Bitcoins

I thought the only reason bitcoin was kind of a thing was because you could buy drugs and shit on the silk road website that got taken down by the feds

Cowen isn't saying it will fail, rather that it's success will inspire competition, and once that happens the value of each unit will fall.

He is, subtly. While increased competition decreases its price, it also decreases its value of exchange, unit, and store—rendering it non-functional.

I think a lot of people are hoping Bitcoin will fail since they missed the chance to buy in when it was cheap. Cowen isn't saying it will fail, rather that it's success will inspire competition, and once that happens the value of each unit will fall.

This is absurd. I have 500 BTC, mostly from mining, and I think the idea, the implementation, and community is idiotic.

Holy shit

I didn't know that I was posting in the presence of a Bitcoinionaire

I don't see any way it can succeed without the government either regulating it or creating their own cryptocurrency.

The government is already regulating it. In the US, if you exchange Bitcoins for real currency, you have to register and perform money-laundering background checks.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/us-regulator-bitcoin-exchanges-must-comply-with-money-laundering-laws/

Yeah but that's an example of government regulation designed to make it harder to use

anytime you start to get the idea that bitcoin might succeed, it's a good idea to read this:
https://twitter.com/shit_rbtc_says

The government is already regulating it. In the US, if you exchange Bitcoins for real currency, you have to register and perform money-laundering background checks.

Unless you’re Coinbase …

etaeoe have you attempted to cash in any of yr coins was it a pain

Re: Coinbase and regulation, an e-mail I was forwarded written by 44r0n Gr33n5p4n:

Coinbase is many things, but "compliant" is not one of them. It has =
registered with FinCEN=97as a corporation with a Delaware address that =
appears to have no real connection with them. But it has not even =
applied for a money transmission license in any state thus far, even =
though it told FinCEN that it=92s doing business everywhere. This is a =
direct violation of those states=92 laws as well as 18 U.S.C. =A7 1960. =
Earlier this month, Fred Ehrsam admitted at a panel at Stanford Law =
School that Coinbase is being investigated by FinCEN. I have the =
recording if you=92d like to hear it; I=92m considering just posting it =
on-line regardless. As you may or may not know, my company is suing =
Coinbase and many other unlicensed money transmitters =
(http://www.plainsite.org/flashlight/case.html?id=3D2434524), but my =
involvement doesn=92t make the facts any less true.

Secondly, there is not a "lack of regulation" in the U.S. surrounding =
Bitcoin as you state. There is certainly a lack of understanding about =
the many laws and regulations that exist, and the supposed lack of =
regulation is a theme that has been wrongly promulgated in the popular =
media. But Bitcoin is actually quite regulated in the United States, and =
always has been. The FinCEN guidance issued in March merely clarified =
that fact for anyone who claimed it wasn=92t the case. It=92s not even a =
gray area. These companies currently require licenses and do not have =
them. They are breaking the law, whether one agrees with it or not.

etaeoe have you attempted to cash in any of yr coins was it a pain

Not yet. I need to speak to a tax accountant. I’m 100% confident I’ll be audited for having anomalous capital gains (my personal investments are all equity from employment and typical risk-adverse Vanguard retirement stuff). If you’re curious, the liquidity issue isn’t too bad. I’m permitted to sell 50 BTC per day.

ya the liquidity issues prob more pertain to the people w millions of these things

like i think we already had this chart but almost all the bitcoins are just sitting there

http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52a74254eab8eacb2266bfa7-828-454/bitcoin%20pie%20ownershp.png

Cash out via swiss bank

Start a shell holding company in the Caymans or BVI

Profit

fwiw like half the corporations in the US have a "Delaware address" with "no real connection" to them

fwiw like half the corporations in the US have a "Delaware address" with "no real connection" to them

Yeah, I didn’t understand that either. He’s been through the incorporation and investment processes so I’m sure he knows that too. I think he was saying, “If they’ve registered, it isn’t under the incorporated entity they conduct business under.” But I have no idea.

yeah could be

Shit /r/Bitcoin says ‏@shit_rbtc_says 14h

The owner of Silk Road should be given Obama's Nobel peace prize.

i have to admit that i would love to see bitcoin be a tremendous success in 2014 and all these seemingly deluded nerds walk away with massive payouts and all the internet intelligentsia forced to admit how wrong and cynical they were
"it was a gold rush and we missed it... why couldn't i just BELIEVE"

it would be so fun

visionary stuff right there

and i'll c+p that quote for you to chew on like the bitter tea leaves of your heart when that bright bitcoin day comes

visionary metaphor mixing

that's why i'm on ripplin

Interesting article suggesting that so far we've only scratched the surface of innovations that could be built on top of Bitcoin:

http://theumlaut.com/2014/01/08/bitcoin-internet-of-money/

here are some other interesting articles from that author

http://theumlaut.com/2013/01/30/why-americas-fiscal-reality-will-make-euthanasia-inevitable/

http://theumlaut.com/2013/03/13/paul-krugman-is-brilliant-but-is-he-meta-rational

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/3020148783/8fe0568213d240a2ca1b447493a70bde.jpeg

interesting guy thinking baout things

i didn't know sarge wrote abt bitcoin

Shit /r/Bitcoin says ‏@shit_rbtc_says 8 Jan
If only there would be mass non-compliance against laws in the US. Then we might have some semblance of freedom in the "land of the free."

just read this on a jobs board:

Presenter for New Show (Must Have Understanding of Bitcoin)

just found out that apparently if any one group can control 51% of all mining power at any time they can do what is known as a "doublespend attack" which essentially could bring down the whole ship, and it looks like one group is getting close, what a shock

i think charmander has a doublespend attack mirit

yeah its surprising someone w a sick ass botnet hasnt just declared that they have all the bitcoins

Bitcoin is just a long story of how libertarians discover what financial regulation is for, piece by piece, as lack of it begins to affect them negatively.

haha

!

damn, whose?

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/20/jamaican-bobsled-team-raises-dogecoin-winter-olympics

so chi

Marc Andreessen's case for Bitcoin:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/why-bitcoin-matters

Editor’s note: Marc Andreessen’s gigantic pointed skull is full of bitcoins

a tumblr of things that people claimed were the next personal computer/internet

A random spectator at a televised sports event held up a placard with a QR code and the text “Send me Bitcoin!” He received $25,000 in Bitcoin in the first 24 hours, all from people he had never met.

except that it was all from himself

No doubt Andreessen's quite biased, but he makes some good points. I don't buy his argument that Bitcoin's first-mover advantage will guarantee dominance in the crypto-currency sphere though. If you can accept and process one form of crypto-currency, it's a negligible additional effort to accept and process a different form, so I don't think the network effects are as strong as he claims. I still think Tyler Cowen nailed this - eventually as crypto-currencies proliferate the value of any particular currency in circulation has to fall to equal the marginal cost of launching a new one.

its funny he touts all these benefits to business and then the benefit to consumers is you wont get hacked which of course is actually a benefit to business, the benefit to consumers is what no fraud/dispute protection

I've come to think that bitcoin probably is some of the things that its supporters claim, and is not others. E.g. it makes sense to me that it's a very useful way to transfer money or make payments globally without friction/fees. However, I don't think it's going to be a successful tax avoidance strategy, or money laundering device, or drug-purchasing tool forever, and I certainly don't think it's going to become some kind of universal currency that will upend currency and the banking system as we know it.

i have yet to see anyone make a good argument why any person would want to use these over a debit/credit card, buying drugs excepted

the friction/fees are all incurred by the business

If you're paranoid about ID theft would be one. Or if you don't have a credit card.

The better argument I've heard is that people could use it for international remittances instead of services that charge high fees.

not to mention that the security overhead is ridiculous to ask non technical people to handle, someone gets yr wallet infos and all yr bitcoins are gone

if the US government fails I would think Bitcoin would be pretty useful