ripper234 (OP)
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Ron Gross
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January 06, 2013, 10:29:07 PM |
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There's been a nice Israeli group of Bitcoiners for some time, growing over the last ~ 1.5 years. So far our Meetup has reached about 100 people, with about 15-20 active members. Then, on last Thursday, something happened. Bitcoin was covered on the front page of a major "popular economics" paper, and then later that day a major TV channel (Channel 10) did a late-night 7 minute story about Bitcoin (featuring, among others, Meir Shitrit, a former minister of finance). Suddenly, we've had a boom in Bitcoin interest. Our meetup now contains 145 people (40% increase in 3 days!). Our local forum bitcoin.org.il has seen an influx of new users, as well as our Facebook page. People want to invest, learn, evangelize ... it's quite awesome! I don't know where the trend is going ... perhaps it will die out a bit as some people abandon the idea ... and perhaps it will keep growing and hit more peaks (maybe prime-time TV, which will surely give us a huge boost). We have our next meetup on Jan 21 ... it's going to be an interesting one. |
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dree12
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January 06, 2013, 10:43:37 PM |
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Good to see this. Local growth is excellent, and Bitcoin needs to have local hubs before it can succeed globally. How's the merchant adoption there going?
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ripper234 (OP)
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Ron Gross
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January 06, 2013, 10:48:36 PM |
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Good to see this. Local growth is excellent, and Bitcoin needs to have local hubs before it can succeed globally. How's the merchant adoption there going?
Still slowly. There are a few businesses (you can count them on one hand), although we had one or two merchants who showed interest this weekend. I'm still waiting for the first restaurant/pub/coffee shop to accept them ... I don't know any restaurant owners though, so I'm not pushing it. |
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ripper234 (OP)
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Ron Gross
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January 06, 2013, 10:49:51 PM |
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Fixed the 2nd link, it was broken in the op. |
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evoorhees
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Democracy is the original 51% attack
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January 06, 2013, 11:44:04 PM |
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Thanks for the update from Israel, exciting stuff!
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Phinnaeus Gage
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Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending
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January 07, 2013, 04:35:07 AM |
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WTF! Could not load the map! Your browser is not compatible with Google Maps v3. I guess I need a solution. Suggestions? |
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21after2
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January 07, 2013, 05:30:08 AM |
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Glad to hear it's doing well there!  |
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xxjs
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January 07, 2013, 06:19:20 AM |
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WTF! Could not load the map! Your browser is not compatible with Google Maps v3. I guess I need a solution. Suggestions? Use another browser. Did you try chrome? |
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ripper234 (OP)
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Ron Gross
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January 07, 2013, 06:30:00 AM |
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Use another browser. Did you try chrome?
I'm on chrome and got this error. |
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John (John K.)
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Away on an extended break
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January 07, 2013, 06:43:35 AM |
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Use another browser. Did you try chrome?
I'm on chrome and got this error. Click the shield sign on the address bar, and click 'load insecure content'. |
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ripper234 (OP)
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Ron Gross
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January 07, 2013, 07:52:20 AM |
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Use another browser. Did you try chrome?
I'm on chrome and got this error. Click the shield sign on the address bar, and click 'load insecure content'. Cool, it works! (Never saw that shield icon before). Can someone document how to add new shops to this map? |
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Boussac
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e-ducat.fr
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January 07, 2013, 08:53:28 AM |
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Good to see this. Local growth is excellent, and Bitcoin needs to have local hubs before it can succeed globally. How's the merchant adoption there going?
Still slowly. There are a few businesses (you can count them on one hand), although we had one or two merchants who showed interest this weekend. I'm still waiting for the first restaurant/pub/coffee shop to accept them ... I don't know any restaurant owners though, so I'm not pushing it. I would not worry so much about merchants adoption rate as this time: for mainstreet merchants to start accepting bitcoin, we need a critical mass of users. Mainstream adoption will come from communities because bitcoin is a community-run monetary system. The so-called collaborative economy is where things will happen: think of a car pooling app where people pay the driver with bitcoins (in app payment). I have in mind dozens of other use cases where there is no "merchant" in sight but each use case involves a community of thousands of users. |
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HostFat
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I support freedom of choice
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January 07, 2013, 09:01:33 AM |
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Someone has to modify the <display_points> to use https://maps.google instead of http://maps.googleI don't know how to do it. |
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ripper234 (OP)
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Ron Gross
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January 07, 2013, 09:41:53 AM |
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I would not worry so much about merchants adoption rate as this time: for mainstreet merchants to start accepting bitcoin, we need a critical mass of users.
Mainstream adoption will come from communities because bitcoin is a community-run monetary system.
The so-called collaborative economy is where things will happen: think of a car pooling app where people pay the driver with bitcoins (in app payment).
I have in mind dozens of other use cases where there is no "merchant" in sight but each use case involves a community of thousands of users.
Oh, I concur completely. We're working on education at this point, user adoption will come after, followed by merchants. |
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Carlton Banks
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January 07, 2013, 01:05:58 PM |
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Very encouraging, it's no surprise to hear that a small country with a fair concentration of science and technology industries (and hence alot of engineers and scientists) would build up a bit of popular interest.
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Vires in numeris
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Meni Rosenfeld
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January 07, 2013, 01:22:16 PM |
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It's not the first time Bitcoin was mentioned in newspapers and TV, and it's interesting Thursday's events had so much impact (Bitcoil: x10 the normal visits on Thursday, bitcoin.org.il: x100). I guess it's also a matter of timing and Bitcoin is now more ripe to be digested by the public. That guitar shop isn't even in Israel anymore. The owners (Josh and Zach Harvey) moved to New Hampshire and have various activities there (Zach recently gave a talk in the Philadelphia Bitcoin summit). Restaurants and cafes will come too, I know a few people but it takes time. Very encouraging, it's no surprise to hear that a small country with a fair concentration of science and technology industries (and hence alot of engineers and scientists) would build up a bit of popular interest.
It's been said that Israelis are also more distrustful and skeptical, so it's harder to get across revolutionary ideas. All in due time, though. |
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Rothgar
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January 07, 2013, 01:34:31 PM |
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New Hampshire also has the pao cafe in Newmarket that accepts bitcoin.
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Meni Rosenfeld
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January 07, 2013, 04:58:33 PM
Last edit: January 08, 2013, 03:25:53 PM by Meni Rosenfeld |
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And just now Bitcoin was featured on "London et Kirschenbaum", also on channel 10. Their economic interpreter, Matan Hodorov, explained it reasonably. He has more to learn though, as he had to look at his notes to be able to tell the limit is 21M, and pronounced the creator "Satushi" (it's spelled the same in Hebrew).
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