Satoshi Nakamoto Revealed - Reluctant Bitcoin Inventor Revealed

Leah McGrath Goodman of Newsweek has shocked the Bitcoin world by revealing the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto in an article that is due out on the newsstands but currently available online here.

If you have ever looked into Bitcoin you have undoubtedly heard the story that the inventor of Bitcoin was a secretive unknown entity that goes by the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. 

Opinions on who the real Satoshi was ranged from some wunderkind in Japan to the CIA to....well you get the picture.

If Ms. Goodman is correct, it turns out that Satoshi Nakamoto is actually Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto, a 64 year old Japanese American living in Temple City, California a middle class suburb of Los Angeles with a population of 36,000.  He lives in a modest home, drives a clunker, and is passionate about model trains.

Newsweek's article lays out that Satoshi wants very little to do with Bitcoin these days and has no interest in being a public figure, to the point that most of his family did not know of his involvement.

When confronted by Ms. Goodman and asked of his role in the Bitcoin project, she claims Satoshi "Tacitly acknowledging" his role, then gave this quote:

I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it, it's been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection.

He refused to say anymore...

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Litecoin Listed on BTC China

BTC China just went live with Litecoin on their exchange.  The announcement caused quite a stir on BTC-e with LTC spiking as high as $21.95 after hovering in the mid to low $14's for most of the day.

The spike came around 1:00 a.m. Pacific, another proof positive that insomnia pays when it comes to crypto!

After what seams like years of fruitlessly waiting for the ever rumored LTC listing on M.T. Gox, it is good to see LTC make in onto a well run, high liquidity exchange like BTC China.  Maybe we will see the Chinese move back into LTC aggressively, the last time they did prices soared to as high as $48 and change at the peak.

With the PR beating crypto has taken over the past week or so, its good to see such a positive step.

They posted the following message on their website along with the banner above.

Dear Customers,
We are very excited to introduce BTC China’s new member – Litecoin!
Bitcoin grew tremendously in 2013, while another virtual currency has also made considerable progress – Litecoin. It gradually gained recognition from the Bitcoin enthusiasts. By popular request, we have now added Litecoin trading to BTC China's trading platform.
In addition, Litecoin trading will have 0% trading commission!As a responsible trading platform and a Bitcoin industry leader, BTC China is committed to providing a safe and secure platform. We always focus on the safety of customer’s funds.
We will strive to continue to offer the best service to our customers, so we appreciate any suggestions, comments and feedback.
Thank you for your support, and we wish you a happy and prosperous Year of the Horse!
BTC China TeamMarch 4, 2014

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Introducing Crypto Pros Mining Pools!

We are proud to announce the launch of our Mining Pools! We offer 2 Auto-Switching Mulitpools, ASMs for short, along with 25 coin specific pools!

There are two Auto-Switching Multipools (ASM) to choose from, one for Scrypt altcoins, and one for SHA-256 based coins including Bitcoin.

The Scrypt ASM currently chooses the most profitable coin to mine, based on current exchange rates and difficulty settings, between 20 alcoins and continually switches between then to increase your profitability.

Notice the green banner, at the time of this picture the ASM was mining DOGE

The SHA-256 ASM currently has 5 coins it chooses from, just as the Scypt ASM does, this pool switches between these five coins as one stands out amongst the other as more profitable to mine at that moment.  

Notice the green banner, at the time of this picture the ASM was mining BTC

If Auto-Switching Multipools are not your thing and you would like to focus specifically on one coin or another, we have you covered. Each coin in our ASMs can be mined solely at your discretion.

For each coin, you can set up automatic payouts to the payment address of your choice.  To best maximize your profitability, we suggest you consider utilizing Cryptsy's auto sell feature.  Read this guide to learn more. 

The mining fee is only 1.5% on all coins except Bitcoin which is at 0%!  Some standard transaction fees apply to certain coins, review the FAQ's for the pools here for full details.

If you have never used an ASM give it a try for a week and compare your results agains mining single coin, you will be impressed with the increase in profitability.

Scrypt Coins
Litecoin (LTC)	DigitalCoin (DGC)	PhenixCoin (PXC)	DogeCoin (DOGE)	Mooncoin (MOON)
FeatherCoin (FTC)	NovaCoin (NVC)	MegaCoin (MEC)	Diamond (DMD)	Earthcoin (EAC)
Mincoin (MNC)	LuckyCoin (LKY)	BottleCaps (CAP)	Grandcoin (GDC)	Lottocoin (LOT)
WorldCoin (WDC)	Argentum (ARG)	Cryptogenic Bullion (CGB)	FedoraCoin (TIPS)	AuroraCoin (AUR)
SHA-256 Coins
Bitcoin (BTC)	Freicoin (FRC)	PeerCoin (PPC)	Terracoin (TRC)	Zetacoin (ZET)

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Updated: Mt.Gox Goes Silent - Markets Falling

MT. Gox has gone silent! Checking www.mtgox.com as of 9:02 p.m. Pacific rewards you with a blank screen.

More telling is a quick check of their Twitter account at https://twitter.com/MtGox. Still followed by over 28,000, it appears Mt.Gox has erased all their previous tweets.

Mark Karpeles the CEO of Mt.Gox resigned from the board at the Bitcoin Foundation yesterday.

BTC is nosediving on most exchanges and LTC is following, as of 9:04 p.m. Pacific, BTC is sub $500 on BTC-e and LTC is sub $13.

Time to take your loses early, go to FIAT and look for a buy back opportunity when the panic starts to settle down.

Remember there is often profit to be made when the panic comes. We at Crypto Pros wishes you all good luck!

Taken @ 9:20 p.m. Pacific 2-24-14

Coinbase took this opportunity to publish the following letter on their blog in an attempt to shore up confidence in the viability of Bitcoin.

Joint Statement Regarding MtGox

Feb 24th, 2014

The purpose of this document is to summarize a joint statement to the Bitcoin community regarding Mt.Gox.

This tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt.Gox was the result of one company’s actions and does not reflect the resilience or value of bitcoin and the digital currency industry. There are hundreds of trustworthy and responsible companies involved in bitcoin. These companies will continue to build the future of money by making bitcoin more secure and easy to use for consumers and merchants.  As with any new industry, there are certain bad actors that need to be weeded out, and that is what we are seeing today.  Mtgox has confirmed its issues in private discussions with other members of the bitcoin community

We are confident, however, that strong Bitcoin companies, led by highly competent teams and backed by credible investors, will continue to thrive, and to fulfill the promise that bitcoin offers as the future of payment in the Internet age.

In order to re-establish the trust squandered by the failings of Mt. Gox, responsible bitcoin exchanges are working together and are committed to the future of bitcoin and the security of all customer funds. As part of the effort to re-assure customers, the following services will be coordinating efforts over the coming days to publicly reassure customers and the general public that all funds continue to be held in a safe and secure manner: Coinbase, Kraken, BitStamp, Circle, and BTC China.

We strongly believe in transparent, thoughtful, and comprehensive consumer protection measures. We pledge to lead the way.

Bitcoin operators, whether they be exchanges, wallet services or payment providers, play a critical custodial role over the bitcoin they hold as assets for their customers.  Acting as a custodian should require a high-bar, including appropriate security safeguards that are independently audited and tested on a regular basis, adequate balance sheets and reserves as commercial entities, transparent and accountable customer disclosures, and clear policies to not use customer assets for proprietary trading or for margin loans in leveraged trading.

The following industry leaders stand by this statement:

Fred Ehrsam — Co-founder of Coinbase

Jesse Powell — CEO of Kraken

Nejc Kodrič — CEO of Bitstamp.net

Bobby Lee — CEO of BTC China

Nicolas Cary — CEO of Blockchain.info

Jeremy Allaire — CEO of Circle

Crypto Pros applauds the efforts of Coinbase and the industry leaders above who lend their support to the statement.

Update 8:13 a.m. Pacific 2-25-14

Checking www.mtgox.com this morning we find they have posted the following message on their website, the rest of the site remains blank:

Dear MtGox Customers,

In the event of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox's operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly.

Best regards,
MtGox Team

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U.S. Government To Sell Off Silk Road's 29,655 Bitcoins

The Manhattan U.S. Attorney Office announced Thursday that they have secured judicial sign off from U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken on the forfeiture sale of the 29,655 bitcoin sized from Silk Road.  Current estimate of value as of the time of this writing is in between $23 and $28 million depending on which exchange you value the coins at.  The proceeds of the sale will go to the U.S. Treasury coffers.

For the unfamiliar, Silk Road was an online marketplace operating in the Deep Web.  It was an anything goes bazaar of sorts where deals for the innocuous to the illegal transpired. Think eBay with no rules as to what could be posted.  You might find that album you have been looking for since you were 14 or a kilo of cocaine.  It was sized and shut down in October of 2013.  

Silk Road was allegidly conceived and operated by Ross Ulbricht  who went by the name the Dread Pirate Roberts, a tip of the hat to the movie "The Princess Bride."  The 29 year old Ulbricht was arrested on October 1st in San Francisco on charges ranging from violating several narcotics laws to illegal computer hacking.

Thursday's forfeiture announcement does not apply to the 144,366 Bitcoins that were sized from Ulbrict's personal accounts.   Valued between $116.5 and $131.8 million at the time of this writing, again depending on which exchange you use to value them.  The announcement states "Ulbricht has filed a claim in the civil forfeiture action, asserting that he is the owner of the Bitcoins found on his computer hardware, and contesting the forfeiture of those Bitcoins."

What does this all mean in regards to your holdings?

How the government plans to sell the seized Bitcoins, and what affect the sell off will have on the market value, is a highly debated topic in the cryptocurrency community at the moment.  Some believe it will, at least temporary, crash the price of Bitcoin which has remained relatively stable since the dip and recovery caused by governmental policy announcements coming out of China.  Others see it as a unique affirming action by the U.S. Government of the legitimacy of Bitcoin and the legality of trading it for FIAT.  

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NBA's Sacramento Kings To Accept Bitcoin

The NBA's Sacramento Kings announced today in a press release that they will be accepting Bitcoin as payment for both tickets and licensed merchandise.

This makes the Kings the first major league sports team of any sort to accept Bitcoin.  

The Kings will be accepting Bitcoin through BitPay which touts over 20,000 clients accepting Bitcoins through their system.

Tony Gallippi, co-founder and CEO of BitPay was quoted in the press release  as saying “We make it easy for businesses like the Sacramento Kings to accept bitcoin as a form of payment both in-person and online”.  He continued “As the first professional sports team to accept bitcoin, the Sacramento Kings continue to show that they are at the intersection of sports and technology.”

All of us at Crypto Pros applaud the Kings and their new owner Vivek Ranadivé for their pioneering move and we hope for, and look forward to, other teams following suite soon.

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What is the best way to buy Bitcoins?

We are often ask "What is the best way to buy Bitcoins?"

There are of course several ways, and in the near future we will be posting a complete guide, but until then, one of the best answers is short answers is Coinbase.

If you are not familiar with Coinbase, they make the process of buying and selling Bitcoins a no brainer. Gone are the days of sending funds via some wire service and waiting...and waiting...and waiting for your coins to be deposited. Simply create a  Coinbase account, add your bank account info, and you are off to the races.

Buying Bitcoin has never been easier.  Simply:

• Sign up by clicking the link here
• Click on the "Buy/Sell" link on the right hand side of the page
• Click on the "Verify A Bank Account" link
• After your bank account is verified, go back to the "Buy/Sell" link and enter the amount of coins you want to buy and you are done!  

Once you have your Bitcoins you can of course spend or send them wherever you like.   A quick note here: your first purchase will take 4 business days to complete, Coinbase will keep you well informed via email throughout the process.  Once the first purchase is complete, you can add a credit card to your account as a back up payment source to become what they call Fully Verified, once this is done your future Bitcoin purchases will complete immediately!  This is one of the features that solidifies Coinbase as our #1 recommendation.

When it is time to trade your Bitcoins in for cash, the process is even easier. 

• Transfer your coins to your  Coinbase account if they are not already there
• Click on the "Buy/Sell" link
• Click on the "Sell Bitcoin" Tab
• Enter the amount Bitcoin you want to sell

Done! The coins will be sold and the proceeds from the sale sent directly to your bank account, no muss, no fuss.  Talk about market liquidity! 

What else does Coinbase do?

Coinbase is also much more that just a means for individuals to purchase and sell Bitcoins, they also offer merchant tools to make it easy for businesses to accept Bitcoins as payment for their goods and services. In addition, they offer a simple and easy way to add a Bitcoin donation button to your site, we proudly use this service and appreciate any help our readers are willing to provide to help us offset the expense here at Crypto Pros.

But is it secure?

In our opinion, yes.   They have implanted a top notch security system, stores your coins offline, run the site under a SSL certificate, have secured paper backups, and offer the option of utilizing two-factor authentication.

As we mentioned in the beginning of this piece, there are multiple ways to acquire and sell Bitcoins, but we find Coinbase to be the easiest and quickest option available today and highly recommend you start an account with them, which you can do by clicking the link here.

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Want to use Bitcoin at Amazon? Target? CVS? Whole Foods? HERE IS HOW!

One of the questions we hear all the time is where can I use Bitcoin to buy actual things?  

We posted earlier (viewable here) that Overstock.com is now accepting Bitcoin directly, and there has been quite a bit of buzz in the crypto currency community about this, and rightly so.  There are other options, and one that is convenient and offers a wide variety of options is Gyft, the mobile gift card company.

Gyft accepts Bitcoin as payment for gift cards redeemable at retailers and restaurants that range from Victoria Secret, to Amazon to Burger King with over 200 options in between!

You can purchase the gift card of your choice through their website or their Android app, and you can utilize either their Android and OS platform app at the retailer of your choice.

They even offer a loyalty points system that racks up triple points on Bitcoin purchases as compared to single point rewards for credit card and PayPal purchases. 

The wide variety of retailers, the loyalty program, and the simple interface makes Gyft a convenient way for you spend some of your trading and mining profits!

Check them out at www.gyft.com

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Give me liberty (and Bitcoins) or give me death! A libertarian take on Bitcoin.

Chances are if you are interested in crypto currencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin, part of the reason for your interest is the decentralized and non-govermental control aspect...read no FED or other governmental bodies devaluing your assets though inflationary policies and other general mucking up of the markets.

A libertarian is commonly defined, at least in part, as one who advocates maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state.

John Stossel has established himself as on of America's leading consumer reporters and investigative journalist.  He is also probably the most outspoken libertarian voices in the mainstream media today.

He shared his view on Bitcoin today in his column entitled "In Bitcoin I trust" on FoxNews.com, give it a read HERE

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Overstock.com accepting Bitcoin

Here is an interesting article on the success Overstock has seen in its first day of accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment.

They did $126,000 in their first day!

We at Crypto Pros applaud the retailer for its decision to accept Bitcoin and urge others to wake up and smell the crypto currency coffee and get onboard!

Give it a read here

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Welcome to the Crypto Currency world!

Hey everyone, 
 
I received a interesting text message yesterday from a friend of mine over at Crypto Pros asking if I could write?  Now generally such a question is harmless, but the message closely resembled another received right before Thanksgiving "hey dude do you mine" .

The jury is still out on my answer of "nope, mine what?", so I was determined to get the next one correct and hopefully limit my financial and mental stress. Of course I write, everyone writes!  I know all my letters and numbers, I did real good in school, and I am the only member of my family to graduate the 6th grade.  Do I write, sheeesh!

Well, again the jury is out on this answer, because now writing has turned into Blogging.  Great another new experience just what I needed.  The only good thing about blogging is it doesn't cost you anything(so far), but it also doesn't make you anything(sucks).  So my ventures into crypt o currency and blogging should thoroughly confuse my shrink and probably land me in the nut house, or atleast get me a prescription for some good happy pills!

So, now I am a blogger in addition to being a miner, and get to share the trials and tribulations of my foray into the crypt o currency world. 

I think a good starting point will be to cover why I decided to mine on the first place.



    



   

  

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