I guess I'm the only guy who heads to the comments section after reading articles  

Everyone is using this article as an example to prove that only crooks are involved in Bitcoin.  

Hyperfocusing on his strange need to sell explosives (little as they may have been) on Ebay.   For scaring birds away or not.  Doesn't seem to sway people's "duh" factor as far as it being a really stupid idea.  In that regard I agree with them.   But its a bummer they're using this article to prove that Bitcoins "Jesus" is just another Ex Con.  

Totally cracked up with the "You wont be able to serve in the armed forces" ..... "Darn" paragraph.  LOL!

-B-

I haven't read any other responses here, but here's mine:   Hell to the No.

You really want the US Government to be one of the biggest holders of Bitcoin?

LOL!!!   Insanity.

-B-

Peter Todd announced he has sold 50% of his Bitcoins due to the GHashIO situation, citing political biases in the system controlled by (i assume) Bitcoin core dev team and others refusing to address it.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/281ftd/why_i_just_sold_50_of_my_bitcoins_ghashio/

My suggestion was this:

This is a decentralized system.  But sometimes the question will arise:  Who manages the project in a decentralized system?  I suppose the community should be the most powerful influence in a decentralized system, yet there seems to be zero method by which the community can vote / influence the course of the code.  Obviously we don't want votes on every tiny issue, but on major issues like this, yes.  

Why doesn't someone institute a worldwide consensus voting system?  Bitcoin is perfect for such a thing, and being the first fraud-proof voting system on earth, this would be ideal.  In the end, powerful people and organizations are going to try to influence the bitcoin core code.  There should be a system put in place that doesn't allow any major changes without worldwide consent.  In this case, miners may be opposed to the proposal.  That wont matter because they will only have so many votes.

I am new here so be gentle.  This is just my idea from a newbie outsider perspective.  Its strange to see everyone just sitting around throwing their hands up doing nothing.  Very weird.

If change is needed.  Someone do something to make it happen.

Even if you don't think its that big of a threat, im pretty sure even you would agree it wouldn't hurt to institute limitations anyways.

-B-

This sub-forum is dedicated to those who are short-sighted.  

-B-

The spelling skills in this thread are an abomination.

-B-

lol

I am on their site right now trying to check out and there is no option for Bitcoin.

When I called their 800 number and got routed to the Philippines, I had a fairly hilarious discussion with the phone rep who had no idea what i was talking about.

Super.

--------

Update:   I was talking to Hotel Sales.   She had no clue.  I asked to speak to a supervisor.  She comes back and tells me to go to Coinbase.com.  

Sigh.  

She said they have received no information or training on how to handle Bitcoin, and that it must be done on the website only.

I told her I was on the website and it wasn't there.

She said "We dont handle the currency conversion here".  She said that a few times.  I have no idea what she's talking about.

Then she offered to transfer me to customer service.   "You're not customer service?" I said (I called the customer service number).  "Nope!" she said.

I can already tell this is going to be an adventure.   On hold now.

--------

Ok so after getting transferred to 7 phone reps (none of which could pronounce Bitcoin), it is apparently showing for some hotels and not for others.

The one I was reserving - it did not show.  So we both escalated a ticket to the support group.

However if the phone experience is any indication, the support team isn't going to have a clue either.

Yep.  $600 is a joke compared to whats coming in the next 5 years.

-B-

LOL .... at your short-sighted-ness.  Smh.

This is the process by which Bitcoin goes to $40,000.   But you don't care because all you want is to day trade for a $10 gain before Friday.

You're going to kick yourself in the ass in 5 years when you realize you could have been buying and holding for the real value increases.

If you lack the basic understanding of "Network Effect" and why its relevant that major merchants are accepting Bitcion, then do some research and learn about it.

Don't troll around the forums saying this is no big deal, when everybody knows that it is.

Sorry for being snarky but you are saying something that makes zero sense.

-B-


Definition of 'Network Effect'

A phenomenon whereby a good or service becomes more valuable when more people use it. The internet is a good example. Initially, there were few users of the internet, and it was of relatively little value to anyone outside of the military and a few research scientists. As more users gained access to the internet, however, there were more and more websites to visit and more people to communicate with. The internet became extremely valuable to its users.

Expedia is not the announcement.

There is another big one coming.

If you read what i wrote in the 3-4 messages i wrote on this, you would have seen that it was a BitPay conference call.

Expedia is with Coinbase.

Expedia is huge.  And notice - the price hasn't budged.  

--------------

I just met with Jeff in person, five minutes ago at the Clevelander Hotel to give him a batch of yBitcoin magazines to put in the lobby of the hotel.

The information was given to me in confidence, but I can confirm that its legit.

As for "how big" - i can finally give you an intelligent analogy.

Expedia announcement is huge.  And in light of that announcement, this company may make you scratch your head as to why they're better for Bitcoin.

But the key is, they're a big company.  

Expedia's value is 8.8 Billion.   This company's value is more than 11 Billion.

Its just a *completely* different demographic.   And I think they have their hands dipped into several commercial interests.

Either way - these two companies in one week will likely be Bitcoins biggest "Merchant Adoption Week".

-B-

How do you do this?

Like when Satoshi put the legendary mark on the first bitcoin block:

"Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks."

See it here:  https://blockchain.info/tx/4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b?show_adv=true

How do you put notes on Bitcoins you send to someone?

Like "Hey its me!" or "Great work" (I've wanted to do this on donations to podcasts like Coinsider This or Lets Talk Bitcoin)

Any way to make sure the recipient sees it?

Thanks

I cash out (or start spending in Bitcion) at $40,000.

Not a penny sooner.

-B-

Source of the announcement:



https://www.facebook.com/jeffturgeau.clevelander

I don't know Jeff personally, but he is the lead marketing / events manager at Clevelander, which, as people who've been to Miami know, is a legitimate operation in South Beach.   He coordinated the Clevelander being the first hotel in Miami to accept Bitcoin, and hosted the Ethereum / Bitcoin "after party" at Clevelander rooftop during the conference weekend.  

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitpay-sponsors-north-american-bitcoin-174400124.html
"Building on the recent success of the European Bitcoin Convention, the NABC will hit Miami Beach on the 25th and 26th of January, 2014. In support of the bitcoin conference and community, the Clevelander Hotel, through BitPay, will allow bitcoiners to pay for their room, food and drinks with bitcoin!   “We have a strong partnership with the Miami Beach Convention Center, when they signed the conference the marketing manager connected me directly with the organizer and the rest is history,” said Jeff Turgeau, Event Sales Manager for Clevelander. “I immediately recognized the profound opportunities accepting bitcoin will create in increasing our revenues and was sold with the initial conversation.” "

He said he was on a conference call with BitPay last week for some more upcoming events, and the information was divulged to him.

As I have said from the beginning - "big announcement" is subjective.  Who knows what he considers "huge".   I did however take him to task by saying the following:  "If anything qualified as huge, it would have been the eBay/PayPal announcement last week, and the price didn't move much.  Is this bigger than that?"   His response was:  "eBay and PayPal are only online services.  This is something that could benefit everyone.  I don't have the details on how they will be incorporating it, but someone big will be."  When I reiterated that the price didnt move much just on an announcement of future incorporation with Ebay - he clarified that the price itself may take time to move.  I assume he recognizes that the thing that moves price is actual commerce, consumer adoption, and demand for bitcoins.  Right now we are in merchant adoption phase, which does not equal consumer adoption and commerce.  

That's everything I know folks.   But Jeff is legit, and I can't think of a reason why he would lie about the BitPay call or the news.  I doubt with 9 "likes" on his status, he was planning to shake the Bitcoin price with a fake announcement.  If something was said on a BitPay phone call, the question is whether his interpretation would match yours or mine.   Anyone's guess.

-B-

I asked my maid service if she'd take it and she said she doesn't take foreign currency. 

-B-

Scroll up.

Nobody knows what its all about yet.   Might be nothing (which I put in the first post).  But the marketing manager at Clevelander Miami was on a conference call with BitPay last week and claims its big news.

One mans big is another mans blah.  We shall see.

I just asked Jeff where they plan to announce.   Cuz its end of business Monday now.

-B-

I just logged in now (4:30pm eastern time) to sift through Google news to see if there was anything. 

If I had an announcement for my business - and it was going to be "announced Monday". ... i would expect that they're calling press people.

Which means tuesday, wends thursd for it to get into articles?   

Not sure how they were going to "announce" it unless someone is going to come to Reddit or here, and write a post.

Otherwise, its news outlets.  I'll ask Jeff...

-B-

Wait.   Lets regroup:

How long are we going to keep saying "This needs to be addressed" ?

Who is the person that is supposed to address it?

Where has that person / group placed this issue in the queue?

This is one of those things that people keep saying we need to address, but it never gets addressed.

Why is that?

What steps are being taken to fix the lack of progress?

If its the core dev team, they have a process in place for reporting issues, changes, enhancements.   Where is this specific issue in that queue?

If its the miners, then who is organizing the communication and putting together a process to get a concensus and get this resolved now?

Decentralized systems don't have a central organizing entity for situations like this. 

-B-

And the panels from the conference:

Global Pioneers in Bitcion
http://www.coinsiderthis.com/2014/06/02/bitcoin-2014-panel-global-pioneers-in-bitcoin/

The Buzz around Bitcoin ATMS
http://www.coinsiderthis.com/2014/06/02/bitcoin-2014-panel-the-buzz-around-bitcoin-atms/

The Race to be your Mobile Wallet
http://www.coinsiderthis.com/2014/06/02/bitcoin-2014-panel-the-race-to-be-your-mobile-wallet/

-B-