that has proven to have enduring value for over 5000 years (silver & gold) for your zero asset backed idea, then you would have performed a great hoodwink and perhaps you deserve the fools money.

[bitbutter]

@calumcoburn "I notice you don't care to address which of the above bitcom satisfies."

I did, 23 hours ago. See the comment beginning "Durable: Yes".

[calumcoburn]

@bitbutter Fiat is government decree. That bitcom is not fiat (and never will be) changes nothing. See my above post sharing with you the 6 characteristics of money. Gold fulfils all, I notice you don't care to address which of the above bitcom satisfies. It would be appreciated if you could acknowledge that you're in way over your head and have no idea how you're going to persuade the masses to trade in their real money (gold and silver) for your little project.

[eatmelikeacake]

Great show but I wish you'd let your co-host speak more. He seemed to have some decent questions and you just spoke over him each time.

[bitbutter]

@calumcoburn Durable: Yes Portable: Yes Cost/ease of storing securely: Yes (arguably better than gold) Low transaction costs: Yes, currently zero cost (much better than gold) Divisible: Yes. Stable in value: Not yet, currently fluctuating Scarce: Yes. Predicatable inflation: Yes. Better than gold. The number of bitcoins entering the system follows a schedule and has a hard limit. Accepted: Not widely accepted yet. Your "FAIL" is premature.

[bitbutter]

@calumcoburn "nobody has made any 'sound money' arguements here that would in the least bit persuade me to part with my gold and silver in favour of a new unbacked currency system."

Simply don't buy bitcoin then, no one will be upset with your decision.

"and bitcom are revealing nothing about the value behind their currency."

1) There is no 'bitcom'. 2) I explained what value is, that it's subjective, and why people value bitcoin. You're acting as though this never happened.

[bitbutter]

@calumcoburn It's noted that you ignored my correction about fiat money and intrinsic value. As an assurance that you're participating in the conversation in good faith, it would be appreciated if you could acknowledge that you spoke in error.