Thanks for your response!

I've been surprised at several articles I've read in the past week that sensationalize the risks of accepting Bitcoin as a business. Seems to me that accepting Bitcoin with a payment processor, such as BitPay, is safe from all the risks typically associated with owning and transacting in Bitcoin. But none of the articles I've read mentioned Bitcoin payment processors mitigate the risks they point out (one article mentioned BitPay, but still failed to mention how it would help overcome the risks).

Since I'm still a relative newbie, do any of you think there are significant risks for businesses accepting Bitcoin payments with BitPay? The only risk I can think of is that BitPay folds or something, before you receive your payment (which seems highly unlikely, but I guess the possibility exists).

I'd love to hear your answers. Oh, I'm sticking to BitPay on this question, since they seem to be the biggest and most reputable in this space. I'm intending to blog about the topic, with more accurate/complete information than the articles I've read recently.

Very nice! I just wish you were not overseas. Do you have an idea how long it takes to get to USA? Has anyone on the forum received stickers from you yet?

I met someone at a Bitcoin meetup and wanted to plug his site:
http://btcwarn.com

It will send you SMS or email alerting you to BTC price changes.

He's open to feature requests, if you see room for improvement. I suggested an option for more frequent alerts, which he plans to implement (even as is, I've been getting a lot of alerts lately!).

I'd say so! But I guess no one knows what tomorrow may bring.

Tokeweed, how do you interpret the movements of late? You were advising people to sell and short-sell (you posted that scary 2011 chart on 6 threads) and buy on an uptrend (I think hoping the price would go much lower than it has). We got what seemed like a minor uptrend, followed by a weird instant spike in price that would be impossible to move on. I happened to be actively checking the price and saw it was 96, then a few seconds later it was 110. I thought it was a glitch, I couldn't imagine the price actually moved like that.

I'm not a trader, but as an observer, it seems like BTC would be hard to trade with such crazy movements. I feel more comfortable just trying to accumulate if the price seems low... Of course, with many in since under $1, I guess "low" is a relative term.

What the hell? How did the (gox) price just jump from 96 to 110???

Did everyone trust the NSA before, but now with the exposure of PRISM, suddenly people think there's a greater chance that SHA-2 has a backdoor?

July 10th Meetup in Santa Monica!
http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Bitcoin/events/123784402/

I was happy keeping money in Gox for awhile, and had a bunch of orders set up. But then I started getting nervous about the U.S. or Japan shutting Gox down (smarter people than me convinced me that was a possibility). If money transfers took hours or less, so I could buy and get the BTC out, I might think it worth the risk. But with it taking often a couple of business days to transfer money, I'm too nervous to put much into Gox now (with 20/20 hindsight, I wish I would have kept a little cash there to buy on this recent dip).

I also can't help but wonder, since Gox now seems to be in the U.S. government's line of fire, are all U.S. Banks still willing to keep wiring funds there?

Does the past 8 hours qualify as a reversal of the trend?

The LA Meetup Group is currently aiming for around July 10 on the Westside (perhaps hard to find, because the discussion of the next meetup is all on a thread from our very successful gathering last Wednesday). It would be good to sync up the plans between BitCoinTalk and MeetUp.

http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Bitcoin/events/120561162/

Seems no one thinks a serious event caused the current drop.

My uneducated, newbie guess is manipulation plus fear. Not to mention, people are looking at the short term trend and saying to sell/short, helping to put more downward pressure on the price.

I don't think it means anything as far as the bit big picture goes (I keep making that typo).

And yes to kjj's comments.

I met Stephen last week at a Bitcoin meetup, and I agree that he seems brilliant (though I never run into him here).

I agree. I buy on the way down (at least in theory). Tokeweek, are you still selling, or has it gone down enough that you're holding until you think it's time to buy?

And at what price will your start buying again?

I agree, no one can predict the market (except, maybe if they're big enough that they can manipulate it). Next week it could shoot up to 200. Or it could drop to 25. Or it could go to 25, then 200. Or visa versa... But I would buy all the way down, say more each time it drops $20 in value, and I think many others are also perched with limit orders to buy on the way down (it's not just fear that drives a market, but also greed). I'm buying in at staggered lower values, attempting to accumulate BTC at lower values, with the belief the price will eventually go up. While I can't even make guesses at the short term market, I do have a belief in the longterm value

Of course, there's risk buying Bitcoin at any price (hopefully everyone knows that too). It may go down and never come back up. But I figure, even if there's a 90% chance BTC will fail, and a 10% chance BTC will be worth 5000% of the current value, the odds are that taking a lot of bets like that in life will pay off (just like a VC invests in a lot of promising startups knowing most will fail, but hoping one will be so successful as to make it very worth it). Many seasoned entrepreneurs who are way smarter than me are pouring millions into Bitcoin ventures, even with all the known risks. Regardless of the current volatility or price of BTC, many people believe Bitcoin will be huge in the future.

My gut interpretation of your statements, respectfully, is that you are trying to drive the price down. I'm not going to get into a discussion of (the lack of) intrinsic value of fiat currency vs. the (arguable) intrinsic value of Bitcoin, but I suggest anyone who hasn't already looked at that issue google the topic to see the arguments.

Forgetting intrinsic value and utility, most people in the world have never heard of Bitcoin. But if interest and innovation continues to grow as it has, and the barriers to entry are lowered (as they will be), we're in the very infancy of (at least) a huge speculative bubble. Add in the actual utility and innovation that Bitcoin brings to the table, and I think there's valid reason to speculate on long term price gains and success as a platform. There's so much that people with great minds have put into Bitcoin over the past few years... Rigs, money, innovation... And there are so many Bitcoin companies with entrepreneurs involved who have proven track records. I don't know how all this can be ignored, regardless of relatively short term trading patterns.

At Los Angeles Bitcoin meetup a few days ago, I spoke with extremely smart folks, mostly developers, who have been laser-focused on Bitcoin for several years, and have seen crazy volatility and crashes before the recent one. They've seen a lot, but have remained confident that the technology of Bitcoin is the future. They were attending meetups with 2-3 people a year or two ago. This meetup had 40-50 people, only a few of whom were relatively new to Bitcoin (as I am). I think newbies like us probably are seen as silly for even trying to talk about these issues. But clearly, even those of us who are relatively new have our beliefs.

Any advice received may be intended to help you... Or it could be intended to manipulate you and the market. Advice could even be intended to do both.

For anyone saying to sell, what percentage of one's BTC should we sell? (Wouldn't selling at 130-265 have been a better time to sell?) What levels should a person buy back in? Is the person you're advising looking to trade or accumulate BTC?

I'm not selling. If the price tanks, I'll buy more. If it gets anywhere near past highs, I'll probably buy more stuff using BTC, or donate to the EFF using BTC, actually use Bitcoin to support greater adoption. But I will never sell it all.

That's my perspective, take it or leave it.

I was looking around the site, saw your request, and also saw this posted message, which seems to be what you're looking for. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try to hook you two up (not that I know either of you).

Just wondering, are the inks and materials intended for use outdoors (like on a car), and able to handle exposure to sun and moisture?