Bitcoin Forum

I'm all for competition but somehow I'm not as comfortable with the ideas behind the Ven as I am with the bitcoin.

It seems to be gaining some traction in the press and I'm wondering if somehow it will become more popular than the bitcoin?

http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=22475

Just another currency to trade bitcoin with. That's how I see it.

Does it have a central point of existence?

If so, no.

EDIT:

"Hub Culture is a social network service that operates the global digital currency Ven..."

So, once Hub Culture is gone, it's worthless. Heh.

"The value of Ven is determined on the financial markets from a basket of currencies, commodities and carbon futures. "
It's really a way of naming something pegged to a few different things. Bitcoin exists on it's own! Don't worry, Bitcoin isn't going to be hurt by "Ven".

I think there might be a lot to learn from it in terms of user experience, but not sure why this would take off.

Their alexa ranking is nothing. (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/vencurrency.com) They are hardly used by anyone.

Our alexa ranking is rocking however (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/bitcoin.org), all the more reason to join bitcoin! To increase our alexa ranking, please download the alexa toolbar now!!! (http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5469.0)

Our strength is that we are distributed and open. So far there has been a strong culture of cooperation between bitcoiners. While ven are backed by a commodity and will likely prove to be strong currency in their own right because of it, they are still controlled by a central corporation. In fact, their commodity backing and their stated goals are the only things that separate them from, say, Facebook Credits or World of Warcraft gold.

Now their goals and their backing are not things to be scoffed at, nor is their user-friendliness or the efficiency their creators enjoy as a monolithic, centrally controlled entity. These are things that could lead to their success. But they are no more a threat than, say, e-gold or Liberty Reserve. This is not yet a zero-sum game. In fact, I can think of nothing in history to suggest it ever will be.

One of the strengths we have as a community, I would say our greatest strength, is the openness and diversity of our efforts, and the cooperation that exists between those efforts. We ought to continue that spirit of cooperation as long as possible, putting the needs of the community and the needs of our yet-fledgling currency ahead of our personal interests. As long as we do this, the decentralized spirit of our decentralized currency will remain strong.

So it seems like the ven more like a financial product offering rather than a pure currency. I'm not sure though that bitcoin's distributed setup makes it any more popular necessarily however more sensible it may be.

In any case I think press coverage of any virtual currencies will help bitcoin in the end.

Both Bitcoin and Ven are so small in terms of market capitalization, that they have a lot of space to expand into before coming into direct competition with each other.

If it was worthwhile someone would already be selling it for bitcoins - like linden dollars are sold for bitcoins.

No one is selling facebook credits for bitcoins either. Maybe that says something.

i think it's calling us nerds

Lol, it's surprisingly accurate I would bet.

Once I read basket I knew it was a joke.  Just look at all the problems the bimetal silver/gold exchange had.