Bitcoin Forum

I was going through a drive through behind a nice car with a tag that mentioned the guy went to law school. When it was time to pay he flipped the card to the guy in a way that was if to say "I have the super platinum high roller card". He was obviously impressed by himself and his fancy credit card.

This would actually be a good way to get things rolling if it could catch on. Make paying with Bitcoin something reserved for the elite such as having an American Express black card.

Then when you pay with Bitcoin and someone sees it they will have the obvious question of "what is this Bitcoin thing and how do I get my hands on some?"


One way to push this would be to have a Bitcoin company that buys some of the most exclusive things (front row concert tickets, high end tech, penthouse suites, etc...) then have them only available for purchase with Bitcoins.

you're a marketing genius.

A marketing genius who's gonna be broke after spending millions on depreciating items then cutting out 99% of the market.

Going the wrong direction with this I think. Bitcoin has always been more of the 99% currency, not the other way around.  On the other hand, nobody says we can't try for both.  

The rich already have their swiss bank accounts, tax consultancy services, good investment opportunities etc. Bitcoin offers nothing for them.

That's what I was thinking just prior to getting to your last three words, BB. For shits and giggles, perhaps somebody could photoshop a Bitcoin Escape^® card.

No problem! Bitcoin Escape^® would be for any 99%ers who want to emulate the 1%ers.

Swiss bank accounts aren't as useful as they used to be.

Bitcoin has qualities that could appeal to those with a lot of money to protect.

The same Switzerland which now shares account information with the United States IRS?

The Swiss bank of today isn't the Swiss bank of James Bond movies.

Unfortunately OP might be right.  Rich people love clubs and perks.  The more it resembles a ponzi scheme, the more they love it.  GroupOn IPO FTW!  Put a pyramid in your logo and you should be golden.

Easiest way to effect this is to get JayZ to rap about it.  B to the izzit.  Iss ya boy!

As far as good investment opportunities go, the "rich" care more about preservation of capital than about explosive growth. Thus, if the Bitcoin price stabilizes or grows steadily against USD, and if USD experiences moderate to heavy inflation, then Bitcoin might look very good.

This is assuming that the exchanges / OTC markets can handle a large influx of capital -- on the order of ~$1B.

Right now on MtGox, if I were to spend $1M, I would buy up the order book from 6.75 all the way to ~$15, leaving a potential gap straight back down to 6.75 (and an instant loss of ~50% of my value).

Contrast this with the foreign exchange markets that handle $ trillions per day and rarely move more than 1% per day.

So I guess my bottom line point is that once there is larger money on both sides of the book, BTC will look good to large-scale investors.

Actually, Bitcoin is much better tuned for the 'rich and elite' (or at least this is a philosophy that I am exploring.)

Compared to the plebs, the 1% have more options for moving money into the economy and more wealth to use and protect.  Although the 1% have access to more capable banking options and passive, if not active, support from state justice and enforcement organs, Bitcoin provides an extra level of transfer capabilities and is less likely at the system level to be upset by the caprice of quasi-democratic rule.

The plebs are almost completely dispensable from the system at this point.  Fewer and fewer plebs run clients, and as time goes by, even fewer will even have the capability.  The system can operate with a (relatively) few technocrats operating some gear and throwing some miners a bone or two from time to time.

There is still a place for the plebs to generate some momentum and watch TV shows and such, but only enough are needed on an ongoing basis to ensure that the  system cannot operate without specialized resources (specifically bandwidth.)

I wonder if some family offices (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_office) or the personal kidnap insurance providers/negotiators have started to build up $M floats as yet for just such an eventuality of needing 1 $M of BTC on hand in a big hurry

Hey rich dude who is doing all this work to hide money...

Buy this untraceable asset. You can even use it to buy and sell things among your friends to avoid tax events. Sell them that company at a loss for $1000 dollars, and have them give you 1M BTC on the side for it, then buy that yacht in btc, and pay the guy in BTC to avoid taxes. Have a congressmen to buy off? Don't bother with an envelope of cash, give him the slip from a fortune cookie, and let him know that the hash of it is a private key that will set him up for life. Then pay your corrupt tax attorney in BTC so he doesn't have to claim it either. Worried about storing all of your money in some off shore account. No worries, you can keep it in a thumb drive. Or better yet, a deterministic wallet seeded with the name of your favorite race horse. Watch the IRS try to seize that. Need to get some coke to keep the party going at your mansion... yeah that was the first thing we took care of (after the alpaca socks and the coffee)

Bitcoin, for people that know that fiat is for plebs.

all ^ lols

pictures billionaire sporting alpaca socks & stirring a tea spoon full of coke in to their coffee next to a large pile of BTC 1,000 gold Casascius coins

lol yes, though whoever sold him his SR coke sent him rather different sugary looking crystals or looks like they stepped heavily on it with sugar at least

I saw that, too, when I posted that image, but figured we could just use are imaginations.

Obviously he is in the cold visiting his mining operations which consist of a warehouse of servers in Alaska cooled by a glacial run off.

The richest and most elite don't deal with money themselves. They have people for that. When they go places everything is usually bought for them or else they wouldn't deign to show up. They are beyond needing to show off.  Power and control is more important...  sure money is a part of achieving that but they have 'been there done that' and not something they have much to do with directly anymore. 

Those you are thinking of, no doubt, the ones you want to target, are the rich and elite wanna-be's... 
the upper middle class mostly. Those who care a lot about money and want to use it to show that they are
among the best of the best.   

 8)

Bitcoin represents an alternative asset that can act as money and is virtually untraceable. If a number of wealthy individuals used bitcoins for their own large transactions they could avoid taxes (not legally,  but still they could hide money) and that makes bitcoins very appealing as a financial instrument.

Keep in mind, most rich people don't have a lot of money. They have a lot of wealth, and wealth can be in many forms. Managing wealth and transferring it between instruments is critical. And sloppiness could result in taxes.

Perhaps appealing to accountants of the rich is even better than targeting the rich, but I think it is naive to think that the rich don't care about managing their own money. You don't get there without knowing how to manage your wealth, and just handing the reigns over to someone to do it all for you is not an option. You get an account to as an adviser and person who fills in your paper work for you, but you still have to know the gist of the game.

Lol well said.

Therefore, from a taxpayer's standpoint, it's better to receive Bitcoin than to spend the same. Receive BTC, but don't claim it, and spend converted BTC to fiat for the tax write-off.

I didn't say they don't care at all but tried the make the point they don't care as much, as say someone whose life might actually change if they lost or gained a lot of money. I am talking about those who have already 'gotten there' and don't have to bother with the small matters of money management etc. 

Warren Buffet was mentioned as admitting to not paying much in taxes... he also admitted he wouldn't mind paying a lot more taxes... he also pledged most of his wealth to the Bill Gates foundation. It seems not uncommon that when you start getting into elite ultra rich levels you are more concerned with how to give it away than with how to make and keep more of it... and if you get your name on a hospital or some other big building who cares if a few or more coins fall through the cracks. I have read stats from people who study these kinda things which bear these opinions out but I don't really care that much to try and dig it up just to try and win an argument here.  I think it is naive to think that bitcoin would have very much interest to the richest and most elite...  but feel free to go and try and convert all your ultra rich buddies. Let us know how well you do.    :D

Like someone else has expressed, I just think that there are better groups to target.

Which brings us back to the average Joe: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6230194.stm