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I've been thinking of doing a complete overhaul on the Bitcoin Bazaar site that I set up and then almost immediately let fall by the wayside. Were you just looking to sell a few select items, or do you want to set up a permanent shop?
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Ponzi schemes in a nutshell:
1. Charles Ponzi says, "Invest with me and I'll pay you 150% whenever you cash out!"
2. Trusting individuals give Ponzi their money.
3. Whenever someone wishes to cash out, Ponzi pays them from what he's accumulated from other investors or, if he's already spent it, he gets more people to give him money and uses that. There is no other source to draw from.
4. Someone finally asks too many questions or a significant number of investors attempt to cash out and the whole house of cards comes crashing down when it becomes public knowledge that Peter was being robbed to pay Paul.
Differences with Bitcoin:
1. There is a finite number of BTC in existence. Their value increases because the demand for them increases.
2. The only advantage "early adopters" may have is that they were able to acquire bitcoins at a time when it was relatively inexpensive to mine them. There was no "Charles Ponzi" to receive an investment! Bitcoins are still created the same way but just at a higher difficulty rate and with much more competition.
3. The project is open source and, consequently, there is no deception inherent in it. The code does not lie.
4. Bitcoin is a currency, not an investment. You may choose to invest in this currency with the hopes that it will increase in value but it is not required for it to function in its intended role.
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My experience is also anecdotal, but I use them for processing BitBrew orders and haven't lost any BTC yet. Of course, it was inconvenient when their site went down temporarily and I've reduced the amount I keep there at any given time.
It would be nice if there was more competition.
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I use wordpress and Cart66 Lite with very little modification to accept BTC.
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If you're working on something or have some good ideas, let me know so that I don't lose heart.
(Here's hoping I just posted at an inopportune time.)
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One of the great things about the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the 30 day free trial period...
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Here's how this works: 1. Design a shirt everyone will want to wear while drinking their premium BitBrew coffee. 2. Put up an image in this thread or contact me via PM or the BitBrew Contact Page. 3. The best entry will be judged by forum members in a thread poll. 4. The winner receives 3 BTC worth of free coffee from BitBrew and a shirt proudly displaying their design. That's it! The amount of time this contest will run depends on how many entries are received during the first few days. Newbies will be able to submit an entry but not vote in the poll (unless the forum rules are changed between now and then). Good luck! |
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My mistake. I was thinking of the bet, not the winnings.
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Someone thought the same earlier in the thread. Basically the way it works is people deposit money, then get paid out 1.2 times the amount they put in. So because of this, if someone deposits 1 BTC, then you deposit 1 BTC, they get paid out their 1.2 BTC but now there is only .8 BTC left in the pot. Over time this gap grows larger, so the people in front of you are simply paying off that larger debt. On a larger scale, imagine a total of 100 BTC has been deposited, that means there will be 20 BTC worth of deposits that are unpaid.
This is why it's a pyramid scheme/gamble, there is no way everyone can get paid out and there's going to be some losers in the end. Bernie Madoff was discovered because it went on long enough that the gap was billions of dollars large, we're just dealing with a few BTC.
If you want to figure out how much is left before you get paid you can do it the quick way or the long way:
Long way: Sum up all the deposits, then subtract the paid amounts, then subtract the 3% fee from each deposit (easy to do with spreadsheets). This will leave you with the current amount left in the pool. Then you can use that to subtract from the total BTC left before you're paid out to get the exact amount.
Short way: Assume the pot is 0. Add up all unpaid deposits up to and including your own. This is a rough estimate of how much before you're paid.
Except more and more people keep depositing into this, yet the last paid person has been the same for 24 hours or so. No one is getting payouts. I doubt it takes 30+ people, of which many are putting in 2+ BTC into this, to pay off one guy who is expected to get 2.4 BTC when everyone else behind him is already paid. AKA he is "next in line"... and has been for well over a day now. Still hasn't gotten a payout, which makes me think that this thing only pays when the owner decides it to. It's an automated game. Do the math and you'll see that the pot hasn't reached 2.4 BTC yet. |
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The original question was "What if they make Bitcoin Illegal?"
I would answer that with more questions: Who is "they"? What reason would be given for outlawing it? How would these laws be enforced? What if they make the internet illegal? It's a vague, amorphous fear based on wild political speculation. |
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But Bitcion isn't illegal and it isn't a business.
Money laundering is illegal. Substance abuse is illegal. Child pornography is illegal.
Outlawing Bitcoin makes as much sense as outlawing the internet. I realize that doesn't mean it's not a possibility, but every day that legitimate business is conducted using BTC makes it that much harder to say the currency itself is detrimental to society.
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6) because it's an alternative to the banking/cc/paypal system. Theirs are proven to not be a viable alternative for online-commerce.
I used this argument in the past, but a person of the crowd asked me: "What if they make Bitcoin Illegal?" Bitcoin surpasses credit and debit cards in almost every way. Businesses pay a fortune on credit card processing fees just to be able to offer the convenience to their customers. Bitcoin has the potential to save merchants and consumers a significant amount of money that's currently going to middlemen. Did you know that it's illegal to not pay sales taxes to your state comptroller for online purchases that weren't collected because you live in a different state than the merchant is located? How many people do you know report the amount they should have been charged when filing their state income taxes? |
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Even farmers have computers and smartphones.
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Plenty of premium coffee available at BitBrew, starting at 0.29 BTC, but the best value is 12 ounces of Jamaican Blue Mountain at 1.15 BTC.
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Operation Fabulous is not my site but I do utilize it on BitBrew and The Bitcoin List, which are mine. I also have banner space available on The Bitcoin List: http://www.thebitcoinlist.com/advertising/(TBL got over 13,000 page views in June, by the way.) |
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I understand the need for Terms and Conditions on most sites, but adding the phrase "and I adhere to them unconditionally" just seems likely to alienate most bitcoiners (and other consumers, for that matter).
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Oh my god, 14.60997 where we headed to now?? up...or....down!?!?!?!?   Thoughts?
I'm thinking if someone were to sell caffeine / Red Bull / adrenaline injections on this forum they could make a killing... We all need a vacation...  Why do you think I chose coffee as my business focus? |
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I'd add it to my wordpress site. I will probably do it anyway, but a widget/plugin would be much more convenient to update.
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