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Saturday, January 31, 2015

2014 Tax Return

Please read the disclaimer first.

Apparently, I currently pay more federal income tax than the bottom 46% combined, but that's another story.  :)



The USA has a progressive income tax structure, and (generally) the more you earn, the more you pay.

(Source:  Wikipedia)

Contrary to popular belief, you will not suddenly pay more taxes when you get bumped up to a higher tax bracket.

You will most always keep more of your taxable income as it grows.


Your tax return (or additional pay) will be the difference between the income tax and the withheld amount.



To get to the taxable income, you fill out form 1040, or a variation of it.

Income tax = Taxable income x Effective tax rate - Tax credit

Taxable income = Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) - Deductions - Personal exemptions



The AGI is an important number, as it shows up in many place of your tax return.

I think keeping this low is a key strategy when planning for tax benefits.

You can look at the bottom half of the first page of 1040 to get ideas on how.


These are the tax deferred retirement accounts, savings accounts, and such.



For deductions, you can choose standard deductions, or itemized deductions.

Standard deductions is a fixed amount, $12,400 for married filing jointly for 2014.

To itemize your deductions, you will need to file a Schedule A.

You can itemize various expenses, taxes, mortgage interest, donations, etc.

For personal exemptions, in 2014 you get $3,950 per person.



Tax credits are fun.

You get the amount regardless of your tax bracket.

Refundable credits, you get even if you don't owe any taxes!



Next year, I'm planning on having income from Bitcoin mining, so there should be some capital gains involved.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

MultiPoolX (仮想通貨発掘)

まずはこれを読んで下さい

[重要更新] MultiPoolXはもう運営停止したみたいです!!でもbitcoinが最近高騰しているのでちょっと勉強するのはいいかも。仮想通貨発掘がもう割に合わない理由を知っておこう。

MultiPoolXで仮想通貨の発掘を始めました。

Michael X (Michael Taggart)とMark Lyfordが運用するプログラムです.




ビットコインに代表される仮想通貨の「発掘」はコンピュータの計算によって行われます。

分散コンピューティングに似ていますね。

例えば、タンパク質のフォールディングを解明するために世界中のパソコンが少しずつ計算しています。

計算能力の対価として、通貨の1ロットを「発掘」できます。



MultiPoolXはこの発掘の代行サービスです。

ハードやソフトをすべてやってくれます。

発掘の30%はMultiPoolXの取り分となり、毎日ビットコインで支払いされます。

(ウェブセミナーではいろいろなオプションを説明してくれています。)

この口座から直接使用できるクレジットカードも発行してくれます。



まずは$1300 SHA 1Thのプランから始めたいと思います。

最大リスクは$1300です。(詐欺であったり、仮想通貨が違法になったりした場合)

そうなったとしても、日常生活には影響は一切ありません。(不機嫌になる以外は、、、(笑))

(今のうちにもう一度、自己責任について読んで下さい。)



僕の作戦は、初期投資の$1300を発掘できた時点でビットコインを換金します。

これでリスクは全てなくなります。

次の$1300でSHAを追加し、次の$1650でSCRYPTを追加します。

それ以降はSHAとSCRYPTを交互に再投資し、支払はビットコインと発掘通貨を50/50に設定します。

出口戦略は、一年で再投資額を稼げなくなったらやめます。

ビットコインのまま持っておくか、換金します。




まず、$500で契約を確保します。



サイトがChromeでは表示できないので、Firefoxで続けます。




HelloSignで契約に署名します。


メールアドレスを入力して、


確認メールを待ちます。


契約を見ます。


内容を読んで、


署名するにはここをクリック。


そのまま、マウスでサインできます。

技術の進歩はすごいね!(笑)


署名を保存して契約に合意します。


できました。




契約の続きです。


プランを選びます。

上記のとおり、$1,300のSHA-256 1 Thで行きます。


差額を送金します。サポートに連絡すればビットコインでも払えます。




送金ができましたら、確認フォームを入力します。


これで準備万端です。





入金が確認できたら、ログイン情報が送られてくるそうです。

現在、サーバーの準備に手間取っていると連絡が来ました。




新しい情報が入りましたらこの投稿を更新します。



[2015/2/21 更新]

入金が確認され、2/3から発掘を始めました。



発掘サーバーの管理にはBanxPoolを使用します。

送られたログイン情報で入ります。


ちなみに、PINを送ってこなかったので、まず最初にパスワードと共にリセットしました。


左上に現在のサーバーの状況が表示されます。


Accountsによりますと、2/9時点で0.02383682 BTC発掘されたのを確認できます。


Statisticsで各通貨ごとの詳細が表示されます。




発掘した通貨を受け取るには、Cryptsyを使用します。


CryptsyのTrade KeyとMultipoolのPINを入力して保存します。


Cryptsy Integration LevelをFull Autoにすれば、後は何もしなくても大丈夫です。


Cryptsyからのインポートはタイムアウトしてうまくできませんでした。



夜間バッチか何かで受け取りキーが全部セットされました。




Balancesでサーバー上に保管されている通貨が表示されます。


毎日支払を受け取るには、Daily Payをチェックして保存します。

各通貨でやらないといけないです、、、


僕はBitcoinだけCoinbaseに送ります。





送金されたらRecent Withdrawalsに表示されます。


送金が確認されると、メールも送信されます。




FAQにも情報が載っています。

Saturday, January 17, 2015

MultiPoolX

Please read the disclaimer first.

[IMPORTANT UPDATE] MultiPoolX is no longer operating.  But there is a recent surge in bitcoin, you may want to check out the technology.  Learn why mining crypto-currencies are no longer profitable.

I'm starting cryptocurrency mining with MultiPoolX.

It looks like this is run by Michael X (Michael Taggart) and Mark Lyford.




Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, are "mined" by doing complicated computations.

This is akin to distributed computing, like calculating protein folding by sending bits of tasks to lots of computers around the world.

In return for you computing power, you are rewarded, or "mine", one lot of the currency.



MultiPoolX is a service that does this mining for you, so you don't have to deal with getting hardware, setting stuff up, etc.

They take a 30% margin, and pays out daily with Bitcoin.

(There are other options mentioned in the webinar.)

They also issue a credit card that you can use to withdraw by spending directly from your account.



I'm starting out with the $1300 SHA 1Th plan.

The maximum risk is $1300, if this is a scam, or cryptocurrencies get outlawed, cease to exist, etc.

Even if that happens, my normal life is not affected, other than maybe I will feel very depressed.  :)

(Now is a good time to read the disclaimer again.)



My plan is to cash out my Bitcoins once the initial investment of $1300 is reached.

This will make the remaining profits risk-free.

I will reinvest the next $1300 to another SHA contract, and the next $1650 to a SCRYPT contract.

After that, I will continue reinvesting SHA, then SCRYPT, and so on, and set them up as 50/50 Bitcoin/mined currency.

The exit strategy will be when a contract is unable to produce the reinvesting amount in one year.

I will stop reinvesting, and cash (or Bitcoin) out.



Here's how to start.

First, pay the $500 deposit to secure the contract.


The page doesn't work in Chrome, so I switched to Firefox.




Sign the contract with HelloSign.


Enter e-mail.


Wait for the verification e-mail.


Review document.


Read the contract.


Click to sign.


You can just use your mouse to draw it in.

Technology is pretty cool.  :)


Save and Insert Signature, and agree to the contract.


Done!




Continue to complete your order.


Pick a plan.

As stated above, I am going with the SHA-256 1 Th for $1,300.


The balance needs to be wired, or you can contact support to pay by Bitcoin.




Once wired, enter the confirmation form.


And I'm all set.




Once confirmed, they will send you login information.

As this point in time, I haven't received mine yet.

I'm not sure if 48 business hours means 2 business days or 6 business days of 8 hours each.

I'll send support an e-mail, and keep updating this post as work progresses.



[Update 1/21/15]

As it turns out, they have not yet received confirmation on my wire.

In a separate e-mail, they announced that they ran out of hashing power with their current servers, and are obtaining new hardware to handle the increase in demand.


They are offering Banx Shares to compensate for the time.



[Update 2/14/15]

They confirmed my wire, and I have started mining on 2/3/15.



BanxPool is the facade to the mining servers.

Log in using the information they have sent you.


FYI, they didn't send me my PIN, so the first thing I did was reset my password and PIN.


The upper-left box shows your current activity.


In the Accounts tab, I see that I have mined 0.02383682 BTC as of 2/9.



The details are broken down per currency in the statistics page.




To receive the mined currencies, they recommend using Cryptsy.



Enter your Cryptsy Trade Key, Multipool PIN, and save.


I set my Cryptsy Integration Level to "Full Auto".


But I couldn't get the import to work online.



I think a batch runs overnight, and all the keys were set next morning.  :)




The "Balances" section shows how much of the mined currencies are in your server.


To get a daily payout, check "Daily Pay" and Save.

You have to do this for each currency.


I'm going to send the Bitcoins to my Coinbase account.





Anything transferred will be shown in the "Recent Withdrawals" section.


You will also get e-mails when the transfer is confirmed.