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Author Topic: Bitcoin Foundation?  (Read 779 times)
proff (OP)
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February 10, 2013, 11:05:05 PM
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Someone asked me about a "Bitcoin University", though I am still not sure what exactly is proposed. Slightly more realistically, it might be interesting to create some sort of "Bitcoin Scholarship Foundation" (or whatever we want to call it) that would disburse grants, bounties, etc in Bitcoins, hence the name. Certainly there is no shortage of research projects, some directly related to Bitcoin, even, that want funding. Also, with enough coins available we could put a kid through Harvard or MIT every couple of years.

If someone has the sort of truly massive hoard of coins it would take to do this, make like a philanthropist and prove that Bitcoin is the positive disruptive technology we were promised and not an experiment or pyramid scheme or black market! The usual sort of foundation could be set up, with a committee to decide what to do with the money and an independent set of treasurers to control the actual coins through an m-of-n arrangement. Also we would need some reliable way to invest the capital in order to produce a decent yet safe return of coins to work with.
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February 11, 2013, 07:08:26 AM
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1) What's the clear advantage of using Bitcoin for this? You could do this in fiat too and all universities I know of would only accept fiat money - so you either need to sell BTC on market price when the guy signs up (or risk not being able to pay if there's a sudden crash in BTC value) or when you are getting funds and keep the fund in fiat.

2) Why would anyone want to get somebody through Harvard/MIT? I've looked at their lectures online and while of course being very good, I didn't see any substantial difference to my university, they only have a better brand (and charge for that...). For the money it takes to get 1 person through the US system, you can finance a dozen people (or even more) elsewhere.

3) Where would you invest BTC so it produces interest? One of the only few kinda safe (if done right!) ways I know of is to lend to people who want to leverage trades on margin platforms. All other things I know of are either mainly priced in fiat (having huge currency exchange risks), overvalued (Satoshi's dice "stock"...) or both.

https://www.coinlend.org <-- automated lending at various exchanges.
https://www.bitfinex.com <-- Trade BTC for other currencies and vice versa.
MPOE-PR
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February 11, 2013, 10:49:03 AM
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Someone asked me about a "Bitcoin University", though I am still not sure what exactly is proposed. Slightly more realistically, it might be interesting to create some sort of "Bitcoin Scholarship Foundation" (or whatever we want to call it) that would disburse grants, bounties, etc in Bitcoins, hence the name. Certainly there is no shortage of research projects, some directly related to Bitcoin, even, that want funding. Also, with enough coins available we could put a kid through Harvard or MIT every couple of years.

If someone has the sort of truly massive hoard of coins it would take to do this, make like a philanthropist and prove that Bitcoin is the positive disruptive technology we were promised and not an experiment or pyramid scheme or black market! The usual sort of foundation could be set up, with a committee to decide what to do with the money and an independent set of treasurers to control the actual coins through an m-of-n arrangement. Also we would need some reliable way to invest the capital in order to produce a decent yet safe return of coins to work with.

As they say, the more Bitcoin Foundations the merrier. Decentralization ftw and all that.

2) Why would anyone want to get somebody through Harvard/MIT? I've looked at their lectures online and while of course being very good, I didn't see any substantial difference to my university, they only have a better brand (and charge for that...).

Following this logic, I didn't see any difference between the public transportation system in Los Angeles and Paris, Texas. If anything, the latter is slightly cleaner and smells better. All LA has going for it is the brand (and they charge you for it!). The happenstance that all the movie studios are also located there is of no importance whatever, and similarly the fact that all the people that matter live there bears nothing in the discussion. It's not like accidentally running into one of them during a social function can possibly have any sort of effect on your future. Finally, the incidental that all the money and fixed means of production are pretty much concentrated there is of no interest. What does it matter that MIT has billions of dollars' worth of lab equipment collecting dust all around? It's not like you were going to use any hardware to type your advanced notions on a forum or anything like that.

Consequently, I would imagine some chick hoping to break into acting has about the same chances waiting tables in Burbank or in Bonham (the same could not be said of Berlin, Wyoming, on account of the fact that there's no Junior College there).

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proff (OP)
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February 11, 2013, 12:05:02 PM
 #4

1) What's the clear advantage of using Bitcoin for this? You could do this in fiat too and all universities I know of would only accept fiat money - so you either need to sell BTC on market price when the guy signs up (or risk not being able to pay if there's a sudden crash in BTC value) or when you are getting funds and keep the fund in fiat.

2) Why would anyone want to get somebody through Harvard/MIT? I've looked at their lectures online and while of course being very good, I didn't see any substantial difference to my university, they only have a better brand (and charge for that...). For the money it takes to get 1 person through the US system, you can finance a dozen people (or even more) elsewhere.

3) Where would you invest BTC so it produces interest? One of the only few kinda safe (if done right!) ways I know of is to lend to people who want to leverage trades on margin platforms. All other things I know of are either mainly priced in fiat (having huge currency exchange risks), overvalued (Satoshi's dice "stock"...) or both.

1) At the end of the day, money is money, whatever its form. This is a challenge for those who think Bitcoins are worth something.

2) I see only good in helping to support some student's education. To avoid misunderstandings, I am not specifically endorsing MIT or Harvard, or the USA versus UK/EU/Asia or wherever. The student picks the school, and this would be open to anyone worldwide. If our budget does not enable us to give out full scholarships, that is one thing, but otherwise we are completely neutral and do not penalize some poor kid who was foolish enough to enter MIT.

3) A diverse portfolio, including some of our own mining? Absolutely we should not deal with risky or shady investments.
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