bitcoins!!!

Gotta agree with the resident legal expert SJ - I work in payments, analytics and data management technology - our business is booming, as all things are now migrating to automation/electrification/and digitization... everything you do can pretty much be tracked, recorded and stored.... and retrieved/analyzed.... and it will only get worse, as public policy and the law have not kept up with the quickening pace of this change

You may have a point there Lilianna . . . I agree with SJ and made the same postulate . . . I just can't get comfortable with the liability, even if I know it may be only as a tip or having come from a trusted source. Too many variables for me . . . and I've seen too many people be compromised in this endeavor (and flip) to ever let someone have something on me that may bring the eyes of the Feds . . . I damn well know I may be being a little too paranoid, but I've seen odder things happen in this business - why worry that I may have given someone ammo for me to catch a Federal beef??

Kisses,

- Jackie

This might be an easy way to explain it...

There is an entry node for a transaction, true, and then later an exit node. The beauty of it is, unless you tie that to a physical person (like a real bank account), you don't know who's making the transactions.

Here's an example, let's say there's 10 people in the room who don't know each other, everyone has a sheet of paper with their "value". The value can't be changed by others. Now everyone starts to share and exchange sheets of paper making transactions. There's some math to be done to verify transactions.

Person A hands off to person B, who hands to C, to D, to E, etc.

Somehwere along the line someone says on their paper, Give .5 from B to E.

Everyone gets the transaction and verifies it, and checks the math and says "yup" and then when it gets back around with enough verification, the two people whom it affects gets to change their current value. No one knows who is who, yet we all verify transactions to avoid cheating. Now if person B says "ok I want to cash out now. here's my bank account info, give me cash", then there's the risk of real-world loss of anonymity.

I know that's oversimplification, and hopefully not so much to create a false statement, but should give you a rough idea of how they work.

ahh I get the concept... but it would need a pretty fool-proof user interface to shield the audience from the underlying complexities, kinda like PGP uses various public and private "keys", but the average PGP user knows that all he/she needs to do is enter a few simple key strokes in to a fairly benign UI

the GUI is pretty fool-proof right now, in my opinion. I'm trying not to sound preachy here in this thread. Sorry if I do, but bitcoins excite me

[...] No one knows who is who, yet we all verify transactions to avoid cheating. Now if person B says "ok I want to cash out now. here's my bank account info, give me cash", then there's the risk of real-world loss of anonymity. [...] Originally Posted by lawrence70

So I use them at one of these mostly obscure merchants - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade - or I chance losing all anonymity and convert my Bitcoins to cash (which is what I wanted in the first place), and I end up paying a fee to do that . . . where is the upside for the provider?? Seriously, @lawrence70, I'm asking sincerely - not to be argumentative - because, if I could see the upside and be willing to accept the risk (which I may, given the particular client), I would probably accept Bitcoins. I'm just not seeing it . . . granted, the view is much different for the client versus the Escort.

- Jackie

So I use them at one of these mostly obscure merchants - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade - or I chance losing all anonymity and convert my Bitcoins to cash (which is what I wanted in the first place), and I end up paying a fee to do that . . . where is the upside for the provider?? Seriously, @lawrence70, I'm asking sincerely - not to be argumentative - because, if I could see the upside and be willing to accept the risk (which I may, given the particular client), I would probably accept Bitcoins. I'm just not seeing it . . . granted, the view is much different for the client versus the Escort.

- Jackie Originally Posted by Jackie Devlin

Well you have some valid points. For the easiest ways to obtain cash, you have to give personal info (like trading on mtgox.com, and then having your balance transferred to a bank where you can withdraw).

Harder ways include (but ones I've used successfully):

1: meeting someone in person who trades bitboins and they give you cash (basically you both meet with computers, verify they have the cash, do the trade, verify it's done, get cash)
2: Western Union (I forget who does this but I could find out for you since it's been a while since I've traded with the guy)... he just needs a name and a city (I think) for the Western Union info (maybe an address?) but for amounts less than $1000 I don't think you have to report anywhere. I don't think I had to give a SSN or anything when I received my cash.
3: cash in the mail... this one involves a lot more trust, and you'd have to have an ongoing relationship with someone that you've done business with before. But I did it for $20 of bitcoins once to try it out.

So yes, right now not simple, and for your line of work I can see the hurdles if you want to maintain anonymity.

Now, if you get into bitcoins for the long-haul, you could hold them until their value is worth more, but again there's still the only ways to get cash right now.

On the forums there's some people looking into other ways, like ATM-style, for instance, and if that ever becomes popular, that'd be an awesome way... but right now we're still limited.

Believe me, I wish it was a lot easier to get cash with them, because I love strippers, and might skip newegg computer hardware for strippers (or providers)

I might invest in bitcoins. I would have the same expectation as my investments in the lottery -- total loss. But it could be fun...

Yeah, emptywallet, it's kind of how I feel right now... it's still too early to know what's gonna happen, although I made a "profit" of $500 (which I promptly turned into parts for my computer), and right now I'm not quite there, but getting close, so I need to decide what to spend 'em on

maybe water-cooling, maybe save a while longer.... or wait until Jackie accepts them in lieu of cash

Yeah, emptywallet, it's kind of how I feel right now... it's still too early to know what's gonna happen, although I made a "profit" of $500 (which I promptly turned into parts for my computer), and right now I'm not quite there, but getting close, so I need to decide what to spend 'em on

maybe water-cooling, maybe save a while longer.... or wait until Jackie accepts them in lieu of cash Originally Posted by lawrence70

I'll accept them in lieu of cash . . . YOU convert them / use them and buy me the item(s) of my choice from Newegg or other vendor. Easy. Done deal. I can pick out a nice tablet PC I've had my eye on and you can have two or three hours of bliss. We'll have a hell of a good time - guaranteed - I was built for pleasure!

I have no issue with that arrangement.

BTW, I forgot to call you today, I'll try to be a better girl tomorrow . . . I told you to remind me!

Kisses,

- Jackie

turns out I calculated wrong *sigh*, I'm "worth" only about $250 in them right now... I guess I need to save longer

But Jackie, it's encouraging to see you possibly taking them serious! Or at least partially serious for the time being!

Supplement the 'coin' with 'cash' and buy me a tablet . . . I'll call you tomorrow - LOL

why worry that I may have given someone ammo for me to catch a Federal beef??

Kisses,

- Jackie Originally Posted by Jackie Devlin

God I just love when a Provider talks dirty