A socialist will claim that it is perfect socialism because of it's peer to peer existence.
Socialism is not a voluntary system just because it contains some of the same letters in the same order as "society". It requires state force to operate. |
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Thats not true I talked to a few card issuers, as I deal in credit card transactions all the time. The real problem is, you need at least 100k to just print the cards... Most company's will print a card for anyone if you buy all of the cards up front. The lowest I found was 50 cards @ 30 dollars a piece min 1900$ dollars all the cards are blank no design.
The biggest problem would be to convert BTC>USD to cover the purchase.
Lets say you went to the grocery store and bought a bag chips for 3 dollars, the card would have to call to a program to convert BTC at the current USD rate.
The software I use allows for POS and Credit card integration, its banking software. I am going to ask my programmer to write a script that will reflect the BTC balance into the USD account at the current exchange rate and see if I can get a working solution.
The problem I see with this is price fluxes you may or may not have enough to cover the purchase.
I seem to recall the company I worked for ordered up a bunch of printed cards back in the late 90s. Front and back design, whatever you wanted on the stripe & front. I want to say we got 100 (I had to generate the file with the stripe & emboss data) at about £2.50 a pop (they were promotional). I wouldn't be surprised if you could get them cheaper these days. Either way, $1900 would be nothing for a venture like this. Though it's not really clear how it works. Is it purely bitcoin or does it involve a native currency to bitcoin conversion? If there's conversion involved, I don't really think it adds much in value to the bitcoin ecosystem, native cards are not hard to come by. |
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how are you supposed to differentiate between a bubble and just a large buy order book?
Analysis of fundamentals. Anything else is just relying on knowing mob behavior and there's a good chance you're one of the mob. |
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I don't think there was even time for a "Bitcoin will never hit $40" thread.
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There are still plenty of good dividend plays from solid companies.  Or are you talking about taxes on DRIPs? (because you dont pay taxes on that until the stock is sold). But yes, investing in stocks requires faith (though much less than BTC IMO). There are some but there are a lot that don't, particularly tech companies. |
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Well, gold and silver require a truck... or a pretty large wheelbarrow.  Pfft. So will the dollar, soon. |
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Bitcoin could be big for the Chinese. Consider all the doo-hickeys you can buy on ebay for a dollar with free shipping. For that dollar, you're getting shipping, ebay fees, paypal fees, currency conversion fees and finally, the doo-hickey itself. Bitcoin could eliminate at least two and weaken a third of those.
Consider also that the Chinese economy has some underlying issues itself and that it appears to be experiencing some serious bubbles. A reliable store of wealth could be just what smart people are looking for. I bet gold is hard to own there too.
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I only put play money in btc, basically I look at it as gambling. I only have a few hundred bucks in the system total, so "serious profit" is a relative term. I would never risk my retirement or savings to the BTC market.
My main (real) investments are in stocks, which is still fairly risky, but less so than BTC Imo.
Stocks. Now there's something that requires faith. Since the government made it so that it's not good tax-wise to pay out dividends and to reinvest the money instead, sensible indicators have disappeared and all you can hope for when you buy most stocks is that there is a bigger sucker than you when it comes time to sell it. |
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Hah, just thought of another. Don't expect it to make the cut but... E Pluribus Argentum Pardon my Latin |
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Well, since "strength in numbers" seems to be leading the poll, I thought I'd throw in my to satoshis regarding the Latin translation. Source: rusty remnants of one year of high-school latin, and native tongue that features latin-like cases and declensions.
in numeris vis
I am a proud owner of a 2011 T-shirt saying "Vires in numeris" - is this posed to become a precious collectible akin to all those postage stamps with typos or other errors?
In my opinion it is too hard to understand. Will add if anybody gives it a +1 Agree. The latin is neat for coins and even for t-shirts and whatnot but I think the primary form should be the English one. Though an interesting way to stress the international aspect in some circumstances would be to have it listed in many different languages. Perhaps a new thread if it's accepted? |
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Until people feel safe after they have accumulated enough saving, things will not improve, and the stimulus from either FED or Government will just give them enough money to save until they feel safe.
Stimulus does not come from the Fed of government, it comes from the savings of individuals. The prudent are robbed to feed the careless. |
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Here's the thing. There can be a bubble and still be an underlying real increase in value. In this case, if a bubble collapses, particularly if it is not a hugely inflated bubble, that may not mean a collapse to almost worthless prices but to pre-bubble levels or maybe even higher depending on underlying growth.
I believe this may be what we are seeing with bitcoin, rapid rises from micro-bubbles followed by periods of stability as those bubbles deflate. This is not a bad thing but merely market mechanisms at play.
The main thing to realize is that there are no government forces at work as there has been with really serious bubbles such as the housing one (though one could argue that the government trashing the dollar is having some effect). Pump & dump is not really at play and may even have been somewhat defused by the previous crash.
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There's plenty of room for other playas in the game, don't be a h8er. :-P
True. Though I think for anything to not be eclipsed by Bitcoin, it will have to offer something that bitcoin does not and occupy a different niche. Consider that in the Galapagos, there were birds operating in several roles that mammals typically occupy in the wider world. They could do so, not because there was room for more than one animal in that role but because there were no mammals to fill that role in the Galapagos. WRT Litecoin, I'm not particularly familiar with it but looking at its webpage, http://litecoin.org/ , it seems it doesn't really offer anything that bitcoin does not except, perhaps to the miners. And Bitcoin is about done with mining being a dominant part of its lifecycle. Good luck to it but I don't think it will be in my portfolio. Other currencies? Need exploring on a case-by-case basis. |
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It might sound a little aggressive towards the establishment.
*chuckle* |
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The business model is to manufacture and sell machines to merchants. They can set the commission to whatever they want, and they keep it all. We are not looking to be a service provider. The motivation for us is to promote Bitcoin globally so our own investments in Bitcoin appreciate in value and, secondarily, to turn a profit on selling machines. The motivation for the merchant is to earn a continuous profit stream on the commissions.
You may not want to be a service provider but you may want to partner with someone who would. A model I have seen before is that machines are dropped off at bar, coffee shop, whatever at no cost to the proprietor and when the money is counted up at the end of the month, the shop owner gets a part of the profits. This takes all of the risk and cost from the shop owner (something often a huge issue in the current economic climate). The middleman provides flexibility but takes a profit from the deal. The problem would be finding someone willing to take the risk. But I suspect you might have more of an problem convincing shop owners to jump on-board. It would probably be easier and safer to find a way of taking some of that risk from the middleman than from a shop owner too. |
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I went to a bar once where they had an ATM there and they would only accept cash (no cards). So when you went to pay your bill you would go to the ATM and get cash, then give it to the bartender. I assume it was because the bar did not want to claim all of the money they made at the bar.
If they take your card, they pay the fee, if they make you use their ATM, they get all the money and a kickback from the ATM provider. That's all it's about. |
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What is the current exchange rate? And how many pizza bites to a pizza roll?
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With fiat money, if I sit on my chest, my fortune will start eroding.
To be picky, this phrasing implies it is a passive thing. Your fortune will be gradually stolen. The deflationary spiral scare story is an invention of those who wish to steal your wealth with impunity. Time to start calling them on it (though it is likely too late). |
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Much better title.  Yet somehow along the lines of "Have you stopped beating your wife?" |
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I think its an exceptionally clever tagline, but I don't like it - its got a feeling of socialism and slight intimidation about it!
That my just be my UK background, and I'm sure it was a tagline used by one of the big unions here!
This is true. But seeing as how socialism has steamrollered over free societies over the last century, maybe there's a couple of things they're doing correctly. To be sure, strength in numbers is a good thing when the numbers associating are doing so on a voluntary basis. |
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