Thank you, Wiser, for an exceptional post and your kind words. We take it as a privilege that our community has been very supportive of our efforts and will likely be very supportive of major technical improvement to DNotes in the future. However, we are mindful that to preserve the great value of a totally decentralized system we should not take any thing for granted. Ideally, we want to make one major change with a long wish list, to be equal to or better than anyone else. We are committed to be best in class. Our community may start coming up with a wish list. We expect to kick into high gear in development the second half of this year.
If I could have a wish about one thing to change about DNotes, I would want it to be a minting coin, and I would also want there to be opportunities to mint it online via a trusted third party (something like Coinwallet.co) but also have a very well functioning desktop wallet that can also mint it. The DNotes vault currently functions a bit like a minting wallet in the sense that you can gain "interest" on a deposit, but you have to tie up your funds for a long time in order to do that. I would like to see an option where your coins can work for you but with no other strings attached (such as needing to tie them up). I think in this way, even a very small holder can have a stash that grows. Of all the minting coins I have worked with I have to say that Diamond coin does it the best, so if this idea is ever seriously considered I would recommend studying up on how Diamond does it. I can put anyone in touch with the lead developer. Excellent, Wiser. Joe will start start building a wish list. I strongly encourage everyone to post their suggestions on what they like to see in a new version of DNotes. You can also PM Joe. We already have a few great ideas but some of them may not be shared until a relaunched. Please be reminded that we normally take our time to do things right. We are allocating the next two years to work on major development. Various feature will be made available along the way. We have a lot of things to get excited about. |
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Wow this book looks like great !! Congrats Alan  remember plant a tree too. yesterday mining get burned jack conectors of gridseed blade :S just working at 750 mhz can go to 850 with no problems . so strange. But i got another 2 burned time ago.. i buy 4 at same time, maybe is the quality of conectors i dont know but dig for months without problems, so i need to buy new ac conectors just keep mining at 1.4 mhash for the while with other asic. The Gridseed connectors are VERY problematic especially if your talking about the 5 MH/s black units. The connectors are small for the 2 to 3 amps each is expected to handle and, over time, they get brittle and shrink creating a poor connection which, produces ever more heat during operation. More heat makes the plastic shrink and get even more brittle until the whole assemble fails which can cause a real fire. I have 30 of these units and I finally resorted to soldering the power wires directly to the circuit boards. Also, don't buy the cheap connectors from China offered on eBay, they don't fit well. If you plug in the power connector and it moves around or feels loose, it will burn out after a while. Remember, you are passing upward of 25 watts or more through this little connector originally made for an audio connection or a very low voltage, low current power connection. SO, if you can solder, do so. If not make sure you have the correct size connector and it fits tightly. Check them often in operation for excessive heat and if you smell smoke, go directly to the Gridseeds for the source!  Yeah conectors fits perfect, in the beggining i use 2 miners at 800 850 frequenzy ,, and burn 2 really fast so i low the frequenzy to 700-750 and keep diging few months until other day. i had found this ones that look like stronger http://www.ebay.es/itm/10-X-DC-POWER-PLUG-12V-VOLT-CCTV-ADAPTOR-CONNECTOR-MALE-2-1MM-X-5-5MM-X-10MM-/221992869398?hash=item33afce5e16:g:aPMAAOSwLN5WlOcUBut really had thought about soldering cables direct to ac conectors but whos yellow and black, if you can link a pic to see how you do it will be great. This is faster way to start run them again. i had conected by molex conectors, but thinking to use pcie better Thank you, RJF. We will be launching it through KickStarter to drum up initial support for the project with a small pre-sell target. Anyone who can support me with a small pledge to buy a copy of the book will be greatly appreciated. [/quote] waiting to buy it or colaborate. [/quote] Thank you, infovortice2013. It is greatly appreciated. The book is actually very helpful to anyone interested to develop better people skill. Employers hire employees they believe will be the best fit in their work environment and culture. Once hired the leadership focus to inspire and coach the new employees to have the best career path. Together they work to accomplish a common goal - the success of the company. Employees are best taken care of in successful companies; not failing companies. Employees are also happiest when they feel confident of a good career path with the company and that their contributions are acknowledged and appreciated. By the same token we are free to decide whom we want to be associated. A healthy professional relationship as mentioned in the book is also applicable here. It's all about working well together for the mutual benefit of everyone. |
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Alan,
Contrats on the book so far! When, and where, will it be available for purchase?
Thank you, RJF. We will be launching it through KickStarter to drum up initial support for the project with a small pre-sell target. Anyone who can support me with a small pledge to buy a copy of the book will be greatly appreciated. The other most helpful thing is an objective book review. We will be releasing more details in the coming days. It may not start out that way, but we intent to have the book available everywhere in paper bag, hard cover, and Ebook format. We believe that the book has mass appeal and will be very heavily promoted. The book is a key foundation block of our ecosystem. This is the first time we have a serious tool to work with many women business organizations to promote opportunities for women using CryptoMoms and the first time that we have the opportunity to work with many small business owners and their employees - a nice tie in for CRISP For Employee Benefits and CRISP For Retirement. The book is expected to be a significant revenue generator as well as a great PR tool, build great awareness, and credibility for DNotes. We are working on a new site for the book dedicated to small business owners and other entrepreneurs. It will eventually be a membership subscription site with a variety of resources and contents. I am a very strong believer of developing and executing great strategies that give us the best chances of accomplishing our missions and strategic vision. It is not always easy for others to understand. We build a solid foundation with a trusted brand, cast a very wide net, develop equal to or better technologies, build momentum, and eventually dominate. This is a long term multi-years strategy. Every thing that we do and much more is mentioned in the book. It is getting very exciting! |
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' . . . major technical improvement to DNotes in the future.'
The interplay between the ethos of anti-centralisation and what can be achieved with a little management is fascinating. Dnotes' core community and its devs will triumph if they can strike the right balance. (Heck, the Bitcoin guys can't even paddle their coin of a lee shore!)
Mark
That is correct, Mark. My commitment is to help guide DNotes to strike the right balance to the extent that within three more years DNotes will be and remain as a technology leader in our space. The leadership part is most crucial at the formative stage. That is the primary reason why we believe in taking our time to build a solid foundation and a trusted brand while waiting for the technology to become more matured. Strategic planning and execution at the right time are vital to business success. |
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That is a very interesting question, actually. I know that NEM (which for all practical purposes was a completely premined coin--all the coins got put into circulation at once through the Genesis block--allocated a certain amount of coin to reward node operators. Of course, there's really no mining, so there wouldn't be competition with miners. I don't know what kind of plan is in place for NEM node operators once the original allocated funds run out, but it's possible that isn't for many years, depending on how much was set aside. I believe in principle it is a good idea to figure out a way to compensate anyone who is involved in securing the network in some way. The problem with Bitcoin is that this wasn't thought about right from the beginning (OK, the mining was, but not the nodes), and because of the current leadership politics, it's very hard to actually make any changes that could add it into the code after the fact. I mean, the Bitcoin people are having a difficult enough time deciding on how to enlarge the block size to handle increasing transactions. DNotes wouldn't have this issue, because there is a "the buck stops here" actual leadership team. I'm pretty sure that if Alan in six months were to decide to turn DNotes into an X11 minting coin which kicked off both mining rewards and minting rewards, and had a special increased minting reward for node operators, and he was able to convince the DNotes core team that this is a good development, and then keep those of us who follow this thread duly informed and seek out our feedback, then I'm sure it would happen with little or no fuss. This is not a suggestion, by the way, just a random example off the top of my head  For an example of a coin which changed its algorithm midway, Diamond is a good example. I believe it began as a Scrypt coin, then switched to Groestl. I'm not sure of the reasons. It's also a dual mining/minting coin, and the core team recently held an auction for ten special addresses which will mint at an increased rate. The coin Neucoin recently made a decision to destroy half of its current coin supply (the part held by board members and initial investors, not coins in general use), and reduce its timeline for general distribution by a number of years. The reasons for this decision had to do with how the core team saw the coin being adopted as well as feedback from the community. So I know all of this is technically possible. My point is that from a technical point of view, Bitcoin could alter its code in order to continue to fairly compensate miners and also reward node operators. It could decide to increase its total supply (not cap it at 21 million). It could even code in a way where "lost" Bitcoins get recovered in some way (you know, those Bitcoins lost because someone wiped their hard drive and didn't retain private keys to the wallets). Those recovered Bitcoins could be used to provide rewards to node operators, or even add to the mining rewards. I mean, the sky is the limit as to what could be accomplished. But since Bitcoin is so widespread and basically developed as a leaderless currency, it's going to be very difficult to make even minute changes to the protocol because there will rarely if ever be sufficient consensus to allow any changes to get implemented. On the other hand, with a currency such as DNotes, which has a leadership team which is willing and able to make unilateral decisions, it's not going to be technical difficulty that limits what can be accomplished. It's really a matter of the leadership clearly communicating the vision, seeking feedback from the community when needed, sticking to its vision, and not making hasty decisions about drastic changes, and then when changes are necessary, clearly communicating the reasons and the path forward so that all can easily adjust and get on board. I thought this article was interesting and a good topic of discussion. Proposal To Give 45% of Block Reward To Bitcoin Node Operators Is SillyAt this point, there are over 6,000 Bitcoin nodes in existence, and none of these operators are getting paid for doing so. No one is complaining about that either, even though some people might prefer to have some monetary incentive attached to being a Bitcoin node operator.
For some unknown reason, people in the Bitcoin community assume these people should get paid for supporting the network. While there may be a certain logic behind that idea, it is not feasible in the Bitcoin world by any means. Bitcoin nodes help broadcast transactions to miners, but they are not producing any proof-of-work to make this happen.
That does not mean running a Bitcoin node is free of charge, though, as the computer used will need electricity, and there will be a slight strain on computer resources such as the CPU and hard disk speed. Should users be compensated for voluntarily dedicating a part of their resources to securing the Bitcoin network? Probably not.
One user on Reddit posted how it would be an interesting idea to change the Bitcoin protocol and reward node owners with 45% of the current block reward. That would mean that miners, who spend a lot of money to generate blocks on the network, would close to half of their earnings in favor of people who voluntarily run a bitcoin wallet on a device. While such a solution can easily be opened up to the general public, there will be a significant backlash from Bitcoin miners to this idea.
It’d be good if there were a way to incentivize people running a Bitcoin Node, but such a situation would only bring more centralization to the ecosystem. Nothing would stop a collective of individuals to deploy thousands of Bitcoin nodes and take the lion share of the reward for themselves, rendering the entire point of incentivizing node owners completely moot.What do you think? This article focuses on one side of the story, and I think there is much more to it. As the article keeps mentioning, incentivizing the nodes will lead to centralization, but is it also possible not incentivizing the nodes could lead to centralization as well? Node operators are undoubtedly performing a critical task for the network, while it's also true miners are doing the work of solving hashes, without those nodes the miners would have much more problems such as latency and potentially working on blocks that are already solved. As the blockchain continues to grow, it will become more burdensome and less attractive to run a node. Just drop in for a few minutes to say Hello to everyone. Hope you all had a great weekend. Amazing work is done behind the scene. This will be a great year. Thank you, Wiser, for an exceptional post and your kind words. We take it as a privilege that our community has been very supportive of our efforts and will likely be very supportive of major technical improvement to DNotes in the future. However, we are mindful that to preserve the great value of a totally decentralized system we should not take any thing for granted. Ideally, we want to make one major change with a long wish list, to be equal to or better than anyone else. We are committed to be best in class. Our community may start coming up with a wish list. We expect to kick into high gear in development the second half of this year. |
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" Helicopter money" is a new term but an old practice. Politicians and central bankers never run out of ideas or "tools" since they can make money out of thin air. " Yes, all central banks can do it. You can issue currency and you distribute it to people. That’s helicopter money. Helicopter money is giving to the people part of the net present value of your future seigniorage, the profit you make on the future banknotes. The question is, if and when is it opportune to make recourse to that sort of instrument which is really an extreme sort of instrument.
There are other things you can theoretically do. There are several examples in the literature. So when we say we haven’t reached the limit of the toolbox, I think that’s true." |
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Quick up date:
We have been working very hard to finish the work by the end of March - with a complete draft for final editing before publication. The cover design has been completed and approved. Everything is coming together very well. I am increasingly more confident that this will turn out to be an amazing book and a great help for many small business owners. I appreciate all the encouragement and help I have been getting from our team.
There are many great chapters but here is a sneak peek of Chapter 8 - Delegation:
Chapter 8 Delegation
“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.” - Andrew Carnegie
“Among all the tools available to you as an entrepreneur, there are few more powerful than the ability to delegate. In fact, delegation is considered by most experts to be one of the most effective ways to maximize productivity and optimize return on your limited human resources. It can also be the best vehicle through which you can train your employees for future leadership positions within your firm. When exercised properly, delegation can enable you and your managers to accomplish more with the same amount of available human resources. Moreover, by assigning others to do various parts of your job, you can free yourself up to focus on more important tasks, duties, and responsibilities …..
……… Sadly, however, managers who fail to properly delegate can upset the entire structure of any company’s operations. After all, the very reason for having a manager is to ensure that other employees are better organized in a way that ensures smooth operational efficiency and maximum productivity. When managers attempt to inhibit delegation of tasks and responsibility, they short-circuit that structure and the processes that make it work. Instead of cooperating with others in management to develop plans for improvement, creating new strategies, or developing their own skill sets with new technologies and innovations, these managers end up wasting their time doing work that they should be leaving to others.”
Very thought provoking Alan! Thank you, Brandon. I sincerely trust that the book “The Four Pillars of Business Success” will improve the overall success of small business worldwide. It should also be a great help to those who are contemplating a new business startup. We have a tendency to focus our blame on the high cost of government regulations and unfavorable taxes for the high rate of business failures of over 60% the first five years. Granted that those are among the major contributors, we seldom realize that there are many other factors. In fact most of them start with the business owner/s or top management for failure to effectively utilize the resources at their disposal – employees and their customer base. The vast majority of us respond to inspiring leadership that provides a good sense of direction for everyone. We all love to contribute towards the attainment of mutual goals that will benefit everyone. We feel empowered when our contributions are appreciated and indeed help advance a good cause we all believe in. I also believe that every business has room for improvement in creating an environment more conducive to team work, empowerment, and leadership development leading to an inspiring career path. Employees are more inclined to do all that they can in the best interest of the company when they are convinced that they have a good future with the company. There are great mutual benefits when the goals and objectives of the employees are well aligned with that of the company. Of course the book covers many other subjects that are equally as helpful. This book is a foundation block of our infrastructure or ecosystem. It is a vital strategy to engage the business communities in the most meaningful way. Great strategic moves are not always obvious to most people, especially those strategic moves that take time to materialize. We believe that this book will generate great awareness and credibility for DNotes, giving us the best relationship and opportunity to introduce DNotes to many business owners and their employees. As a result, CRISP For Employee Incentive Benefits and CRISP For Retirement will become very popular with business owners and the employees. Eventually this will materialize as the best pathway for DNotes mass acceptance as a form of payment in global commerce. |
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Quick up date:
We have been working very hard to finish the work by the end of March - with a complete draft for final editing before publication. The cover design has been completed and approved. Everything is coming together very well. I am increasingly more confident that this will turn out to be an amazing book and a great help for many small business owners. I appreciate all the encouragement and help I have been getting from our team.
There are many great chapters but here is a sneak peek of Chapter 8 - Delegation:
Chapter 8 Delegation
“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.” - Andrew Carnegie
“Among all the tools available to you as an entrepreneur, there are few more powerful than the ability to delegate. In fact, delegation is considered by most experts to be one of the most effective ways to maximize productivity and optimize return on your limited human resources. It can also be the best vehicle through which you can train your employees for future leadership positions within your firm. When exercised properly, delegation can enable you and your managers to accomplish more with the same amount of available human resources. Moreover, by assigning others to do various parts of your job, you can free yourself up to focus on more important tasks, duties, and responsibilities …..
……… Sadly, however, managers who fail to properly delegate can upset the entire structure of any company’s operations. After all, the very reason for having a manager is to ensure that other employees are better organized in a way that ensures smooth operational efficiency and maximum productivity. When managers attempt to inhibit delegation of tasks and responsibility, they short-circuit that structure and the processes that make it work. Instead of cooperating with others in management to develop plans for improvement, creating new strategies, or developing their own skill sets with new technologies and innovations, these managers end up wasting their time doing work that they should be leaving to others.”
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Not what I anticipated, it is much lower than I expected. This provides some justification that DNotes is heading down the right path, small business will be the key to bringing that number back up. That looks embarrassingly bad. In reality the middle class in America has been losing ground in term of earning power but not quite as bad in purchasing power, if your are not living in a major city like New York or Boston. |
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According to this article there are hedge and equity funds ready to invest in digital currency: Family Offices See Legitimacy in Securitized Bitcoin InvestmentsInvestors with over $1tn in assets under management gathered at an event last night to judge if bitcoin is ready to be recognized as a mainstream asset class. Onstage, the event looked like countless other bitcoin demo days, but it was what transpired between the panelists and the audience of 110 estimated family offices investors, hedge fund investors and private equity firms that gave it a decidedly different twist. Myles Edwards, who represents ultra-high net-worth individuals and co-founded the New York Family Office Private Funds Roundtable, said his firm organized the event to learn more about digital currency as it is interested in a wide range of securitized investments. Edwards told CoinDesk: "What really intrigues us about tonight is that there is a clear synergy, a clear nexus between what’s happening in the digital world, and what’s happening in financial services. And that is going to be the catalyst to bring us to the next generation." Edwards, who is also general counsel at financial advisory firm Shufro, Rose & Co, said he couldn’t mention specific hedge funds which had begun to securitize the assets. But he added that the high-net-worth members of the Roundtable saw the existence of such investment packages as a stamp of approval. "There’s legitimate hedge and private equity funds that are ready to invest," he said. "They’ve done their due diligence and that's got people’s attention." In 2014, bitcoin made headlines as the worst asset class of the year, beating out the Russian ruble, according to a widely reported Quartz article. But in 2015, the cryptocurrency was barely a blip on the best and worst investment lists of the year, leading to an even steadier 2016. So far, this year bitcoin's price has fluctuated between about $458 and $358, but it has mostly hovered around its current price of $418. Future possibilitiesHosted by blockchain consultancy firm Agentic Group at the newly opened Citco Gateway Offices on Park Avenue, three companies representing a wide range of bitcoin and blockchain services took questions from audience members. Main concerns related to financial regulations for bitcoin investments and HIPAA compliance concerns for medical-related applications of the blockchain. In attendance were industry-specific consultants specializing in blockcahin and cryptocurrency asset management as well as more traditional outfits, such as FINRA/SEC licensed broker dealer Young America Capital and Breckenridge Insurance Group. Rik Willard, managing director and founder of Agentic Group, said that while some family offices remain hesitant to invest in bitcoin and blockchain-related products hedge funds are increasingly looking to the asset class on a time horizon of between two years and five years. "You don’t hear a lot about family offices in blockchain, you don't hear of them in bitcoin, for a reason. VCs have their own way of looking at this market," said Willard. "But there’s trillions of other dollars out there looking to the future. To leave that untapped, unaddressed seemed to me pretty wasteful." http://www.coindesk.com/family-offices-securitized-bitcoin/Personally, I think it is still too early, perhaps a year or two too early. It is still considered as extremely high risk by most professional investors. Beyond that it could become very popular, especially when the regulatory environment becomes more settled, hopefully more friendly. |
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Hard to imagine but so was the capabilities and computing power of Iphone in 1992 when the most advanced handheld computing devices were Apple Newton and Dauphin DTR. Total Disruption By 2020 As Man-Machines Merge? 5 Billion Humans + 50 Bn IoT/Smart Devices + Q-BRAIN Singularity: Who Wins?1. Everything that you see happening today between man and machines will change and metamorphose beyond recognition, in the coming 4-5 years. Expect total disruption via new Q-BRAIN enabled products and applications in terms of challenging legacy technology solutions; societal behaviours, habits and norms; global trading, finance and economics; and absolutely everything including the way we live, work and play! 2. With 50 billion connected devices -- many as Internet-of-Things (IoTs), Smart and Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled -- we are envisioning more than 5 devices per human being on the planet, and more than 10 devices per connected human being on the planet by 2020. These are unprecedented numbers and represent first a doubling, then a quadrupling from 2016, within just a few years! 3. This brave new world by 2020 is about three major yet simultaneous evolutions: a) the presence of 4.75 billion connected humans; b) 50 billion 24/7 connected devices, many of which will be smart and artificially intelligent; and c) The fast approaching Q-BRAIN Singularity that offers revolutionary new technology platforms to business, economics and finance to cut cost and to improve the quality of trust as well as the solution manifold. 4. What's the Q-BRAIN Singularity about? Simply put, Quantum-Blockchain-Recursion-Artificial-Intelligence-Nano (Q-BRAIN) smart technologies coming together in our global civilisation to synthesise man and machine as one in a hybrid formulation where man becomes part machine and machine becomes part man. 5. In this brave new world, lies, damned lies and statistics can no longer hide the truth, as all past and present information is transparent even perhaps to the detriment of maintaining personal and state secrets, safety and security, at all times. Yet strangely, this enhances trust as there are multiple parties from whom the truth can be garnered and corroborated. DK Matai Source: www.ATCA5000.com |
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This is a very interesting concept and a good way to promote Bitcoin. 21 Inc Launches First Proof-of-Concept for Bitcoin Computer NetworkJacob Donnelly | Published on March 15, 2016 at 23:25 GMT With its signature hardware product now shipping to users in the US, Canada and Europe, 21 Inc is seeking to roll out its next stage in development, a decentralized, bitcoin-incentivized network of the devices. 21 Inc announced the launch of Ping21 today, a new proof-of-concept it envisions as a competitor to website monitoring services such as Pingdom or AlertFox. Today, webmasters use such services to determine how a website is performing in different markets, in the case of Pingdom, paying between $13 and $454 a month for the service. What 21's grid now allows is that Bitcoin Computers all around the world to be called with a single command, a factor the company said offers advantages over the pinging networks of today. For example, a company's website might be up and running in New York, but in Florida, Spain, and South Korea, there could be problems. However, with the Ping21 service, a webmaster could issue a single command and receive the uptime and status of their website in dozens of countries. Rather than paying the hundreds of dollars for a subscription, the cost per ping would drop significantly, the company said. By utilizing its recently launched Micropayments Marketplace, a client can submit a request to the network along with bitcoin for payment. Bitcoin Computers enrolled in the Ping21 service will then be automatically contacted to perform a ping, check the website, collect any necessary data and submit it back to the marketplace where the user can aggregate stats. After its launch, the company is focusing on allowing developers to expand on other applications for its bitcoin-incentivized grid. Read More: http://www.coindesk.com/21-proof-concept-bitcoin-iot/ |
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Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Thanks. Happy St. Patrick's Day. |
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I liked this story, it made me reminisce about the first time I bought Bitcoin in a shady back alley (not recommended). Their business partner was arrested a couple years later for running an illegal poker site. ---------- Dealing With Fraud In The Bitcoin Worldhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanchester/2016/03/16/dealing-with-fraud-in-the-bitcoin-world/#50d7deab1b40Bitcoin has been around since 2008, but it’s still in its infancy. That means a lack of regulation, fraud, ponzi schemes, and more. The Bitcoin industry has it all, making it the new Wild West. Digital gold is hiding “just beneath the surface,” waiting for those opportunistic, innovative and brave enough to test these uncharted territories. So what can you expect to encounter in this new frontier as one of the early pioneers? When you take your first step into the bitcoin industry, it can feel like you’ve entered the 2015 Doc and Marty visited in “Back to the Future”. This new digital currency has big promises, from reducing international wage payment fees and delays (like what we do at Bitwage) to providing banking services to the 2.5 billion people who are financially underserved. If you dig a little deeper and look at the blockchain itself (the architecture and technology behind Bitcoin), it even has the ability to create systems beyond the financial industry. There are applications popping up for things such as an incorruptible voting system and organizations that are run completely by computers, called decentralized autonomous organizations. It’s not hard to believe flying cars are too far away. With all this new technology and new opportunities to improve outdated systems, the lack of regulation attracts a world of fraudsters and less savory entrepreneurs looking for a way to make a quick buck. In the past, these ponzi schemes and frauds were aimed at consumers (such as the alleged case against Gaw Miners), but now they’re focusing on business owners within the bitcoin industry too. Those of us that have been in the Bitcoin Wild West since the beginning know it’s difficult to open a bank account when you’re just starting out. When a company is new, it has no revenue or close to zero investment. They have no financial history and can even be seen as a potential shadow entity for money laundering. So you can’t really blame the banks. The risk is often not worth the potential reward. This bitcoin-averse banking climate across the industry set the stage for my first run-in with a fraudster targeting entrepreneurs. I went to my first bitcoin and blockchain conference, Inside Bitcoins, in Las Vegas in 2014. (Before you even say it, yes, this industry definitely knows how to have a good time.) It was there that I met Arnold (his name has been changed for the sake of privacy). He had that classic 1980s mobster look, slicked back hair and a suit that had been worn a couple more times than it should have before getting cleaned. He came up to me and asked what we are doing at Bitwage. After I explained our mission he asked if we were having trouble getting a bank account. Since it is such a commonly known problem within the industry, I was curious to figure out what his angle was. I said we were, and he responded, “Great, we actually run a bank. The way it works is we provide you banking services in exchange for a 5% stake in your company.” Immediately I thought, “Are you kidding me?! Who in the right mind would do this?!” I listened to the rest of his pitch and walked away thinking, “I’m sure no one takes this guy seriously.” Over the next few months, I would run into Arnold at various conferences. I’d see him speaking with other members in the industry, many of whom I considered friends. I was baffled. I kept asking myself, “How could people like this guy? Is this guy actually legitimate? Am I missing something?” A few months later, I found out my suspicions were right. Arnold and his executive team were arrested for operating an illegal Bitcoin exchange and fraud. I was actually a little shocked. I felt like the guy might be running a scheme through some sort of loophole and I knew I didn’t want to go into business with him, but I did not think he was actually running an illegal operation. I couldn’t believe it. Fortunately, neither Bitwage nor none of my personal acquaintances were affected, but there were a few new, early-stage entrepreneurs who fell victim to the unregulated Wild West. What is the lesson here? Well for starters, always make sure to apply the “appropriate level of due diligence” to all of your potential business partners. Luckily, as the market is maturing, we are seeing much less fraud and many more innovative technologies (Such as technologies that help artists protect their intellectual property). Now, enough with all this fraud talk, where’s my hoverboard? Great story, and it will continue for a while. The industry is maturing but greed will never go away. There will always be someone just too ready to exploit that. Proceed with caution and seek out the trusted brand. Be patience, if you find the right opportunity, as good things seldom happen overnight. |
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Great story Thomas. This would be a great time for colleges and universities to step up and meet this challenge. Wouldn't it be something for students to actually have a job when they graduate? Excellent article. It will be a near term challenge for many employers, especially finding good software engineers with the appropriate of our industry. A good business experience is a big plus. |
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The biggest challenge is hiring enough of those who have "tech and business expertise." This is a replay of the "DOT.COM era". Hundreds of "blockchain projects" are likely to have been started without a viable business model. "Me too" mentality is among the highest causes of business failures. PwC, he said, "is looking for individuals that have tech and business expertise so that it can continue to help clients focus on use cases to explore and commercialize the tech. "For us, we’re looking for people that cut across all domains, and there aren’t a lot of people out there," he said. |
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I expect surprises from our industry. That has been the fuel that makes it exciting. This one is a little bit of a shocker: “ The purpose would be turned upside down…….. erode the exorbitant privilege of commercial banks of creating money out of thin air under a fractional reserve financial system??" Really? (Don’t get me wrong, I am not on the side of the bank). Perhaps the headline should read “Central Bank of England Getting Ready to Bring Big Banks” Sounds interesting but what are the unintended consequences? As a group, aren’t they way too big to fail? Banks and the financial services industry will bear the highest cost of disruption from digital currency and blockchain technology, but it will take decades to adapt and adjust. “ Whoever reacts too slowly to these developments is going to take it on the chin. They will lose their businesses,” said Dr George Danezis, who is working on the design at University College London.” May be some will. Most will have plenty of time. Big changes do not happen over night. Rough landing will hurt everyone. Central banks beat Bitcoin at own game with rival supercurrency• Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 13 MARCH 2016 • 12:29PM Computer scientists have devised a digital crypto-currency in league with the Bank of England that could pose a devastating threat to large tranches of the financial industry, and profoundly change the management of monetary policy. The proto-currency known as RSCoin has vastly greater scope than Bitcoin, used for peer-to-peer transactions by libertarians across the world, and beyond the control of any political authority. The purpose would be turned upside down. RSCoin would be a tool of state control, allowing the central bank to keep a tight grip on the money supply and respond to crises. It would erode the exorbitant privilege of commercial banks of creating money out of thin air under a fractional reserve financial system. “Whoever reacts too slowly to these developments is going to take it on the chin. They will lose their businesses,” said Dr George Danezis, who is working on the design at University College London. "My advice is that companies should play very close attention to what is happening, because this will not go away," he said. Layers of middlemen in payments systems face a creeping threat across the nexus of commerce, stockbroking, currency trading or derivatives. Many risk extinction over time. “Deep in the markets there are dark pools buying and selling shares, and entities that facilitate that foreign exchange. There are Visa, Master, and PayPal. These are the sorts of guys that we are going to disrupt,” he said. University College drafted the plan after being encouraged by the Bank of England last year to come up with a radical design for a secure digital currency. The Bank itself has an elite four-man unit grappling with the implications of crypto-currencies and blockchain technology. Central banks at first saw Bitcoin as a rogue currency and a threat to monetary order, but they are starting to glimpse ways of turning the new technology to their advantage. The findings of the University College team were delivered to the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS) in San Diego, revealing for the first time what may be in store. Dr Danezis said a national pilot project could be up and running within eighteen months if a decision were made to launch such a scheme. The RSCoin is deemed more likely to gain to mass acceptance than Bitcoin since the ledger would remain exclusively in the hands of the central bank, with the 'trust' factor of state authority. It would have the incumbency benefits of an established currency behind it. "It seems very unlikely that, to any significant extent, we'll ever be paying for things in Bitcoins, rather than pounds, dollars, or euros," said Ben Broadbent, the Bank of England's Deputy Governor. There were an estimated $5bn of Bitcoin transactions in the US last year, a remarkable phenomenon but a trivial sum in the greater scheme of things. Mr Broadbent said the attraction is the settlement mechanism used by Bitcoin, the so-called 'distributed ledger'. "The function goes right to the heart of what central banks do," he said in a speech earlier this month. Bitcoin is inherently limited, a niche for aficionados and the ideological heir's of the 19th Century 'free banking' movement. Its code restricts it to a limit of 21 million Bitcoins, and it can handle only seven transactions per second. "It is a Peter Pan system, and it doesn't really grow up," said Dr Danezis. Critics say it is also vulnerable to "double spending attacks", a form of manipulation where the same money is paid to two different people. One of them is tricked and receives nothing. The victim has no legal recourse. University College's RSCoin is safer, faster, and far less less volatile. It can scale up indefinitely. Its beauty is that it cuts out the middleman, and reduces costs to a wafer thin level. Mr Broadbent said such a currency could greatly widen the balance sheet of a central bank, hinting that the system could be designed in such a way that ordinary people could by-pass the commercial banks and hold balances directly with the Bank of England - a staggering concept. "It's likely you'd see money moving out of existing deposits," he said. Mr Broadbent said the system could in principle be used to cover government services, tax collection, and benefit payments. It is more likely to start with the settlement of bonds and equities, and for exchanges and clearing houses. The settlement systems used by central banks – CHAPS, TARGET2, and Fedwire – are expensive and rely on stagnant technology. The UK-based CHAPS system handled £68 trillion of transactions last year. RSCoin may be irresistible for central banks. Dr Danezis said it is allows them to turn the money tap on and off with calibrated precision, and lets them track the sort of counterparty liabilities that nearly blew up the financial system during the Lehman crisis. "There would be instant visibility. They could react very quickly in an emergency, " he said. Ultimately it could achieve some of the objectives of 'narrowing banking' proposed by Adam Smith, or the Chicago Plan put forward by US economists in the 1930s - but never enacted - to transfer control of money creation from private banks to the state. Arguably, this would make the financial system safer and less prone to boom-bust cycles. Dr Danezis said there are three big centres of research and innovation into the fast-moving area of 'Fintech' and crypto-currencies. The City is at the cutting edge. "The game is between London, New York, and Silicon Valley in California," he said. Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/03/13/central-banks-beat-bitcoin-at-own-game-with-rival-supercurrency/ |
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That is quite surprising. Microsoft reverses course, says 'no thanks' to Bitcoin paymentsThe company's change in policy comes after accepting the cryptocurrency to pay for goods on the Windows Store for over a year. Nick Mediati | @dtnick PCWorld Mar 13, 2016 11:22 AM Bitcoin’s day in the sun at Microsoft appears to be over, at least for now. According to a report on Softpedia published Friday, the purveyor of all things Windows has decided to stop taking the cryptocurrency after accepting it as a form of payment on the WIndows Store since late 2014. Sure enough, Microsoft published a short help doc to its website that confirms the chance in policy. The reasoning behind the change isn’t exactly clear—Microsoft has yet to openly explain why it will no longer accept Bitcoin—but for its part, Softpedia speculates that it just didn’t catch on as a way to pay for goods on the Windows Store, and that “Microsoft had no reason to continue keeping it as a supported digital currency.” The story behind the story: Microsoft first announced that it would accept Bitcoin in the U.S. Windows Store back in December 2014, and at the time, it was kind of a big deal. Bitcoin enthusiasts had long hoped that the cryptocurrency would become a widely accepted alternative to traditional currencies, but so for that hasn’t happened, for a variety of reasons. Existing Bitcoin balances honored If you have unused Bitcoin credited to your Microsoft account, you need not worry about losing it. Although Microsoft isn’t accepting new Bitcoin payments, you can still use any remaining Bitcoin balance credited to your Microsoft account to make purchases on the store, but Microsoft will not refund your remaining balance. Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3043657/data-center-cloud/microsoft-reverses-course-says-no-thanks-to-bitcoin-payments.htmlPerhaps they should start excepting DNotes...  A little early, RJF. May be next year. |
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That is quite surprising. Microsoft reverses course, says 'no thanks' to Bitcoin paymentsThe company's change in policy comes after accepting the cryptocurrency to pay for goods on the Windows Store for over a year. Nick Mediati | @dtnick PCWorld Mar 13, 2016 11:22 AM Bitcoin’s day in the sun at Microsoft appears to be over, at least for now. According to a report on Softpedia published Friday, the purveyor of all things Windows has decided to stop taking the cryptocurrency after accepting it as a form of payment on the WIndows Store since late 2014. Sure enough, Microsoft published a short help doc to its website that confirms the chance in policy. The reasoning behind the change isn’t exactly clear—Microsoft has yet to openly explain why it will no longer accept Bitcoin—but for its part, Softpedia speculates that it just didn’t catch on as a way to pay for goods on the Windows Store, and that “Microsoft had no reason to continue keeping it as a supported digital currency.” The story behind the story: Microsoft first announced that it would accept Bitcoin in the U.S. Windows Store back in December 2014, and at the time, it was kind of a big deal. Bitcoin enthusiasts had long hoped that the cryptocurrency would become a widely accepted alternative to traditional currencies, but so for that hasn’t happened, for a variety of reasons. Existing Bitcoin balances honored If you have unused Bitcoin credited to your Microsoft account, you need not worry about losing it. Although Microsoft isn’t accepting new Bitcoin payments, you can still use any remaining Bitcoin balance credited to your Microsoft account to make purchases on the store, but Microsoft will not refund your remaining balance. Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3043657/data-center-cloud/microsoft-reverses-course-says-no-thanks-to-bitcoin-payments.html |
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She has my vote! At 12 I doubt even gave a second thought to where money came, she is one smart cookie. Impressive! |
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