Sweden moving towards cashless economy - opportunity for Bitcoin?

[rat]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57399610/sweden-moving-towards-cashless-economy/

hmmmmmm....

the race is on.

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[hazek]

Unfortunately they are moving towards digital fiat. Yuck.

[hazek]

"One should be able to send money and donate money to different organizations without being traced every time," he says.

Bitcoin does not solve that for the ordinary user. But sure, it's an opportunity, I'll give you that.

[stochastic]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57399610/sweden-moving-towards-cashless-economy/

hmmmmmm....

The United States is becoming a cashless society.  The Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008 allows for the IRS to require all purchases by businesses to be reported to the IRS.  The thing is, the credit card company or bank will automatically report the spending to the IRS, or make it really easy to report.  So what the IRS is really doing is requiring any business that uses cash to report the payments.  It does not matter how long it takes a business to spend to get to the threshold amount.

[hazek]

IMO Bitcoin needs a few more months for good and easy to use light clients to come out before it can actually be a viable alternative for the average user.

BTW I'm talking to the guy that makes these videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics/videos
I'm hoping to spark an interest in him and maybe he'd want to make a few videos explaining Bitcoin to the average user which I think he'd be really good at. He could also start collecting tips on his other videos and maybe get some love from the Bitcoin economy

[ArticMine]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57399610/sweden-moving-towards-cashless-economy/

hmmmmmm....

The United States is becoming a cashless society.  The Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008 allows for the IRS to require all purchases by businesses to be reported to the IRS.  The thing is, the credit card company or bank will automatically report the spending to the IRS, or make it really easy to report.  So what the IRS is really doing is requiring any business that uses cash to report the payments.  It does not matter how long it takes a business to spend to get to the threshold amount.

Actually the US is moving towards cash with 10% of US residents giving up or loosing their credit cards and 29% of US residents do not have a credit card. http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/poll-1-in-10-americans-gives-up-loses-credit-cards-1276.php

A further downturn in the economy and the use of cash will go up not down.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

IMO Bitcoin needs a few more months for good and easy to use light clients to come out before it can actually be a viable alternative for the average user.

BTW I'm talking to the guy that makes these videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics/videos
I'm hoping to spark an interest in him and maybe he'd want to make a few videos explaining Bitcoin to the average user which I think he'd be really good at. He could also start collecting tips on his other videos and maybe get some love from the Bitcoin economy

1,724,060 views for Schrödinger's Cat in 5 months!!! This guy is good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOYyCHGWJq4

[stochastic]

IMO Bitcoin needs a few more months for good and easy to use light clients to come out before it can actually be a viable alternative for the average user.

BTW I'm talking to the guy that makes these videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics/videos
I'm hoping to spark an interest in him and maybe he'd want to make a few videos explaining Bitcoin to the average user which I think he'd be really good at. He could also start collecting tips on his other videos and maybe get some love from the Bitcoin economy

1,724,060 views for Schrödinger's Cat in 5 months!!! This guy is good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOYyCHGWJq4

I felt high after watching this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIq5CZlg8Rg&feature=relmfu

[D.H.]

did anyone actually see this as an invitation?

as an opportunity?

to at least provide an alternative while people are looking for one?

Yeah, thanks for the link. I certainly think that the debate about a cashless society could help us spread the word about Bitcoin in Sweden. I will write something about the article on bitcoin.se for starters. Also, I'll contact Oscar Swartz to see if he knows about Bitcoin, seems like a guy who could help spread the word.

[BubbleBoy]

The "cashless society" scheme is a crime against society. If we only stop for a moment to think that the European payment market is basically a duopoly between Visa and MasterCard, which charge between 1%-5% on each transaction passing through their systems. That's a few percent of the GDP of a cashless society subverted for the benefit of private entities. It's rent seeking in it's purest form.
But what if the carder lobby succeeds in their evil plan ? What if cash is abolished by law and the carders no longer see it as a competition - what would the fees be then ?

The privacy implications are appalling. The ability to make secret payments and purchases is an essential liberty of a free citizen, a citizen able to overlook his elected representatives. "Money laundering" and "tax evasion" are not reasons to strip essential liberties - criminals will always find ways to move assets, while the general public will lose the ability to fund and engage in counter-governmental activities, effectively setting the stage for a police state.

Governments should go exactly in the opposite direction the carders are pushing: established a public electronic cash system based on chaumian blinding. It should be free to use and guarantee the privacy of person to person transactions. The only way privacy could be removed should be with the cooperation of the other parties in the transaction, thus establishing an acceptable compromise between the privacy of citizens and preventing major crimes such as kidnapping for ransom (which are easier to accomplish with digital cash).

[anu]

The "cashless society" scheme is a crime against society.

If that were it....

In this scheme, every transaction with require authorization by the government. It may pull the rug under a lot of crime, but it will give the government unprecedented power over ordinary citizens. We will not be able to do a thing as simple as using the subway without explicit permission of both the payment provider and the government. Removing the ability to pay is as simple as pressing [ENTER] in this society but to the individual this is in effect a death penalty.

Everyone who believes that government or corporations will not use this power is kidding themselves. It's a path down to totalitarianism. And once we are there there will be no way back to freedom as long as the leaders are committed totalitarians.