Just found this pool today: http://www.middlecoin.com/

With it you end up mining alt coins, but the pool pays you in Bitcoin. Ideal for indirectly mining Bitcoins without owning those overly powerful ASICs.

The Bitcoin price has fallen quite low. (Quite good for those that want to buy cheap. Unless the price doesn't recover. )

In other news, I just found a Bitcoin simulator: http://www.beepboopbitcoin.com/

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Apr 6 2014, 4:53 pm by Apos.

The reason for the drop is from a speculation rumor regarding China "banning" bitcoins.

https://coinreport.net/bitcoin-price-down-ban-bitcoin-in-china/
https://coinreport.net/btc-china-open-letter-pboc-rumor/

And I'm assuming because of the Bitcoins that got stolen and thus proven that it's not as secure as it's advertised.

It's only as secure as the place you store your bitcoins. Anyone with access to my private key is able to spend my bitcoins, therefore it is a must to keep it secure from prying eyes. How far you are willing to go to keep it secured is up to you.

If you store your private key on your computer in an unencrypted format, you are vulnerable to hackers that can get access to your computer, other people that use your computer, etc. If it's encrypted, you are still vulnerable to key loggers and whatnot. If you store your bitcoins in an online wallet, you are vulnerable to those that can get access to your account, and you must trust that the site administrators have secured their site correctly.

Most serious Bitcoin holders will store their Bitcoins themselves, on a paper wallet locked in a safe where they are the only ones with access to it. They will generate their transactions from an offline computer with no outside contact, and will then broadcast the transaction to the network. The private key's security will have remained intact throughout the process.

Bitcoin is not less secured than it's advertised. The cryptography has not been broken. But right now, not everyone has been educated on the subject.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Apr 7 2014, 6:13 am by Apos.

Thanks for clearing that up.
... after transferring the generated transaction on the offline machine to an online computer via USB-stick or similar, I assume?

I skipped the details, but that could work, unless you're really paranoid, in which case, instead of a USB, you'd want something write only. (The ability to read could compromise your device.)

TBH, I forgot to mention the possibility to store your coins behind multi-signature transactions which makes all that not required. Practical example: https://greenaddress.it/en/