+1

It's back up!

LOL

Bitcoin definitely has better storage and transportation features than gold. If you have to flee your country and cross borders try doing it with a wheelbarrow full of gold & silver. With bitcoin you can simply send your encrypted wallet up to the cloud and retrieve it on the other side. With that said, bitcoin is still new enough that I am hedging my bets and holding both bitcoin and precious metals.

Yes, TradeHill, can you give us a status report?

Re: Aljazeera episode: Nice story...sex, drugs, rock and roll...wait a minute - we're missing the sex and rock and roll! Somebody get Mick Jagger on the line...!

Bumping the thread to reflect the fact that I've now added Walmart gift cards.

+1 I'm with you on this. Go bitcoin!

+1 Nice to see some good guys on this forum!

You cannot spend them until a merchant is willing to accept them. Bitcoin must be valued first in order for merchants to want to accept them. Saving bitcoins is a signal to the market that they are valued. This helps increase demand and merchants will jump into the market and offer to trade their products and services for bitcoin. The recent press and subsequent price spike drew in a lot of merchants who saw the value of getting paid in an appreciating currency.


I didn't say it was my business what anybody does with their bitcoin. I merely suggested that, if you want to use bitcoin, park your money there instead of in dollars. This creates a demand for bitcoin - helping to increase its value and purchasing power. Then spend it with vendors who supply products and services that you would have bought anyway. Save the rest in bitcoin - again creating value for bitcoin and increasing potential demand. It would be silly to spend your money on things you don't need just because someone wants you to "stimulate the economy".


Here's where the logic really gets fuzzy: Spend your bitcoin on products and services you don't need - essentially dumping your bitcoin on the market and depressing their price.

Hello All,

I've got several Safeway Food and Fuel Gift Cards which can be used for anything in their stores including GAS.

These gift cards are good in USA and Canada at the following stores:

Safeway
Vons
Carrs Safeway
Genuardis
Pavillions
Dominick's
Randalls
Pak n Save Foods
Tom Thumb (not in CA)

Each gift card comes with a $100 balance and I will trade for 7.45 BTC each (subject to change). Please PM me for current quote.

I also have Walmart gift cards with the same terms.

Limited supply.

Lots of references. PM me for more info.

Thanks,
Trader Steve

Correction: InstaWallet.org not InstaWallet.com

I feel it's really none of my business what the early adopters and miners do with their bitcoin money. If they haven't spent much it is because they value holding their funds over spending them. It's simple economics that the holding vs. spending actually increases the demand for bitcoin by limiting supply and raising their value (increasing their desirability). When new people to the community see that bitcoin is valued enough to save they will see the merit in acquiring some and doing the same. The idea that "hoarding is bad" is a myth (see  http://economicsandliberty.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/bitcoin-and-the-virtue-of-hoarding-and-deflation/ ).

But, it shouldn't be hard for each of us to think about our everyday purchases and then try and figure out how to patronize bitcoin vendors who can supply us the same goods and services that we normally buy elsewhere. We can put our money where our mouths are and keep our paychecks in bitcoin and spend it out as needed - saving the excess.

Vendors, seeing a rising price of BTC will begin to see the benefit of getting paid in an appreciating currency, and will be more open to accepting it as payment. If you are a vendor and want to acquire bitcoin consider offering a discount to customers as an incentive for using bitcoin over other forms of payment.

Excellent! I have nothing to do with InstaWallet other than I think it is a very useful tool. This makes person-to-person and person-to-business transactions very simple.

Trader Steve

Nice and easy wallet solution for iPhone:

http://bitcointraining.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/simple-wallet-solution-for-iphone/

I’ve put together a simple tutorial for iPhone users where you can have quick and easy access to an online wallet where you can keep bitcoin “pocket change” – (enough for meals, taxi fares, small payments, etc.).  This would be the equivalent of what you would carry in your regular wallet for your daily needs.

Here’s how I did it:

I opened my iPhone browser and navigated to the link:  http://www.instawallet.org

This url creates an instant URL unique to your browsing session and it assigns you a bitcoin payment address that is visible right on the screen. The first thing you want to do is bookmark this unique URL. Next, double click and copy the bitcoin payment address that is generated for you on the page. Paste it into a new “Notes” page on your iPhone notepad. Make yourself a note that this is your “InstaWallet payment address” for receiving payments. This is the address you will give to others when you want to receive a small payment.  Here is what my Note now looks like:

    My InstaWallet payment address:

    1ME6HTc8aYtzkb43HfpmzGBtdGb7bfJMKz

I also emailed to my iPhone my bitcoin “savings” payment address (this is my separate and secure bitcoin wallet address to where I keep my savings at home) and then I copied and pasted this savings address to my same “Notes” page so it now looks like this:

    My InstaWallet payment address:

    1ME6HTc8aYtzkb43HfpmzGBtdGb7bfJMKz

    My Savings payment Address:

    1ME6HTc8aYtzkb43HfpmzGBtdGb7bfJMKz

[Note: in this example I've used the same payment address for both but in reality I have a separate payment address for my "savings" address]

With my unique InstaWallet URL now saved as a bookmark in my iPhone, and my “sending” and “receiving” addresses in my Notes page, I am now almost ready to do business.

First I send a small amount of funds from my “savings” account over to my InstaWallet payment address. My first transfer was a few of bitcoin (about $50 worth). In my bitcoin “savings” client I save and label my InstaWallet payment address so I’ll have it quickly available for the next time I want to “top up” my iPhone wallet.

Now I am fully prepared to engage in small transactions quickly and easily from my iPhone. If I want to stop on over to Mezze Grill for lunch I simply scan their QR code for the bitcoin payment address, open up my bookmarked InstaWallet page, and paste the payment address into the payment field and press “send payment”.  If my buddy wants to reimburse me for drinks I simply open my Notes page, copy my InstaWallet payment address, paste it into a text and send it over to him so he can pay me. If I end up receiving several small payments that add up to more than I feel comfortable keeping in my mobile wallet I simply send a payment over to my “savings” address.

My iPhone is password protected and I don’t carry around any more money in this wallet than I can afford to lose without too much heartburn. If I wanted, I could also securely write down my unique InstaWallet URL and keep it in a safe place in case my iPhone is lost or stolen. In the event my iPhone is lost or stolen I could simply enter the URL in my home browser and spend out the funds to my savings account.

There you have it – a simple and easy mobile wallet for your iPhone! If you found this info valuable please send a tip to my payment address above and help buy me a drink!

Enjoy!

+1

Bruce, where is this tutorial? Thanks!

I wrote the following response to another thread (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=26103.0) that I think has relevance here:

The average customer needs to have a compelling reason to use bitcoin for purchases. Here are few reasons that "could" motivate him:

1. He values the privacy of a bitcoin transaction
2. He prefers to hold his money in his own personal "bank" (wallet) instead of at a traditional (fractional reserve) bank
3. There is a major loss of confidence in his nation's currency
4. He feels that bitcoin is a better store of value than his national currency
5. The vendor offers a discount for customers who pay with bitcoin - (key strategy for vendors who prefer bitcoin!)
6. He likes the "ease of storage" feature of bitcoin
7. He likes the portability feature of bitcoin (especially across national borders)
8. He has philosophical reasons (prefers free-market money over central-planner money)

As noted in the previous post, there doesn't need to be 100% acceptance of bitcoin for everyday exchanges in order for it to be useful. Consider that gold is primarily valued as a "store of value" but that it is not used in everyday exchanges/purchases in any meaningful way. The question then becomes, are bitcoin's features valued enough that people will trade national currencies (and other assets) for them? I think this question has already been answered in the affirmative by the market. The next major question, in my opinion, is how will attacks from nation states effect bitcoin's value? If it is forced into the black market will it's price go up, as is in the case of illegal drugs, or will its value drop due to fear of prosecution?

You are 100% correct. The average customer needs to have a compelling reason to use bitcoin for purchases. Here are few reasons that "could" motivate him:

1. He values the privacy of a bitcoin transaction
2. He prefers to hold his money in his own personal "bank" (wallet) instead of at a traditional (fractional reserve) bank
3. There is a major loss of confidence in his nation's currency
4. He feels that bitcoin is a better store of value than his national currency
5. The vendor offers a discount for customers who pay with bitcoin - (key strategy for vendors who prefer bitcoin!)
6. He likes the "ease of storage" feature of bitcoin
7. He likes the portability feature of bitcoin (especially across national borders)
8. He has philosophical reasons (prefers free-market money over central-planner money)

As noted in the previous post, there doesn't need to be 100% acceptance of bitcoin for everyday exchanges in order for it to be useful. Consider that gold is primarily valued as a "store of value" but that it is not used in everyday exchanges/purchases in any meaningful way. The question then becomes, are bitcoin's features valued enough that people will trade national currencies (and other assets) for them? I think this question has already been answered in the affirmative by the market. The next major question, in my opinion, is how will attacks from nation states effect bitcoin's value? If it is forced into the black market will it's price go up, as is in the case of illegal drugs, or will its value drop due to fear of prosecution?

+1