Bitcoin press hits, notable sources

[julz]

Podcast with Jon Matonis on "The Virtual Policy Network"

the Virtual Policy Network (tVPN) is a not-for profit think tank dedicated to stimulating a balanced, global, and informed policy debate about virtual worlds, online games and other convergent media. Our goal is to maximizing the social good of these technologies through promoting their use in areas such as education, public diplomacy and entertainment, and supporting policy makers in finding the right balance of self-governance, law and regulation.
...

2012-02-28

Virtually Policy #3: Virtual Currencies & Roach Motels (1/2)

This episode of Virtually Policy is part one of a two-part interview with virtual currency expert Jon Matonis. Jon is editor of The Monetary Future, an economics blog that examines the intersection of free banking, cryptography, and digital currency. His work on digital cash has been published by Dow Jones and the London School of Economics, and he was previously CEO of Hushmail and Chief Forex Trader at VISA. Currently Jon is a board advisor to startups in Bitcoin, gaming, prepaid and mobile payment systems.

In this part of the interview we focus on the nature of currency and characteristics of virtual currencies, including Facebook Credits, Warcraft Gold and Linden Dollars.

2012-03-06

Virtually Policy #4: Bitcoin (2/2)

http://www.virtualpolicy.net/virtuallypolicy004.html

This episode of Virtually Policy is the second half of atwo-part interview with virtual currency expert Jon Matonis. Jon is editor of The Monetary Future, an economics blog.

In this second part of the interview we look at Bitcoin: what it is, how it works, why government don’t like it and how it might revolutionise the online gaming industry, and how it relates to human rights.

[julz]

Dutch Magazine EMERCE

Bitcoin is accepted by more and more merchants

Libbenga January
2012-03-07

http://www.emerce.nl/nieuws/bitcoin-door-steeds-meer-webwinkels-geaccepteerd


Bitcoins, virtual coins which are traded anonymously without the intervention of banks, are accepted by more merchants. That said Amir Taaki and Donald Norman Bitcoin Consultancy yesterday on the Online Payment Congress in Amsterdam.

[k]

Another article on Tradehill suing Dwolla

Bankrupt Bitcoin exchange Tradehill suing red hot payment startup Dwolla for $2M
http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/07/tradehill-sues-suing-dwolla-bitcoin/

Mentions about the apparent change in the chargeback policy of Dwolla

But in a blog post he wrote on March 30, 2011, Milne noted to merchants that, “Remember, these are cash-based transactions! No credit card fees, chargeback concerns, or signing necessary!”

[julz]

Dwolla Calls Bitcoin Exchange Suit 'Specious'

Jeremy Quittner
2012-03-07

http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/177_46/dwolla-bitcoin-exchange-tradehill-lawsuit-1047292-1.html

Person-to-person payments provider Dwolla Corp. responded late Tuesday to a lawsuit filed by the Bitcoin exchange TradeHill, saying allegations that it put TradeHill out of business were "specious" and that the suit is little more than an attempt to generate publicity.

[julz]

Bitcoin: Crypto-Anarchism and the Digital Money Revolution

Michael Suede
2012-03-07

http://www.policymic.com/articles/4980/bitcoin-crypto-anarchism-and-the-digital-money-revolution


Imagine if we lived in a world where your bank accounts could never be audited, seized or controlled by the state. Imagine if the currency system itself made organized theft impossible. In the future, I predict this is precisely how currency systems will operate. While this may sound like a bold claim, economic analysis demonstrates why my prediction may become reality.
...

[julz]

Lawsuit illustrates Bitcoin's chargeback problem

Timothy B. Lee
2012-03-07

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/03/lawsuit-illustrates-bitcoins-chargeback-problem.ars?clicked=related_right

...
Bitcoin, in contrast, is built on the premise that no one has to trust anyone else. Transactions are irreversible, and a Bitcoin user is out of luck if his money is taken fraudulently. That's a headache for consumers, but it has an important upside: Bitcoin transactions really are final.
...

[julz]

Bits coins for cash edit to take you on a "get rich road

2012-03-08

http://tech.sina.com.cn/h/2012-03-08/05012056255.shtml

[Stephen Gornick]

Busy couple of days ...

2012-03-08

"Doug Casey on Cashless Societies"

Don't get me started on "money laundering." It's a completely artificial crime. It wasn't even heard of 20 years ago, because the "crime" didn't exist. Now, everyone speaks of it as though it were a real crime, like murder. It's ridiculous, and further proof of the totally degraded state of the average person worldwide, absolutely including US citizens – what we used to call Americans. The government proclaims something as a law, and "sheeple" robotically assume it's part of the cosmic firmament. If an official tells them to do or not to do something, they roll over on their backs like whipped dogs and wet themselves out of fear. The War on Drugs may be where "money laundering" originated as a crime, but today it has a lot more to do with something infinitely more important to the state: the War on Tax Evasion.

But the greater the invasion of privacy, the greater the need for privacy there will be – and the market will respond.

- http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/columns/casey-research/928/doug-casey-on-cashless-societies-0928.html

[majamalu]

Busy couple of days ...

2012-03-08

"Doug Casey on Cashless Societies"

Don't get me started on "money laundering." It's a completely artificial crime. It wasn't even heard of 20 years ago, because the "crime" didn't exist. Now, everyone speaks of it as though it were a real crime, like murder. It's ridiculous, and further proof of the totally degraded state of the average person worldwide, absolutely including US citizens – what we used to call Americans. The government proclaims something as a law, and "sheeple" robotically assume it's part of the cosmic firmament. If an official tells them to do or not to do something, they roll over on their backs like whipped dogs and wet themselves out of fear. The War on Drugs may be where "money laundering" originated as a crime, but today it has a lot more to do with something infinitely more important to the state: the War on Tax Evasion.

But the greater the invasion of privacy, the greater the need for privacy there will be – and the market will respond.

- http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/columns/casey-research/928/doug-casey-on-cashless-societies-0928.html

From the same interview:

"Doug: Yes, the move towards digital currencies is already happening, and not just as a result of government efforts. Remember Bitcoin. And, as you know, I'm a big fan of Goldmoney.com, which is leading the way to a sound digital currency. Although Goldmoney.com has bowed to government pressure and has suspended its service allowing customers to transfer funds among one another, it's another sign of the times…"

[FreeMoney]

"Doug: Yes, the move towards digital currencies is already happening, and not just as a result of government efforts. Remember Bitcoin. And, as you know, I'm a big fan of Goldmoney.com, which is leading the way to a sound digital currency. Although Goldmoney.com has bowed to government pressure and has suspended its service allowing customers to transfer funds among one another, it's another sign of the times…"

Lol, it makes no sense. Why would he like goldmoney.com? How is bowing to government pressure not 100% baked in to that pie? What are they going to do let government take all their customers gold and go to jail? I suspect Casey is involved in some way or has something else clouding his judgment concerning that company.

[julz]

A small blog from a tech/finance geek - but the topic of this post struck me as notable.
Presumably the 'may scale of money hardness' is a play on the geological scale: 'Mohs scale of mineral hardness'.

Cool concept to apply to money and reversability!

(I like the idea of bitcoin being 'hard' money. Fits right in with 'mining' it too)

The May Scale of Money Hardness and BitCoin

Pelle Braendgaard
2012-03-08

http://stakeventures.com/articles/2012/03/07/the-may-scale-of-money-hardness-and-bitcoin

About 10 years ago after a bunch of E-Gold exchangers lost money from fraudulent purchasers performing chargebacks Start e-gold app developer JP May published his May Scale of Money Hardness (only on wayback machine now).

The idea is that the easier it is for a payment to be reversed, the softer it is. I’m trying to update it for 2012 so the next generation of financial startups don’t get burnt more than they already have been and learn the lessons learnt by the e-gold community.
...

Actually I'm really quite enthused about this terminology.  I think in discussions with the bitcoin-agnostics I'll make a point of referring to bitcoin as a 'hard' digital currency due to it being non-reversable and non-tamperable by intermediaries - compared to 'soft' digital systems like Dwolla and Paypal.

Discussion thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67841.0

[grondilu]

« Don't get me started on "money laundering." It's a completely artificial crime. It wasn't even heard of 20 years ago, because the "crime" didn't exist. Now, everyone speaks of it as though it were a real crime, like murder. It's ridiculous, and further proof of the totally degraded state of the average person worldwide, absolutely including US citizens – what we used to call Americans. The government proclaims something as a law, and "sheeple" robotically assume it's part of the cosmic firmament. If an official tells them to do or not to do something, they roll over on their backs like whipped dogs and wet themselves out of fear. The War on Drugs may be where "money laundering" originated as a crime, but today it has a lot more to do with something infinitely more important to the state: the War on Tax Evasion. »

Oh their god, this is a marvelous quote!

[payb.tc]

« Don't get me started on "money laundering." It's a completely artificial crime. It wasn't even heard of 20 years ago, because the "crime" didn't exist. Now, everyone speaks of it as though it were a real crime, like murder. It's ridiculous, and further proof of the totally degraded state of the average person worldwide, absolutely including US citizens – what we used to call Americans. The government proclaims something as a law, and "sheeple" robotically assume it's part of the cosmic firmament. If an official tells them to do or not to do something, they roll over on their backs like whipped dogs and wet themselves out of fear. The War on Drugs may be where "money laundering" originated as a crime, but today it has a lot more to do with something infinitely more important to the state: the War on Tax Evasion. »

Oh their god, this is a marvelous quote!

he forgot to mention the war on child porn... that's what takes away a large chunk of our freedoms these days.

maybe that's too touchy a subject even for casey.

[molecular]

I made a "comment"-thread meant to accompany this famous thread. It's meant to be used for comments on items in here that don't merit their own thread.

So, if you like this idea and have a comment on stuff in this thread, feel free to pollute this thread instead:

"[COMMENTS] Bitcoin press hits, notable sources" (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67873.0)

[jimbobway]

The author doesn't mention bitcoin but everything he says is implcitly screaming bitcoin (or not).  He talks about currency and how it is controlled by gov't and corporations.  Since Satoshi embedded that headline in the genesis block I have to post this here.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/08/opinion/rushkoff-one-percent/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

[adamstgBit]

New bitcoin video! 

Many thanks to Matthew N. Wright and Brian, for staring in thebitcoinreview.com's best video yet!

The short version of the video is available for your viewing pleasure on youtube

http://youtu.be/mv7P7xyB1kM

I hope you enjoy it!

The video will benefit from more editing. There are a many other interesting points that have been left out of this short version.

The extended edition coming soon!

Let me know what you think...I think it turned out reasonably good, given its budget of 0.01BTC 

[senbonzakura]

http://www.scribd.com/hetemov_asif/d/64155284-The-Islamic-Globe-No-30-070911

page 3

[Stephen Gornick]

http://www.scribd.com/hetemov_asif/d/64155284-The-Islamic-Globe-No-30-070911

page 3

And from back in September, incidentally.  But I hadn't seen that listed here yet, so good post!

[MemoryDealers]

A few months old,  but it doesn't seem to have been posted at that time:

http://austincut.com/article/01012012/silk-road-a-vicious-blow-to-the-war-on-drugs

[julz]

Peer-to-Peer Currencies: The Amazing (And True!) Story of Bitcoin by Adrianne Jeffries

Adrianne Jeffries
2012-02-23

http://liftconference.com/news/lift12-video-adrianne-jeffries-story-bitcoin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sKx6lhxM_8

discussion thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=68100.0