Go to the developer forum and you'll see some guy is offering Bitcoins to developers to help him start up his own blockchain and corresponding client, and miners to help him mine the new currency (he calls it Groupcoin).  So anyone can do it, but just because you can doesn't mean they'll be worth anything.  Bitcoin is worth something because it has a large number of people on board.  People have a hard time understanding this.  I think the Groupcoin founder believes he's going to get rich and spread wealth to all the developers who help him (and some are).  But before you invest your hard-earned Bitcoins in Groupcoins, remember that Bitcoin is worth something because of the number of people who use it, not because of some secure P2P accounting system, brilliant though it may be.

I like this idea of a Bitcoin challenge. I'm thinking about taking it for a month.  It could be done using Spendbitcoins.com, and buying Groceries from Amazon.  If enough people do it, Amazon might start considering Bitcoin as a payment method.  And I like the idea that we all can do this.  

But realistically, no group of people in this community can influence Bitcoins future more than the handful of early adopters and big pool miners who hold upwards of a million Bitcoins.

This is a good idea and good way to start conversations about Bitcoin.  You should set up a basic website to sell them.

Great idea!

This word, "inflation"...I do-not-ah-think it means what you think it means.

I'm a little surprised not to see more support and promotion for Bitcoin coming from the early miners and big pool owners.  For example, I have made some extremely modest (5 bitcoins or less) contributions to worthy Bitcoin development projects.  These are Bitcoins I've bought on exchanges at $15+, by the way, not mined.  But based on the surprised and grateful reaction of the developers, such donations are not exactly common.  Some of the most promising Bitcoin projects are being build part-time on a shoe-string budget, because no one is putting their money where their mouth is.

It's interesting to me that the old adage about the wealthy being the most tight-fisted is proving true with Bitcoin.  However, unlike in the world of established fiat currency, holding on to vast reserves of a new currency in its infancy, and never spending it, has significant implications for the growth of that currency.  I know that many of the early adopters with thousands of Bitcoins secured away are totally convinced that this project will continue to take off, but let me assure you that unless many more people adopt Bitcoin, it could well turn back into the experiment and hobbyist currency that it was six months ago.  I'm a strong supporter of Bitcoin for both ideological reasons and selfish reasons (I'm building a product involving Bitcoin), but I'm also very aware that the market has not made up its mind about Bitcoin.  I don't think Bitcoin's success is a foregone conclusion just because it's a better currency.  Look at what happened to Betamax.  At this stage of Bitcoin's development, it needs infrastructure.  And the beauty of Satoshi's creation is that he has given those with the most vested interest in Bitcoin's success *the very means to fund that infrastructure*.  But this is clearly not happening to a significant degree, since there are relatively few projects involving Bitcoin that are being done by well-funded professionals (and hat tip to Camp BX for being just that).

So miners and early adopters, consider that in order for this venture to succeed, it's possible -- likely even -- that you're going to have to start spending some of those thousands of Bitcoins you have stashed away.  With that in mind, I offer you this easy-to-understand action plan that will take you from Montgomery Burns to Pacman Jones in three easy steps:

1.  Start patronizing merchants who accept Bitcoin.  I mean, look at: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade  Art, music, clothing, gift cards -- it's all there.  You *could* almost live off of Bitcoins alone at this point.  So start spending!

2.  Share some with your non-Bitcoin-owning friends.  And make them promise not to immediately convert them to USD, but instead to at least buy something useful with them. (But don't get mad at them if they do go running to the nearest exchange -- at least they'll finally believe you when you tell them you're a millionaire).

3.  Decide on a worthy Bitcoin-related start-up project to fund.  Take your time.  I realize this forum is full of scam artists, but there are some worthy projects going on.  I don't care if it's software, porn, gambling, exchanges, or alpaca socks.  If it's related to Bitcoin, it needs your help.  And to be clear, we're not talking charity here, we're talking *investment*.  If you do this one smart, you have the opportunity to make some big bucks.  But it does involve releasing the death grip you've now got on your coins.  So spend some money.*

I realize I'm painting the largest holders of Bitcoins with a wide brush.  To be clear, my criticisms don't apply to all Bitcoin rich individuals.  I'm sure that some of them are doing everything I described above, and to them I say thank you.  Also, I should make it clear to the Bitcoin wealthy that I don't begrudge you for your money.  I'm glad you made it big!  I do, however, begrudge you for your tightfistedness.  If this were an established project, I could care less.  But at this point, Bitcoin needs you to spend, spend, spend!  Not play Silas Marner.  And Bitcoin is too good of an idea to go back to being an crypto experiment and hobbyist activity run by ex-pats selling gamer trading cards.

tl;dr Miners and early adopters, this project may not succeed without your help.  So start spending some Bitcoins.  (And in my opinion, manipulating markets doesn't count as help.  That's only postponing the inevitable.)

* For the record, my venture is already fully funded.  Rest assured that I'm not looking for your money.

Forget China, try getting money back and forth from the US to Europe.  They think we (the US) are in the banking stone ages because we still use checks/wire payments and not IBAN (which is true).  That's what got my interested in Bitcoin initially.  Bitcoin has the opportunity to change the (multi-billion dollar) industry I work in.

The wave of entrepreneurs who were attracted to Bitcoin over the past month are just getting in gear.  It takes time to put together a business venture, even at light-speed Bitcoin time.  I suspect we'll see some awesome businesses emerge by summers end.

I do think that whoever is the first person to put together a well-done predictions market or casino using Bitcoin as its premier currency will eventually make a killing (and I'm not working on anything like that).  I bet a talented, dedicated team is hard at work on such a creature as we speak.

Bruce, I appreciate your enthusiasm.  And I agree that we need to put more effort into marketing Bitcoin.  But before you spend a lot of money on TV, please take a look at this wikipedia page on Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore and think about where Bitcoin lies on his adoption curve: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm

To me, it's clear that Bitcoin is still at the level of adoption somewhere between innovators and early adopters.  If that's true, we need to still be targeting the rest of the early adopters before we even think about targeting the mainstream.  So I think your idea of using Facebook to market Bitcoin is a great idea.  A good many early adopters still use Facebook.  Why not put all the resources you're devoting to Bitcoin to Facebook.  If you're wanting to make a little money off of an e-book while you promote Bitcoin, then I think you'd have a much greater chance of selling it on Facebook where users can easily click on your e-book landing page.

Just something to think about.  I'd probably throw in a few Bitcoins to efforts to promote Bitcoin on the Web.  It's still way too early to move to TV, in my opinion.  Once Bitcoin is being used by 15-20% of the population, then I think it'd be smart to move to TV.

Also, marketing Bitcoin as an e-book on late night TV will place it in some very unsavory company.  Is that who we want to be associated with?

But again I appreciate your promotion of Bitcoin and wish you well in all your future endeavors.

Yeah, the 14-day claim period is not only a marketing disaster, it might also be illegal if this service is based in the US (depending on the state).  For example, in my state it's illegal to offer gift cards with any time of limited claim period.  The law is written in such a way that it applies to any goods or services that are purchased in advance can not "expire" after a certain waiting period.  Regardless, let's just say the FTC would frown upon this practice.

But it's all academic anyway since I think very few people would be willing to send money to a friend or family member if there's a risk that the service could claim the money after two weeks.  That is, unless they don't happen to read the "fine print", which I'm sure some people fail to do.

I agree that the service has to make money somehow, but why not implement a very small fee?  Better yet, one of the exchanges could do this in order to stir up new business.

Well done!  I like. 

I do agree with the point about the use of "our websites".  I think just "visit: bitcoin.org and bitcoin.it" sound better and more succinct.

Thanks for putting those together.

Also, if the forum user who sells t-shirts comes up with a "Why Bitcoin...Ask Me" t-shirt for sale, I'll be happy to advertise it on whybitcoin.org

This is a great video.  Think of how pertinent it is to Bitcoin, particularly at the 11-12 minute mark!  What are we doing to push the adoption rate past the 15% barrier?

I just ordered the domain name whybitcoin.org  

I intend to put it up as a not-for-profit community Bitcoin promotion site, with the central idea of Simon Sinek's video as the driving force behind the site.  I really like the spiels I've read of this thread.  Perhaps we can put up pseudocode's copy as the leading text (with permission, of course), then expand into some of the other promotional writings, like tymothy's.  If someone makes a video based on the "why" of Bitcoin, I'd love to embed it.

Also, I'll make personalized whybitcoin.org addresses available to the first 5 people to PM me (part of the domain name deal).  No charge for the e-mail addresses to the first five takers, but a small Bitcoin donation to cover my expenses (which are minimal) would be welcome.

If any graphic designers have ideas on how to design this site, please post it on this thread.  I can't guarantee I'll use them, but I'd love to see your ideas.



 

F4C3: Did you ever get Bitcoins for your efforts here?

Gavin, I think this proactive approach is smart.  Yes, we should stand up for what be believe, and take care not to be co-opted, but if we don't explain all the positive, legitimate aspects of Bitcoin to our members of Congress, then they're sure to just believe whatever misinformation the media and banking industry throw out.  They may believe it anyway, but it's worth a try.  And many of the pro-business members of congress who are not too closely allied to the banking industry might be natural allies.

As soon as I get my current Bitcoin venture off the ground over the next few weeks (business license, LLC organization, first contractor hired, etc.), then I'll be sure to make an appointment with technology-aware staffers of both my state senators and representatives and members of Congress.

Or you could just use your myb.tc ID when talking on the phone.  But clearly, an easier way for people to pay merchants face-to-face is needed.  I suspect smart people are working on this problem as we speak.

I USED to do a variation of this, but I would not recommend it now since many password crackers take these keyboard patterns into consideration.  Just use a password manager, like Lastpass.  Strongly consider using dual-factor authentication for Lastpass, such as with a Yubikey (look it up, very easy to use).  Be aware that a password manager is only as strong as its weakest point, which for Lastpass is the e-mail address you use for the account (which serves as the password recovery mechanism).  So consider using an e-mail that permits two-factor authentication (like gmail) and use a very strong memorized password for that e-mail with as many "random" characters as possible.  And be sure not to store the e-mail in Lastpass!!!  But with this system, the only two passwords you'll need to remember are your passwords for Lastpass and your e-mail account -- make sure they're not the same.  For every other account you have, you can then use 16+ character random passwords with special characters that no one can crack.

Not a cryptographer, but I like this idea.  In fact, this is how I had assumed Bitcoin was implemented before I read the technical information.  A lot of important web services will need this feature to function effectively and securely.

Another possibility for earning bitcoins would be if a member of your family is good at translating.  They could sell translation services online for bitcoins.

Thanks for that address, seeARMS.

Fireball, sounds like you are well-positioned for a number of different opportunities involving Bitcoin. Good luck going forward. (And I think the quality of web projects involving Bitcoin will start improving rapidly.)

Cunicula, I read your proposals for integrating derivatives into the blockchain.  I can't say I understand all or even most of what are proposing yet -- I need to reread it.  But I agree with you that some time of risk mitigation instruments are needed for big players to enter the Bitcoin economy, and it seems like a good idea to integrate this system into Bitcoin.  And the reaction of Bitcoin veterans seems to be by and large positive, as well.  Thanks for your introduction and glad to see an economist in academia who's interested in Bitcoin.