Suddenly I feel like DNotes Dancing! What an excellent video to show the power of one person who leads the way and how others, finding his actions worthy, join in and all become one. Once people realize that DNotes is that "One", then all will join and become one. DNotes global commerce acceptance is inevitable.

That is a really interesting discussion going on Chase!

I just watched this 3 minute video about 'leadership' and starting a movement. I found it incredibly interesting. I feel much like Digital Currency is currently sitting at the point where about 3 people are involved in the timeline of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbaemWIljeQ

It highlights how 'viral' both Digital Currency, and the DNotes project could become if we can stand up for our values / passion / mutual interests, and embrace our 'first follower' status.

There is an interesting conversation going on in Altcoin Discussion:


"What altcoin community has the most active developers?"








                                                 

Here's something interesting. I just noticed that Dell Computers now accepts Bitcoin! My company is a Dell shop, we have over 100 workstations, 20 servers and 30 laptops and all are Dell. I've been looking for a way to convince them to embrace digital currency and this might well be the "foot in the door" so to speak. Even more important, it tells me the revolution is quietly gaining corporate converts.

Go Dell, thanks for moving toward the future. Now, how about some DNotes savings plans for your workers and customers?

 

Thanks for chiming in, I share your view. I too still have my concerns despite all the security measures taken. If it's not 100% and someone else has the keys it's compromisable. I'm not bashing your service at all, just having that splinter of doubt...

I actually remember seeing that link in the past after having searching probably Dauphin DTR in google. I also recall being a bit confused when it said Korean when I was pretty sure I'd heard Chinese / Malaysian.

I saw one of Apple's earlier computers nearly being thrown out and selling for 200k or something in the news? It wouldn't surprise me if you had a couple DTR's lying around the house!! Should get them appraised if you do! Computer history right there.

Also, semi related to computers - I saw a film called 'the imitation game' a couple nights ago (really good). It was about Alan Turing and his quest to create a machine (is it accurate to say first computer?) that could  break the enigma code. I learned that computers were originally called 'Turing machines'. I was born in the wrong generation to take part in the oil boom, the industrial boom, the Computer industry revolution, and the dot-com bubble, but I will be here to take part in the Blockchain explosion.

DNotes = ecosystem of building blocks = built 'block, by block' into a block-chain

So, they want to increase block size from 1Mb to 20Mb to make Bitcoin faster by being able to handle more than 7 transactions a second. The most obvious problem I see is blockchain size and the amount of space needed to store same on you device. At some point, I can see a situation where a full copy of the ledger will not be downloadable or, will take so much space that smaller devices won't be able to handle it.

I think they need to work on this prior to trying to scale Bitcoin to match the credit cards with their hundreds of thousands of transactions per second. One entwines the other, fast blockchains need to be small and agile, thousands of transactions make huge slow blockchains. This is a problem within the design itself but, not insurmountable. Some work has already been done on partial copies of the chain, compression and offsite storage. Problem is some of the current "solutions" centralize the blockchain and defeat the purpose of Bitcoin, decentralization. To solve this issue is to push crypto to the next technical level...

I've been in the Bitcoin community for over two years and I still don't use my Bitcoin to buy ordinary things. The main reason is that I'm still in trying to grow my Bitcoin stash mode. If I could go back in time knowing everything I know now and not make a lot of the mistakes I made it's possible I'd be sitting on a pretty nice stash of Bitcoin at the moment. Then I'd have a solid pool to use for spending money. It's not for lack of trying to grow my stash. But a few of the methods I tried turned out to be scams, hacked, or plain unsustainable. In all cases, the result was losing rather than growing Bitcoins. This means that today when I do get Bitcoin, I'm keeping it as Bitcoin and either using it to buy a different coin, or trying to earn some interest on it. My hope is that some day I will have a nice abundant stash of Bitcoin and be able to spend it. For now, though, I'm not going to spend it on ordinary stuff because it's easier to spend fiat. I'm certainly not going to convert my fiat into Bitcoin just so I can buy something with Bitcoin instead of fiat. Anytime you have to make an exchange, that introduces cost and risk.

I now understand better one aspect of the DNotes strategy, which is to spend the first couple years focusing on encouraging and helping people to obtain DNotes, and then save them for some time a few years down the road. Since DNotes are cheap these days it's easy to buy them and that's not counting what the DNotes team gives away for free. A couple years down the road, if the DNotes I bought today have appreciated substantially in value, and I'm sitting on a nice stash of them, then when retailers start accepting DNotes, then I will be a lot more inclined to spend mine. I don't know for sure, but I believe the majority of the people who are regularly spending Bitcoin at retail stores are those who either heavily mined or bought back when Bitcoin was worth less than a dollar, and now get to spend it at over 200 times its initial value. That's what I'm hoping will happen to my DNotes stash. Buy them at two or three cents today; spend them at two or three dollars in a few years.

Given that, I think the best strategy for DNotes is to try to turn as many people as possible into early adopters, encourage them to acquire DNotes while the price is low, then save them, and during that time, work very hard to build value and more value into it. If successful, in a few years you'll have all kinds of people buying and selling with it.

It helps also to do what is possible to minimize the scam sites using DNotes. Those and the outright illegal ones.

Speaking at NASDAQ events doesn't hurt either...

Hey, DNotes people, You guys should really do all that.

Oh, never mind. You've been doing this since day one

DNotes has accomplished a lot in just over one year. Although Alan has mentioned this before, it important to remember that we are still at the foundation building stage. Essentially, we have been building the infrastructure of what we often referred to as highly scalable building blocks. Each building block is launched as a pilot project, constantly fine tuned to perfection and positioned for full scale launch locally or globally as the case may be, at the most opportune time. They are all strategically linked and served as the initial segment of our own ecosystem. As DNotes continues to grow new infrastructure, such as a licensed regulated exchange, global payment network, mobile applications and many more will be added.

Let us take a closer look at the CRISP for Students program today. We strongly believe that encouraging and assisting students to be among the earliest adopters of digital currency is a prudent endeavor. This is where many of the high paying jobs will be and today’s student will become our next generation of leaders.
  
The foundation of CRISP For Students has been built with over 40 students enrolled at this time. We will continue our giveaway program to introduce students to DNotes which we firmly believe will play a big role in their future. Students can signup today and have a real world experience with DNotes, without having to pay for it, and I feel that is a significant benefit and there is the potential of significant appreciation over the long term. Should that happened, it could be your solution to pay down or payoff your student debt.

Big things in life often start out in a small way. People who can see great value in taking the first step are more likely to be successful while many would come back later and wonder why they missed the opportunity. Signing up for the program takes very little efforts. To get started go to: http://dnotesvault.com/crisp-for-students.php

Great to see that Alan is on the list for the Innovation Spotlight for Digital Currencies.  Great things are sure to come of this and I am so very happy and pleased with where DNotes is going! Congrats Alan to be invited to sit on this panel.

Here is one of the best interviews I read in a long time. It is definitely worth reading. I will be posting my comments later today.


Allen Scott
Cointelegraph:
2015-05-27 07:56 PM
 http://cointelegraph.com/news/114401/cato-institutes-mark-calabria-expect-another-crisis-within-the-next-decade

Cato Institute's Mark Calabria: ‘Expect Another Crisis Within the Next Decade

CoinTelegraph spoke with Mark A. Calabria, the Director of Financial Regulation Studies at Cato Institute, about the institute’s views on Bitcoin and the impact of burdensome regulations on cryptocurrencies and the U.S. economy as a whole.

“I don’t think the Bitcoin community should be complacent about the current regulatory environment. The potential to get a lot worse is definitely there.”
— Mark A. Calabria, Cato Institute

CoinTelegraph: What do you think about Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain technology?
Mark A. Calabria: While I’m an economist, not a tech guy, I’m very excited about Bitcoin, as I am about alternative currencies in general, and perhaps even more interested in the blockchain. Whether Bitcoin succeeds or not, the decentralized ledger offers tremendous potential in a number of areas, from land title to electronic payments. I am optimistic that both Bitcoin and the blockchain technology offer avenues to disrupting our current financial system, which I believe is badly needed.

CT: Many would argue that the mission of Cato Institute is almost identical to that of many Bitcoin advocates. What is Cato’s position on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies?

MC: Well Cato itself does not take positions, its scholars do. But that said, pretty much everyone at Cato, to varying degrees, is supportive of Bitcoin. A number of Cato staff own Bitcoin, as well as a few other alt-currencies. Sure there’s some skepticism about whether Bitcoin is “the one” but there’s a strong desire to see it given a chance and a concern that the financial regulators may hamper its further development.

CT: What was the reason for the ‘08 crash, in your view? What do you see as the fundamental problem in today’s financial system?  

MC: The ‘08 crash was certainly large by any measure, but its causes were not that uncommon as far as crises go. At the risk of oversimplification, we had an asset boom, largely but not exclusively in the property market, driven by loose monetary policy in the U.S. and large global flows of capital into the U.S. As those funds increased demand in an environment of relatively inelastic supply, particularly in housing markets like California, prices shot up. As with any boom, the momentum attracted fraud and resulted in a general reduction in underwriting standards.

“I certainly expect another crisis within the next decade or so.”

All of this was made especially fragile by government guarantees, both explicit and implicit, that increased leverage and reduced market discipline. While booms occurred across property types, U.S. housing policy resulted in our single family housing market being far more leveraged than other property markets. So while office, retail and apartments boomed to the same degree, they were not as leveraged and not as interconnected to our capital markets as was single family housing. Lots of really bad policy choices over the years, few of which have been reversed, some of which have been made worse. I certainly expect another crisis within the next decade or so. The fundamental problem facing our financial markets today is a lack of market discipline.

CT: What do you see as the potential solution?

MC: Foremost we need to eliminate the various government guarantees of risk-taking in our financial markets, including deposit insurance, Federal Reserve rescues of too-big-to-fail companies, and guarantees in the mortgage market, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We need to deregulate our land markets, so that housing supply becomes more elastic, reducing the size and frequency of booms and busts. It is not a coincidence that California was ground zero for the crisis, while prices didn’t move much at all in Texas. You only get booms and busts when demand and supply can become disconnected. And last but not least, we need a rational, rules-based monetary policy.

“Most members of Congress have little understanding of financial markets or even basic economics. Perhaps even worse, they don’t want to even have that knowledge.”

CT: You have a lot of experience working in Washington DC, having served as a senior staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. How was that experience, and is there interest within the government to reform the financial system?

MC: Working in the Senate was certainly educational, if not a little disheartening. Most members of Congress have little understanding of financial markets or even basic economics. Perhaps even worse, they don’t want to even have that knowledge. You have a large contingency in the middle that feels the status quo is mostly OK, and sizeable minorities on the left and right that feel the current system is deeply in need of reform.

The problem, of course, is that those who feel the system is broken do not necessary agree on how it is broken and what the appropriate remedies are. Hence, the mushy middle continues to set policy. Ultimately one reason I left the Senate was I felt there was not a lot of leadership there. Politicians are understandably risk averse. They are essentially followers. You have to get the public there first, which in a democracy, is a good thing, even if a little frustrating sometimes.

“[R]egulators have so far been relatively restrained. That may well change if regulators start to see cryptocurrencies as a real competitive threat to banks.”

CT: How much interest in cryptocurrency is there within the government?

MC: At this point it is really more a curiosity than anything else, with a few exceptions. Bitcoin has benefited with an association with the tech community — that’ll help insulate it from attacks from the left (with a few exceptions like Paul Krugman). While there’s been some concern expressed by banks, regulators have so far been relatively restrained. That may well change if regulators start to see cryptocurrencies as a real competitive threat to banks.

On the right the concerns have mostly been about terror finance and money laundering, but since neocons have far less influence than they used to, these concerns have largely been checked. All of the proceeding can change and hence it is important for the Bitcoin community to engage and educate policymakers. I wished we lived in a world where that didn’t matter, but we don’t.

CT: Are you working with any Bitcoin organizations in DC (e.g., the Digital Chamber of Commerce)?
MC: Cato tends to have a, not surprisingly, “go it alone” culture.  So we do occasionally interact and work with Bitcoin organizations but I’d say we aren’t as deeply involved as some of them and we do not, yet, have any staff committed to these issues exclusively. That said, we did launch in the fall our Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives and plan to become far more engaged with policy issues surrounding cryptocurrencies.

CT: What’s your take on the IRS’s classification of bitcoin as a taxable commodity?

MC: I’m not a fan of it. It’s obviously not a commodity in the strictest sense. There is an argument for subjecting it to capital gains taxes, in the same manner you’d apply to a stock or bond, but I do worry that the IRS’s decision will complicate and slow acceptance. If its value relative to the dollar stabilizes, this becomes less of an issue. Of course if lots of users start to use any capital losses to offset other income, I wouldn’t be surprised if the IRS reconsiders. I hope with a future administration this gets reversed.

“I should be clear that even under our expansive securities laws: I don’t see Bitcoin as a security. I’m far more worried about what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau might do.”

CT: What about the SEC’s position?

MC: Not as bad as I’d normally expect, but then the SEC is deeply divided at the commissioner level, and Chair Mary Jo White has been more restrained that I might have initially feared. You don’t quite have as much curiosity among SEC commissioners as you do with, say, CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen. I should be clear that even under our expansive securities laws: I don’t see Bitcoin as a security. I’m far more worried about what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau might do.

CT: Do you think the government is following a planned strategy here, or are they scratching their heads with regards to this disruptive tech?

MC: It’s more a head scratching. There’s no coordinated DC approach to Bitcoin. Some of that is a result of the fact that regulators still have their hands full with Dodd-Frank. Some of it has arisen from a lack of pressure from Congress. There’s also been little public demand, so far, to “do something” about Bitcoin. So far, it has really been driven by distinct individuals in key policy roles.

There’s still a lot of opportunity, and need, to educate policymakers. Those individuals will move on at some point. There’s no guarantee that future appointees will not be hostile. I don’t think the Bitcoin community should be complacent about the current regulatory environment. The potential to get a lot worse is definitely there.
CT: What do you think about regulating Bitcoin? Should or can it be regulated, under the NY BitLicense, for example?

MC: Setting aside any practical politics, as an economic matter, I’d prefer we not regulate Bitcoin at all. My experience has been that regulation generally just creates barriers to entry and protects established incumbents. That said, private exchanges should adopt rules that protect users. We do not know ex-ante what the right set of rules are going to be, so I think it's critical we have some room here for experimentation. Does that mean some people will lose some money? Absolutely. But then Bitcoin isn’t for the faint hearted, at least not yet.

CT: You studied how policy changes in Washington affect low- and moderate-income households. What kind of impact have recent policies had on these households, compared to the higher classes? Do you think cryptocurrency has the potential to democratize money and offer a more egalitarian financial system for the public?

MC: The post-crisis financial reforms have unfortunately raised the costs of credit to lower income families, while also reducing its availability. If these reforms resulted in a more stable economy, then that might be a tradeoff worth making, but unfortunately they do not. And of course the post-crisis monetary policy we’ve had has largely benefited higher income families, as easy money has driven up the stock and property markets. Regulatory changes, for instance, have done tremendous harm to the flow of remittances, which for many emerging economies are a crucial source of capital and income.

“Misguided and harmful regulations almost always weigh heaviest on the poor, as they are least able to avoid them.”

Cryptocurrencies already helped there, but have considerable potential to do more. The same is true for other types of payments. Of course, like most technologies, the first movers have been and will be the non-poor. That’s best, since these first-movers are able to shoulder any losses. But as we build to greater scale and separate out the good from the bad, there can be a tremendous benefit for moderate and low income families. It’s especially for that reason that we need to be cautious on the regulatory front. Misguided and harmful regulations almost always weigh heaviest on the poor, as they are least able to avoid them. The rich can always move to Monaco, or transfer their dollars into Swiss Franc.

Technology can be a great disrupter of the establishment, toppling entrenched incumbents. Accordingly I hope we allow cryptocurrencies considerable room to develop.

Thanks for your response.



You would be correct.



I think the onus is on DNotes to post a summary of such things as a sticky post at the beginning of this thread.  Expecting someone to have to read through 200 pages of posts to eek out bits of information makes for a very poor prospectus, and I doubt many people will have the time nor inclination to do so.  Myself included.



I think the reason why Bitcoin works is because it is neutral and completely agnostic.  I don't believe any altcoin which is based solely on a philosophy or a mindshare will stand the test of time.  Money doesn't have an opinion in the market.  It just facilitates it.  What are the bullet point selling features of the DNotesVault over any old web wallet, say Coinbase? Or Blockchain.info?


It can also be said DNotes is stable because the total traded daily volume is little more than 500 USD, an asset which is barely traded is by definition going to be stable.  That being said, I just did a bit of research and it looks like the price of DNotes has risen in the last month from 0.00004 to 0.00005.  That is a 20% increase in less than 2w.  If this kind of move were to happen in the forex markets, I don't think the word 'stable' can be used to describe it.

Additionally, arguing that something is stable "because it has shown to be in the past" is not quantitative reason.  It is in fact the kind of reasoning that we explicitly warn readers about on mutual fund prospectuses. "Past performance should not be used as a basis for future expectation".



Forgive me when I say that that is a wonderfully eloquent way of saying... "we can't do any better than Bitcoin at this point, but when we can, then we will".


I do not mean any offence, for obviously you have some stake in this, but this is the classic definition of a ponzi scheme.  All schemes start out with "Just and Honourable Causes and Ideals to Serve the Public Good".  And even if it is categorically NOT a ponzi scheme, which I will for the time being assume, then it is at the very least nothing more than a proverbial printing press churning out valueless coupons, and handing them out (or worse) selling them, to people.  There is a fine line between ponzi/pyramid scheme and a real digital money, and that fine line is drawn on whether or not the token is mined (requiring work) or instantly created.  



Forgive me once again, for I mean no personal offence, but you probably would make a much bigger difference to students if you just gave them some equivalent fractional amount of Bitcoins. (I see DNotes trading at 0.00005-6BTC today).

It looks like either the marketing wagon for CRISPS have gone ahead of the horse and started selling a product before it is even fully formed, or I misunderstood your description of how owning a (essentially worthless) digital token is going to really help students with the costs of their education, or help them in any way to learn the value of saving.


They have been very helpful, and I sincerely thank you for them.  

As it stands I see the DNotes project as has having very little substance to it, and it seems like the only value it has presently is a wealth of extremely well spoken, and well meaning marketers and journalists working in its community.  Being a firm believer in the markets, I would read this as evidence of why the DNotes price is less than a US penny at this point.

 

Could this include very large employers such as Wal-Mart? I know people who work there who might be interested.

The CRISP for Employee Incentive Benefits program is going better than expected. Thank you to everyone who created an account to provide feedback, there were some great suggestions! We have had many requests from employees whose companies have not yet signed up for the program, so we will be adding a form for employees to provide employer contact information and the DNotes team will contact their HR department.