Bitcoin Forum

http://www.zdnet.com/bitcoin-2013-conference-the-future-of-money-7000015685/ (http://www.zdnet.com/bitcoin-2013-conference-the-future-of-money-7000015685/)

Short but positive take from the conference, almost all bullet points.

The bulk of the piece is very refreshing: Reporter attends conference, understands much of what he hears and sees, makes succinct notes and shares them. Who knew contemporary reporters could do that?

For my taste he spoiled it a bit with his unsupported "people are laughing" opening snipe and his unsupported "All we can be sure of is that crypto-currencies will look very different in 5 years" closing remark. Both may be true but he offered no evidence for either.

I also sensed he was unconsciously America-centric as he tried to fit BTC into his understanding of the world. Easy to do, especially for an American "data storage analyst" reporter attending an American conference and reporting on global currency developments. Possibly dangerous in terms of making accurate predictions though.

Good piece, all in all.

A strongly USA-centric viewpoint was prevalent just about everywhere and in all presentations, with very few exceptions.  The underlying assumption was that US business interests are paramount, and should have the strongest say in Bitcoin's evolution.  Which was unfortunate given that Bitcoin's virtues are much more evident and necessary to people living in 3rd world countries than to John Doe in Kansas, who is already subsidized by the world's reserve currency and has widespread access to relatively cheap transmission mechanisms like credit cards and PayPal.

Anyway, China keeps topping the list of number of downloaded clients, and Russia is not far behind.  It will be interesting to see what happens when those countries start demanding a more proportional say in Bitcoin's future.

I'm looking forward to what happens when a foreign country starts to use Bitcoin as a policy tool. Backing bitcoin, or enabling trade using BTC could end up being a "big stick" when it comes to trade relationships.

Just from China's perspective and I'm sure, everyone else.