Gox: Lesson Learned?

Yesterday, all business halted, and all transactions at Mt.Gox ceased, while everything disappeared, including people. No one is answering phone calls and emails.

There are some lessons to be had here. I think one of the big lessons is that money, whether it be fiat USD or BTC, shouldn’t be held in a central location for any significant amount of time. This also goes for data. Target was hit pretty hard when the data of millions of people was stolen. The Silk Road 2.0 was hit with theft, and now Mt.Gox has disappeared with hundreds of thousands of bitcoins. I think this lesson is that if you’re using an exchange, use it for its purpose, and then transfer your money out as soon as you’re done. If you’re buying bitcoin, as soon as you have it, move it into a different wallet that’s not located on a central server. Blockchain.info is a good choice. The encryption there is in your browser. Blockchain doesn’t store your info in their servers. They can also tell you how to create a paper wallet, which is another secure way to keep your bitcoins. However, keep in mind, nothing is 100% secure. These are just methods that keep your bitcoins more secure than trusting a third party with security. Anytime there’s a central data location with the info of thousands or millions of people, it’s a target for people who want to steal that information.

Also remember, that these methods of keeping your bitcoins safe are far more secure than using fiat money. With fiat money, you have absolutely no say at all about the security of your money. You have to trust that every single third party is doing right by your information. That being said, identity theft is a problem that costs billions of dollars every year. Your information regarding fiat money, really isn’t that secure at all.

I think another point we have to keep in mind, is that this shouldn’t worry you about Bitcoin. There are going to be people that rip apart Bitcoin, and question its validity. Bitcoin itself isn’t broken, and it isn’t bad. There are going to be bad things that happen, and there are going to be bad people that take advantage. This isn’t a reflection of Bitcoin or its security. This ties back in to taking control of the security of your own money, and being wary of third parties. Does this mean we shouldn’t have trust? No, it doesn’t mean that, exactly. I just mean that you can have a secure currency and payment system, as long as you take the necessary steps. Don’t lose faith in Bitcoin. Lose faith in the bad actors that give Bitcoin a bad name.

Writing, Editing, and Working From Home

Some people may or may not know, but I was laid off at the end of January. At first, I spent several hours a day, working on my resume and applying for many jobs. I did that for a week, maybe a week and a half. Then I happened to ask a friend a question. My friend is involved in many things, and one of them is being a host on the show Let’s Talk Bitcoin. It’s a twice weekly podcast talking about the new economy. I had heard that they are taking LTB to the next level, by creating an entire network of bitcoin content. With written articles and podcasts created by other people, this was turning in to something huge. I wanted to be a part of it. The question I asked my friend was, do you guys need any help with the article submissions? She said yes, and contact the creator of the show.

I sent an email with my inquiry, some of my blogging experience, and a couple links to some of my work. He emailed me back and was interested! After some discussing back and forth, I interned for a week as a working editor. I am responsible for posting the content on the website, both articles and podcasts, and I format the material in addition to scheduling. As of Monday, I am officially a member of the LTB team, part time. Today, I started working on building a website to market myself as a writer and editor, and some other tasks. You can find the website HERE. If you need any editing done, please contact me!

I am so exited to finally be working towards my goals. My dreams. Working for LTB is literally a dream job. Years ago, I wanted to go to school to be an editor. I imagined myself as an editor at one of the top publishing houses, and living in a posh apartment in Manhattan (hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?). I also started getting very interested in bitcoin, and wanted to work with it somehow. And now? A marriage of the two? Reading for work and something that I wholly believe in? I am absolutely beyond cloud 9. My next steps are to continue to branch out and work on more projects to add to my portfolio. I’ve had a couple of friends ask me to work on editing for them for a couple of different things, and I am so honored. So, toast, to the awesome future!