From the article:
“It is illegal to use any kind of currency that is not issued and controlled by a government or an authorized entity.”
I know there is some controversy here over whether it can be fairly said that Bolivia has banned bitcoin. In my defense: 1. The quote from the article above sure makes it sound that way. 2. The article goes on to say "The decision to fully ban bitcoin puts Bolivia in unique standing in the international community..." 3. The title was just too rhythmic to resist. It just rolls off the tonque.  I do agree that edicts like this one will have little effect on the gray/black market use of BTC and will probably just wind up an embarassment to the government. The article is wrong. They translate "regular" in Spanish as "to control" rather than the correct translation "to regulate". The intent here was to ban Bitcoin; however the resolution was very badly worded. The wanted to exempt fiat currencies so they said "issued or regulated by a state, country or economic zone" in order to not ban fiat currencies issued by "independent" central banks. The trouble with this wording is that it also exempts what the want to ban in the first place namely Bitcoin since many countries are regulating Bitcoin. This is why I posted the FinCEN regulations example from the United States. I am not one who will brand an entire country as inept dumb idiots; however after reading this resolution I can see why others have, at least when it comes to those who drafted this resolution. |
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Wow, that makes them the first country to ban Bitcoin entirely.
I knew it would be one of those Banana Republic South American countries. Their monetary systems are rapidly falling apart and they are desperate to control capital. If I was a betting man, I would be betting on them failing miserably.
More correctly tries to ban Bitcoin. http://www.fincen.gov/news_room/nr/pdf/20140130.pdf Sounds like regulations to me. Edit: IANAL The reality here is that all it takes is one government somewhere in the world issuing regulations related to Bitcoin to kill the ban. Any Bolivian lawyers care to comment? |
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Here is the original Spanish: POR TANTO,
EL DIRECTORIO DEL BANCO CENTRAL DE BOLIVIA
RESUELVE:
Articulo 1.- A partir de la fecha queda prohibido el uso de monedas no emitidas o reguladas por estados, 'Daises o zonas economicas y de ordenes de pago
electronicas en monedas y denominaciones monetarias no autorizadas por el BCB en el ambito del sistema de pagos nacional.
Articulo 2.- La Presidencia y la Gerencia General, quedan encargadas de la ejecucion y cumplimiento de la presente Resolucion.
La Paz, 6 de mayo de 2014
From http://es.panampost.com/belen-marty/2014/06/19/bolivia-el-primer-pais-americano-en-prohibir-bitcoin/Google Translation: THEREFORE,
DIRECTORY OF CENTRAL BANK OF BOLIVIA
RESOLVED:
Article 1 -. Starting date using coins not issued or prohibited regulated by states' economic and Daises or payment orders zones electronic currency and monetary denominations unauthorized by the BCB in scope of the national payment system.
Article 2 -. The Presidency and the General Manager, are responsible for the execution and implementation of this Resolution.
La Paz, May 6, 2014 My Translation: THEREFORE,
THE DIRECTORATE OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF BOLIVIA
RESOLVES:
Article 1 -. Starting with the date below, the use of money not issued or regulated by states, countries or economic zones, or the use of electronic payment orders, electronic currency and monetary denominations unauthorized by the BCB in scope of the national payment system, is prohibited.
Article 2 -. The Presidency and the General Administration, are responsible for the execution and implementation of this Resolution.
La Paz, May 6, 2014 There is little doubt in my mind that this is an attempt to ban Bticoin and other crypto-currencies; however the ban is contingent on no other country in the world regulating Bitcoin. The key word here is "reguladas" translated as "regulated". |
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I can smell a bubble from a mile away, its happening.
Yes the indicators of a bubble building are here. The US government auction could even be the trigger. Can you explain how the auction could be the trigger. I think if it is, it could get media attention and the big company that buys it uses the coins to start an exchange. is this your thought process or did you have something else in mind? The auction will generate a fair amount of publicity and then there is the perception of tacit approval of Bitcoin by the US government. This can have a significant influence of deep pocketed investors sitting on the sidelines. In a rising market the trigger is what the losing not the winning bidders decide to do. This auction can easily produce a series of disappointed deep pocketed players who did not get their BTC. The question then becomes what will they do? |
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I can smell a bubble from a mile away, its happening.
Yes the indicators of a bubble building are here. The US government auction could even be the trigger. |
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The going rate before the announcement was 650 so anything below is already a discount.
... and by the same token anything over 650 is a premium. My take is that anyone trading this auction as a bear is taking a major risk and could very likely end up at a loss. There is a large amount of emotion in the Bitcoin community regarding the state and in particular the US government. After all there are strong libertarian and crypto-anarchist roots here. This however is a time for rational thought. The reality is that this auction will be seen by many as a tacit endorsement of Bitcoin by the US Government, and that is very bullish. Furthermore there is a steady stream of good news that are for the most part being ignored by the market. The technical picture is indicative of a turn around and last but not least there are the long term exponential trend-lines which regardless of the data set used are very bullish. By the way I got my last funds out of MT Gox by buying BTC at a big discount during the silk road seizure by the US Government crash last fall so I have direct experience with profiting from a panic resulting from the fear of the US government. |
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An inverse head and shoulders is a bullish pattern typically indicating a reversal from a bearish trend. It is of course very ugly if one is a bear.
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its worth noting that well over 30K coins have been dumped on the market in the past 24hour.
not sure why people think the FBI's coins are so scary
... because it is the US Government who is selling them. |
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Crony auction at its best. Too short notice for anyone with BTC to attend. Until next monday I am supposed to have created a bank account in the U.S., and have transferred 100% of my anticipated total bid amount into it in USD, the proceed of the bitcoin sales that I have made in the space of this few hours/days? Sorry. This is going to achieve exactly what was intended. Almost no bids, and the ones rock-bottom. Bad publicity, resulting panic selling. Bitcoins of the people going to the hands of banksters cheaply. But really - what else did you expect?  It is actually a over a week to set up the US bank account and initiate the wire transfer for the 200,000 USD deposit. The deadline for registration is noon June 23rd 2014. For the balance of the funds on a winning bid it is July 01, 2014. Edit: Why would anyone with BTC sell BTC to raise USD in order to participate in this auction? Hoping to get back in at a lower price? This could very easily backfire. |
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...
I see it as very unlikely that the bear market in gold will continue for much longer. The bull market was reversed only through blatant manipulation with the help of derivatives. Part of the Quantitative Easing money created is used to short gold. Gold as the ultimate physical store of value will not lose its status and will rise in fiat terms when the fiat ponzi starts crashing - yet most likely much less than BTC.
Real money thinking will move to Bitcoin, but Keynesian thinking will flee en masse to real money thinking when their views dissolve.
Most of the world still sees gold as the ultimate representation of wealth. A big proportion of the people will not shift so easily from a physical store of value conception to a digital store of value conception. People like gold, especially more so outside the western world.
Gold can easily do x10 (1000%) within the next 10 years - depending on the geopolitical and monetary unfolding.
Silver can do x50
Bitcoin can do x1000 (100,000%)
My take is that the Keynesians will stick with what they love namely fiat; however if they decide to go for real money they will pick Bitcoin over gold. After all why pick the asset that is "going up x10" over the one that is going up x1000? Furthermore by picking that asset that goes up x10 they have to admit they were wrong. My take is within 10 years Gold x0.3 or even less Silver x0.2 or less. I expect silver to lose value with respect to gold. Bitcoin x2000 or more. |
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My personal experience lies in comparing my dealings with both e-gold and MtGox. In both cases I got out with no loss of funds before the collapse. The difference is how I managed to get out. In the case of e-gold I had to convert my gold into CAD and take delivery of the CAD. In the case of MTGox I had to convert my CAD to BTC and take delivery of my BTC. In both cases I ended up keeping the "delivered" form of money, CAD for e-gold, BTC for MTGox.
Yeah, just like I got my bitcoin out of bitcoin-24.com when they collapsed. People who were in FIAT are still waiting for their money. (after more than a year). The crucial point here is that gold is far worse than fiat in this context. So for ease of taking delivery we have Best: Bitcoin and other crypto-currecnies Middle: Fiat currencies USD, CAD, EUR etc. Worst: Precious metals, gold, silver etc. There is a reason why fiat was invented in the first place. This is one of the reasons I expect both a very strong bull market in Bitcoin combined with a brutal bear market in gold and other precious metals. So we could see BTC / USD in the 100,000 to 1 million range or higher and 1 oz of gold dropping to 500 USD or even below 100 USD. In effect a major transfer of wealth from gold to Bitcoin, kind of like the move from horse powered transportation to motor transportation 110 years ago. I agree that bitcoin wins out in this sense. I have read though, in Rickards The Death of Money, that the gameplan of the big power blocs seems to be to drive down the price of PM's. One benefit of this is that the China's & Russia's can cheaply increase their gold holdings. Once it gets to 2.7 - 3 % of GDP, then, barring any kind of market crisis, the stage is set for the IMF to introduce SDR's which will include gold in the basket of currencies it is based on. This would significantly increase the fiat price of gold. Implicit to this is that the USD will cede its status as reserve currency. In this case it might be gold up, bitcoin up? This assumes that gold would be included in the SDR. The SDR is defined in terms of fiat currencies and does not include a gold component. In any case I just do not see the "big power blocks" or "gold is a barbarous relic" school of thought suddenly embracing gold. The real demand for gold has been from the Austrian / Libertarian or "real money" school of thought not the Keynesian / central banker side. The trouble for gold is that Austrian / Libertarian or "real money" capital could very easily flee en mass to Bitcoin. In addition there is the indication that gold is due for a big correction, without even considering Bitcoin. If one takes a look at the inflation adjusted price of gold over the last 100 years http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/images/charts/Gold/Gold_inflation_chart.htm one sees a double top developing. If one puts all of this together one has the perfect storm for a brutal bear market in precious metals. As for industrial uses of gold such as circuit boards yes it exists, but it is very small compared to the monetary value of gold. I lived through the gold bear market of 1980 - 2000, which coincided with the rise of personal computer and the Internet. Still gold went from over 800 USD per ounce to close to 200 USD per once in 20 years, and this is in terms of the depreciating USD. The next gold bear could be worse. |
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My personal experience lies in comparing my dealings with both e-gold and MtGox. In both cases I got out with no loss of funds before the collapse. The difference is how I managed to get out. In the case of e-gold I had to convert my gold into CAD and take delivery of the CAD. In the case of MTGox I had to convert my CAD to BTC and take delivery of my BTC. In both cases I ended up keeping the "delivered" form of money, CAD for e-gold, BTC for MTGox.
Yeah, just like I got my bitcoin out of bitcoin-24.com when they collapsed. People who were in FIAT are still waiting for their money. (after more than a year). The crucial point here is that gold is far worse than fiat in this context. So for ease of taking delivery we have Best: Bitcoin and other crypto-currecnies Middle: Fiat currencies USD, CAD, EUR etc. Worst: Precious metals, gold, silver etc. There is a reason why fiat was invented in the first place. This is one of the reasons I expect both a very strong bull market in Bitcoin combined with a brutal bear market in gold and other precious metals. So we could see BTC / USD in the 100,000 to 1 million range or higher and 1 oz of gold dropping to 500 USD or even below 100 USD. In effect a major transfer of wealth from gold to Bitcoin, kind of like the move from horse powered transportation to motor transportation 110 years ago. |
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Ecuador agreed to transfer more than half its gold reserves to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for three years as the government seeks to bolster liquidity.
The central bank said it will send 466,000 ounces of gold to Goldman Sachs, worth about $580 million at current prices, and get the same amount back three years from now. Wow. They really haven't been paying attention very much have they. Ecuador: Let me help you. You're never getting that gold back. I don't think ecuador has a lot of choice, the deal is probably done by some kind of blackmail or threat Yeah, probably. But they have to find some way to get Germany's gold back. This situation with the German gold illustrates the massive advantage Bitcoin has over precious metals. It is way easier to take delivery of Bitcoin than of gold silver etc. When things get tough this can be critical. My personal experience lies in comparing my dealings with both e-gold and MtGox. In both cases I got out with no loss of funds before the collapse. The difference is how I managed to get out. In the case of e-gold I had to convert my gold into CAD and take delivery of the CAD. In the case of MTGox I had to convert my CAD to BTC and take delivery of my BTC. In both cases I ended up keeping the "delivered" form of money, CAD for e-gold, BTC for MTGox. |
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Apple has probably realized that if they kept censoring Bitcoin it would: 1) Expose the censorship polices of the walled garden to a wider group of people 2) Would hurt sales in the long term if Bitcoin were to become mainstream as Bitcoin would become a prime example of what is so wrong with Apple's business model. The malware issue ignores that fact that what is needed is one or more trusted app stores where software is screened properly for malware. There is no need to restrict a user to a particular store, stores or source of software. The GNU/Linux communities had this figured out long before there was an "app store" from Apple, Google, Microsoft etc. They had and still have trusted repositories for software. The latter is one of the main reasons why there hardly any malware for GNU/Linux. There is no need for a locked down censored device to protect users from malware as Apple and more recently Microsoft have argued. The real reasons for the locked down devices are 1) DRM, 2) Customer lockin 3) Anti competitive business models 4) Price fixing etc. By the way IOS is not immune to malware and malware has found its way into the Apple app store. http://www.forbes.com/sites/adriankingsleyhughes/2012/07/06/first-ios-malware-hits-app-store/ |
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anyone holding over 10 bitcoin today will probably have 1 million USD (in today's purchasing power) in 10-20 years.
most of the fiat pundits who mock bitcoin today will be eating their hat when the USD finally implodes.
be glad you are lucky enough to be here in this moment in time when bitcoin is first invented, it will be quite a story to tell...
I suspect 10 BTC worth 1,000,000 USD (in 2014 purchasing power) will happen way sooner than 10-20 years. As for the USD imploding I doubt it, more like USD keeping 95% of today's value or more. As for an implosion, gold is the far more likely candidate in a brutal bear market. The fiat pundits will just sit by and watch a massive transfer of Austrian / Libertarian wealth from gold to Bitcoin. Really...10 BTC to make anyone a millionaire sooner then 10 years? Not doubting it will happen but how soon do you think? USD has about 2% a year inflation according to the US Federal Reserve. It is very possible for 1 BTC to be worth 100,000 USD before the USD's purchasing power drops below 95% of its 2014 levels. |
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anyone holding over 10 bitcoin today will probably have 1 million USD (in today's purchasing power) in 10-20 years.
most of the fiat pundits who mock bitcoin today will be eating their hat when the USD finally implodes.
be glad you are lucky enough to be here in this moment in time when bitcoin is first invented, it will be quite a story to tell...
I suspect 10 BTC worth 1,000,000 USD (in 2014 purchasing power) will happen way sooner than 10-20 years. As for the USD imploding I doubt it, more like USD keeping 95% of today's value or more. As for an implosion, gold is the far more likely candidate in a brutal bear market. The fiat pundits will just sit by and watch a massive transfer of Austrian / Libertarian wealth from gold to Bitcoin. |
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...
Many thanks to George Danezis and Professor Nicholas Courtois host of the UCL Bitcoin, Cryptography and Finance Multidisciplinary Research Seminar. Listen to episode 6 of the BitcoinUK Podcast for the full seminar 'Tracing Thieves and Launderers'.
Link please |
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I type d that tyitle twice because I knew it was wrong the first time. Still wrong. w/e. GF's out at a lesbian bar, BTC crashing WHY AM I HOLDING? I'LL TELL YOU WHY. It's because I'm a bad trader and I KNOW I'M A BAD TRADER. Yeah you good traders can spot the highs and the lows pit pat piffy wing wong wang just like that and make a millino bucks sure no problem bro. Likewise the weak hands are like OH NO IT'S GOING DOWN I'M GONNA SELL he he he and then they're like OH GOD MY ASSHOLE when the SMART traders who KNOW WHAT THE FUCK THEY'RE DOING buy back in but you know what? I'm not part of that group. When the traders buy back in I'm already part of the market capital so GUESS WHO YOU'RE CHEATING day traders NOT ME~! Those taunt threads saying "OHH YOU SHOULD HAVE SOLD" YEAH NO SHIT. NO SHIT I SHOULD HAVE SOLD. I SHOULD HAVE SOLD MOMENTS BEFORE EVERY SELL AND BOUGHT MOMENTS BEFORE EVERY BUY BUT YOU KNOW WHAT NOT EVERYBODY IS AS COOL AS YOU. You only sell in a bear market if you are a good day trader or an illusioned noob. The people inbetween hold. In a zero-sum game such as this, traders can only take your money if you sell.
so i've had some whiskey
actually on the bottle it's spelled whisky
w/e
sue me
(but only if it's payable in BTC)
I am still ho lding. |
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The reality here is that governments will never accept an anonymous centralized digital currency a la Liberty Reserve, e-gold etc. and the world's poor will not accept a non anonymous digital currency such as bank accounts debit cards etc. So unless our economist has the magic formula to eliminate poverty worldwide, cash is not going to be replaced by any centralized digital form of money.
Bitcoin however does have the potential to eliminate cash as far as the poor are concerned; however I doubt most governments would go this route since it could mean the end of their fiat currency. My take is that Bitcoin will grow and exist side by side with fiat currencies. The latter will include cash. If Bitcoin eliminates or drastically diminishes another form of money gold, not fiat, is the most likely candidate to be impacted.
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