Howdy Gents,

Just wondering how people felt that ShapeShift.io did during this past weekend.

There was lots of stress in the BTC and Bitcoin-Cash markets.

There were times when it seemed a transaction would not be added to the mem-pool let alone complete into the block chain.

For me this meant that an exchange I wanted to perform was delayed enough that ShapeShift didn't receive it in time. I found that their service was excellent. It ended up taking about 70 hours for a refund of that transaction to complete, after being rejected several times. However, they kept up with it until they made sure I was satisfied.

MikeMark says: "You can trust ShapeShift!" 

What was your experience?

Money is what it is.

Buy low, sell high really means:

Exchange your other goods for money when they are worth lots of money and exchange your money for other goods when your money will purchase more.

One of the nice things about free market money is that it acts as a feedback system on the economy. When too many goods are created, money is worth more, it can be exchanged for more goods. When too much money is in the economy, it takes more money to buy the goods you want or need.

Buying Bitcoin "low" and selling it "high" means that you were able to predict the direction of the money supply and goods available in the economy.

Right now, it looks like lots of people think that trading 1 Bitcoin for $480 is selling "high". Do you think that trading $450 for 1 Bitcoin is buying "low"? Then by all means, make the trade!

I think I paid about $12 for my first Bitcoin(s). I felt that the risk was easily worth what the potential appeared to be. I was lucky and I was right. However, there are lots of forces going on here now. There are many Altcoins that impact this marketplace. Governments are getting involved. People have been hurt by the "it will go up forever" attitude.

Do I believe that Bitcoin has reached an intermediate low in terms of dollars? Not sure. Could it go down further? Yes. Do I believe it will go down to $12 again soon? No. Could it go down to $200? Yes!

Do I believe it will stay "low" for a long time? No. What is my prediction?

It will cost you BTC0.077 to receive that at this time.
Price subect to change.

You will get a complete graphical price history and reasoning for your money, along with predictions for the future and a way to understand what can occur.

PM me. Knowing could make you $1000s!  


Enjoy,

-MikeMark

That's sort of true. Interestingly, banks can lend up to the limits of a certain multiplier of their capital (assets). That's what fractional reserve means. It's a multiplier of assets, above the assets. They never state it that way though. The statement is that capital must be at least 10% of outstanding loans, or that the capital ratio must be at least 10%.

The funny thing is that loans on an item with a known market price, say a house, become an asset to them. They have created a contract that gives them access to that asset. So the loaned amount becomes an asset on the books.

So the really nice thing for the bank that can loan at 10x assets is that when you borrow $100.00 from them, they have given you $100, but their asset base now allows them to loan another $900. They love you! They'd like thousands more like you to walk in the door. There is no end!

There is no end that is unless the assets begin to decline in book value. When they decline, for every $1 the assets decline, they must remove $10 from their capital.

The contract only allows them to take the current principal amount plus any interest owed from the asset. So as you pay the loan off, their assets decline slowly, giving them time to recover from that by creating more loans.

When the market place reprices bad assets, like when house values rapidly decline, this affects the bank more drastically. That creates a rapid asset (and capital) decline, which can easily cause a bank to go under, mainly because at the same time, no one is borrowing anymore. It's a crash!

Interestingly, during a crash, the money supply is declining and more of the physical asset is becoming available. If this is allowed to take it's normal course, the normal market system will re-adjust pretty rapidly. Money is able to purchase much more than it did before, so the bad assets will be sold off (although at lower prices). And then the market discovers the real price for the assets, as well as the real price for money (interest rates).

Unfortunately, during this process, many banks might go under. I say unfortunately because most people trust banks for their savings and essential monetary needs. This means that the banks "must be saved" in the minds of country leaders and the very wealthy. You can see where this leads...

What I'm really saying here is that the banking system has the seeds of recession and depression built right into it.

A better answer is free market money. Which is why we are all here. 

-MikeMark

Interestingly, it doesn't matter whether by write offs or repayments. Either case is deflationary. This is due to the fact that money is created when credit/debt is created. When the debt is paid off, or the credit repaid, the money is then destroyed. The same occurs in write off.

The sad part about write offs is who ends up with the real property. It usually ends up in the hands of the bank. That's the same people who loaned out nothing and called it money, in exchange for a claim on real property.

On the flip side of that is what happens when the market discovers that something has been produced that is completely unneeded. Sometimes these real things get destroyed. As an example, during late 2009, many new homes in California were literally bulldozed under. That's inflationary. However such a small amount of that happened compared to other occurrences that has little to no effect.

The marketplace shows that this is an unrealistic question.

As has been said before, gold is the less risky choice. However, I didn't get where I am by always choosing the less risky choice. I also didn't get where I am by putting all my eggs in one basket. Momma always said only a fool does that. 

So the interesting thing about our money system is that it is Debt (or Credit) based. Money is created at the bank, when you borrow it. People usually think that they are borrowing someone else's savings, but that hasn't been true for over 100 years.

GDP is increased by government spending in the standard calculation, however that's a horribly bad way to look at government spending. Governments create nothing, so saying that they increase GDP by spending is wrong. In fact, Governments take what could be used by the people and re-direct it into places that the people might not choose. This is actually destructive to overall GDP. Getting a handle on how much is the hard thing to do.

Now thinking about inflation, inflation occurs when either more money is created than goods or more goods destroyed (or used up) than money is destroyed. Deflation is the opposite. And yes, money gets destroyed. That's what the FED wants to prevent, believing that deflation is bad.

So consider two graphs below:

In a credit based system, total money is basically cash + credit. The funny thing is that one person's credit is someone else's debt. Now the next number is subject to speculation, but I believe I'm giving the right range. Credit in the US is something like 4 - 7 times larger than cash.

So when household debt declines as it has been, that is deflationary to the total money supply. The FED saw this beginning to happen in the end of 2008 and wanted to inflate. Always the best and easiest way to inflate is to give money to the big banks which in turn buy government debt or pay off bad debts. Deflation in a credit based system with high credit levels will cause exactly what we saw happen: high price items, like homes, lose their value rapidly due to price contraction effects of deflation in the money supply.

The really interesting thing about it is that people are required to look at the value of their "owning" in terms of price instead of in terms of the value of the item itself to them, when they have borrowed money on it. If the sale price goes down, the people and the bank both want to either re-negotiate or get out of the obligation. So the credit based system becomes a feedback loop that brings the prices down rapidly, in an attempt to remove the unneeded products from the market place, or at least reprice them at their needed level.

The government sees this as destructive to the market (and especially to the banking system) and attempts to prevent the declines. That's why there has been so much additional government spending from 2008 to now.

So the short answer is actually two-fold: government spending as a percent of total GDP is low and household debt has been declining, which is deflationary.

Enjoy,

-MikeMark   

Prices changed. For now, if you want Maple Leafs, PM me.

Do remember: I am willing to deal and I may have other items you are interested in.


Thanks again for your interest.  

Nice, Adam!

I'm in the market for a new road bike.

However, that web site needs work. There's really no way to know available offerings or possible prices.

Build it and they will come. 


-MikeMark

It's alright Blazedout419.

These above are priced in BTC and it's a reasonable premium, including shipping and insurance, no credit card needed, with an offer to deal. It's far less hassle than a purchase elsewhere.

In order to get the prices you see at provident, you must wait 5 days for your check to clear or provide a postal money order at whatever the cost is for that. Those prices don't include the cost of money transfer or the wait period.

I ship out within 1 business day normally. You will generally receive within 3 or 4 business days. Try to find anyone who can meet that service at these prices, and still willing to deal.

Right now, I may not be able to move price enough to meet your needs. But maybe we can deal another time.

Thank you again for your interest.  

Thanks for your offer, Blazedout419.

Sorry, no reason for me to go that low right now.

I'll go BTC0.780 and include a tube, shipping and insurance to US Lower 48 address for 20 of them.

Offer good until 10:00am Pacific time tomorrow: 2014-03-06.

Hows that?   

Just a quick suggestion:

Sit down and do some planning. The site currently lacks an obvious purpose. It seems to be a "Thumb your nose at the establishment" site at first glance. Is that what you want?

Good Luck! 

-MikeMark

I am an individual who is willing to sell (or buy) gold and silver for BTC.

I have some Eagles, Buffalos and collectibles (double eagles, $5, $2 1/2 Indians all before 1929).

Likely I can get you anything you want. What interests you?

-MikeMark

Yes, Likely it was fake Casascius Coins. Mike discusses it here:

Beware of Fakes on Ebay

Enjoy, 

-MikeMark

Prices lowered again! 

Enjoy! 

-MikeMark

That depends upon what spot is! 

Seriously though, priced in BTC as you see it, includes shipping. I reserve the right to change the price without notice.

If you don't like the price shown, but want to buy, PM me with a specific offer.

Enjoy,

-MikeMark

Sold some of these.

Feel free to PM me with offers to buy or requests for special deals.   

Thank you,

-MikeMark

There is an expert in these matters available here, MSantori.

Here's a link to his last posts:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=118100;sa=showPosts

I highly recommend you read what he's written. He's willing and wanting to talk about these issues. You may even be able to phone him.

Basically, many, maybe even most of the so-called securities here are not compliant with US SEC law.

That doesn't mean you cannot buy them, but if they get taken out by the SEC, you will simply be waiting in line like everyone else for your now meager piece of the pie.

The unwritten history of bitcoin securities markets is that there have been three or more that have been purposely taken out by government action. Some who saw the writing on the wall for what it was may have profited. I believe most lost at least some money in whatever form.

There was even one that lasted a little longer by not allowing US investors to buy shares, BitFunder. However, it seems that other problems plague them now, probably due to lack of liquidity. US investors represent something like 90% of funding. Take that away and...

There are some advertising restrictions on "unlisted" securities that mean that a company is not allowed to use public media to acquire investors. That means advertising shares for sale on something public like bitcointalk will mean non-compliance.


Read Marco Santori for more clarity. IANAL. He is. 


Enjoy,

-MikeMark

Are you willing to trade for 1 Oz Silver Maple Leafs?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=485146.msg5343067#msg5343067

Howdy!

1 Oz 9999 Silver Maple Leafs:



1 Oz 9999 Silver Maple Leafs:

Quan	Description	Price
2	-  1 Oz 9999 Silver Maple Leafs (2013) :	BTCPM me
3	-  1 Oz 9999 Silver Maple Leafs (2013) :	BTCPM me
5	-  1 Oz 9999 Silver Maple Leafs (2013) :	BTCPM me
25	-  1 Oz 9999 Silver Maple Leafs (2013) with Tube :	BTCPM me

These are uncirculated and handled carefully, only gloved.

Shipping to US addresses included.
Outside US additional.

Prices Subject to Change
Willing to negotiate. Make an offer if you want.

PM me or post here to request payment address or for other special requests.
I may be willing to accept Litecoin after discussion. PM me.

Other offerings coming soon!

Thank you for your interest!  

I have an excellent 2012 mint date Casascius 1 BTC coin, still fully funded in my collection that I would be willing to part with.

Asking: BTC1.75, negotiable, including shipping to US. Outside US will probably be extra.

PM me if interested. Due to recent attempts to counterfeit these coins, I will only make proof pics available to serious buyers. You must show address with the required BTC amount, and sign a message with it, proving you own it.

Enjoy,   

-MikeMark