Reggie Middleton uses car analogy to explain that Bitcoin is not a bubble

[anu]

Reggie was also correct on the housing bubble.

interesting car analogy.

So was Mike Maloney.

He was also right on Gold n Silver....

....until one day he wasn't.

How is MM wrong? Because of the current setback in gold? Its moving up again. There is a chance of a 1929 style crash of the DOW next week or in two:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/scary-1929-market-chart-gains-traction-2014-02-11
This thing is spreading and even if the correlation is purely random, it has the quality of a self fulfilling prophecy. In particular since all the other things that made 1929 happen are in place today.

Where do you think Gold (and Bitcoin) goes if the Dow is at under 10000 at the end of the month? It may well be that MM's predictions turn out to be conservative.

[1714509100]

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[1714509100]

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[anu]

Reggie was also correct on the housing bubble.

interesting car analogy.

So was Mike Maloney.

He was also right on Gold n Silver....

....until one day he wasn't.

How is MM wrong? Because of the current setback in gold? Its moving up again. There is a chance of a 1929 style crash of the DOW next week or in two:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/scary-1929-market-chart-gains-traction-2014-02-11
This thing is spreading and even if the correlation is purely random, it has the quality of a self fulfilling prophecy. In particular since all the other things that made 1929 happen are in place today.

Where do you think Gold (and Bitcoin) goes if the Dow is at under 10000 at the end of the month? It may well be that MM's predictions turn out to be conservative.

You really think that bitcoin will go up if the dow goes down?

Yes, I do: Some people will not only move to gold when trust is lost in the system, they will also move into Bitcoin, because like gold, Bitcoin is not really part of the system and is therefore a hedge against systemic risk.

[molecular]

Hey Reggie,

Welcome to the Bitcoin forums... Truly a world of it's own.

How are your Bitcoin-related entrepreneurial endeavours progressing?

You might be on to something, but your descriptions lack the depth and detail necessary to evaluate that accurately.

Do you have coders? Who is helping you?

Thank you. They're moving along quite rapidly, although expensively as well. I have coders, but I'm in search of additional talent, particularly Java experts and those who are capable of scripting complex contracts. Since practically all of this stuff is essentially an ongoing R&D run with no real precedence to fall back on its hard to find good help in abundance.

So: contrarian badass who likes to step on toes makes trustless p2p betting network using bitcoin as collateral to intermediate banking (gambling?) industry?

I like it!

Still need more detail before I invest capital (monetary or human), for example:

• What type of consensus protocol will be used in UltraCoin? Proof of Work? Federated?
• Who are the people that educated you on bitcoin and/or whipped up that java prototype?
• How are you planning to stand out from competition (Mastercoin, Protoshares, XCP, ethereum (goldman sachs?))
• Why do you need to collect capital vs. just selling your watch for $113,000?

[Reggie Middleton]

You have a few misconceptions here. This is not a betting network, this is a set of (continuously growing) derivative applications.

This is not an alt.coin, this is a set of smart contract applications/wallet that rest on top of the Bitcoin protocol. I have yet to be convinced that I have to reinvent the wheel, re: bitcoin when the wheel has yet to be driven anywhere yet.

I'm self educated - on bitcoin as I am in finance, investment and technology in general. All three topics have plethora of info available, no?

I hired programmers to whip up the java prototype (their identity is not necessary). I'm funding this entire campaign out of my pocket and have had many media appearances RT/CNBC/Fortune magazine etc. since started and (at least to my knowledge) I'm the only one to have a fully functional contracts based derivative product and p2p trading app up and running.

Thus far I have not true competition. Practically everybody else that you've named (sans goldman sachs, of course) are basically programmers who are developing platforms while I'm an investor and financial engineer developing complete end to end solutions for end users, primarily institutional, corporate and HNW end users.

My current solutions on tap (some already developed, others WIP) include:
- bail-in/bail-out solutions for sovereigns, banks and bank depositors
- interest rate arbitrage
- hard money
- capital transference/flight/protection schemes
-import/export solutions
-commercial and income producing real estate through the blockchain
- and virtual swaps (already developed and currently beta testing).

If you go through all of the competitors that you mentioned, they are primarily building platforms that may or may not allow these things. I bring a much richer, much deeper financial expertise to the the table. Something which I believe is not to be found in abundance in the developer community that we have here. I also have a tame ego that allows me to clearly see my limitations and know when I need to ask for help, which brings me to the need to get programmers who are very well versed in the protocol and contracts.
The goal is to take my financial expertise and creativity (which some consider among the best in the world) and translate it into high end coded contracts through crypto. My swaps app is proof of concept and I plan on pushing it through to finished product in two months. I will open the beta testing of the product (some of us have been live trading on it for weeks) a little more next week.

I hope I have addressed all of your questions.

For those who don't know me, here are some recent calls and my Wikipedia page:
http://www.boombustblog.com/reggie-in-the-news
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggie_Middleton

[molecular]

You have a few misconceptions here.
[...]
I hope I have addressed all of your questions.

you have, thanks for clearing up misconceptions.

However it seems it generated more question marks on my side...

This is not a betting network, this is a set of (continuously growing) derivative applications.

How do these work technically? You say it's not a coin but runs on the bitcoin blockchain. The blockchain can act on bitcoins, nothing else. How is tying contracts to the real world of USD/real estate/whatever solved?

I'm self educated - on bitcoin as I am in finance, investment and technology in general. All three topics have plethora of info available, no?

I draw my hat.

I'm the only one to have a fully functional contracts based derivative product and p2p trading app up and running.

What do you mean by you having an "app up and running"? I may have missed something, but I can't find it. Where can I use/see it?

Please don't get me wrong. I might come across as opposing your idea or downplaying the status of your implementaiton in some way. That's not my intention. I just want to get a clearer picture.

Thanks for your patience.

[Reggie Middleton]

You're not attacking at all. Actually, you're quite polite and professional. Don't be afraid to ask me questions. I know how to answer them (I do it for a living) and I'm honest and above board hence have nothing to lie about.  

How is tying contracts to the real world of USD/real estate/whatever solved?

And this question answers your other question as to how I differentiate myself from the competitors. It is my belief that the vast majority of development in the xxx.coin space will be on the financial engineering side, and NOT on the software programming side. If I'm correct (and of course, that's an "if") then that puts me at a distinct advantage as compared to practically everybody else on the scene, doesn't it? It also explains why I have to move quickly because when my real competition arrives (Goldman, JPM, et. al.) then things get much harder. Luckily, a decentralized network is anathema to these guys because it's hard to pack ridiculously outsized profit margin in opaque pricing schemes that way, but it can be done. All you need is enough suckers to buy into it, and trust me... There are no dearth of suckers. You can usually identify them as those who know everything :-)

I'm a for profit operation (well, I would like to be, at least) thus I do not give out trade secrets. But I do make ample use of open source tools and believe in giving back. Let it be known that there's a lot of fat to be cut out of the current system and still be able to profit handsomely. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJpBQ0wCF0g&list=PL36ikfnnWcAHOt_cwahKMqPfW1wMtqf30

{quote]What do you mean by you having an "app up and running"? I may have missed something, but I can't find it. Where can I use/see it?{/quote]
The swap client has been operable for weeks now. I'm trying to push out beta 3 which "should be" (fingers crossed) mostly debugged and then I can move on to security hardening, prettying up the interface, etc.  I've decided not to open up the beta to the public yet because:
a) I want less bugs and usability issues and..
b) some members of the community are not conducive to getting this venture off the ground and will unduly badmouth it simply because it has issues that any bleeding financial/tech venture would have, thus creating unnecessary bad will early on, and...
c) I don't want to launch the app until it is ready to actually be used for profitable trading (this is very soon, hopefully within the week or so).

[BldSwtTrs]

Hi Reggie,

Have you heard about Bitshares? Do you plan to make Ultracoin only on top of Bitcoin or also on top of other blockchains?

I am asking that because it seems to me that with Bitshares there will be a lot more possibilities to do cool stuff with financial products than with Bitcoin.

[DPoS]

Are these contracts going to be represented by bitcoins on the satoshi level?

How will their relationship to derivatives be tracked? (in the text field or other added layer or will there need to be a clearing house that keeps track and thus primed for attack/abuse)

I am guessing Reggie is working on developing another layer onto the protocol that is like the text field but wonder these instruments need to be on the satoshi level so they do not get divided up or will it be so advanced that you could have a contract split up and then rejoined on this new protocol level...

[Reggie Middleton]

Hi Reggie,

Have you heard about Bitshares? Do you plan to make Ultracoin only on top of Bitcoin or also on top of other blockchains?

I am asking that because it seems to me that with Bitshares there will be a lot more possibilities to do cool stuff with financial products than with Bitcoin.

I am platform agnostic, but Bitcoin has the network effect thingy going for it as of now. I will use whatever platform/coin/blockchain that accomplishes my or my client's goals.

[kooke]

This could have a lot of potential depending on how well it is implemented. Refreshing to see a worthwhile thread amongst all the rubbish strewn around the speculation forum

[RodeoX]

Interesting ideas.
All it takes is looking beyond a few buzz words and pre-conceived notions. Reggie can do it. Why is this so hard for people?  Perhaps it is the loss of brain plasticity after youth. Or just that some have built a world on the old financial system and feel threatened by the massive changes happening now.

[tabnloz]

This could have a lot of potential depending on how well it is implemented. Refreshing to see a worthwhile thread amongst all the rubbish strewn around the speculation forum

+1 it can be a pain having to sift through the threads looking for something deeper than Moon / $0.

I put up a thread to try and provide links to the classic threads over the years because I'd love to have them all in one place rather than trawling. And I enjoy reading the opinions of the early investors.

Didn't get much input, but here is the thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=468801.msg5174362#msg5174362

[Reggie Middleton]

The UltraCoin (pure bitcoin) smart contracts wallet is avialable for download now - http://ultra-coin.com/index.php/download-now

[anasazi]

Do you realize the name UltraCoin is already in use?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=727023.0

[bucktotal]

The UltraCoin (pure bitcoin) smart contracts wallet is avialable for download now - http://ultra-coin.com/index.php/download-now

really looks great so far. nice video. congrats!

[Wekkel]

Only now I learn that The Reggie Middleton has joined this board. You are definitely on top of all major techno waves out there.

I admit I haven't tried Ultracoin yet but the question I keep asking myself is how real world assets are tied to the concept of Ultracoin. It's easy to exchange one electronic asset (e.g. a Litecoin) for some other electronic assets (e.g. Mooncoins). Lock the assets up and exchange. No trust needed, its all decentralised.

Now enter a USD / EUR swap. I cannot throw 100 dollars into Ultracoin through my CDROM tray. Even electronic dollars cannot be tied to Ultacoin just like that. The same goes for the Euro part of the swap transaction.

Will Ultracoin just tie these 2 promises together: promises to pay fiat?

Obviously, Ultracoin will not lock in the fiat dollars and euros. Can't be done with centralised systems for fiat currency. Presumably there is and will not be  a 'central' point of trust being Reggie's wife's USD and EUR bank accounts to accommodate this swap.

So what remains: locking in the equivalent of USD and EUR in Bitcoins? Then, parties are just exchanging Bitcoins. And how to deal with Bitcoin variations in price in USD vs EUR
EUR) ?

[2dogs]

The UltraCoin (pure bitcoin) smart contracts wallet is avialable for download now - http://ultra-coin.com/index.php/download-now

This is f'ng fantastic!

Reggie, way to go, man - the markets are so ready for this next step.

[counter]

Can't believe this is the first time I've seen this video.  Thanks for posting!  Excellent analogy with the car, roads that go anywhere low fuel costs and not having tolls.  Genius explanation, it's one of the best I've heard to date.

[tabnloz]

Can't believe this is the first time I've seen this video.  Thanks for posting!  Excellent analogy with the car, roads that go anywhere low fuel costs and not having tolls.  Genius explanation, it's one of the best I've heard to date.

Reggie has a big fin market following but doesn't get much of a mention on here, a few of his threads have sunk. Don't know if the btc crowd are unfamiliar with his reputation and suspicious of newbie accounts or are overall not into his product, but I think an investor like Reggie is a big asset to the btc space.

[2dogs]

Reggie has a big fin market following but doesn't get much of a mention on here, a few of his threads have sunk. Don't know if the btc crowd are unfamiliar with his reputation and suspicious of newbie accounts or are overall not into his product, but I think an investor like Reggie is a big asset to the btc space.

I've been familiar with BoomBustBlog for a number of years.   Reggie has a solid reputation with the mainstream markets - great analyst and communicator!
Glad to see he appreciates the BTC vision - notice he's not so excited about the price of the coins, but very excited about the protocol.