Bitcoin adoption slowing; Coinbase + Bitpay is enough to make Bitcoin a fiat

[AnonyMint]

Actually I was thinking you might have written Sweden but I didn't feel like digging in that "Quality TA" thread for your post since it is probably buried. It was a post where you mentioned that you don't have to worry about being tracked down in your country for interacting with Bitcoin.

Apologies. Actually it is still a good indicator of my memory capacity that I can remember the general thrust of your prior posts in other threads and not only you but other users that I have interacted with.

[RAJSALLIN]

Actually I was thinking you might have written Sweden but I didn't feel like digging in that "Quality TA" thread for your post since it is probably buried. It was a post where you mentioned that you don't have to worry about being tracked down in your country for interacting with Bitcoin.

Apologies. Actually it is still a good indicator of my memory capacity that I can remember the general thrust of your prior posts in other threads and not only you but other users that I have interacted with.

No problem at all. I'm impressed with so much of your writings so I will let this little flaw go

To be fair you probably have a much better memory than me. My memory is not one of my stronger suits..

[peri1224]

Where was the confusion between Switzerland and Sweden? Sweden was never mentioned except by the poster. The facts in the story were all about Switzerland with correct local place names.

[AnonyMint]

Where was the confusion between Switzerland and Sweden? Sweden was never mentioned except by the poster. The facts in the story were all about Switzerland with correct local place names.

RAJSALLIN is from Sweden, I had forgotten and attributed him to being Swiss. My mistake.

[peri1224]

This could potentially develop into something that makes a coin with true anonymity very useful. And soon.

Thousands of Freedom Fighters headed to Nevada.
 
http://youtu.be/qKhRV0lfh4E
http://rt.com/usa/bundy-ranch-nevada-tensions-940/

[mrpopgun]

I have been reading your posts and am somewhat mesmerized by the breadth of your observations, explicit research and quite ordered analysis.  Many if not most of your conclusions will need to be judged by future outcomes, but they ring highly probable to my lay ear.  This brings me to the reason for me message.  I am absolutely new to crypto-currencies.  While I thought I knew little, now that I've been reading the the depth of this understatement is a bit overwhelming.  While I would like to enter into this market (for both finacial and sociopolitical reasons) I am struggling with the coalescing of control I see in bitcoin.  If at this point in time the only way to effectively continue the generation of bitcoin towards its intrinsic currency cap is through huge expenditure of resources, then only the "whales" are actually functional in the market.  This appears to be exactly what Satoshi was against.  If it isn't, it is something *I* am against.

For me to enter into bitcoin, my current options are to a) exchange fiat for it b) expend the resources to become a "producer" of monumental scale or c) provide services, knowledge or products in exchange for bitcoin.  While those are all perfectly fine options, I'm not certain I want to further bitcoin and it's increasing centralization.  What does that leave other than altcoins?  If altcoins, where does one even start?  While there are a plethora to delve into, most all seem to be less than useful or plagued with fundamental issues.  I am drawn to currencies that are constructed to try and withstand industrial scale takeover of mining such that the Commons can continue to participate in currency creation well into the future; keeping the currency truly decentralized.  I am a fan of anonymity in transactions as governments have proven all to clearly they are willing to exploit, break or create laws that favor their continuance of power and exertion of control on the populace.

What options would you point a new entrant into the cryptocurrency world look at?  Wait for a better market contender?  Consider a handful of coins that have existing merits beyond the rest of the pack?  Back bitcoin until an alternative emerges that isn't clearly ephemeral?  I truly am having a hard time picking out potentials (if only for research and not financial entrance) from a field I am only now becoming familiar with.  Any advice you could provide would be truly helpful.  There are many voices on the forums and in blogs, but not so many that are so rigorously dedicated to the facts and not their dogma.

[klee]

http://letstalkbitcoin.com/is-this-the-end-of-bitcoin-anonymity/#.U0hMQ-eSycY

[AnonyMint]

http://letstalkbitcoin.com/is-this-the-end-of-bitcoin-anonymity/#.U0hMQ-eSycY

Upthread I had also cited the news about the Circle CEO's comments.

[snip]

Notice in Bitcoin the new coin production schedule is designed such that rate of increase is declining and the total supply is designed to never exceed 21 million BTC coins. However, IMO that is myopic because the mining is already centralized and if the government takes over, there is no limit to what they might do with the protocol. I argued that more upthread or in the past, where I said once the masses dominate the coin userbase, they really don't care as long as they get their debt and Walmart goodies.

Bitcoin mining is global. If somehow the government took over the major miners in the United States and forced them to change the protocol, wouldn't that just create a forked coin which people could choose not to use and instead keep using the real Bitcoin which is still mined throughout the rest of world and by smaller miners in the United States? For your scenario to play out, a total government takeover of the Internet (far more severe than the Great Firewall) and well as blanket observation and control of all commerce would be required. Even if it were technically possible for this regime to carry out this kind of extreme totalitarianism, I do not think it has the political capital and economic resources to do it. Nor do I think they are stupid enough to try. Power will adapt to Bitcoin, not destroy it.

Circle CEO apparently disagrees and says the G20 will cooperate. I have also provided citations upthread about G20 declarations on their plans to cooperate.

Two or three pools control > 50% of the hash rate. That isn't the entire internet. That is only three businesses that have to be raided.

The masses won't care. Who is going to support your fork? You won't even have a majority of mining hash rate.

As for individual miners switching to another pool upon that event, note one miner in East Washington had already 6 - 7% of the total Bitcoin network hash rate and is aiming to reach 10%. ASICs concentrate mining power and this will continue to get worse.

[AnonyMint]

[snip]

For me to enter into bitcoin, my current options are to a) exchange fiat for it b) expend the resources to become a "producer" of monumental scale or c) provide services, knowledge or products in exchange for bitcoin.

While those are all perfectly fine options, I'm not certain I want to further bitcoin and it's increasing centralization.  What does that leave other than altcoins?

With a cpu-only coin, you could mine with your existing computer and with stronger anonymity, you could do it without anyone tracing you. So what do you think will be the most popular way to obtain crypto-currency.

If altcoins, where does one even start?  While there are a plethora to delve into, most all seem to be less than useful or plagued with fundamental issues.

Indeed no altcoin yet has coalesced a complete feature set. They are piecemeal wonders.

And to those who think Doggie (Beanie Babies) marketing is useful, I want to point a reality of the relatively low networth demographic statistics for Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin as follows in the quote of myself.

Even Bitcoin is no where near saturating the serious white male investor demographic. Hordes of them will be coming when the confiscations and capital controls begin.

Barking at the masses now, is barking up the wrong marketing tree (all doggie puns intended).

Before taking the mass market (fiat has to fail for them and) the crypto-coin must lay a solid foundation. Even Usain Bolt does his 400 meter basis training. Even a miler runs long-distance to build a foundation for the speed work.

My 0.01% - 0.03% guesstimate was 600,000 to 1.8 million based on world population of 6 billion.

Dogecoin (why don't they pronounce it "doggiecoin" or "dog-ecoin" ) claims 100,000 users yet the mcap is only $43 million. Apparently it is the copper-zinc penny coin (feel good marketing, donations, cute dogs) and Litecoin is the current silver to Bitcoin's gold.

Isn't market cap more relevant+concrete than the nebulous concept of "users" (not all types of users are the same).

[snip]

1. The hassle of recording and paying tax for numerous daily tidbit transactions is far outweighed by the insignificant value loss of holding $500 in your checking account (exhibit my prior post that average Dogecoin holding is claimed to be $430 per user).

2. You are not thinking like the masses who are not the rich precisely because they don't have a lot of savings to invest. And thus they don't have the same priority set as you. But you as an investor in what you want them to use, need to think like them to understand this investment.

I saw this within my initial study of Bitcoin yet Risto (and you?) apparently haven't registered this in your consciousness yet after years of being invested.

The wildcard is if there could be an application (other than investing) that targeted the rich demographic which is investing in Bitcoin. Well that is...anonymity. They will need it to survive what is coming! And Bitcoin doesn't have it.

[snip]

Again you misjudge the masses, because you are not one. You can't put yourself in their mindset and priority set. I can.

[snip]

My gosh you missed the main point. The masses like fiat! They don't require that the digital currency of the world needs to not be a fiat.

And you did not address the point that the masses don't like the properties of Bitcoin:

• Mixes traceable illegal activity with their funds
• No protection against theft
• No refundable protection
• No consumer protection
• Very volatile price
• Must convert to and from fiat which is a hassle
• Very slow transactions, and confusing
• No government guaranteed deposit insurance
• Can't obtain a loan or credit card in bitcoins
• There is no cash version to use offline.

Fiat doesn't have those weaknesses. Fiat has other weaknesses which we are concerned about, but the masses don't care about those weaknesses that bother us. Later the masses will fall into the abyss, then some of them will learn to appreciate our ideals but most of them won't learn.

I am drawn to currencies that are constructed to try and withstand industrial scale takeover of mining such that the Commons can continue to participate in currency creation well into the future; keeping the currency truly decentralized.  I am a fan of anonymity in transactions as governments have proven all to clearly they are willing to exploit, break or create laws that favor their continuance of power and exertion of control on the populace.

What options would you point a new entrant into the cryptocurrency world look at?  Wait for a better market contender?

IMO wait for the one that has every feature it should have. Expend the intervening time learning about what those features should be.

[snip]

There are many voices on the forums and in blogs, but not so many that are so rigorously dedicated to the facts and not their dogma.

Everyone is biased even myself. Only you can decide who speaks to the necessary features and delivers them.

Even I don't know what everyone will do. I do know that it is very, very rare for a committee or group to produce a winning design and implementation. See the Mythical Man Month and note the politics that ensues with more cooks arguing over the pot.

Open source has prospered when there is one exceptional leader who accepts all efficient help, e.g. Linus Torvalds.

I can't tell you who that is in the crypto-currency arena. You have to make the determination based on available information.

I don't want to be a famous personality. I want to see us get what we need with minimal extraneous noise.

[AnonyMint]

http://armstrongeconomics.com/2014/04/11/debt-taxes-wisdom-from-the-past/

One of the more interesting aspects of the coming final Blood Moon on September 28, 2015, this one also coincides with the end of the Jewish Shmita year. This is when the Israelites are to let the land rest and cancel all debts.  This occurs every 7 years (2000-2001, 2007-2008, 2014-2015).  The Ten Commandments forbids Marxism for its clearly states that you should NOT covet thy neighbor’s goods. Socialism is all about taking money from people who earn it. The other aspect concerning the cancellation of debts that the IMF refuses to allow Ukraine to do is interesting:

Deuteronomy 15:1-3

Does Armstrong read this thread or do our minds just so often have the same thoughts. This occurs often where he and I write the same point independently. I did not email him the second quote below about the 7 year Biblical Jubilee.

http://armstrongeconomics.com/2014/04/09/the-coming-tetrad-the-blood-moons/

That said, this is a group of four consecutive total lunar eclipses in 2014 and 2015 – a series known as a Tetrad – four successive total ‘blood-red’ lunar eclipses each followed by six full moons. The more interesting aspect of the coming Tetrad is that the date lines up with this peak in the Economic Confidence Model 2015.75 and is off only by 2 days in advance. Indeed, NASA has confirmed that the Tetrad has only happened three times in more than 500 years – 1493, 1949, and 1967.

[snip]

The incredible alignment has only happened a handful of times in the last two thousand years but, remarkably, on each of the last three occasions it has coincided with a globally significant religious event.

Looking at the phenomenon, over a five millennium span from 1999 BC to 3000 AD, the max number of eclipse Tetrads that can take place in any century is eight (, which occurs this century. This is the Tetrad Season since the last time this took place was during the 9th century AD.

[snip]

There was a Tetrad in 1493 that marked the discovery of the New World. The next coincided with the establishment of the State of Israel – after thousands of years of struggle – in 1949 and the end of World War II. This was followed by 1967 and the Six-Day Arab–Israeli War.

Therefore, I do not see where this has any specific forecasting significance. Nonetheless, it is fascinating that it correlates at this time when our own models are jumping off the charts.

Well doesn't he know this coming "Tetrad season" which begins April 15, 2014 is because to the birth of anonymous, decentralized, cpu-only crypto-currency is born on April 15, 2014.  


Amazing the Tetrad season has only occurred 3 times this millennium, corresponding to the birth of New World, Israel (end of WW2), and Arab-Israel war.

And now on April 15, 2014 is born the antidote to central banking.

This date is coincidentally a giant middle finger to the USA tax deadline.

The student loan problem in the USA is huge and going to put the youth in debt slavery for life, so we need to forgive allsome that debt.

Note the correction to my prior irresponsible statement. No one should be completely absolved of their responsibility else no one learns to be responsible. There need to be consequences, just not debt slavery for life. Typically 7 years (Jubilee) is the max allowed in the Bible for slavery, then you must have allowed and encouraged your slave to work him/herself out of the hole and be prepared to be a responsible member of society.

[snip]

[AnonyMint]

The totalitarian dollar hegemony is imminent 2015.75.

All the more reason an anonymous coin will skyrocket in importance for those wise who want to opt-out and sustain the economy to avoid a Dark Age.

There is so much work that needs to be done, and it won't be done with a first release of some wondercoin. Sustained success will require sustained, stoic effort and refinements. For example, cloaking the protocol.

Dollar will rise +50% against basket of major currencies such UK pound, Euro, Yen mostly of the rise coming in a phase transition after 2015.75 (Sept 2015).

This is because the world will go into chaos, and everyone who sticks with the mainstream financial system will run into the dollar and the US military for safe haven. Socialism always huddles together over the cliff together. See my point about organisms in a Petri dish.

http://armstrongeconomics.com/2014/04/11/why-does-deflation-cause-the-currency-to-rise/

[AnonyMint]

Regarding the upthread conspiracy theories discussion which I discouraged from elaborating on further in this thread (since it is sort of offtopic except on a high-level perspective), please consider moving further discussion on that to the following quoted thread.

This is the show down which is the first (or is it last?) line of defense against the Agenda 21 and plan to turn the west of the USA into a controlled zone where the population can only operate on highways and a major cities. That linked video explains that anyone that sets foot on "dirt" (off the highway) is carted off to federal prison. The BLM is removing the cattle and making "we the people" the cattle. Welcome to 1984.

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message878048/pg1



Cliven Bundy explains his rights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxjly8pLCYw

The snipers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90LtLwXXnp4

Globalist (CNN owner) Ted Turner's Georgia Guidestones' double-speak inscriptions are apposite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones#Inscriptions

Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity. Unite humanity with a living new language. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court. Avoid petty laws and useless officials. Balance personal rights with social duties. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature. ----------------------------------------------------------------------

[i.e. megadeath and eugenics] [i.e. make humans infertile, hate children, family, etc] [i.e. end diversity and unify global control] [i.e. the Global Commission knows what is best for each person] [i.e. Global courts are less rancorous than local diverse ones] [i.e. Subjugate local courts to global courts] [i.e. eliminate local government] [i.e. social "justice" meaning collective theft] [i.e. our Global control is truth, beauty, love, and harmony] [i.e. Humans are a cancer]

[AnonyMint]

Personal anonymity doesn't increase corruption, cash was anonymous throughout man's history. Rather centralized control and identification means corruption moves up the ladder so that only a few can do it and control everyone else as slave.

Refer to my upthread posts (twice) about legalizing drugs to prevent the few corrupt from controlling the drug economy. Hope I don't need to repeat it again, this is the third time.

My upthread point about Dogecoin is that it had 100,000 users (roughly 1/10th of Bitcoin), yet had only $43 million market cap (roughly 1/100th of Bitcoin). Thus the marketing of Dogecoin is 1/10th as efficient (more costly).

This thread is about crypto-currency, not about crypto-barbies. If you wanted a professional search service you would choose "google" over "finddoggie".

Making crypto-currency user friendly is important. But in my professional opinion, making it a cartoon is not wise and is as far as I know not supported by the marketing data.

[AnonyMint]

Protecting our personal identities going forward.

When you want to write something that you think you could be penalized for saying, use Tor (best if bundled with Tails run from a DVD if you are really paranoid), Tor browser only, create a new forum username.

If this forums blocks you, click "New identity" in Tor and reload the page.

Running a non-logging VPN in conjunction with Tor could help, if you trust that VPN to not be honey pot.

Better alternatives might come in the future, but for now that is what we've got.

Note AnonyMint is not a covert identity. It is well attached to my real personal identity. Thus you can expect me to be more careful what I say as AnonyMint.

[lenam]

With a cpu-only coin, you could mine with your existing computer and with stronger anonymity, you could do it without anyone tracing you. So what do you think will be the most popular way to obtain crypto-currency.

I can think of smart metering and authorities quickly recoginizing your "unnormal" energy consumption. So mining a coin and using quite a lot of enery 24/7 could quickly be traced ?!
Couldn't that become a problem with the proof of work concept?

[hurricandave]

Most miners don't use more electricity than a second refrigerator or window mounted A/C that runs 24-7. If tracking down miners thru resource usage was instituted, they would most likely look at internet patterns of use. The miner program is designed in a way that it uploads and downloads in a predictable pattern of size and frequency. It would be much easier to pick out the miners on the communication patterns than electrical consumption.

[peri1224]

They would never bother about individual miners. If a known and proven facility existed that allows the totally anonymous transfer of funds, it is a given that criminals would also make use of it.
If the government can't stop their online process of transferring bytes, you can be sure that they would go after the exchanges, which is the weak point of any crypto coin. As long as bytes are not commonly accepted as payment, they will have to be changed into currency, gold, silver, whatever.
A truly anonymous coin is assured to be the government's enemy No. 1, and you would see them go ballistic, because the control freaks are unlikely to tolerate anything that late in the game that spoils plans for their iron grip on everything.
The first thing they would do is smear the new coin as a tool of terrorists, drug dealers, child traffickers, etc. They would just have to do a few coin transfers themselves and then "catch" the perps in the act to have all the proof they need.
Hitler was smeared for many things he didn't do because he operated a money system outside their control. A new coin outside their control would see horror propaganda on that level, meaning they would try to destroy the reputation of the coin early. They are specialists at that. If that is not enough, they will come down on the exchanges with hammer and thongs. Those involved would be hunted like sandmen in the movie Logan's Run, because ever since Hitler there has been nothing that seriously undermined their control over money. How few central banks are still outside their control? How many have they taken over in the last few years alone?
Beside the Russians and Chinese they don't see much they can't control, so IMO they would react severely to anything in their own backyard that gives them real competition to their paper monopoly.
Absence of a strong reaction to a coin would mean they don't really consider it a threat.

[wizzardTim]

When a man thinks freely, he thinks well. I'm glad that someone (AnonyMint) has the insight to see whats going really beyond the scenes and even foresee some aspects of the future. I haven't read such an article here for a long time..

There is a need for a truly anonymous coin, that everyone can participate in its creation, that is secure and untraceable, can be selfprotected from botnets, has fast confirmations etc..


Bitcoin made the start. Studying its drawbacks, it is time for THE successor to be built. The need is clearly shown, the past teaches us how to evolve & where to focus.  the question is who is gonna build it and how?

[AnonyMint]

The can't attack easily decentralized P2P exchanges, and I don't mean localbitcoins because it is a centralized website.

If we can change the way websites work so they sit behind an obfuscating P2P layer, then we can also hide all the mining traffic in website traffic. And no more certificate authorities for HTTPS which are probably all backdoored.

Then it is checkmate.

They can try to take down parts of the internet and the HAM and shortwave radio operators will bring it back up. Also I don't think every country would join them in the march to total blackout and destruction.

The USA is weakened, they can't put their military every where at once. Russia and China wait to attack once it gets spread out too thin.

Can you spell C H A O S imminent?

[wizzardTim]

If we can change the way websites work so they sit behind an obfuscating P2P layer, then we can also hide all the mining traffic in website traffic. And no more certificate authorities for HTTPS which are probably all backdoored.

What if the website is included in the blockchain, like data in datacoin?