1)  Without a doubt, fund development of a fully decentralized, trustless exchange, and hire Andreas Antonopoulos to consult on it from beginning to end.

2)  Contact Gavin, lead programmer, and ask him how you can fund programming efforts to address Bitcoins biggest needs right now, such as "more than 7 transactions per second".  Expedite the "to do" list that isn't getting done.  So much seems to be pending, and very little progress on Bitcoin development.  If you need to contact him directly, let me know, I can get the info.

3)  Buy several hundred ATM's and get them installed around the country.  Lamasu ones are cheapest at $5,000.   The more of these there are, in high profile locations, the more Bitcoin will grow in acceptance and name recognition.

4)  Take a huge chunk of your Bitcoins and have thousands of paper wallets created with $1 worth on them.  Hand them out to 100,000 people and make sure the press knows about it.  Or do an air drop from a plane over a stadium full of people.  Like Auroracoin is doing over Icleand soon.  And make sure the media is all over it.

5)  Hire a large group of intelligent people to comment on every single Bitcoin article there is in the media, as soon as it goes live, so their comments are at the top, correcting misinformation, and addressing the nonsense posted by others.  I still believe the comments section has more sway over public opinion than the article itself sometimes.

6)  Hire people to go every homeless person in every city and get them set up with donation QR code signs of their own, so they can begin holding them at street corners.  You may also need to provide a method by which they can cash in their donations of course.  The hundreds of thousands of people seeing Bitcoin QR codes on every street corner will not only get Bitcoin's name out there, but it will show that Bitcoin can be used for helping people as well.  Seans outpost may be a good place to start for resources and suggestions.  They're doing a microcosm version of this, but I envision tens of thousands of QR code signs being handed out to homeless people around the country/world.  Free marketing for Bitcoin and quite a beautiful way to improve its reputation.

7)  Expedite the remittances market revolution.   Don't give Western Union time to "incorporate" Bitcoin.  Do it yourself.  Establish a company providing remittance services for people sending money home to family and friends, for a micro-fraction of the cost that Western Union charges.   Obviously Bitcoin can already do this, but there is no easy way for poor people with few resources to take advantage of it.  Set up a service that addresses their needs, and markets itself as the alternative to western union.  Keep the fees as close to zero as possible.  Bitcoin is assured to be a replacement for WU.  You could be the first to get that ball really rolling.

8 )  Contact the companies currently working to replace the text-SMS-money-sending services in Africa with Bitcoin.  There are two companies I am aware of, and I am certain they could use funding and assistance.  Getting the Africa market would be huge.

The Bitcoin system should be viewed as an entirely new, uncharted world of innovation and entrepreneurism.  Imagine the current financial system with nobody providing products and services for it yet.  That's what Bitcoin is.  Anything you can possibly think of under the sun, hasn't been done yet.  And can be done.  Someone just created a company offering insurance services for Bitcoin holdings. Lloyds of London is doing something similar with another company.  What other big money making services are there in the financial world right now that could be duplicated for Bitcoin?  The world is your oyster.  With nearly everything, you'll be the first to do it.

Software, or a service.   Another great suggestion.  Immerse yourself in trying to live entirely on Bitcoin.  You will quickly see a "need" that must be met.  Probably many.  Successful endeavours always "meet a need" that isn't being met. 

-B-

As far as marketing and adoption, aesthetics, semantics, ease of speech, and a brand name goes, "DigiCashBills" is ... terrible.

Bitcoin sounds good.  99% is in the name.

No offense.

+1

See the picture of the iphone on the home page?

Their answer to Apple's ban.

Big news for them, i guess.

Great article.  Great insight into Mark Karpeles personality and strange behaviors...

-B-

The statement was that they are *known scammers* and money launderers.  
That statement is false, at the very least because all the information isn't out yet, on either of them.
Karpeles situation indicates irresponsibility, arrogance, and possible sociopathy thus far.
Shrem situation reeks of a witch hunt by law enforcement, and I see zero indication of intent to break the law or defraud anyone.


Good point.  Gavin has expressed a strong desire to fully decentralize the development team, and said he is working with developers in other countries to try and get that going.  But right now, it would be a disaster if he walked away.

-B-

This is a false statement.  
Based on the information that has been made available, I don't feel that Shrem had any intentions to defraud anyone, nor blatantly break any laundering laws.
As for Karpeles, nobody knows what happened yet.
He does display an incredibly abnormal behavior pattern (stuffing envelopes while Gox was crashed and in emergency state.  Deciding to take the weekend off while his team scrambled to get back online.  Taking his sweet time at Starbucks while people were outside his office, protesting the loss of millions of dollars).  
I dont know if that is arrogance, sociopath behavior or what, but his issues will be made clear soon.

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/03/bitcoin-exchange/

His propensity for bragging and arrogance (as per the wired article at least), wanting to be called "King of Bitcoin" and bragging about his Mensa membership says a lot.
The fact that such an individual helped found the first centralized ego foundation for Bitcoin with 5,000 of his own coins, lends more credibility to the attitude behind the creation of the organization.

Keep the focus on the fact that Bitcoin doesn't need, and shouldn't have a Foundation.  
I realize this flies in the face of everything we understand about worldwide financial systems, but the internet never needed a Foundation.

And lets acknowledge that the Foundation has done some good things to help stave-off regulators for awhile, giving the platform some time to take hold around the world.
But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that an organization like this should slowly be dissolved, else it will grow into something completely contrary to what Bitcoin represents, eventually.

-B-

Ethereum is great, no doubt.  As are the other efforts (MasterCoin, ZeroCoin, etc).

Just wish we could make Bitcoin "be all it can be" first.   There are a lot of things that can be added safely, which have been in queue a long time.

-B-

Do you all think we will see major enhancements like being able to handle (far) more than 7 transactions per second?
In a reasonable timeframe from now?
I truly believe that one is "top of the list" important.  For obvious reasons.
I heard some discussion about adding (at least the ability for) a chargeback option, which could be switched on and off by merchant systems.
Ability to do refunds, etc.  The basic things necessary for Bitcoin to be a currency with actual commerce, versus just a store of value.

-B-

What is Ethereum?

just kidding

Incredible.

Four pages of discussion on the future of Bitcoin and not a single one of you has made mention of infrastructure progress or worldwide adoption status. That blows me away. Allow me to say this once and for all, to all of you "day traders""

THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS WHEN IT COMES TO THE FUTURE OF BITCOIN, IS THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND ADOPTION GOING ON AROUND THE WORLD.

Let that sink in.  Please.

If you aren't an expert on whats CURRENTLY happening with Bitcoin on a daily basis around the world, then you know *nothing* about Bitcoins future. It doesn't matter how good you think you are with graphs and charts and sweet trading jargon.  You know absolutely nothing.

It's always the guys with fewer than 100 posts saying how confident they are that the Gox thing is the end of Bitcoin.  You hopped on board when BTC was at $1,000 because you wanted to ride the highs and dips.  Make a quick buck.  You did very little learning about what Bitcoin is, and as a result you have zero confidence in its future, and no interest in the things which are true predicters of its long term success (adoption/propagation/infrastructure).  

Anyone who actually believes that Bitcoin is not going back up, has done zero research on Bitcoin's activity around the world right now. To me its just absolutely insane that there can be 4 pages of discussion on Bitcoin and not a single mention of this. The foundation to the current $550 price is because speculation is going down, and a substantial base is being built.  Why didn't Bitcoin die already?   How bad can the news get?   The whole world thinks Gox *is* Bitcoin and Gox is dead.  What lunatic believes that a $550 price after that news is not substantiated by anything?  

There is a whole world of Bitcoin adoption going on out there.  A whole world of hundreds of startups being created that provide financial services related to the protocol.  What are they all going to do?  Just drop bitcoin and throw it in the trash?   After years of planning and learning the system?  Experiencing its benefits and power?  You don't understand human psychology at all.  Anyone who looks only at the Gox situation, has blinders on.  And has absolutely no clue what Bitcoin is doing around the world right now.  And no understanding of Sociology, psychology of populations, or marketing.

Mark my words.  Bitcoin is going back up.  The fact that I even have to say that is astounding.  Its so obvious.

This has been my mantra from the start:   When I start to see the adoption levels decreasing, and infrastructure falling apart around the world, then I will begin to consider the downturn of Bitcoin.  As it stands, adoption levels are at an all time high, and infrastructure is as well.  How anyone can poo poo the Wall Street investments coming in the next month via SecondMarket is bewildering to me.  "ehhh.  might help.  im not convinced though".  LOL .... wow.

-B-

I am.  Have done so many times.   Usually buy with existing coins, then replenish what I spent.  I don't think the stats from Overstock reflect a tiny few number of people making up their $1 million in Bitcoin sales so far.  That would be the result if it were just the early adopters with thousands of coins going on a shopping spree.

-B-

I'd like to reiterate the importance of everyone listening to these two episodes from beginning to end.

Charlie Shrem tells what it was like to be arrested, what law enforcement is doing behind the scenes about Bitcoin (including monitoring these forums daily), how he was treated, and what their motivations are.
http://letstalkbitcoin.com/e87-the-captive-and-the-mountain/#.UxP2loWJcpA

If you have any questions about the current Gox situation - you must listen to this.  You may be very surprised.
http://letstalkbitcoin.com/e88-gox-gox-gox-gox-gox-gox-gox/#.UxP2-4WJcpA

Sometimes I listen to this podcast and get this overwhelming sense that its invaluable information for everyone.  Hope you guys don't mind.

-B-

@Cryptsy on Twitter

How does the BK thing come into play when folks have already traced 50,000+ coins in wallets still tied directly to MtGox, likely still within their possession?

Its going to be interesting to hear what Mark's explanation is for those addresses, considering he's claiming they only have 2,000 BTC.

Thanks guys.

Is there any risk to progress when you have a decentralized development team, and nobody technically managing the project? 
Nobody handling the list of bugs and enhancements, making sure they get done in a timely manner, and nobody to load test or fully QA the system?
PS:  A developer acting as project manager usually isn't the best idea in my experience as a project manager.

This is an issue that has been eating at me for awhile.  

Mostly because I don't know the answer.  And I could be *completely* wrong.  So i am posting this to get some insight from those who know better than me.

It seems to me that there are very few, if any software updates to the Bitcoin protocol.  And a "to do" list that must be growing by the day, with nobody addressing the issues.  

Yes.  I am aware.  They can't move too quickly.  Its an important system.  Must be done right.  Etc.  

Nevertheless, how is the core dev team going to keep up with the expansion / enhancement needs of Bitcoin at this current snails pace?  And when I say snails pace, I mean basically no pace.  The months roll by and I hear nothing about periodic enhancements, upgrades, security issues.  Bitcoin of March 2014 should make Bitcoin of March 2013 look like an ancient relic.  We should be sitting on a powerfully enhanced tool that silences all Bitcoins critics.  We *TELL* everyone that Bitcoin is a flexible, living, growing piece of software, so whatever issue they bring up can be addressed by code modifications.   But nobody is doing code modifications.

Yes there were a couple updates, maybe in the last year I believe, right?   A couple notable things in each one.   Then .... months of silence.  Meanwhile the press, the economists, the naysayers continue to condemn bitcoin for things that we could safely add to the code.   But nobody is doing it.  I saw Gavin mentioning some frustrations with those who demand enhancements but don't provide the resources to actually code them.  I realize there is probably a very good explanation for the utter lack of progress of anything significant.  But the question is:  Is anything being done to address it?  

If Bitcoin is to survive, my understanding is that its claim of being "enhance-able" needs to actually be accurate.  My perception, after daily involvement for the last 11 months, is that little or nothing is getting done.  

Is that a correct perception?  Why, or why not?

Thanks.

I confirmed that Bitcoin QT does not support Bip38.

As the days and weeks go by, the Dev teams "to do" list grows longer and longer.  With little getting done. 

Blockchain.info allows for Bip38 imports, so that is where I will do mine, if I ever need to.

-B-

Today from my step brother.   Text message.

Him:   Say it aint so!

Me:  ?

Him:  Bitcoin.

Me:  ?

Him:  Bitcoin having problems?  Friend texted me saying it filed bankruptcy.

-B-

Yeah, he was just discussing the proper way to store coins, and it did include a cycling of things every so often. 

Testing the functions, testing your passphrase, etc ... which ... to me is just plain asking for trouble.  I like to leave things alone.

I can't find it.  Just wasted 45 minutes on Lets Talk Bitcoin site. 

Ok ill update this thread when i find it.   The reason I posted is because I was reading this thread, and the person said nearly the same thing:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=493803.msg5442741#msg5442741

"To be anonymous, change your wallets from time to time"

Reminded me of whatever it was Andreas said recently.

I swear Andreas said to move your coins around periodically.  Not necessarily "often".

Gimme a few...