3) geekish interface
Good user experience is very expensive to develop. Bitcoin is still in beta stage and the client developers are currently focusing on the first priority, namely making Bitcoin reliable and secure, rather than making the client do too many things poorly. But there is no reason that a non-geek user should use the Bitcoin client itself. A web interface for Bitcoin will sacrifice some security and privacy for useability, but that will serve most non-geek users' needs. I think that eventually, the client will only be used by a core of geek users and "banks", while the average joe will probably rather trust a third party with the technicalites of securing the wallet.dat files and access Bitcoin only indirectly through the third party's interface. Bear in mind that even the average joe would have a strong incentive to make an effort to learn how Bitcoin works and how to safely back up his bitcoins if they were worth the equivalent of $100,000. By the way, a web interface for bitcoin already exists: https://www.mybitcoin.com/4) Early/late user unfairness
Well, yes, it's unfair in the same way that early investors in Google earned a 1000-fold return on their investment without working for that money "the hard way". But still, they were rewarded for spotting a promising technology and for being prepared to back it with a high-risk investment. Fact is, the newly created Bitcoins need to be initially distributed somehow. If you can think of a fairer way then giving it to those who are prepared to dedicate CPU cycles to make the network more secure, let us know. What would be fairer? A set amount of Bitcoins for every person on the planet? That would create its own set of problems and unfairnesses. Who pays for this huge administrative task? How do you prove that every person has received their Bitcoins? etc. |
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1) Low monetary mass.
21 Million is just an arbitrary number. It has no physical meaning except for serving as a reference point. It really doesn't matter whether that number is 21 Million, 400 Billion, or 888.888 Trillion - as long as everyone on the p2p network agrees to adhere to that precise number for the history of the currency. If 21 M "feels" too small for you, then think of them not as 21 M Bitcoins but 21 Trillion Microbitcoins (which they will eventually be called anyhow if Bitcoin ever goes mainstream). Also, in the unlikely event that the smallest unit of divisiblity (1e-8 Bitcoin) becomes too large for everyday transactions, the client could easily be modified to support even smaller divisibility. 2) Fixed monetary mass.
Yes, some money will disappear, but the more money disappears the more valuable the remaining money will become, incentivising people to be more careful not to lose it. We will never run out of Bitcoins, since however few of them remain, they can be divided indefinitely if need be. |
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To my knowledge, Bitcoin is the only truely decentrasiled p2p-cryptocurrency that has ever made it from concept to production to adoption by online businesses.
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I wonder if somebody could devise a small-scale experiment to figure out if deflation is bad for investment, and/or measure the size of the effect...
Bitcoin already *is* such a small-scale experiment. Would be nice to have a control experiment, an inflationary fork of bitcoin. Let them compete and let the market decide which model is superior. |
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The very purpose of bitcoin is not to require any centralized organisation. I don't see why bitcoin should try to mimic an organisation like Visa, for whom I have very little respect, personnaly.
Again, to me it seems just as weird as an organisation dedicated to gold, silver, salt, sugar or any other commodity.
Such an organisation would not be in charge of Bitcoin. It would simply promote Bitcoin's adoption. Also, there is no reason only one such organisation should exist. |
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One solution would be not to use bitcoins directly on facebook, but "vouchers" that can be exchanged 1:1 for bitcoin. To make those vouchers less currency-like impose rules such as expiry after 30 days.
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Bitcoin isn't any kind of "istic". It's just a tool.
Even in its spirit, it differs from anarcho-capitalist principles in some subtle ways.
Anarcho-capitalism is based on the notions of private property and voluntary, but binding contracts.
Bitcoin's most intuitive form of usage is based on divulgation, gamerism, and reputation. Not property and contracts.
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Its not about violence its about people gaming the system when they see a weakness. Lets not forget they started this by taking property that isnt theirs. We just have to come up with a way to make it harder to do so.
In a way it's a good thing that scammers are attacking this early because it's weeding out the weaknesses in the system. |
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I don't see a problem. The Bitcoin community and the Bitcoin protocol are two independent developments. Piggybacking ideology on Bitcoin is a bonus but not a necessity for its success. The founder community is only writing the charter. How Bitcoin will eventually evolve is beyond its control anyhow. If it catches on, it will outlive the founder community by decades.
Bitcoin is a tool that could be used to spread any number of ideologies. It's a very versatile tool; it could fulfill the needs of a diverse range of communities, in ways we can't imagine today. We shouldn't see it for more than it is.
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How about getting an € bank account in Europe and restore service to european users? Transfers between € accounts are free, and the risk of cashback is very low. USD users can also transfer money to the account for a fee, and you can transfer to other countries for a fee.
Getting a bank account in Europe is very difficult if you are not a legal resident. I presume the MtGox owner lives in the US outside the Eurozone. The only place I know where a foreigner can simply walk into a bank with their passport and open an EUR account on the same day, is Switzerland. They still make sure that the barriers are high. Last time I checked with UBS it required a minimum deposit of CHF 50,000 for these non-resident accounts. |
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I remember Wikileaks' headache earlier this year when their Paypal donation account was commandeered and when someone leaked the donors' identities.
Perhaps we should emphasize that Bitcoin would encourage more donations by protecting the privacy of the donors and so on, using Wikileaks as an example.
"Ein dezentrales, anonymes System zur Uebertragung von Spenden schuetzt die Privatsphaere der Spender und garantiert, dass das Geld unabhaengig von den Interessen eines Bezahlsystem-Betreibers ankommt."
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bin auch Deutschsprachig aber poste lieber auf Englisch.
wo ich schon da bin... hat von euch jemand den Mut eine BTC-Devisenboerse zu oeffnen, die IBAN-Ueberweisungen akzeptiert?
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In what way these alternatives you present here are better than paypal?
They are more similar to bitcoin in that payments are anonymous and irreversible, though still managed by a central authorithy. Once a code is spent it's spent. If someone steals your code and spends it it's your own fault; there's no chargeback. Also, you can get them for cash in newsagents, which would be useful for those of us who don't have a credit card. |
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What if I'm operating entirely within the bitcoin economy? I earn ONLY bitcoins and buy things for bitcoins ONLY. I never touch any $.
In this case, I pay no taxes and the government knows nothing of my activities except that I'm "unemployed". Maybe I could take a part time job (putting me in a low tax bracket) just to keep the suspicion off.
What are the legal implications for this and what are the chances of getting caught?
Sooner or later you are going to want to use large scale infrastructure and the government can easily commandeer that if it wants to and run it as a state monopoly. In most countries, highways, railways, and airports are already a state monopoly. Electricity, water, fuel in some others. If they can no longer make money from taxing income or sales ... worst comes to worst they can expropriate all land/real estate owners and demand "rent" from everybody, in Bitcoins if need be. |
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What would motivate someone to steal Paypal accounts and then buy lots of Bitcoins at MtGox? What's in it for him? He knows that because of the 30 day freeze he will never see any coins. All he can do is shake up the market and cause grief for the MtGox owner.
That would be a hell of a determined troll who is prepared to commit a criminal offense just for a little bit of lulz.
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Paypal is shit. This was bound to happen sooner or later. Shame none of the exchanges accept Ukash or Paysafecard: http://www.ukash.comhttp://www.paysafecard.comYou can buy the codes for cash at any newsagent, and once you've entered the code the payment is irreversible. |
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How many people in this forum do you know personally?
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