Digital Gold (37 page)

Debt: The First 5,000 Years
(Graeber), 157, 179

decentralized systems/technology.
See also
Blockchain

  
about Bitcoin ideology, 236

  
Bitcoin comparison to gold, x

  
building Bitcoin system, 55–56, 141, 292–294

  
development of payment systems, 129, 133

  
disadvantages of centralization, 113–114

  
Internet as, 182

  
Occupy Wall Street movement and, 111

  
open source software and, 45–47

  
P2P Foundation and, 30

  
regulatory compliance, 269–270

  
resolving problems, 195

  
Silk Road and, 118

  
trend toward centralization, 99–100, 347

Der-Yeghiayan, Jered, 246–248

DigiCash, 12, 19, 21, 23, 26, 158.
See also
Chaum, David

digital currency

  
Anoncoin, 270–271

  
Chinese potential, 260–261

  
creation of early systems, 12–13

  
Darkcoin, 271

  
Finney experimentation, 5

  
Greenspan prediction, 17

  
Liberty Reserve, 218

  
Mint Chip, 133

  
Q coin, 257, 260–261, 268

DigitalInk (screen name).
See
George, Jacob

Dimon, Jamie, 303–306

Dixon, Chris, 181–182, 186, 294

Dodd, Nigel, 16

Donahoe, John, 262

Donald, James, 24

Draper, Tim, 353

Dread Pirate Roberts [DPR] (screen name), 118, 121, 168–169, 171, 213, 225, 227, 248.
See also
Ulbricht, Ross

drugs/drug trafficking.
See
Silk Road

eDonkey (file sharing website), 50–51

Ehrsam, Fred, 334–336.
See also
Coinbase (Bitcoin service)

Electronic Frontier Foundation, 80, 270

Eleuthria (screen name), 195

encryption technology, 8–12.
See also
Public-key cryptography

exchange-traded funds (ETF), 222, 250

Extropians, 11

Facebook, 145

Faiella, Robert (aka BTC King), 130, 138, 299

The Far Wilds
(online game), 50–51

FBI.
See
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Reserve.
See
U.S. Federal Reserve

Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit [FinCen] (Treasury Department), 138, 196–197, 201, 234–235, 266, 325

Financial Times
, 262, 317

Finney, Fran, 3

Finney, Hal

  
defense of Bitcoin system, 24–27

  
introduction to Bitcoin, 3–8

  
Lou Gehrig's disease diagnosis, 27

  
return to Bitcoin community, 59–60

  
role in PGP, 10, 13

Finney, Jason, 27

FirstMark Capital, 144, 147–149, 176

Forbes
, 80, 96

Fortress Investment Group, 180, 217–219, 252, 272–273.
See also
Briger, Pete

Founders Fund, 187, 211

4chan (hacker message board), 75

Freeman, Ian, 75–76

Free State Project, 107–110

Free Talk Live
(radio program), 75–78, 108

Freis, James, 325

FriendlyChemist (screen name), 225–226

Gandalf (computer chip), 329

Garzik, Jeff, 83–84, 92, 99, 190, 196, 348

Gates, Bill, 353–355, 385n

Gawker (website), 83–84

George, Jacob (aka DigitalInk), 121

George Mason University, 80

Georgia, Republic of, 330

GitHub, 141

Goldman Sachs, 324–326

gold standard, x, 15–16, 31–32, 45, 109, 157–158

Gonzague, 312–315

Goodman, Leah McGrath, 319–324

Google, 101–103, 187, 248–249, 283, 304–305, 314–315, 334

Google Wallet, 101

government regulation/investigation

  
arrest of Roger Ver, 77–78

  
arrest of Ross Ulbricht, 170–171

  
BitInstant, 222–224

  
BTC China, 273–275

  
Erik Voorhees, 224–225

  
PGP and Zimmerman, 10

  
virtual currencies, 66–67, 196–198, 235

Graeber, David, 157

Great Depression, 31

Great Recession, banking crisis of 2008, 32, 111

Green, Curtis (aka chronicpain), 116, 170–171, 225, 249, 332

Greenspan, Alan, 17

hackers/hacking

  
Bitcoin vulnerability, xiv, 24, 154, 201, 215

  
BitInstant penetration, 150

  
message boards, 75

  
Mt. Gox penetration, 67–69, 82–83, 90–96, 99, 114, 205–207

  
ransom demands/payments, 82, 150, 169, 347–348

  
Silk Road penetration, 168–169, 225, 248–251

  
Target data breach, 288–289

  
vulnerability of private information, xii, 19

Hanecz, Laszlo, 41–44, 48, 58, 189, 215

Hashcash, 17–22, 339, 348

hash functions, 22, 25–26, 41–42, 136, 359–362

Hearn, Mike, 80–81, 99–100, 101–103, 320

Hoffman, Reid, 181, 183, 291–293, 353

Horowitz, Ben, 192, 335.
See also
Andreessen Horowitz

Huang Xiaoyu, 255–256, 258

Hughes, Eric, 8, 11–12

Huobi (Chinese exchange), 285

Iceland, 330

India, 350

  
WikiLeaks blockade, 57

Internet relay chat (IRC), 41, 54, 67, 196

Internet terrorism.
See
hackers/hacking

Jack B. Nimble, 69

Jiasule (Chinese security service), 261

Johnston, David, 204

JP Morgan Chase & Co., 202, 218, 303–306, 327

Juno Moneta (Roman god), 17

Kaminska, Izabella, 317

Karpeles, Mark.
See also
Mt. Gox (Bitcoin exchange)

  
arrival at Mt. Gox, 65–68

  
becoming Mt. Gox owner, 68–69

  
control over Mt. Gox code, 99

  
lack of management skill, 127–128, 233, 307–309

  
marginalization in Bitcoin future, 331

  
NYC Bitcoin Expo 2011, 103–105

  
struggling with Mt. Gox growth and problems, 140–141, 200–201

  
vacating Bitcoin Foundation seat, 345

Kodric, Nejc, 253

Kraken (Bitcoin exchange), 315

Krugman, Paul, 286

Kutscher, Ashton, 335

Kuzmin, Alexander, 135–136

La Nación
(newspaper), 241

Larsen, Chris, 325–326

Lawsky, Benjamin, 225, 300–302, 304, 317

Lee, Bobby, 256, 261–265, 267, 273, 300, 343–345

Lee, Charlie, 100, 103, 105, 256, 283

Lemon Digital Wallet, 154, 160–162, 179–180, 242–244, 252, 261, 280–283, 351.
See also
Casares, Wences

Lenihan, Larry, 144, 176

Lerner, Sergio, 324

Levchin, Max, 185–186, 349, 353

Levine, John, 24–25

Liberty Reserve (online currency), 218

Liew, Jeremy, 300–301

Lilla, Mark, 111

Ling Kang, 268, 274–275

LinkedIn (networking site), 291–292

Litecoin, 256, 283, 286

Luria, Gil, 271–272

MagicalTux (screen name).
See
Karpeles, Mark

Magic: The Gathering Online Exchange
.
See
Mt. Gox (Bitcoin exchange)

Magic: The Gathering
(online game), 51, 77

Maguire Ventures, 149

Makan, Divesh, 293

Malka, Micky, 179–180, 201–203, 210–212, 236, 242, 252, 282–283

Malmi, Martti

  
beginning connection to Bitcoin, 29–30, 200

  
entry into Bitcoin operations, 33–39, 44–50

  
exchange services and forums, 53–54

  
making Silk Road work, 72, 84

  
reduced role in Bitcoin, 58–60

  
return to Bitcoin community, 348

  
running Bitcoin website, 66, 80–82, 86

Marcus, David, 158–159, 181, 184–185, 201, 216, 281, 292, 349

Mark Twain Bank, 12

Maxwell, Gregory, 348

McCaleb, Jed

  
creation of Ripple, 187, 325

  
exclusion from Bitcoin Foundation, 139

  
founding of Mt. Gox, 50–53

  
handling Mt. Gox disputes and problems, 63–65

  
Mt. Gox account hacked, 90, 94–95

  
partnership with Mark Karpeles, 65–69

  
2011 NYC Bitcoin Expo, 103–105

  
2014 Bitcoin Pacifica (Lake Tahoe), 337

  
views on political ideology, 112–113

meetups.
See
conferences (Bitcoin and others)

Memory Dealers, 78–79, 93, 126.
See also
Ver, Roger

Mercatus Center, 80

Miller, Ira, 137, 174, 176, 201

mining.
See
Bitcoin mining

Mint Chip (Canadian digital currency), 133

money/monetary systems

  
about origins and determination of value, 15–17

  
basis of market economy, 11

  
Bitcoin as form of, 82, 286

  
Bitcoin as replacement for gold, 182

  
currency debasement, 30–31

  
evolution of credit, 157

  
gold standard, x, 15–16, 31–32, 45, 109, 157–158

  
jokes on nature of, 146

money laundering

  
Bank Secrecy Act enforcement, 196

  
Bitcoin as form of, 84, 303

  
investigation and arrests, ix, 224–225, 249, 266–267, 298

  
PayPal investigation as, 186, 216

  
regulatory compliance, 92, 203, 218

Mongolia, 330

Morehead, Dan

  
gathering for Lake Tahoe poker game, viii, xii–xiii

  
investment in Slovenian exchange, 236

  
invited to work with Fortress, 217

  
meeting for first Bitcoin Pacifica, 251–253

  
meeting for second Bitcoin Pacifica, 337–342

  
relocation out of Fortress offices, 342–343

Morton, Chris, 221–222

MS Haberdasher (screen name), 170

Mt. Gox (Bitcoin exchange)

  
about the founding and growth, 50–54

  
arrival of Mark Karpeles, 65–69

  
contending with competitors, 97–102

  
federal seizure of assets, 213–214

  
government regulation, 66–67

  
hacker vulnerability/penetration, 67–68, 82–83, 89–96

  
management problems, 307–309

  
plans for closure, 312–314

  
reaction to collapse and
bankruptcy, 314–316

  
shutting down exchange, 193, 205–207

  
trading disputes and problems, 63–65, 85–86, 199–207

  
trading volume, 53, 79, 201, 203, 207, 209–210

  
transaction malleability problem, 309–312

Murck, Patrick, 139–142, 176, 233–236, 265–267, 269, 302

Murdoch, James, 181

Murdoch, Rupert, 353

Murrone, Federico (“Fede”), 159–160, 201, 280–281, 349, 351

Musk, Elon, 187

MyBitcoin (online Bitcoin wallet), 98–99, 113–114, 237

Napster (music sharing service), 35, 50–51, 347

Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 222, 353

Nas (rapper), 335

National Security Agency (NSA), 8, 271

Nebseny, Val, 329–330

Nelson, Gareth, 129–130

NewLibertyStandard (screen name), 37–39, 41, 48, 69

Newsweek
, 319–321, 324–325, 342, 347

New York, State of.
See
Government regulation/investigation

New York Times
, 211, 293, 303, 365

“99 percenters.”
See
Occupy Wall Street movement

Niven, Larry, 7

Nixon, Richard, 31

nob (screen name), 121, 170–171, 332

Novogratz, Mike, 180

O'Brien, Eric, 210

Occupy Wall Street movement, xi–xii, 111–112, 140, 157, 287, 331, 336

OKCoin, 344

Olympic Summer Games (Beijing, 2008), 145

“1 percenters,” wealth distribution, 287, 336

Overstock (online retailer), 289–290

Ovitz, Michael, 183

Pantera Capital, 217, 343

Patagon, 162

Paul, Ron, 110–111

PayPal

  
about founding, 185–187, 291–292

  
acceptance of Bitcoin, xii, 261–262

  
Bitcoin support from, 129, 158–159, 184–185, 192, 349

  
buying/selling Bitcoin through, 38, 52–54, 110

  
ransom demands and criminal use, 347–348

  
restrictions by Argentina, 159–161

  
shutting down Mt. Gox account, 64