If I wanted to create my own altcoin, what is the easiest/fastest/cheapest way to do it?

If you're still worried about it, it's cryptographically possible to make a risk free trade.  The two parties would set up transactions on both sides such that when they both sign the transactions, the second signer's signature triggers the release of both.  The second signer can't release one without releasing the other.

Probably a bait to get more viewers and free press from everybody talking about this now.

Who knows, maybe this can be good for Bitcoin. As they say, any publicity is good. Even if it is bad publicity, it can still bring more attention to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.

- 35% chance it's Hal Finney. (Over time, I've moved more probability into this category.)

- 5% chance it's a group within the CIA

Eleven years ago today…
Eleven years ago today I had my last email exchange with Satoshi; here it is:

Subject: alert key
Satoshi Nakamoto satoshin@gmx.com
26 Apr 2011, 10:29

I wish you wouldn’t keep talking about me as a mysterious shadowy figure, the press just turns that into a pirate currency angle. Maybe
instead make it about the open source project and give more credit to your dev contributors; it helps motivate them.

I’ve moved on to other things and will probably be unavailable. Here’s the CAlert key and broadcast code in case you need it. You should probably give it to at least one or two other people. There are a few long time users who are always around all the time.

My reply:
On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 4:29 AM, Satoshi Nakamoto satoshin@gmx.com wrote:

I wish you wouldn’t keep talking about me as a mysterious shadowy figure, the press just turns that into a pirate currency angle. Maybe instead make it about the open source project and give more credit to your dev contributors; it helps motivate them.

You must’ve read the Forbes article… yeah, I’m not happy with the ‘wacky pirate money’ tone, either.

More credit for the rest of the contributors is a very good idea.

RE: forwarding the key/code: fricking fracking… now I’ve gotta figure out a couple of people who I can trust to keep them safe…

On a completely different subject: I did something that I hope turns out to be smart, but might be stupid.

I was contacted by http://www.iqt.org/ – they’re a US-govt-funded ‘strategic investment’ company, and part of what they do is holding an annual conference on emerging technologies for US intelligence agencies. This year the theme is “Mobility of Money”.

They asked if I’d be willing to talk about Bitcoin, and I committed to
giving a 50-minute presentation and participating in a panel
discussion.

I hope that by talking directly to “them” and, more importantly, listening to their questions/concerns, they will think of Bitcoin the way I do– as a just-plain-better, more efficient, less-subject-to-political-whims money. Not as an all-powerful black-market tool that will be used by anarchists to overthrow The System.

It might be really stupid if it just raises Bitcoin’s visibility on their radar, but I think it is way too late for that; Bitcoin is already on their radar.

I plan on posting about this on the forums soon, because “Gavin secretly visits the CIA” would spin all sorts of conspiracy theories. “Gavin openly visits the CIA” will create enough conspiracy theories as it is.

Not sure though but since its a documentary they might clip some old videos that could be helpful with their "show".