Bitcoin press hits, notable sources

[Stephen Gornick]

English translation of article from Wired Italy:

Even the systems currently emerging may be difficult. Ted Castranova, economist and author of Wild Cat Currency (forthcoming), notes that BitCoin will compete with other virtual currencies preferred by users, and highly unlikely to spread on a large scale. "If the networks have taught us anything multiplayer , is that these coins are affirmed by the use, non-intellectual manner. respond to users' needs. "Davis agrees:" The important thing is not money itself, but the fact you can use it at McDonald's or supermarket. "In other words, systems will not be used widely as BitCoin by criminals until they are paradoxically too sure to be able to be exploited.
[...]
 In reality, the minority will be powerful, criminal or not, to reap the highest profits from these subtle changes. Will be 1 percent. Probably not everyone will use BitCoin 1.0, but surely many more will use BitCoin 3.0 or 4.0.
[...]
"If the new payment systems as BitCoin evolve in a certain direction, the traditional forms of embargo and economic sanctions could lose its effectiveness in these free ports [Seasteading or other libertarian enclaves].
 

 Money Digital Network: a virtual river of cash
 - http://bit.ly/H9nk7k

[ribuck]

Today's paper edition of "The Times" has two lengthy and detailed articles about Silk Road that mention Bitcoins. One of these articles is referenced from the newspaper's front page. There's also a general article about Bitcoins (with a large full-color Bitcoin logo) that mentions -- amongst other things -- Plato's Bitcoin road trip.

Press hits don't get any more mainstream than a prominent feature in The Times of London.

[cbeast]

Today's paper edition of "The Times" has two lengthy and detailed articles about Silk Road that mention Bitcoins. One of these articles is referenced from the newspaper's front page. There's also a general article about Bitcoins (with a large full-color Bitcoin logo) that mentions -- amongst other things -- Plato's Bitcoin road trip.

Press hits don't get any more mainstream than a prominent feature in The Times of London.

The Times of London doesn't get any more prominent than being encoded into the Genesis Block. I hope that is at least mentioned in the stories.

[julz]

Africa -- the next frontier for virtual currency?

Emily Alpert
2012-04-03

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/04/bitcoin-virtual-money-africa-rudiger-koch.html


So far the idea hasn't caught on in Africa. Though Bitcoin is based on free software that anyone can use, “we have to admit that Bitcoin is at this point a currency that's almost exclusively used by computer geeks and libertarians,” who are more common in the developed world, Koch wrote in an email. “You can count African Bitcoin users on two hands, literally.”

[julz]

Musicians, Artists Invited to Put Digital Goods Up for Sale on CoinDL

Adrianne Jeffries
2012-04-03

http://www.betabeat.com/2012/04/03/coindl-aims-to-make-bitcoin-a-bit-more-mainstream/


A new Bitcoin commerce site, CoinDL, makes it fast and easy to buy and sell virtual goods from music to avatars.
...

[ribuck]

The Times of London doesn't get any more prominent than being encoded into the Genesis Block. I hope that is at least mentioned in the stories.

Heh, it wasn't mentioned

[Proofer]

A fascinating (and complex) post about 'mental poker'. (URL dated April 1st - but the topic is too complicated for me to judge if any of it is a joke!)
Reminds me of the Bitcoin brain wallet.

It's not a joke.  Mental poker, like Bitcoin, is one of the concrete uses of the abstract idea of using cryptographic techniques to achieve distributed systems that are trustworthy despite the absence of trusted central or third parties.  For more, see the wikipedia article on mental poker (linked to in the blog entry linked to in this quote):

Poker is hard, especially for cryptographers

Matthew Green (cryptographer and research professor at Johns Hopkins University)
2012-04-02

http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2012_04_01_archive.html

[julz]

Stick it to the Banks with Bitcoin

Brittany Stepniak
2012-04-03

http://www.wealthwire.com/news/finance/2953

[julz]

How To Obtain Financial Privacy Through Using BitCoin

Trace Mayer
2012-04-03

http://www.howtovanish.com/2012/04/bitcoin-how-to-obtain-financial-privacy/

[julz]

Some fake journalist's take on it

Not So Golden Years: Seven And A Half Things To Know

Mark Gongloff
2012-04-02

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/seven-and-a-half-things-you-need-to-know_n_1396047.html


Thing Seven: Bitcoin Of The Realm: The hot new toy/Ponzi scheme/weapon of financial destruction sweeping Wall Street is something called Bitcoin, which is fake online money that some people think will become a new global currency. "Bitcoin has become the Wild West of finance, with a proliferation of websites offering loosely regulated replicas of the services familiar to those in the financial industry," writes Naomi O'Leary of Reuters. What could possibly go wrong?

[julz]

John Stossel is a broadcast journalist who hosts "Stossel" on the Fox Business Network

Let’s Give the Fed Some Competition

John Stossel
2012-04-04

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/john-stossel/2012/04/04/lets-give-the-fed-some-competition/
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/04/04/lets_give_the_fed_some_competition_113725.html

...
Former Federal Reserve economist David Barker discussed this idea recently with me.
...
Barker said the information age may break down the government's monopoly on money.

"There are experiments going on. There's something called Bitcoin (bitcoin.org), which is an electronic money that some people are experimenting with. The legal status is a bit unclear."
...

[Transisto]

Reddit, (bestof) 1000+ upvote, "JackedIn explains the internet that some don't know of"
http://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/rr3j8/jackedin_explains_the_internet_that_some_dont/
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/rqdbj/reddit_what_is_in_your_opinion_the_scariest_thing/c47twlf

the unindexed web, or dark/deep/invisible web. This is truly the darkest side of the internet, and anyone who is a little technically savvy can access it. Child porn, assualt weapons, drugs, even hitmen, this is the true internet, this is where everything you hear on the news goes down.

Its scary because its a decentralized system of internet fueled by a decentralized currancy (usually Bit Coins). Anything can happen on the deep web and no one can be held repsonsible.

[julz]

Unfortunately, the ridiculous claim that this centralized system is any sort of 'version of Bitcoin' - probably isn't obviously ridiculous to enough people.

Canada To Launch Its Own Version Of BitCoin Called MintChip

Austin Carr
2012-04-04

http://www.fastcompany.com/1829662/canada-to-launch-its-own-version-of-bitcoin-called-mintchip?partner=gnews

[julz]

A more sensible take on the MintChip topic which explains why it's nothing like Bitcoin.

Royal Canadian Mint’s “MintChip” Looks To Officially Digitize Cash

Devin Coldewey
2012-04-04

http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/04/royal-canadian-mints-mintchip-looks-to-officially-digitize-cash/


 Others around the net have likened it to Bitcoin, but that’s really an inapt comparison. MintChip isn’t a virtual currency, it’s a virtual wallet, something which has been tried before.

[julz]

The Royal Canadian Mint explores a Bitcoin alternative

Patricio Robles
2012-04-04

http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/9530-the-royal-canadian-mint-explores-a-bitcoin-alternative


...

Bitcoin has not only gained more adoption than skeptics could have imagined possible, but it has created a fascinating discussion around how currency will evolve in the 21st century.

...


But the mere interest of an institution like The Royal Canadian Mint in a Bitcoin-like digital currency suggests that within the next decade we could see dramatic change and innovation around 'money' and how we exchange it.

[Spekulatius]

New York Times online/Opinion Pages

by

Jerry Brito is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and director of its Technology Policy Program. He also serves as an adjunct professor of law at George Mason.
...
Moving away from paper notes and coins and toward a digital currency is a no-brainer, at least when it comes to cost and efficiency. But when it comes to privacy and freedom, cash can't be beat. We must ensure that we protect our civil liberties by preserving some untraceable payment method.
...
Imagine if the only way to support unpopular causes was with easily controlled e-money. Certain transactions could be disallowed by law, political pressure or corporate fiat, and anonymous giving would be impossible.
...
The nascent digital currency Bitcoin has demonstrated that such e-cash is possible. Bitcoin employs no user-identifiable accounts, relying instead on public key cryptography, so there is no way to know who gave money to whom. And because no intermediaries are needed for Bitcoin transactions, governments have no intermediaries to regulate.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/04/04/bringing-dollars-and-cents-into-this-century/a-shift-toward-digital-currency

Positive plea for cryptocurrencies, only mentioning BTC

[Spekulatius]

Süddeutsche Zeitung online/Service section (large national German newspaper): BitcoinsFacebook Credits WoW-Gold

Bitcoins sind virtuelles Geld mit dem Anspruch einer richtigen Währung. Dahinter steht ein Netzwerk von Menschen, die dem Open-Source-Gedanken nahe stehen. Bitcoins werden nicht gedruckt, sondern mithilfe von Computern im Netzwerk berechnet

Short article giving a rundown on what bitcoin is. No value judgement.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/I5738L/557273/BitcoinsFacebook-Credits-WoW-Gold.html

[Spekulatius]

Frankfurter Rundschau (online)/Wirtschaft (large regional German newspaper): Onlinewährung Bitcoin weckt Interesse der Finanzwelt
title: Online currency Bitcoin awakens interest of Financial World

Die Finanzbranche wird auf die Onlinewährung Bitcoin aufmerksam. Die Währung ermöglicht anonymen Zahlungsverkehr und gilt als fälschungssicher. Bei einem Hackerangriff wäre sie allerdings anfällig.
...
Die digitale Währung Bitcoin ist ins Visier der Bankenbranche geraten. Von vielen lange als System von Nerds belächelt, gilt Bitcoin heute einigen als der letzte Schrei.
...
Ein Unternehmen, das mit Bitcoin-Optionen handelt, war jüngst für eine halbe Million Dollar an die entsprechende E-Börse gegangen. [Bitcoinica? Welche E-Börse? Anm. d. R.]
...
Trotz der zunehmenden Nutzung stuft beispielsweise die Bundesbank Bitcoins nicht als elektronische Währung ein. Illegal ist die Internetwährung jedoch nicht - schließlich kann jeder selbst bestimmen, welchen Gegenwert er für eine erbrachte Leistung verlangt. Bankenexperte Simon Lelieveldt glaubt, dass sich die Bitcoins nur für eine begrenzte Zeit auf dem Markt halten werden.

Article resembling and featuring many points made by the recent "Bitcoin, the City traders' anarchic new toy" article by Naomie O´Leary on Reuters. Overally positive about Bitcoin.

http://www.fr-online.de/wirtschaft/bitcoin-onlinewaehrung-bitcoin-weckt-interesse-der-finanzwelt,1472780,14684914.html

[Spekulatius]

BILD/Finanzticker (online) (largest German tabloid): Bitcoins: Banker haben neues Spielzeug
title: Bitcoins: Bankers have new Toy

TOPMELDUNG – Bitcoins: Banker haben neues Spielzeug: Finanzhändler haben ein neues Spielzeug: Die digitale Währung Bitcoin ist ins Visier der Bankenbranche geraten. Von vielen lange als System von Nerds belächelt, gilt Bitcoin heute einigen als der letzte Schrei. Längst haben Börsianer ihren Gefallen an der unkonventionellen Zahlungsart gefunden und machen Geschäfte mit Bitcoins. Im Gegensatz zu herkömmlichen Währungen basiert diese virtuelle Bezahlmöglichkeit auf einem Computernetzwerk und unterliegt keiner zentralen Kontrolle. Ein Bitcoin ist auf Handelsbörsen derzeit knapp 4,90 Dollar wert. Umrechnungskurse gibt es auch für andere Währungen. Bitcoins können in 15 offizielle Valuta umgetauscht werden.

The above quote is actually the whole "article". The same as the preceding one in the Frankfurter Rundschau, just 4 times shorter.

http://www.bild.de/geld/wirtschaft/wirtschaftsticker/wichtige-meldungen-aus-der-wirtschaft-23509676.bild.html

[Spekulatius]

Brisbane Times (online): Bitcoin: digital currency attracts financial traders

Completely overtaken article from Reuters by Naomie O'Leary

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/technology-news/bitcoin-digital-currency-attracts-financial-traders-20120403-1w9o7.html