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I mentioned this in an old ChangeTip thread, but I think it deserves it's own (I would;)... A simple way to spread the good word of BTC is in power of numbers through a powerful network. Since I think the BTC community is big enough now to be considered 'powerful' (if coordinated), and we have a good means to visibly send BTC through the most powerful of networks: Facebook, why not try to coordinate our efforts - we can show the world (the facebook dwellers at least) BTC in action, and possibly even raise some money for worthy causes too (and selfishly try to get more people to join in and get involved with BTC along the way, people always join in with crowds). So I'm proposing we try to get as many BTC users on board as possible, by coordinating a kind of tipping wave where we have the same target - one per day - where we tip en masse. It can be a tiny amount or a large amount, it doesnt matter - my thinking is that we at least get to show the tech in use in a public way and try to start a bit of a 'thing'. I guess ChangeTip is the best way of doing this, since most dont have BTC wallets yet... I know a lot of people complain and nit pick and get anal and annoying saying 'you should only tip this way and not that way*' and 'it wont work because' bla bla blah. Whatever, dont participate then, complain and get it off your chest. But if you really want BTC to go mainstream, dont just expect the world to simply wake up one day and 'realise' BTC is out there and that they suddenly start using it. Things catch on and spread because of the efforts of people to spread them. It doesnt just magically happen where 'if you build it, they will come'. You heard about Bitcoin because someone else went to the effort of getting the info out there. Just like every other thing you heard of.  And I personally think if there is a coordinated effort to tip to show off BTC publicly, then why not tip some charities and maybe get some money to good causes? It doesnt have to be all charity, but a little is better than nothing** So, I propose that we pick a target for each day, and start tipping them on FB or twitter or whatever. Feel free to post suggestions for targets as we go. I found this (probably un-objective) source for ideas:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.un.org/en/events/observances/days.shtml
Suggestions:
Feb 07th, 1964 Beatles arrive in New York
https://www.facebook.com/thebeatles
Feb 08th, 1943 Americans secure Guadalcanal
https://www.facebook.com/MilitaryVeteranProject
Feb 09th, 1971 Satchel Paige nominated to Baseball Hall of Fame
https://www.facebook.com/AmericanEqualRights (not really sure if this is a stretch...?!)
Feb 10th, 1996 Kasparov loses chess game to computer
https://twitter.com/DonorChess
Feb 11th, 1990 Nelson Mandela released from prison
https://www.facebook.com/NelsonMandelaCentreOfMemory
Feb 12th, 2002 Milosevic goes on trial for war crimes
https://www.facebook.com/warchilduk
Feb 13th, 1633 Galileo in Rome for Inquisition
https://www.facebook.com/charityscience1
Aug 6th, 1945 Nuclear bombs dropped on Japan
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Atom-Project-ENG/331143776962795
February 4th, World Cancer Day
https://www.facebook.com/fight.cancer ??
March 8th, World Wildlife day
https://www.facebook.com/WWF
June 5th, World Environment Day
https://www.facebook.com/greenpeace.international
December 10th, Human Rights Day
https://www.facebook.com/amnestyglobalI know the above are not all ideal suggestions, and not every day will be to everyone's tastes or sensibilities (and there isn't really a good cause/charity every day afaik), but they're just to get the ball rolling. So chime in people, you don't even have to get off your ass to get involved. ill send a tip to the above and get the ball rolling, unless there are better suggestions in the mean time. The main thing that will make something like this work is if we focus: tip to the same target and remain consistent: stick at it and tip every day. It will eventually catch on and get bigger. Especially if the one getting the tips is in the media or getting extra attention on their 'anniversary day'. It always starts with just one. Then mitosis. People love viral crowd powered stuff. So the more the merrier, so the more ... the merrier. * Yes, some charities are imperfect and inefficient, but giving to them (even if only 30% of the donation) gets funds to those who need it. if the rest gets gobbled up into supporting the company or their PR or whatever, at least they can maintain themselves and get more funds in the future. charities have overheads too, its not really feasible to get 100% to the cause and nothing else every time.** If you are planning on accusing me of exploiting charities to get people to use BTC and create a rally so therefore benefiting myself, think again: this would probably cause more selling than buying, and i dont expect to get rich from BTC nor do i expect this to cause a rally. If anything im trying to exploit people's will for a rally to get money for charity - my only real motivation is to spread the use of BTC, whatever the final avg price ends up at (if i were to get rich from BTC the price would have to rally many many times higher than it has already done, im not that unrealistic) :p |
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Ho sento pel traductor Google  La versió curta: Aquest és un projecte molt simple: jo he estat vivint a Gràcia, Barcelona des de fa un temps i em sento que té un enorme potencial per ser un hub BTC (en termes de negoci que ho accepten) - només es necessita un impuls de l'educació. El poble d'Espanya poden ser molt receptius a Bitcoin, com podem veure en la captació a Madrid - però el Barcelona té, fins ara, han saga - tot i que els habitants de la regió tenen més raons per estar entusiasmats amb ell ... Raonament / Per què t'importa?: Gràcia és el brou de partida perfecte per a aquest tipus de campanya, ja que és prou petit com per arribar a moltes empreses independents, i hi ha centenars d'aquests petits negocis que fàcilment podria adoptar (no com les grans empreses corporatives que caldria obtenir l'aprovació). Bitcoin és una força global, però (com tot) és més forta si s'estén des de la base Regional - i no de dalt a baix dels grans cossos / organitzacions. Tenir bombolles d'àrees de la comunitat (com Gràcia) que accepta que li dóna un lloc més tangible en la societat en general, ja que dóna BTC un lloc en el dia a dia de la persona comú i per tant té més probabilitats de propagar-se. Encara que la majoria de persones que entenen el valor de Bitcoin són del tipus 'centrada en Internet', moltes persones no són d'aquesta manera de pensar - Crec Bitcoin és per a tots, i per tal d'aconseguir un pas més cap a l'adopció massiva de béns del pont ha de ser construït de la comunitat alfabetitzada Bitcoin als més "gent tradicionals '. Aquest pont, sento es pot construir més eficaçment amb un cara a cara la campanya de l'estil 'herba arrels ", ja que dóna a les persones i empreses més confiança en Bitcoin i l'oportunitat de fer un ésser humà algunes preguntes i veure-ho en acció i fins i tot ser guiada a la ruta a l'adopció. Aquest cara a cara enfocament d'adopció pot semblar estrany a molts entusiastes de BTC, però en realitat moltes persones no responen millor a aquest enfocament (especialment els que corren cara a cara les empreses - molts dels quals es troben a Gràcia), Tot i que aquest projecte es dirigeix a una àrea petita, moltes desenes de milers de persones viuen i passen a través d'aquesta popular zona i dens de Barcelona quotidians (turistes i residents). https://www.coinfunder.com/project/view/id/5373 |
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its a bout time i cleared out all the game keys ive accumilated over the years (ive more games purchased and not installed than i can ever play already than having these lingering over me too).
some were freebees, some were unwanted humble pack content, some promos (used to work in games).
heres the list, you can make offers on single titles or multiples. if it seems resonable then weve got deal;p
as some were from humble(cant recall which was which), ill be making a donation to a charity from the final sale amt.
(im pretty sure theyre all steam or origin keys, if you have q's just reply and ill check into it)
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for Awesome
Battlefield 3
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising
Crysis 2 Max Edition
Dead Space 3
Dead Space
Dust: An Elysian Tail
Dustforce DX
Jack Lumber
Medal of Honor
Mirror's Edge
Osmos
Populous Origin
Super Hexagon
The Sims 3 Date Night
The Sims 3 High End Loft Stuff
The Sims 3
The Sims 3 Late Night
Zenbound 2
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So, I had an idea to spread BTC in my local area: Gracia en Barcelona. I think this area is PERFECT for BTC growth, but there are serious gaps in knowledge on it. Even among tech heads in Barcelona, BTC is basically a fringe topic. Adoption in the Spanish capital, Madrid is going very well - but IMO Barcelona could be an even bigger BTC hit, if they just knew the story on it. I think the Gracia area in the heart of BCN city could even be a genuine BTC hub, possibly the first real one in the world. So I put together a plan, I decided to go for crowd funding to give it the best possible shot and submitted it to kickstarter (copy and pasted below). It was rejected without explanation twice. They just said 'read our rules' but I didnt see what rule I broke - but whatever. So Ive decided to reach out to the BTCTalk forum to see if I can get something together. All details below, feel free to reply/spam/make suggestions/ask questions etc ---  Kickstarter submission (most of it): The short version: This is a very simple project: I've been living in Gracia, Barcelona for a while now and I feel that it has huge potential to be a BTC hub (in terms of business who accept it) - it just needs an education boost. The people of other parts of Spain are very receptive to Bitcoin, as we can see from the uptake in Madrid - but Barcelona has, so far, been lagging behind - even though the people of the region have more reason to be excited about it... - Reasoning / Why should you care?:Bitcoin is a global force, but (like anything) it is stronger if it spreads from the ground up regionally - rather than from the top down from large corps/organizations or 'abstract spaces' like websites. Having pockets of community areas (like Gracia) that accept it gives it a more tangible place in society at large, as it gives BTC a place in the day to day life of the ordinary person and so has more chance of spreading. While most people who understand the value of Bitcoin are the 'internet centric' type, many people are not of this mindset - I believe Bitcoin is for everyone, and in order to get one step closer to real mass adoption the bridge needs to be built from the Bitcoin literate community to the more 'traditional folk'. This bridge, I believe can be built with a face to face 'grass roots' style campaign, as it gives people and businesses more confidence in Bitcoin and a chance to ask a human being some questions and see it in action and even be guided to adopting it. This route to adoption may seem strange to many BTC enthusiasts, but in fact many people respond better to this approach! Even though this project targets a small area geographically, thousands of people live and pass through this popular area of Barcelona everyday (tourists and residents). Also, spreading BTC education in any small area is still helping BTC generally and it can only spread further from there and lead to it having a stronger place in the general public's paradigm as it grows. Finally, the creation of a Bitcoin hub in Gracia will certainly create positive media attention - BTC has predominantly negative press these days, and many lay-people have a very bad view of it because the ties with criminality as highlighted ad nauseum by the media. Campaigns like this one, if successful or not, go a long way to challenging the media's bad mouthing BTC with people on the street as they get to use it for themselves and see it functioning in everyday life. - Why Gracia? Why now? For those who don't know, this is a very 'community' oriented area in the heart of the modern and diverse city: Barcelona. Gracia hosts hundreds of [genuinely] independently owned small businesses. The population is very diverse: ranging from young families, to retired couples to young fashion conscious cool kids, to anarchist sit-in protesters, to computer programmers to drunk sports fans etc etc; everyone is here. The locals are social and generally very open and accepting to all sorts. One of the most important aspects that I believe would give BTC a huge appeal to manyhere is that BTC is independent from the banks and governments - currently Barcelona is the focal point for the Catalan independence movement where they are seeking to secede from the political rule of Spain. The movement is at fever pitch right now as there is a lot of discussion from a recent independence 'vote' (which gained 80% support) so the iron is white-hot right now for something that would give the people of Catalunya some type of vessel for financial independence (even just symbolically, if many customers do not use it yet). Tied in with the social and political aspect of the independence effort, is a criticism of the local banks: they are seen by some as 'taking from the local region and expatriating their money to "Spain" (which they consider as a foreign nation)' - which gives BTC further appeal here, to young and old. (edit: there is actually an old bank building that is occupied by independence protesters where they sell crafts and host discussions etc - its pretty far out but how could these guys not be using BTC already?! I'll post some pics soon) All of this is a great combination for potential strong BTC adoption and a growth point. - Why not do an efficient internet campaign instead of face to face? Business here is very much done face to face. For people to get behind BTC, it would require someone to talk in person to as many business owners as possible and show them how it works, give them the chance to ask questions and build some trust. People here would simply ignore an internet campaign (which would be most of our first instincts to do). Of course face to face is much more inefficient in terms of reaching people, but the goal is to get people to sign up; to be effective to the people talked to, not necessarily to reach 1000's of people 'easily' with only a headline message. Having hundreds of businesses in the area takes time to get around to however, and would require a small team of people to achieve in any reasonable time frame. The amount of funding received will determine how many people can be armed and sent out to reach the businesses. Gracia is the perfect starting ground for this type of campaign because it is small enough to reach many independent businesses (depending on amount of funding). To reach the larger regions of Barcelona city, a much larger campaign would be needed. Additionally, the other areas in Barcelona do not have such a high density of independent businesses. **Project execution: This kickstarter project is aimed at raising funds to hire and enable a team of people to reach these businesses to educate them. They will need to be educated on what to say, they will need to be able to speak Catalan and Spanish and English and have some sales skills of course. So some informal recruitment and therefore remittance is necessary. ***To aid the team, they will need leaflets with all the info to leave behind in each store, so the business owners can have a reminder and the info to browse at their leisure. The funding will also go to printing these up and having them translated from English into Catalan (and possibly Spanish). ***The team will also have some 'BTC accepted here stickers' to leave with people and have some actual BTC to demonstrate transferring between wallets and how the store could run it and use it to spend in some stores that do sign up and to give extra confidence to the new users. - Numbers (original kickstarter idea):
I believe that the team can reach at least 15~30 businesses per day with one person. Ideally each store that is interested can get a follow up visit too. Important key stores will targeted first. It's hard to determine exactly how many businesses can be reached as it will vary very much on how long each one takes (some will want to talk for hours, some will say 'no thanks, go away' and only take seconds :p)
1 'sales' person for 1 day is paid e40 (8hrs) which reaches 15-30 stores.
(+e20 per day bonus per person to have 15 stores fully sign up to accept BTC)
Design, translation and printing of necessary leaflets for 'sales' team: e75
Bitcoin stickers for stores to use if they sign up: e15~20
e50~70 worth of Bitcoin to use in stores that sign up.
NOTE THAT THE MORE FUNDS RAISED MEANS MORE HOURS SPENT ON THE PROMOTION THE MORE BUSINESSES REACHED!
E400 is a minimum to raise to gather materials and to reach a number of key stores in the area, however the more funds donated the more places we can reach (the better the campaign).EDIT:
The level of execution now that it's not going through kickstarter will depend on the level of funding, so the good thing is that no donation is wasted. The core is that with x amount of money I can print up a number of info leaflets / purchase stickers. With more donations I can hire promotion teams to hand them out to businesses and talk people through adoption process.
I plan to at least get the materials together privately*** regardless of how much sponsorship I get (any minor donations I get will go towards this) and all substantial donations sent will go to hiring a promo team**.
- Goal:Gracia could be the first true Bitcoin shopping hub / first Bitcoin 'village / community area' in the world. Our goal is to obviously get as many businesses to sign up to accept BTC as possible. The closer we reach 100% adoption with the Gracia businesses, the more we can call it a 'BTC hub'. This would attract BTC tourists world wide and benefit the businesses with extra custom and generate good media attention. It could also be a part of the Catalan push for independence. Whether BTC does actually contribute meaningfully to this cause or not would be up to the people of the region and how far they are willing to take it. The aim of this kickstarter is not political, but as stated, to simply promote BTC and hopefully get businesses to sign up to accepting it for customers - the possible connection and part it could play in the independence movement is obvious, but it's not within the goals/scope of this project to achieve anything regarding it (it will be pointed out to the business' how BTC could be potentially helpful to the Catalan independence effort, but that's it). Edit: now that this isnt going through kcikstarter, we'll probably not adhere to this too closely. Of course any amount of adoption from our efforts can't be guaranteed. Our expected worst case scenario is that the people we do talk to will be more educated on BTC and more likely to adopt it at some stage in the future (if not immediately). Additionally, this could inspire similar projects for other community areas around the world whether successful or not. The more the merrier! So even if 0 businesses sign up from our efforts, the general seeds of education will be planted. - Follow up / additional potential: Obviously if this goes well it could lead to a similar campaign targeting other community areas in Catalunya and beyond, possibly even gaining some political support (to compliment the indiependence effort) which would generate very large media attention. Other aspects that would benefit could be interest in hosting BTC ATMs in the area. Outside links: Some not-great videos of the area that give you a vague idea of what its like: http://youtu.be/aoLOFGRewgQhttp://youtu.be/ygfEMDvCQ-Mhttp://youtu.be/hkVcqqsd3wMhttp://youtu.be/UMCRDMuOKDoWiki travel entry: http://wikitravel.org/en/Barcelona/Gr%C3%A0ciaWikipedia main entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%A0cia---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you wana help: BTC donations 1HV7izWdhLhFfx1cmRLxxMRD9yc5FYNJcq  If you do decide to help Im welcoming ideas on rewards - in the kickstarter I had an option of a book being printed up with a guide to the area focused on the BTC friendly stores. My other idea (which KStr doesnt allow) was to use some of the donations to actually buy products from the newly BTC friendly stores and businesses and distribute these among the doners (marijuana shops not applicable lol). Suggestions welcome. Thanks |
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Im tired of seeing all the usual panic caused by this and other price drops, so I decided to start a new thread to help counter those panicing a bit and try to keep some perspective. Ambitious I know:p I know how it feels to see investments and trades go against you and you sit and watch the charts plummet while your balance diminishes, its natural, but i remain bullish and id like to convey why in a simple way. keeping things simple is one of the cardinal rules in trading and investing, and is a great fear antidote. First though, its important to understand something: IMO most people on here and elsewhere that are spreading doomsday 'it's dropping to $1' panic are simply perpetuating peoples fear and other emotions from the price drops to try to cause liquidity at even further lows so they can capitalize themselves: IE lows in which they can BUY and then PROFIT from the subsequent price rises. Dont forget, in order for you to sell low there must be a buyer on the other side of that transaction. If all the sellers would hold off for higher prices, the buyers need to then 'give in' and buy for higher prices and this will cause the price to then move up. I know there will be some that actually believe btc is doomed and / or are actually hoping for a crash (to push an altcoin or something), but these ppl are in a minority imho and it doesnt change the fact they benefit from the low prices anyway, so can be treated equally. This is obvious to many, but worth a mention as ppl seem to forget so easily. I am bullish for fundamental reasons: BTC is a strong new technology and will not 'crash' unless it is 1. completely stamped out and banned by authorities (we all know that is very unlikely as these institutions are very disorganised and if it did happen would just push it underground anyway, so it will still exist, until such a time as the ban is lifted). Think how far weve come on this front in 12 months. 2.some fundamental flaw in the technology is found and exploited (Im pretty sure thats even less likely) 3.everyone just abandons it for some other reason (so far BTC is growing in investment and adoption rates, so there is no sign of this any time soon). Asides any major catastrophes (like an EMP from a solar flare where bigger problems than btc price is created anyway), BTC is sticking around and is still in the early growth years. These early growth years are turbulent, but it doesnt mean the longer term wont yield even greater heights (eg. the .com bubble caused big losses, but the fundamental tech survived and is now thriving better than ever). So whats causing the price to drop now in the face of all the good news? This happens all the time in the fx markets (fiat ones), and doesnt really mean the positive fundamentals are wrong, and doesnt mean the fundamentals wont get reflected into the price later. These fx markets are mainly moved by, what i like to call, 'whales' (traders - not necs individuals - who have the capital to move markets) who throw their weight around by buying and selling in massive amounts to get the price to go where they want it to, not on a minute by minute basis necessarily but on a price 'target' basis. They do their thing and it causes a ripple effect of further smaller fish to act. The fiat fx market is quiiite a big bigger than btc though, so its far less simple in that world... To a usual fx whale the btc market is like heaven, however: no regulation, move the market by double digit % with relatively little capital, very little competition and lots of nooby traders to take advantage of. Since the fx market is very quiet these last months, im betting (opinion reminder) a couple or more of these big players are working the btc market recently to make up their margins. So in my humble opinion, if there are a couple of whale sized players pushing the market around they only need 5~10 million each to do so. They'll want to get the price down as low as possible before things really take off for btc, and considering you can get the price to drop by 5~10$+ with 250k sell orders i think they will find it easy to manipulate it down even further than we are now - theyll want to get as much cheap liquidity as poss to then pump in larger buy orders later and get things moving upwards again. With the wide scale panic going on it doesnt seem that hard to find sellers at these prices... and theres prob plenty more folk ready to dump at 350, 250 etc. But in the end, they have a vested interest in a higher btc price later. They wont want to short sell this golden goose to death (even if they could). What will cause the price to rise again? I believe adoption by new markets is the only substantial thing that will cause a fundamental shift upwards here. Even if amazon google etc adopt it, i think we still need more new buyers. Since BTC is only used by about 0.5% of the world, there is plenty of upside potential here. One of the big contributers to the last 2 rallys were new buyers coming in from new markets (not the sole factor but a catalyst). New merchant adopters are good, but they also have an inherent 'sell' factor as many merchants will routinely sell into fiat after a transaction. New populations adopting btc however, means more buying than selling. Its only a matter of time before the next new market comes in, not if but when. Since the 'market whales' know this, they want to get the price as low as possible while there is no 'new market rush'.A lower price before a new market moves in means they (whales and new/old markets) will buy even harder into a new rally. The whales will help to get that rally started when theyve exhausted the low sellers and itll hopefully coincide as near as possible to when a new wave of adoption is triggered (argentina next?). Im also bullish for technical reasons: tech analysis is a funny game, but one of the simplest concepts is 'higher highs with higher lows' usually = further bull trend to come and 'lower lows with lower highs' = bear trend. This is the basis of the most common tech tool: trend lines, but any seasoned trader will tell you these fail quickly but as long as you dont lose sight of the main highs and lows, then you can still identify the main trend. As far as BTC goes, its quite predictable in terms of using fibs, floating S&R with MAs etc but in the theme of keeping it simple, you just need to take a look at the last highs and lows to see what to expect: since we are no doubt hitting a low period, in order to find out what low price is 'so low' that were bearish, just look at the low between the last two highs: it was about $50pBTC. So as long as the price doesnt 'break' this low, were still on the UP. To get an idea of what to expect for the next high point, check out the ratios of the lows to highs to lows to highs. While this is rarely exact, just dont lose sight of the big picture.  So, in conclusion, even if im wrong about why the market is moving down and what will cause a new rally, as long as the tech analysis is intact (we dont go below $50) and the main fundamentals are true (adoption is growing and there are more new markets than saturated markets), then I believe we have plenty of reason not to panic and sell off into this down turn. In terms of when, i have my ideas but i wouldnt take them seriously and in the end that shouldnt matter - at least for me as long as the above continues as is, then the 'targets' remain the same (higher lows,higher highs). Could be tomorrow could be 5 years. Disclaimer: I have a vested interest in a higher btc price: I have long trades open and pending long trades to be filled at lower prices (Im not that confident ill calm the panic that much obviously lol). Do not make investment / trading decisions based on my advice. As a wiser trader than I says often: trade with the facts, trade with patience and conviction, and only trade it if you see it. You should only trade/invest with what you can afford to LOSE (i.e. if you lose 100% of your investment, you will not be significantly affected). If you are adversely affected by the price drop (ie you cant 'afford' to let it drop to X) then you should reassess how much you invested and why and at what price you should exit. Its late, hopefully that makes sense to someone, sorry if im not clear on some stuff, now im going to sleepzzz. for some further related entertainment, listen to this guy talk about buyers and sellers in the fx market: http://youtu.be/S7H-MVPlGJw?t=7m |
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https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=744764.0Barcelona 9/9/14 x 1 entrada para 2 juegos. Día completo pasa a 2 juegos. Gran asiento. EE.UU. será fácilmente aparecer en uno de estos partidos (Finales QTR). El asiento es bloquear 119 primera fila.  No estoy seguro sobre el precio sin embargo, debido a las fluctuaciones de BTC. PM si está interesado y podemos hablar. Triste no estar pasando, pero eso es la vida!  Lo siento por mi mal Español
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Barcelona 9th September 2014 x 1 ticket for 2 games. Full day pass to 2 games. Great seat. USA will easily appear in one of these matches (QTR Finals). http://spain2014.entradas.com/fiba2014/info/draw-results/?idioma=enSeat is block 119 front row. Not sure about price yet due to BTC fluctuations. PM if interested and we can talk. Sad not to be going, but thats life! |
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Not only are the ICRC doing great work all over the world for years, but it would really help BTC towards general acceptance if organisations like these high profile charities accepted BTC. I have no idea why they don't already, I thought charities would be beating retailers to the acceptance finish line considering how much it could benefit them to get money quickly and easily and also allow people to send a few pennies rather than the minimum amounts credit cards restrict people to. Not to mention how much easier it would be for them with tax status and borderlessness:p I also think Charities would be more receptive to petitions too as they are all about spreading awareness etc so have some kind of sympathy with this kind of thing. Anyway, if this goes well I'll try the same with other charities. Please spam people on FB and whatever with it. https://www.change.org/petitions/the-red-cross-icrc-accept-bitcoin-donationsAlso, sorry; yes - another petition ugh:p |
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Does anyone have the access/funds to start a BTC advertising /marketing campaign in the mainstream media? Ideally in partnership with a simple wallet system or an ATM company. I think getting a strong marketing campaign out there very soon - coupled with an app, wallet or ATM or some kind of simple system is crucial, because we're in a fragile state at the moment... and I think if something positive doesnt get its foot in the 'public perception' door ASAP, it could have a long lasting negative effect on the BTC world... At the moment, the BTC world is taking the slow education approach. The issue i can see with this adoption idea is that educating everyone with creeping word of mouth can take a long time, and the reglatory bodies have a chance now over the next few months to get strong preventative measures in before a larger positive public interest in BTC is instilled - and while the main stream press are spreading bad messages,the regulators wont find it so hard to regulate in a heavy way and create a long time 'negative' affect that will take an age to overcome with joe public: if heavy regulation happens soon, a BTC backed marketing campaign that comes later might not he able to overcome it so easily - if the worst happens and BTC is heavily restricted, then at best joe public is aware of BTC, but finds it hard to adopt into it and gives up because regulation got in there first. So if its going to happen it should be now imo... Re-posting my edited thoughts on this from elsewhere to explain a bit more: IMO the BTC world is not going very far anytime soon (and we can see this from the stagnation in price and polls where people think BTC is a scam and all the bad press etc). IMO this wont change until a mainstream marketing campaign for a BTC exchange/wallet/atm or other product is launched in a highly visible way to the public - coupled with a new simple, easy to use and accessible (apple like product, im loathed to say) for the mass market which allows people to generally access BTC. Possibly with an existing secure and simple wallet system,or ATM or whatever. There's a lot of bad press and sentiment tagged to BTC right now in the media (despite the positive developments with the back-end, but I guess investors lost a lot in MTGox so we're still hung over from that) ...and at the same time there's an adoption/access barrier for joe random with the current channels (even the atms are not enough; they need to be simplified and or publicised imo). In order to challenge the bad press, advertising and marketing dollars need to get spent (ad space on the NYT, WSJ, CNBC, Fox etc); once the BTC world becomes a sponsor of CNBC etc then Warren Buffett et al will have a harder time to come onto these stations and say 'BTC is a mirage' and scaring off some regular business types. # BTC needs to play their old school game a bit more in order to beat them with this bad press. These nay sayers have plenty of access to the mainstream media, and so they inform the wider public and the 'on the fence' business community / investors which in many ways also has a trickle down effect to the public too. Until BTC becomes a sponsor of these media channels, then the mainstream media will stay negative or neutral at best. However in addition to any marketing, in order to get joe public to overcome the current psychological barriers to adoption, the products and purchase channels also need to be more accessible. I went to buy some BTC at an Atm last week and i couldnt because i didnt have my passport with me. wtfudge? i already went through all those hoops with bitstamp, cant i just stick e20 in and scan my wallet's qr code (which is already a lot of hassle for most people I think). This stuff needs to be simpler so apple users get it; like - put e20 in and it prints a qr code with e20 worth of btc 'on it'. No passports, no fuss. It's true it's hard to alter these ATM systems, it might not be the best choice now for a marketing campaign... the wallets and other software are more flexible though; I've had some limited experience with wallets and every one I tried also had large barriers that most others would not be prepared to go through - downloading the 17GBs chain, taking lots of precautions with passcodes etc. While these are necessary to have real security, i still think further simplifications are needed for mass adoption. Also, I always had the feeling the software is something 'unofficial' and 'dodgy',the mainstream wont pick that up easily. It needs to be shiney and clean for people to have confidence in it. So I'mnot sure which product is best to be coupled with such a campaign, suggestions are welcome (edit: KnC mobile wallet maybe?) I can see that many existing BTCers are not concerned about all of this or the mainstream because the education level is very high among them, but I think BTC world should be really concerned about it because right now the public is kinda on the fence about BTC and people power is the only way the regulators are going to go easy on it and allow BTC be all it can be. The BTC community is not strong enough to overcome this alone, and i'd hate to see the 'man' arrive to the party before everyone else and drink up all the punch. My idea is that anyone who has the ability to invest in this could reach out to companies like Bitpay and or a wallet company or even an ATM company to partner with, and get this organised (anyone know of a simple wallet that joe public can use, KNC wallet app seems good?). Collectively, this group can review an existing product from one of these companies or get a new one together and revise it so its simple enough for everyone to use. Next, buy some advertising space and time with the big players and get the public awareness and adoption levels up. The main angle of this would be to say 'hey everyone, we've ' now solved' the security and other issues with BTC you may have heard about: use our product and you can join us in the BTC world safely and easily'. The 'new product' doesn't necessarily need to solve any issues or even be a new product, but mainstream marketing techniques require a highly visible 'break throughs' to work, not a slow education program. Impact is everything and snails pace education takes effort by people, and many are simply not interested in investing that time and effort in learning,and the education efforts might come too late if the regulation bodies cause chaos in the mean time. If it works and many people adopt, the regulators will see this - and if they consider strict action against BTC they will think twice about how much damage they would be doing economically and how unpopular it would be. *I should be clear that my personal interest here is kinda limited, and I'm more intersted in seeing this happen, whether im involved or not. I think it should be done for the good of BTC in the long run and not to necessarily get a product promoted successfully; just to get people into the BTC world. I think we'll all benefit anyway if the price of BTC goes up from it;p So if i get lucky and someone reads this and wants to do it, I'd be interested in helping out but right now I'm just sharing my thoughts more than anything - in the hope that it goes somewhere with some BTC millionares or something:) I have some marketing and product design experience that could be helpful, but I wouldnt be upset if it went ahead without me:) edit: Sorry for the long and scattered post, I'm tired and off to bed  |
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...or is BTC already subject to this new method of automated trading? The price stability recently would suggest not but can't see how it can be avoided - isn't the block chain limited to x transactions per second? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq1Ln1UCoEUedit: for those who don't want to watch the video,basically it looks into the world of 'automated' trading systems that are taking over how stocks are traded on wall street. Basically the systems are causing large price swings and could possibly crash markets and (of course) are largely left unchecked. Since BTC has a large number of speculators buying and selling, I guess BTC will start to become increasingly assessed by Wall street traders as it becomes more mainstream, but if that happens it's subject to the 'wrath'of these automated systems. My post was to make more people aware of the rise of the automated trading world, and maybe see who has any insight into how affected the BTC world is by this - or if theres just some opinions on it. cheers |
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Finalmente conseguí un poco de tiempo para llegar a Barcelona atm (me acordé de mi pasaporte esta vez), y que no estaba allí. Estuve allí la semana pasada y traté de usar, pero olvidé mi identificación. Alguien sabe algo? Lo siento por el traductor Google.
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So I was watching a BTC piece on Bloomberg West show today which polled the audience in regard to their trust in BTC after the gox collapse, which was an overall pretty negative piece. This has pushed me to finally ask, you, the experts:
since each coin has a 'unique id' of sorts, why isnt there an app/extension of wallet software that 'locks' coins to an account or wallet (ie. locks them ultimately to an end user) which means they are not transferable until the account holder unlocks them.
Basically, my idea is that a BTC holder who is scared of losing BTC from hacks or Mtgox style losses (which seems to be the majority of bloomberg viewers), why cant they lock their specific coins to their account so that they cannot be transmitted to another account with out the user unlocking them (ie the blockchain system would simply reject the particular coins attempted to being processed until they became unlocked from their account - maybe i misunderstood how blockchain works exactly?)... the lock could be opened with a phone call/escrow like human to human system with verbal passwords (or whatever 2/3 factor level security desired by the user or that the company is prepared to offer), but the crux is that the coins are essentially untransferable from the holders account, even with the usual account username/pw access (be it wallet or exchange etc). They need to be unchained from the user account to actually be used.
Obviously this would only be appealing to hoaders/savers or people simply nervous about security who dont spend their BTC too fast or very often (for this type of user they could unlock one coin at a time as they need it, or have low level lock on them - say simple email verification unlock).
It could be the shot in the arm the BTC world needs to get more mainstream support as it would really show how much safer it could be compared to fiat.
If this is a million dollar idea and you steal it to get rich, please send me some donations:)
1LCpoQBWJNaM6MhuVvnAnJcUUcZkSNY3xp
Or if its just a noob rant then can someone explain to me why it doesnt work - technically speaking i mean, since the coins have unique ids and user accounts have unique ids why cant they just be locked together...?
Marketing wise, i think its a winning service that BTC holding companies (wallets, exchanges...) should offer, even though it somewhat undermines BTC improvements over fiat for transmission processing speed etc, i think it would get a lot of mainstream attention.
feedback please, thanks!
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Since BTC isnt really with it anymore i decided im going to switch to multi pools that automatically switch coins depending on profitability. Has anyone got any suggestions on the best one? I see tomspool and megamultipool so far have a decent selection of coins.
Any tips from experience?
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Id urge anyone with a twitter account and some spare time to start innocently asking retailers if they are planning to accept Bitcoin (particularly in the regions where its more accepted by 'the man' than other areas).
One area that would be easier than retailers is person to person sale forum boards / websites where all they have to do is allow it as an accepted for of payment BY THE USERS, since the site doesnt need to police that or support it in its own accounting systems per se. Similar to ebay giving users the option to accept paypal or cash or cheque from the buyers, why not a BTC option too?
I usually point them to coindesk articles where they can see the stories of other retailers accepting it.
If we keep the noise up and get more people doing this, we'll be heard. Even if its one tweet per person per day. Maybe this can even be coordinated a bit? Whos in?!
Anyone else have any sectors that they suggest should be targeted by simple twitter or customer service queries?
PS sorry if this was brought up before, but dont really see a thread on it.
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Im using bfgminer which crashes every now and then while im at work or asleep (with red fury usb miners), so to save my pc running while its not mining is there any way to auto shut down? or anyway to auto reboot the bfgminer?
thanks
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Anyone on this pool? Appears to be down still for me ...  They said they would be back up hours ago but my miners still cant connect. The website is back, but really slow and, as said, no miner connection. boo |
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