Just so you know London's Biggest Conversation talk radio channel
http://www.lbc.co.uk/ are currently doing a piece on Bitcoin. Impressive so far...
Update: It was a pretty good hour all in all which covered Bitcoin, baldness and bands we wish we would have seen live!
The host had learned about it from listening to Max Keiser and from tomorrow's headlines (hint hint!) and seemed excited about its revolutionary potential along with online petitions etc. 'tomorrow's means of street protest' which I thought was quite a nice analogy.
Caller 1 was a restauranteur who said it was rubbish because it wasn't backed by anything (to which the host responded neither is the pound) and that its value would disappear as soon as it was out of fashion and that any idiot who tried to pay for their meal at his place would be... anyhow, if someone gave him one bitcoin how would he pay their change? In pounds? The host was also under the impression a Bitcoin was 'about the size of a two pence piece'.
Caller 2 was me who tried to keep talking to get as much in as I could first explaining physical bitcoins was what he was talking about was just one minor means of storing bitcoins, other options being wallets on pcs, on smartphones, on a printed piece of paper and as a brain wallet which could be carried anywhere in the world. Also (although I don't recollect using any full stops!) I was talking about it being used as a fast cheap international wire equivlent or its use to buy things mainly on-line and as in the case of the restauranteur paying with smartphone with QR code holding address and value and tip being added and BitPay meaning he could offer the service to customers without being exposed to Bitcoin. I was asked whether it is a 'legitimate currency' given so few places accept it. I said it was early days that if you wanted to find a restaurant to pay in Bitcoin you might need to research on the internet first but I also mentioned Bitcoin street in Berlin and the new Jeep dealership in the US accepting Bitcoin. I finished by talking about the hit piece on FT and me being OK with Banksters being stuck in their old paradigms because if they're late to the game all those who bought before them will benefit so the bankers will end up paying something back for the value they destroyed by their antics with fiat!
Caller 3 was a miner who talked well about distributed network providing security, confirming transactions and receiving new coin as reward.
Caller 4 was someone who had looked into it and was puzzled if the inventors were so anti normal money why were they making a fortune in normal money by exchanging their bitcoin for them?! The host was unable to answer so brought on...
Caller 5 who has been into Bitcoin since 2010 and explained about the origins but that mining was now done by a community. However caller 4 still did not understand why people if they were so into bitcoin would sell it for normal money and was suspicious of it still, which is fair enough. Caller 5 also mentioned the experimental nature of it which the host repeated as a word of warning to close.
Very impressed with the how the whole thing went and I will admit to being quite pleased by my own bit too
