Lets get serious: commodities for bitcoins

[bitsalame]

I think this is the cornerstone for a solid -actual- economy.
What should be the first commodities acquirable through bitcoins, to enable an industry on bitcoins for customers with bitcoins.
With the shitload of money that we all have made the last days, we should just raise the ante to strengthen the bitcoin economy as a whole.

[Charm Quark]

tHave you been to 'The Road' lately?

[bitsalame]

tHave you been to 'The Road' lately?

What's that?

[SuperZac]

tHave you been to 'The Road' lately?

What's that?

Drugs. Drugs as far as the eye can see.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)

[bitsalame]

tHave you been to 'The Road' lately?

What's that?

Drugs. Drugs as far as the eye can see.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)

Ah, I see. Well, what I meant is this.
For example, those growers sell hemp or whatever they are growing for bitcoins.
But they are forced to exchange bitcoins to fiat currency for their supplies to keep the production.

What I aspire is having an economy that is self-sufficient with bitcoins. So the farmer can go and get whatever they need in supplies also in bitcoins. And the supplier also get whatever he needs in bitcoins.
A full-fledged bitcoin economy.

And all starts with commodities.
Can we get a network of farmers and suppliers to accept bitcoins? We could start from somewhere.
I mean, now I have enough financial freedom to spend time on dreams like this.

[nebulus]

I think this is the cornerstone for a solid -actual- economy.
What should be the first commodities acquirable through bitcoins, to enable an industry on bitcoins for customers with bitcoins.
With the shitload of money that we all have made the last days, we should just raise the ante to strengthen the bitcoin economy as a whole.

+ 1

[bitsalame]

I just found an article that is precisely what I tried to transmit in this thread:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/04/exchange-rates?fsrc=rss

[Lethn]

Going to be making some nice and simple silver necklaces with claw settings soon to sell for Bitcoins, are you saying my stuff isn't going to be good enough for you?!

[yona]

Good idea, plus pushing it to start where bitcion is strong is like using lemos to make lemonade.
How do we get this from idea to practice?

[benjamindees]

I've been saying this for a while.  It's going to be very difficult, unfortunately, because most of the early adopters do not seem to agree.  They see Bitcoin as a speculative investment, think that the current transaction costs (over $5 including subsidies) are reasonable, think that Bitcoin should compete with money transmitters, and that courting government regulation is a super good idea and the way forward.

They're wrong.

Actually lemon juice concentrate was one thing I considered.

[marcus_of_augustus]

We already have gold and silver being traded directly for bitcoin at numerous sites.

I think oil, gas or coal markets for bitcoin are the big ones. Since they are consumable commodities, essential to energy infrastructure and have highly liquid developed markets.

After that you get into the grains, softs, etc. Maybe just  need a commodities futures market denominated in bitcoin?

[w1R903]

I've been saying this for a while.  It's going to be very difficult, unfortunately, because most of the early adopters do not seem to agree.  They see Bitcoin as a speculative investment, think that the current transaction costs (over $5 including subsidies) are reasonable, think that Bitcoin should compete with money transmitters, and that courting government regulation is a super good idea and the way forward.

I like your thinking.  I'd be much happier building a Bitcoin economy than watching the coin go to $1000.  Sure, I'd make good money, but that's not why I got in.  However, after watching Bitcoin volatility for the past 2+ years, I've always thought that the only way to attain a non-volatile coin was to first reach a high market cap.  Now, it may be that this is wrong, and that the best way to attain a non-volatile coin is to build a real economy first.  

BTW, where do you get the $5 figure?

[benjamindees]

BTW, where do you get the $5 figure?

http://blockchain.info/stats

Cost Per Transaction    $7.47

[niko]

tHave you been to 'The Road' lately?

What's that?

Drugs. Drugs as far as the eye can see.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)

Ah, I see. Well, what I meant is this.
For example, those growers sell hemp or whatever they are growing for bitcoins.
But they are forced to exchange bitcoins to fiat currency for their supplies to keep the production.

What I aspire is having an economy that is self-sufficient with bitcoins. So the farmer can go and get whatever they need in supplies also in bitcoins. And the supplier also get whatever he needs in bitcoins.
A full-fledged bitcoin economy.

And all starts with commodities.
Can we get a network of farmers and suppliers to accept bitcoins? We could start from somewhere.
I mean, now I have enough financial freedom to spend time on dreams like this.

The foundation would be
(1) food (not much going on)
(2) rent (ontario, NYC, somewhere-else-in-the-US-can't-remember, Germany)
(3) energy (not much going on)
(4) health services (dentist in Finland)
(5) salaries (archive.org, p2p foundation)
(6) entertainment (?)

There must be more examples I missed, and I am too busy to provide links ATM.
Some people claim it is a mistake to keep trying to form local economies based on currency that is inherently global and on-line; we should instead focus on on-line use cases. I disagree - I think we should focus on hot-spots (New Hampshire, Finland, Sweden) to try and reach critical mass of diverse offerings in the same place.

[justusranvier]

Convince commodity exporters in Argentina to accept BTC as payment, then find importers who are willing to Argentine exports with BTC.

[w1R903]

The foundation would be
(1) food (not much going on) http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130417-908270.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
(2) rent (ontario, NYC, somewhere-else-in-the-US-can't-remember, Germany)
(3) energy (not much going on)
(4) health services (dentist in Finland)
(5) salaries (archive.org, p2p foundation) Lots of freelancers are doing more and more business in Bitcoin (me included)
(6) entertainment (?) many, many artists are selling their albums and artwork for bitcoin.  Mostly indies at this point.  But I see a new announcement every day almost.  For example: https://i.imgur.com/cnE0ISm.png

Made a few additions.  It's a good list.  I like it as a foundation for consumer Bitcoin use.

But I like the idea of Bitcoins for commodities, too.

[bitsalame]

The foundation would be
(1) food (not much going on) http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130417-908270.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
(2) rent (ontario, NYC, somewhere-else-in-the-US-can't-remember, Germany)
(3) energy (not much going on)
(4) health services (dentist in Finland)
(5) salaries (archive.org, p2p foundation) Lots of freelancers are doing more and more business in Bitcoin (me included)
(6) entertainment (?) many, many artists are selling their albums and artwork for bitcoin.  Mostly indies at this point.  But I see a new announcement every day almost.  For example: https://i.imgur.com/cnE0ISm.png

Made a few additions.  It's a good list.  I like it as a foundation for consumer Bitcoin use.

But I like the idea of Bitcoins for commodities, too.

The problem is that these services are spread across the world, a side effect of a global decentralized economy.
We must have at least a small micro-community adopting it, anyone interested in buying a town?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buford,_Wyoming
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/09/us-usa-town-auction-idUSBRE83802Q20120409

Edit: There are a few more towns for sale, and if we pool the money we might be able to buy one collectively and shit will definitely get serious!
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/12-towns-sale-pray-mont-auction-launches/story?id=16653510#.UXCDCqJZ3AM
Btw, any product purchased in fiat currency and sold in bitcoins should be considered an imported good... until it is solely 100% produced/sustained under bitcoin economy.

Edit 2: Maybe not as extreme as buying a town (although it would be really cool), but organizing local communities to accept bitcoins.
The real problem is that we have all these goods and services spread around the world, it is extremely impractical unless it is a specialty item.
For things we need day to day, we must need a local community accepting bitcoins in every major city or town.

[libertine]

i will happily trade 1st class uk stamps for some BTC.

[jaime]

Convince commodity exporters in Argentina to accept BTC as payment, then find importers who are willing to Argentine exports with BTC.

Really the best way to go now, the downside is that will bring up another bubble. 

[bitsalame]

Convince commodity exporters in Argentina to accept BTC as payment, then find importers who are willing to Argentine exports with BTC.

Really the best way to go now, the downside is that will bring up another bubble. 

You must know the definition of bubble.
An increase in the price is not a bubble doesn't classify as bubble.
A bubble is about an unjustified increase of price, a divergence between its extrinsical value from its intrinsical value.

If prices increase because its utility gets improved, it is not a bubble, but an actual appreciation of its value.