Quote:
Originally Posted by TheJacob
I assume they have to go several links down the chain to determine the address is a known link to the gambling site. So my question is... If I send to a wallet then to the site does it really matter?
This, I mean this can't be a real issue here, just a minor inconvenience. There has to be a ton of work arounds already in existence. Multisig, might be an option for those that are uncomfortable with their personal storage security. There is a saying going around saying if you don't own your keys than its a bank not a wallet. There are people saying never use an exchange for storage etc. But its not true, just don't keep a significant amount in one place. Many people can handle the low risk of CB going belly up in return for the convince of their service, that seems fine to me. Coinbase has to cover its ass in face of the brewing "regulatory" concerns so it doesn't fall victim to government seizure like other unwary projects.
I can't help but feel if their email was encrypted to you it would say: Dear dude, do anything you want but don't transfer straight from us to a poker site, there are millions of ways to do it, and you are using the one that will get us and the bitocin infrastructure halted. Signed thx CB PS if you need help let us or anyone in the community know.
Here was an informing post from the reddit thread:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comm...btc_are_being/
Quote:
Hi. I'm not sure why people are maligning Coinbase for this, because if you know what Coinbase is, this should be no mystery to you why this happens.
And it's not a mystery: If you have accessed Coinbase, you understand you are accessing a web-based service. Not just that: A web-based service, which happens to be a brokerage which integrates with the banking industry so that you can buy coins with fiat or sell them so that you get dollars instantly rapidly sent to your bank account! Come on folks, bank accounts are about as regulated as anything that could be regulated, and Coinbase is regulated as a money services business by the federal government since day one! If you're read about TISA and FATCA (not just the Bank Secrecy Act), then you understand how screwed you are by using banks, because according to the US government's legal interpretation, "activities conducted by a central bank or monetary authority" are, in fact, "services supplied in the exercise of governmental authority!" That's right, the US government interprets banks as simply an arm of government! Your bank, whether or not it wants to be, at the end of the day, is (at least according to the public and not-so-public laws of the United States) just a tool of the state. If you understand what a web-based service is in this context, you understand that, based on current models, your information that pertains to your account resides with them, on Coinbase's servers, not on your computer. You're using Coinbase because you wanted the convenience. What you give up in return for that convenience is (albeit temporarily) the opportunity to conduct transactions in a fully decentralized manner.
It was not long ago that people might have looked at this situation and shrugged. "What can we do about it?" people might have said. "What other way is there except for the brokerage we call Coinbase, besides in-person purchase or exchange, or some exchange's site (like Cryptsy), or lesser-known or sketchy sites, or random darknet opportunities?"
Well, there might not have been very good answers a few years ago, but today there are, and the answers have a couple things in common: Decentralization and dis-intermediation.
If you are serious about liberating yourself and the community that you are a part of from the grasp of the corporation-state, you owe it to yourself to explore various decentralized exchanges that are now emerging, which also clearly serve as dis-intermediation solutions. In other words: Yes, you can do what you want to without the banks involved ~ but with a little more work on your part.
First, you have to manage your own wallet. That means you need to install Bitcoin Core or another wallet which resides on your computer, rather than relying on some web wallet or web-based site solution. (Ditto for any other decentralized virtual currency.) BitPay recognizes this (even though, or perhaps because, they run a service which operates through a standard website interface), as they've recently released CoPay. The CoPay solution is offered as both a wallet which you can install and manage yourself as a browser extension, as well as an alternative: a web-based wallet, which you obviously would not be managing yourself on your computer. It's also open source, so anyone can make their own solution based on the code of it. Their blog post on it explains the problems of regulation pretty well.
However, it takes more than a browser extension or Bitcoin Core itself to liberate you from banks. It takes full dis-intermediation, which involve a range of solutions for decentralizing economic affairs in a manner which removes the middleman.
To that end, consider exploring decentralized exchange methods such as OpenBazaar (in testing with significant progress) and Mastercoin's distributed exchange (functional as of March 2014). Ethereum (which is collaborating with Mastercoin on crowdsale implementation that could connect both systems, with implications for smart property) and Counterparty should also be examined as options for your dis-intermediation process. Dis-intermediation, in order to grow, needs active participation from people everywhere in the decentralization of markets & exchanges.
Links which relate to the dis-intermediation suggestions above (and which do not involve the use of banks/governments/corporation-states, and cannot realistically be regulated by them either) are: (Counterparty)
1) https://wiki.counterparty.co/w/Asset...buted_exchange
2) http://counterpartyd-build.readthedo...romSource.html
(Distributed exchange developed via Mastercoin) http://wiki.mastercoin.org/index.php...lized_exchange
Ethereum: https://www.ethereum.org/ Discussion of Bitcoin 2.0 'without ethereum?' Link here to Cryptocoins News covering Gavin Andresen discussing decentralization of contracts: http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/news/...eum/2014/06/09
OpenBazaar: https://github.com/OpenBazaar/OpenBa...ster/README.md
Lighthouse (a Mike Hearn concept): It is now funded and under development: http://www.coindesk.com/mike-hearn-w...-crowdfunding/
edits / other projects added:
Cloakcoin - includes a decentralized market right in the wallet
The Freimarket whitepaper - discusses peer-to-peer exchange, distributed marketplaces, etc.
Bitcoin in its early stages, which had a partially completed distributed market (before the code for it was removed)
I have also taken a brief look at the BitXBay code on Github, but have not yet determined if it is safe to run.
Please keep your eyes on and participate in these various dis-intermediation possibilities.
You should also keep your eye on the Zerocash project which is anticipated to be released in November or December 2014. It will be the strongest anonymity solution out there and will completely transform the financial landscape. The reason why banks/governments/corporation-states are able to control the fiscal landscape as they have boils down to identity. Where you can be identified (as you can via bitcoin's very transparent blockchain) then you can be controlled by forces who will attempt to apply the law to punish users they can identify. Being able to operate with anonymity will completely change the landscape of how users interact with decentralized virtual currency systems.
Until then, consider utilizing bytecoin which can hide your activity amongst groups of 30 to 60 persons (or possibly more as time goes on) and is a fully-functional decentralized virtual currency system with anonymous characteristics. Alternatives are to continue using bitcoin as well, but to utilize the recently available stealth transaction technology (until Zerocash is available, which will essentially anonymize bitcoin use).
Here are some links to stealth transaction technology (which doesn't anonymize your transactions, but provides significant privacy by keeping prying eyes from correlating one of your bitcoin transactions with any other one you might have made):
StealthJS is now available for review/use - see https://github.com/darkwallet/stealth.js - See also https://github.com/darkwallet/coinjoin.js and the discussion of taking stealth.js into a distinct repository at https://github.com/darkwallet/darkwallet/issues/154 (a similar approach has been taken with coinjoin.js)
If looking at sx.dyne.org for your project please check out / consider using sx tools (Charity Donations panel, etc.) where my own project, ABIS, is incorporated conceptually.
Thank you for reading this, and I hope it helps with any dis-intermediation and anonymity processes you may be pursuing.
Still ******ed that as a bitcoin exchange operating on usa soil , coinbase is blocking poker sites. Not everyone is proficient enough with bitcoins to realize the creating your own wallet as a workaround.
