[ANN][NOTE]DNotes - Celebrating DNotes 3rd Birthday - Forum Now Open

[DNotes]

All, I need a few quotes from our forum for the new site. If there are any that made an impact on you, or ones you feel important for our industry, please post it here.

Are you looking for quotes made by the community or from the various topics, news, and people we've posted about?

Both I believe. They will be used for DCEBrief. The goal will would be educate and inspire people, give them some insight into digital currency and even DNotes.

Edit: Another way I can describe it is leading people in our industry in the right direction.

[DNotes]

Melanie Shapiro is founder and CEO of the Case company. I'm not sure if I posted it previously, but case is a handheld bitcoin device that uses multi signature (user and third party have to sign the transaction) with built in mobile communication. I was pretty impressed with the device, take a look into it. Anyway, found this excellent write up based on a pseudo interview with Melanie Shapiro. It is really worth a read, covers most of the issues and benefits of digital currency. Here is a snippet, but I recommend reading the article.

Having My Mind Changed About Bitcoin: How Dr. Shapiro Did It

Melanie Shapiro worked me over with a series of soft/hard-edged quotes that shifted my opinion about Bitcoin dramatically.

I don't know about you, but I find quotations to be one of the finest learning tools around. My two favorite quotesters are Winston Churchill and Mark Twain. So I decided to use Melanie's quotes here to try and convert you if you're not a Bitcoin supporter and even if you are, Melanie's quotes will provide you with more ammunition.

"There's a lot of misconception about what bitcoin actually is due to media narratives. The most popular reference I hear mentioned is Silk Road, but Silk Road wasn't enabled by bitcoin. People forget or don't realize that Silk Road was enabled by Tor, an 'anonymizing' proxy network. Bitcoin isn't actually an anonymous currency it's pseudo-anonymous. Want to know what's anonymous? Cash."

"The math and technology behind the blockchain is difficult for most to understand, but the beauty is - you don't have to get it to use it. Do you really get how the internet works? TLS/SSL? DNS? HTTPS?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/billrobinson/having-my-mind-changed-on_b_7613676.html

I'm not sure if these are the type of quotes you are looking for, but I like everything she has to say in this article and all of it is quote worthy.

These are great ones!

[kanus1113]

All, I need a few quotes from our forum for the new site. If there are any that made an impact on you, or ones you feel important for our industry, please post it here.

Are you looking for quotes made by the community or from the various topics, news, and people we've posted about?

Both I believe. They will be used for DCEBrief. The goal will would be educate and inspire people, give them some insight into digital currency and even DNotes.

Edit: Another way I can describe it is leading people in our industry in the right direction.

Have a couple in mind, it will take a bit to find them.

[DNotes]

All, I need a few quotes from our forum for the new site. If there are any that made an impact on you, or ones you feel important for our industry, please post it here.

Are you looking for quotes made by the community or from the various topics, news, and people we've posted about?

Both I believe. They will be used for DCEBrief. The goal will would be educate and inspire people, give them some insight into digital currency and even DNotes.

Edit: Another way I can describe it is leading people in our industry in the right direction.

Have a couple in mind, it will take a bit to find them.

Thanks kanus, we have time.

[mrbum805]

I love this quote from Billionaire Investor Reid Hoffman:

"Once I started really digging into it, I came to realize that there are three aspects to Bitcoin that are interwoven and Bitcoin is most interesting because of them. They are: One, it’s an asset, like digital gold 2.0. Two, it’s a currency in as much as currency is like the digital app that allows you to begin to transact and trade. And, three, it’s also a platform where you can build financial and other products on top of it. These attributes all bound together are what convinced me that there’s a certainty that there will be at least one global cryptocurrency and that there’s a good argument that it’s Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin is one of them, if not THE one. And, if Bitcoin isn’t that global cryptocurrency, then something else will be."
 
Found here:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244859

[DNotes]

I love this quote from Billionaire Investor Reid Hoffman:

"Once I started really digging into it, I came to realize that there are three aspects to Bitcoin that are interwoven and Bitcoin is most interesting because of them. They are: One, it’s an asset, like digital gold 2.0. Two, it’s a currency in as much as currency is like the digital app that allows you to begin to transact and trade. And, three, it’s also a platform where you can build financial and other products on top of it. These attributes all bound together are what convinced me that there’s a certainty that there will be at least one global cryptocurrency and that there’s a good argument that it’s Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin is one of them, if not THE one. And, if Bitcoin isn’t that global cryptocurrency, then something else will be."
 
Found here:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244859

Thanks Daniel! That is a great one.

[DNotes]

It is quite a few, but here are the ones I found online. These examples might help clarify why these quotes are important. Positive quotes from influential people about digital currency. Granted most say bitcoin specifically, but it is difficult to get away from.


It is a much more efficient way of moving money around the world
Tim Draper - Venture Capitalist

Bitcoin, and the ideas behind it, will be a disrupter to the traditional notions of currency. In the end, currency will be better for it.
Edmund Moy - 38th Director of the United States Mint

Three eras of currency: Commodity based, e.g. Gold. Politically based, e.g. Dollar. Math based, e.g. Bitcoin.
Chris Dixon - Investor and Entrepreneur

Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement… The ability to create something which is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value.
Eric Schmidt - Executive Chairman of Google

It’s a store of value, a distributed ledger. It’s a great place to put assets, especially in places like Argentina with 40 percent inflation, where $1 today is worth 60 cents in a year, and a government’s currency does not hold value.
David Marcus - Former President of PayPal

Bitcoin may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.
Ben Bernanke - Former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve

EVERY informed person needs to know about Bitcoin because it might be one of the world’s most important developments.
Leon Louw - two time Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Bitcoin, crypto currencies, solved this problem of coming to a consensus globally where you don’t trust anybody else
Richard Brown - Executive Architect for IBM UK

Bitcoin may be the TCP/IP of money
Paul Buchheit - Creator of Google’s Gmail Service

I think the fact that within the Bitcoin universe an algorithm replaces the functions of [the government] … is actually pretty cool
Al Gore - Former US Vice President

Bitcoin is the beginning of something great: a currency without a government, something necessary and imperative
Nassim Taleb - Author and Risk Analyst

I think that the Internet is going to be one of the major forces for reducing the role of government. The one thing that’s missing, but that will soon be developed, is a reliable e-cash…
Milton Friedman - Nobel-Prize Winning Economist

[Dyna]

I love this quote from Billionaire Investor Reid Hoffman:

"Once I started really digging into it, I came to realize that there are three aspects to Bitcoin that are interwoven and Bitcoin is most interesting because of them. They are: One, it’s an asset, like digital gold 2.0. Two, it’s a currency in as much as currency is like the digital app that allows you to begin to transact and trade. And, three, it’s also a platform where you can build financial and other products on top of it. These attributes all bound together are what convinced me that there’s a certainty that there will be at least one global cryptocurrency and that there’s a good argument that it’s Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin is one of them, if not THE one. And, if Bitcoin isn’t that global cryptocurrency, then something else will be."
 
Found here:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244859

Thank you for bringing back memories. Mr. Reid Hoffman is a proven visionary. Visionaries often examine current and future problems and wonder if there are viable solutions. If there are solutions; the problems  become opportunities. The bigger the problems the larger the opportunities. Next they will like to know who has the best solutions. They typically stayed invested for the long term. For large investors and busy executives, Bitcoin is still the obvious choice because of the name recognition and the network effect. Bitcoin has the largest ecosystem and the most momentum. It also has by far the largest marketcap.

From my prospective, those are bitcoin advantages over DNotes and we are not taking them lightly. One of DNotes strengths is to objectively examine the strengths and weaknesses of our industry peers at all time and adjust our strategic plans and executions of those plans accordingly. DNotes is positioned to succeed where Bitcoin has struggled.

Although this article is dated it is worth a second reading. The following was what I posted on April 11, 2015, page 250 on this forum:

"This is a must read article. There are very good reasons why some people are consistently successful. They don't depend on good fortune. They have the vision and they bet on it for the long term; a minimum of five years.

There is no sure thing in the investment world but there are many smart guiding principals. Take time to do your home work. Be totally objective and pick the top 10%. If you are correct, pick two to three from this group that you believe are the best in class. Invest in them for the long term. Keep investing more on a regular bases. Stay informed and adjust your investment accordingly".


KIM LACHANCE SHANDROW
ENTREPRENEUR STAF
APRIL 10, 2015

Why Billionaire Investor Reid Hoffman Is Betting Big on Bitcoin

Reid Hoffman has an expert eye for promising tech startups. The LinkedIn chairman and co-founder's early stakes in Facebook, Airbnb and Dropbox prove he's able to see the next big thing before most of us even know what it is -- and it’s paid off for him time and again.

These days, the so-called “startup whisperer” is placing his bets on Bitcoin. As a full-time partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, he claims his primary focus is to invest in “world-class entrepreneurs with new categories of ideas with the possibility of massive scale.” One of those entrepreneurs is Wences Casares, co-founder ofXapo, an ambitious, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bitcoin wallet and storage startup. With Hoffman leading the charge, Greylock invested $20 million in Xapo last year.
 
“Bitcoin has the potential to be a massively disruptive technology,” Hoffman wrote in a post announcing the investment last July. “It is the leading digital currency and it’s growing fast.”

Related: LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman: Success Tips From Silicon Valley

Then, in November -- a month before Bloomberg declared Bitcoin the worst-performing currency of 2014 -- he announced a hefty personal stake in Bitcoin that he brokered, a $21 million investment intoBlockstream. The Montreal-based startup aims toimprove upon Bitcoin’s blockchain backbone, the shared public ledger upon which the virtual currency’s entire network relies.

We caught up with the father of online professional networking recently to find out why he’s betting big on Bitcoin and why he thinks the controversial cryptocurrency is here to stay. What follows are portions of that interview, edited for clarity and brevity.

Related: Why This Internet Pioneer Thinks Bitcoin Has the Power to Break the Cycle of Poverty

When did Bitcoin first pique your curiosity and when did you become a believer?

I first got into it after speaking with Wences Casares, who I refer to as Patient Zero for Bitcoin in Silicon Valley. Patient Zero is the first infection of a viral contagion.

I’d been paying attention to Bitcoin because a couple of other people that Wences had talked with, like Katana Capital founder Charlie Songhurst, had also talked to me about it and said that it was very important. No one had made the argument in a way that stuck yet, but it made me curious. I started to really think about it, so I sought out Wences in the summer of 2013. We had a fairly thorough conversation. He articulated very strong positive theories about Bitcoin and I began to feel empowered.

Related: IBM Looking at Adopting Bitcoin Technology for Major Currencies

What is most interesting about Bitcoin to you? What attracts you to it?
Once I started really digging into it, I came to realize that there are three aspects to Bitcoin that are interwoven and Bitcoin is most interesting because of them. They are: One, it’s an asset, like digital gold 2.0. Two, it’s a currency in as much as currency is like the digital app that allows you to begin to transact and trade. And, three, it’s also a platform where you can build financial and other products on top of it. These attributes all bound together are what convinced me that there’s a certainty that there will be at least one global cryptocurrency and that there’s a good argument that it’s Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin is one of them, if not THE one. And, if Bitcoin isn’t that global cryptocurrency, than something else will be.

I think that a global cryptocurrency that is an asset, a currency and a platform, is pretty essential for good progress in what we can do when it comes to building products and services, banking the unbanked in the third world and creating effective commerce across borders, among other things.

Related: 'Days Felt Like Years': What Morgan Spurlock Found When He Tried to Survive on Bitcoin for a Week

You’ve said that you’re not concerned with the day-to-day price of Bitcoin, that you’re more focused on the long-game outlook of your Bitcoin investments. Why?

My investment philosophy is very much long-term. I don’t do any small trades, like, “Oh, I’ll own this for a year and then I’ll sell it.” I invest only in long-term trends. That’s part of the reason I’m a venture investor. When I invested in Airbnb, when it was totally a new and random thing, most people said, “No way, no one’s gonna’ have strangers over at their house to rent a room, etc.” I saw it differently.
When I invest, I think, “What is the way the world should be and is this investment part of that end? Is this plan the best plan for that to happen?” So that’s minimum five years. When it comes to Bitcoin, that’s the framework that I think about it in.

Why do you think the price of Bitcoin has diminished so much since late 2013, when it soared above $1,000?

I think that the price drop has gotten lost in asset speculation. A lot of people were like, “Oh, my God, I gotta’ get in now!” They thought it was a get rich quick scheme. Obviously the run up was driven by speculation. Speculation tends to be very volatile to, “Oh, my God, it’s headed down now. Oh, get out quick.” Speculators are not long-term buyers. Speculators are cash in on the upswing and know when to get off the boat.

Honestly, I don’t even check the price. I don’t even know what it is right now. I would guess it’s around $200-ish. Once it went down to $200, it’s actually not been that volatile since. The volatility decreased after that big drop and it’s now coming to a point where it’s at the current clearing price.

Related: How a Teenage Entrepreneur Built a Startup on Bitcoin Riches

What are the biggest challenges holding Bitcoin back from mass adoption?

There aren’t enough use cases that make it easy enough to transact in Bitcoin yet. It has to be easy to use and reliably fulfill people’s needs. Most of the places a digital asset is needed very badly are not places like the U.S., where I can sit with my dollars in the bank. It’s more like Argentina or Ukraine or Russia. Those areas still have to get to the point where it’s useful.

Once you get the asset store working in those locations, you have to figure out where people want to transact in Bitcoin. Is it cross-border transactions? Is it other types of transactions that are unique and difficult to do?

While it’s cool that Overstock will accept Bitcoin, a lot of people in the U.S. have credit cards and can buy from Overstock with them, so they don’t need to get Bitcoin in order to buy from Overstock. Most mass adoption of technology doesn’t just go do something just because it’s cool. When you get mass adoption, it’s because it’s serving a need.

Related: Winklevoss Twins: Bitcoin Is Like a 'Child Taking Its First Steps' But Will One Day Win the Finance Marathon

What is your advice to those considering investing in the Bitcoin space?
Roughly speaking, it’s very much like a venture investment. What I tell people who are angel investors investing in it, even though I think that the likelihood that Bitcoin will go to zero is very low, I say don’t invest in something you’re not willing to lose, or lose a good portion of. Now, for portfolio management, like if you have $10,000 and you invest $500, that’s usually kind of an unsafe side bet.

If you’re interested in Bitcoin, if you believe it’s part of how you think the world should be, the way the world will eventually end up going towards and you want to participate in that, then it might be for you. Or, if you’re in some place where you have no real, good asset value store and you’re uncertain about the banks, you’re uncertain about the government currency, then Bitcoin can provide a useful asset store for you.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244859

[kanus1113]

I love this quote from Billionaire Investor Reid Hoffman:

"Once I started really digging into it, I came to realize that there are three aspects to Bitcoin that are interwoven and Bitcoin is most interesting because of them. They are: One, it’s an asset, like digital gold 2.0. Two, it’s a currency in as much as currency is like the digital app that allows you to begin to transact and trade. And, three, it’s also a platform where you can build financial and other products on top of it. These attributes all bound together are what convinced me that there’s a certainty that there will be at least one global cryptocurrency and that there’s a good argument that it’s Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin is one of them, if not THE one. And, if Bitcoin isn’t that global cryptocurrency, then something else will be."
 
Found here:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244859

Thank you for bringing back memories. Mr. Reid Hoffman is a proven visionary. Visionaries often examine current and future problems and wonder if there are viable solutions. If there are solutions; the problems  become opportunities. The bigger the problems the larger the opportunities. Next they will like to know who has the best solutions. They typically stayed invested for the long term. For large investors and busy executives, Bitcoin is still the obvious choice because of the name recognition and the network effect. Bitcoin has the largest ecosystem and the most momentum. It also has by far the largest marketcap.

From my prospective, those are bitcoin advantages over DNotes and we are not taking them lightly. One of DNotes strengths is to objectively examine the strengths and weaknesses of our industry peers at all time and adjust our strategic plans and executions of those plans accordingly. DNotes is positioned to succeed where Bitcoin has struggled.

Although this article is dated it is worth a second reading. The following was what I posted on April 11, 2015, page 250 on this forum:

"This is a must read article. There are very good reasons why some people are consistently successful. They don't depend on good fortune. They have the vision and they bet on it for the long term; a minimum of five years.

There is no sure thing in the investment world but there are many smart guiding principals. Take time to do your home work. Be totally objective and pick the top 10%. If you are correct, pick two to three from this group that you believe are the best in class. Invest in them for the long term. Keep investing more on a regular bases. Stay informed and adjust your investment accordingly".


KIM LACHANCE SHANDROW
ENTREPRENEUR STAF
APRIL 10, 2015

Why Billionaire Investor Reid Hoffman Is Betting Big on Bitcoin

Reid Hoffman has an expert eye for promising tech startups. The LinkedIn chairman and co-founder's early stakes in Facebook, Airbnb and Dropbox prove he's able to see the next big thing before most of us even know what it is -- and it’s paid off for him time and again.

These days, the so-called “startup whisperer” is placing his bets on Bitcoin. As a full-time partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, he claims his primary focus is to invest in “world-class entrepreneurs with new categories of ideas with the possibility of massive scale.” One of those entrepreneurs is Wences Casares, co-founder ofXapo, an ambitious, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bitcoin wallet and storage startup. With Hoffman leading the charge, Greylock invested $20 million in Xapo last year.
 
“Bitcoin has the potential to be a massively disruptive technology,” Hoffman wrote in a post announcing the investment last July. “It is the leading digital currency and it’s growing fast.”

Related: LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman: Success Tips From Silicon Valley

Then, in November -- a month before Bloomberg declared Bitcoin the worst-performing currency of 2014 -- he announced a hefty personal stake in Bitcoin that he brokered, a $21 million investment intoBlockstream. The Montreal-based startup aims toimprove upon Bitcoin’s blockchain backbone, the shared public ledger upon which the virtual currency’s entire network relies.

We caught up with the father of online professional networking recently to find out why he’s betting big on Bitcoin and why he thinks the controversial cryptocurrency is here to stay. What follows are portions of that interview, edited for clarity and brevity.

Related: Why This Internet Pioneer Thinks Bitcoin Has the Power to Break the Cycle of Poverty

When did Bitcoin first pique your curiosity and when did you become a believer?

I first got into it after speaking with Wences Casares, who I refer to as Patient Zero for Bitcoin in Silicon Valley. Patient Zero is the first infection of a viral contagion.

I’d been paying attention to Bitcoin because a couple of other people that Wences had talked with, like Katana Capital founder Charlie Songhurst, had also talked to me about it and said that it was very important. No one had made the argument in a way that stuck yet, but it made me curious. I started to really think about it, so I sought out Wences in the summer of 2013. We had a fairly thorough conversation. He articulated very strong positive theories about Bitcoin and I began to feel empowered.

Related: IBM Looking at Adopting Bitcoin Technology for Major Currencies

What is most interesting about Bitcoin to you? What attracts you to it?
Once I started really digging into it, I came to realize that there are three aspects to Bitcoin that are interwoven and Bitcoin is most interesting because of them. They are: One, it’s an asset, like digital gold 2.0. Two, it’s a currency in as much as currency is like the digital app that allows you to begin to transact and trade. And, three, it’s also a platform where you can build financial and other products on top of it. These attributes all bound together are what convinced me that there’s a certainty that there will be at least one global cryptocurrency and that there’s a good argument that it’s Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin is one of them, if not THE one. And, if Bitcoin isn’t that global cryptocurrency, than something else will be.

I think that a global cryptocurrency that is an asset, a currency and a platform, is pretty essential for good progress in what we can do when it comes to building products and services, banking the unbanked in the third world and creating effective commerce across borders, among other things.

Related: 'Days Felt Like Years': What Morgan Spurlock Found When He Tried to Survive on Bitcoin for a Week

You’ve said that you’re not concerned with the day-to-day price of Bitcoin, that you’re more focused on the long-game outlook of your Bitcoin investments. Why?

My investment philosophy is very much long-term. I don’t do any small trades, like, “Oh, I’ll own this for a year and then I’ll sell it.” I invest only in long-term trends. That’s part of the reason I’m a venture investor. When I invested in Airbnb, when it was totally a new and random thing, most people said, “No way, no one’s gonna’ have strangers over at their house to rent a room, etc.” I saw it differently.
When I invest, I think, “What is the way the world should be and is this investment part of that end? Is this plan the best plan for that to happen?” So that’s minimum five years. When it comes to Bitcoin, that’s the framework that I think about it in.

Why do you think the price of Bitcoin has diminished so much since late 2013, when it soared above $1,000?

I think that the price drop has gotten lost in asset speculation. A lot of people were like, “Oh, my God, I gotta’ get in now!” They thought it was a get rich quick scheme. Obviously the run up was driven by speculation. Speculation tends to be very volatile to, “Oh, my God, it’s headed down now. Oh, get out quick.” Speculators are not long-term buyers. Speculators are cash in on the upswing and know when to get off the boat.

Honestly, I don’t even check the price. I don’t even know what it is right now. I would guess it’s around $200-ish. Once it went down to $200, it’s actually not been that volatile since. The volatility decreased after that big drop and it’s now coming to a point where it’s at the current clearing price.

Related: How a Teenage Entrepreneur Built a Startup on Bitcoin Riches

What are the biggest challenges holding Bitcoin back from mass adoption?

There aren’t enough use cases that make it easy enough to transact in Bitcoin yet. It has to be easy to use and reliably fulfill people’s needs. Most of the places a digital asset is needed very badly are not places like the U.S., where I can sit with my dollars in the bank. It’s more like Argentina or Ukraine or Russia. Those areas still have to get to the point where it’s useful.

Once you get the asset store working in those locations, you have to figure out where people want to transact in Bitcoin. Is it cross-border transactions? Is it other types of transactions that are unique and difficult to do?

While it’s cool that Overstock will accept Bitcoin, a lot of people in the U.S. have credit cards and can buy from Overstock with them, so they don’t need to get Bitcoin in order to buy from Overstock. Most mass adoption of technology doesn’t just go do something just because it’s cool. When you get mass adoption, it’s because it’s serving a need.

Related: Winklevoss Twins: Bitcoin Is Like a 'Child Taking Its First Steps' But Will One Day Win the Finance Marathon

What is your advice to those considering investing in the Bitcoin space?
Roughly speaking, it’s very much like a venture investment. What I tell people who are angel investors investing in it, even though I think that the likelihood that Bitcoin will go to zero is very low, I say don’t invest in something you’re not willing to lose, or lose a good portion of. Now, for portfolio management, like if you have $10,000 and you invest $500, that’s usually kind of an unsafe side bet.

If you’re interested in Bitcoin, if you believe it’s part of how you think the world should be, the way the world will eventually end up going towards and you want to participate in that, then it might be for you. Or, if you’re in some place where you have no real, good asset value store and you’re uncertain about the banks, you’re uncertain about the government currency, then Bitcoin can provide a useful asset store for you.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244859

"Once I started really digging into it, I came to realize that there are three aspects to Bitcoin that are interwoven and Bitcoin is most interesting because of them. They are: One, it’s an asset, like digital gold 2.0. Two, it’s a currency in as much as currency is like the digital app that allows you to begin to transact and trade. And, three, it’s also a platform where you can build financial and other products on top of it. These attributes all bound together are what convinced me that there’s a certainty that there will be at least one global cryptocurrency and that there’s a good argument that it’s Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin is one of them, if not THE one. And, if Bitcoin isn’t that global cryptocurrency, then something else will be."

Do you think he was talking about DNotes?

[HORT]

Here are a few of my own personal quotes:

The banks and credit cards have had their time, it is now time for a new age of digital money, called DNotes, to bring us into the current worlds needs and demands.

The new currency revolution has started, have you joined? DNOTES!

Had it with fees and never-ending debt? DNotes is the answer.

The future of money is here and it is DNotes.

Money is history, DNotes is the future.

OR do you want quotes from more prominent persons?

[Dyna]

From CryptoMoms' Forum:

Quote from: Chase on July 11, 2015, 05:47:33 PM

This is a great article about Melanie Shapiro, founder and CEO of Case Wallet Inc.


Having My Mind Changed About Bitcoin: How Dr. Shapiro Did It

As I walked around TechCrunch Disrupt NYC recently, I was bombarded with messaging, product demos and pitches.

Until I met a young lady who didn't know I was a tech journo. She had one goal, after I announced that "Bitcoin isn't my thing." To change my mind.

It didn't matter who I was nor what I did. She saw me as a challenge. To change one mind at a time.

And she did it discretely with diplomacy and gentility; almost lovingly. The things she was saying made so much sense and were made in the context of appreciation for innovation while trying to infect me with her passion about Bitcoin.

Her name was Melanie Shapiro and she's the founder & CEO of Bitcoin' company, Case Wallet Inc. which is based in Rochester, New York. Case offers what TechCrunch called "an insanely secure Bitcoin hardware wallet."

Dr. Shapiro is no slouch. In full possession of an MBA and Ph.D. in Management and Marketing, Shapiro talks excitedly and very genuinely about Bitcoin.

She and the company just landed $1.5 million in investor money, also from no slouches, RRE Ventures, Highline Venture Partners and one of her alma maters, the Rochester Institute of Technology Fund. The heightened significance of RRE's investment is that a co-founder of RRE is James D. Robinson III, a longtime Chairman & CEO of American Express. The legitimacy this adds to a Bitcoin-related business is immense.

Melanie Shapiro worked me over with a series of soft/hard-edged quotes that shifted my opinion about Bitcoin dramatically.

I don't know about you, but I find quotations to be one of the finest learning tools around. My two favorite quotesters are Winston Churchill and Mark Twain. So I decided to use Melanie's quotes here to try and convert you if you're not a Bitcoin supporter and even if you are, Melanie's quotes will provide you with more ammunition.

"There's a lot of misconception about what bitcoin actually is due to media narratives. The most popular reference I hear mentioned is Silk Road, but Silk Road wasn't enabled by bitcoin. People forget or don't realize that Silk Road was enabled by Tor, an 'anonymizing' proxy network. Bitcoin isn't actually an anonymous currency it's pseudo-anonymous. Want to know what's anonymous? Cash."

"The math and technology behind the blockchain is difficult for most to understand, but the beauty is - you don't have to get it to use it. Do you really get how the internet works? TLS/SSL? DNS? HTTPS?"

"If you ask the average person on the street what https is or dns, they likely wouldn't be able to tell you. But these things are underneath most of the applications they use on a daily basis. I think the real success of bitcoin will be when it's the foundational layer on top of which applications and processes are built without people having to understand what that means."

"While we can attribute a lot of our early attention to stories of bitcoin scandal, Mt Gox, and high-profile arrests, the stories being told now are of how the technology could have the potential to bring efficiency to the financial industry."

"The reason you should care about bitcoin's success is not just because it can help reorganize how the financial industry is run, but because it can bring freedom and empowerment to the people who really need it ... the billions of 'un-banked' people on this planet."

"Every CEO, founder, engineer or leader in the Bitcoin ecosystem is an educator - we all spend a tremendous amount of time just explaining what it is that we're doing and what kind of impact it can have. I think we're finally starting to see our hard work paying off. Sometimes it's as if we're all working for the same organization, fighting behind the same line, and on the same team."

"To truly understand the impact (of Bitcoin), consider what the cellphone did for telecom. There are places in the world that completely skipped over traditional landline phones, mostly because it's a resource-intensive advancement, and went straight to cellphones. Bitcoin will be the technology that leaps over traditional banking in these same parts of the world. The people in places that never saw truly established banking services will be able to use those cellphones they have to do their 'banking' in bitcoin."

"To me, bitcoin is just the denomination used to pay the toll to put stuff on the world's first completely transparent and immutable decentralized ledger - the blockchain."

"If you think about it, everything in society lives on some sort of ledger. You have a driver's license, which lives on an identity ledger at the DMV, your credit card purchases are tied to a currency ledger at your bank, you buy a house and that lives on a property ledger. The blockchain is simply a ledger, like all of these other ledgers that our very lives exist on, but instead of there being thousands of different ledgers held by thousands of different central authorities, the blockchain is one global ledger that all of these things can live on."

"You'll hear the word 'decentralized' thrown around a lot when talking about bitcoin. The reason for this is that bitcoin is a decentralized asset that no one entity has control over. This might not seem important, but think about the people who live in places where that central entity that controls your currency is corrupt or unstable."

"If it was as simple as just giving people another way to buy a cup of coffee, I can promise you that no one in our ecosystem would be working this hard. "

"We have to be careful with the word 'disrupt' when talking about the potential of Bitcoin for both banks and government. It may be exactly what we're trying to do, but it certainly doesn't help the conversation - it's just too aggressive of a word I think when trying to start a dialogue."

"It's not that we're trying to replace the current banking system or government; we're trying to work along side them to rethink current processes that are both inefficient and costly. Neither side is going to get anywhere without working together. Ultimately, I think we're at a place now where goals are aligned on both sides. Ultimately, the Utopian goal is a world where all assets, identity, and contracts live on a distributed, public ledger owned by no one central entity, a ledger that even lives underneath people's credit card transactions."

"The amount of people coming from traditional banking and from government that are talking about bitcoin now (in a positive way), are exposing a wider audience to what bitcoin actually is, and is useful for. It's certainly great PR for our entire ecosystem."

"Regulation is a great thing for bitcoin. It gives me, and the rest of us principles by which we have to run our businesses. However, it's important that we are being regulated by people who understand the technology and can give us guidance without hindering innovation."

"It does worry me that bitcoin won't succeed, that something will stand in our way and we'll never see it live up to it's promise and this is sad because there are a lot of people who really need this to work."

"One of the coolest things about a global ledger as a public utility is that it can completely reorganize the way we run our societies, which is why I think the blockchain is one of the greatest human innovations of our time. To all the billions of people who don't truly own anything, or have records of their lives and assets - welcome to the global economy!"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/billrobinson/having-my-mind-changed-on_b_7613676.html


Quote From Shepherd, today 7-11-2015:

It is a good article. Here is one of the most striking statements to me: "Regulation is a great thing for bitcoin. It gives me, and the rest of us principles by which we have to run our businesses. However, it's important that we are being regulated by people who understand the technology and can give us guidance without hindering innovation."

We have very serious doubt that we are indeed being regulated by people who understand the technology. Most of our regulators do not know much about the technology or our industry as a whole. I just hope that it is not because they don't want to know. The knowledge vacuum is a serious problem that will hinder mass acceptance. Consistent with our commitment to identify industry problems and provide viable solutions we have been working hard to launch DCEBrief.com with a mission to brief busy executives, regulators and others on issues that matter by using "Executive Summary" format with full length articles if they like to read more.

DNotes and its community have consistently identified industry problems and addressed them with dedication and much hard work. We are proud to continue that journey and trust that we are worthy of your support and confidence.

Shapiro expressed a serious concern,  "It does worry me that bitcoin won't succeed, that something will stand in our way and we'll never see it live up to it's promise and this is sad because there are a lot of people who really need this to work." That is a legitimate concern. That is precisely why DNotes has positioned itself so differently. For DNotes to be the trusted global digital currency it must take the inclusion of everyone worldwide seriously, including the full participation of women.

[Dyna]

Here are a few of my own personal quotes:

The banks and credit cards have had their time, it is now time for a new age of digital money, called DNotes, to bring us into the current worlds needs and demands.

The new currency revolution has started, have you joined? DNOTES!

Had it with fees and never-ending debt? DNotes is the answer.

The future of money is here and it is DNotes.

Money is history, DNotes is the future.

OR do you want quotes from more prominent persons?

It is important for us to only publish that best of the top picks.

[RJF]

Here are a few of my own personal quotes:

The banks and credit cards have had their time, it is now time for a new age of digital money, called DNotes, to bring us into the current worlds needs and demands.

The new currency revolution has started, have you joined? DNOTES!

Had it with fees and never-ending debt? DNotes is the answer.

The future of money is here and it is DNotes.

Money is history, DNotes is the future.

OR do you want quotes from more prominent persons?

It is important for us to only publish that best of the top picks.

Bitcoin is the present, DNotes is the future, join us in the world...

[DNotes]

DCEBrief.com is up for feedback on the design.

It will prompt you for a login, enter daylily for the username and daylily for the password (it will prompt you to login twice).

Nothing is finalized, please feel free to comment on any aspect of the site. Whether you love it, hate it, or its just ok, I want to hear your comments.

Also, the content was just thrown in. The executive briefs were quickly written for demonstration purposes.

The executive brief for each story will be on the homepage, or category specific page (Business, Finance, Technology, Regulation, DNotes). So if you only wish to read the executive briefs, you wont have to click any further. If you wish to read more, you can click into the story, at the top you will be provided with the executive brief, and below will be the full story. Do you feel this is the best solution?

Also, the categorization of content may be a little tricky. I'm guessing we don't want to say "politicians click here" or "investors click here", to direct them the appropriate content. Is categorizing them as Business, Finance, Technology, Regulation, DNotes, the best solution?

The logo up there doesn't look bad, but it is essentially just a placeholder. I know some of you liked Mochilles logo's, once I get the source files I will tweak them and provide screen shots for everyone to decide.

[Dyna]

Just in case you have been wondering ………

Author
Evander Smart  2015-07-10 03:29 PM

Chinese ‘Pump-n-Dump’ Suspected as Litecoin Passes Bitcoin in Trading Volume

Following an unprecedented day of trading for Litecoin at a higher daily USD volumethan bitcoin, suspicions of a ‘pump-and-dump’ scheme in China have arisen following a correction in price.
Chinese pyramid scheme?

Just before, Litecoin has gained fifty US cents to a full US dollar in value - tantamount to Mazda selling more cars in a day than Toyota.

Reasons for these sweeping changes are as varied and unique as the current economic situations of our time. Massive new volume is coming into Litecoin from the Chinese markets, which may indicate a pyramid scheme or a short-term “pump-and-dump” are in play.

Over the next week or so, it may become apparent if this is the primary factor if the Litecoin market drops suddenly and trading in China stops suddenly in lockstep. Rumors of Dash being the next target market to inflate after Litecoin has also been referenced in meetings in China, according to 8btc.com and BitcoinTalk.org forums.

Trepidation from the recent spam attack on Bitcoin and transactional inaccuracies may be moving the market towards Litecoin in the short-term until Bitcoin’s protocol functions normally again. Obviously, the issues in Greece are playing an important role int the global values of the top crypto-currencies. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee believesthe reasons are fundamental to Litecoin’s value itself.

“I think Litecoin is still very complimentary to Bitcoin — silver to Bitcoin's gold if you will. Because Litecoin is an altcoin and a much smaller market cap, the Litecoin price is extremely volatile. So when the crypto currency market is crashing, it gets hit a lot harder than Bitcoin. And when it's going up, Litecoin does extremely well. In the past month, Bitcoin has gone up about 20%, whereas Litecoin has gone up about 400%!”

Halving of production & other factors

The fast-approaching halving of Litecoin production next month, estimated to occur around August 25 has been cited as one reason for the increase in interest. As production will drop next month, values are expected to increase with the drop in overall supply, with Bitcoin expecting its own halving next summer.
Additionally, since the markets have grown tremendously since the last halving of any major crypto-currency, the market effects are more pronounced today than ever before.

Also, the vast increase in digital currency interest throughout the European Union may also be a key factor. Many people that are new to digital currency, and low on cash, may favor the inexpensive Litecoin to start an investment. A unit bias and low prices of around US$5 to US$7 apiece may help Litecoin compete directly against bitcoin for new consumers, which is almost 40 times more expensive. In other words, new buyers may be more interested in holding 100 LTC than 2.5 BTC.

The recent correction of this market surge might be pointing to massive market manipulation, so invest wisely. CoinTelegraph will follow this story and provide readers with the latest market updates.

Source: http://cointelegraph.com/news/114809/chinese-pump-n-dump-suspected-as-litecoin-passes-bitcoin-in-trading-volume

[Chase]

DCEBrief.com is up for feedback on the design.

It will prompt you for a login, enter daylily for the username and daylily for the password (it will prompt you to login twice).

Nothing is finalized, please feel free to comment on any aspect of the site. Whether you love it, hate it, or its just ok, I want to hear your comments.

Also, the content was just thrown in. The executive briefs were quickly written for demonstration purposes.

The executive brief for each story will be on the homepage, or category specific page (Business, Finance, Technology, Regulation, DNotes). So if you only wish to read the executive briefs, you wont have to click any further. If you wish to read more, you can click into the story, at the top you will be provided with the executive brief, and below will be the full story. Do you feel this is the best solution?

Also, the categorization of content may be a little tricky. I'm guessing we don't want to say "politicians click here" or "investors click here", to direct them the appropriate content. Is categorizing them as Business, Finance, Technology, Regulation, DNotes, the best solution?

The logo up there doesn't look bad, but it is essentially just a placeholder. I know some of you liked Mochilles logo's, once I get the source files I will tweak them and provide screen shots for everyone to decide.

The site looks great!

I agree with clicking more for the whole story, the categories, and using our 'in-house designer' Mochilles' logo. 

You may want to change the "About Alan Yong" where it says that DNotes is the most stable currency before we get called out on it by someone from Wall Street.  Perhaps something like "DNotes has demonstrated the most consistent growth when compared to it's competitors".

I love the rolling quotes! 

I was really impressed with what the Canadian Senate has done regarding regulation and maybe a few of their regulations as quotes would be appropriate.  For example:

“Digital Currency: You Can’t Flip This Coin! Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce.”
Recommendation 1 (page 13)
The federal government, in considering any legislation, regulation and policies, create an environment that fosters innovation for digital currencies and their associated technologies. As such, the government should exercise a regulatory “light touch” that minimizes actions that might stifle the development of these new technologies.

Recommendation 2 (page 14)
The federal government consider the use of blockchain technology when advantageous to deliver government services and to enhance the security of private information.

Recommendation 4 (page 15)
The federal government, on an active and ongoing basis, work with other countries to formulate global guidelines for digital currencies while respecting the “light touch” premise outlined in Recommendation 1 above.


This was posted on our forum June 20th and is also a good one:

“We believe that the best strategy for dealing with crypto-currencies is to monitor the situation as the technology evolves; that Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) must prepare to navigate and use block chain technology; that this technology offers new ways to protect the personal information of Canadians; and, finally, that this technology requires a light regulatory touch – almost a hands off approach. In other words, not necessarily regulation, but regulation as necessary. (June 20th)

[infovortice2013]

DCEBrief.com is up for feedback on the design.

It will prompt you for a login, enter daylily for the username and daylily for the password (it will prompt you to login twice).

Nothing is finalized, please feel free to comment on any aspect of the site. Whether you love it, hate it, or its just ok, I want to hear your comments.

Also, the content was just thrown in. The executive briefs were quickly written for demonstration purposes.

The executive brief for each story will be on the homepage, or category specific page (Business, Finance, Technology, Regulation, DNotes). So if you only wish to read the executive briefs, you wont have to click any further. If you wish to read more, you can click into the story, at the top you will be provided with the executive brief, and below will be the full story. Do you feel this is the best solution?

Also, the categorization of content may be a little tricky. I'm guessing we don't want to say "politicians click here" or "investors click here", to direct them the appropriate content. Is categorizing them as Business, Finance, Technology, Regulation, DNotes, the best solution?

The logo up there doesn't look bad, but it is essentially just a placeholder. I know some of you liked Mochilles logo's, once I get the source files I will tweak them and provide screen shots for everyone to decide.

New BTCE site looks good bro, well done. my suggestions based on what i want to find in web

- Sponsors advertisements fot DNotes Vault and future exchange etc..
- Some mining tech news, this is a fundamental part of ecosystem in cryptos
- blue looks instead of orange for butons and dates like dnotes logo
- some price feeds of coins, maybe can run and scroll line with principal coins prices
- links of interest
- fill right space at logo line with a epic phrase like future is now or whatever
- add some video for multimetimedia qualification
- Brief category  
- Regulation - legal category should be one of the most demanded

maybe holders must make a collect to give you a big bounty !

[DNotes]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. Keep them coming. I will create a list of pending additions/modifications.

[Chase]

I posted this on the CryptoMoms forum:

I can't believe how fast the past year has gone.  I was thinking about how much we have accomplished in that time when it dawned on me that the first CRISP was started at CryptoMoms in July 2014.  In exactly two weeks (July 26th) CRISP For Kids turns one!!

(http://cryptomoms.com/forum/cryptomoms-com/5/kids-with-a-cr-i-s-p/530/)

                        

[Mochilles]

I know some of you liked Mochilles logo's, once I get the source files I will tweak them and provide screen shots for everyone to decide.

I'm out of town right now, but will provide these in the next coupla days