9 Mar
0
6 (More) Bitcoin Myths Debunked
We’ve all heard them before.
As a groundbreaking innovation, bitcoin naturally attracts skeptics just as strongly as it attracts supporters, and the technical and theoretical complexity of the digital currency can cause a considerable amount of confusion with those who are not ‘in the know’.
The result is that critics of bitcoin oftentimes fall back on one or two euphemisms to express why they think it will never succeed – simplified statements like “bitcoin is a ponzi scheme” that highlight often misunderstood characteristics of the digital currency but rarely fully address the situation.
One of the first articles published on CoinDesk was dedicated to debunking these “bitcoin myths“, and because they still pervade the industry, we’re revisiting the topic.
Here are six (more) bitcoin myths, debunked.
1. It’s just a speculative investment opportunity
Many people first hear about bitcoin in the context of its price. Whether it was the bubble of late 2013 or the recent dip below $300, a good chunk of the general public thinks of bitcoin only in terms of how volatile the price is and how good (or bad) of an investment it could be.
The truth is, of course, that bitcoin goes far beyond its classification as a commodity. The decentralized peer-to-peer payment network made possible by bitcoin is only one example of how bitcoin is breaking down doors. If the price of bitcoin were theoretically to stay the same forever, it would still have utility in many other areas other than as a speculative investment.
2. The blockchain is the real breakthrough and bitcoins are unnecessary
It’s true – the blockchain is arguably the real genius of Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention. The distributed ledger and trustless security of the blockchain is what gives bitcoin its magic, but oftentimes when people first realize this, they discount bitcoin as just one use case of the blockchain.
In reality, mining is the bread-and-butter of the bitcoin protocol, and without miners there would be no blockchain. Consequently, miners need to be rewarded for their work, otherwise they would have no incentive to contribute their time and computing power to maintain the blockchain. As its native reward token, bitcoin is essential to the functionality of the blockchain.
3. The government could/will shut it down
While governments around the world may still be figuring out how to approach digital currencies, many misinformed people fall into the trap of thinking that, like almost anything else we’re used to, bitcoin could be shut down by governments if one or more of them hoped to do so.
Yes, governments have the power to make it very difficult for their citizens to use bitcoin andsome form of government regulation is inevitable as bitcoin matures. Even so, because of its infrastructure, it would take considerable time, money and energy for any government to pose a serious threat to the global bitcoin network, if they even could at all.
4. You can’t buy anything practical with bitcoin
Perhaps as a follow up to myth number one, a lot of people are surprised to hear that bitcoin is more than a speculative investment and that it can actually be used to pay for everyday goods and services.
In addition to the retailers above, PayPal has announced partnerships with bitcoin companies and Microsoft recently began accepting bitcoin for a host of digital content like games and videos. Add in the countless small businesses that accept bitcoin either online or in their brick-and-mortar locations, and it’s safe to say there are options when it comes to spending your bitcoin.
5. There are no advantages of bitcoin over cash or credit cards
Once people realize that bitcoin can, indeed, be used to buy real things, they may not see what the digital currency has to offer that their incumbent payment methods like cash and credit cards don’t. Luckily it doesn’t take long to debunk this myth.
Some of bitcoin’s most obvious benefits are its low transaction fees. Typically, transacting bitcoin saves merchants 1-3% compared to transacting credit cards, and when compared to services like Western Union, bitcoin is clearly superior – especially for sending money abroad.
6. The only people who would ever use bitcoin are tech nerds and criminals
Some of the earliest adapters of bitcoin may be techies and dark market shoppers, but the same could arguably be said about the Internet – and look who uses that now. Regardless of how esoteric the bitcoin community may be right now (and it’s pretty esoteric), adoption takes time.
As entrepreneurs in the space continue to build consumer-friendly apps with bitcoin and awareness of the digital currency spreads, a more diverse crowd will come to use it in their everyday lives. There’s also another important demographic that many forget about: the millions of unbanked people throughout the developing world who rely on mobile phones as their computer, bank and communication device all in one.
Whether it’s any of the above myths or perhaps one of the 10 we previously debunked, bitcoin is ripe with misunderstanding. For bitcoin to reach its full potential, this knowledge gap needs to be bridged so that the myths and misinformation come to an end.
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1 Mar
0
Bitcoin’s Monthly Recap of February 2015
Welcome to HolyTransaction’s February monthly recap for the year 2015. During this past month of February, the bitcoin price fell from a low of $226.93 to a high of $258.34, according to Bitstamp.
Payment Processor Stripe Lets Its Businesses Accept Bitcoin Simply
Starting a few weeks ago, the popular online payment processor Stripe ended its Bitcoin beta and rolled out the ability to accept bitcoin to any of its business customers. International businesses that use Stripe include Facebook, Lyft, and Kickstarter. Any of these companies could now start accepting Bitcoin with just a few lines of code. Stripe processes Bitcoin payments for a cost of .5% and uses Coinbase to facilitate the fiat settlement. Bitcoin’s reach expands by thousands of merchants and Stripe, which has also backed other cryptocurrencies in the budding industry, shows just how serious it is about Bitcoin and the power of the blockchain.
Dread Pirate Roberts Unmasked: Ross Ulbricht Convicted On All Charges
After hearing days of testimony from both sides, the jury in the historic Silk Road trial found Ross Ulbricht guilty on all charges. The jury found the government’s evidence that Ross Ulbricht was operating Silk Road under the pseudonym ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ since day one. Ulbricht’s defense, led by lawyer Joshua Dratel, rested his entire defense on suggesting that Ross Ulbricht may have founded Silk Road but he had long ago left it to a successor, who then came back around to frame Ulbricht. The chat logs from the laptop that was taken from Ulbricht’s hands at a public library where he was using it may have been forged, the defense alleged. The jury was not convinced, and Ulbricht is now behind bars pending sentencing later this year.
CNN’s Morgan Spurlock Of Super Size Me Finds The Inside Scoop On Bitcoin
Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size me fame, has done it again with an episode in his CNN show Inside Man. He spearheads an entire episode dedicated to the new e-currency known as Bitcoin. The episode follows Spurlock as he survived on only Bitcoin for a week. That means that he only lived on things that he could spend bitcoins on, and learned a lot about it in the process. He lived his week in New York where he was able to talk bitcoin with Bitcoiners from the New York Bitcoin Center. The episode went a long way in introducing Bitcoin to a largely uneducated populace and a different demographic.
Dell Starts Accepting Bitcoin In United Kingdom and Canada
Ousting Newegg and TigerDirect, Dell is now the largest electronic retailer that accepts bitcoin internationally. Earlier in February, Dell announced that it was happy with its US bitcoin pilot and was not extending bitcoin acceptance to Canada and the United Kingdom. The international company emphasized that businesses and customers are using bitcoin to purchase just about everything that Dell has to offer. Dell has even processed as much as $50,000 worth of bitcoin for a single item purchase, a large server system. Dell uses Coinbase as a third party payment processor to accept bitcoin. In Dell’s words: “This form of payment is clearly resonating with consumer, small and medium businesses.”
Ledger Hardware Bitcoin Wallet Startup Raises 1.3 Million Euro Seed Round
French hardware Bitcoin wallet maker Ledger recently announced the closing of a 1.3 million euro seed round led by French VC fund XAnge Private Equity. Other investors such as Hi-Pay and Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Bitcoin stealth startup Challenger Deep. Ledger’s first hardware wallet offering, the Nano Wallet, was released at the end of 2014 and was quite popular. Ledger was created by a fortuitous meeting of minds at the French la Maison du Bitcoin, the first “Bitcoin embassy” in Europe. To date, Ledger has already sold thousands of Nano wallets in several dozen countries. Future plans for the bitcoin wallet include NFC and Bluetooth LE capabilities. The startup has also announced plans to move to America with the new funding and participate in some accelerators.
Privacy Centric Cryptocurrency Dash Unveils InstantX Transactions
The new version of the Dash Core wallet, v.0.11.1, will include InstantX. InstantX adds on top of existing Dashsend and MasterNode anonymity features that will have the industry standard 6 confirmations in an average of 1.25 minutes. Dash is different from Bitcoin because it uses the X11 hashing algorithm instead of the SHA-256 algorithm, which makes it much more ASIC resistant. Upon the successful implementation of the InstantX feature, the Dash price experienced a notable rise in value at the exchanges. The Dash development team has promised future updates and new features, some that have been seen on Bitcoin’s wish list and some that have not.
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1 Feb
0
Bitcoin’s Monthly Recap of January 2015
Welcome to HolyTransaction’s first monthly recap for the year 2015. This past month of January has been a great opener for the Bitcoin community; during that time, the bitcoin price fell from a high of $321 to a low of $226.93, according to Bitstamp.
Bitcoin Exchange Bitstamp Loses 12% of Bitcoins in Security Breach
Early in January, the world was again shocked by another high-profile Bitcoin theft from a high-volume Bitcoin exchange. Bitstamp, the exchange in question, halted trading on 1/4/15 after telling customers “we have reason to believe that one of Bitstamp’s operational wallets was compromised on January 4th, 2015.” The Bitcoin exchange avoided their booth at the Bitcoin World at CES 2015 and worked to fix and migrate their exchange while trading, withdrawals, and deposits were halted for several days. Bitstamp has since returned and offered zero trading fees for a limited time as a form of apology. Many attribute the fallen Bitcoin price to the high-profile Bitcoin exchange theft.
Coinbase Raises $75 Million USD in Series C Funding Round
Coinbase recently announced the closing of its $75 million USD Series C funding round that Bitcoin users around the world have been expecting since late last year. The Bitcoin service has currently raised $106 million USD to date. Round participants included DFJ Growth, USAA, the NYSE, and more. In a good sign for the company’s investor confidence, previous investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and Ribbit Capital also joined in the round. Besides Coinbase, other Bitcoin companies have started off the year strong with millions of dollars in funding for Bitcoin 1.0 and Bitcoin 2.0 applications and technologies thus far in the year.
Coinbase Launches Lunar: Supposedly the First Regulated American Bitcoin Exchange
Coinbase has just announced its Bitcoin exchange, called Lunar, which industry experts have been suspecting to be in the works for months now. Coinbase seems to have been drawn out to release its Bitcoin exchange by the announcement of the Gemini Bitcoin exchange by the Winklevoss twins. Lunar currently only supports roughly half of American states; additionally, Coinbase has taken some criticism for claiming to the “first” and “regulated” in this space. The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has told Bitcoin media sources: “The California Department of Business Oversight has not decided whether to regulate virtual currency transactions, or the businesses that arrange such transactions, under the state’s Money Transmission Act. California consumers should be aware Coinbase Exchange is not regulated or licensed by the state.”
Reddit Decides to Ditch RedditNotes and Cryptocurrency Engineer
Former BitPay employee Ryan Charles has been recently let go by Reddit amid internal company strife and change of direction. The former-CEO of Reddit, Yishan, was apparently the one that was pushing for a Reddit cryptocurrency, popularly dubbed Redditnotes. Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing anything from Reddit anytime soon, and Ryan Charles won’t be involved. Charles has already started planning his next move in the Bitcoin sphere, where he believes that Bitcoin 1.0 opportunities are still widely available and largely unexplored.
Ross Ulbricht Stands Trial for Alleged Role as Dread Pirate Roberts on Deep Web Market Silk Road
Ross Ulbricht and the Silk Road trial started this past month in a monumental case for both privacy and Bitcoin. The government is presenting evidence that Ross Ulbricht is none other than the Dread Pirate Robert (DPR) that ran the Silk Road for the entirety of its existence. Ulbricht’s defense lawyer, Dratel, tried to make it clear to jurors that digital evidence could be planted, fabricated, distorted, moved, or “manipulated.” Even has Silk Road 1.0’s trial is just finishing, Silk Road 2.0’s legal consequences are also unfolding. Meanwhile, Silk Road 3.0 and over a dozen copycat Deep web marketplaces continue to thrive.
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28 Dec
0
Russia reconsidering Bitcoin?
(CryptoCoinsNews) Could Bitcoin make it back into Russia? The latest news is that the draft law is in need of major revision as the Russian Ministry of Economic Development has not approved the draft in its current form. This is certainly not because of the desire to enhance freedom and liberty for Russian citizens, but because it may hurt Russian corporations ability to attract new business. The “quasi-money” designation includes things like gift cards and certificates that businesses use to bring in new customers. Banks, major retailers, and telecom companies would take a huge hit, and with the national GDP/economy is already having a terrible year, this bill does more harm than good overall.
“The proposed draft regulation act doesn’t solve any tasks assigned, but only serves to create legal barriers to the implementation of marketing programs of businesses and business development in general,” according to the Ministry of Economic Development.”
The issue with nation-states attacking Bitcoin out of defense of their currency is a complicated one. Many nations are in debt due to their debt-based fiat currency/central banking system. The current inherently flawed system is designed to leave nations indebted. Bitcoin and it’s potential growth leave open a way to build new businesses, generate new revenue streams by attracting investors, and ways for future taxation to help alleviate the nation’s indebtedness. Russia’s previous hard stance against Bitcoin was taken before many of their current economic issues and sanctions manifested.
Russia’s economic situation may continue to spiral downward, as they may soon suffer from restriction of access to the global financial system. In particular to the payment system SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, which supplies secure messaging services and interface software to wholesale financial entities. An international banking computer partnership). Some critics say the government should pay more attention to financial innovations instead of trying to ban them.
Does this mean Bitcoin is in the clear? Not exactly. The bill most likely will be revised, but it may just benefit Russian corporations, but still restrict Russians ability to use electronic currency. The ban may just work around gift cards and bonus cards and remain for digital currency. The nature of the extent of the revisions remains unclear. What do you think Russia will do with Bitcoin?
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1 Sep
0
Could Bitcoin be a replacement for Gold?
(CoinDesk) Gold has been used as a store of value for eons, thanks to its beauty and almost magical ability to never tarnish. Furthermore, despite radical shifts in human values over the past 100 years, its worth still has not diminished – even soaring to over $1,000 an ounce in recent times.
Now, though, there is a new, digital challenger on the scene that, when its price chart is compared with that of gold, bears some striking similarities
It’s no wonder, then, that companies like Netagio now allow people to trade bitcoin for precious metals like gold – it is a sign that investors want the ability to trade BTC seamlessly with other investment vehicles.
In a sense, bitcoin could be considered an upgrade from gold. Some even consider it as gold with transformational, information-like properties.
Digital gold with a twist
George Gilder, author of the forthcoming book Bitcoin and Gold: The Information Theory of Money, is impressed with bitcoin and has developed a well-thought argument for bitcoin as a sort of “next-generation gold”.
That’s because bitcoin builds upon the properties of gold and has spawned an information-based variation, he said.
Gilder told CoinDesk:
“Satoshi [Nakamoto] was right with bitcoin. That’s what amazes me. Satoshi arrived at a foundation for the value of bitcoin that’s valid.”
Gilder sees economic uncertainty as advantageous to bitcoin, a fact evidenced by the increasing interest in bitcoin observed in Argentina and other countries hampered by volatile fiat currencies.
The decline of the Argentine peso versus the US dollar from 2013 to 2014. Source: exchange-rates.org
As an example, Gilder believes that increased government control of money, such as capital controls or quantitative easing, means more uneasiness in terms of economic sentiment.
“The more money [governments] print, the more uncertain the people become,” said Gilder. “Bitcoin is based on the understanding that the money supply doesn’t really matter.”
Adrian Ash, the head of research at BullionVault, a gold storage company, pointed out:
“Digital gold currencies have been tried and failed many times in the last 20 years. They came to nothing thanks both to state resistance, but also to lack of adoption.”
However, it’s safe to say that bitcoin has progressed further than its failed predecessors. That may be, though, because previous electronic money alternatives like E-gold were backed by gold, and not by cryptographic keys. As a result, bitcoin might be the first to offer a substantial alternative that would appeal to gold enthusiasts.
Role as a currency
Another characteristic of bitcoin that makes it seem like an upgrade over gold is its protocol that allows value to be moved quickly around the globe. Regardless of how supportive gold enthusiasts are of their favorite store of value, there’s no denying it has limited appeal to mainstream consumers.
Bitcoin adoption by the average person remains a hurdle to overcome to ensure success, but the digital currency’s combination of novel innovations might allow it to complement existing methods of exchange.
“[The] chicken-and-egg situation [of adoption] might be resolved by bitcoin’s most exciting aspect – zero-cost exchange of value,” said Ash.
Along with adoption as a means of exchange, bitcoin could become a very useful currency, commodity and recording mechanism via its block chain. According to Gilder, the problem of velocity, or how much people spend a thing of value, is what will ultimately make bitcoin a success. Or a failure.
Gilder said:
“Velocity is what determines value. Not just printing money. Satoshi [Nakamoto] has an absolute 21 million bitcoin limit. Bitcoin is determined by velocity, by turnover rate governed by the people holding the coins.”
Bitcoin might be an iteration of gold – a 2.0 version. People can hold stores of it, as well as spend it – a property that gold cannot compete with.
“It’s important to note that gold isn’t used as currency anywhere today,” said Ash.
Given that even Ash concedes this point, bitcoin’s long-term success may lie in adoption. In other words, whether bitcoin is able to triumph and replace gold will lie with its peer-to-peer network, and just how large this base of bitcoin believers becomes in the years ahead.
Bitcoin believers
It’s hard to tell how many bitcoin users there really are. New bitcoin products and services are seemingly announced every day, and Mary Meeker’s presentation of bitcoin’s growth via the use of a chart showing the number of wallets in use (see below) shows there is traction.
While wallet use is growing, it’s not a one-to-one correlation – or even if many of the newly created wallets actually have bitcoin in them. It does show increased awareness overall, however.
Source: CoinDesk
However, it can be argued that gold investors will have to see the promise of bitcoin over the precious metal not only as a store of value, but also as a spending and transactional innovation.
The rise of consumer services continues, and energy focused on that particular sector of the bitcoin economy is notable.
For instance, in Canada, there are a number of options for people to buy or sell bitcoin. Not only do residents of Canada have access to an established exchange for the Canadian dollar, there are storefronts and even bitcoin ATMs available in most major cities.
Access to bitcoin for gold investors is the best way to prove the value of bitcoin to this subset of the market, and this is especially true in the US market.
In a poll conducted by Harris Interactive in December 2013, when bitcoin prices were at their all-time pinnacle, the majority of people still didn’t even know what bitcoin was. And, likely because of this, they indicated that they would much rather invest in gold over bitcoin.
Harris poll question: Would you rather invest in gold or bitcoin? Source: CoinDesk
The key to bitcoin as a new form of gold is to improve upon the precious metal. And that means making the most of its transport and currency capabilities.
For this to happen, an increase in awareness is needed – and some proponents of gold already understand this fact.
Companies like the UK’s GoldMoney have been offering bitcoin as a storage option along with gold for some time. Furthermore. investment broker and author Peter Schiff, while making waves about his insistence that bitcoin could become worthless, is still nevertheless accepting it at his company, SchiffGold – a fact that should make gold investors take the digital currency a little more seriously.
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4 Aug
0
The bitcoin industry in Australia!
Bitcoin adoption in Australia and New Zealand is increasing rapidly. Outpacing most of the Asian countries, the local startups and bitcoin merchants in Australia are trying hard to increase the bitcoin adoption in Oceania and help the local merchants to adopt bitcoin.
Currently, the major Australian exchanges have an estimated sum of 40,000 active local users and because of these exchanges, (including BTC markets, btradeaustralia, bitxoin and getbitcoin), there are more than 190 businesses accepting bitcoin in Australia. Although there aren’t as many “popular” or “famous” startups in Australia, the rapid growth of bitcoin exchanges and bitcoin merchants is helping the bitcoin industry thrive in Australia.
“The Bitcoin Association of Australia estimates that the Australian share of this market capital is approximately 2%. This means that the market capitalization for Australia is approximately $120 million.”
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28 Jul
0
Why Timothy Coles is selling his $2 Million Gold Mine for Bitcoin
Timothy Coles is the man behind the profitable gold mine in the Yukon
city of Dawson currently for sale for just over 3,200 BTC on luxury
marketplace BitPremier.
city of Dawson currently for sale for just over 3,200 BTC on luxury
marketplace BitPremier.
With more than 30 years of experience in the gold mining industry,
Coles brings a unique perspective to digital currency and the concepts
that underly the technology. He sees bitcoin as a one-of-a-kind type of
asset.
Coles told CoinDesk that he first learned about bitcoin while
wintering in the Philippines. Casual research grew into more active
investigation, leading to discussions about how bitcoin might fit into
plans to sell off his gold interests in the Yukon.
wintering in the Philippines. Casual research grew into more active
investigation, leading to discussions about how bitcoin might fit into
plans to sell off his gold interests in the Yukon.
With the mine now for sale on the luxury exchange, Coles is optimistic about bitcoin’s prospects, saying:
“I believe bitcoin has nowhere to go but up. In the long run, it’s just going to get stronger and stronger and stronger.”
He added that although he currently owns no bitcoin, he sees a future
in it should the BitPremier sale succeed. While he has no active plans
to invest were he to enter the market, Coles expressed an openness to
invest in the broader bitcoin industry, including the mining sector.
in it should the BitPremier sale succeed. While he has no active plans
to invest were he to enter the market, Coles expressed an openness to
invest in the broader bitcoin industry, including the mining sector.
The mine is currently on sale for $2m and reportedly generates $1m in annual revenue.
Bitcoin vs gold
When discussing the similarities and differences between gold and
bitcoin, Coles cited the fact that the prices in digital currency
markets are set by supply and demand.
bitcoin, Coles cited the fact that the prices in digital currency
markets are set by supply and demand.
By comparison, gold is subject to geopolitical pressures that have,
in his eyes, made it a less attractive option over the years:
in his eyes, made it a less attractive option over the years:
“The people that have the bitcoin are the ones that can
drive the price up, or drive it down, depending on what ups. Whereas
gold, the people that have the gold are really at the mercy of
politicians, financial institutions, London fixes that we really know
nothing about. People that have gold really have no control over the
direction that goes.”
He went on to suggest that these influences could one day take a toll
on bitcoin. However, he said that the decentralized nature of digital
currency technology makes it “less susceptible to manipulation compared
to gold”.
on bitcoin. However, he said that the decentralized nature of digital
currency technology makes it “less susceptible to manipulation compared
to gold”.
Coles added that the price of bitcoin
went too high too quickly, resulting in an equally swift correction. In
the months since – which has seen a raft of both positive and negative
news for bitcoin – the price, he said, has risen on the merits of its
strength rather than pure hype or speculation.
went too high too quickly, resulting in an equally swift correction. In
the months since – which has seen a raft of both positive and negative
news for bitcoin – the price, he said, has risen on the merits of its
strength rather than pure hype or speculation.
Bitcoin needs education
One of the key problem areas of bitcoin, Coles said, is a lack of
education among the broader public. This is due to the novel
characteristics of bitcoin that make it not quite a currency, commodity
or property. Instead, it lies somewhere in the middle.
education among the broader public. This is due to the novel
characteristics of bitcoin that make it not quite a currency, commodity
or property. Instead, it lies somewhere in the middle.
As a result, Coles reckoned, bitcoin’s success – and its price –
hinges on whether or not more people learn about how it works, how they
can acquire it and, most importantly, how they can use it.
hinges on whether or not more people learn about how it works, how they
can acquire it and, most importantly, how they can use it.
He explained:
“I believe that bitcoin needs some advertising the world
over to learn more about what it’s all about. Nine out of 10 people I
talk to have heard of bitcoin, but they don’t know about it, they don’t
understand and they don’t want to because it’s out of their realm of
understanding.”
Pointing back to the topic of political impact on bitcoin, having an
environment in which more people understand how to use digital currency –
and do so – could enable the bitcoin market to operate without
manipulative influence from the outside.
environment in which more people understand how to use digital currency –
and do so – could enable the bitcoin market to operate without
manipulative influence from the outside.
More gold plans ahead
While citing problems in the global gold market, Coles said that
after the sale of his mining interest in the Yukon he’d stay on the
lookout for new opportunities. Issues aside, he said that he makes a
“good living” in the gold market, joking that the industry was “spoiled”
in 2012 and 2013, when gold prices surged above $1,700 an ounce.
after the sale of his mining interest in the Yukon he’d stay on the
lookout for new opportunities. Issues aside, he said that he makes a
“good living” in the gold market, joking that the industry was “spoiled”
in 2012 and 2013, when gold prices surged above $1,700 an ounce.
He explained:
“I would still always keep my eyes open for opportunities in gold mining. It’s something that’s in your blood.”
As outlined in the BitPremier advertisement, Coles is offering to
help provide logistical and managerial support to a potential owner. The
sale actually has two components: Canyon Creek, a developed, three-mile
property with drilling and exploration already conducted on the plot,
and an existing lease in the Bonanza Creek region.
help provide logistical and managerial support to a potential owner. The
sale actually has two components: Canyon Creek, a developed, three-mile
property with drilling and exploration already conducted on the plot,
and an existing lease in the Bonanza Creek region.
Coles explained the real prize in the sale are his interests on Bonanza Creek,
a waterway in the Yukon made famous for the abundance of gold
discovered in the region. He suggested they are the heart of something
that offers “big potential” to interested investors.
a waterway in the Yukon made famous for the abundance of gold
discovered in the region. He suggested they are the heart of something
that offers “big potential” to interested investors.
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26 Jul
0
Bitcoin has passed the tipping point
Products and services that are first-to-market often take such a battering that they lose out to competitors with copycat products. Business history is littered with wildly successful products with ultimately spectacular collapses because they lost out to competitors that found a better way of doing things – things they learned at the trailblazer’s expense.
The Sony Betamax is the poster child for products that created a market and lost out to a rival – in this case VHS. Sony created a market for recording TV, but because the tapes where an hour long VHS grabbed the movie rental market.
More recently, Friendster was the first social network to explode, with millions of users in the first 3 months. But it couldn’t manage its growth and lost out to MySpace and of course Facebook.
There are many more examples. Some lost slowly, like the Atari 2600 game console, and some crashed spectacularly like Rio MP3 player. Palm lost to Apple, Netscape to Internet Explorer, WebCrawler to Google, Tivo to the cable companies, and on and on.
So far Bitcoin is an exception to this model. And though it’s been battered by ruinous headlines, including one just this week where the World Bank is calling it a naturally occurring Ponzi scheme, Bitcoin remains resilient.
Kaushik Basu, World Bank economist and author of ‘Ponzis: The Science and Mystique of a Class of Financial Frauds’ argues that most Ponzis today are not always obvious and that today’s Ponzi schemes often don’t have a puppet-master pulling the strings. Bitcoin, he says, is just such a Ponzi. The speculation on the currency raises the demand for Bitcoin making it a bubble.
Bitcoin has hundreds of competitors all built on the Bitcoin model. A handful are gaining some success, like Litecoin which is currently trading at $9, and Darkcoin (I’m not kidding) which is trading now trading at $7.50.
Darkcoin was built to cover perceived flaws in Bitcoin’s anonymity. One reason for the early success of Bitcoin was that it was as anonymous as passing dollars on the street. And while there is a far greater level of anonymity with this electronic transaction than making a purchase with a credit card or PayPal, Bitcoin is not anonymous to those forces who really want to know.
Unlike Bitcoin, Dash mixes up users’ transactions so that it’s nearly impossible to trace a payment to a person. But the promise of Dash’s privacy features solves a problem for only a small subset of Bitcoin users.
Few have heard of other crypto-currencies. If people barely understand Bitcoin, then any competitor has the impossible task of differentiating itself.
In his paper Basu mentioned Bitcoin by name, so did the IRS when it said it was a taxable asset. And this week Benjamin M. Lawsky, the superintendent of financial services for the State of New York, proposed regulations to create a “BitLicense” to include rules on consumer protection, the prevention of money laundering and cybersecurity. That’s akin to Apple successfully rebranding the MP3 to a podcast.
Just search “20 USD in BTC” on Google and you’ll get the exchange rate. It works for any fiat currency. You can’t do that with any other crypto-currency.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $600. Not bad for a five year old Ponzi scheme.
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26 Jul
0
Crowdfunding campaign aims to promote Bitcoin at NASCAR
(CoinDesk) Following the dogecoin community’s sponsorship of NASCAR driver Josh Wise at Telledega, bitcoin may soon boast its own promotional racer in the iconic US series.
Rookie driver Alex Bowman and his team, BK Racing, have announced their involvement in a crowdfunding campaign called ‘Bitcoin23’ that aims to bring a bitcoin-themed car to the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
The campaign kicks off today and runs until 20th August, with the aim to promote bitcoin while supporting the 21-year-old driver.
With the support of the bitcoin community, the organisers hope to raise $100,000 for a full sponsorship.
If successful, the team and driver will run the bitcoin-branded car during the Labor Day weekend race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on 29th-31st August.
“Bitcoin is changing the way people think about how they spend money and pay for things,” said Bowman.
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23 Jul
0
Bitcoin like the Internet In 1995
At only five years old, bitcoin
is receiving more venture capital investment than early stage Internet
companies were in 1995. Remember what the Internet was like in 1995?
is receiving more venture capital investment than early stage Internet
companies were in 1995. Remember what the Internet was like in 1995?
If you have 27 minutes to refresh your memory, YouTube has a Computer Chronicle video showing what the 1995 Internet
looked like. If not, the piece discusses how hard it was to stream
video, how there was no safe way to process credit cards, how ugly the
websites looked and how slow the Internet was.
looked like. If not, the piece discusses how hard it was to stream
video, how there was no safe way to process credit cards, how ugly the
websites looked and how slow the Internet was.
Things seemed so grim. In 1995 Newsweek ran a piece: “Why the Internet will Fail.”
Sound familiar? These are the same arguments against bitcoin: hardly
anyone uses it, it isn’t safe, and it is hard to use. However digital
currencies are so much cheaper, more convenient and more powerful than
their analog counterparts that, like the Internet, their widespread
adoption seems assured.
anyone uses it, it isn’t safe, and it is hard to use. However digital
currencies are so much cheaper, more convenient and more powerful than
their analog counterparts that, like the Internet, their widespread
adoption seems assured.
Which digital currency will triumph? Hundreds or even thousands of
competing digital currencies have entered the market. So far none has a
clear shot at overtaking bitcoin. Bitcoin’s network effect is growing at
a fast rate, making its dominance even more likely.
competing digital currencies have entered the market. So far none has a
clear shot at overtaking bitcoin. Bitcoin’s network effect is growing at
a fast rate, making its dominance even more likely.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.