Bitcoin press hits, notable sources

[julz]

This author doesn't seem to understand that Bitcoin is a payment substrate upon which almost anything can be built. If such properties as he describes are really desired for particular markets, they can be constructed as an overlay.   

Why payments won’t ever be anonymous

2011-12-16
Felix Salmon

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/12/16/why-payments-wont-ever-be-anonymous/

"The future of payments, then, is likely to be highly personalized and reversible — exactly the opposite of the anonymous and irreversible protocols built into Bitcoin. And that’s one big reason Bitcoin is not going to be a long-term success."

[Boussac]

Why payments won’t ever be anonymous

2011-12-16
Felix Salmon

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/12/16/why-payments-wont-ever-be-anonymous/

"The future of payments, then, is likely to be highly personalized and reversible — exactly the opposite of the anonymous and irreversible protocols built into Bitcoin. And that’s one big reason Bitcoin is not going to be a long-term success."

Some people have trouble understanding that i'ts easy to use an anonymous system in nominative mode and not the other way around.

The same people usually do not undestand either that we can have trusted third parties in a decentralized system (escrow, hosted wallets etc) but that we cannot turn a centralized banking system in a decentralized network like bitcoin.

[grondilu]

Some people have trouble understanding that i'ts easy to use an anonymous system in nominative mode and not the other way around.

The same people usually do not undestand either that we can have trusted third parties in a decentralized system (escrow, hosted wallets etc) but that we cannot turn a centralized banking system in a decentralized network like bitcoin.

Exactly. I had trouble phrasing it correctly but you nailed it.

[julz]

Just a passing mention of bitcoin in Business Insider

A Quick Trip Inside Peter Thiel's Dream World

Matt Rosoff
2011-12-16

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-12-16/tech/30523955_1_work-visas-ocean-liner-singularity-institute


But overall, the night had an almost wild-eyed science-fiction feel to it. Some moments that stuck out:

I spoke to Seasteading president Michael Keenan for a few minutes about his group's dream of building a floating island off the cost of San Francisco and filing it with startups manned by workers who can't get full-time U.S. work visas. The group is working to buy a decommissioned ocean liner to park 12 miles off the coast of San Francisco, and has thought about issues like currency (U.S. dollars at first, but perhaps something like Bitcoin eventually) and a possible global economic downturn (it would reduce the pool of potential investors, but ocean liners would be really cheap!) But he admitted that they're still a long way from actually launching something that a reporter could actually tour and see. Maybe in 2013.


Read more: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-12-16/tech/30523955_1_work-visas-ocean-liner-singularity-institute#ixzz1gnNkw2kA

Also appears on SFGate 'home of the San Francisco Chronicle'
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/12/16/businessinsidera-quick-trip-inside-.DTL

[jgarzik]

CBS Press Release mentions "Bitcoin for Dummies" episode of "Good Wife":

http://www.cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/releases/view?id=30177

“Bitcoin For Dummies” – Alicia defends a lawyer who hires the firm after the government arrests him for not revealing the name of an anonymous client: a mysterious computer programmer who illegally invented a new online currency, on “THE GOOD WIFE,” Sunday, Jan. 15 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television.  Jason Biggs (“American Pie”) guest stars as Alicia’s latest client.  Carrie Preston (“True Blood”) returns as Elsbeth Tascioni. 

[giszmo]

CBS Press Release mentions "Bitcoin for Dummies" episode of "Good Wife":

http://www.cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/releases/view?id=30177

Sorry. This site is not available from your location.

Germany ...

[paraipan]

CBS Press Release mentions "Bitcoin for Dummies" episode of "Good Wife":

http://www.cbspressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/releases/view?id=30177

Sorry. This site is not available from your location.

Germany ...

+1, Spain

edit: fixed... http://1.hidemyass.com/ip-4/encoded/Oi8vd3d3LmNic3ByZXNzZXhwcmVzcy5jb20vY2JzLWVudGVydGFpbm1lbnQvcmVsZWFzZXMvdmlldz9pZD0zMDE3Nw%3D%3D&f=norefer

[julz]

I count this posting as a notable source..

Bitcoin rising from its own ashes

Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn
2011-12-19

https://plus.google.com/108313527900507320366/posts/QDga9NM3Dgp

snipped from wikipedia:
"Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn (born Bryce Wilcox), is a peer-to-peer hacker and cypherpunk known for his work on DigiCash, Mojo Nation, Mnet, Mixminion, and Tahoe-LAFS. He is the designer of multiple network protocols that incorporate such concepts as self-contained economies and secure reputation systems. He is the co-designer, along with Phil Zimmermann, of ZRTP.[1] Zooko is credited as the originator of Zooko's triangle, a schema that relates three desirable properties of identifiers."

[finway]

snipped from wikipedia:
"Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn (born Bryce Wilcox), is a peer-to-peer hacker and cypherpunk known for his work on DigiCash, Mojo Nation, Mnet, Mixminion, and Tahoe-LAFS. He is the designer of multiple network protocols that incorporate such concepts as self-contained economies and secure reputation systems. He is the co-designer, along with Phil Zimmermann, of ZRTP.[1] Zooko is credited as the originator of Zooko's triangle, a schema that relates three desirable properties of identifiers."

Who's Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn on this forum?

[julz]

Solid BitCoin Consolidation Finally Bears A BitCoin Breakout

Trace Mayer,J.D
2011-12-19

http://www.runtogold.com/2011/12/solid-bitcoin-consolidation-finally-bears-a-bitcoin-breakout/

Watching this breakout and ensuing upleg in BitCoins is going to be exciting. Since the last rally in June there have been real life applications developed from mobile payments to massive online stores with hundreds of thousands of items, entrepreneurs have stepped in to accept BitCoins as payment, the client has been greatly improved, exchange security has been enhanced, with proper privacy hygiene your cryptographic hash is more secure than even a gold coin and more people understand what BitCoins are, how they work and why they want some.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Trace Mayer, J.D., author of The Great Credit Contraction holds a degree in Accounting, a law degree from California Western School of Law and studies the Austrian school of economics. He works as an entrepreneur, investor, journalist and monetary scientist. He is a strong advocate of the freedom of speech, a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the San Diego County Bar Association. He has appeared on ABC, NBC, BNN, radio shows and presented at many investment conferences throughout the world. T

[Darren (TradeHill)]

http://www.revistavoto.com.br/emagazine/edicoes/20111213/index.htm

Page 40 "Moeda Digital: Oportunidade ou Risco?"  Opportunity or Risk

Brasilian Magazine publication of Terra, one of the country's largest newspapers- in Portuguese

[wareen]

Ars Technica revisits its October "Bitcoin implodes" story:

We thought Bitcoin's value would continue to collapse, but so far that hasn't happened. Instead, after hitting a low of $2, it rose back above $3 in early December, and on Monday it rose above $4 for the first time in two months. It's impossible to predict where the currency will go next, but at a minimum it looks like the currency will still be around in 2012.

This presents a bit of a puzzle for Bitcoin skeptics. The original run-up in prices could easily be explained as a speculative bubble, and the subsequent decline as the popping of that bubble. But if that were the whole story, then the value of Bitcoins should have continued to decline as more and more people lost confidence in the currency. That hasn't been happening.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/bitcoins-comeback-should-western-union-be-afraid.ars

They still deem Bitcoin a bad currency because of its volatility but they frame it as a possible metacurrency useful to transfer funds across countries, threatening Western Untion's business model:

Western Union moved $70 billion across borders in 2010, earning about $1 billion in profits. There's no Bitcoin Inc. to compete directly with Western Union, but the owners of Bitcoins can be thought of as shareholders in a decentralized Western Union alternative. If the Bitcoin network captures a small fraction of Western Union's money-transfer business, the currency's current "market capitalization" of around $30 million could wind up looking downright puny.

Sounds good to me!

[julz]

The Ars Technica piece also shows up on wired:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/12/bitcoins-comeback/


and another small piece based on the Ars Technica story:

The Bitcoin Collapse That Never Happened

Rebecca Greenfield
2011-12-21

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/12/bitcoin-collapse-never-happened/46522/

[julz]

This looks like an interesting concept for a form of 'green address' which doesn't rely on trust in a particular entity.

Instant transfer with Bitcoin but without 3rd parties

Jannes Vermorel
2011-12-20

http://vermorel.com/process/CreateJournalEntryComment?moduleId=5042156&entryId=14193327&finalize=true

[HostFat]

This looks like an interesting concept for a form of 'green address' which doesn't rely on trust in a particular entity.

Instant transfer with Bitcoin but without 3rd parties

Jannes Vermorel
2011-12-20

http://vermorel.com/process/CreateJournalEntryComment?moduleId=5042156&entryId=14193327&finalize=true

Good! I hope to see some comments from some devs

[julz]

Bitcoin Reborn: As a Financial Wire Service for the $10 Trillion System D?

John Robb
2011-12-21

http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2011/12/bitcoin-finds-its-intrinsic-value.html

[julz]

Perhaps not a particularly notable source - but this guy has been following bitcoin with a skeptical eye since at least may 2011.

Bitcoin’s Worth: Liquidity, Volatility and (Least of All) Value.

David Klemke
2011-12-22

http://www.therefinedgeek.com.au/index.php/2011/12/22/bitcoins-worth-liquidity-volatility-and-least-of-all-value/

Right now Bitcoin still has the same inherent instability that allowed speculators to create the huge bubble back in June and until it manages to stabilize itself I can’t see getting past the technical novel stage. Whether it’s capable of doing this I can’t comment on as whilst it’s a technically elegant solution economically the challenges it faces are quite large and I’m not sure they have a simple solution.

[julz]

Bitcoin vs. Western Union: It’s About Strength in Numbers

Kit Dotson
2011-12-22

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2011/12/22/bitcoin-vs-western-union-it%E2%80%99s-about-strength-in-numbers/

This resurgence of value has caught the attention of media outlets like Ars Technica, in an article cross-posted in Wired Magazine, Timothy B. Lee argues that Bitcoin could be a threat to international money exchanges like Western Union, but couldn’t possibly be a proper currency in-of-itself.

...

Bitcoin still has a long way to go and claims about its eventual power will only draw blood with serrated speculation.

[cbeast]

http://www.americanbanker.com/the-scan/the-scan-friday-december-23-2011-1045137-1.html

We remain fascinated by this digital underground currency and the endearing subculture of dollar-distrusting libertarians, cryptography geeks, and earnest entrepreneurs that's blossomed around it. There's been a lively debate in the blogosphere about whether Bitcoin poses a serious threat to the established monetary and banking order and what value it brings to those who use it.

[julz]

This article seems a little hyperbolic, but if browsers can 'war' why not online currencies?

The online currency wars are coming

Milo Yiannopoulos
2011-12-23

http://www.kernelmag.com/yiannopoulos/2011/12/the-online-currency-wars-are-coming/

...which of the new virtual currencies and credit systems will emerge victorious in the greatest war the internet has ever seen.