[LINK] Bitcoin Virtual Currency

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

P2P Virtual Currency

 <http://www.bitcoin.org>

 <https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ>

 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin>

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer currency. Peer-to-peer means that no central 
authority issues new money, or tracks transactions. These tasks are 
managed collectively by the network.

* Community-driven open source, released under the MIT license 

* Based on Satoshi Nakamoto's paper Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic
  Cash System 

* Project Developers:
  Satoshi Nakamoto 
  Gavin Andresen -  (PGP) 
  Martti Malmi -  (PGP) 
  Amir Taaki -  (PGP) 
  Pieter Wuille 
  Nils Schneider - nils.schneider at gmail.com 
  Jeff Garzik - jgarzik at exmulti.com 

As of May 2011, there are just over 6.2 million bitcoins in existence.

Bitcoins are currently accepted in some cases for a number of online 
services, work for hire, tangible goods, and charitable donations.

Anyone can view the block-chain and observe transactions in real-time.

As opposed to conventional currency, Bitcoin has no centralized issuing 
authority. There is a limited controlled expansion of the monetary base 
hardcoded in the Bitcoin software, but it is predictable and known to all 
parties in advance. Transfers are facilitated directly without the use of 
a centralized financial processor between nodes.

Bitcoin's design allows for pseudonymous ownership and transfers. Because 
of this, Bitcoin has anonymity properties weaker than cash but stronger 
than traditional electronic payment systems. Unlike cash, the complete 
history of every bitcoin transaction is public, however it is not 
possible in general to associate bitcoin identities with real-life 
identities. 

In an Irish Times investigative article Danny O'Brien reported "When I 
show people this Bitcoin economy, they ask: 'Is this legal?' They 
ask: 'Is it a con?' I imagine there are lawyers and economists struggling 
to answer both questions. I suspect you will be able to add lawmakers to 
that list shortly."

The principles of the system are described in Satoshi Nakamoto's 2008 
Bitcoin whitepaper. http://www.bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Bitcoin relies on the transfer of amounts between public accounts using 
digital signatures. All transactions are public and stored in a 
distributed database which is used to confirm transactions and prevent 
double-spending.

Bitcoin is based on public-key cryptography. Any person participating in 
the Bitcoin network has a wallet containing an arbitrary number of 
cryptographic keypairs. The user's public keys are transformed into 
Bitcoin addresses which act as the receiving endpoints for all payments. 

The corresponding private keys are needed to authorize payments from that 
user's wallet. 

Addresses contain no information about their owner although owners may be 
traceable through the distributed transaction history. Addresses in human-
readable form are strings of random numbers and letters around 33 
characters in length.

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Cheers,
Stephen