Tech nerds: Explain bitcoins

[samoth]

What can one do with these besides buy drugs and child porn? And what is this mining process?

TYIA

 

[WoodyO]

It's good for laundering money too

 

[samoth]

It's good for laundering money too

How do I even go about converting cash into these virtual monetary units? Can I just walk into a BofA and transfer my accounts from USD to BTC?

 

[mrplunkey]

https://www.mtgox.com/

 

[miplank]

http://www.bitcoinmall.com/index.php

 

[WoodyO]

The silk road is shut down. No real need for bitcoin anymore.

 

[samoth]

https://www.mtgox.com/

So this stuff functions completely outside of banks and legal entities? What's to stop that site from shutting down and taking my bitcoins with them? Is there, like, an FDIC equivalent?

 

[mrplunkey]

Similar sites are popping up I believe. I haven't dug into it much lately as I have been to busy.

But I do run a Tor relay from an undisclosed location (hums tune to "Secret Agent Man")

 

[samoth]

The silk road is shut down. No real need for bitcoin anymore.

Shit. Now I need a new LSD dealer. Can I use bitcoins to buy drugs from that guy on the street corner?

 

[samoth]

Similar sites are popping up I believe. I haven't dug into it much lately as I have been to busy.

But I do run a Tor relay from an undisclosed location (hums tune to "Secret Agent Man")

Please translate "tor relay" to non-tech speak. Are you mining?