What to do with your Bitcoin haul
Bitcoin Aware | Aritcles | What to do with your Bitcoin haulThis article was taken from the August 2013 issue of Wired
magazine. Be the first to read Wired’s articles in print before
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online. Bitcoin
— the world’s most hyped cryptocurrency —
isn’t just for buying pizza and drugs: essentially programmable
money, the system can be built on to create new financial
applications. “Bitcoin as a platform for innovation is what excites
me most,” says Gavin Andresen, chief scientist at the
Bitcoin Foundation, a global network of enthusiasts open to
anyone with 0. 1BTC to spare for membership fees. “I don’t know
which crazy ideas will take off. ” Wired asked some Bitcoin
developers for their tips. How it
works
Each Bitcoin user has a public and a private key, and each coin is
associated with its current owner’s public key. To send Bitcoins, a
user creates a message, specifying the number of Bitcoins and the
recipient’s public key, then sign it with his or her own private
key. This exchange is broadcast to the Bitcoin network and those
Bitcoins are now associated with the new owner’s public
key. В Stick to the script
Every Bitcoin transaction includes a script — rules that define
how it may be spent. This can be basic, but more elaborate scripts
are possible, according to Jeff Garzik, senior software engineer at
BitPay. “Escrow has a script that requires signatures from two of
the three people involved in a transaction. Or there may be a
password kept in one person’s memory — a brainwallet. “В Let your stuff know its owner
Physical objects’ ownership can be controlled via Bitcoin. Some
cars require an auth… www. wired. co. uk/magazine/archive/2013/08/start/what-to-do-with-your-bitcoin-haul