Hey everyone, requesting help!
In my last posts on this forum I introduced
a thread and eBook called "How to Grow Bitcoin", which outlined thoughts I had for Bitcoin gaining traction. I didn't seem to convince anyone with my point of view. Forum member julz questioned the one area of the plan I felt was tricky. This was members required to use Bitcoin at a low fixed rate of exchange (around $.40 to $1.00) for a time until the exchage rate rose. I still feel this would work in practice, but no one else seemed to agree. The thread died away. Shortly thereafter the price of Bitcoin plummeted from around $14, and I'm wondering if there is any connection.
Regardless, the good news is circumstances have changed.
In the original plan I tried structuring trade such that Bitcoin had an impetus to grow. That's what Bitcoin has been missing. Having functionality as a black market currency is good but not enough, at least in the near term. Shopping with dollars wins out easily, but now there is a factor which can drive adoption: growing worldwide protests including Occupy Wall Street.
These protesters are varied, but a growing theme is dissatisfaction with banks and the dollar based financial system. "End the Fed" and "end banks" can often be seen in their livestream chats. This forum even showed their attempt to make an alternative OWS money system.
This is EXACTLY the intended use of Bitcoin.
What Bitcoin needs to grow is people compelled to use it in spite of early inconveniences. These protesters have that. We just need to make the system and information easily accessible.
So, I've already started in this direction. I'm still using everything outlined in my book, except the part about exchange rates. That no longer matters, because these people have incentive to use it at any rate. There are, however, other pieces of the puzzle missing.
People may be compelled to use Bitcoin, but they still need something to spend it on.
In my last thread someone asked why my book focused so much on food. If you look at the Occupy protests, what they are asking for in donations, and all the unemployed and homeless participants, the reason may now become clearer. Food is a basic need. Many people take it for granted, until no longer having access to it.
I had mentioned setting up local communities where food and other goods and services could be exchanged using Bitcoin as the currency. A big tool needed to do this is a website to connect people. This was in the book under "Bitcoin Markets" and I've started building a website to accomodate this, but now on a global scale. These protests are resonating worldwide, so Bitcoin has added ability to gain traction. The site is GlobalBitcoinEconomy.com and you can get the gist of it here:
http://www.globalbitcoineconomy.com/aboutThe site is an early version, and still needs a lot of work but I've got the basics. I'd love people to sign up, look around and provide feedback. Just use invite code 55JR647.
Another crucial component is a "Person-to-Person Pay Service".
Using Bitcoin in its current form is far too burdensome. Most people should never need to worry about the client. The majority of transactions should be handled by updating rows of a database somewhere. Ideally transactions are all free too. Once I've got the above site finished I plan to start on a Bitcoin version of PayPal.
The last piece needed is a Bitcoin Bank. Securing Bitcoins presents unique challenges. I believe the PayPal-like service should limit the number of Bitcoins held to cut down risk. Instead, there should be proper Bitcoin Banks which are focused on storing large amounts of people's wealth. Naturally, these banks should be as transparent as possible, and incorporated in a legally robust country like the U.S. or UK.
This is where my request for help comes, as I have no desire to create a Bank too. But I'll start that too if I have to. I'm also open to teaming up with others, or possibly just contributing code, etc.
Other than that, I just need help spreading this growing plan to protesters and others, so we can begin to see local Bitcoin communities worldwide begin to form.
Side Note: I've been busy developing the site, but I've been checking this forum, and think the project Atlas has to take Bitcoin mainstream is also good. I think the impact would likely be limited in the near term, but Alex Jones listeners are similar to the protesters. They should also view Bitcoin favorably.
