Bitcoin Forum

The pledge:
"I will spend at least 10 Bitcoins per month but only if 1,000 other people will do the same."

Sign up here:
http://www.pledgebank.com/bitcoin1000


Currently Bitcoins are not being used much for what they were originally intended for, which is as a currency to exchange goods and services.

It is time to change that with early Bitcoin pioneers willing to consistently spend at least 10 Bitcoins every month on whatever they like. This base spending level of 10,000 Bitcoins per month will ensure merchants that there is a market out there for their Bitcoin products and will spur further activity and growth in the Bitcoin market.



Sign the pledge and please let us know here that you have signed up.

until the price of bitcoin stays with in 10% per month, it wont be a viable currency.

Which will be helped by having 1000 people who consistently use it pushing the value based on their perception of what they are used to getting for their Bitcoins.

Letting the market control the price as opposed to the exchanges.

I like the idea of that pledge but I think you should change 2 things:
- specify a time frame (eg. for at least 1 year)
- account for big changes in price (eg. at least 10 BTC or 100 USD worth of BTC).

Otherwise it is difficult for anybody to fulfill the pledge.

I figured I would let people come up with their own routines. I once set myself up with a $100 per paycheck allowance of PayPal money. It was the setting up part that took the most effort. People will stick with it or not based on their own motivations.


If the price were to go up very high, then those who are in on the pledge would be in early and thus have some decent money to spend. Plus it might encourage people to get their 10 BTC for the month by selling things or offering a service.


It is just a pledge. Nobody will go to jail if they waver from the exact wording of the pledge, just as long as they are supporting the original intent.

If I had 10 BTC a month I'd spend it.  I have no plans to "sit" on any BTC I get as my hardware has now been paid off. 

I can't make this pledge as I don't think I can actually mine 10 BTC a month, but I'll do my best.

+1

I live in Japan so it's difficult for me to spend BTC.

Imagine going out into the street with a big wad of cash saying "I sure do wish I could spend this on something"...

Believe me, if you want to spend it, people will give you something to spend it on.

The language barrier makes that difficult, but I'll see if I can find a way to spend BTCs here and will sign the pledge if I do.

WOW! I didn't know that Japan doesn't have the internet.

You can always just give me the BTC and I can spend it.  It'll fulfill the pledge all the same :D

I'm waiting for the confirmation email. Once obtained, you'll see my pledge.

Until then, let me show you a picture of my pride and joy:

http://gnuhaus.com/iblog/pride_joy.jpg

So, went ahead and signed the pledge because I'll do my best to spend 10btc whenever I have 10btc. Though, the part the confuses me is the "only if 1000 people do the same." Eff that. I'm going to do it anyways.  I'm not going to help the community only if everyone else is.

I agree.  I have already spent more then 10 btc in august.  

I will continue to spend.  

I agree.

The 1000 people pledge gives incentive for other people to support it knowing that there will be other people supporting it and they will all have a magnified affect. Instead of just a few people "doing what they can".

We already do more then 10 a month so it's easy to pledge  8)

1000 people seems a bit much.  But I'll spend my 10 even without the pledge, especially if a local store here will accept them.

True, even 100 people would have a big impact compared to the amount of Bitcoin spending going on right now.

But I was figuring that I would be inundated by naysayers saying "10,000 Bitcoins is a drop in a bucket compared to 6 million Bitcoins in supply". 1 million Bitcoins being spent per month would be close to the currency of some small countries.

But if we can hit 1000 people. Then we could have a significant impact on spurring the growth of Bitcoin.

Ahem.

*points to sig*

 ;D

Good point on the "only if 1,000 people do the same" comment, otherwise you have something like what this JO did: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=34016.msg434059#msg434059

The 1,000 part is twofold. One is so that people sign up knowing that they are not in this alone. The other is because with more people using Bitcoins for purchases, the more prices will stabilize. If you just try to spend 10 Bitcoin on your own and find that the fluctuations are too much, then you might get discouraged and you will be more likely to not continue. But if enough people do it all at the same time, then prices will become more stable and it will grow as a currency from there.

I encourage people to spend on goods with or without the pledge, but I think 1000 people could make an impact. There are 500 people logged into this forum right now. We should be able to get 1000 people to actually do what Bitcoin is intended to do.

sounds too negative, to me. ~I pledge this if, and only if, that.

Why not, "I pledge to spend at least 10 Bitcoins per month."--without the quantifier? I like the gist of your idea, BTW.

Part of your 10BTC/mo. would be well spent here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=34962.0

;)

For those looking at the price of Bitcoins going up for this pledge...just think about what that would mean. It would mean that it is becoming a viable currency if the price is going up. Which would mean that you can use it in more places.

If Bitcoin were to go up to $100/BTC I would not be spending $1000 per month on online goods in addition to my regular spending. I would be going to my local grocery store owner to encourage them to accept Bitcoins. If they do not accept them I would go to local farmers or food collectives. I would find an alternative to the big chains that do not accept Bitcoins. I would talk to local restaurant and bar owners that I frequent and explain Bitcoins to them, tell them that I have 10 BTC to spend per month and that it would benefit them to accept them. I would talk get the word out to mechanics about Bitcoin if my car needs serviced, and go to the one that accepts Bitcoins.

The pledge puts you in the driver seat for Bitcoin. For all of us.

i would do that, but i don't have a 10btc/month income. i don't think i can reach 1btc/month. but i want to help the economy grow.

what do?

The bitcoin economy is doing better than people give it credit for

http://bitcoinwatch.com/

Economy

Total BTC   7,011,500 BTC

Market Cap
based on latest prices
63,102,028 USD
or 57,494,300 EUR
or 174,305,890 PLN
or 41,984,862 GBP
or 60,188 ounces of gold

Transactions
last 24h
8,147

Transactions
avg. per hour
339.46

Bitcoins sent
last 24h
2,653,627.27 BTC  <---- !!!!!

Bitcoins sent
avg. per hour
110,567.80 BTC

You make less than $1200 per year? Do you live in Haiti?

i dont make 10btcs/month. BTCs. also im a student.

No better way to spend bitcoins than to buy physical bitcoin coins to help spread the bitcion message to the world.

http://Coinedbits.com (http://Coinedbits.com)

Interesting idea, though I'm not sure why 1000 other people need to agree to make people want to encourage their use as a currency. 

Even for people holding Bitcoins as an investment, it makes sense to spend some of your coins.  First, if you have a bunch, you can't sell them all without crashing the market.  Second, if they don't take off as an actual currency, your "investment" will be absolutely worthless.  The only possible value Bitcoins have is as a currency.  If everyone just holds, we all end up with nothing. 

Bitcoins are a great currency system.  Let's use it as one. 

(Of course I do have a suggestion as to where to spend some: http://bitcoinharbor.com (http://bitcoinharbor.com))