...

We are back from a long trip to India and Nepal.  If wanted I can share pics with those interested.

I see that "not much" that I can see has happened in "Bitcoinistan" since I left.

I will mention that NO ONE has heard of Bitcoin save ONE person in our tour group (18 of us total). 

Bitcoin may be BIG in China, but not in India (certainly not Nepal, now under a fuel embargo by India -- complicated).

India IS progressing faster than I woulod have guessed, they have seen the light re infrastructure (and other things to advance, you know, things like economic freedom, etc.) and of course a relatively tranquil democracy.  But, BTC ain't ready for primetime there.  Pity.

It seems there are bad news all around with doom and gloom. Trade figures going down, jobs cuts, security situation not going well, and bad loans.

Is the economy situation in your country that dismal? Or this is just some fear mongering?

It is an established fact that bitcoins aren't very useful for offline transactions (even if you could use, for example, OpenDime devices for making such transactions). If Bitcoin banks are allowed, they would most certainly start issuing Bitcoin certificates (let's call them paper bitcoins), like many banks did in the 19th century with gold. These certificates could easily serve as paper money of sorts and thus solve the issue with offline transactions. The main problem with this approach is that banks might start (and most likely will) issue more paper bitcoins than the amount of real bitcoins in their wallet. So this raises two questions. Namely, if it is possible to prevent Bitcoin banks from issuing paper bitcoins altogether once they get allowed and start popping up here and there, and if there is a way to make these banks to limit the amount of paper bitcoins so it would match the amount of real bitcoins they have...

I think we might eventually have to face these issues, especially if Bitcoin gets more traction in the future

ello everyone,
So I received some sad news today. My primary app for using bitcoin for purchases was Circle Financial. I was able to link my bank account to this app and make purchases by directly buying bitcoin and completing my transaction. Will Circle no longer offers this. Also unfortunately coinbase doesn't work for people in wyoming. DOES ANYONE KNOW OF AN APP THAT WILL LINK A CARD AND ALLOW ME TO MAKE FIAT TO BITCOIN PURCHASES?!?!  If not what's my best option? Thank you!

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see, this right here is high bullshit...
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/china-oil-bitcoin-mining-theft/

The fucking Chinese are stealing electricity, polluting the Earth with no conscience whatever, and taking over control of Bitcoin. 

Bitcoin is totally under the control of about 6 Chinese miners.  The only reason they put all other miners out of business is because they have no morals and steal electricity.  Now, all mining and control of the Bitcoin protocol is in the hands of these immoral bastards.

Fucking Chinese.

What are the chances for the most widespread cryptocurrency to become the de-facto universal payment solution in one of the most diverse segments of the Internet?

- Read full article HERE and don't forget to share your thoughts with us

When you guys are gambling and already doubled your bankroll, do you still play with the whole money you got or you take away half of your bankroll and start playing with your profit or not?

Sheng Songcheng, the author of the article, is a member of the Eleventh National People’s Congress, the Director of the Investigation and Statistics Department of the People’s Bank of China. The article was first published by WSJ China. Jiang Le is the co-author.


http://news.8btc.com/wsj-china-pboc-official-on-6-reasons-of-issuing-central-banks-digital-currency

This is a translation piece, not representing 8btc.

I have many bitcoins I'm wanting to cash out, but I'm debating whether I should do it for gold, or for USD. The possibility of the bitcoin price crashing scares me, whereas it seems impossible for gold to lose all value.

What do you hold the bulk of your wealth in?

So last evening at a meet, I met this guy who works in the insurance field, and has tieups with all large general insurance companies. So I asked him what's the insurance companies stand on Bitcoin, will they accept it as a payment over usd. He said the trend is divided, some people are clamoring for its inclusion, while many are yet skeptical. So pressing further I asked him the reason of being so skeptical, and I wasn't surprised lack of awareness, it's not owned by a country and etc. But end of one hour down, i finally convinced him to buy one btc which he did today morning, and he's promised to get insurance  people also to have a look into it. That would be awesome right, paying of high premiums with Bitcoin what do you all think?

Enjoy  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U4W7OS8-74


Please like & share  

https://twitter.com/marcdemesel/status/807971065515409408

WHat is missing in the Bitcoin EcoSystem?
Why hasn't it blown up yet?
It is still just a Speculation tool, albeit I think a good one.

SO far there is basically nothing that RELIES on Blockchain technology, if the technology disappeared tomorrow - the world would hardly change.
Where are the communities/groups with their activities that depend on Bitocin?

I'm sure most of the people on this Website are hopeful and can see some potential in Bitcoin, what are your thoughts on what is holding this technology back from having a greater impact on society?
And what are your thoughts on what steps can be taken to navigate this?
Is there a crucial part missing from the Bitcoin EcoSystem that needs to be made/created for the technology to have impact?

Your thoughts are much appretiated.....

What will happen if Tech Giants Like Google, Microsoft, Amazon starts investing in Bitcoin or Altcoin Mining?

I've been using BTC for a while. I've been using it at exchanges, to trade altcoins and to order goods over the Internet, but I've never exchanged BTC with someone in front of me. At a store or between friends, or family. This despite having had long conversations about BTC with various kinds of people, and attending a few meetups.

Who has exchanged BTC F2F?
 

I am not the only one, lots of people have already given up.  Very fucking stupid mismanagement is the result.  At least TCP-IP and Linux had some means to make sensible adjustments in the early days.

Circle Gives Up Bitcoin

Bitcoin has no means to fix things that need a fixin'.  "Consensus" is just a very stupid concept.  95% consensus will never be reached for any issue.  Bitcoin is fucked.  Doesn't scale.  Everyone already left.

Losing is part of successfully trading. If you treat losing as part of trading then you are an experienced trader.

For true devotees of Bitcoin, the price of the digital currency is almost irrelevant. They believe in its inherent value or, more frequently, cannot see any value at all in the alternative of government issued fiat currency. Price is therefore not a concern. At the other end of the spectrum, for those that harbor what appears to be an irrational hatred of Bitcoin and anything to do with it, the exchange rate also matters little. They were screaming that it was all worthless when the price was at over $1000, and somehow convince themselves that an exchange rate of over 200 times what it was before that bubble proves their point. For the vast majority of people somewhere in the middle, however, the price of the currency in Dollar, Euro, Yuan or whatever terms is important.

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/does-the-price-of-bitcoin-matter-cm476312#ixzz3a1cH4qcU

Hey,

Now i read our goverment planning -$215,89 "basic income" "daymoneys" next year  
I hate our goverment, they have been eaten they promises, raise taxes and cost of living in
Capital City Helsinki area.  

Finally, after this blockchain hype we see right now, attracting so many thinkers , projects and budgets, many of the intelligent will finally debunk the real power of bitcoin itself.

If this is because of its feature to be a mostly uncorrelated investment class, a money transfer system or together with Rootstock on top some smart contract / dapp enabling super asset, who knows?

I say it will.

 

Bitcoin has been beating gold by a big margin so far this year. The digital currency has more than doubled in value, while the yellow metal has gained 8.73 percent; and both assets outperformed the S&P 500 and the twenty-year US Treasury bonds.



Does this make Bitcoin a better long term investment than gold?

It’s hard to say, as past performance isn’t a guarantee for future performance, as the old adage goes in Wall Street. Besides, Bitcoin has been around for a short period of time.
 


Still Bitcoins have two advantages over gold. First, they can be used as a convenient medium of payments, though for a limited number of transactions, a function gold is missing. Second, the Bitcoin supply is expected to be limited to 21 million. The supply of gold, on the other hand, is expected to increase anytime its price rises, as it provides an incentive for gold miners to mine for gold.

To be fair, gold has its own advantages, too. It can be used as an outright gift, to make jewelry, and in manufacturing of certain products.

That’s why investors shouldn’t rush to substitute the yellow metal for the digital currency in their portfolio.

~~

Original Story: http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2016/12/09/is-bitcoin-better-than-gold/#42ccc567c143