The payout went smoothly with the new block. I notice it seems less 'spendable', having 26 confirmations already but needing 94 more blocks, than BTC earned elsewhere. Also the clear demarcation of 'Mined'. I wonder if this will prove a problem with that obscure rule that mined bitcoins make one an international money transfer agent if one tries to use it for anything but barter. Bitcoins mined on another pool have not that demarcation.
But the question I wish to ask, is the minimum payout stat changeable on the configuration page? I have Bitcoin-QT on another machine than the one having the cookie storing the receive address. I generated the signed message which included in the encrypted string a lowering of the minimum payout trigger to 0.1000btc but it didn't take. After the initial payout since the signed message configuration change I expected the payout to be lowered but it was not. Is the minimum not changeable below what is dictated by the value equation used by Eligius staff?
A standard bitcoin transaction is spendable after only one confirmation, and fully confirmed after 6 confirmations. When a new block is mined, the coinbase transaction that gives the 25 BTC + transaction fees requires 120 confirmations before it is spendable.
Most pools send the output of the coinbase transaction to a pool-owned address, then pay you in a separate normal transaction. It will appear in your wallet as 'unconfirmed' until one more block is mined (the confirmation). Eligius (and also P2pool) pay miners directly from the coinbase transaction. That's why the transaction shows up a a 'mined' transaction which shows up as 'immature', and takes 120 confirmations to mature.
You can set you minimum payout to anything >= 0.01 BTC. If it didn't work, it probably means that the signature failed. It should tell you whether if it passed or failed a few lines up toward the top of the page.
Again I misunderstand verifying messages. When verifying, it doesn't decode and present the message, one needs to put coding address, the exact message, and the signature then if it is accurate it will say Message verified. Which it just did.
If your minimum payout didn't change, I would try submitting a new set of settings with a new signed message and ensure that it gives you the message at the top afterwards telling you that the signatures passed.
As for the 120 confirmations required for mined coins, I'll note that other pools pay the coins to their own wallet first, wait the 120 confirmations, *then* send you the coins at some point after this making you wait for more confirmations. Eligius's method is superior, in my opinion, as you can a) spend the coins immediately upon full confirmation, and b) the pool doesn't "touch" your coins and you don't risk losing them to any pool-side issue in the mean time. For example, if Eligius is hacked, there are no miner coins available to be stolen, since the coins are already paid directly from the blocks to the miners.
-wk
Edit: I just noticed the later post where you had already gotten the settings to work.
