My name is Dan Dascalescu and I'm the co-founder and COO/CTO of Blueseed, an upcoming community for startup entrepreneurs in international waters, 12 nautical miles (30 minutes by ferry) from the Silicon Valley coast. I'll be speaking about Blueseed and Bitcoin at the Bitcoin2013 conference on May 19.

I've been a Bitcoin user since 2011, and I'm posting here to get the community's feedback on what topics you'd like discussed. The talk will be recorded and made available online. I'll only have a 30 minutes slot to discuss the interplay between the world's largest tech-oriented colony on a semi-independent jurisdiction, and the world's most advanced cryptocurrency... fun times.

Very briefly, Blueseed was founded in August 2011 by former directors at The Seasteading Institute, is seed-funded, has a solid business model (rent + startups equity), we've done all the research possible at this stage - ocean conditions, ship stability, ship chartering, Internet connectivity, ferry and helicopter transportation, resupply chain, waste handling, visas and immigration matters, you name it. Preliminary discussions with U.S. authorities indicate not only non-interference, but actual support. 400 startups have already expressed interest, and we've received excellent press coverage. As long as we raise Series A funding on time, Blueseed should be in the water during the summer of next year.

As such, most likely any non-Bitcoin question about Blueseed has been already asked and answered. I'll also be replying to individual mentions of Blueseed that I see were made in quite a few other threads on the forum, notably Bitcoin Island and Bitcoin Island/City and More. In the interest of time, please read up a bit on Blueseed, as remarks likening us to Bioshock/Waterworld/Lord of The Flies, suggesting that pirates will invade the ship, or that it "steals American jobs", are unoriginal and will be summarily ignored.

Please make sure to read the Blueseed Quick Facts and the Blueseed FAQ to familiarize yourself with the venture.
For plenty of videos (we've been all over the news), head over to blueseed.tv.

What would you like to be discussed? I'll split the 30 minutes of the talk into a meaty presentation of Blueseed and a Q&A/discussion session.

So far we have the following:

• Will Blueseed accept Bitcoin for payments, e.g. for rent?
• What currency will be dominant onboard? Will items in the shops there, such as food, be denominated in USD but BTC is just as welcome/preferred?
• Will companies use BTC to trade between each other for B2B services?
• What Bitcoin-centered business models would have an advantage in the Blueseed environment?
• How can BTC owners invest in Blueseed?
• How can BTC owners reserve a spot?

I'm looking forward to your proposed topics and questions.

Cool stuff...

Going to be there in a few weeks! Can't wait!

This is a great first step toward full seasteading.

Related to bitcoin, have you been getting any funding in bitcoin?

Oh.

Last question.

Will there be a place to tie up my sailboat while I visit the restaurant / gambling casino?

Hi Dan! Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions directly.

The most obvious question I'm sure you'll need to answer at bitcoin2013 is: what currency will be dominant onboard? Will items in the shops there, such as food, be denominated in USD but BTC is just as welcome/preferred? Will companies use BTC to trade between each other for B2B services?

It should go without saying that if you could somehow make BTC the Primary currency onboard, blueseed would be doing bitcoin a HUGE service to help stabilize and legitimize the fledgling currency.

The prospect that interests me the most here is about a possible tenant onboard offering bitcoin services like an exchange to rival MtGox. (Or something even more shady, like Casino.) Assuming you have no problems with energy nor internet connections, I wonder if there are any bitcoin-central business models that would have an advantage in that environment?

Best of luck to you and the boat. I hope to visit it myself.

im more worried about the US than anything else. Its US laws that this is attempting to circumvent.

the bluesseed wouldn't really need a way to stop this sort of attack, all they would need is a way to identify the attacker. If they could do that than i expect they would be perfectly safe.

Blueseed will be no worse, nor better, protected from unidentifiable attacks than any other naval vessel in international waters.  Admirality law applies in this context, and firing upon any ship flying a legally recognizable flag is an act of war.  That doesn't mean that it can't happen, but there are a number of less risky methods of undermining the Blueseed project than attacking the ship itself.  With the right kind of insurance coverage, sinking the ship won't even end the project.  Just make sure that the underwriting company is a major US corporation, so any losses that Blueseed takes can be translated directly into tax losses for the US tax base.

insurance duh.

thanks.

Dan is Peter Thiel still involved in this idea?