I think this really has the basis of a great idea.

As a close follower of Ethereum, although I agree that that team have done us all a great service in outlining the potential that exists in that wide space of Crypto 2.0 - I have increasing doubts about the way they are going about realizing their vision. I was at a couple of Ethereum meetups in London recently which just gave me the impression that despite their great ideas they as a team are disorganized and indecisive (eg they keep on moving their IPO goalposts).

The idea mooted here seems far more solid and reality-based in its real-world implementation, ie making use of the solidity of the BTC blockchain rather than on an altchain with all of the security (51% attacks etc) issues associated with any new initiative.

Crypto will succeed if we all get behind a tested blockchain rather than dilute our energy with a myriad of altchains most of which will go nowhere.

This idea as well as the Sidechain idea of Beck & Hill seem the best way to go for now as they focus energy on the stablest of the blockchains where the future lies.

I had the same problem yesterday - thanks for the info - I too disabled the email confirmation thingy at all went through ok.

There seems to be an issue with email confirmation links from Bitstamp. I had the same when I tried to make a Bitcoin withdrawal last night. However, I temporarily disabled email confirmation for withdrawals, retried the withdrawal and it went through.

Coindesk did an interview today about the place and what we do there.

http://www.coindesk.com/uk-farm-bitcoin-wedding-parties/

Absolutely amazing video - thanks for posting.

I'm giving a Bitcoin presentation in UK on 25th and lead in with this stuff.

Being a regular attender at the London Bitcoin Meetups I've been aware for a while that there is a need for a kind of "higher-level" series of meetings to look at the bigger picture in the crypto-world.

Rather than just sitting in a seminar and listening to a lecture - there is a need for a more collegiate setting to that everyone can contribute to the ever-developing process that is the world of cryptocurrency.

There is already enough good instructional stuff about Bitcoin on Youtube and other sites - these workshops take that process further.

Stating on Saturday, 25th January 2014 I am organizing a series of meetings each month on this theme, all are welcome.

Loudwater Farm is a comfortablle venue which is easily accessible from Central London, we even offer affordable overnight accommodation for out-of-town guests.

Check out the workshop site:

http://xecnet.com

or the venue:

http://loudwaterestate.com

John

Great idea - a Bitcoin conference based on reality and focusing on the business side without the philosophizing and extreme outliers.

Please keep me informed - Amsterdam in the autumn seems like an easily reachable spot for many in Europe.

I am interested and can offer a meeting / centre / office venue just within the M25, near Rickmansworth tube station.

see http://loudwaterestate.com

The basic problem which the BTC community needs to resolve is how to set up a clean, legal, trustworthy system of moving fiat into and out of BTC quickly and easily.

Such a system, if existing, would enable the price of BTC against fiat to be truly responsive to the closest we can get to a frictionless free market.

Certainly, the US is a big player and needs to be taken into account, but its powers are not unlimited and as with all bureaucracies - there are huge inefficiencies and delays in governments attempting to exercise power - particularly in any morally suspect manner.

Ideally a number of distributed p2p exchanges would be the best solution - but we are still quite far from seeing that - as the interface between fiat and BTC always needs access to the worlds banking systems.

Perhaps the only option at present is to place one's trust in the only country which can and does stand up to the US - Russia - welcome  BTC-E!

I have no problem with governments and prefer a world with them rather than without - its just that there needs to be a balance of powers to limit the excesses and abuse of powers which governments in history have been prone to.

Great post.

A bunch of people need to work on this idea.

Well on Bitcoin-Central BTC are selling now at €79.9 which makes them $102 each.

This feels to me like an unstoppable roller coaster - it'll either go stratospheric >$1000 real soon now or crash and burn - there's no middle way!

Right now BTC is already at $101 (€79) on bitcoin-central.net - when I bought at €17 a few weeks ago I guessed they'd reach $100 by September - so now I'm saying $500 by June - after a bit of a rough ride of course!

"Bitcoin is just another fiat" - well everything used as money is fiat - Gold only has value because some people want to hold it but in itself it is rather useless and far less practical than BTC.

BTC is probably nearer to Gold in reality than to national fiat currencies in the way it behaves - independent of governments and easily exchanged among individuals.

Back to topic - BTC is increasing rapidly against fiat currencies because people are becoming aware about its existence and the smart ones see it as a real opportunity to get in at a relatively early stage of something big.

Sure the Cyprus fiasco confirms to those who were unaware how incompetent governments are when it comes to money - and many see BTC as a viable alternative.

I'm not sure about the FinCEn stuff - BTC is global rather than US-based.

Having worked with governments I see no danger that many governments will get together against BTC - they find it almost impossible to get together to agree about anything much as a common aim - systemically BTC is safe from their meddling - and that is another reason why BTC has a great future - it is a people's not a government's currency!

I'm based in the UK and it always strikes me as odd how difficult it appears to get BTC here at any decent price.

Fortunately I have an EUR account in Germany and SEPA transfers are easy (next day) from that to a EUR account in France (bitcoin-central.net) or Poland (MtGox).

EUR accounts are easy to set up and can be funded with GBP.

However could it be because the UK has such a large banking sector which may feel threatened by BTC in the long term that barriers are put in the way of BTC traders here? Why did Barclays shut down MtGox's GBP account last year?

Any ideas?

It can hardly be said that its mainstream at the moment.

Wherever I go and talk about it - no-one has ever heard about it.

I had a meeting with a financial adviser who owns an investment company in south Germany last week - and neither he nor his colleagues had ever heard of it. However they were on the look-out for a new opportunity and will look into BTC.

It is still too complex for non-techies to use safely - I mean downloading the blockchain takes for ever on a normal computer - and that kind of barrier puts people off.

However there is rapid development now to overcome all of these barriers to adoption.

There are a number of forces acting in the world to propel BTC into the mainstream however - and in the process to propel a unit BTC to a high value - perhaps $1000's.

The idea of a global currency which meets no barriers in international transfers between individuals is an idea whose time is about to come - its that clear - its that simple. At the same time it is clear to all those observant enough about world affairs that national fiat currencies are rapidly losing their function as a store of value and as a measure of value - inflating base currency amounts is simply too easy when all fiat currencies are no less virtual than BTC.

There are holders of huge wealth just looking at the next opportunity to move into something with real potential to the upside - and now many of them are eyeing up the BTC world and trying to get their heads around its seeming complexity - soon they will move in with a sure-footedness and a determination that will surprise many - there are simply no other games of this kind in town at present.

These combinations coupled with increasing media interest will converge - I guess in 2013 sometime - to give BTC a massive boost and launch it into the mainstream in quite an unexpected way.

Then we will see something which makes the last tech boom seem like a mere blip on a past horizon.

Hi there

I discovered BitCoin last December when someone sneaked into a server I run in the US and started to mine LTC on it - the server slowed right down and so I had to clean it up.

I then began to read up about BTC - and WOW! this IS the biggest story ever - sometime real soon Crypto-Currencies must be the normal way to transfer funds from person to person and around countries.

I bought a bunch of BTC around a month ago and they've shot up in value around 400% since then - best investment I ever made - I plan to hold so I hope I'm right!

Being based mainly in the UK I notice that it's a pain to get GBP into BTC - however I have a EUR account in Germany and can fund BTC with that.

Great to be part of this amazing community!!