...

I have bought BTC for cash from people I did not know (at a Starbucks for example) four times with success.  Yes, my counterparty then knew who I was, but otherwise no one else.  No other trail (I learned to have them sent to bitmixer.io directly).  I typically paid 3% - 6% premium over "spot".  I found them via localbitcoins, but that turns out to be a hassle in my city.  

One time I met with a guy before knowing how much premium he wanted.  He wanted too much (12% over), so I walked.  And then drove back home, further than he did no doubt...  



Lesson learned.

I think that deisik has it correct when it comes to central banks bailing out banks in a crisis.

I would only add that some countries (Cyprus and Greece) when faced with a crisis, but not a deadly systemic one, can "Bail-in" (make the depositors pay, one way or another) to get some funds.

But, if there is another Big Crisis (like 2008), then the central bank(s) will bail-out everyone important bank.  By QE or money printing.

Count on it.

...

I liked and used circle.com for awhile.  What I liked was the relatively easy service of buying BTC from them.

Then, perhaps 6 weeks ago (?), they started asking me for more verification, etc.  So, I left.

Pity there are so few easy ways to buy BTC.  localbitcoins is a hassle for me, and BTC ATMS are not very convenient as well as expensive (9% or higher preimums over "spot" in my city).

...

If masterdom is a relative newcomer to Bitcoin AND he has the money, yes, I would go for the TREZOR as the best of the devices I have used and looked at.

Paper wallets do not look easy nor convenient.

I would like to see a SIMPLE and minimalist design that basically just accepts, stores and sends BTC with no frills.  Built solid & cheap.  

...

Here is what I see missing in the Bitcoin Ecosystem that I would like to see made better:

1)  More merchants accepting BTC as payment.

2)  More users like us...


To a lesser degree:

3)  Yes, Bitcoin is pretty hard to use for the general public, but I have seen all sorts of users at Bitcoin ATMs...

4)  I *believe* that the Core Developers ought to "do it right" when it comes to resolving technical issues, IMO make it easier to make important evolutional changes without programming mayhem....

...

Re the Trezor and the Ledger Nano, below are my comments (I have used both devices well over 10 times each, receiving and sending).

Trezor

I once had to update "firmware".  I had always avoided it, but a time came when I could not use the device until I did update.  The update went fine.  I still use the Trezor from time-to-time.  I still like the Trezor better than the Ledger Nano.

Ledger Nano

In general, I like it almost as much.  But, when I decided to update the firmware on this device (just today I decided to do it), I needed the QR code from my recovery sheet (which is elsewhere).  My BTC are still safe.  I sent some OUT from the Nano "just in case".  Note: I have a pretty early version of the Nano I believe.

* * *

The firmware updates (both devices) always make me feel a little queasy...

That is one reason why I would like to hear if anyone has (and has used) the digitalbitbox:

https://digitalbitbox.com/faq

I like the whole "minimalist" idea, though the device looks more complicated than when I first read about it.

There are a lot of crap-holes in the world, yeah.  These are usually dangerous, but Venezuela has gone beyond even lunacy, I just read that they (like India) are banning their largest bank notes:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-11/maduro-stunner-venezuela-eliminates-half-its-paper-money-after-pulling-largest-bill-

What is it with these morons running India and Venezuela?

I would agree with your comment about 1 oz coins.

But, I would *speculate* that truly rare numismatic coins, especially (graded in all cases by NGC or PCGS) rare gold or ancient coins will do very well even if Bitcoin gets dominant (if ever).  There will always be collectors of the very highest quality, whether art, antiques or top real estate (oceanfront homes for example).

...

I still think that for BTC to really succeed, it needs BOTH a much larger user base (people like us) as well as many more merchants who accept it as payment.  We are not very close on either count to reaching "critical mass".  There is only ONE merchant that I have used multiple times re buying with Bitcoin, and frankly, it would have been cheaper to write an old-fashioned check and mail it to them.

Improvements in blockchain technology might help (if the developers can agree and then get it done right)...

Yep.  Essentially ALL of my Bitcoin transactions are "important", so I pay up, typically BTC0.0002, sometimes more, sometimes less.  Depending on size of transaction and how fast I want it confirmed (usually fast, I'm a busy guy).

Even BTC0.0005 is not all that much is US$: $0.38 or so, if important enough to merit fastest service from the miners.  38 cents is nothing.

...

OmegaStarScream

Have used both the Nano and the newer Nano S?  I ask this because I have two Nano units but am curious to know whether the "S" is worth the extra money it costs.  Perhaps it is more convenient or easy-to-use?

I have been reasonably happy with my Ledger Nanos.

* * *

Happy as well with my (more expensive) Trezor.  I look forward to comparative comments re hardware wallets.

Nice job!

Saw that ZH gold piece myself, even dropped off a comment there.

I have only been thinking A LITTLE about when & how a Knowledge Age might hit.  For it to affect most of us, I think that is fairly far-off into the future.  Especially in the Third World and among illiterates.

Gold might not be good forever and ever, but it should be good for me, my child and (with luck) any grandchildren...

He might be right in the longer-term though.  But, I am too old to learn to program in C++ or whatever horseshit is the language of the moment.

...

Mighty Jim Rickards (author of the brand new book The Road to Ruin, as well as other similar finance books) says that BAILOUTS will be the response, especially once the problems get really big.

A "Cyprus" can get "bailed-in" (depositors and/or bondholders pick up the tab = take the losses), not so for a huge player like Italy.

This does not mean there are no risks for depositors however.  If a small bank goes (perhaps like Monte/Siena), depositors could lose their money.  If Deutsche Bank is about to go down, they will bail it out.

If something really dangerous (to the world financial system) really happens, they will BAILOUT the banks (by QE, raw money printing or whatever).

Count on it.


EDIT:  Just hit the wires at Zero Hedge:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-11/monte-paschi-scrambles-last-minute-capital-increase-avoid-nationalization

Sometimes I want Bitcoin and I don't care about some party knowing.  Not EVERYONE will know.  If I sometimes leave some crumbs to follow, I can live with that.  In the earlier case w/ buy.bitcoin.com, I only had to give them my debit card number and cell-phone number (and some other, but no ID).  Cell No. was for a SMS message (anti-fraud I imagine) to then send them.

Sometimes I try to get BTC more quietly.  Depends on my needs and opportunities.  I try to get BTC in different ways.  Then mix them...

...

r0ach

My group is a pretty diverse set of people, all of whom want to carefully examine investment ideas, particularly ones you do not see in the MSM.  Yes, our group is of varying ages (but most about my age, ha ha), their financial situations are all different, but likely wealthier than AVERAGE.

I do not have any problem with presenting ideas I do not agree with, sometimes I learn something.  With more eyeballs on various ideas, that helps me too.

iamnotback (AnonyMint) is the most knowledgeable (for better or worse) re Armstrong among those I know, whose ideas, yeah, are "sui-generis", and he is a bright guy (as of course I am learning that you are).

Some of my group know little about Bitcoin, but are curious.  BTC has its problems (tell me about it), if he is able to batch his claims re a better Crypto, well that would be a great accomplishment.

He is not "in" yet, as he has not yet gotten back to me, and my folks are CALMER about discussing financial matters.  No Zero Hedge "Fight Club" ethos is wanted.

* * *

Agree re stocks, BTC and silver.  I own something of all of them.  But leaning towards buying more gold.

...

iamnotback

I am posting the below recent quotation of yours to my informal investment group that I mentioned to you (and to three others):

Martin Armstrong, perhaps you might want to take note of my name and pay
attention to what decentralized currency could do to bifurcate the economy
into physical versus virtual (with the physical economy dying into a Dark
Age of liberalism/socialism). I am about to replace Bitcoin with the
future electronic money of the world. I alone have figured out how to
remove the power vacuum from the global ledger. I am not joking. I have a
white paper that I should release roughly Q1 2017. I realize
crypto-currency is currently too small to be of any significance w.r.t. to
international capital flows. And I am aware of your stance that the
government will ban any escapes from capital controls. But you are missing
a key point. The virtual economy of microtransactions (e.g. every blog
comment) recorded onto a decentralized blockchain can't be regulated, at
least not without a powerful world government with 666 level of control.
How can you regulate trillions of tiny transactions? This virtual economy
will blast off exponentially and go sort of unnoticed by the mainstream
politics until it has already become an entrenched trend that can't be
stopped. It is analogous to how Trump undermined the MSM employing social
media. But the social media companies have to become decentralized so they
can't censor content (as Twitter recently did censoring the far right).
The decentralized blockchain is analogous to the distinction in network
effects from open versus closed source software development. There is
paradigm-shift coming and you have the luxury of having been told early.
Pay attention!

Recently I have explained that gold is dying because the physical economy
is dying. You need to understand what is growing. This is creative
destruction. This is the transition from the Industrial Age (wherein fixed
monetary capital dominated economies-of-scale) to the Knowledge Age
(wherein knowledge creation capital will dominate and fungible stored
monetary capital will die and lose relevance).

* * *

I will mention to them a little bit to them a little bit about you and provide a link to your essays you wrote (that you sent in the PM).

I will also mention that you are more-or-less a follower of Armstrong, as you know more about him than anyone in my group.

"Keep the baby, Faith."

Not any more!  (See my red highlight of quote)

I regret to inform everyone that I tried yesterday to buy some $300 of BTC from them.  

I had bought some $100 of BTC in a purchase from a month or two ago.  Everything went fine, some 50 minutes from start-to-finish (everything, first user to BTC receipt confirmation).

Yesterday they asked for photos of BOTH sides of a driver's license or passport.  They did NOT before.

So, forget it.


I hereby REVOKE my earlier recommendation of buy.bitcoin.com.

...

The same interesting issue of Barron's (the well-known financial newspaper that comes out on Saturdays in the USA) that I read today had two different comments both stating that buying bank stocks was very risky as they are OPAQUE in their accounting and operations.  That's bad.

So, it might be dangerous to trust your money in bank accounts, but perhaps even worse to buy those banking stocks!

I just read an interesting piece in Barron's (the financial newspaper that comes out on weekends) today (Sat., USA).  The author said that at least now it is not likely that the Italian banks would crater (be destroyed), including the very weak Monte Paschi Siena bank.  They would be bailed out, and Italy always has some come of crisis or other going on.  "Business as usual."

[My *guess* is the author is understating the problem, but he is likely much more knowledgeable about Italian banks than I am.]


Perhaps from Italy or otherwise knowledgeable would advise us of the Bitcoin scene in Italy now?  Whether or not it is catching on?  BTC ATMs there?

Very nice article, I hope that you will find and publish a method for Venezuelans (and perhaps others in LatAm, as the "Venezuela Disease" may show up in other places) to pay with Bitcoin alone (and avoid the whole exchange of BTC for bolivares).

Bravo!

If a Bitcoin economy could develop in Venezuela, then that would help a lot of people there.

Alternatively, are US$ useful there as a black market currency?  BTC and US$ are easily exchanged anywhere provided that blockchain.info (and all the others) are not blocked sites.