NT

http://mobile.blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/04/01/western-union-eyes-digital-currency-services/

""westen unions well established compliance programs would be considered a competitive advantage in digital currencies because it's a trusted brand"


do you think this will basically mean that it will be easier for someone who has bitcoins to convert them to cash? Instead of going to local bitcoins they will just go to western union?  do you think the bitcoins that are used to convert into cash will need to be sent on the other end from a western union controlled place? or from anywhere?

do you think western union is seriously considering incorporating bitcoin somehow? I don't really understand what this article really means for bitcoin.

a travel hub and tourist destination!

Here is my line of thinking... if a small country either makes bitcoin their official currency or at least makes it as accepted as their currency is alongside it.... and it was a tourist destination then anyone in the world with bitcoin could travel their... they could pay their hotels... pay their food... pay their tax and everything in person with bitcoins. I think this would actually draw a significant amount of travel to the place... it will increase the wealth of everyone on the island and result in possibly new entreprenurial things. They could tie their prices of things to something stable besides bitcoin so they don't price people out of using it when they get there.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1bkiz1/now_is_the_time_for_a_small_country_locality_to/

I tried to send .005 bitcoin to someone...... a window came up that said "please wait" . after waiting I finally quit and exited. Now whenever I start electrum it just says Synchronizing. There is no balance shown.
I tried downloading the new version . 1.7.2 instead of 1.6.2  . it still says synchronizing........... and I don't have access to my wallet
Needless to say my friend who I was trying to send bitcoins to is not impressed

I know bank of america can deposit to bitfloor but can you go from BB & T to bank of america then to bitfloor? do you need to create an account with bank of america? Or do you just wire money to BoA then transfer it to bitfloor?

So in order for transactions to occur on ripple... it will exchange whatever currency (dollars or bitcoins or whatever) into XRP and then send actual XRP? Is that correct?
100 billion XRP are created so what is the projected worth of XRP? I heard no new XRP gets created but some gets destroyed? I need to read more ><

Nobody ever complains in a casino "my chips aren't made of precious metal". You don't need to make casino chips out of precious metal... as is proven by the lack of any complaints in a casino chip system. The tokens are issued 1:1 with collateral. Inflation in this way... is impossible. Yet the tokens themselves are used to transact real value... upwards of millions of dollars and there is never a problem. How is it that a valueless token can facilitate the transaction of so much value with nary a problem? Because that is what money is designed to do. It's simply meant to make exchange easier. The value of the tokens is so consistent because the supply of them is controlled in an exact manner. They are simply not fabricated and given out on whim.

What makes gold valuable and useful for money is it's scarcity. And that scarcity means that if gold is what is backing a money supply, then the scarcity of that money supply is also controlled. A gold backed money supply puts automatic limits on the creation of that money... much like how bitcoin has automatic limits based off the rules of the network which everyone participates in because of their own self interest.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1ay8pe/the_intrinsic_value_myth/

Just thought I would put this out there. I have read things on the internet lately about people wanting to start their own societies. I also read tonight about "galts gulch" in chile.


Anyway here is what I crave.


The society I imagine would primary live in monolithic domes. They would be built buried in the ground and covered with grassy knolls. Round windows and chimneys might be visible. Essentially it would look just like the shire from the hobbit but the houses themselves... monolithic domes are better IMO than "stick built" houses. They withstand natural disasters incredibly well. (wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes/hurricanes, termites.. etc) . They are also very energy efficient and although concrete isn't carbon neutral.... they would have a much longer lifespan than normal houses (400 years vs 100).


So that's one main point of what I want in a libertarian community . I don't really want to get the impression of it being a hippy place though. I like technology. So some kind of internet would be a must. Maybe geothermal for energy.


Besides monolithic domes... there is one other major criteria I would have. Some may find it strange or silly. it's called humanure. I believe that our high tech sewer systems are actually a bad design. Good for hygiene......... but bad for the soil. When people eat vegetables or meat or anything ... nutrients come from the soil. They should be returned to the soil. Human manure decomposes as any other manure does... and if it is composted properly and returned to the soil you can ensure that the soil will thrive over time. I believe the health of the soil is crucial for any society.

so aside from those things... a local currency ... or even bitcoins themselves could be used for all trade. It would be cool to have an entire bitcoin community somewhere.

go!

The whole idea of social security appalls me. The idea that they take some of our money to save it for us. And in reality they just go and dip into those funds to spend at will. It's stupid.

When I first heard about this....... it remember reading that one of the reasons it would attract "institutional" investors is because the money deposits (in dollars) would be insured.

However, I've read this isn't actually the case. The cash deposits are still not going to be sured. (I can't cite where I read it I just remember it )

so if that is true how would it attract institutional investors? would ach transfers just be quicker that is all?

Those who are intermediaries in the transfer of virtual currencies from
one person to another person, or to another location, are money transmitters that must register
with FinCEN as MSBs unless an exception applies.

Doesn't this mean all those services we hoped would be built up around bitcoin to take transactions off the blockchain mean they are now money transmitters?

Doesn't this mean that the bitcoin tip bot, for instance, is now illegal... or going to be targetted by FinCEN?

I bought a netbook and password thing from thebitcoin store on 3/02 .  The transaction seemed to work fine and went through and the bitcoins did leave my wallet. I never got my item though and after contacting them they said they don't have the order in their database but it might be i ordered after some invoice expired and it was sent to bitpay or something.

Anyways here are the transaction details

Transaction ID:
fda4d7bd13e0153b1db3f3ea015ba6fed9fe3f8b209b55282fc79d9859f06470

Status: 2890 confirmations
Amount sent:    -7.7083    
Transaction fee:    -0.002    
Date: 2013-03-02 16:10

Inputs:
-1P3RQHZEBa2ncLRCiw8Zm2cZNTqdbxvpNc
-1P3RQHZEBa2ncLRCiw8Zm2cZNTqdbxvpNc

Outputs:
-1KX7u24PkksdfYT4M9Y2ZFekh2Un2jxX7Z
-1AenmbjibuPAmAGMoJ4xbd4xuSd1G8UhrS

any chance anybody can figure out what those 2 outputs are? do either belong to bitpay?

it would take a couple of weeks to do it with coinbase. First link  a bank account, get 2 small deposits, confirm (2 days) .. then buy 10 per day (if you are lucky. they keep hitting their limit i don't even know if it's possible to buy through coinbase anymore unless you are lucky)

Or mtgox.. but they are currently transitioning. in 3 days they will be "live" on coinlabs US part.

so what is the best way?

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1aluwb/so_my_dad_wants_to_buy_100_bitcoins_what_way_do/

Here is what I understand....

Regular users of bitcoin who spend bitcoins are not directly affected. Even users or miners who sell bitcoins on an exchange are not directly affected because it is the exchanges responsibility to deal with the money transmitter stuff.

Businesses who accept bitcoins and keep the bitcoins are not affected. Businesses that accept bitcoin but use something like bitpay to sweep their accounts and turn it into cash are not directly affected because it's up to bitpay to deal with the money licensing issues. And if bitpay uses an exchange to sell then it's not up to them and it still falls back to just the exchange.


The greatest users affected by this are "localbitcoins" users since they will be considered money transmitters. However... usually the amount they sell is small so it might not draw much attention.

These are guidelines and not actual regulations.


Do I have things clear so far?

I noticed that the blocks/hour is currently 6.76. It's supposed to be 6. Does this mean that the difficulty will eventually be adjusted so that blocks per hour will actually be less than 6 to compensate for a short term increase in coin creation?

It seems kind of wrong to me to see nations around the world with the most resources being the poorest.  I love capitalism but ... should national resources really be exploitable? To me it means it will lead to two things: environmentally destructive practices possibly. But also the siphoning of wealth from one country to another country.

You are witnessing the birth of a currency. (yes 4 years late)
THis drop from 49 to 34 is nothinggg compared to what is going to happen in the coming months.  New speculation >: )

What I mean is even though there is a huge price drop it's obvious that medium term bitcoins are going to go a lot higher with this much trading going on. People are basically standing in line and can't trade because coinbase is tapped out.... and orders are lagging in gox.  Large holders of bitcoins are making runs on the market.  Only those with small balls are affected though.

New forecast: 100 dollars by the end of april

So we are at just under 11 million bitcoins released.  Many bitcoins are currently "unrecoverable" . I have no idea how many that is. But when you see those numbers it isn't hard to fathom what could happen with the price in the future.

Also consider that bitcoins might not experience the same technology curve that others have. Because bitcoin is a borderless currency as soon as it catches on the entire world is competing. It's not just some small or single country we are talking about.

Maybe 100 by the end of the year isn't that outlandish.