wel bitcoin is not a ponzi, but if your rebuttle to those that claim it is, is to tell them to wait it out for 2019.. thats not really discrediting their lack of knowledge.

inform them that if they think its a ponzi. then gold is too..

after all if your gonna play the wait it out argument. they can easily win the argument with a few examples
Forever living aloe vera recruitment fee
avon recruitment fee
and many other MLM schemes that have been running for decades.

so try to explain bitcoin not as a 'investment' as thats what many see bitcoin as.. show them its a currency.. show them Dell accepting it. and the other 100,000 retailers around the world..

then ask them how many shops accept aloe vera or makeup as a form of currency

so if i walked up to you in a coffee shop. no names, i gave you $20, you gave me btc..

tell me what government database will show my name against that transaction..

next i send the funds to 4 addresses
1abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba
1azbycxdwevfugthsirjqkplomn
1zabcydefghxijklmnwopqrsvtu

now tell me.. one of them is for a friend in the bahama's. what government database tells which one is my friend.

now. can my friend by knowing the transaction links..(taint). know the name of the person i met in the coffee shop.
now can the guy in the coffee shop know the name of my friend.

?? ?? the answer is no

bitcoin was $250, now its $360

will it go up..

Mr. Miagi has the answer:

uppp
dooown
uppp
dooown
uppp
dooown

every bank note is an IOU

and thus bank balances are ONLY a list of liabilities..
banks do not list ASSETS.. FIAT is not an asset, but credit, no longer backed by the promise of gold..

bitcoin is an ASSET. it needs no backing.. just like gold is an asset and needs no backing..

its fiat that needs backing..

.. really think the FT are hiring people that dont have a clue about basic economics.. which is strange for a financial media outlet.

though i love the hyperthetical.. i prefer reality.. ignore the 7billion population.. as some of them are people who have medical issues, in prison, or are babies/toddlers.. (unable to be part of economic society)

so atmost you would see a 5billion population of actual people playing with and making free choices about spending.
we also know that upto 1mill coins are already lost.. gone..

so the potential free flowing bitcoin cap is 20mill coins..

now if everyone was equally given X bitcoin.. it would work out as 0.004btc per person.

now the hyperthetical exageration..
bitcoin being the only on world currency..

well at the moment average 'savings' are $45,000/person.
meaning 0.004btc=$45,000.. or put simply
in the dream utopia of bitcoin being the one world currency, with no other options. 1btc would be worth ATLEAST $11,250,000 per btc.

so now you have the utopian, wet dream perceived value of bitcoin..
can we now put the dreams and the speculation aside.. and just get on with getting retailers to accept bitcoin. you know.. make bitcoin actually more useful for everyday purchases of toilet roll and bread.. instead of specialist stuff..

the main thing to ask yourself..
in the 1980's you could buy a loaf of bread for 50c.. today it's $2
in the 1980's you could buy gallon of gasoline for $1.20c.. today it's $4~
ref: http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/70yearsofpricechange.html

so $2.00 thirty years ago would have bought you, 4 loaves of bread.. today.. just 1..

imagine what your money today will buy you in 2045..
quarter of a loaf?, just one slice?

so is storing $260,000 today worth it.. when you would only get about $65k of todays buying power.
now if you think that is scary, research the zimbabwe dollar.. and you will see the worst case scenario
(1980) 500 ZWD bought 3 loaves of bread
(2007) 30000ZWD bought 1 loaf of bread

people think that instead of just storing funds for retirement is bad and thus they put them into investment funds.. letting some stranger
in wallstreet trade your funds in the hope of atleast 5% yearly profit.. to keep ahead of inflation.. but the problem isnt that $260k might still be $260k in
30 years.. it might actually be $0.. as there is risks you can lose the lot..

and thus
its better to put atleast some of those funds into deflationary investments.. bitcoin, gold, real estate, etc.. to protect you against inflation..

to: RealBitcoin.
about PR
give me examples of what message you want to advertise..
give me 2 sentences

about advertising
what are you advertising. is it a straight forward, easy, legal, and safe way for people to purchase bitcoin..
after all there is no point advertising pizza if the customer asks how can they pay, and the pizza shop says we dont accept bank notes or credit cards. only wire transfers to x,y,z who ask for your life story.

so im all for expanding bitcoins usefulness. i have helped many projects,,many businesses and many individuals.. but lets see your idea's in action and i can point yo in the right direction and tell you if your trying to broadcast the right message to the right demograph of the population.

maybe because you are not showing them how they can buy toilet paper at your nearest store. or baked beans or any lifestyle stuff.. but i guess thats because you have no local store which accepts it..

so if your talking to people who dont really invest, about some new money maker that you are literally screaming that it is a guaranteed win.. it will sound like a ponzi..

so learn who you are talking to, and how they actually spend their money.. then SHOW them something they usually do, but done via bitcoin..
dont exaggerate bitcoins potentials to people that will never use those potentials.

and if all you can say is that the price rise will make them $$$$ profit... then that would burst any statements that bitcoin will take over fiat..
after all if fiat dies, there wont be a $$ .. because fiats dead!!

simple answer:
wait

reason:
right now think about your friends and families lives.. how they earn their income and what do they spend it on.
are there any shops in your city that will accept bitcoin. who will sell car fuel, toilet paper, cigarettes, alcohol, baked beans, meat, clothing.

ask yourself do any of your relatives shop online. and if so do those online stores accept bitcoin..

now the real question.. if you just handed them 1BTC, how useful would that bitcoin be to give your friend and family something to live on and pay the bills for a week..

now, if its not useful as a real world lifestyle currency right now in your city.. dont explain bitcoin as the worlds best currency.. they wont see it..

however
if they are not natives (thus foreign ancestry) and they send funds oversee's to relatives.
if they just go abroad alot and are sick of the exchange rates/transfer fee's of fiat
if they are in business and want to accept international customers without said exchange rates/transfer fee's
if they are interested in investments.

then that would be your key discussion topic.. showing, not telling.. showing them how less stressful bitcoin is compared to fiat money movements.

as for investments. i would say for the complete sceptic, just throwing $200 at an investment is a safe risk.. as its only a few days of wages and not a big deal.
dont be trying to overstate and exagerate bitcoins current position trying to coax people into multi-thousand dollar investments.

dont try over stating and overagerating the future..

keep to reality and keep to the discussion of your friends/families understanding level. using real life examples where appropriate.

that said bitcoin is still in the innovation era, and has a long way to go before granpa and granma would use it to buy their knitting needles and Y-front underwear using bitcoin.

so use some eye-wash to clear away the glaze of bitcoins potential and think long and hard about bitcoins reality, and tailor that to your friends/families needs..
if there is no solution to families needs. then wait it out until bitcoin expands.. and even better, you yourself fill that void. getting your local stores to accept bitcoin while you wait.. after all its your local store. in your town. so you would be perfect to get your local stores to accept bitcoin, to expand its usefulness

yes bitcoin, like gold works based on their own uniqueness.(bitcoins code and golds unique mineral type)
but people need to stop hailing bitcoin or gold as the sole future means of wealth..
id say at most bitcoin would hit 10% world usage.. which is far far better then USD, which is only 5% world usage. (350mill pop/7bill pop)
this does not mean FIAT will die.. it does not mean bitcoin wont last.. it just means logically that bitcoin can be great alongside fiat.

the issue right now is that while the reality of under 10,000 getting a regular wage out of bitcoin.. and out of them not all can buy toilet roll using their bitcoin locally.. shows that bitcoins usefulness is not quite there to hail it as 'god'

the reality is that in just 6 years there have been more victims then occassional users. and much higher odds compared to people living fully on bitcoin.
so the lives positively affected by bitcoin. does not outweigh the lives negatively affected.

so bitcoin has the potential for soo much. your right, the code proves it.. but bitcoin ECONOMY is more than just the code.. its businesses, exchanges, users, projects, idea's, personal choices.
so right now casting bitcoin as the one world currency, without actually doing anything so that people can buy toilet roll and bread with bitcoin. is not going to sway people to ignore the negative..

infact casting it as a big thing.. and then when new users struggle to find a legit place to convert FIAT to btc.. and then find local places in their neighbourhood to spend it.. is such a struggle, that it makes bitcoins potential claims feel false because 99% of people wont look at or care about the code.. they want to see what they can DO with bitcoin..

i think people need to hold back, calm down and work on getting bitcoin more useful (i personally have, but see many sitting on their hands waiting).

so lets not give a crap about media's positives or negatives.. its not time yet to go mainstream and definitely not time to make grandpa or the computer dysfunctional folk get involved.. lets get bitcoin more useful and userfriendly before trying to hail it as the one world currency, that many people pray for

sorry but bitcoin wont be the only currency for 7billion people..
i think people need to stop overexagerating their bitcoin faith. and instead stick to the realities.

when bitcoin gets more then a few thousand people recieving a wage in bitcoin. (remote working/ international work) and a few million use it regular..
lets say 20mill-100mill.. then bitcoin will be successful..

try not to exagerate bitcoin to be the cure for cancer or the end of poverty.. bitcoin has its place in the world and a large place at that.. but hailing it as the second coming and saying it will be everything the world dreams.. can actually put people off as much as the ransomware.

try sticking to logic and reality, have a fair balance of good or bad.. talk about bitcoins actual positive usefulnesses. and not its supposed god like potential..

i see many people going too far overboard with bitcoins future.. that it actually compares to media going overboard with the negatives..

i think a few people need to take a step back and stop praying for the miracle of a one world currency. and instead look at the logical future..

lets say that 1million people USE bitcoin regularly
lets say that 10,000 people get paid a regular and proper wage in bitcoin..

with many media items saying that mtgox has stolen from thousands of users people. or trendon shavers stole from thousands of users. or the ransomware cryptolock has affected millions of non-users. or the bitcoin ponzi schemes, bad investments. and the closures of mintpal, cryptorush, bitcoinica, and many other exchanges..

the victim rate far exceeds the user rate. and the amount of people receiving a wage and fully living on bitcoin (without pre conversion to fiat) is so low that the positives do not white out the negatives.

for all those that want to defend bitcoin. you probably also defend your home, or country to that same honour and respect no matter what is said..
so..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMqcLUqYqrs
bitcoin is not the greatest currency in the world... but it can be!!
atleast be honest, that way it can be fixed

what if i told you it was mining pools doing the spamming.. filling up blocks to force people to pay them more...

expanding the block limits IS going to happen.. i just think most people dont want hearn and gavin to be the only 2 coders.. most peopl prefer it to be an open project anyone can join and code in..

so whether it stays as core or xt.. the actual picture would bemore like

2009-2016
1mb limit


2016-20xx
X limit


how we get from a wine glass to a barrel is the conversation.. not that a barrel will never happen.

anyone trying to presume other coins would be tagged, sidechained, dual coin mined with bitcoin.. are just altcoin fanboys trying to drum up speculation that their worthless doges would become worth equal to bitcoin.
the reality is that if sidechains does happen where people can transfer value equally using one protocol but many coins/block of many chains.. then the whole rarity of bitcoin is gone. meaning sidechain coins will destroy bitcoins rarity..

and the only argument i can see for not just increasing bitcoins limit.. is about $120 for a 5tb hard drive to store 5 years of blocks at 20mb

without googling it..

name me who won the nobel prize in the years:
1995
1987
1960
1955

yes i picked random years..
the reason is although people think the nobel prize is a badge of honour.. but in reality.. no one can really recall many names..

i think that satoshi's genesis block is something that will last forever and be satoshi's badge of honour.. just having bitcoin is a bigger prize, that will last
far longer then nobel, and will be something anyone can look at.

for instance..
when i say Obama.. is your first though 'oh its that nobel prize winner guy' or 'oh its the president'
if i said mother teresa, is she known for her humanitarian work. or that silly medal from nobel
martin luther king, known for winning a medal.. or for his work to give blacks' equal rights

in short no one cares much about the prize, but do care about their actions/job title.

monetising comments does not work..

just look at the crap content people who do sig-campaigns write,

as for the work at home stuff..
90% of work at home stuff are the MLM pyramid scams. where people only really make money but taking a recruitment fee from others being promised would make money,
its not a proper job and hopefully bitcoin stays well clear of MLM's.

however, people having access to wholesale priced goods and drop shippers would allow people from home to set up webshops that sell actual products.

bitcoin is missing this as the supply chain.. there are no good suppliers who accept bitcoin so selling something for bitcoin is tough, making the list of possible products sold for bitcoin limited.. and then having to convert the bitcoin to FIAT to buy new stock is a bit of a headache sometimes.
most of the time it requires business bank accounts and declaring tax(sales/VAT), which is something work from home businesses cant really deal with in the first year, as they are only making pocketmoney incomes.

however if there were more product suppliers accepting bitcoin then it would make selling products for bitcoin much more easy, and then people being paid a wage in bitcoin would find less need to buy household stuff with fiat, and thus need to convert less bitcoin. and same for the retailer.

at the moment bitcoins struggle is its usefulness for real life stuff..
forget gimmicks like comment incentives.. thing more, weekly grocery shopping..

if we can make it easy to feed and clothe people using bitcoin and so that anyone can start up their own web store selling products locally without conversion hassles.. then bitcoin can move closer to mainstreaming

the funny thing i see is everyone is truly devoted and passionate about bitcoin.
but most people do not earn a proper living (1btc/week) with bitcoin, even further is that alot of users have far less than half a weeks national minimum wage, saved in bitcoins.

i start to wonder what all these people with under $10 in bitcoin are actually doing to:
personally help bitcoin economy grow
personally help bitcoins usefulness
personally secure the network via being a node or mining

because these people with less than a weeks wage invested, must know.. when truly thinking about it that they must have atleast $300 of gold in their house, but are not really interested in the gold markets.. (gold can be found in tooth filings, computer components, jewellery, household objects).

i especially wonder why thy havnt put aside atleast $200 in bitcoin. for a rainy day.

after all $200 is the equivelent of just 10 fast food takaway meals for a small family.. pretty much wasting money by buying fast food whic ends up down the toilet..

so a question to people with under $200 in bitcoin,,, why so low investment?

everyone knows termites and woodworm are a real threat to house prices.. yet you dont hear real estate moguls shouting about it..
because its small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

so when a big fatcat mentions bitcoin.. good or bad, you know it has to be a big deal.

so as they always say any press is good press, because it gets people hearing about it and then doing their own research. and to be honest.. anyone that believes negative bull crap just on the face of it, is not really people that would be positive about new things anyway..

.. so let the stew in their negativity for a bit and slowly crawl out of their bubbling depths of stupidity, when they are good and ready.

you can never fight a blind man to suddenly see.. but if you give him time to feel around his reality, he will see the truth sooner or later

you do know that a mining farm with 5000 units is the same as a pool of 5000 people with 1 unit each..

so average joe does not need thousands of units.. it just need a few units..

ill explain it this way
mining farm 5000 units.. solves block, receives 25btc. this divides up as 0.005btc per unit
mining pool 5000 units.. solves block, receives 25btc. this divides up as 0.005btc per unit

so reward per unit is the same..
the only difference is the cost of unit and cost of electric, housing, maintenance which dictates profitability..

and as the difficulty rises. it will be harder for FARMS to be profitable. and here are the reasons.
1. limit to total electric capacity to one warehouse
2. cost of warehouse, staff, expansion to second warehouse.

in short leasing a warehouse, staffing it and then getting electric companies to supply high voltage to the location would cost more per unit. then someone using their single unit in their own home.

at some point where mining bitcoin costs more electric then all of las vegas's electrical supply.. then its guaranteed that electric companies will begin to refuse supply to farms, purely to ensure that thousands of residents don't get blackout/brownouts.

meaning solo mining(farms) will become completely obsolete and it will become completely pool mining

5 years of WOW with all the updates has many game fans saying its 50gb plus, im not talking about single installation. im talking about constant use.

same for call of duty fans, constantly updating.. again way over 50gb

even GTA series is getting big... but they are not complaining about gaming, yet when it comes to international currency and secureing their valuable assets people want to cry and say its too much after it peaked passed 20gb..

seriously a 64gb is a micro sd card, which is smaller than your finger and cheaper than a 12inch pizza, is seriously not really something people should be arguing about in the year 2015..