Bitcoin Forum

Having been one of the early users of e-gold and watching that not catch on like we hoped, I have surveyed e-currencies since.  In the past few years, I became disillusioned as nothing worthy seemed to appear.  To my happy surprise, today I learned of Bitcoin and am excited about its future.  E-gold has some value and use still, but my outlook is long term.  So my question to the community is, what percentage of e-gold versus bitcoin do you feel is prudent at this stage in the game?  And further, I'd like to convert about $25 of my e-gold into Bitcoin, so does anyone have a recommended service to conduct the e-gold to Bitcoin transaction?  Or, if any of you want gold that would save me a fee. 

And a third and final question I have is, since I feel happy to be among fellow geeks and prefer to work within a community of people both willing and able to make intellectual improvements in this world outside of government control and corporate greed, I have some educational and industrial improvement projects to launch which can be greatly assisted by a community like many of you on this forum.  So although I realize I should not go into such projects here on the newbie forum, I invite those of you with Mac or PC application development, graphics animation, and website coding skills, and others with mathematics backgrounds, to PM me with some basics for now about your proficiencies. 

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to your answers.
-IO

With all due respect, we know nothing about you.  Tech skills are at a premium here - the Bitcoin project is looking for more technical help, not people to come whisk our technical resources away.  Those with real talent aren't here looking for new employers.  Thrill us with a brilliant idea worth working on that will advance the interests of the Bitcoin project, and we'll consider it.

Ok I'm sorry. :(  My assumption was that not all of the plethora of users on here were actively involved in Bitcoin programming, and that a peripheral person or two may want to help.  I certainly was not looking to "whisk away" your resources!  Sorry I tripped on a nerve; nevermind.  :( 

and

UPDATE:  Re: e-gold, I can no longer access my account anyway since I no longer have the old email address with which I set up that account (e-gold is asking for a PIN it just sent there).  So... lesson learned.  Any new currency that ties to gold, silver, or a paper currency, can and will be attacked by governments.  Bitcoin wins... again.  This really is an economic game-changer!

Having just perused a few Bitcoin market makers like MtGox, I am concerned that companies which start and engage in trading Bitcoins for fiat currencies, may thereby fall under commerce regulations which would allow governments (like the U.S.) to attack citizens in order to publicly smear this bastion of economic freedom called Bitcoin.  Your experience being greater than mine in this new realm, what are your educated guesses or knowledge regarding this concern and how it is being (or may soon be) overcome? 

Exchanges are currently the weak links (for legal and other practical reasons) and will remain so until the Bitcoin system is large enough to function as its own economy without major support of capital flows from other (traditional) economies.

Overall, the primary obstacle to Bitcoin's continuation is awareness (leading to growth) - technical issues and hurdles are manageable or surmountable. System D (estimated to be a ~USD$10 trillion unofficial economy, behind only the US ~$14 trillion economy) is a very strong potential arena for Bitcoin's rise to a general monetary tool.

A very possible scenario is one in which Bitcoin (or a Bitcoin-like system) will eventually be used by the majority of the world (beginning with less recognized regions and societies), leaving heavily government-controlled economies isolated. That isolation would make it difficult for most traditional nation-states to thrive. In addition, any method of moving wealth from a restrictive economy to an open Bitcoin economy would be a mostly one-way affair - capital will not return to a hostile environment.

This is a process, not an instantaneous event. It might still occur rapidly, maybe over a period of several years. Established governments and forms of authority simply have no means of stifling Bitcoin or similar systems without either reinventing their socio-economic structures to become more like Bitcoin, or exhausting themselves through excessive expenditures to fight it directly and ultimately failing entirely.