Category Archives: Cryptography

Bitcoin & Gresham’s Law & Botnets

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Philipp Güring and Ian Grigg have e-published Bitcoin & Gresham’s Law – the economic inevitability of Collapse (PDF):

Abstract. The Bitcoin economy exhibits remarkable and predictable stability on the supply side based on the power costs of mining. However, that stability is challenged if cost-curve assumption is not solely expressed by the fair cost of power. As there is at least one major player, the botnets, that can operate at a power-cost-curve of zero, the result is a breach of Gresham’s Law: stolen electricity will drive out honest mining. This has unfortunate effects for the stability of the Bitcoin economy, and the result is inevitable collapse.

via Financial Cryptography.

Previously: Checking In With Bitcoin (10/25/11).

Posted in Cryptography, Econ & Money | 1 Comment

Here We Go

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Inevitably, here comes the test case:

A U.S. federal judge has ordered a defendent to decrypt her laptop.

—Schneier on Security: Federal Judge Orders Defendant to Decrypt Laptop

Posted in Cryptography, Law: Criminal Law | Comments Off on Here We Go

Those Were The Days

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

Internet Code Ring! (Interview with Phil Zimmermann, circa 1993).

Posted in Cryptography | Comments Off on Those Were The Days

The Fixer (of Broken Security)

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

Nice profile of Christopher Soghoian in WIRED, entitled “The Pest Who Shames Companies Into Fixing Security Flaws”.

I’ve run into Chris at a few conferences, and read a good bit of his stuff, and I think he’s every bit as good as this profile makes him sound.

Posted in Cryptography, Law: Privacy | Comments Off on The Fixer (of Broken Security)

Good News for Bitcoin

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

It seems the bad guys who infect Macs think it’s worth the trouble to plant Trojans to mine Bitcoins. They’re pretty smart, so I guess this counts as one vote of confidence.

(Thanks to WG for the tip, although probably she won’t approve of the spin.)

Posted in Cryptography, Internet | Comments Off on Good News for Bitcoin

Checking in With Bitcoin

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

It doesn’t look real pretty. See Forbes, The End of Bitcoin Part II. (Although, having a ‘part II’ to your ending suggests you are not going totally quietly.)

I was pretty negative about Bitcoin right from the start, and I make no apologies for that.

Posted in Cryptography, Econ & Money | 5 Comments