Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin's popularity is already exploding within the libertarian free state project.

The Free State Project is a group of 20,000 liberty lovers who are all moving to the freest state in the USA, New Hampshire.
They are all working together to make it even freer than it is today.

Some examples of Bitcoin taking off in NH are:

Free State Project home page:
http://freestateproject.org/getinvolved/donate.php (http://freestateproject.org/getinvolved/donate.php)

Free Keene news website:
http://freekeene.com/contribute/ (http://freekeene.com/contribute/)

Free Talk Live (based in NH)
http://www.freetalklive.com/bitcoin (http://www.freetalklive.com/bitcoin)

Education related podcast:
http://edu-lu-tion.com/support (http://edu-lu-tion.com/support)

NH based podcast on relationships
http://www.porctherapy.com/ (http://www.porctherapy.com/)

Liberty Radio Network
http://lrn.fm/ (http://lrn.fm/)

Mandrik (Greek food dessert)
http://mandrik.com/ (http://mandrik.com/)

Active facebook group with 74 Members
http://www.facebook.com/groups/195492163844669/ (http://www.facebook.com/groups/195492163844669/)

Mutual aid society
http://www.fr33aid.com/bitcoin/ (http://www.fr33aid.com/bitcoin/)

Anarcho-capitalist Flags
http://dailyanarchist.com/store (http://dailyanarchist.com/store)

And I am sure many more.

If you are aware of other NH based businesses accepting Bitcoin,  please post them below.

Nice! Just keep on building critical mass and even the non-libertarians will accept bitcoin.

Great!

Roger Im in the "friends of the free state project" because I cant get there in person. Free Talk Live bbs is where I first heard about bitcoin.

I also first heard about Bitcoins on freetalklive.com (http://freetalklive.com)

I lived in New Hampshire when I first heard about Bitcoin last may. I have recently moved to North Carolina.

Unfortunately, bitcoin has not reached a "critical mass" in that state. I knew of only a few people that had even heard of it, and they were all friends.

One day, just not today.

I was just thinking the other day where to go on vacation this year. New Hampshire is one of the few states I've yet to visit, along with Vermont and Maine. I'm now penning it on my calendar to coincide with the fall foliage. Thanks, Roger!

~Bruno~

Interesting

To paraphrase Leonard Cohen: First we'll take New Hampshire, then we'll take Berlin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvmt2TeI_2w (excellent cover by Jennifer Warnes)


~Bruno~

If you're planning on going to NH, Porcfest (http://porcfest.com/) is the best time to go! Basically, 2000 libertarians go camping, and do what libertarians do. :)

Roger is absolutely right that there is a lot of synergy between the FSP and Bitcoin. I had so many people come up to me last weekend, I couldn't count. Sold enough Bitcoin to them to give the local economy a little boost. The coolest part about that is that they're already using alternative currencies (see http://shiresilver.com/ (http://shiresilver.com/)) within NH. Bitcoin is an easy, logical step, and many free staters recognize that.

I'm a free stater living in New Hampshire and I only accept Bitcoin as payment for my anarchist flags.

http://dailyanarchist.com/store

um... something like this?

http://clclt.com/binary/7517/ALCOHOL-TOBACCO-FIREARMS.jpg

 ;D

most of those pages are for donations, which do nothing towards building an economy for bitcoin. the only thing you can actually buy is baklava. i think thats even better than alpaca socks  ;)
i dont really see a critical mass there.

Watching...

So, what you're saying is that New Hampshire is secretly going to change its motto to New Hampshire: The Donate Your Bitcoins to Me State?

This just in:

Every single organization in the world now accepts Bitcoin donations, well over 100 million of them.

No effect?

But yeah, early to call it 'critical'.

That's a good show.

I'm also a Free Stater living here in NH. I'll frame the OP differently - Bitcoin has no "critical mass" within NH as a state, but is very close to gaining critical mass within the FSP movement here. Relative to the global Bitcoin economy, even all FSP members using BTC would be a tiny effect on the market, but would certainly serve as a proof-of-concept, demonstrating the currency being used for in-person and local exchanges. I've already paid people here in Bitcoin for random things (I owed a guy money for hotel room, paid in BTC. Owed for dinner, paid in BTC. Etc).

Speaking of the Bitcoin <-> FSP relationship, the FSP is doing a donation drive today, and they accept Bitcoin! I encourage everyone to donate, and show them just how awesome Bitcoin is.

1rMuPu2e6gaYYraBzCGnPLkFWLQsrSjpH <- FSP address
http://freestateproject.org/donate (http://freestateproject.org/donate) <- official donation page
http://www.feedzebirds.com/c2uj7 (http://www.feedzebirds.com/c2uj7) <- promote the money bomb
http://www.facebook.com/events/266620543382029/ (http://www.facebook.com/events/266620543382029/) <- facebook event

great to hear!  ;D

Oh well,

I'm from the other side of this world, anyway just sent a little tip to show my appreciation for your efforts.

spiccioli.

what i wanted to say comes down to this:
you can live off donations but you can live off donating. even if every single organization accepting donations accepts them in bitcoin, even in bitcoin only, bitcoin is still not a viable currency. people only spend a little amount of their total money on donations and they have no incentive to convert any more money to bitcoin then they intend to donate. but if a wide variety of attractive products can be bought in bitcoin there is no upper limit to the amount of bitcoins you can hold with the intention of spending them. the shops are the chicken in the chicken/egg problem.

so in my opinion the easiest way to reach critical mass is to get a limited number of online shops with a very big potential customer base - i.e. selling stuff thats is usually sold online and shipping it to almost anywhere cheap - to accept bitcoin. for example computer hardware and electronics, games/movies/music, porn/downloads/gambling. as soon as you can create the feeling that you can hold bitcoins because you will spend them eventually its downhill from there.
donations, local restaurants etc. are imho mostly good for the marketing effect. even if new hampshire completely switched to bitcoin for everything but internet shops it wouldnt change a thing for the rest of the world. its very good advertisement and the price for a bitcoin would probably skyrocket but thats it. doesnt do a thing for a merchant in california who has no bitcoin customer base and nothing for the customers there either.

that being said good advertisement of course can be a game change by itself.

Good analysis, Roger. 

Anyone actually using bitcoin as a currency anywhere in the world should strengthen the economy shouldn't it?

Say we donate to the FSP.  The people in New Hampshire who got the donated coins are going to be using them as an actual currency.  They will hopefully spend them on way more things than the average bitcoiner (who I'm pretty sure just speculates) does.

Demand is demand, no matter where in the world it is.  Getting coins to people who have demand makes the economy stronger and so I'd say that donations actually can be beneficial to the economy.

I also think it is a pretty safe bet that this year's http://porcfest.com/ (http://porcfest.com/) will double as the worlds largest Bitcoin swap meet.
Last year there were lots of vendors using Bitcoin,  this year I suspect just about everyone will be willing to accept payment as Bitcoin.

If only there was critical mass in Vermont then I can buy some Grade B maple syrup and Vermont cheddar cheese.

If you were living in Canada I could have shipped you 540ml (19 ounces) metal cans of grade B syrup for 1.75 BTC each.

I'm e-mailing them to ask if they will add bitcoin as a payment option.

I encourage anyone who is interested in attending to e-mail them and ask if you can register using bitcoins.

Here's who you can direct your bitcoin questions to:

Info@porcfest.com

A few more NH related Bitcoin things:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA6Oi7sUNCI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA6Oi7sUNCI)

http://www.facebook.com/groups/185130098262824/ (http://www.facebook.com/groups/185130098262824/)

http://www.facebook.com/groups/195492163844669/ (http://www.facebook.com/groups/195492163844669/)

http://ridleyreport.com/blog/2011/dec/donating_ridley_bitcoins (http://ridleyreport.com/blog/2011/dec/donating_ridley_bitcoins)

Incidentally, Aaron Greenspan (of Facecash) is seeking support for New Hampshire HB 1700:
 Support H.B. 1700! Help New Hampshire stand up to the banking lobby.
 - http://www.facecash.com/legal/nh.html

Add to the list:

Stomp Romp Guitars in Manchester, NH

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2102055/guitars-small.jpg

- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=84285.0

Network effect FTW!

The only problem with BTC is that it's a bit difficult for non-technies to gain confidence in. Gold is easy: it's shiny. But try explaining even basic crypto to someone on the street - they won't get it.

Luckily, once enough people accept it, people will "just use it" without thinking, much like the USD continued to function when it was no longer backed by gold. But prior to critical mass, it's very difficult. I even have family members who are really interested in Bitcoin, but refuse to buy any until they "have the time to study and really understand it."

One of my personal indicators that I'm looking for as evidence of critical mass is when you announce that you are paying your overseas suppliers in Bitcoins.

I'm already paying some of my over seas suppliers in Bitcoin.

That is very good news. I haven't been following the forums diligently enough to catch that before.

Along with some of the other announcements over the last week it looks like all the pieces are coming together. I wonder if more international trade is being denominated in Bitcoins now than in gold... Next stop, the Dollar?

I'm in New Hampshire and I love it here as much as I love Bitcoin!
Rock On! (Granite of course) :D

If you could just expand internationally into the countries that are net recipients of remittances you'd be able to establish the trade flow that will make it all work.

People who receive bitcoins from abroad need to exchange them from local currency but right now those local exchanges need to go through the legacy banking system and forex markets to get local currency to buy bitcoins with. If you were selling products in the recipient countries you could buy the bitcoins from the exchange with currency you got from local sales and use the bitcoins to pay your suppliers.

There wasn't a link here yet, so I'm posting it.

PorcFest 2012 -- Biggest Bitcoin event ever
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=89714.0

There's now a weekly Bitcoin Meetup in New Hampshire as well:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=91059.msg1002257#msg1002257

https://i.imgur.com/6IwyIl.jpg

A New Hampshire State Rep is now one of the first politicians to accept Bitcoins as campaign contributions:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=99968.0

Where is the baklava?

Baklava at http://mandrik.com/

read all the post, and i must say, very good news...

i like this project.. and i like to see some btc meetings in our country, here almost nobody know about btc...  :(

It turns out New Hampshire is the top state in the USA for Google searches for Bitcoin, as measured by Google Trends over the last 12 months.

https://i.imgur.com/6AmL0.png

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=bitcoin&geo=US&date=today%2012-m&cmpt=q

Is there a strong active Bitcoin local merchant community anywhere in NH? I know the last FSP meetup was hugely successful, but have there been any hotspots that are keeping up momentum year round?

The vendor scene in New Hampshire isn't strong yet. There's a great cafe (http://thepaocafe.com/) in Newmarket that takes bitcoins, there's our guitar store, and there are a number of online stores. The most action is probably at the weekly Bitcoin meetup where we do a lot of trades and usually draw about 15-20 people. We also get a few people a week coming into our guitar store just to buy bitcoins for cash. We've started talking about getting some of the small shops on the main drag here in Manchester to accept Bitcoin, and that's definitely something I want to push in the next few weeks.

I bet I'm not the only one that would love to know more about all the various ways people try to get businesses on board.