NEEDED URGENTLY: Professional Bitcoin Exchange and More Serious Project Work

[S3052]

All,

as you observe, despite press coverage, bitcoin is on a decline (yes, exchange rates are not everything, but trust me this is crucial. If there won't be a continuous fund inflow into the bitcoin economy, the entire Bitcoin project may crash big time)

This is a negative spiral.

1. BTC exchange rates drop
2. Investors shy away
3. BTC exchange rate drops more
4. Miners are not profitable any more. They start selling
5. BTC exchange rate drops more..
6. BTC/USD soon will be where it started
7. Press coverage announces the death of this "geek" idea..
8. Maybe bitcoin can get up on its feet again,. but it is very tough after a big crash

This is not meant negative, but positive:

WE NEED PEOPLE DRIVING the BITCOIN project forward properly. And not only look at their own profit or debate hours in the forum about minor things.

They should (re)invest part of their income into MARKETING of bitcoins, CREATING new businesses, etc. in a much more sincere way. I know some people are doing this in a great way already, but it seems it is only a handful.

For instance, a professional operated and marketed exchange is one element that is desperately needed. An exchange that can handle big volumes and can be trusted by investors.

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[genjix]

I released the source code for Britcoin for this reason. Currently we're talking with lawyers to gain the relevant licenses and expand to other currencies hopefully.

If anyone wants to setup their own exchange, then I can do this for a small fee of ~400 BTC.

[S3052]

genjix is the perfect example of what I mean.

[Raulo]

WE NEED PEOPLE DRIVING the BITCOIN project forward properly.

Driving Bitcoin project does not equal driving bitcoin price. The last thing Bitcoin needs is a bubble.
We don't need "investors" who buy and hoard bitcoins. There is zero benefit from them for the Bitcoin project. And by driving the BTC bubble they can scare the merchants when the bubble bursts. And all bubbles burst.

By the way, what's wrong with MtGox? As soon as they started accepting wire/ACH/euro transfers, there is no real obstacle with buying BTCs. Buying small amounts of BTCs or buying fast is another story but buying gold is not easy either when credit cards are expensive and risky for the sellers.

[fetokun]

I dislike repeating myself, but I proposed this solution in another topic (http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3143.msg75681#msg75681) and got almost no responses, but I think it would be a pretty good way to atract bitcoin-based services:

I was thinking maybe we could build free websites to business like this Deli that are willing to accept bitcoin.

We could have something like bitbusiness.com/yourBusiness (just made up this name) where we could host these websites.
In the same "bitbusiness" (or whatever name we choose) we could help people tracking these places.

I would go to a pretty far place only because it accepts bitcoin! All we have to do is convince business owners of this.

[jgarzik]

BitcoinMarket v2 is professional, and too-often overlooked: https://www.bitcoinmarket.com/

[PLATO]

I hope to start my bitcoin roadtrip [thread: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4752.0] this weekend or early next week; as I travel I'm planning on telling everyone I meet about bitcoin, including local media outlets.

[LightRider]

Maybe we can convince the people behind Minecraft that there would be some synergy if they accepted this new digital "mining" based currency.

[jav]

I expect the exchange rate to drop significantly over the following weeks. It is just way too high. The system currently costs about $4500 a day just to keep running (number of Bitcoins mined per day at current exchange rate), without actually providing all that many things you can do with it. Besides admiring its beauty. And recent Slashdotting has shown: Not too many people care about that beauty too much, they maybe think it's a cute idea, but move on when there isn't anything to do with it that they can't do already.

But it's probably not too bad if the hype wears off a little and the project can catch some breath. The reality of software development is, that it takes a lot of time and can not really be scaled up that well. And I think that's the most crucial part that needs improving right now. Yes, I agree, we need more "goods and services", but I think the precursor to that is better software. It's just too much work to integrate Bitcoin right now. We need software libraries and webservices to make that much easier, we need better and easier to use client software and we need mobile clients. These will take time to develop and the hype economy will probably crash in the meantime.

[sirius]

Wanna setup a Bitcoin-Zaypay site anyone? SMS and phonecall payments. It would be a very easy way to buy small amounts of coins internationally.

MtGox's and Britcoin's establishment of legal status should make it easier for bigger business to accept coins. Spesmilo or other lightweight clients could be promoted for newbies. Bitcoin as a browser plugin would be golden, even if for MyBitcoin accounts only.

[jgarzik]

MtGox's and Britcoin's establishment of legal status should make it easier for bigger business to accept coins. Spesmilo or other lightweight clients could be promoted for newbies. Bitcoin as a browser plugin would be golden, even if for MyBitcoin accounts only.

WARNING -- spesmilo and other clients are not ready for prime time.  IMO, they should not be recommended at this time.  Other than mainline, no client can yet handle bitcoin details such as a block chain reorganization.

(besides the fact that the wiki and some of these clients are filled with specious things like Tonal, which will only serve to confuse the average user)

[kiba]

People always felt that there is not enough goods and services in the economy. However, our entrepreneurs are not really that fast at iterating or at launching new products.

[Nefario]

Yeah, I get the feeling that a good few people are working on their own projects that just aren't ready yet, at least this is the situation with me.

[kiba]

Yeah, I get the feeling that a good few people are working on their own projects that just aren't ready yet, at least this is the situation with me.

We're taking our time because there's not enough competition to motivate bitcoin entrepreneurs to improve their OODA loop.

[N12]

I totally agree. Instead of arguing about politics and details for pages and pages, you could invest your time in promoting Bitcoin, contributing to bounties, doing whatever you can to help the economy.

My feeling is that few people understand that they have influence over Bitcoin’s value. You can help by joining this thread, for example.

[­­­Atlas_]

Bitcoin is a sound concept. I wouldn't worry too much. It may reach rock bottom but it can easily gain momentum again. People will pick it up like crazy at less than 50 cents a pop. Personally, I'm ecstatic. This is a great time to buy.

[Jered Kenna (TradeHill)]

Good stuff in this thread, going to watch it

[­­­Atlas_]

I released the source code for Britcoin for this reason. Currently we're talking with lawyers to gain the relevant licenses and expand to other currencies hopefully.

If anyone wants to setup their own exchange, then I can do this for a small fee of ~400 BTC.

I was thinking of open-source exchange software the other day. I am glad it wasn't an original idea.

Thank you.

[Fender84]

BitcoinMarket v2 is professional, and too-often overlooked: https://www.bitcoinmarket.com/

Charging .5% on every transaction and 2% on withdrawals? No thanks. I can't even trade from bitcoin to "BMUSD", which I can't do anything with anyways, for free.

[fetokun]

Yeah, I get the feeling that a good few people are working on their own projects that just aren't ready yet, at least this is the situation with me.

x2

I'll build a website to buy/sell bitcoins in my home country mainly because almost nobody there will want to get into the bitcoin world if they have no way to change BCs into theyr own currency.