Nice find, Chase. Good to know that DCEBrief is being quoted.

"1. Bitcoin VCs first, general VCs never

The most often repeated advice I’ve received from industry founders is this: Don’t talk to VCs who don't get bitcoin, ever.

This has come from enterprise- and consumer-focused founders alike, because almost every founder I spoke to had a story that goes something like this: They're asked to meet with a big partner at a name-brand VC fund. Next, the founder realizes they aren’t an investment target, they're just a guinea pig there to teach the investment team about bitcoin.

This is obviously less than ideal, and can become a major waste of time.

While there's potential that a multibillion-dollar fund opens up to bitcoin just to invest in your startup, don’t count on it. Focus. The list of bitcoin VCs is public on Crunchbase, Mattermark and other sources."

My concern is that even those VCs that have invested heavily in Bitcoin related business have been drying up. Our industry is clearly going through a period of adjustment.

Here some interesting comments worth reading:

Is Bitcoin Only Valuable to Crooks and Tax Cheats?

Comments From
Ellery Davies • 2 days ago

A growing number of reputable economists lean toward Will Luther’s conclusion. Fama, Thaler, Manchin & Schumer should broaden their cadre of advisors! Talk, for example, to Marshall Van Alstyne. The BU professor (a visiting scholar at MIT) is the leading authority on information economics.

It is not unusual for a new technology, a new platform, or even the shift to a new paradigm to be fueled by crime or vice. The early VCR had no TV tuner or timer (to store and playback television programs). A few were used for high school AV projects or auto showrooms, but consumer adoption would have been retarded, if not for p*rn*graphy.

Bitcoin is perceived by national legislators and regulators as a threat to governments and their ability to collect taxes. (This is changing in the US, where legislators are gradually recognizing that cryptocurrency presents more opportunities than threats)…

The threat perception is an illusion. If cryptocurrency begins to be perceived and used as a value store unto itself (and not as just as a transaction/debit instrument), it could begin to displace fiat currency for transactions and even savings. This will impact some institutions, such as central banks, national treasuries, currency boards and the TYPES and METHODS of tax collection. But it will not weaken the authority and ability of governments to pass laws, enact taxes, enforce tax collection, or spend.

More importantly, if a truly decentralized p2p currency, such as Bitcoin, begins to displace a nation’s currency (being trusted more than the printing press at the mint), it will ultimately lead to very positive things for both citizens and their governments.

Finally, governments will cultivate genuine trust, because they cannot fund projects by inflating the money supply. They will not be able to spend without at least an accounting entry for the project or account to which it is applied. Most importantly, they will have proof positive that the country is living within its means; balancing every dollar spent with a dollar collected, earned or loaned by a willing partner.

Ultimately, math is more trustworthy than the transient politics of the day. It is more trustworthy than the “good faith and credit of the American people”. It is more trustworthy than paper that is not linked to gold or even to a redemption promise.

Bitcoin is not a threat at all. Today, it’s a Geeky value transfer mechanism; tomorrow, it is likely to be the value in our wallets, all on its own. But, it is sorely misunderstood by the masses, and herein is its biggest challenge. Great inventions and revelations are often misunderstood or discounted: Copernicus in the 1500s; The “Democracy Experiment” in the 1700s; Emancipation in the 1800s; The Internet in the late twentieth century.

Bitcoin and the blockchain are similarly transformative. It is effectively a fundamental discovery rather than an invention.

Ellery Davies, Boston co-chair
Cryptocurrency Standards Association
crypsa.org
http://www.alt-m.org/2015/11/14/bitcoin-valuable-crooks-tax-cheats/

A good way to understand the concept is to equate it to a pre-paid debit card. You can only spend up to the balance of what you have in your account. There is an on-ramp and an off-ram to accept and pay out in fiat currency. Each one charges a fee. When you pay for stuff, there is also a fees charge. It has certainly been a great solution for the unbanked. Regulatory constraints will make it nearly impossible to implement the same system in the USA.

I just noticed that Evander posted this DCEBrief Op-Ed on LinkedIn. If you are signed up with LinkedIn please check it out and comment if possible. I just posted mine as follows:

Great article. Very compelling. Bitcoin and other digital currencies like DNotes are still at the infancy stage of development with great potential for appreciation. It is like investing in young promising companies.

There is an inherent tendency for promising emerging technologies to be deceptive at the formative stage, especially when it perceived to be highly disruptive. No matter how promising, emerging technologies are never perfect, providing room for critics to predict its early demise with sensational headlines. . In such an environment, the immensely promising Bitcoin, and other digital currencies with the potential to be the greatest technology revolution of our generation can be quite deceptive, causing many to look back a few years from now wondering how they could have missed the early promising signs.

It's very compelling and powerful. Great job Evander!!

That is excellent news, Marc. Our CRISP programs are designed to be easily replicated to fit any group or customized to meet unique requirements and other needs. Our current family for CRISPs for Kids, Students, Employees, and Retirement are the back-bone of the program so that anyone can find a CRISP that meet their needs.

A customized CRISP makes sense when there is a high level of interest, especially from someone of leadership. In this case, a CRISP For Boy and Girl Scouts, could be advantageous when it comes to promotion and fund raising. As an example, Smokeys Daylily Gardens works with Boy Scouts in a fund raising program of their choice. Smokeys agrees to contribute 30% of the sales proceeds to the target charity or organization and 10% to the CRISP program. A lot of good deeds can be accomplished while providing an opportunity to the young scouts to learn about the future of money. It is conceivable that there could be hundreds of CRISPs in the future.

When the funding is there, a lot of things are possible. More likely than not there will be a new generation of Blockchain technology; removing any limitations and concern we have today. Our strategy has always  been to build a trusted global brand with broad base and wide spread stakeholders. Technology can be upgraded quickly. It takes years to build a solid brand and mass acceptance. Within five to ten years, many things that we wished possible, will be possible. Positioning for those possibilities are why we are doing what we are doing. I am absolutely certain that we are on the right track, even though looking at the low price of DNotes today may raise some doubts for some investors. We just have to stay the course and continue to do the right things.   

From CryptoMoms:


Quote from: indiamikezulu on Today at 07:48:50 AM

We’re now in La La Land. Just gonna dump really good articles for you:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2013/01/28/government-ban-on-bitcoin-would-fail-miserably

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2015/11/after-paris-attack-where-terrorists-used-cleartext-communications-and-credit-cards-police-state-hawks-demand-a-ban-of-encryption-and-bitcoin

“ . . . Vladimir Putin joined the conversation recently, announcing on national television that it is not bitcoin, nor their gold-based currency system, that have been funding ISIL militants. Putin stated that ISIL derives the majority of its revenue from oil reserves, which they have illegally seized in both Syria and Egypt.
During his discussion on financial systems and the operations of ISIL, Putin claimed that the mainstream media has turned their attention to innovative systems like bitcoin, while it was, and always has been, the US government that built and funded ISIL.”

http://Http://bravenewcoin.com/news/europe-russia-and-the-us-weigh-in-on-isil-bitcoin-use

I want more data on this issue: http://www.globalresearch.ca/turkey-supports-isis-now-declares-war-against-isis-but-instead-bombs-its-political-rival-which-is-the-most-effective-force-fighting-isis/5466169

Mark

Quote From Shepherd Today:

Thanks, Mark. Some great articles. I would have commented on some of them but have been behind on my writing schedule. I hope someone to comment on them.

Quote from: Chase on Today at 01:19:21 AM

Does anyone have a good Christmas idea or two for spreading the DNotes joy this holiday season?   

Quote From Shepherd Today:

I would encourage parents and grandparents with children or grand children, who have not already done so, to sign up for CRISP for Kids: http://dnotesvault.com/crisp-for-kids.php
This is the time of the year when some generous donors like to enrich the kids' account with DNotes. We will also have prizes to be given out.

This list of currency loss only covered the emerging market. Majority of the global currencies lost significant value while US$ recorded some gain.

It's nothing new that citizens often ended up loosing a big chunk of their life savings, not because of any faults of theirs, but that of their government. It will be nice for DNotes to become a global alternative savings in a large scale one day.

Again great job! It is now a must read for me as I like to keep myself well informed on what is going in our industry. We have been adding a lot of great contents, more than just keeping up with the news. Congratulations to our team for a job well done.

“Coinbase Just Debuted the First Bitcoin Debit Card in the US”

That sounded like a great idea since  “relatively few people and businesses are using bitcoin to actually buy and sell stuff—or send money to friends and family or transfer money across international borders  …… Most people are just speculating in bitcoin…”

Coinbase just “unveiled the country’s first bitcoin debit card. It’s called the Shift Card, and it lets you spend bitcoin at any merchant—both online and off—that accepts an ordinary VISA card. Imagine buying a burrito at your local Mexican joint with bitcoin card, or a television from Amazon.com.”

“The new Coinbase card alleviates the concern over anonymity. Like any other debit or credit card, you must verify your identity to use it.”

This article is worth reading, despite the multiple level of fees involved.  It is not ideal but a good start.


Coinbase Just Debuted the First Bitcoin Debit Card in the US

PEOPLE ARE USING the bitcoin digital currency more than ever before. That’s good news for this decidedly democratic money system, a system controlled not by big governments and big banks and big credit card companies but by a vast network of computers set up by users around the world. The more people who use bitcoin, the more useful it becomes—the closer we get to a place where we can send money across the Internet as easily as we send texts or emails.

Read more:
http://www.wired.com/2015/11/coinbase-unveils-countrys-first-bitcoin-debit-card/

Just a little more for those who are wondering what the heck we are talking.

Scientists and engineers from the Australian University of New South Wales have successfully tested a quantum version of computer code on a silicon chip - Quantum bits -- or qubits

"Ultimately, the structure is scalable to millions of qubits, required for a full-scale quantum processor."

Background

In classical computers, data is rendered as binary bits, which are always in one of two states: 0 or 1. However, a qubit can exist in both of these states at once, a condition known as a superposition. A qubit operation exploits this quantum weirdness by allowing many computations to be performed in parallel (a two-qubit system performs the operation on 4 values, a three-qubit system on 8, and so on).

As a result, quantum computers will far exceed today's most powerful super computers, and offer enormous advantages for a range of complex problems, such as rapidly scouring vast databases, modelling financial markets, optimising huge metropolitan transport networks, and modelling complex biological molecules.

Source:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151030153108.htm

This is an amazing technology breakthrough and has advanced very quickly. I have been following quantum computing for a while. It will lead to many new possibilities, we never thought possible before, especially in the areas of artificial intelligence for machine, and human as well, which almost sounded scary.

Those who can afford to be so equipped can drastically expand way beyond their current human limitations. Technically, if I can interface with my quantum computer, 24/7, it will quickly learn everything I know, research what I need to know and write the book, I am currently writing, far better than anyone could. This may sound exciting but if you are concerned about social economic inequalities, this could take it to a devastating level where a very small population preform better than the rest by a quantum leap. My advice, keep up with revolutionary technologies, including digital currency. Don't let your bankers talk you out of it. The world is changing at an ever increasing rate.

One issue of immediate concern is the current state of encrypted password and security. Technically, the new quantum computing will render everything we considered "protected and safe" void. I am sure we will adjust. Technology always evolves. Here is another reason investing heavily in technology development before one is ready to commercialize it is not a very smart business strategy. Getting ready to react quickly is much more prudent.

As to be expected media bias attempting to connect Bitcoin to terrorism funding intensified, in the wake of multiple horrendous terrorist attacks in Paris and elsewhere. Like it or not, this will have a damaging effect on our industry. DCEBrief was launched because we recognize that biased and inaccurate reporting about our industry will continued, either based on sloppy reporting or other motivating factors to promote a different agenda.

Any medium of exchange can be used to do bad things. Bitcoin is not the preferred medium of exchange.

“In response, industry thought leaders sought to put forth a more moderate take on the technology's role in global financial crime, with some circulating a report from the UK treasury, released in October, that found that digital currencies were the least likely payment method to be used for money laundering.”



Bitcoin, Paris and Terrorism: What the Media Got Wrong

Due to their status as both an emerging payment method and payments technology, global authorities have long sought to ensure safeguards are in place to prevent digital currencies from being abused by cybercriminals and terrorists seeking to take advantage of their cash-like features.

This narrative was given new prominence this week following the terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday, which left more than 100 people dead and that have found law enforcement agencies and politicians seeking to take aggressive measures to bolster security in their wake.

Of note is that global authorities including FinCEN, Europol, FATF, G7 and Interpol have long been concerned about the state of regulation on digital currencies due to what they consider to be the potential for the new technology to be leveraged by groups seeking to finance terrorists or by terrorists directly.

Such nuance was often lost in new reports that highlighted how digital currencies were once again part of the conversation in the wake of the Paris attacks, as the European Council of the European Union and G7 convened for meetings aimed at assessing potential areas of concern in the global financial system.
Complicating reports by global media outlets was confusion related to past research into whether Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), or Daesh, has been confirmed to have actually used digital currency to fund its operations.

This arguably confusing state of reporting was even highlighted by FinCEN director Jennifer Shasky Calvery in a speech where she stated directly that her agency does not believe digital currencies to represent a "higher risk" when compared to more established payment methods.

According to American Banker, Calvery said:
"There has been public reporting of connections of ISIL promoting the use of bitcoin and virtual currencies as a means of moving and raising funds, but I think we are also very focused on the traditional means of moving funds so I think we need to keep our focus on both areas."

Such nuanced commentary, however, was often reduced in headline form, with American Banker running the headline, "ISIL May Be Using Bitcoin, FinCEN's Calvery Says".

In response, industry thought leaders sought to put forth a more moderate take on the technology's role in global financial crime, with some circulating a report from the UK treasury, released in October, that found that digital currencies were the least likely payment method to be used for money laundering.
The report, however, suggested that, as global law enforcement agencies have advocated, activities in the industry should be monitored due to the potential for such systems to be more widely used for both legitimate and criminal purposes.

Dubious connections
Issues began last weekend when cryptocurrency-specific industry news outlets sought to determine whether the technology may have played a role in funding the Paris attacks.

In the wake of the news, industry blog NewsBTC published an interview with a member of Ghost Security Group, an organization formerly affiliated with Anonymous that works in conjunction with the US government, which discussed whether IS was using bitcoin as a means to fund operations.

The member of Ghost Security Group said that IS used cryptocurrencies as a form of income to fund their activities, and that the group had uncovered various bitcoin addresses used by those affiliated with IS, though they did not specify whether any of these funds had been used in the planning of the recent attacks in Paris.

However, the media outlet published the interview under the headline "ISIL Militants Linked To France Terrorist attacks Had A Bitcoin Address with 3 Million Dollars".
The headline sparked a wave of coverage from other outlets, including NetworkWorld andPaymentWeek, which ran similar coverage.

A representative for Ghost Security told CoinDesk that the accounts it claimed it discovered "are in no way connected to the Paris attack", contradicting numerous headlines that attested otherwise.
Further, the representative said that it was not currently in possession of the bitcoin addresses it claimed it were connected to ISIL, adding:

"We no longer have the full addresses and they were handed off to the US government for verification and investigation."

Some observers, including an anti-ISIL group called GhostSec that is associated with online hacktivist collective Anonymous, have disputed Ghost Security Group's claims in light of a lack of verifiable bitcoin address or transactions.

Ghost Security Group provided CoinDesk with a purported image from a now-defunct Islamic State site, though the bitcoin address listed on it was not legible. The group later said it no longer possessed that information.

The language included on the page is identical to that on a Pastebin from May, though the bitcoin address listed has not received or sent any transactions.

Past precedent
Also circulating as media outlets attempted to understand the issue were older reports that had sought to connect IS and digital currencies.

Often cited, for example, was a September article by Deutsche Welle that explored the alleged connection between IS and the digital currency.



"Between bitcoin and gold, the 'Islamic State' is experimenting with currency, marking a new step in its state-crafting ambitions ... its apparent use of the decentralised technology bitcoin has come at nearly the same time as IS minted and released its own currency, the 'gold dinar'. The group's use of the two currencies, however, will likely serve different purposes."

The article cited the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) junior analyst Beatrice Berton, who said:
"Sadaqa (private donations) constitute one of ISIL's main sources of revenue, and its supporters around the world have allegedly used digital currencies such as bitcoin to transfer money quickly to accounts held by ISIL militants while minimising the risk of detection."

Thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin have been sent to accounts purportedly affiliated with IS, said the article, with the one of the accounts registering its first transaction as far back as 2012.
Speculation as to the veracity of the article in light of new attention eventually reached a fever pitch, with author Lewis Sanders IV taking to Twitter to stick by his coverage.

A point of contention, however, was an apparent error in Sanders' report, in which it was originally claimed that an address with $20m in bitcoin had been tied to ISIL. Sanders later said that it was an error added after he had filed the report.

Sanders IV went so far as to denounce how his reporting was being used by other journalists, writing:
"I do not support - and instead condemn - #Bitcoin news (sic) sites extrapolating erroneous information from it."

EU 'crackdown' on bitcoin
Soon after this wave of reporting, Reuters jumpstarted a second life for the narrative when it reported European countries were planning to "clamp down" on digital currencies and "anonymous online payments" in an attempt to curb the financing of terrorism activities in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.
According to a draft document seen by Reuters, EU interior and justice minister were due to gather in Brussels today for a crisis meeting.

"They will urge the European Commission, the EU executive arm, to propose measures to 'strengthen controls of non-banking payment methods such as electronic/anonymous payments and virtual currencies and transfers of gold, precious metals, by pre-paid cards," Reuters said, citing the draft conclusions from the meeting.

It was not long until other mainstream media outlets began to cover the news. City AM's Clara Guibourg, picked up on Reuters' original report which outlined the plan to curb terrorism financing by targeting digital currencies such as bitcoin.

The author sought to position the news as part of a new event that was perhaps a "setback" for the digital currency, in what would become a common theme for reporters despite the long-standing investigation of global governments into the connection.She wrote:"This comes as a setback for bitcoin, which has been charging forward in recent months, with the EU recently accepting it as a currency by granting it VATexemption.The cryptocurrency surged in price, charging up 110 per cent over Octoberto hit a 2015 high of $500 before tumbling back down just as quickly to trade around $330 today."

Despite the coverage, the meeting conclusions from today's meeting in Brussels did not specifically mention bitcoin or any other digital currencies. CoinDesk reached out to the European Commission for more details on the meeting, but at press time did not receive any new details.
The EU news was accompanied by a separate report that members of the G7 nations were seeking to "get tough" on digital currencies, which Reuters positioned as a response to the Paris attacks.

Reuters wrote:
"The software-based financial services that FinTechs offer, including digital or 'virtual' currencies such as bitcoin, often operate across borders and beyond the reach of security officials."
The story was originally published by Der Spiegel on Wednesday, with both outlets noting that this intention extended to the wider FinTech industry, yet neither positioning their headlines toward this angle.

Old criticisms revived
Elsewhere, news outlets used this background as a kickstarter for conversations about the perceived benefits and drawbacks of digital currencies.

Bloomberg View writer Leonid Bershidsky noted the EU's perceived plan to crack down on virtual currencies using it as a platform to call for cash to be abolished.

"The problem is that terrorists aren't really using [digital currencies], anyway," he said, adding:
"They're using good old cash, though its circulation is already severely limited in countries such as France – the scene of the most recent Islamic State terror attacks. Instead of taking their anger out on virtual currencies, now is the time for governments to think seriously about the abolition of cash."

"Despite the Islamic State's well-known dislike of the US, its financial accounts seem to be kept in US dollars. The terror group's revenue comes in greenbacks, whether from old-school oil smuggling, 'taxes' on subjugated populations or the trade in stolen artefacts," he continued.

He went on to suggest that bitcoin's price volatility against other currencies would make the system "risky" for terrorist groups.

"Groups like Islamic State and their contractors don't want a means of payment that can lose half of its value in a day," he concluded.

Bershidsky's report, while a minority opinion, nonetheless succeeded at highlighting a discrepancy in the media's reporting that had been widely voiced on social media by the bitcoin industry, that reports on the use of newer payment methods in terrorist funding obscure that much of this illicit activity takes place among established forms of payment.

This report was co-authored by Pete Rizzo and Stan Higgins
Source:
http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-paris-and-terrorism-what-the-media-got-wrong/

Excellent recap and very appropriate messaging. We all have that inherent tendency to remember some while forgetting others. Unfortunately, we are living in a very troubled world. There is so much grief to acknowledge and so little we can do about it.

 You are welcome. I will be happy to answer any questions.

That is great. Let me know if I can be helpful.

I understand. It can get really frustrating. The big banks have been pushing back hard and sadly many in the "government" are their friends.

We know that we are doing the right things and for the right purpose. Over time the truths always prevail. DNotes is firmly committed to build a trusted global currency so that everyone worldwide can have a choice - DNotes or fiat currency, or both. We are mindful that DNotes is still in its infancy, as we get better established the choice will become more apparent.