Bitcoin reaching critical mass in New Hampshire?

[spiccioli]

Speaking of the Bitcoin <-> FSP relationship, the FSP is doing a donation drive today, and they accept Bitcoin! I encourage everyone to donate, and show them just how awesome Bitcoin is.

1rMuPu2e6gaYYraBzCGnPLkFWLQsrSjpH <- FSP address
http://freestateproject.org/donate <- official donation page
http://www.feedzebirds.com/c2uj7 <- promote the money bomb
http://www.facebook.com/events/266620543382029/ <- facebook event

Oh well,

I'm from the other side of this world, anyway just sent a little tip to show my appreciation for your efforts.

spiccioli.

[fornit]

most of those pages are for donations, which do nothing towards building an economy for bitcoin. the only thing you can actually buy is baklava. i think thats even better than alpaca socks 
i dont really see a critical mass there.

So, what you're saying is that New Hampshire is secretly going to change its motto to New Hampshire: The Donate Your Bitcoins to Me State?

This just in:

Every single organization in the world now accepts Bitcoin donations, well over 100 million of them.

No effect?

But yeah, early to call it 'critical'.

what i wanted to say comes down to this:
you can live off donations but you can live off donating. even if every single organization accepting donations accepts them in bitcoin, even in bitcoin only, bitcoin is still not a viable currency. people only spend a little amount of their total money on donations and they have no incentive to convert any more money to bitcoin then they intend to donate. but if a wide variety of attractive products can be bought in bitcoin there is no upper limit to the amount of bitcoins you can hold with the intention of spending them. the shops are the chicken in the chicken/egg problem.

so in my opinion the easiest way to reach critical mass is to get a limited number of online shops with a very big potential customer base - i.e. selling stuff thats is usually sold online and shipping it to almost anywhere cheap - to accept bitcoin. for example computer hardware and electronics, games/movies/music, porn/downloads/gambling. as soon as you can create the feeling that you can hold bitcoins because you will spend them eventually its downhill from there.
donations, local restaurants etc. are imho mostly good for the marketing effect. even if new hampshire completely switched to bitcoin for everything but internet shops it wouldnt change a thing for the rest of the world. its very good advertisement and the price for a bitcoin would probably skyrocket but thats it. doesnt do a thing for a merchant in california who has no bitcoin customer base and nothing for the customers there either.

that being said good advertisement of course can be a game change by itself.

[stick_theman]

Good analysis, Roger. 

[Red Emerald]

most of those pages are for donations, which do nothing towards building an economy for bitcoin. the only thing you can actually buy is baklava. i think thats even better than alpaca socks 
i dont really see a critical mass there.

So, what you're saying is that New Hampshire is secretly going to change its motto to New Hampshire: The Donate Your Bitcoins to Me State?

This just in:

Every single organization in the world now accepts Bitcoin donations, well over 100 million of them.

No effect?

But yeah, early to call it 'critical'.

what i wanted to say comes down to this:
you can live off donations but you can live off donating. even if every single organization accepting donations accepts them in bitcoin, even in bitcoin only, bitcoin is still not a viable currency. people only spend a little amount of their total money on donations and they have no incentive to convert any more money to bitcoin then they intend to donate. but if a wide variety of attractive products can be bought in bitcoin there is no upper limit to the amount of bitcoins you can hold with the intention of spending them. the shops are the chicken in the chicken/egg problem.

so in my opinion the easiest way to reach critical mass is to get a limited number of online shops with a very big potential customer base - i.e. selling stuff thats is usually sold online and shipping it to almost anywhere cheap - to accept bitcoin. for example computer hardware and electronics, games/movies/music, porn/downloads/gambling. as soon as you can create the feeling that you can hold bitcoins because you will spend them eventually its downhill from there.
donations, local restaurants etc. are imho mostly good for the marketing effect. even if new hampshire completely switched to bitcoin for everything but internet shops it wouldnt change a thing for the rest of the world. its very good advertisement and the price for a bitcoin would probably skyrocket but thats it. doesnt do a thing for a merchant in california who has no bitcoin customer base and nothing for the customers there either.

that being said good advertisement of course can be a game change by itself.

Anyone actually using bitcoin as a currency anywhere in the world should strengthen the economy shouldn't it?

Say we donate to the FSP.  The people in New Hampshire who got the donated coins are going to be using them as an actual currency.  They will hopefully spend them on way more things than the average bitcoiner (who I'm pretty sure just speculates) does.

Demand is demand, no matter where in the world it is.  Getting coins to people who have demand makes the economy stronger and so I'd say that donations actually can be beneficial to the economy.

[MemoryDealers]

I also think it is a pretty safe bet that this year's http://porcfest.com/ will double as the worlds largest Bitcoin swap meet.
Last year there were lots of vendors using Bitcoin,  this year I suspect just about everyone will be willing to accept payment as Bitcoin.

[stochastic]

most of those pages are for donations, which do nothing towards building an economy for bitcoin. the only thing you can actually buy is baklava. i think thats even better than alpaca socks 
i dont really see a critical mass there.

If only there was critical mass in Vermont then I can buy some Grade B maple syrup and Vermont cheddar cheese.

[dunand]

If only there was critical mass in Vermont then I can buy some Grade B maple syrup and Vermont cheddar cheese.

If you were living in Canada I could have shipped you 540ml (19 ounces) metal cans of grade B syrup for 1.75 BTC each.

[kjlimo]

I also think it is a pretty safe bet that this year's http://porcfest.com/ will double as the worlds largest Bitcoin swap meet.
Last year there were lots of vendors using Bitcoin,  this year I suspect just about everyone will be willing to accept payment as Bitcoin.

I'm e-mailing them to ask if they will add bitcoin as a payment option.

I encourage anyone who is interested in attending to e-mail them and ask if you can register using bitcoins.

Here's who you can direct your bitcoin questions to:

Info@porcfest.com

[MemoryDealers]

A few more NH related Bitcoin things:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA6Oi7sUNCI

http://www.facebook.com/groups/185130098262824/

http://www.facebook.com/groups/195492163844669/

http://ridleyreport.com/blog/2011/dec/donating_ridley_bitcoins

[Stephen Gornick]

Incidentally, Aaron Greenspan (of Facecash) is seeking support for New Hampshire HB 1700:
 Support H.B. 1700! Help New Hampshire stand up to the banking lobby.
 - http://www.facecash.com/legal/nh.html

[Stephen Gornick]

Add to the list:

Stomp Romp Guitars in Manchester, NH



- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=84285.0

Network effect FTW!

[cytokine]

The only problem with BTC is that it's a bit difficult for non-technies to gain confidence in. Gold is easy: it's shiny. But try explaining even basic crypto to someone on the street - they won't get it.

Luckily, once enough people accept it, people will "just use it" without thinking, much like the USD continued to function when it was no longer backed by gold. But prior to critical mass, it's very difficult. I even have family members who are really interested in Bitcoin, but refuse to buy any until they "have the time to study and really understand it."

[justusranvier]

Bitcoin's popularity is already exploding within the libertarian free state project.

One of my personal indicators that I'm looking for as evidence of critical mass is when you announce that you are paying your overseas suppliers in Bitcoins.

[MemoryDealers]

I'm already paying some of my over seas suppliers in Bitcoin.

[justusranvier]

I'm already paying some of my over seas suppliers in Bitcoin.

That is very good news. I haven't been following the forums diligently enough to catch that before.

Along with some of the other announcements over the last week it looks like all the pieces are coming together. I wonder if more international trade is being denominated in Bitcoins now than in gold... Next stop, the Dollar?

[punningclan]

I'm in New Hampshire and I love it here as much as I love Bitcoin!
Rock On! (Granite of course)

[justusranvier]

I'm already paying some of my over seas suppliers in Bitcoin.

If you could just expand internationally into the countries that are net recipients of remittances you'd be able to establish the trade flow that will make it all work.

People who receive bitcoins from abroad need to exchange them from local currency but right now those local exchanges need to go through the legacy banking system and forex markets to get local currency to buy bitcoins with. If you were selling products in the recipient countries you could buy the bitcoins from the exchange with currency you got from local sales and use the bitcoins to pay your suppliers.

[Stephen Gornick]

There wasn't a link here yet, so I'm posting it.

PorcFest 2012 -- Biggest Bitcoin event ever
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=89714.0

[ben-abuya]

There's now a weekly Bitcoin Meetup in New Hampshire as well:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=91059.msg1002257#msg1002257

[ben-abuya]

A New Hampshire State Rep is now one of the first politicians to accept Bitcoins as campaign contributions:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=99968.0