Bitcoin will thrive over the long term.

The main problem at the moment is newcomers that don't understand the dynamics of merchant integration. Bitpay needs to add payroll services to help balance out the selling frenzy they've created.

Many people buy bitcoin initially as a novelty, to see how it works. Others have mined small amounts over time. Satoshi mined nearly 1 million bitcoins before he vanished and left Gavin holding the bag.

Now the network difficulty is too high and the ship requires a new captain to help guide bitcoin around the newly emerging icebergs. Wherever Satoshi is right now he's probably high-fiving this thread and praying that the community listens.

In essence, what is happening now is that every time someone purchases a product or service from a bitcoin accepting merchant (aka bitcoin dumper), the buyer is causing that BTC to be immediately sold on the market. There are simply not enough speculators available to offset the combined force of this massive network of merchant sellers.

For every 100 stories about how another company is now accepting (aka selling) bitcoin, we might get 1 about payroll integration. This imbalance is not sustainable over the long term. People need to earn bitcoin, spend bitcoin, and avoid fiat exchanging. I think its just a matter of bringing this awareness to the surface and shifting focus.

Here is your answer: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/12/why-the-bitcoin-markets-didnt-rally-on-the-microsoft-news/

It's not only a matter of the price going up. It's a matter of correct balance, steady focus, and fundamental understanding.

Integration on the payroll side is probably more important than the POS side; yet all the focus is on the POS side. This means we're increasingly loading up the sell side with merchants who auto sell their BTC. Instead, we must encourage merchants to also offer BTC options to employees. Then businesses could funnel their bitcoin revenue back over into payroll, rather than dumping it on the market.

Basically, we must encourage balance - instead of promoting a system of merchants who become bitcoin dumping gremlins.

Ordinary people are not going to take the additional step of converting fiat to BTC, so they can then buy things with BTC that they could have purchased directly with fiat. Consumers are not stupid and will not bother to take that additional unnecessary step.

The only solution is for the community to wake up and realize that we need merchants to integrate BTC into their payrolls to offset the selling!

When the consumer discover bitcoin, he will be be amazed.

After a while he will want something new and shiny. Wait for this to happen. Be shiny.

This is the easiest question ever posted. The answer is... Cryptsy!

Why would we be at the bottom? The selling is just beginning.

Every time a new company like Microsoft offers bitcoin as a payment method, the market gains another auto-seller. There is no reason for the price to increase until this imbalance is corrected. The time to "go long" would be when a major company announces that it will be integrating bitcoin into its payroll options.

The real question should be, "what's the point of buying bitcoin so I can spend it on goods and services that I can already buy with fiat. Why should I take the extra step?" Unless companies like Microsoft and Time also begin offering employee pay in bitcoin, we're going to see continued selling.

It's the trend.

Consumers are not going to go out and buy bitcoins so they can spend them at places that already accept fiat. The extra step is awkward and unneeded. The only solution is to balance the scales by encouraging adoption on the payroll side of the equation. Otherwise, be prepared to watch the price spiral lower.

The Bitcoin community should boycott any BTC accepting merchant that doesn't also offer their employees a bitcoin payment option.

Unless more merchants begin also paying employees in Bitcoin, 2015 will bring more headlines about sinking ships and lost chances.

Until quantum mining is perfected, difficulty should be able to adjust for network hashrate increases.

On Tuesday, Time Inc. announced that it would begin accepting Bitcoin payments for certain magazine subscriptions. This means the massive stream of merchant selling pressure, recently intensified by the Microsoft announcement, has just grown by another order of magnitude.

Lynne Biggar, the executive vice president for consumer marketing and revenue at Time Inc., said in the statement:

"This pilot program will give Bitcoin users a seamless and simple way to purchase subscriptions. We hope to expand our partnership with Coinbase in the coming months to create more opportunities to provide greater value to our customers."

Consumers can purchase subscriptions for Fortune, Health, This Old House and Travel and Leisure. Other Time Inc. publications, including People, Sports Illustrated and Food and Wine, have been excluded for now.

But how many people go out and purchase US dollars so they can then turn around and spend those dollars on products and services? How many people are going to run out and buy more bitcoins to replace those spent at merchants? If Bitcoin ever hopes to mature past the Frankie’s Fun Park token stage, the community had better wake up – and fast.



The Bitcoin community is shooting itself in the foot by squarely focusing on merchant integration on the payment side only. This is resulting in ever-growing selling pressure as the majority of merchants simply elect to dump their bitcoins for cash. Since mining is now almost entirely done by large-scale operations, the only solution for relieving this selling pressure is by shifting the focus to wage integration and balancing the scales of the bitcoin economy.

Elephant in the Room

Companies like Microsoft and Time Inc. need to offer bitcoin deposits as a form of compensation to their contractors and employees. Bitpay and Coinbase should be expanding their services to include wage and salary integration. This would allow the bitcoin ecosystem to become less dependent on fiat exchanges, lessen the selling pressure, and promote a more stable and sustainable commerce transaction system.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/12/time-inc-deal-promises-to-ratchet-up-firehose-of-selling-pain-for-bitcoin/

I've spent the past 3 days trying to get my rig configured to solo mine Ripples. Still getting nothing but errors!

The main problem with Bitcoin is that 99% of the community is focused on merchant integration. This means there are a growing number of places where holders of bitcoin can essentially dump their BTC onto the markets. This is what happens every time a customer checks out with Bitpay.

There needs to be a fundamental shift in the community's consciousness, and an awareness of what is happening. We need not only businesses to accept bitcoin, but also for them to give their employees the option of receiving their wage in bitcoin. This will slow down the influx in selling.

The currency that will surpass Bitcoin in popularity is Goldcoin. However, the greatest unknown at this point is: at which point in time.

In the short amount of time it took me to read this thread, 5 new cryptocurrencies were created. 

I think Dogecoin will be a survivor long term. The main thing we should all be focusing on now, is not only getting merchants to accept crypto, but also to begin lobbying merchants to begin paying wages in crypto. I think that's the golden ticket.