Yes but I think those people would typically be at the bottom of the chain, so ultimately it might be served up for free, but everyone has already made their money at that point. Some people might try to wait until it's free, whereas some people would probably be willing to pay a little to get a faster and more immediate download.

It's exactly this kind of bullshit that makes sure some poor countries will continue to stay poor.

This is actually such good news that the next few weeks will be critical in determining whether it's time to divest.

Yeah, this is a pretty poor choice of headlines. The officials involved understand they can't actually control the digital currencies themselves. I've been tangentially involved in the growing Bitcoin scene on the island, and in my opinion the government has been (at least paying lip service toward) doing a shockingly good job at walking the line between being as hands off as possible to make sure innovation flourishes while trying to set up a framework to make sure banks are willing to work with Bitcoin companies and customers are protected.

At the moment, you can buy online with bitcoin on sites that support bitpay or coinbase transactions. This is great for the merchant, however there are some major drawbacks for the consumer:

1) The bitcoin price might fluctuate between the time the consumer first bought the coins till the time they make the transaction, resulting in significant indirect transaction fees for the consumer.
2) There is significant security risk, given that the bitcoins can be stolen from the online wallet of the consumer.
3) Bitcoin is still hard understand for the average consumer. In most bitcoin wallets, if you lose your password you lose all your coins.

So, what has to happen is for bitpay and coinbase to provide a service that will automatically charge your bank account when you make an online purchase. You will be able to use dollars in your bank account to buy stuff online, only when the merchant will give you a 3% cash back, compared to the price you would have to pay if you were using a credit card. In that case, bitcoin is only used in the backend, the consumer doesn't know anything about it and they don't have to have a bitcoin wallet at all. At the same time, they get the benefit of cash back and the merchant gets the benefit of no fraud and no chargebacks.

nah, in 2011 Bitcoin was having a quick death (from $30 to $2), and in 2012 a slow death.

Sorry to hear that, man. But at least you've got another month or so of sanity remaining. Make the best of it
Because really, Bitcoin's had worse reasons to rise and fall before this.

Weee! Let's talk more about what other people should do, while we spend time browsing forum

Okay, you start. Buy my bitcoins for $1500 USD.

Tautology headline is tautological.

In the crypto-libertarian utopia of the future free of statists, you will not be a debt slave anymore!

Casino chips aren't money either, but you can still get in big trouble for buying/selling them.

I hate it when somebody starts to mix politics and Bitcoin. Of course, politicians are trying to get a new voice, but I believe that such statements hinder the development of Bitcoin ecosystem

IMO, more than half of this article is about what "expert" Williams thinks. Williams is clueless when it comes to Bitcoin, as he has proven time and time again.

I'm not a programmer but it is fascinating to hear that many things suddenly become practical through 'Bitcoin consensus algorithm'. It is interesting.

Great info, as usual!


Andreas described some very difficult problems that will require some true innovation to solve properly.


Thanks for sharing!

The "idea" of Bitcoin is great but there are "holes". The Mt Gox debacle is a good example.  The value of Bitcoin dropped by half when that happened and it was only a few years ago when Bitcoin dropped to around a single dollar

Ripple is a scam. The coins are centrally controlled. It is NO different than fiat. Ripple is an attempt by Google, a few other companies and large banks to slow the adoption of p2p digital currencies like bitcoin. It's also an attempt to muddy the water for average consumers.