Improving the Liquidity of Bitcoin

[da2ce7]

Over the last two months I have been intently observing the growth of the Bitcoin economy.  The interest in Bitcoin has been astounding, well at least until the interested party tries to buy some.

Buying Bitcoin's is an mission and a half.  Either the particular solution for the trader is non-obvious or requires a huge amount of effort.

As a community we need to do better if we seriously want Bitcoin to succeed!

Some of my idea's to help:

• Write a 'Trading Guide' explaining the best practices for trading Bitcoin
• Make Bitcoin-OTC easier to use
• Moderate the marketplace forum more strictly, enforce well formed titles and styles
• Develop a backbone of international Bitcoin traders

Please post your ideas, and talk about what you can personalty do to help make Bitcoin liquid.

[Nefario]

The problem is, when doing business over the internet you need to tie into traditional financial systems, with all the issues and problems associated.

These problems include:
chargebacks
Red-tape, excessive legislation
High legislated costs (insurance, certification etc.)

The way around this is a face to face bitcoin for cash over the counter kind of trade.

This requires sellers to be physically present to do this though.

[da2ce7]

The way around this is a face to face bitcoin for cash over the counter kind of trade.

This requires sellers to be physically present to do this though.

We need an international backbone of trusted Bitcoin traders to feed the in-person OTC trades, otherwise the OTC trader quickly has all BTC or local currency.

We need to start thinking of creative solutions. 

[da2ce7]

One solution would be to trade with family (or other trusted parties) in other countries.

Trusted traders well maintain accounts with their partners in other countries,  going in debt or credit with each other.

Only once they have become significantly unbalanced will the traders settle their accounts.

Settling the accounts could involve sending the funds to a relative of the trader in each country, or any other way that minimises international money transfers.

 

[jgarzik]

Well, KYC with an outfit like https://www.bitcoinusa.com/ and then buy as much as you want.

Most bitcoin exchanges until now are fully automated, which means they cannot accept funds that require some amount of trust.  Call them the First Generation of exchanges.

Newer exchanges like https://www.bitcoinusa.com/ that are local to your country, comply with money transfer laws, and can perform some amount of due diligence on their customers will be the best source of bitcoins, in the long run.

[fetokun]

Well, KYC with an outfit like https://www.bitcoinusa.com/ and then buy as much as you want.

Most bitcoin exchanges until now are fully automated, which means they cannot accept funds that require some amount of trust.  Call them the First Generation of exchanges.

Newer exchanges like https://www.bitcoinusa.com/ that are local to your country, comply with money transfer laws, and can perform some amount of due diligence on their customers will be the best source of bitcoins, in the long run.

Is this website yours? I'm thinking about doing something like this to my country

[Alex Beckenham]

enforce well formed titles and styles

And well-formed phrasal attributives

[da2ce7]

enforce well formed titles and styles

And well-formed phrasal attributives

 

[foxmulder]

What if we sell more exclusive or unique goods that are needed and only available by bitcoin ?, by this if the masses appreciate enough, then slowly it's become a free viral advertisement for bitcoin  .

[George]

Hello,

my name is George and I just registered here coming from http://paper.li/bitcoinmedia/1290146007 and trying to add my 2 cents.

I like the idea of selling/promoting sth. exclusive. Why not campaign for a testimonial (some actor, business person, CEO, etc.) and let this testimonial do sth. exclusive with those who are willing to pay for it IN BITCOINS of course?

Let's see here - people could buy:
- A day with their favorite actor
- A cooking class with Jamie Oliver
- A recording session with some famous musician
- A studio session with a famous TV personality
- etc.

Let's find some great incentives, start lobying for them with the respective (famous) people and see where it takes us!

George

[S3052]

Brilliant Idea
+1

[FatherMcGruder]

I've been toying with the idea of buying and selling bitcoins face to face. The only problem is that I'd have to go through middlemen. I'd like to buy bitcoins via bank transfer, like how I pay my electric bill, and reduce the amount of middlemen to just one, my bank.

[nanotube]

Buying Bitcoin's is an mission and a half.  Either the particular solution for the trader is non-obvious or requires a huge amount of effort.

well, it is a mission because bitcoin is a very hard currency, while most of the popular means of transferring national fiat currency (e.g., paypal) are very soft (chargebacks). thus, it requires a lot of trust on the part of the bitcoin seller. which of course presents a problem to the potential bitcoin buyer.

Write a 'Trading Guide' explaining the best practices for trading Bitcoin

http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/Using_bitcoin-otc already has some good content to start with, though some of it is OTC specific, other (about safety and chargebacks) is not.

Make Bitcoin-OTC easier to use

it is already easy to use - click on the webchat link, and ask in channel if anyone's selling. of course, the problem is that most newbies want to buy for paypal and some such, which brings us to the trust issue as above. regardless of the mechanism of OTC registration (admittedly pgp is probably not too newbie-friendly), getting trust takes time, so with online p2p trading, nobody can expect to come in and start buying large quantities of bitcoin with soft payment methods.

Moderate the marketplace forum more strictly, enforce well formed titles and styles

do you volunteer?

Develop a backbone of international Bitcoin traders

if you have any ideas that could be used on OTC, i'd be glad to hear them.

[Anonymous]

What if we sell more exclusive or unique goods that are needed and only available by bitcoin ?, by this if the masses appreciate enough, then slowly it's become a free viral advertisement for bitcoin  .

A bitcoin holiday resort where everything on the island can only be bought with bitcoins...transport,accomodation,massages,drinks,food.

etc...etc....

[Vasco]

Check out http://tradebitcoin.com/

That is a website called Bitcoin.Local that lists face to face bitcoin exchangers and vendors all over the world. You can search by location and it has a Google Map and you can contact the seller to arrange a face to face meetup in your local area.

The solution to the problem of bitcoin for cash has been created, let's make use of it!

[marcus_of_augustus]

Hello,

my name is George and I just registered here coming from http://paper.li/bitcoinmedia/1290146007 and trying to add my 2 cents.

I like the idea of selling/promoting sth. exclusive. Why not campaign for a testimonial (some actor, business person, CEO, etc.) and let this testimonial do sth. exclusive with those who are willing to pay for it IN BITCOINS of course?

Let's see here - people could buy:
- A day with their favorite actor
- A cooking class with Jamie Oliver
- A recording session with some famous musician
- A studio session with a famous TV personality
- etc.

Let's find some great incentives, start lobying for them with the respective (famous) people and see where it takes us!

George

Brad Pitt.

Has been known to issue libertarian sounding noises now and then ... and likes the odd round of poker too.