if mike caldwell is who i think he is (a popular poster to this forum, and one i like), then that was nice coverage.
That's me, and that's my miner in the article. Thanks Barrett!
This article alone does a huge service to Bitcoin's legitimacy. Folks, Bloomberg just used the word "currency" to describe our bitcoins, and the article also seems to describe it as a legitimate sort of investment. It also indirectly serves to legitimize the practice of regular businesses accepting Bitcoins, because if it's legit enough for Bloomberg to share excitement over it, it must not be a crime.
I was considering what people would think when they saw "We Accept Bitcoin" on my time and attendance payment slips (enclosed in invoices) after hearing Senators drone on about how it's drugs and money laundering. After seeing this article, I have no doubt it's staying on my payment slips.
Imagine trying to pay for a haircut with BitBills to someone who never heard of this. Then imagine the same person thumbing through something from Bloomberg describing Bitcoins as being for-real, and then you ask again, if they accept bitbills. The implications are huge.
This article occupied front and center on the Businessweek.com homepage all morning - I'll wet my pants if the print magazine comes out with a big fat B on the front cover. (You can only hope, I guess!)
I have been bitching and griping about early adopters and their potential to crash the market. This article alone has put me back on the fence with excitement. The way I see things, this sort of coverage has the potential of attracting so much attention and investment, to the point there could be a line of speculative investors with funds bigger than all of us, lined up in wait for the day an early adopter to "crash" the market so they can jump in at a low price. And by investment, I don't just mean cash flow to buy bitcoins. Rather, I'm thinking more about the people who own businesses who will go out of their way to start accepting bitcoins, and companies who will invest into payment systems and resources so that Bitcoins can be spent on Slurpees as easily as Visa or cash.
