Bitcoin is not a virtual currency!

[BitcoinMoxy]

We went offline for a couple of days to promote Bitcoin in local retail and discovered a general misconception in how Bitcoin is often presented to non-Bitcoiners:

Referring to Bitcoin as a 'virtual currency' is a misnomer!

As opposed to credit card, debit card or online payments in USD/EUR/Etc. which offer vouchers, either digital or analog, for possible exchange into fiat cash, Bitcoin, when used in its proper form, is actually non-virtual, i.e. real digital cash.

Many people within the Bitcoin community seem to misunderstand this important fact about the money we use!

Emphasizing on this fact also seems to spark retailers' curiosity when we talk to them.


BitcoinMoxy.com

[1714931815]

1714931815

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

Yeah, saying virtual puts off many people, they think it's just some flick like WoW gold or something backed by a single individual, calling it digital however makes it sound better.

[Gabi]

Bitcoin is digital gold.

[juca]

We went offline for a couple of days to promote Bitcoin in local retail and discovered a general misconception in how Bitcoin is often presented to non-Bitcoiners:

Referring to Bitcoin as a 'virtual currency' is a misnomer!

As opposed to credit card, debit card or online payments in USD/EUR/Etc. which offer vouchers, either digital or analog, for possible exchange into fiat cash, Bitcoin, when used in its proper form, is actually non-virtual, i.e. real digital cash.

Many people within the Bitcoin community seem to misunderstand this important fact about the money we use!

Emphasizing on this fact also seems to spark retailers' curiosity when we talk to them.


BitcoinMoxy.com

woaa...so true.

[ChazM]

Only because so many people relate "virtual" to "computer" do they forget that:

 "virtual" =/= "digital"; virtual == "not real"

[sublime5447]

Bitcoin is virtual it is not real it is just numbers. Money is not real and neither is bitcoin. It is all fake. It has no value, it even has less value than paper money. Paper money is worth the number of btu's you can extract from burning it , bitcoin has no intrinsic value, what gives bitcoin value is our mutual belief that it has worth. It is just a dream that we share.   

[Gabi]

But i can buy things!

[sublime5447]

The things are real wealth bitcoin is just a representation of wealth.

[elor70]

Bitcoin is a way to pay=currnecy

[Serge]

A US Federal judge in Texas just ruled that Bitcoin is in fact, a currency.

~BCX~

No, that is not what they ruled.

[Serge]

A US Federal judge in Texas just ruled that Bitcoin is in fact, a currency.

~BCX~

No, that is not what they ruled.

Yes that's exactly what the Judge ruled today.

http://www.law360.com/articles/462977


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanmaglich/2013/08/07/court-green-lights-bitcoin-lawsuit-rules-investments-constitute-securities/



~BCX~

first link reads the same as all those news reporting Thailand banning bitcoin drama.  if you read carefully forbe's artile, you will see that court decided against Shaver's claims that BTCST did not operate in investment securities and did not fall under SEC jurisdiction, which court decided against. The Judge simply recognized Bitcoin being as a form of money which can be used in investment securities, exchanged for traditional currencies and to buy goods and services with it.  There were no official ruling on whether Bitcoin is legally defined as a currency or not.

in other thread you mentioned Liberty Dollars and that there is a bunch of laws designed specifically for currencies inclining that bitcoiners may be in trouble with this 'precedent' for making their own money. Firstly you dismiss the fact that US does not prohibit private currencies, there are few that exists and function today in the US. Secondly bitcoin does not try to compete with and look closely resembling with legal tender for which LD got in trouble; there are no single entity issuing Bitcoins and no single miner has control over bitcoin's production mechanism and clearly do not fall under any currency counterfeiting laws that protect USD.

[tbly13]

I told my 60 yr old dad about bitcoin and his only response was "Is that like baseball cards or something"

[HereToTrade]

I told my 60 yr old dad about bitcoin and his only response was "Is that like baseball cards or something"

LOL this made me laugh so hard  ;

[bg002h]

Bitcoin is free speech; what is a Bitcoin transaction other than rule based editing of a shared public ledger?

If I shout loudly my private key, and a terrorist hears me and creates a ledger entry increasing the number of bitcoins associated with a private key known only to him, am I funding terrorism?

Anyhow, bitcoin (in the US) is money now:
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/08/06/Bitcoin.pdf

[niko]

This is true. "Virtual" is a misnomer in case of bitcoins. "Digital cash" or "electronic cash" or "digital currency" - these are all more appropriate.  There is more to Bitcoin than bitcoins, though. Bitcoin is a public ledger of digitally signed and timestamped messages.

As for intrinsic value, it is not true that Bitcoin doesn't have any. Just like you can use paper money to produce heat in a fireplace, or to make confetti, you can use Bitcoin to timestamp, digitally sign, publicly anounce, and validate messages world-wide. We use these messages as announcements of transactions of units of account (bitcoins , or more precisely satoshis). In other words, while bitcoins have no intrinsic value, Bitcoin does.

[vokain]

at this point I don't even care what people think bitcoin is, as long as they buy it. i could try to specify what it really is but there's simply not enough time in the world

this man is right:

A US Federal judge in Texas just ruled that Bitcoin is in fact, a currency.

~BCX~

No, that is not what they ruled.

Yes that's exactly what the Judge ruled today.

http://www.law360.com/articles/462977


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanmaglich/2013/08/07/court-green-lights-bitcoin-lawsuit-rules-investments-constitute-securities/



~BCX~

first link reads the same as all those news reporting Thailand banning bitcoin drama.  if you read carefully forbe's artile, you will see that court decided against Shaver's claims that BTCST did not operate in investment securities and did not fall under SEC jurisdiction, which court decided against. The Judge simply recognized Bitcoin being as a form of money which can be used in investment securities, exchanged for traditional currencies and to buy goods and services with it.  There were no official ruling on whether Bitcoin is legally defined as a currency or not.

in other thread you mentioned Liberty Dollars and that there is a bunch of laws designed specifically for currencies inclining that bitcoiners may be in trouble with this 'precedent' for making their own money. Firstly you dismiss the fact that US does not prohibit private currencies, there are few that exists and function today in the US. Secondly bitcoin does not try to compete with and look closely resembling with legal tender for which LD got in trouble; there are no single entity issuing Bitcoins and no single miner has control over bitcoin's production mechanism and clearly do not fall under any currency counterfeiting laws that protect USD.

[uMMcQxCWELNzkt]

I told my 60 yr old dad about bitcoin and his only response was "Is that like baseball cards or something"

LOL this made me laugh so hard  ;

I told my girlfriend about Bitcoin while also mentioning food and she said "mmm sounds tasty". Really?

[poewerden]

Virtual currency seems ok to me

virtual like not physical
currency also know as some value to buy goods/services or get value for selling goods/services

[gollum]

I prefer bitcoin to stay a "virtual currency" from a legal perspective as we have more freedom to use virtual currencies than with "real" currencies.

[doof]

I have been doing the same (speaking to brick and mortar stores) about BTC.  As soon as you mention "you get 100% of the invoice, no fees to the bank" they seem to get onboard.