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There have been many conspiracy theories, hypotheses, assertions without any solid backing regarding the creator and creation of Bitcoin, from being a project of US government/NSA/CIA to Satoshi being AI, former SpaceX Intern speculating Satoshi to be Elon Musk, one world currency to even theorizing Bitcoin as mark of the beast. Yesterday Kaspersky co-founder Natalya Kaspersky claimed that Bitcoin was designed to provide financing for US and British intelligence activities around the world and that Bitcoin is "dollar 2.0." Among all theories, the NSA and Bitcoin is the most well-known, but as usual Natalya Kaspersky has nothing to back this dollar 2.0 claim. The Bitcoin cryptocurrency was developed by "American intelligence agencies," Natalya Kaspersky, CEO of the InfoWatch group of companies and specialist in cyber security systems, said during her presentation at ITMO University in St. Petersburg.
Kaspersky was giving a speech on information wars and digital sovereignty. Photos of her presentation entitled "Modern technologies – the basis for information and cyber-wars," have been published on social media.
"Bitcoin is a project of American intelligence agencies, which was designed to provide quick funding for US, British and Canadian intelligence activities in different countries. [The technology] is 'privatized,' just like the Internet, GPS and TOR. In fact, it is dollar 2.0. Its rate is controlled by the owners of exchanges," one of the slides read.
She also claimed that Satoshi Nakamoto (the pseudonym used by its founder or founders) is the name for a group of American cryptographers. https://sputniknews.com/business/201801191060881605-kasperskaya-bitcoin-us-intelligence/#comments |
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I don't know whether this idea has been pitched before. I think with all the Bitcoin FUD and misinformation being circulated by media outlets, both global and local, there is a necessity for a decentralized Bitcoin news network. Even the existing so called "Bitcoin News Networks" apart from promoting scam ICOs, ponzi schemes, paid promotions, do once in a while tend to come up with fake news to just get some visitors. A news network centered only around Bitcoin events, global news, and developments. Bitcoin being a global network, apart from prominent personalities, users/miners/writers/bloggers/analysts, there is a worldwide network of people that can help to an extent verify whether a local news is legit or fake, I guess what they lack is a platform. Twitter is one, at the time of China FUD and now South Korea, Charlie Lee and Joseph Young made some tweets to clear fact from FUD, but again it's not necessary that all Bitcoin users would be following them, same with other resources, but if there is an official Bitcoin news network, I think things might be different. I don't have much of an idea how this could be implemented, but if this concept makes some sense, suggestions are welcome.
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A research article titled, A Short Introduction to the World of Cryptocurrencies by Aleksander Berentsen and Fabian Schär of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis covers different aspects of Bitcoin, both pros and cons and concludes how in some ways, the Bitcoin protocol is more robust than many of the existing fiat currency protocols, how cryptoassets are well suited to become a new, important asset class, and the potential of Bitcoin itself over time assuming a similar role as gold. Although energy wastage and Bitcoin price volatility has been cited as risk factors, the authors themselves have come up with a counter argument/positive outlook regarding these. Cryptocurrencies Are a Welcome Addition to the Current Currency System
Surprisingly, Berentsen and Schär are of the belief that cryptocurrencies are a welcome addition to the current currency ecosystem. While some critics claim bitcoin’s price should drop to zero because there is no intrinsic value found in the cryptoasset, the co-authors of the article from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis point out that this argument also applies to the various government-issued currencies around the world.
“Bitcoin is not the only currency that has no intrinsic value,” states the article. “State monopoly currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, the euro, and the Swiss franc, have no intrinsic value either. They are fiat currencies created by government decree. The history of state monopoly currencies is a history of wild price swings and failures. This is why decentralized cryptocurrencies are a welcome addition to the existing currency system.”
The authors go on to point out that this sort of change in monetary policy may be more likely in a fiat currency protocol.
“Undesirable changes in fiat currency protocols are very common and many times have led to the complete destruction of the value of the fiat currency at hand,” says the article. “It could be argued that, in some ways, the Bitcoin protocol is more robust than many of the existing fiat currency protocols. Only time will tell.”
Bitcoin Is the Most Apparent Application of Blockchain Technology
According to Berentsen and Schär, the most apparent application of this technology right now is the use of bitcoin as a new type of asset. The duo see cryptoassets, such as bitcoin, emerging as their own asset class and having the potential to develop into an interesting instrument for investment and diversification.
“Bitcoin itself could over time assume a similar role as gold,” says the article.
The paper also covers applications of blockchain technology in the areas of colored coins, smart contracts and data integrity.
Risks of Blockchain Technology
Minority splits from major cryptoasset networks, such as Bitcoin Cash (Bcash) and Ethereum Classic, are the first risk pointed out in the article.
One could argue that these sorts of minority forks create uncertainty around the value of a particular cryptoasset, although this is also the case with the creation of new altcoins more generally.
The paper mentions excessive power consumption as another potential risk of blockchain technology, but Berentsen and Schär do not necessarily agree that proof-of-work mining is wasteful.
“There are those that criticize Bitcoin and assert that a centralized accounting system is more efficient because consensus can be attained without the allocation of massive amounts of computational power,” says the article. “From our perspective, however, the situation is not so clear-cut. Centralized payment systems are also expensive. Besides infrastructure and operating costs, one would have to calculate the explicit and implicit costs of a central bank. Salary costs should be counted among the explicit costs and the possibility of fraud in the currency monopoly among the implicit costs.”
The last risk associated with blockchain technology found in the article is bitcoin’s price volatility. Berentsen and Schär claim that a rigid, predetermined supply of bitcoin is not a desirable monetary policy in the sense that it will not lead to a stable currency.
“If a constant supply of money meets a fluctuating aggregate demand, the result is fluctuating prices,” explains the article. “In government-run fiat currency systems, the central bank aims to adjust the money supply in response to changes in aggregate demand for money in order to stabilize the price level. In particular, the Federal Reserve System has been explicitly founded ‘to provide an elastic currency’ to mitigate the price fluctuations that arise from changes in the aggregate demand for the U.S. dollar. Since such a mechanism is absent in the current Bitcoin protocol, it is very likely that the Bitcoin unit will display much higher short-term price fluctuations than many government-run fiat currency units.” https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/st-louis-fed-some-ways-bitcoin-more-robust-many-fiat-currencieshttps://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/2018/01/10/a-short-introduction-to-the-world-of-cryptocurrencies.pdf |
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The last year has been one crazy ride for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Too many bubble theories and forks, from China ban to Jamie Dimon, Venezuelan/African crisis, IMF chief, Christine Lagarde warned cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin could cause massive disruptions and might just give existing fiat currencies and monetary policy a run for their money and Bitcoin futures. It wouldn't be wrong to assume that 2018 will be about Bitcoin disruption, nothing to do about price predictions, but more about geopolitical and cryptoeconomical implications. 1. Bitcoin is going to be a topic of debate on the coming G20 summit, a meeting between the European Union and 19 of the wealthiest nations. 2. From technological perspective, Segwit adoption would increase as major wallets/exchanges would be upgrading to Segwit by the first quarter of 2018. This is necessary if Bitcoin needs to remain competitive. Secondly, lightening network, no ETA yet, but if it gets activated in 2018 then it would establish Bitcoin as a reliable medium of exchange and could lead to big developments in Bitcoin e-commerce. 3. Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook will be looking into cryptocurrency in this year, nothing specific about Bitcoin. There are important counter-trends to this — encryption and cryptocurrency — that take power from centralized systems and put it back into people's hands," Zuckerberg wrote in his 2018 mission statement, issued on Thursday. "But they come with the risk of being harder to control. I'm interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how best to use them in our services." 4. Bitcoin established itself as a safe haven/store of value in 2017 and it's not going to change in 2018 as it might get more traction as the political and economical crisis in hyperinflationary countries like Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and Argentina worsen to the point where we may even see one of these countries adopting Bitcoin as its reserve currency, a possibility. 5. Last year ended on a high with Bitcoin futures and this year SEC might even approve a Bitcoin ETF. 6. We would possibly see a few governments coming up with their own centralized cryptos this year and also some nations officially recognizing Bitcoin, possibility of bans can't also be ignored. |
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Bitcoin is seeing increasing popularity in Africa. It's not just those hoping to get rich quick who are getting in on the action, but more as a store of value, as a medium to transfer cash across borders, possibly as an exist out of poverty in the current political and economical uncertainty. A couple of hours ago Business Tech reported, Red & Yellow, a business school in South Africa will be accepting Bitcoin payments for all degrees, advanced diplomas, certificates and online courses with the purpose of preparing its students for career success in a digital future. Bitcoin isn't going to have a major impact on a developed nation with a strong political/financial/economical stability where Bitcoin is starting to get perceived more as a speculative asset, but will first thrive in a developing nation like Africa for the very reasons it was created, too small flawed banking sector with a huge unbanked population without financial freedom. Disrupting remittances
In parts of the continent - especially commercial hubs like Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg - a small but growing number of people are finding that cryptocurrencies offer a cheaper solution to an expensive problem - transferring funds across borders.
With traditional remittance companies like Western Union, when you transfer money initially it goes from your local currency into dollars then on the other side they receive dollars which are then converted into the local currency.
You lose a lot of money in that conversion.
It is cheaper, especially when there is a shortage of dollars in the country or restrictions on accessing dollars.
It is also quicker because you don't have to go through long complicated bank approvals.
In Nigeria, when the government placed controls on access to the US dollar during a financial crunch, Bitcoin made it much easier for businesses to transfer cash abroad, something that has increased interest in cryptocurrencies in the country.
In places like Zimbabwe, where there has been political and economic instability, Bitcoin has become a place to store value, buy goods and services from abroad and crucially a vehicle for remittances from the diaspora.
Bitcoin classes
Martin Serugga, a sharply dressed currency trader in Kampala warns people to be cautious too. He says unfamiliarity about the new financial instruments could lead to criminals duping customers out of their money.
Nevertheless, he has started weekly classes with over 50 people attending to learn about cryptocurrencies and how to trade them against traditional currencies like the US dollar or British pound.
He says high youth unemployment in Uganda is driving interest in Bitcoin and other products.
"If you don't have factory jobs and you don't have corporate jobs to serve the thousands of young people coming out of the universities this is an alternative," he says.
Blockchain magic
But it's not just the currency aspect of this technology that people think will transform the continent.
"If African developers, entrepreneurs, and governments can leverage blockchain technologies, they may have a shot at tackling some of the continent's most intractable problems of the unbanked masses, digital identities, untrusted voting systems, to name only a few applications," Mr Blazevic explains.
"With the right support for innovation, and collaboration Africa could once again leapfrog over the digital divide and become a market leader just like it did in the move from landline communications infrastructure to the mobile phone ecosystem."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42582343South African business school to accept Bitcoin paymentshttps://businesstech.co.za/news/banking/218337/south-african-business-school-to-accept-bitcoin-payments/ |
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The Income Tax Department of India (ITDI) after surveying major cryptocurrency exchanges on December 13 have decided to send notices to 400K-500K Bitcoin traders for suspected tax evasion. The initiative also appears to be closely linked with Panama and Paradise expose. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) might also take a strong stance against ICOs. After surveying major cryptocurrency exchanges in the country on December 13, the Income Tax Department of India is all set to send notices to 400-500K HNIs who are involved in trading Bitcoins in India.
Having collated all the significant Bitcoin traders’ details, the Bengaluru wing of the Income Tax department is now planning to send notices to these Bitcoin traders and investors.
The development – surveys at Bitcoin exchanges and the news of Bitcoin traders trading cryptocurrencies in significant numbers to be slammed notices – happened after it was speculated that people trading and investing in Bitcoins are in fact not paying over the gains.
The initiative appears to be closely linked with Panama and Paradise expose, as their ongoing investigation team suspected that some of the black money involved in the expose has now been deflected into Bitcoins as a safe passage. https://inc42.com/buzz/indian-income-tax-department-bitcoin-traders/ |
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BillDesk, an Indian online payments company that conducts around 70% of India's online billing transactions has launched Coinome, India's first crypto-currency exchange. Right now the platform supports Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash only, but the exchange plans to support 20 mainstream crypto-currencies by 2018. There have been rumors that the Indian government might ban Bitcoin and the interesting thing is the company behind Coinome, BillDesk is a participant under the Payments and Settlements Systems Act, 2007 that is regulated and supervised by the Reserve Bank of India. Mumbai based payment gateway Billdesk has launched ‘Coinome’, India's first crypto-currency exchange.
Coinome will allow users to be on-boarded via Instant e-KYC. Users can start transacting in crypto-currencies almost immediately upon registering.
The exchange supports instant deposits using payment gateway and instant withdrawals, thereby allowing transactions even on weekends or business holidays.
Headquartered in Mumbai, Coinome is incorporated under Hatio Innovations Pvt. Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of BillDesk.
“We would fundamentally like to provide Indian users with a secure and convenient means for buying or selling Bitcoins, and other crypto-currencies and promoting the same within Indian masses as commercially viable alternatives for building their digital assets,” said Vivek Steve Francis, CEO of Coinome.
BillDesk’s expertise in secure online payments will support Coinome in promoting crypto-currencies as viable avenues for investments, transactions, and building digital assets.
Srinivasu MN, Co-founder, and director of BillDesk said, “Advancements in Blockchain, as well as crypto-currency space, are happening at a rapid pace. We are making the long-term bet that digital currencies are going to be powering transactions in the future and change the way consumers and organizations interact and transact with one another.” http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/cryptic-world-billdesk-launches-indias-first-crypto-currency-exchange-2445875.html/amp |
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Recently there have been reports that RBI is planning to ban Bitcoin in India. A petition seeking the indecisive government to act on Bitcoin has landed in India's Supreme Court. A PIL (Public Interest Litigation) petition has been filed before the Indian Supreme Court, seeking it to issue directions to regulate the flow of Bitcoin and ensure that it is made accountable to the exchequer. The petitioner, Dwaipayan Bhowmick, said:
"It is submitted that certain countries have made Bitcoin subject to their respective tax regimes, while a few other countries have designated it as a commodity, thereby making Bitcoin subject to government regulation and accountable to exchequer but no such mechanism exists in India till date."
The petitioner also argued that regulatory organizations like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) were trying to shirk their responsibility with respect to regulating Bitcoin.
While there are multiple Bitcoin exchanges like Coinsecure, Zebpay and Unocoin operating in India, the regulators have not come out with any guidelines for Bitcoin operations. The RBI has in the past (2013 and 2017) warned investors about the risks involved in investing in cryptocurrencies.
As seen in the past, courts often step in to adjudicate when governments fail to offer clear guidance. It is preferable that governments take the opinions of experts and provide clarity on their stance on cryptocurrencies, else regulation will be built on a piecemeal basis from judicial pronouncements. https://cointelegraph.com/news/indecisive-government-causes-bitcoin-to-land-in-indias-supreme-court |
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Found this on Reddit, classification of possible attacks on Bitcoin, probability of them happening in the next 10 years, and the extent of damage these attacks could do. Bitcoin's antifragility has already been put to test through a few legal attacks/ban, numerous PR/social attacks/FUD/negative news, ongoing financial attacks/forks/state-sponsored cryptos, and hybrid attacks by malicious actors who for their own individual gains want to slowdown Bitcoin adoption/development by trying to manipulate a part of the community to support their forked altcoins.  Bitcoin does have its own share of weaknesses that could be exploited, be it spam attacks, 51% attack, Sybil attack, DoS attacks, and timejacking. There is a probability that some of these attacks might happen in the next ten years and the extent of damage would depend on the type of attack. Compared to technical/cyberattacks, I think the majority of attacks on Bitcoin in the next ten years would be legal, social, financial, and hybrid in nature. https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7cht20/classification_of_attacks_on_bitcoin_oc/ |
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The chess match between the banks and Bitcoin just got real. CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, announced that it intends to launch bitcoin futures in the fourth quarter of 2017, pending all relevant regulatory review periods. The new contract will be cash-settled, based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR) which serves as a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin. Bitcoin futures will be listed on and subject to the rules of CME. Bitcoin futures are explicitly not going to be settled in Bitcoins. They will be settled in dollars. This means that this contract is a means by which to use unlimited dollars to control the dollar price of Bitcoin.
Now we know why the SEC squashed all Bitcoin ETFs. It had nothing to do with liquidity, valuations or consumer protection. It had everything to do with creating synthetic bitcoins made of of dollars to be used by the big banks to dominate and control the valuation of the market.
Anyone who doesn’t believe me in saying that has never watched a minute’s worth of the gold trade.
This is how they control the gold price. They issue unlimited supply of paper gold, settled not in gold but in dollars, to keep the price in the range they believe it should be kept in over a particular period of time.
This is done to suit their needs, not the needs of the gold market participants, i.e. the mining companies, investors, end-users.
All markets are subject to manipulation. And when the manipulators are a protected class of bankers controlling the wealth of the society the possibility of institutionalized manipulation and fraud exists.
Understand that from an evolutionary biology perspective Bitcoin is a mutation which rises to the level of existential threat to central-bank-issued debt-based currency. Gold was put on the futures exchange when they finally realized they could do a better job controlling its price and the perception of the dollar’s strength better than refusing to allow a futures market for it at all.
Bitcoin is getting that same treatment.
Now, like the good little oligarchs that they are, they’re finally scared enough of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies that they are going to cap their growth through good ol’ fashioned leverage and market manipulation.
Everything else has failed to stem the tide so now it’s time for this battle tactic to be employed. When CME announced plans for Bitcoin Futures, an article titled Bitcoin dips a toe into the mainstream was published and I do agree to that, it is a big news, legitimacy. But instead of physical delivery, cash-settled contracts and that's a bit unnerving. Possible emergence of a secondary market that might suppress the primary free market. Flow of cash getting diverted to the secondary market. Natural vs artificial scarcity. The Bitcoin market might finally get stable and less volatile which is good, but the stability might be achieved by means of artificial scarcity, suppression, and manipulation by centralized players. In terms of recognition, a CFTC approved Bitcoin futures is definitely positive, but the long-term effect might not turn out to be a positive one. The CFTC may or may not approve this proposal. If approved and a large capital flows into this market, in the long-term would it be good or bad for Bitcoin? Would the resulting stability and liquidity be good or bad? https://hackernoon.com/bitcoin-futures-the-bank-attack-on-the-crypto-market-29e1b38a5da |
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Yesterday, BlackRock Strategist Richard Turnill said there’s no inherent right or wrong Bitcoin price, no fair value. On multiple occasions Bitcoin has been criticized for lacking fair value. I haven't come across any stats or traditional methods that can be used to calculate Bitcoin's fair value, but does that mean Bitcoin doesn't have a fair value? I found an article on Investopedia about how to measure Bitcoin's fair market value. I don't think this framework is statistically accurate, but theoretically plausible. Almost all predictions regarding Bitcoin price are speculative in nature, but backed by a solid belief that Bitcoin's scarcity and its underlying technology is potentially revolutionary which would have an impact on different sectors. Bitcoin has value because people think it has value, right. It means Bitcoins have positive expected value. The total market value of a currency, its "monetary base", is driven by two things, transactional demand and reservation demand. 1. Transactional demand - Daily transaction volume. 2. Reservation demand - Hoarding/long-term investment. It is expected that with more merchant adoption the transactional demand would increase. 3. Hurdle rate - Rate of return required to compensate for the risks associated with holding Bitcoin. Yeah, technopolitical hurdles or backlash from a country can have an impact on Bitcoin's expected value. Theoretically, the fair-market value of one BTC should simply be the dividend of its predicted future monetary base (total market cap) and BTC in circulation, discounted by a "hurdle rate." For further illustration, it might also help to consider how a venture capitalist could determine the net present value of an investment that he never expects to generate positive cash flows during his firm's investment period (e.g. a high-growth tech company that reinvests 100% of its earnings before it ultimate sells to Google). In the absence of earnings, that VC might look at revenue multiples to determine the company's terminal value, and then discount that figure by a rate of 40 to 60%.
With Bitcoin, the thinking is the same. Except Bitcoin's terminal value is actually its future monetary base. This framework relies on assumptions only, but backed by Bitcoin having all the attributes of money, its scarcity and underlying technology. A rational market price for something that is expected to increase in value will already reflect the present value of the expected future increases. In your head, you do a probability estimate balancing the odds that it keeps increasing.
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/050914/easy-way-measure-bitcoins-fair-market-value-doityourself-guide.asp? |
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Freelance websites were often considered as a means for college graduates to earn some pocket money as they waited for career opportunities. But today, the gig economy is quite big with a good number of people preferring a flexible freelancer routine over traditional income generation opportunities as their main source of income. It is estimated around 34 percent of the US workforce is now freelance based, and this number is expected to grow to 43 percent by 2020. Freelance platforms like Freelancer, Upwork, Fiverr etc are quite popular, but compared to a decentralized freelance marketplace there are a few drawbacks. Be it the risk of getting scammed, fraudulent payments, unresolved disputes, commission rates as high as 15 to 20%, and entry barrier. Blockchain based decentralized freelance marketplace can solve these issues with providing an equal opportunity, multi-signature escrow to prevent fraud, individual mediators, and a fee as low as 1%. One of the interesting Decentralized freelance projects is Rein project. https://reinproject.org |
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Willy Woo, a highly regarded Bitcoin and cryptocurrency researcher, utilizing Google Trends as one of the main indicators of Bitcoin user growth recently revealed that the number of Bitcoin users approximately doubles every 12 months. Woo noted in his report that 26 years from now, if the user base of Bitcoin continues to grow at this pace, nearly everyone in the world will use Bitcoin. User Base: Major Factor For Long-Term Price Surge of Bitcoin
The Bitcoin price is a practical indicator of Bitcoin’s real-world value, relative to other assets and currencies. While many factors affect the Bitcoin price in varying periods, user base, developer activity, and global adoption have been the three key factors behind the long-term increase in the price of Bitcoin for the past eight years.
"What we have here is a steady exponential growth baseline with periodic peaks. These peaks are are inline with price bubbles where more users start checking the price of their precious coins. Taking readings from the baseline results in an order of magnitude growth every 3.375 years. Or expressed in terms of time to double the user base it’s approximately 12 months."
In the long run, if the adoption rate of Bitcoin in major regions such as the US, Japan and South Korea can be sustained, the market cap of Bitcoin would likely surpass that of JPMorgan, the largest retail bank in the world valued at $350 billion, and achieve the trillion dollar mark. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/woos-law-bitcoin-users-double-every-12-months-major-factor-for-long-term-price-surge/http://woobull.com/woos-law-of-bitcoin-user-growth-bitcoins-adoption-curve/ |
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The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has become the world’s first county to accept the virtual currency bitcoin for its citizenship program. The Vanuatu Information Centre (VIC) announced that its Development Support Program (DSP) will allow foreigners to qualify for Vanuatuan citizenship through a one-time payment of $200,000 or currently 44 Bitcoins. Vanuatu is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and citizenship allows visa-free travel to 113 countries, including EU states, Russia and the United Kingdom.
Vanuatu also advertises its low taxes for citizenship buyers, offering a second passport in a country that levies no capital gains or income taxes. Potential citizens don't need to live in Vanuatu, or even visit the country once.
“Many early investors in bitcoin would like to realize some of their earnings without incurring large capital gains taxes. Ideally, then, they would convert their cryptocurrency into tangible assets in a low-tax jurisdiction… As Vanuatu will now be the only country to offer citizenship for bitcoins, I think the program will see a surge in interest more or less immediately.” http://www.newsweek.com/bitcoin-now-buys-you-citizenship-pacific-nation-vanuatu-680443 |
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Money does have a huge impact on the way we think and feel. It is associated with powerful emotions like anxiety, depression, anger, helplessness, happiness, excitement, envy, resentment. The negative emotions associated with fiat currency is caused by it being a tool for servitude and slavery. Tax slavery, debt slavery, wage slavery. Being forced to use it, master vs slave, governments vs people. CryptopsycologyCrypto-psychology is the discipline of how cryptographic protocols, blockchain technology, and cypherpunk activity alter the way people understand money, money symbolism, and the behaviors and emotions they cause. Crypto-psychology examines human behavior from the perspective of blockchain systems and open source, peer-2-peer technologies. Unlike fiat currency, Bitcoin/cryptos aren't associated with control and dominance, no authoritarian doctrines, no centralized entities, no master, no slave. A feeling of safety and security, happiness, freedom. So is Bitcoin/cryptos changing your psychology, your behavior, your perception towards money? Compared to Fiat, are you experiencing nil or less negative emotions while using cryptos? https://news.bitcoin.com/crypto-psychology-initiation-text-toward-understanding-money-symbolism/https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-can-alter-psychology/ |
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Bitcoin just topped $4400 for the first time since in over 3 weeks and has now erased all of the plunge losses from Jamie Dimon's "it's a fraud" and China's shuttering of all local exchanges. It didn't take long for the world of crypto-currencies to shrug off Jamie Dimon's self-tighteous denigration of the decentralized currency that could directly 'disrupt' his cash cow businesses; and furthermore, as The South China Morning Post reports, China's bitcoin market alive and well as traders defy crackdown.
Although the crackdown has dissuaded large swathes of less-experienced investors from participating in the trade, market participants point to the limits Chinese regulators ultimately face in controlling the industry, where many users are anonymous and difficult to track.
In the short-run, the crackdown has also created an arbitrage opportunity for investors, with the price of bitcoin in China now trading at a discount to overseas exchanges. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-01/bitcoin-surges-above-4400-world-realizes-jamie-dimon-china-dont-matter |
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It appears that governments love blockchain technology but hate Bitcoin itself, as well as other “crypto-anarchic” digital currencies. Some governments are reacting in a panic because they are starting to realize that they can’t stop Bitcoin from becoming an alternative to their monopoly on currency, both as a means of exchange and a store of value. Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are especially vulnerable, and other governments could follow China. Atomic swaps are the first sign in a new wave of decentralization. It is going to be interesting to see how the trend develops, since for larger and more complex transactions with fiat currencies, LocalBitcoins and established exchanges are still the place to be.
“The panic has to set in at some point,” argued Beams. “But it will do so at different times for different governments, and will produce a range of responses from them when it does.
Beams suggested that the only way to really stop decentralized crypto-fiat exchanges would be to outlaw Bitcoin trading altogether.
However, he thinks that this sort of heavy-handed attack seems unlikely to be attempted in the U.S. or Europe because there are just too many vested interests in Bitcoin now. It’s more likely that the authorities will continue to insist on KYC, tolerate compliant centralized exchanges and demonize the decentralized ones.
“With all that having been said, I’m actually optimistic,” concluded Beams. “Attacks by state actors — real and threatened — are making every part of this ecosystem stronger. Bitcoin has proven itself anti-fragile as hell thus far, and by the time all the battles have been waged, what will emerge on the other side are alternatives to existing financial institutions — money, banks, exchanges and all the rest — that are actually better in every way than their traditional counterparts. https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/how-decentralized-exchanges-make-bitcoin-more-resilient-and-us-more-free/ |
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The ideology behind BitcoinThe root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts. Their massive overhead costs make micropayments impossible.
With e-currency based on cryptographic proof, without the need to trust a third party middleman, money can be secure and transactions effortless. - Satoshi Nakamoto The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks - Genesis Block So the fundamental ideology is a decentralized trustless system to create an economy not dependant on governments/banks, empower repressed economies, disrupt or weaken the centralized monetary system, and economic freedom. Something like what John Holloway said, "Changing the world without taking power." I think majority of the early adopters were motivated by this philosophy, price wasn't a criteria. The technology behind BitcoinThere is no denying the fact that Bitcoin/Blockchain technology is revolutionary. It is here to stay. We will be seeing more use cases of it in future. The first distributed blockchain was conceptualised by Satoshi Nakamoto and was implemented as a core component in Bitcoin and thus making Bitcoin a technological tour de force. Technology is one of the major reasons for Bitcoin adoption. MonetaryThe monetary aspect is profit. Adopt Bitcoin for making money. I do believe that a good number of recent investors/speculators are in for money only. Leave aside ideology, even a few doesn't bother about the technological aspect. Nothing wrong in it. It is like a get-rich-quick-scheme. So why did you adopt Bitcoin? There might be a reason or a couple of reasons or all the three. Edit: Added all of the above.
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People began using Bitcoin in 2009 because it solved problems of the existing money and banking system: inflation, expropriation, taxes, use restrictions, financial repression and fees, especially for small and cross-border transactions. The economic value of these services serves as the underlying base of value, just like the value of tulip bulbs supported the tulip futures contracts. But bitcoin became monetized and its value far exceeds the current use value in transactions. Its value is now based on projected future need for protection against the problems it solves. If this be fraud, all money is fraud.Asking a bank CEO what he thinks of bitcoin is like asking the head of the post office what he thinks of e-mail.
Dimon compared bitcoin to tulips, which is accurate, though not in the way he intended. What he failed to realize is that people were not paying for single flowers, but for the entire breeding stock -- or a significant portion of it -- of popular new tulip varieties. People have continued to pay higher inflation-adjusted prices for new tulip and lily bulbs to this day.
Dimon went on to claim that governments would suppress bitcoin because they like to control their own monetary policy. This is a strange objection. It seems to assume bitcoin will increase dramatically in value, because it would have to in order to be significant in global money supply.
A better reason for governments to suppress cryptocurrencies is that they make it easier for people to evade taxes and regulations. Many of the advantages of a cryptocurrency from a user’s standpoint are disadvantages to people who want to control users. Cash is a far better tool for evasion, and no government has yet outlawed cash -- or even stopped printing it. The most financially repressive governments have not taken effective action against cryptocurrencies. Any efforts to suppress simultaneously make cryptocurrencies more valuable.
Bitcoin values may well collapse the way tulip futures did, either on their own or due to government efforts. But the problems cryptocurrencies address will not disappear with that collapse. People will continue to pursue technological innovations to improve financial services. The eventual winners may be traditional financial institutions that innovate or new entrants. But it’s a safe bet they will not be financial institutions that fire employees who take bitcoin seriously and ridicule customers who try to help themselves without waiting for JPMorgan to take notice of their problems. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-18/what-jamie-dimon-got-wrong-about-bitcoin-and-tulips |
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As Chinese-based bitcoin exchanges plan to shut down, bitcoin investors are taking their trading elsewhere. They will now focus on broker-facilitated, over-the-counter exchanges. Prior to exchange shutdown notices, most traders conducted OTC exchanges on Weechat messenger. As a result of government crackdowns on Weechat users, bitcoiners have made an exodus over to privacy-centric messaging app Telegram.
A surge of traders have now moved to Telegram for its encryption protocols. They should now be able to disregard government as they continue to trade and speculate on various cryptocurrencies.
It appears this investor pivot to secret OTC trading, foreshadows how underground bitcoin Chinese Investors to Trade Bitcoin Over-The-Counter Via Telegram trading may manifest in China. In this sense, it is unlikely bitcoin or cryptocurrency will be harmed in the long term. The resiliency of the technology will emerge while under duress from the Chinese government.
Even though Bitcoin will survive regardless of what happens — there are a myriad of unverified reports coming out of China that authorities may block certain bitcoin sites.
It is good to keep in mind that these reports are unverified, and they could, in part, be “fake news.” Nonetheless, it is clear the Chinese government is clamping down on cryptocurrencies, but traders appear to be unfazed as they maneuver to access underground and OTC trading networks. https://news.bitcoin.com/chinese-investors-to-trade-bitcoin-over-the-counter-via-telegram/https://data.bitcoinity.org/markets/volume/30d/CNY/localbitcoins?r=day&t=b |
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