Monthly Archives: June 2014

BitCoin Wallet for Android and the Jota Text Editor

 

A couple of applications for the android smartphone.

BitCoin Wallet android_BitCoin_Wallet

The first application is a BitCoin wallet. This application is quite lightweight and works well on my Sony Ericsson Xperia smartphone. The system requirements don't seem to be quite low. This is because the software does not download the full BitCoin blockchain. This makes it quicker at processing the transaction in a reasonable amount of time with limited processing power. It took under two minutes to send Bitcoins from the wallet on my PC to my wallet on my smartphone.

The software can be downloaded directly from the developer's site as well as Google's Play Store.

Not being a fan of Google, I prefer to download software that is available directly from the developer. Here's the link to developer's site:

https://github.com/schildbach/bitcoin-wallet/releases

After installing the BitCoin wallet please remember to encrypt it and PLEASE make sure you REMEMBER the password that you choose for this. As if you forget it, there is no way that you will be able to access your wallet. It is also advisable to make a copy of this encrypted file and store it elsewhere for example, your computer's hard drive or a usb stick.

You can also see what developments are being made to the software and make your own requests too on the forum. At the moment NFC (tap to transfer type transaction) functionality has been implemented and is being tested.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=29490.0

jota_text_editorJota Text Editor.

My Xperia came without a decent text editor. It had one of sorts but I could never summon it at will and did want to use a google app. Anf give the corporations and GCHQ yet more material to work with. After having a look around I found Jota Text Editor which is a brilliant little text editor it's pronounced as i-o-t-a by the way.

You can download it from here.

https://sites.google.com/site/aquamarinepandora/home/jota-text-editor

That about wraps it up for now.

BitCoin, BitCoin Exchanges and MtGox

 

Protest at MtGox, Tokyo, 14th February 2014

Protest at MtGox, Tokyo, 14th February 2014

By now many of you must have heard of the demise of the Mtgox BitCoin exchange.

This exchange was the biggest BitCoin exchange until a few months back. Was not known by many including myself was that it was being run almost single-handedly by a single person, but Frenchman less. Despite being based in Japan.

 

 

As it was the largest BitCoin exchange at the time, it is quite shocking that this large exchange was being run by a single individual, Mark Karpeles. He took it upon himself to do all backend implementation and security. He was lax in implementing security patches for known system vulnerabilities and had no I.T Security Officer let alone team. All this was hidden from the users by a well presented and very professional user interface as well as the information on how to secure the online wallets using private key s/ public key encryption. What this did was give the MtGox users a false sense of security, and who then left their BitCoins in an online wallet. Mark Karpeles was unable to explain what had happened and where the BitCoins had disappeared to. Later, some 200,000 BitCoins, were miraculously found in an old style wallet (BBC, 2014).

 

 

What is sad about it, is that it does reek of being an inside job. This 'model' where transfers stop going through and BitCoins then disappearing mysteriously, followed finally by the company filing for bankruptcy has been done before. Over the last 2-3 years but by smaller exchanges like the (MyBitCoin.com exchange, 2014). After this the clients who had BitCoins are just happy to receive whatever crumbs can be gleaned from the sale of the 'recovered BitCoins' . Meanwhile the bulk of the BitCoins disappear forever, untraceable due to BitCoin's excellence as an crpto-currency.

 

My personal feeling is that Mark Karparales did not take the responsibility of running the largest BitCoin exchange seriously. And as a result either by willful theft or sheer negligence has managed to harm BitCoin users and well as BitCoin. I had a few BitCoins on the MtGox exchange which I was gutted to have stolen. Fortunately, BitCoin has proved by it's recovery in value that it is a very good cryptocurrency in it's own right.

 

 

The lesson from this is to do due diligence checks on any exchanges that you are planning to use and not to leave your BitCoins online. Store them in an encrypted offline wallet. I have certainly learnt my lesson.

 

References:

BBC, 2014, '200,000 missing BitCoins'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26677291

Link Verified 07/06/2014

Protest at MtGox, Tokyo, 14th February 2014

https://ixquick-proxy.com/do/spg/show_picture.pl?l=english_uk&cat=pics&c=pf&q=MTGox+protest&h=720&w=1280&th=89&tw=160&fn=maxresdefault.jpg&fs=77.7%20k&el=boss_pics_1&tu=http:%2F%2Fts2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DHN.608048841080180145%26pid%3D15.1%26H%3D89%26W%3D160&rl=NONE&u=https:%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZddzSC7AuAw&udata=ee03f064edc2239ba4c27395106fc991&rid=NBLOKMLQQLSN&oiu=http:%2F%2Fi1.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FZddzSC7AuAw%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg

Link Verified 07/06/2014

MyBitCoin.com exchange, 2014

https://buttcoin.org/has-bruce-wagner-pulled-off-the-financial-biggest-scam-on-the-bitcoin-community

Link Verified 07/06/2014