P.S. The IRS is not "attacking" anyone. They are going after deadbeats who want you to pay their share of the bill.

Wow guys, I’m flattered by all your kind words. I am just paying forward the help and guidance I received as a newbie. I think bitcoin can do a lot of good in the world simply by leveling the table for the poor, the un-banked and victims of oppressive monetary policy.  For me it’s not about handing out free cookies, but developing a system that keeps anyone from eating anyone else's cookie. 

Your insights are very helpful. I know little about M-Pesa and the other payment options in Africa. So I really need the information you are providing if I am going to talk to people about bitcoin.  I also agree with what all of you are saying, including the criticisms. This will not be easy, especially since I plan are targeting a place hostile to bitcoin rather than a place like Kenya that is embracing it. But I like to fight, lol.

My hope is to respectfully introduce people to the benefits of bitcoin and not come across as some white American here to save Africa. Africa is actually a happening place with lots of smart people doing innovative things.  It seems quite possible that in the future Africa could be teaching the rest of the world how to implement bitcoin.

Thanks for your responses! I will check them out.
I found a place in Namibia that is considering letting me pay in bitcoin as an experiment. I also am working on a trade with the Jo'Hansi San. I help the village set up a bitcoin payment option and they teach me to hunt and gather. The San are considered to be some of the best hunters in the world. Check this out!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o

Although these people live a very ancient lifestyle they have representation that allows them to take money for the villages and trade in the capitol, Windhoek.   

Sorry for the delay in responding, I have been away. I will consider your offer as I get a plan together. However I have to figure out a way to do this that does not open the opportunity to cheat. It's not that I would not trust you, but ideally there should be no need for trust and no way to even theoretically cheat.
In any case it will be January before the next cache is ready. I am currently looking at places in Africa. However I'm still in the planning phase.

Anyway thanks for the offer. Perhaps there is a fun role for you in some crazy game. When that time comes I can send you a PM in any case. I also want to see someone find these caches and tell the story.

Some of your criticisms are the reasons I use bitcoin. 

If bitcoin were regulated in any way, the regulators would have more power than the other users. That is an absolute non-starter for me. I would sell off my coins tomorrow if that happened. The beauty of bitcoin is that it can't be controlled by a bank, government, etc. It makes a consensus to change the protocol maddeningly dificult. Which is exactly what was designed.   

Your shock and horror at the naked greed in the BTC economy is just human behavior. Free markets are fair but brutal. They reflect the actions of myriad competing and self interested users. Free markets offer no protection, but opportunity that is unattainable in regulated markets.

As far as the problems you see with alt-coins, well... I tend to agree. Which is why I think alts are a foolish distraction. Just ignore them.

So what would regulation mean? Should I decide if you may use bitcoin? Should I chose how many you can (or must) buy/sell? Should I decide where you can use them, how many are produced, the price? What is it I should regulate and how are you going to pay me and do all this work?  And if not me, who should be the worldwide authority to create laws that every human on the Earth must obey to use BTC?

Me I like the wilderness. An uncaring, harsh environment that favors no one. 

Last year I focused on developing the bitcoin economy in Iceland, a country that is not friendly to bitcoin but could gain a lot from it's adoption. This year I am looking toward Africa. Last month's blockchain Africa conference in Johannesburg demonstrated a growing interest in bitcoin for the un-banked to do remittance and in person exchanges.

I have not done much in Africa yet. I donate a bit to http://medicmobile.org/ .  They develop medical apps for disease surveillance in Africa an other places. But I am considering going to Africa and meeting with business and government decision makers.  I think I can make the case for bitcoin among everyday Africans. For example, many poor Africans already use a form of digital currency. They trade phone minutes for goods when shopping. 

What I could use help with is selecting a country and choosing who to meet with. If any of you are in Africa and/or have contacts in government/business, I would love to hear your thoughts and back your efforts to popularize bitcoin. I also plan on hiding another bitcoin geo-cache somewhere in Africa and maybe even hosting some kind of event.

Please let me hear your ideas and observations on the topic of bitcoin's future in Africa.

 

The more I think about it, a cashless society would be the greatest thing to ever happen to bitcoin. Other than cash, no option is as cheap, fast, and secure as bitcoin.  It would be the most preferred payment method on the planet.

Spoiler alert: Cash is not going away. 

What about the crimes that bitcoin protects me from? Anonymity is my right, not a "problem" to be fixed.   

Hmm. I see absolutely nothing to support this statement. So do they mean because they are cheating on their taxes? That is a completely different topic. Those people are stealing and should be charged.

Totally. You could be jailed right now for tax evasion. The IRS goes after tax cheats. Pay your taxes and you have no legal problems. Of course it's true that laws could change and those laws could be anything you fail to fight against. 

Of course you absolutely owe taxes on alt-coins. Don't let the fools here convince you otherwise and risk your profits.
So I'll assume your in the U.S.  In that case you owe capitol gains on the profits you made. It looks like your gain was 10%. If you paid $1 for your alt (I'm using $1 to keep it simple) and your alt rose to $1.10, then you owe a percentage of that $0.10 profit.
The rate (percentage you owe) varies depending on your tax bracket. It could be 0% or sometimes as high as 15%. But 10% is normal. In this example you owe $0.01 to the government.

If you failed to pay you could be charged penalties, late fees, interest on the penny, and may face jail time; and you still owe the penny. That's not likely for a penny, but there is absolutely no question of taxation on alts or any money you make.

You have a 99% chance of being scammed. Why not just spend the bitcoin rather than losing money switching it back and forth and using for profit money transmitters? You are giving your money away at best, at worst it will be stolen.

I thought we got past this argument in 2011? 21 million coins is completely arbitrary. Any number, including 1, is enough bitcoin to supply the world. There is no bitcoin, just percentages of bitcoin. like a pie it can be cut ever smaller.

That's what I see also. Look at this other picture from page 1. I took this just before placing the rock over it. You can see the cache itself. I made it as waterproof as I could. It's in a sealed box with heavy tape over the seal.


It looks to me like it should be visible in the photo geschtonkenflapped took. It may still be around there somewhere. It may have been washed away, it may have been thrown out by someone who thought it was trash? It could also be in the possession of someone who took it and just kept the wallet. If so, they have until 2018 to move it to an address they control. Otherwise I will move it to another wallet hidden somewhere else in the world.

I am looking at a crazy game next time. I may hide identical paper wallets on a few continents. Then it becomes a race to be the first one to find and transfer. That voids the other wallets. Although I may offer small rewards for finding the voided wallets.

let's find out!

I hereby BAN bitcoin forever. You may not use it anymore!!!
Okay that should halt trading worldwide.

Nothing, that's what would happen. 

Here is your homework for the evening. Look up the difference between "legal currency" (like bitcoin) and "legal tender" (like US dollars). Bitcoin is, of course, legal. But legal tender would allow you to demand payment of taxes and court settlements using BTC.

I placed it under a rock where I thought the sea could not wash it away. It is the rock with the x on it in this photo:
If you look at geschtonkenflapped's photo below, the rock seems to have been moved. 

Aww. no.  You were definitely in the right spot. It looks like the rock was moved. By a person, the sea?
Well, I feel I should honor the terms of this and wait till 2018.  It is possible that someone took it and has simply not moved the coin. Some person might want totally anonymous money by not revealing themselves and claiming the .01BTC photo proof.
If we get to 2018 and no claim has been made I will move the coin and pay YOU the .01BTC photo reward. You were clearly there and the first one to prove it.
I'm a little bummed about it being gone. I really wanted a complete story of what happened.  

I would second this. And add that a lot of bitcoin experts are actually "bitcoin experts".

Just a minor correction. I think only Richard Branson takes bitcoin for space flights. Elon Musk operates Space-X, which is a competitor.  Still totally cool. I think about it sometimes. But I might have a great deal of buyers remorse 12 minutes later.