We have scheduled 4 press releases for CR.I.S.P. at the rate of one per month over the next four months. There will also be other PR efforts, and we are trying to approach those from different angles and plan to post different concepts to get some feed back from our community.

How do you like the following theme?


Mass Acceptance of Bitcoin and Altcoin May Come Sooner With Some Help

Alan Yong, cofounder of Bitcoin alternative DNotes believes that mass consumer and merchant acceptance of Bitcoin and Altcoin may come about sooner with some help from the mainstream media and more favorable regulatory environment.....


It normally takes serval versions before it is finalized, edited and approved for release. I used to have 5 full time employees in our PR department, and now it's part of my night job and frankly I do not enjoy writing. So any help I can get will be well appreciated.

That was an excellent game. Good thing I did not have a favorite going in.

I am planning to elaborate on each of the 10 key points and end with a compelling conclusion. I don't remember seeing such a comprehensive look at what it will ideally take for the industry to achieve mass acceptance of digital currency as the future of money.

Feel free to contribute, comments and edit.

I am taking a break to watch Super Bowl and will continue tomorrow.

Hi everyone;

I am attempting to write a major article. Here is a sneak peek of an un edited first draft. Feel free to comments. No idea how far I can take it at this point.

Mass Consumer and Merchant Adoption of Bitcoin Has Been Underestimated.

Alan Yong, cofounder of Bitcoin alternative DNotes believes that a whole range of issues and the obstacles facing mass consumer and merchant adoption of Bitcoin has been underestimated. It will take more than the excitement of signing up a few $ multi-billion merchants, mega million dollars investment from Wall Street and serving a small number of the unbanked in various developing countries.

This is a great starting point but significantly more needs to be done before a clear acceptance path can be established. It may be helpful to envision the currency and its ecosystem as a single system whose success or failure is dependent on how well it can work with the other components or systems. We have never experienced anything with this level of complexities before. Consequently, the majority of the population, including many who are highly educated in the technology field, find Bitcoin to be too complicated and not worth getting involved. The negative presses, some of which are self-inflicted, along with industry leaders push-back among the most likely victims of this highly disruptive technology, have certainly not been helpful.

According to Yong, it will take another 4 to 5 more years and significant favorable progress in ten key areas: a) more wide spread merchant adoption including many small business owners as stakeholders of digital currency; b) dedicated charity efforts to assist the unbanked in many developing countries; c) increasing Wall Street investment with a strong endorsement to include digital currency as an essential part of asset allocation in any balanced investment portfolio; d) broad base and widespread ownership in savings plans available to the masses to capture potential high returns; e) Consistent currency stability within reasonable trading range; f) positive sentiment towards Bitcoin and Altcoins with main stream media support; g) favorable government regulation including granting tax deferred status to qualified savings plans; h) reliable long term appreciation to avoid currency loss in the normal processing time of transaction until the time funds are spent;  i) comprehensive global payment network systems for cross-border currency transfer and remittance; and j) meaningful participation of disrupted parties.

Yong, a well regarded visionary in the early days of portable computers and wireless communication has always been known to think outside the box in developing winning strategies. He has certainly competed against the “big boys” with enviable success. He led a startup company in 1989 to prominence by teaming up with two major partners to win two for two mega government contracts. His first win was in partnership with Sysorex Information Systems Inc. of Falls Church, VA. in a bid for Departmental Microcomputer Acquisition Contract (DMAC) II, a $400 million package that included portable computers from Yong’s company, Dauphin Technology. The second win was in partnership with Sears Business Systems of Chicago for Navy Lapheld II procurement, valued at $450 million.

The strategy of designing a number of portable computers that meet 100% of the specifications in accordance with the contract certainly paid off nicely. Riding on the momentum to advance the new start-up further, Yong went head on to compete with Apple Newton and others with the smallest handheld computer of its time, named DTR. It quickly became a media sensation which drew the attention of IBM top management leading to the signing of a manufacturing partnership. Unfortunately the widely anticipated adoption of the next generation of mobile computer was premature. IBM abruptly ended that partnership resulting in the demise of Dauphin Technology.

Yong is of the opinion that the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin and Altcoin industry is loaded with potentials and pitfalls.

That is how we are positioning DNotes. It will take some time to reach that point and dependent on a more favorable regulatory environment. We all should do our part to promote a constructive and positive posture in order to encourage our political leaders to be supportive of our mission.

It is always good to hear from you, qiwoman2. Thank you for your support and confidence in DNotes especially for saying "I believe DNOTES will come into a league of its own."

Come to think about, that is very true. We have no doubt that one day, digital currency will become main-stream. Despite all that destructions and disappointment we all have experienced in some ways, there have been a lot positive contributions being made to help advance our industry towards mass adoption. DNotes is firmly committed to be a positive force and we believe that we will be most effective by being a league of our own.

Good luck in any attempts to bring forth better awareness on the value of digital currency to political leaders. Even if we can only convince them to be neutral instead being adversarial, it will go a long way in assisting our industry to gain main-stream acceptance.

Thanks, Chase. That is an excellent article about the staggering cost of Chargeback. It is a serious burden to merchants and a lot of them are small business owners struggling to find enough money to cover the next payroll. When it is the merchant's fault they should absolutely take every responsibility to make the customer whole and satisfied. The consumer fraud component is the most troubling. If payments using Bitcoin are reversible, the negative impact will be crippling. We can forget about mass merchant adoption. The banks, credit/debit card companies, and the likes of Western Union will win the war. Irreversible payment does not equate to “no refund; all sales are final.” Reputable merchants will stand by the products and services you purchased, irrespective of the form of payment used.

Thanks, Chase. Excellent article. Very objective and insightful, but I am doubtful if volatility will go away any time soon.

1. Negative press of this nature is not helpful:

“That seems like a long time ago indeed. Since late 2013, when Bitcoin hit $1,200 its value has plunged more than 80%. If one of the purposes of a currency is to create stability across multiple marketplaces to empower smooth transactions between buyers and sellers, then Bitcoin has failed.”

2. This is indeed a serious problem Bitcoin needs to overcome:

“The problem is that retailers that accept them, don’t hold them.  Sure, in theory, some say they will take Bitcoin, but most immediately convert them into dollars – which means every time someone uses Bitcoin to pay for goods or services the currency loses value.”

3. Very true:

“the masses do not want a virtual currency that is difficult to understand, fluctuates wildly and operates in the shadows”.

4. I don’t think so:

“Apple Pay And Dollars Are Killing Bitcoin?”

********************************

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2015/01/29/why-apple-pay-and-dollars-are-killing-bitcoin/



Ross Gerber , Contributor
Forbes


The recent drop in energy prices has dominated financial headlines in recent months, with the fallout having been wide ranging and somewhat conflicting. Consumers have received what amounts to a tax cut, and with more money to spend that’s good news for retailers. At the same time, stocks are experiencing a decent level of volatility, plagued by many of the same factors that are causing oil to plummet, including soft demand, a strong dollar and continued economic weakness across Europe, Japan and even China.

Receiving far less press attention is the ongoing collapse of Bitcoin prices. While this is not unexpected given the house of cards Bitcoin was built on, no one should forget that only a short time ago Bitcoin had reached manic levels. Investors worldwide – including high-powered venture capital firms and well-respected tech entrepreneurs – sang its praises, pouring millions into the virtual currency and confidently declaring that it was the next big thing this point, it’s merely a speculative commodity, just like tulip bulbs centuries ago or even Beanie Babies more recently.

That seems like a long time ago indeed. Since late 2013, when Bitcoin hit $1,200 its value has plunged more than 80%. If one of the purposes of a currency is to create stability across multiple marketplaces to empower smooth transactions between buyers and sellers, then Bitcoin has failed. At this point, it’s merely a speculative commodity, just like tulip bulbs centuries ago or even Beanie Babies more recently. And just like those fads, Bitcoin has peaked and is very unlikely to escalate significantly in value again.
The irony of Bitcoin’s fall is that some of the attributes that initially made it so attractive to its backers like no centralized banking control, lax regulation and no transaction fees, are the very same things that are actually causing its demise. These types of decentralized monetary systems never work, since valuations are allowed to fluctuate wildly and there is a lack of trust in the system. It’s simply not safe to hold Bitcoin. Look no further than the major exchanges, which have either gone bankrupt (Mt. Gox) or suffered major security lapses (Bitstamp). Both of which cost investors millions of dollars in unrecoverable losses.

Ultimately, one of Bitcoin’s biggest problems is the same retailers they are trying to convince to accept Bitcoin. The problem is that retailers that accept them, don’t hold them.  Sure, in theory, some say they will take Bitcoin, but most immediately convert them into dollars – which means every time someone uses Bitcoin to pay for goods or services the currency loses value. It’s basically an elaborate Ponzi scheme. This is a major flaw in Bitcoin, if merchants don’t hold Bitcoin, every time they are used in a purchase they must be sold to someone else, forcing prices lower.

Bitcoin investors are missing the point. When it comes to paying for everyday items, the masses do not want a virtual currency that is difficult to understand, fluctuates wildly and operates in the shadows. What they want is convenience and safety and that means electronic mobile payments in dollars. Such a payment system is just scratching the surface in terms of its potential. To build on it, the major players will have to come together and merge existing technologies, not only to make the system more widely available but more efficient. As most Bitcoin pioneers say today. It’s not about Bitcoin, it’s about the technology. There is huge potential for mobile transactions in dollars.

As you might expect, Apple AAPL -1.42% will play a major role. The company that transformed the music industry and basically changed the definition of the word ‘phone’ now needs to have a similar impact in the world of mobile and electronic payments. While Apple Pay was introduced last year, retailers have been slow to adopt the service, since it requires a significant investment in hardware. A recently announced partnership with Square could help solve this problem

TeeGee, you are a genius. Two for two. You can now check against my edited version which was done after your post. Take good care of your lady friend. I am sure that Chase will agree that we can use more help at CryptoMoms.

At Issue:

"What will be the impetus of Bitcoin mass acceptance? There are basically three schools of thought on this topic, Merchant Adoption, Third World Unbanked, and Wall Street Investment."


Dyna's Response: Agreed but incomplete.

Quote
From last Post:


Great job. You got one right. So two to go. One of them has been mentioned repeatedly in my blog posts.

  "Favorable Government Regulation"  is correct.

  "Hard work" is too general. My guess is that most people do not work as hard as you do, lol.

So, let the list continues as follows:

1. Merchant adoption
2. Third World Unbanked
3. Wall Street Investment
4. Broad base and widespread ownership using CR.I.S.P. as the catalyst.
5. Consistent Stability
6. Positive Sentiment Towards Bitcoin and Altcoins.
7. Favorable Government Regulation
8.
9.

Hint for #8. How could a consistent up-trend of higher highs and higher lows help a merchant in preventing currency loss without converting DNotes into fiat currency at the time of the transaction?

Hint for #9. Do you agree that Bitcoin and Altcoins will be very disruptive? What industries or groups will be negatively affected? What if some of them could be our friends instead of adversaries?

Edited:

8. Reliable long term appreciation
9. Meaningful Participation of disrupted Parties


All these are important catalysts for mass consumer and merchant adoption of digital currency. We believe that the industry has been spinning its wheels and not making as much progress towards mass acceptance as it should. A lot of destructive forces and negative press have not been helpful. We believe that even in the best case it will take another 4 to 5 years before we can expect mass acceptance of Digital currency in global commerce. In the mean time DNotes will continuously strive for the best positions to take full advantage of our rapidly growing momentum covering an expanding base of new DNotes stakeholders through our family of CR.I.S.Ps.

Great job. You got one right. So two to go. One of them has been mentioned repeatedly in my blog posts.

  "Favorable Government Regulation"  is correct.

  "Hard work" is too general. My guess is that most people do not work as hard as you do, lol.

So, let the list continues as follows:

1. Merchant adoption
2. Third World Unbanked
3. Wall Street Investment
4. Broad base and widespread ownership using CR.I.S.P. as the catalyst.
5. Consistent Stability
6. Positive Sentiment Towards Bitcoin and Altcoins.
7. Favorable Government Regulation

There is whole range of positive/negative human emotions that can either help or hinder mass adoption. Ease of use, is certainly one of them. Pride of ownership, self-fulfillment or accomplishment, comfort factors and trust are all important contributors; positively or negatively. If we list them all, they will dilute others, of which each alone is of major significance. For now let's add "Positive Sentiment Towards Bitcoin and Altcoins." Any who can come up with a better descriptive term, please do so.

1. Merchant adoption
2. Third World Unbanked
3. Wall Street Investment
4. Broad base and widespread ownership using CR.I.S.P. as the catalyst.
5. Consistent Stability
6. Positive Sentiment Towards Bitcoin and Altcoins.

Keep going. I have three more on my list. With your help there may be more. If we do not know what it takes to achieve mass adoption, we may have to wait for our next generation to make it happen. It is interesting to me to see so much being invested, or shall I say being wasted, without a good knowledge of what the important issues are or what problems we need to solve.

Youghoor:

Dnotes is popular and stable from the start.

*******************
That is correct, Youghoor, thanks. Bitcoin has been ferociously volatile with wide swing of 30% to 50% in a week. That brings about much uncertainty and great risk of currency loss wiping out any savings in low transaction cost. For the most part, large merchants are not accepting Bitcoin directly. The payment processors are accepting the Bitcoin on their behalf, and instantly dumped them to pay their customers in fiat currency. This will continue to be a huge problem for Bitcoin until someone can come up with a viable solution to make it relatively stable. Personally, I believe that it is an inherent structural problem that is nearly impossible to solve.

The merchant may be able to protect themselves from currency loss by locking in the sales revenue in fiat currency at the time of transaction, and the payment processor add a fees for the extra service and dumping the Bitcoin at the time of the transaction simultaneously. But what happened when the price of Bitcoin dropped 50% in two days as an example? Does the merchant, payment processor, or the consumer absorb the loss?

Use case: You have .2 BTC in you wallet stored in your smart phone and it was worth $60 when you invited your friend out to lunch two days later. You were so busy and did not know that Bitcoin price has dropped by 50%, or you might have cancelled the lunch appointment. The lunch for two still cost the same amount in USD of $30. But now it cost .2 BTC instead of .1BTC. The restaurant, through the payment processor dynamically adjusted the price to .2 BTC.  As far as you are concerned, you paid twice as much for the lunch than you expected. It is easy to understand why some argued that most people who use Bitcoin as payment for goods and services today, do so out of love for Bitcoin and not because it is more convenient or cost effective. There may not be enough love reach mainstream status. It may take a new Bitcoin Alternative currency built from ground up to get the job done.
Let is add one more to the list:


1. Merchant adoption
2. Third World Unbanked
3. Wall Street Investment
4. Broad base and widespread ownership using CR.I.S.P. as the catalyst.
5. Consistent Stability

Good point, Chase. Broad base and widespread ownership (we the people are owners, savers, and spenders) is another impetus.

I do not disagree with the author but of strong opinion that it takes more than that. Let is continue building the list.

1. Merchant adoption
2. Third World Unbanked
3. Wall Street Investment
4. Broad base and widespread ownership using CR.I.S.P. as the catalyst.

The following article is quite good but I personally think it takes a lot more than stated to achieve mass acceptance of Bitcoin. My personal rating of the article is "quite good but incomplete".  Let us know what you think. It may help others to gain a better understanding why DNotes has taken a different path to enable mass consumer and merchant adoption of Digital Currency.

[/b])
by Guest Author @ 2015-01-28 01:00 PM
  
By Dwain Findlay

Note: The following article has been hand picked for being one of the standouts in the Ziftr article contest on the topic of what needs to happen for Bitcoin to enter the mainstream. Happy reading.

What will be the impetus of Bitcoin mass acceptance? There are basically three schools of thought on this topic, Merchant Adoption, Third World Unbanked, and Wall Street Investment.

All three of these avenues to mass acceptance are compelling reasons for the spread of Bitcoin and all of them will play role in world wide acceptance of the digital currency but I believe that Wall Street investment will be the initial and primary impulsion that moves Bitcoin out of the esoteric world of technology enthusiasts and internet back alleys like Silk Road and into the mainstream of finance and commerce.

Let us first examine merchant adoption. The conventional wisdom says when a significant percentage of merchants start accepting Bitcoin, it will facilitate mass acceptance by consumers. The problem is that wider merchant adoption has not thus far translated into an increase in consumer demand for the currency. This is evident from the recent 30% price decline despite bitcoin acceptance from major online retailers such as Dell, Overstock and even Microsoft. Although merchants have an incentive to accept bitcoin (since they save 2%-3% in processing fees and they don’t have to worry about charge backs), consumers are offered no compelling reason to use bitcoin for purchases instead of a credit card. But what about bitcoin’s potential in the third world market? Yes, Bitcoin has a huge potential for the over 2.5 billion unbanked people in developing countries. The problem is that most people receiving Bitcoin from relatives in the United States or Europe will need to convert them to their local currency, thus dumping their bitcoins back on the market.

Also they will need access to a Bitcoin ATM or open a bank account in order to convert their bitcoin into the local fiat. Unfortunately it is still far too early in the currency’s evolutionary process to penetrate those markets since there are few if any Bitcoin ATMs or cryptocurrency exchanges in those countries.

Now let’s take a look at the last scenario: Wall Street investment. The emergence of Bitcoin investment trusts could be a game changer for the mass acceptance of the Cryptocurrency. Once investment firms begin purchasing large quantities of the currency, it should ignite a price surge that will take it to new heights. At a recent government auction, one investment firm purchased 40,000 bitcoins but since these coins were not purchased from a cryptocurrency exchange, it had no effect on the price. That will soon change when institutional investors such as insurance companies and retirement funds start to invest. This large influx of capital will drive the price of bitcoin far beyond the US$1,100 high of one year ago. But how will this lead to mass acceptance? Well, it is the bandwagon effect: when the price goes up dramatically Bitcoin gets a lot of attention from the news media. This is precisely what happened a year ago when the price was at an all time high. Media hype creates awareness and curiosity in the minds of consumers. Soon these people jump on the Bitcoin bandwagon by purchasing some bitcoin.

Retailers begin to notice that a significant number of consumers own bitcoin and worry that if they don’t accept the currency they will be at a competitive disadvantage to the retailers who do. This leads to mass adoption by retailers that are trying to avoid being left behind in the new cryptocurrency revolution. This is how I believe mass acceptance will come about


http://cointelegraph.com/news/113381/how-bitcoin-will-achieve-mass-acceptance-op-ed

**************************************

This is one we like to follow closely. The following statement caught my attention. They could be pushing the compliance envelope. The second subject that caught my attention was "micropayment" which will definitely be an important part of the Digital Age.

"Binns further added that TipUp.me was currently working closely "to navigate regulatory and compliance hurdles in various jurisdictions," as the company is opened "to very specific requirements in order to maintain solid relationships with credit card processors."


***************************************

[/b]

by Diana Ngo @ 2015-01-27 05:31 PM
http://cointelegraph.com/news/113375/tipupme-lets-you-top-up-your-changetip-account-using-credit-and-debit-cards

  
TipUp.me, a new service allowing users to top-up their ChangeTip accounts using credit or debit card, is surfing on the popular tipping movement to boost mainstream adoption.

Launched in February 2014, ChangeTip is a low-friction micropayment infrastructure for the Internet that allows users to send bitcoins and fiat currencies via popular social media, including Twitter, YouTube, Google Plus, Tumblr, StockTwit, Reddit or GitHub, and most recently Facebook and Slack.

Aiming to become the "love button for the Internet" by allowing users to easily send "feeless micro-donations to content creators," ChangeTip went viral in early November 2014, notably on Reddit, where users started giveaway threads, attracting newbies to the /r/Bitcoin community.

It is following ChangeTip's tremendous success that Will Binns, a former maintainer of Bitcoin.org and Bitcoin.com, who also worked as a product manager at Blockchain.info, started thinking about a tool that would make the tipping process even easier:

"One of the biggest things I've looked for is a super practical and helpful utilization of the technology that will fluidly lead more people into adopting it," TipUp.me founder Will Binns told CoinTelegraph.

Prior to TipUp.me, ChangeTip users had to have a Bitcoin address, or sign up to a Bitcoin exchange to fund their wallet, and then their ChangeTip account. By acting as an independent operator, TipUp.me streamlines this process by allowing people to refill their ChangeTip account using either a credit or debit card.

"We felt that this was too many steps and a potentially complex barrier to entry for many new users to navigate, especially those who do not know anything about Bitcoin," Binns told NewsBTC in an interview. "We built TipUp.me to solve this problem and make this process as easy as possible."

"We want to make it as easy as possible for new users to start tipping their friends, family and others using ChangeTip - we think credit and debit cards are the key."
Users top-up their ChangeTip account with a major credit or debit card by purchasing a prepaid card, or what TipUp.me calls a "Tip-Up," amounting of US$10, US$25 or US$50. The amount is automatically sent to the user's ChangeTip account, where it becomes immediately spendable.

For each Tip-Up, the startup charges a US$1 processing fee, "mainly to cover bank fees on its side for taking credit cards," noted Binns.

Binns further added that TipUp.me was currently working closely "to navigate regulatory and compliance hurdles in various jurisdictions," as the company is opened "to very specific requirements in order to maintain solid relationships with credit card processors."

TipUp.me is currently running under beta version, and is said to launch to the public in the coming weeks. Those interested in testing the service can request an invite.

You are correct. We need to step up our efforts to educate others when we can.That includes our political leaders. Just haven't figure out the most effective way to do that. If DNotes can win over the mainstream media and becomes a media sensation, that could be the key. I am working on it. Our family of CR.I.S.Ps. could very well be the driver, because it is very broadbase and potentially very far reaching. Let's give it our very best. By the way, I will start working with our PR soon on the Press Release for CR.I.S.P. For Retirement scheduled for the week of Feb. 16, 2015.

McDonalds accepting Bitcoin? Interesting but I am not ready to bet my money on that. ApplePay is more likely.  

This is my take and I will try to make it brief. The irreversible feature of Bitcoin is an important security component and a great selling point to merchants. Legitimate merchants stand by their products and services they sell. Buyers have full recourse to a refund of their payments, if they so demand, within some reasonable scope of limitations, either directly or through the court of laws. I do not see this as an added risk exposure to the consumers, but a significant protection for merchants.

Reversible payments will drastically increase merchants’ risk exposure and a huge deterrent to mass merchant adoption. Anonymity, with the exception of certain merchants, is also a deterrent to mass adoption.

Unfortunately, I am having a very busy day and do not have the time to elaborate this further. I will conclude that in the absence of the irreversible feature and a required true anonymity for DNotes my optimism for the success of DNotes would be severely degraded. That is how strongly I feel about these two functions of Bitcoin as a digital currency technology.

That is what I call a near perfect family that anyone will be proud of. I always leave some room for improvements. Great job, RJF. We all have a lot to learn from you, and I am sure from each others too.