The Bitcoin Association of Great Britain

[pollen_bit]

Lee Adams networks with #IamSatoshi.
Please support:

http://www.iamsatoshi.com/bitcoin-association-great-britain/

[franky1]

just read the webpage. seems your at an early stage. and your IT experience would have initially made me think your going to produce software/ web services revolving around bitcoin. EG a UK pound sterling version of bitpay.

but it seems you want investment to investigate tax.

i have been around long enough to have had lengthy talks with FSA, HMRC, a few banks, merchants. to have a reasonable opinion on where the UK stands at the moment in terms of bitcoin. knowing its positive points and things holding it back.

the tax question has pretty much been dealt with already. so what else will the UK association provide.

I ask this as an active investor and promoter of bitcoins in the UK with a few successes under my belt and a endless list of plans for the future which i would love to see more of the community pull together to achieve.

and a bit of friendly advice try not to get too involved with 'mohawk' AKA Amir taaki. his uptopian dream is great but the descriptions of the real world are beyond anarchistic and actually ruin chances of merchant integration.

EG saying how the banks are out to get customers. yet the UK banking system is the fast and cheapest method to transfer money. which is why UK is not seeing as many positives about bitcoin as other countries see bitcoin as.

[pollen_bit]

franky1, many thanks for replying. IamSatoshi is a project to explore Bitcoin as an alternative to the current financial system in the networked culture we live in.
One of the angles that will be explored is Bitcoin and charity. We wanted to give the stage to Lee and his very well thought initiative and, by having yourself showing interest I believe we're all on the right track. Will you like me to connect you with Lee? He'll really appreciate it.
It will be very interesting to learn more about your Bitcoin experiences. If it's okay, I can PM you.
Best regards

[franky1]

franky1, many thanks for replying. IamSatoshi is a project to explore Bitcoin as an alternative to the current financial system in the networked culture we live in.
One of the angles that will be explored is Bitcoin and charity. We wanted to give the stage to Lee and his very well thought initiative and, by having yourself showing interest I believe we're all on the right track. Will you like me to connect you with Lee? He'll really appreciate it.
It will be very interesting to learn more about your Bitcoin experiences. If it's okay, I can PM you.
Best regards

sure no problems

[pollen_bit]

Thanks!
I passed your message on. An account in Bitcointalk was created and they need to wait the normal time to reply.
Would you be interested in sharing your views on certain Bitcoin related topics as part of my documentary research?
Thanks again

[franky1]

Thanks!
I passed your message on. An account in Bitcointalk was created and they need to wait the normal time to reply.
Would you be interested in sharing your views on certain Bitcoin related topics as part of my documentary research?
Thanks again

many views, many idea's but im not much of a public face. (bad voice and ugly) so ill stick to text comments and suggestions.

the UK population seem a little smarter then the US counterparts. where for instance the "we use coins" video states that bitcoins are virtually fee free, instant, blah blah. are not actually fully true statements to make.

the main view of bitcoin in the UK is that with "faster payment" scheme UK banks offer, bitcoin does not give much benefit for wire transmitting to other UK residents or Euro residents. unlike bitcoin requiring 10 minute minimal confirm time, i have wire transferred many thousands of pounds to other UK banks in under 30 seconds.

the other view is that if i wanted to send £500 from lands-end to john o'groats. finding someone in lands end to convert £ to BTC incur's an above market value fee due to the guy on local-bitcoins.com or #bitcoin-otc-uk wanting to make a couple % profit. and the same again at the other end. also sending the coin itself may incur a transaction fee. thus turning  £500 into a £490 on just 1% profit at each end (but in reality and experience is more like 2%-5% (£470 receipt))

as for mining, electricity costs being double that of the US, this makes the UK priced out of profit mining anything. especially if you begin looking at the cheaper deals the US get on GPU equipment compared to the UK retail/2nd hand ebay market.

i have not talked about the whole banking/FSA/Tax as a negative thing, because, chats from talking to all of these departments has show me in actual fact bitcoin is not a negative thing to worry about.
now thats the short and sweet of the negatives.. my views on the positives and the ways bitcoin can benefit the country is a much longer story. but i will just title the idea's below for now
credit unions
teentrepreneurs (teenage entrepreneurs)
sending money abroad
contracts and loans
store of wealth
holiday travel money
retail
manufacturing
and much more

[maco]

is there other associations happening in other locations that you know about? or is this only for this in Britain?

What's a Bitcoin association anyways?

[franky1]

is there other associations happening in other locations that you know about? or is this only for this in Britain?

this particular thread is great britain. although theres nothing stopping you starting a new topic.

What's a Bitcoin association anyways?

im still trying to work it out. im in the south west and there isnt much action here.

theres a couple other people who have formed 'groups' in area's like manchester, london, birmingham. but a few of them seem to just be social gatherings rather then business networking.

i personally am looking more for the business networking groups, although social gatherings are a bonus.

no matter what country you are in Maco, im pretty sure if you start a thread mentioning your location you will soon find some like minded people

[pollen_bit]

@Franky1:
'(bad voice and ugly)' - That will make two of us   Would still love to have you as part of the documentary as your views seem strong/articulate and a bit more 'sober' than the vast majority.
@MACO:
Thanks for your interest, as stated above, we're producing a research led documentary project and will love to see more local Business/Charity groups starting (and listen to their stories). Keep in touch!

[bagbtrustee1]

Hi Guys,


Thanks for your interest in this.

BAGB's mission would be to help organisations use bitcoin in the UK. It's vision is to be a shining example of how to run an organisation using bitcoin. The aim is to get bagb registered as a charity with the charities commission.

We currently have 2 committed people willing to be founders, but another 2 have dropped out (it appears bitcoin people do not have much time at the moment). As we need at least 3 people this has stalled. I have also found that I am too busy to rustle up more support in this idea.

Much more is available on github; look for BitcoinAssociationofGreatBritain

Lee.