Fundamental analysis thread

[sunnankar]

Namecheap

I thought about it - but meh. I had never heard of them before the announcement.

Meh?

You should go look them up. You won't be meh'ing afterwards.

"They claim to have over 3 million domain names under management."

Cool. Is that bigger than godaddy et. al? I'm not doubting its big, but want to reserve the updates in this list for only the most significant impacts on the market (of which there are already plenty lately).

Keep in mind that domain registration is extremely competitive and commoditized. Godaddy has greatly angered the Internet by (1) supporting SOPA/PIPA and (2) having a really painful checkout process. Many domainers have accounts at all the major registrars but keep most of their domains at Godaddy because they are slightly cheaper and have extremely attractive women in their advertisements.

Namecheap offered discount codes to everyone who transferred domains from Godaddy during the SOPA/PIPA mess. Although many domainers hate Godaddy and ideologically support Namecheap's SOPA/PIPA/EFF stand they still did not move merely because of being lazy and the inconvenience. Namecheap understands this and is why they emailed their entire customer list to inform them about Bitcoin and Namecheap has now featured Bitcoin promimently on their homepage. Also, notice the EFF notice; in effect pleading to the domainers and not just completely freeride on Internet freedom to save a few cents per year by going with Godaddy.

It is clear that Namecheap is attempting to distinguish itself in this commoditized space by being the safe and Internet freedom oriented domain registrar.

But now with Bitcoin I know many that are starting the long-needed migration. It will be interesting to see how well Namecheap's gambit plays out. For example, I have a lazy friend who is in the process of moving 20,000 domains from GoDaddy to Namecheap. That is about $200,000 per year in gross fees.

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[Zangelbert Bingledack]

I sure hope that friend is paying in BTC!

[lebing]

Updated with the fork issue

Blockchain forked, problem solved in the short term
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1a51xx/now_that_its_over_the_blockchain_fork_explained/

[lebing]

Updated with FINCEN releases guidance for virtual currencies (bitcoin)
http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/guidance/pdf/FIN-2013-G001.pdf

[lebing]

p.s. if you find this helpful - please ask a mod for it to be stickied.

[lebing]

Updated with:

Cyprus, New Zealand & other Mediterranean countries considering/ have decided to confiscate "one time" X% of depositor funds
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/world/europe/russian-ties-put-cyprus-banking-crisis-on-east-west-fault-line.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
TLDR The money you thought was safe from theft in your bank account is not safe (especially if you live in an at risk country in the euro zone).

[aurora]

"IF THE MARKET MANIPULATOR WANTS TO DISTRIBUTE (DUMP) HIS SHARES, HE WILL START A GOOD NEWS PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN."

Is this why this thread was started?

[molecular]

"IF THE MARKET MANIPULATOR WANTS TO DISTRIBUTE (DUMP) HIS SHARES, HE WILL START A GOOD NEWS PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN."

Is this why this thread was started?

I don't think so. Also: Bitcoin is not a stock.

[lebing]

"IF THE MARKET MANIPULATOR WANTS TO DISTRIBUTE (DUMP) HIS SHARES, HE WILL START A GOOD NEWS PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN."

Is this why this thread was started?

Perhaps you are new to the thread, but when the fork issue occured I updated the thread with the information from it immediately (and subsequently updated it again once it was fixed). Also, if you have any fundamentally bad news, I'm all eyes. I will certainly add it to the main page if its warranted.

Updated with the fork issue

Blockchain forked, problem solved in the short term
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1a51xx/now_that_its_over_the_blockchain_fork_explained/

[intel-core-i7]

Bitcoin - BBC Newsnight - 26/03/2013 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaOsM3RUNG8&feature=youtu.be

[lebing]

Updated with:

 Expensify Brings Bitcoin to Main Street
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-29/expensify-brings-bitcoin-to-main-street

[lebing]

Updated with:

Western Union looking to leverage bitcoin
http://mobile.blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/04/01/western-union-eyes-digital-currency-services/

[Zangelbert Bingledack]

Updated with:

Western Union looking to leverage bitcoin
http://mobile.blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/04/01/western-union-eyes-digital-currency-services/

April Fool's

[lebing]

Updated with:

Western Union looking to leverage bitcoin
http://mobile.blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/04/01/western-union-eyes-digital-currency-services/

April Fool's

Yeah I thought that too, but it looks legit...

[lebing]

Updated with:

Western Union looking to leverage bitcoin
http://mobile.blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/04/01/western-union-eyes-digital-currency-services/

April Fool's

Yeah I thought that too, but it looks legit...

Eh we both failed, its not working with them, its mimicking the system (yeah good luck western union).

[oakpacific]

Updated with:

Western Union looking to leverage bitcoin
http://mobile.blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/04/01/western-union-eyes-digital-currency-services/

April Fool's

Yeah I thought that too, but it looks legit...

Eh we both failed, its not working with them, its mimicking the system (yeah good luck western union).

I hope they realize how stupid it would be trying to reinvent the wheel, in a half-ass way. Creating their own digital currency is only going to cost them rather than making them money, if they can try to build a system upon Bitcoin then it's going to be a win-win situation.

[lebing]

Updated with:

Western Union looking to leverage bitcoin
http://mobile.blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/04/01/western-union-eyes-digital-currency-services/

April Fool's

Yeah I thought that too, but it looks legit...

Eh we both failed, its not working with them, its mimicking the system (yeah good luck western union).

I hope they realize how stupid it would be trying to reinvent the wheel, in a half-ass way. Creating their own digital currency is only going to cost them rather than making them money, if they can try to build a system upon Bitcoin then it's going to be a win-win situation.

Ok, i've re-read it again about 5 times now and I don't see clearly one way or the other what their relationship might be with bitcoin. For now I'll just leave it out until we get another confirmation. And yeah I agree. If they are going to try and compete, their lunch is going to get eaten even faster. It would be a brilliant move by them to integrate their services with bitcoin however, it would at the very least provide them another 5-10 years to try and come up with other ways to provide value.

[Zangelbert Bingledack]

It doesn't matter so much if they actually do implement it. If the article is legit, this is tremendously stupendously huge news.

[lebing]

Ok, just got confirmation from multiple sources via email and twitter. They are looking to develop partnerships, so its a go. I'll update the thread again 

[molecular]

Ok, just got confirmation from multiple sources via email and twitter. They are looking to develop partnerships, so its a go. I'll update the thread again 

Depending on the details this could be mind-bogglingly huge.