When they say "Bitcoin", they mean the software, not the people using the software. The main developer of the Bitcoin software is paid by the foundation. I do not think they try to represent all the people which uses the "Bitcoin" software.

How can a software "free us from" the current political system? 


They are willing to inform themselves, otherwise there would be no hearings.


What evidence you have which indicates this will happen?


How do you expect the "dinosaurs" inform the "general public" if there is less and less "advisers" from "Law, politics, education and economics" providing the necessary information?

I see no correlation in that post content with the subject being discussed here.

They are not speaking for the rest of us, they are speaking for themselves, which includes the main developer of the Bitcoin software. They are, however, offering the opportunity to anyone provide suggestions to improve the debate they will have with USA federal government. By the way, they can and they will represent the Bitcoin software, whatever you like or not.

Nope. When a currency is converted to another, the previous currency is eliminated. What you describe is not defined as conversion, but as exchange. A conversion of BTC to any currency would imply the BTC had to be eliminated. This, of course, is not what happens.


Nope. No one holds any BTC. The encrypted digits which are the BTC never leave the block chain. The private key only allows a person to transfer the BTC from a certain address to another. There is no way to any person hold any BTC outside the block chain.

Nope. Physical coins only carry a private key which is not BTC, it is just a password which allows someone to transfer BTC from one address to another.


I am not arguing that a currency is not a medium of exchange, I am arguing that BTC is ONLY a medium of exchange.


Nope. That is not my argument. As I already said, BTC is not a currency because it cannot be converted into another currency.


Nope. The sentence do not describe that the Bitcoin software was developed to replace any business like Western Union. If you think that is what the sentence means, you are certainly projecting a delusional expectation over the meaning of words which are very easy to understand.


(1) Money laundering is not a crime. (2) Money laundering is a crime.

You are contradicting yourself with confusing statements.

So, money laundering is a crime or not?


Nope. I already explained why is not a currency. I could provide more examples if necessary.


Nope. There is no such thing as "Bitcoin economy" and the Bitcoin software was not designed to replace business like Western Union.


I do not think so. However, it is useless explain to you why do not facilitate crime since you cannot even understand why money laundering is considerate a criminal activity by many legislations.

A currency can be literally converted to another currency, while a medium of exchange cannot be converted to a currency. This happened many times during periods of fast inflation in the Brazilian economy. The Brazilian central bank had to convert the currency in circulation for another, otherwise there would not be enough currency in circulation to keep the Brazilian economy stable. Thus, BTC cannot be converted to another currency because it supply and circulation are not under the control of a central authority.

Moreover, BTC cannot be literally hold by an individual, while a currency can be hold in form of banknotes and coins. No person hold any BTC, but only a private password which allows them transfer some digits from one imaginary point to another. Without a computer with access to the Internet, that process is impossible to be reproduced.


The first sentence is describing the Bitcoin software allows payments being made using the Internet without the need of a financial institution to validate the transactions.

Which part you did not comprehend?


If you think that conceal or disguise money obtained from illicit trade is not a crime, then I am sure you are not properly informed about the current legislation of many countries.

The USA federal government have the authority to make whatever rules is necessary to regulate whatever happens inside their political borders. Whatever a person accept or not, the USA federal government can and will rule over a software being used by USA citizens, mainly when this software use an algorithm which was developed by themselves.

Why the Bitcoin foundation should not exist?

Hi Mike,

Well, here is my suggestions...

I think one of the biggest issue at the moment is a wide spread misconception about what exactly is Bitcoin. As evidenced by this forum, there is a mass of people which are not aware that Bitcoin is just a software which allows people to use a medium of exchange defined as BTC. There are many people projecting their expectation and insecurities over the concept of the Bitcoin software.

If I was called to testify, I would ensure to be prepared to explain how exactly the Bitcoin software works in every detail, but with simple explanations. In other words, I would really teach the enquirers as best I could about the Bitcoin software. I would even do live demonstrations to let the audience to understand better what exactly the Bitcoin software can do.

I believe that providing the most accurate information to people in position of power always results in good outcomes. Misinformation can lead to wrong decisions and serious failures. It is important to ensure the enquirers understand that:

- BTC is NOT a currency (the enquirers need to be assured that BTC is a digital medium of exchange which is evaluated against national currencies, mainly the USD. This is very important because it will shape the future decisions to create laws regarding the utilization of BTC in the financial market. So they have to learn that BTC has to be regulated as medium of exchange, not as currency.)

- Bitcoin was NOT developed to undermine the utilization of fiat currencies or replace money transmission business (this is one of the more common misconceptions about the Bitcoin software. People believe that Bitcoin was made to replace business like Visa, Paypal, Western Union, etc. This is, of course, a delusional belief. The Bitcoin software could never replace such business because it not offer the necessary structure required to operate such business. So it is important the enquirers understand that the Bitcoin software was initially developed to offer an alternative way to transmit money. I would tell the enquirers that any financial institution today could use the Bitcoin software to transmit money, including any departments of the federal government such as the IRS.)

- Bitcoin do NOT facilitate criminal activities (this must be explained in very precise details because is directed correlated to national security. The enquirers must to know that transactions generated by the Bitcoin network are not under control of one single entity, but it is recorded in a single virtual ledger which is quite difficult to tamper. So there is a way to keep track of how much money is transmitted in the Bitcoin network.)

 

Terrahash Inc. is run by a hoaxer?

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/guy-users-dumb/

Someone makes a claim that "seems to flatten" and you jump over as that proves your gibberish statement was right all way along?

 

Why do you like to pretend to be an expert in something you do not understand completely?

Let me show you what is a "plateau" in the exponential axis chart:

From where the destination address come from? How it ended in your OS clipboard? To recover the funds sent you need to know who controls the destination address. Then you will have to contact the person and ask back the funds.

Oops!

My mistake... That is right, I meant the address you provided.

 

"We"?  Now your personal opinion represents all other forum participants opinions?

 

I wonder how can a forum participant opinion "waste" your time when you have what you already paid for...

Regarding my "ignore button glow"... Who really cares about that? It is just some bytes of useless information in a vast universe of data. Such tiny detail means nothing in the big picture of the "dark side" I am.

By the way, if Lady Justice is blind, I am glad to be in the "dark side" with her.

ROFL!

 

In this case, he can call himself an expert because:

1. He runs the first Israeli exchange for Bitcoins:

http://bitcoinisrael.co.il/

2. He actively participate in technical discussions in this forum since 07 March 2011:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=5776;sa=showPosts;start=2840

3. He wrote an academic paper addressing aspects of the Bitcoin protocol:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.4980

4. Google returns 9830 results for the query "meni rosenfeld bitcoin":

https://www.google.co.uk/search?num=50&espv=210&es_sm=93&q=meni+rosenfeld+bitcoin&oq=meni+rosenfeld+bitcoin&gs_l=serp.3..0.471170.471477.0.471854.2.2.0.0.0.0.121.206.1j1.2.0....0...1c.1.31.serp..0.2.204.iSZbnagQca4

So when he calls himself a Bitcoin expert, you can rest assured that he IS a Bitcoin expert.

Well, I have to confess that I like to troll people sometimes, but for the sake of fairness and correct information. It is my weird way to communicate with other sentient beings. In the end, I wish all people a good outcome to their issues.

 

In this forum, where every participant is free to express their feelings in accordance with the subject discussed, the only difference between you and Avenger is the username. Do not really matter if he is a real KnCminer customers or not, he is free to express his opinion as much as you are. Put him in an ignore list will not change the facts.

 

Ignore list blackmail to force a forum participant to reveal confidential information...

The "fuck you got mine" crowd is achieving a new level of vileness.

Priceless!

 

ASIC vendors offering pre-orders for Bitcoin "miners" had generated a new kind of people. They are essentially the ones which got their product delivered before other customers. So when this other customers (which got their products later) express their concerns, the ones answers: