Bitcoin Forum

Reposting a pretty cool post I saw on another forum, hope this is okay with the author:

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Hello All,

   A group of bitcoin true believers, led by foundation member Nick Spanos, is opening a Bitcoin Center on 40 Broad Street in Lower Manhattan. The goal is to have a location in which interested people can come to be educated and integrated into the Bitcoin economy.

The location assures it will get plenty of attention and this could be a huge boon for bitcoin in 2014.

We are having a grand opening new years eve party at the location and all are invited.

http://www.bitcoinnewyearseve.com/

Please Come Out, This is Big!

This is fantastic.

It was literally two weeks ago that we were discussing doing exactly this in a smaller, more boutique form deployable in certain fashionable New York and San Francisco neighborhoods... Which is probably still a good idea, by the way!

So what was the big announcement?

 ;D and it exchange USD to BTC ...?
because the speak is one thing ... and use the BTC is an other.

At .03 BTC donation for the party it must have been off the hook. Any idea how many were there?

so its in the Setai, mixed residential and office space, must be located in the lobby

one of the penthouses sold for 8 million in 2008  that's a lot of coin

http://www.condopedia.com/wiki/Setai

Frankly yes it is a very cool information that people like Nick are contributing extensively to promote the bitcoins. I wish he succeed in his mission of popularizing the bitcoins and for sure I will visit the place when I have my visit in New York. Probably in February I have to go to New York so will see it with my naked eyes

This kind of news is so great, it really highlights why Bitcoin is destined to crush all other payment methods.  Nothing else has this level of enthusiasm behind it.

Can you imagine any unpaid volunteers donating time and money to create a PayPal Center, a Visa Center, a Dwolla Center, or even a Federal Reserve Note center?

We have relentless in-your-face persistence and martyrs on our side.  The other teams have nothing but mercenaries and traitors.  There is only one possible outcome.

Agreed, would like to know

yep, very true.

i wish the best for that project!

and what was the big announcement :) ?

40 Broad St is a building of condos, not a business address. There's an art gallery/event space there, so that's probably where they held the party.

Any details on the 'big announcement'?

I did see that some bigwig hedge fund guy is opening a BTC fund.  It is becoming mainstream but I think it's just taking a while. 

This is pretty cool I wish them success with their center.

I wonder though what is their business model, how will they make enough money to cover the insane wallstreet rents and then some  ???

It looks like the big announcement wasn't the Fortress thing but the keynote congressman speaker who is running for senator in Texas accepting BTC for donations, and promising to introduce a bill to keep Bitcoin regulation-free in the USA.

A 3:30 video of Rep. Stockman and Nick Spanos of Bitcoin Center NYC talking about their opinions on Bitcoin has been been published on Youtube in connection with the upcoming documentary Invisible Money:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZlB6gS7qHU

Invisible Money Documentary blog:
http://invisiblemoneydocumentary.wordpress.com/

Full Disclosure: I'm producing this documentary along with director Chris Cannucciari.

okay, "nice"   ;)

but the fortness news was better (and bigger)  ;D

thanks for the video.

ok why is Nick Spanos qualified for this?

doing something like this could mean two things:

1) people are getting together and organizing

2) someone is trying to buy out the community


which one is it?

no reason to naively cheer on obvious press releases.

I just found this thread, and I was excited about this when I read about it, but now to find out that it is using the "foundation" name to either sound legit or to be a local chapter disappoints me. As a New Yorker who lives near this area and would have loved to spend a couple days a week in their learning, teaching and just working on new bitcoin stuff. I would have also donated my skills, time and money. The foundation is a horrible organization that just wants to hire scammers to lead it's anti-openness of information, so to be allow myself to be affiliated with such corruption, I just can't. This is a real shame, and I am probably more upset about this. I really hope this place would consider not using the foundation name to promote, or even work alongside it.

Before you write this off, as a troll or something of that sort, remember I been here for over a year, been in bitcoins over 2yrs, I know what I am talking about, and I would have loved to help in anyway.

Get news, I just hope they can do this in every countries. Then a lot more people will use bitcoin.

Didn't the FTC (or someone) come out and say fairly recently that political donations via Bitcoins were illegal? 

On a personal note I think its great if are legal and this gets some traction in Congress!

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) the agency that rules on these issues was actually deadlocked on their last vote.  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/11/21/fec-deadlocks-for-now-on-whether-political-committees-can-accept-bitcoin/

just keep in mind, some of the people who are acting as 'community leaders' are taking payola and bribes from various VC interests and the like, while pretending to be about the 'average bitcoin user'.  You have to be super careful about what it is these people are promoting.  The values are very subtle and hard to interpret.

Just because someone says, 'were opening up a bitcoin center' don't assume someone is doing it for YOUR good.  One of the bitcoin meetup people actually was selling spots on the meetup for few hundred dollars, in other words you show up to the meeting and sit through an hour long advertisement that someone paid $250 for, but it's a secret.  All these things are just turning into cheap promotions outlets and dull commercialized information.  We have Gala Bitcoin events now?  who are they kidding?  Coindesk is clearly another commercialized mouthpiece.

The big boys want to own bitcoin, and this is generally how they do it.

FTC, FEC, same thing. ;) 

Ok, so if they are deadlocked at of Nov, doesn't that assume the answer is no until they review the issue again, hopefully at some point??

I'm sure they are taking the same approach as every one is, which is : "Wait and See"

The may meet again and discuss it and come to a different decision. 

By the way. Here is the original request.  Its a pretty good paper. You should read it.
http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/dbcs/pages/128/attachments/original/1377266530/2013-08-21_Innovation_PAC_AOR_(1).pdf?1377266530

Then the bitcoin foundation also wrote a letter in support of this.
https://bitcoinfoundation.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Bitcoin-Foundation-FEC-filing-CAF-Advisory-Opinion.pdf

In fact anyone could write to them to tell they why they thing this should or should not be a good idea.

imagine that one of the presumed 'leaders' of these meetups lives in his parents basement and is likely to do just about anything if some VC throws him a few hundred bucks.  Maybe he's already demonstrated his willingness to do just that.

don't you think this person would be considered untrustworthy?

Very nice. Good work!

True, you got a point there!

You talking about Jonathan  ??

Its a great feeling. It actually gives me faith in humanity.

why does that description fit Jonathan?

if he is taking payments, he should make that clear to the public.

OK, basic questions:

It's January 4th. Did this "Bitcoin Center" actually open? Exactly where is it? What happens there? Pictures?

I have no idea.  You seem to be making cryptic accusations.  Just asking for clarity in your statements.   

http://www.bitcoinnewyearseve.com/