This article is too awesome... Bitcoin FTW at Money2020

[evoorhees]

"Anonymous. Digital. Unadulterated by politics. Mathematically pure. Bitcoin isn’t just unique; it’s punk rock – the antithesis of all the other mothballed nonsense I’d seen at Money2020." - Andrew Couts, Digital Trends

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/the-future-of-money-its-not-in-your-hands/

I didn't get to meet Andrew (the author) at this event, I guess he chatted with Roger and Jesse when I was sabotaging the Paypal booth. But, TLDR, the author basically thinks the world of financial innovation "sucks" except for Bitcoin   This was the Money2020 conference, which we had posted about here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=119732.0

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

Wow! Looks like BitInstant buying that booth was a good idea 

"Anonymous. Digital. Unadulterated by politics. Mathematically pure. Bitcoin isn’t just unique; it’s punk rock – the antithesis of all the other mothballed nonsense I’d seen at Money2020."

I re-caffeinate and meander back toward the front of the room. Just then, I spot something interesting: A small Bitcoin booth, somehow hidden in the center of the room, surrounded by a crew of three guys who are clearly decades younger than anyone else at Money2020.
A hacker friend of mine clued me into Bitcoin a few years back. And I’d seen the random blog post about it since then. But I still don’t fully grasp the concept. A black-haired guy, about my height, dressed in a slightly wrinkled, blue button-down shirt and khaki pants turns my way as I approach the Bitcoin kiosk. The badge around his neck tells me his name is Roger Ver.

Bitcoin, Ver explains, is the only truly new idea in the financial industry, and “the most important invention since the Internet!” Whereas credit cards and digital wallets are simply advanced ways to spend cash, Bitcoin is an entirely separate, digital currency, controlled by no nation. All purchases are entirely anonymous, and heavily encrypted.
“It’s more stable than the U.S. dollar. And because each new Bitcoin is produced by a complex algorithm, it’s impossible to just make new Bitcoins anytime you want, like the Fed does with dollars,” Ver concludes. “That’s probably why no country will ever adopt it.”
Now this is something I could get excited about: A rogue currency that flies in the face of the entire world financial system. Anonymous. Digital. Unadulterated by politics. Mathematically pure. Bitcoin isn’t just unique; it’s punk rock – the antithesis of all the other mothballed nonsense I’d seen at Money2020.

Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/the-future-of-money-its-not-in-your-hands/#ixzz2EfpbJOpo

[guruvan]

Good job guys!  We're getting some excellent press these days. Moar please

[evoorhees]

Is that SatoshiDICE I see on that laptop? 

[Frequency]

Good news again .. Can,t waith to see were BTC stands in 2020 ..

[Fuzzy]

My favourite part:

It’s a mystifying mess, and there’s absolutely nothing new on the horizon, besides Bitcoin.
 
You know, the one used for drug purchases and child porn.

Also:

Las Vegas, I realize, is the ideal place to hold a conference about the financial industry. In fact, Vegas is more that just a place – it is the perfect physical recreation of the financial industry itself: purposefully confusing, potentially life ruining, and filled with a million bells and whistles meant to lure us suckers in. Las Vegas, like the financial industry, is a soulless husk of a thing, built by greedy hands, for greedy ends. It is a place that has managed to bend the rules so that its particular vein of villainy can flow freely, without obstruction from anything or anyone.

[TheButterZone]

dupe of https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=130093.0

[repentance]

This quote hasn't got enough love yet.

Jesse Powell to World Bank representatives.

“Well,” says Powell, “it’s an entirely digital currency. Right now, people only use it to buy drugs on this site called Silk Road – that and child pornography. I think it has a lot of potential.”

That pitch needs to be immortalised on a T-shirt.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

This quote hasn't got enough love yet.

Jesse Powell to World Bank representatives.

“Well,” says Powell, “it’s an entirely digital currency. Right now, people only use it to buy drugs on this site called Silk Road – that and child pornography. I think it has a lot of potential.”

That pitch needs to be immortalised on a T-shirt.

[julz]

There are plenty of recorded instances of people using paypal and credit cards to pay each other for child porn.
I find it truly bizarre that in some sort of self-flagellating attempt at pre-emption - any Bitcoin evangelist would mention child porn in a pitch.

 

[foggyb]

I find it truly bizarre that in some sort of self-flagellating attempt at pre-emption - any Bitcoin evangelist would mention child porn in a pitch.

Agreed. CP is so thoroughly evil that its shameful just to mention it casually.

[TheButterZone]

Who pays for ANY kind of porn?

[jimbobway]

The few women in attendance walk briskly back and forth in pale floral dresses and grey suits that accentuate their edges, chiseled sharp by years of slaps on the ass.

[jgarzik]

There are plenty of recorded instances of people using paypal and credit cards to pay each other for child porn.
I find it truly bizarre that in some sort of self-flagellating attempt at pre-emption - any Bitcoin evangelist would mention child porn in a pitch.

+1

Who invited that fool, Powell, to the conference?  Who thought it would be a good idea for him to pitch bitcoin?

*facepalm*

[marcus_of_augustus]

There are plenty of recorded instances of people using paypal and credit cards to pay each other for child porn.
I find it truly bizarre that in some sort of self-flagellating attempt at pre-emption - any Bitcoin evangelist would mention child porn in a pitch.

+1

Who invited that fool, Powell, to the conference?  Who thought it would be a good idea for him to pitch bitcoin?

*facepalm*

To my left stands the least likely Money2020 attendee I can imagine. He has scrapped the jacket-and-pants look for a gray hoodie, white t-shirt, and black Puma track pants with a neon green stripe down the leg. His chin-length blonde hair frames a prominent forehead that would better fit an ancient human ancestor, and eyes that glitter darkly in deep sockets, punctuated by massively dilated pupils that make him look like he’s tripping on acid. And who knows? I think. Maybe he is.

I introduce myself. The guy’s name is Jesse Powell

You mean this Powell? Sounds like a stand up guy .... .

[repentance]

I find it truly bizarre that in some sort of self-flagellating attempt at pre-emption - any Bitcoin evangelist would mention child porn in a pitch.

In a pitch to the World Bank no less.

Now I know that it's easy to get caught up in conference fever but most of the important stuff at conferences happens at informal, hastily arranged meet-ups.  Knowing that, you should have your pitch for the various other attendees you're hoping to connect with prepared and refined months in advance and they should be flawless.  You should have every number, every graph, every chart at your finger-tips.  You should be able to rattle off accurate information from memory.  You should have in-depth knowledge of the backgrounds of everyone you're hoping to connect with.  In short, you should approach attending a conference as a professional project and prepare for it accordingly.

[evoorhees]

There are plenty of recorded instances of people using paypal and credit cards to pay each other for child porn.
I find it truly bizarre that in some sort of self-flagellating attempt at pre-emption - any Bitcoin evangelist would mention child porn in a pitch.

+1

Who invited that fool, Powell, to the conference?  Who thought it would be a good idea for him to pitch bitcoin?

*facepalm*

We invited him and it was great to have him there.

Perhaps some of you are too caught up in the journalist's sensationalism regarding the drugs and porn quote to realize that Jesse also landed a dinner meeting with such prominent investors, and very much got them interested. Clearly he was doing something right. Don't hate on someone just because a silly quote is pulled out and trumpeted by a journalist... you should know better.

Further, you can assume that most people have heard the blackmarket side of Bitcoin already. So by being frank about that, you can sometimes earn some honesty credits when you're meeting with people. I'd certainly see through the vapid rhetorical veneer of a slick salesperson. There were plenty of those types at the show. Bitcoin is not that.

[jgarzik]

Perhaps some of you are too caught up in the journalist's sensationalism regarding the drugs and porn quote to realize that Jesse also landed a dinner meeting with such prominent investors, and very much got them interested. Clearly he was doing something right. Don't hate on someone just because a silly quote is pulled out and trumpeted by a journalist... you should know better.

Did those words come out of Powell's mouth, yes or no?

Day One of media/PR training tells you everything you say will get quoted.  It is a soundbite world.

What you don't see from your dinner meeting is how many people he didn't meet, how many people he turned off from bitcoin.

Just like the US Dollar, people who break laws use bitcoins.  Going out of your way to highlight such cases misrepresents bitcoins just as much as any slick salesperson who ignores crime entirely.

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

Perhaps some of you are too caught up in the journalist's sensationalism regarding the drugs and porn quote to realize that Jesse also landed a dinner meeting with such prominent investors, and very much got them interested. Clearly he was doing something right. Don't hate on someone just because a silly quote is pulled out and trumpeted by a journalist... you should know better.

Did those words come out of Powell's mouth, yes or no?

Day One of media/PR training tells you everything you say will get quoted.  It is a soundbite world.

What you don't see from your dinner meeting is how many people he didn't meet, how many people he turned off from bitcoin.

Just like the US Dollar, people who break laws use bitcoins.  Going out of your way to highlight such cases misrepresents bitcoins just as much as any slick salesperson who ignores crime entirely.

Jeff,

I love you my man, and I always agree with you, but trust me on this, the journalists words were totally out of context.

Jesse was saying "Look, we know what the press says and how Bitcoin is portrayed, but Bitcoin has amazing use and utility and we can show you that"

It's common persuasion tactics, you agree with what they know so their defenses are let down and then you convince them otherwise.

Jess may not be the *best* Bitcoin advocator, but the guy hauled his ass out there, and stood on his feet for 3 days pitching Bitcoin to person after person.

Paypal had a booth 5x the size but we had 5x the people, and I have to thank Jesse for that.

The author of the article used a paragraph to explain Jesse's clothing on purpose, to our benefit, he is trying to show that the new evolution of money is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is not the suit and tie guy, its the sweatshirt average person who's gonna take control of his money.

No one can debate that, we all know its true, so lets stop debating about what Jesse said or did and continue talking about how Bitcoin is changing the world

-Charlie

[chriswilmer]

Perhaps some of you are too caught up in the journalist's sensationalism regarding the drugs and porn quote to realize that Jesse also landed a dinner meeting with such prominent investors, and very much got them interested. Clearly he was doing something right. Don't hate on someone just because a silly quote is pulled out and trumpeted by a journalist... you should know better.

Did those words come out of Powell's mouth, yes or no?

Day One of media/PR training tells you everything you say will get quoted.  It is a soundbite world.

What you don't see from your dinner meeting is how many people he didn't meet, how many people he turned off from bitcoin.

Just like the US Dollar, people who break laws use bitcoins.  Going out of your way to highlight such cases misrepresents bitcoins just as much as any slick salesperson who ignores crime entirely.

Jeff,

I love you my man, and I always agree with you, but trust me on this, the journalists words were totally out of context.

Jesse was saying "Look, we know what the press says and how Bitcoin is portrayed, but Bitcoin has amazing use and utility and we can show you that"

It's common persuasion tactics, you agree with what they know so their defenses are let down and then you convince them otherwise.

Jess may not be the *best* Bitcoin advocator, but the guy hauled his ass out there, and stood on his feet for 3 days pitching Bitcoin to person after person.

Paypal had a booth 5x the size but we had 5x the people, and I have to thank Jesse for that.

The author of the article used a paragraph to explain Jesse's clothing on purpose, to our benefit, he is trying to show that the new evolution of money is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is not the suit and tie guy, its the sweatshirt average person who's gonna take control of his money.

No one can debate that, we all know its true, so lets stop debating about what Jesse said or did and continue talking about how Bitcoin is changing the world

-Charlie

+1