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Nice piece by Trace. Also excellent vids by Udacity.
Personally I think that the whole argument over tangibility is overrated... as Trace rightly points out value is subjective and there are times and situations (such as airport security checkpoints) when tangibility is a large drawback.
Still, in human affairs momentum, history and experience have a large impact... which means that anybody over 40 will still have a lot of trouble with money that they can't touch. That doesn't mean that they won't eventually go for it, just that they'll be the last ones to do so.
(Yes, we can make an argument that numbers and thus bitcoins are "tangible" for a certain definition of tangible, but in common usage "tangible" is understood as something that can be touched. I'd rather not get drawn into arguments over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin... and focus rather on the value of bitcoin.)
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That number is flawed. Very flawed. Let me run up some real numbers for you.
Unique (by IP) Bitcoin nodes in late 2011 (3 month period) = 800 000
Bitcoin Reference Client downloads in 2012 = Over 600 000
Mt. Gox userbase = Over 200 000
Bitcointalk.org userbase = 70 000
Blockchain.info My Wallet userbase = Over 30 000
Reddit Bitcoin subscribers = Over 11 000
Heck, our Finnish Bitcoin portal (Bittiraha.fi) has had over 1000 people buying and selling coins through our site within the last 6 months. And our site is only for the Finns (a country of 5,5 million people).
The conclusion is that the larger Bitcoin userbase has to be a 6 figure number. I can provide the sources for all that data btw if you guys are interested.
I am very interested. I would really like to see a good estimate of how many Bitcoin users there are worldwide. IMHO 10 million users is the key threshold to pass before going totally mass market. My own rule-of-thumb guesstimate is to multiply the forum members (68k) x10 = 680k active users. |
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This is a well-written and balanced account of bitcoin. I agree. It is well documented as well. Looking at the references is an interesting exercise. It is a policy brief, not an academic paper. I stand corrected. I'm anticipating that this will be misinterpreted to mean future action by the ECB. It very clearly refers to future action by law enforcement, not monetary authorities. Sure, the ECB is not an enforcement agency, but they do have a lot of clout... someone else will do the regulating.. Personally I see this kind of attention from the ECB more significant than a lot of major media mentions. |
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All these issues raise serious concerns regarding the legal status and security of the system, as well
as the finality and irrevocability of the transactions, in a system which is not subject to any kind of
public oversight. In June 2011 two US senators, Charles Schumer and Joe Manchin, wrote to the
Attorney General and to the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration expressing
their worries about Bitcoin and its use for illegal purposes. Mr Andresen was also asked to give a
presentation to the CIA about this virtual currency scheme. Further action from other authorities
can reasonably be expected in the near future. Oh well, nothing new then. |
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http://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/virtualcurrencyschemes201210en.pdfThe following ideas are generally shared by Bitcoin and its supporters:
– They see Bitcoin as a good starting point to end the monopoly central banks have in the
issuance of money.
– They strongly criticise the current fractional-reserve banking system whereby banks can
extend their credit supply above their actual reserves and, simultaneously, depositors can
withdraw their funds in their current accounts at any time.
– The scheme is inspired by the former gold standard.
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Excellent article by Jon Matonis at Forbes touching on perhaps the most important reason why Bitcoin deserves to spread like wildfire. Bitcoin Prevents Monetary Tyranny http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/10/04/bitcoin-prevents-monetary-tyranny/Bitcoin is not about making rapid global transactions with little or no fee. Bitcoin is about preventing monetary tyranny. That is its raison d’être.
Monetary tyranny can take many ugly forms. It can be deliberate inflation, persecutory capital controls, prearranged defaults within the banking cartel, or even worse, blatant sovereign confiscation. Sadly, those threats are a potential in almost any jurisdiction in the world today. It talks about the attacks on e-gold, the liberty dollar... and other injustices carried out to defend state monopoly money. |
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¿Quién de este foro está utilizando Bitmit? Contadnos por favor vuestra experiencia y vuestras ideas. ¿Qué os gustaría poder comprar con bitcoins? ¿Y vender?  Yo he comprado un par de cosas, y he vendido una. De momento muy contento con este servicio. Mi única pega es que hay pocos usuarios todavía, aunque parece que está creciendo rápidamente. Los gastos de envío también hacen que sean preferibles las compras locales. |
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Received the return on my investment and my interests with VESCUDERO.
Everything was perfect.
Very good communication with him.
I want to do more business with him.
Same here. +1 vescudero. |
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Yo también estoy interesado en comprar. Enviadme pm si tenéis.
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Love TMG! Will donate. Zerohedge can't be far behind. Looking forward to this too... |
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Hello happy investors,
Check your wallets bleeping, I have just paid out weekly interests and returned back the original deposits to another bunch of depositors.
The remainder of these deposits will be returned back with due interests on Sunday 30th. As I already announced I will close this successful operation in order for me to spend more time with my own family and keep on investing in other interesting businesses.
I'm staying 'til the end. From what I've seen vescudero is both honest and smart. But I'll let you all know when I get the principal back by the end of the month. |
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Since there's also considerable restrictions on buying gold in Argentina, it would also be nice to see http://coinabul.com/ get a local partner and open a franchise there.... Or given the level of paranoia of the Argentine govt. maybe Silk Road should open a peso-bitcoin exchange! It will be a good test of bitcoin resilience to govt. stupidity because you can be sure of Kirchner's immediate knee-jerk reaction if this becomes a big thing. |
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to use Turk's language, the gold bugs do not want any "counterparty risk". Bitcoin fulfills that definition completely.
Exactly. The whole point is having a system that doesn't require trust. You can see the code, all transactions are public, etc... GoldMoney attempts to do this by having third-party audits.... but that just pushes trust back from the company to the auditor. Bitcoin does away with that need. OTOH it is still pretty volatile... until Amazon or some big site with millions of users start accepting Bitcoins, prices will continue to zigzag too much. |
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Yes, James is not convinced...
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I wonder if James had his epiphany yet about Bitcoin or if he will repeat the same nonsense "it's digital ultimate fiat bla bla bla"
Well, by definition, it cannot be fiat money if it is voluntary. "Fiat" indicates a government mandate, decree or command... in short: force. As is the case with legal tender laws. As in "fiat lux" = "Let there be light" (by divine will...). It implies that governments have the power to make something just by their almighty say-so. It's almost a flashback to the divine rights of kings. fi·at [fee-aht, -at; fahy-uht, -at]
noun
1. an authoritative decree, sanction, or order: a royal fiat. Synonyms: authorization, directive, ruling, mandate, diktat, ukase.
2.a fixed form of words containing the word fiat, by which a person in authority gives sanction, or authorization.
3.an arbitrary decree or pronouncement, especially by a person or group of persons having absolute authority to enforce it: The king ruled by fiat. |
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