it is still too much of a hassle to use.  and no consumer protection.  Those are 2 huge reasons

bitcoins real unique characteristics have been overshadowed by speculative buying.  I wouldnt be surprised if were back under 200 soon.

Yeah, eBay is now the absolute last place I turn to if I need to sell anything.  I can sell for less, but pocket more money by going through btc or locally.  I think they are hurting themselves cause a lot of people are stopping selling mainly b/c of the fees.

Yeah the mere fact they are expected to go bad and are replaced with no questions asked (and replaced for free) shows that they aren't legit.  Anyone with half a brain can see that.  And I think people have called starbucks and they were given the explanation that the cards were shut down "due to fraud."  That should be enough for the mods.

The forum rules clearly state that illegal goods are not allowed, yet the mods do nothing to stop these people.  And people aren't indirectly supporting fraud, they are DIRECTLY supporting it.  Plus if they couldn't get un-reversable (and anonymous) payments in BTC, they would have a much harder time peddling their stolen goods.  Stop buying from these scam artists.

Anyone mocking him is crazy. He said he bought them with a long term mindset. I think he said he's looking at a 3 year  horizon if I remember correctly. Obviously you don't get to his level if you constantly worry about day to day price movement. He's in it for the long haul, and I think he's right that btc is here to stay. As for price increase, I don't know how long it will take to go back up. Probably years

I fully agree, the original NES is awesome, and was the only thing I had to play until the N64 came out.  But that "special sense of nostalgia" to me is taking the cartridge out, wiggling it, hitting the reset button, getting a blue screen, and by the time its working you dont want to play any more.  Or it would freeze as soon as you start the level.  I for one dont have the time for that anymore 

I recently got rid of mine, only because it wasn't worth the hassle of screwing with the cartridges every single time just to get them to work.  Now you can download the classic titles anyway if you have a wii!  I know its not the same as the old school nes, but a lot easier (and works 100% of the time)

Thats what I've realized.  The price does NOT have to skyrocket for "whales" to make money with btc.  They just have to get in and out at just the right time.  This is why I do not think we will see btc price rise drastically, at least it wont stay high if it does go up.

They invested in coinbase so it sounds like they are investing in the fact that btc use is here to stay, and they can make money when people use coinbase, regardless of the price.  I dont think their investment means much for price though.

I believe the card PayPal Mastercard that they advertise has a $5 monthly fee though.  That.s why I didn't get it.  Your probably better off finding somewhere to buy a prepaid card with paypal funds, if you want to avoid their monthly fees.

The thing that bugs me is that the ebay fees are calculated on the whole sale amount, even though you have no choice but to get the money through paypal.  The 10% ebay fee should be calculated on the amount you actually get in your paypal account, after paypal fees.  I feel like they double dip there, on top of their already outrageous fees.

Yes they are.  The mere fact that they regularly go bad and people expect them to go bad proves this.
The fact that "sofia" replaces them quickly and without hesitation also shows they are getting them free (ie getting them with stolen credit card numbers).

Anyone that uses these is supporting credit card fraud, theft and encourages these hackers to do more and more to steal information from legitimate business, such as Target, Home Depot, etc who have been targets of data breaches.

Thanks for answering questions, but I just have a few more concerns:


Ok, but in the real world you either fund your company yourself or get financing, then create a product to sell.  This setup is making the customers also kind of like investors, only with no return even if there is a long wait.


If you are so confident in your process it seems like at least a portion of the pre-orders should be held in escrow.

Also, you say you are using these pre orders to fund another project?  This sounds exactly like what coinographic was claiming to do, take pre-orders (for coins that didn't exist and they had no means to create) in order to fund previously sold coins.


As opposed to refunding the customers if something makes this fall through?

Not saying you wont make this happen, I just have been disappointed in the lack of accountability in BTC related companies & products.  I for one will not be pre-ordering anything BTC related unless some sort of escrow is used, and a firm timeline of when the product can be expected is established.  I just think its somewhat arrogant to say that you for some reason don't need escrow, and must use a pre-order system, when many other coin makers have done fine without it.

That still doesn't solve the pre-order arrangement, I think that is also a concern.  Do you have firm quotes for your fabrication/machining costs?  What about variations in the price of silver?

What about funding the coin?  What if BTC price shoots up even 10-15%?  Wouldnt it make sense to wait until the coin is made and then fund it right when each coin is ordered?  Doesn't that seem to be the only way to protect your business and the customers at the same time? 

Seems like you want to avoid the same preorder setup coinographic had...

I dont think its the bears, its just simply returning to a reasonable price after the price was fraudulently manipulated to $1000+ by gox.

You are right.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out these guys selling $1000's or tens of $1000 worth of Starbucks cards at 30% of face value to figure out they are using stolen credit cards.  I have tried to warn people as well that they are involving themselves in credit card fraud, and that people go to jail for that.  Someone somewhere is paying the price for their cheap coffee...

looks like a cookie shaped like a Christmas Tree to me...

No, I'd say its becoming more and more possible every day.  I just saw some major japanese retailer saying they are considering accepting btc, and historically that makes the price drop cause they instantly convert to fiat.  I think double digits are entirely possible, although that price may only last briefly...