Bitcoin Forum

http://lfb.org/blog/my-new-bitcoin-life/

Miseans are seeing the light, glad to see Tucker on board.  He made a post on Facebook about his BTC purchase which was well received, and Kinsella also commented that he was about to buy his first BTC as well!

Tucker just posted a photo with Charlie Shrem.

And this just in from Tom Woods:
Having a great time so far at the New Hampshire Liberty Forum. I'm having lunch with some Bitcoin guys tomorrow, so for all you folks who have urged me to look into this, I am doing it!

Awesome

I called up the Peter Schiff Show a couple of weeks ago and made a Bitcoin pitch.
He's still not convinced. Maybe others here can call his show and try to get him on board.

Finally, it's happening!

I actually had a 10 minute discussion with Peter Schiff today about Bitcoin and he asked some really good and penetrating questions. After he had finished an interview and while we had the camera ready, I offered to do a Q&A with him about Bitcoin. He dodged it and responded, "I don't want you to make me look like a fool."

So, perhaps later. I think he does not quite understand the technology part and that is a stumbling block for him. That is too bad because by the time he does understand it the wealth transfer will largely have happened.

One thing we do know; so far all indicators seem to point towards Bitcoin NOT going away. So ignoring, running and hiding from it will get increasingly more difficult to do without looking like a fool. And the longer one takes to get educated on the subject and actually produce some content about Bitcoin the more of a fool they will look in the future for being late to the wealth transfer party.

Peter Schiff is a pretty hardcore gold bug but I'm sure a practical demonstration would give him an idea of what Bitcoin is about, trouble is a lot of us won't understand the complex math behind Bitcoin so naturally it would seem a bit suspicious to most since they won't know how it works, it's a bit like how very few people trust the financial sector etc. because they've invented words for things to cover up what they actually do.

Most of us also don't know the chemical composition of gold ;D

I've been listening to Peter Schiff for years.  He, like all of the Austrian economists, clearly has a very thorough understanding of how prosperous a free-market economy would be with a monetary system based on gold.  From listening to what he says about Bitcoin on his radio show, I have to agree with you--that "he does not quite understand the technology part".  The Austrian school of economic thought was developed before the internet (and perhaps even digital computing) was conceived.  A lot of the Austrian economists haven't taken the time to challenge their assumptions and consider how open-source software, distributed computing, peer-to-peer networking, and digital cryptography can come together to not only replace gold to a certain extent, but improve upon it.  If they had a basic grasp of what these concepts bring to the table perhaps that would help them better understand that Bitcoin outperforms gold in the attributes that are required of money--scarcity, fungibility, divisibility, portability, etc.  Also, just because you are willing to accept that Bitcoin is money, doesn't mean that gold isn't.  Bitcoin isn't an all or nothing proposition.  You can still keep a portion of your wealth in gold as an insurance policy or safety net.

I was surprised at the lack of humility. He has the opportunity to do a Q&A with a Bitcoin expert that has an Austrian background and did not take it; not because it would have useless to the audience for his own pride. Robert Wenzel, who was initially skeptical of Bitcoin (for similar technology issues), did not have any problem doing a Q&A. I think Rothbard said it best.

I've been hoping Tucker would write something about bitcoin for awhile.  The link to the article made my day.


Two of my kids signed up for a class with the Mises Institute a few months back. I called and asked if they were going to mention bitcoin in the "What is Money" section.  I also mentioned that the boys had a little business and that a good portion of their transactions used bitcoin.  I told them that I hoped the class would address this new form of "money" and how it fits in with an increasingly digital world.