The Swiss banks do actually know the names of the account holders - contrary to popular belief - it just shows a number on the bank transactions instead of a name is all.

Bitcoin is actually a pretty poor anonymous currency as the ledger and transactions can be followed and many times the end point will show who the user is.

I think you mean 'Dash' or 'Monero' for super-secret criminal money.

Bitcoin actually has more uses than gold. The old argument was Bitcoin can't replace gold because gold has secondary use other than just store of value:

Jewelry

and,

industrial use in some technology.

But, due to the block chain which 'is' one of the same with Bitcoin, many other applications are possible, such as,

Property rights ledgers
Issuance of stocks/shares/derivatives
Digital rights assets
Company dividends
Set in stone contracts
Short information broadcasts that can never be deleted

There's a whole load of other stuff too which escapes me at the moment, but, essentially, the value of Bitcoin and the blockchain is far superior to gold, in a (long-term) mathematical sense, and of utility.

So the main point of these cards is easier access to Bitcoin? If so, that's a good thing.

But if the idea is so it's used like a ATM/debit card then there are already Bitcoin debit cards out there.

If they can undercut the fees for Bitcoin entrance, then they could be onto something. I'd buy them if they saved me 3 to 4% +, rather than having to pay 8%+ with overpriced BTC and exchange charges, and so on.

:0

Then man, there's absolutely no reason to be jumping through hoops. None whatsoever. Address ID is just for credit card/debit card and for a company that has to follow U.S financial procedure, and if you can't even by BTC with them, then I have no idea why you'd jump through hoops. I'm guessing the laws may have been extended to any financial products now.

Try Bittrex, zero hassle there. Email address, password, and then you're done. Gotta have your own BTC first though (or other coin.)

 

http://www.neucoin.org/en/

Google is a wonderful thing

Lol.

I usually get that address verification crap too. Always a pain in the ass.

Bittrex leaves you alone. But then again, you can't buy Bitcoin through them. That's the problem. Any exchange where you can buy Bitcoin and that deals with the U.S.A in any way, has these draconian rules.

Banking sectors in other countries also suffer the U.S rules & regs or they aren't allowed to play with them. War on terrorism and all that.

Interesting info Dave. I admit I've not looked closely at NXT before. I'll take a closer look at it. Definitely looks underpriced though, so I may get a long position in the coin at the very least.

By what standard? How do you quantify most accessible and usable? I'm genuinely curious.

For me at this present time I want my assets on the blockchain with the most capitalization and public interest, which is the Bitcoin blockchain. I don't want them somewhere that can disappear with the wind tomorrow. Although I agree bets should be hedged, I can't see Bitcoin going anywhere really. I can only see an asset on BCBC (bit coin block chain) as more valuable in the long run that anywhere else, because Bitcoin and the blockchain is the most valuable.

Why re-invent the counterparty-bitcoin-blockchain triad?

Counterparty's XCP always had a good plan in place that is being carried out, Ripple's plan isn't bad either, although it is a bit dumb that they released and then realized to play with the USD they needed to comply with US ID anti-terrorist laws, and so shut down new wallets/adoption.

But ya, in general, release and shoot for the moon.

I don't know about one alt coin in favor of all the others, as I don't think there is one. Bitcoin still seems the long-term deal, however, I like the following:

Counterparty XCP, has a strong utility use when issuing assets which may grow.
BlackCoin if they ever get a decentralized 'ebay' up and running
Ripple, because they are positioning themselves as the ultimate middleman between crypto-fiat, and seek mainstream adoption
StartCoin, as it has an infrastructure of various products and well-known name backing

I still fancy Litecoin, but it's not anything really special, by that I mean it has no other utility except for being Bitcoin No.2. Still think it might one day appreciate around the 1/3 of Bitcoin mark.

Search for coins with secondary use. There are some interesting projects on counterparty.io such as GEMZ, which may or may not go anywhere but are cheap. With those kinds of stock/tokens/coins look for burning, as that's always a good sign.

I think there will be many more crypto-stock assets issued that will be where there is strong growth within a year or so (maybe, speculating here.)

I picked up some WOODSHARES the other day that will apparently pay me dividends when they sell the timber they grow. Will it actually make me any money? No idea. But crypto-stocks are really an interesting area of growth.

One month!?

Ya, just checked the email again. You're right. One month after launch.

Ah well, you never know. It may end up being worth something.

I've tried finding out where I can pick up Vanilla Coin easily, and I've come up with nothing. I can't seem to find normal links like you'd expect, like: 'Pick up Vanilla Coins here (link A/LinkB etc.)

Anyone know where I can get some without contorting my body and incanting spells to the infernal Gods?

I don't know much about it, only that if you take their survey they say they'll give you 'up to' a thousand coins on launch day (if you answer questions in enough detail)

I took the survey, I'm not going to say no to a 1000 free coins that I can offload on another day. Personally I found their explanation page a touch crappy in the way they tried to put down other coins such as Doge and Bitcoin.

They are trying to position themselves kind of like a 'use it to reward posts on Facebook' and/or game rewards.

They don't seem to really know which way they are going if you ask me. They want to be trendy AND corporate, which just isn't going to happen. Their branding looks very 'business suit', but their 'ethos/goal?' is to be super meme trendy. You'll kind of get this impression by their survey questions.

Buy hey... it's a 1,000 free coins.

I love the smell of Bitcoin in the morning.

All I know is that both of them have 'A Beautiful Mind' 

If you have the address of the coins you can see if they still have the coins, or if they've moved them back to the gambling site. Sorry for your loss.

Isn't Blackcoin also trying something like this? Doesn't seem to be open at the moment though.

Funny.

That's one very old Fiat... like most of them.

Great pic.