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Sooz
22nd October 2013, 06:43
Bitcoin is going beserk!

Just a couple of days ago, one bitcoin was around $140 AUS.

As of posting, it's $192 AUS.:winner: Bitcoin is extremely volatile of course and can go either way.:(

I think the closure of Silk Road has had a good effect. And the fact that Bitcoin has rallied since, has given it serious street cred.

http://preev.com/btc/aud

Calz
22nd October 2013, 12:17
Well ... if (when) the u$ dollar tanks it could prove profitable to bitcoin holders ... providing there is a market.

One of the "normal" flight to safety investment vehicles (US bonds/10 year notes etc) would be part and parcel of said tanking.

People will panic and want to find a "safe" place to park their moneys.

***Nothing on paper*** will be safe. Get it??? Tangible real assets (food number one on the list) and survival/prepper items should be a priority if you have disposable income and hope to continue in this world gone mad.


Hopefully ... when/if the Archons get ousted we can find ourselves with the option to have no money based system at all ... alas ... dreaming again eh?

Sooz
8th November 2013, 06:02
My first post on this was 22 Oct 2013 at $192 Aus.

Just now it's at $325 AUS:

http://preev.com/btc/aud

Going Berko indeed! As a newbie and volatile digital currency, it could easily go arse up. But I'm predicting it may go to $1,000 AUS or US per bitcoin within 6 months, if it keeps on at this speed.:frantic:

All the instability in the marketplace is giving this start up currency a little gravitas.:)

But I should not speak too soon.

Sooz
8th November 2013, 06:06
A bit of recent news on mainstream news:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101176614

Tonz
8th November 2013, 12:31
It was suppose to raise above the 200 dollar mark from the dow jones index, predicted 6 mouths ago,haven't looked at it since, i posted it in the old tot, if i find the chart i will repost it.with the lack of confidence in the u.s. it leaves money movers nervous and they are in search for alternatives, but when you get these types of huge sudden movements ,its the banks and large corporate investors doing it,not the little money people investors.So hold on to your hat, as it should be a roller-coaster.

The One
8th November 2013, 13:20
Well check this link out http://news.sky.com/story/1161340/bitcoin-man-buys-flat-with-forgotten-fortune

wow

BabaRa
8th November 2013, 17:17
My first post on this was 22 Oct 2013 at $192 Aus.

Just now it's at $325 AUS:

http://preev.com/btc/aud

Going Berko indeed! As a newbie and volatile digital currency, it could easily go arse up. But I'm predicting it may go to $1,000 AUS or US per bitcoin within 6 months, if it keeps on at this speed.:frantic:

All the instability in the marketplace is giving this start up currency a little gravitas.:)

But I should not speak too soon.


My first thought: BUBBLE - which can be advantageous IF you get out before it bursts. Usually Bubbles are being manipulated by someone for their own benefit.

modwiz
8th November 2013, 21:36
Funny how you can buy bitcoin with "useless" Fed Reserve dollars. The volatility of bitcoin makes it seem like another funny money to me. I pay little attention to bitcoin. It makes my wizzy senses tingle.

Sooz
17th November 2013, 10:57
Bit coin still going berko.

Now nearly $aus 500 per one bit coin.

Click on the preeve button above. Sorry, on my iPad

Sooz
17th November 2013, 11:01
Apparently the Chinese market is sending it higher.

Altaira
18th November 2013, 15:10
Is it just me or it really seems that bitcoin exists or coexists very peacefully along the other world currencies. The bankers seem no worried about it at all or at least I haven't read anything about the mainstream resistance against the bitcoin. There is something fishy here but I can't tell what is going on. I completely agree with BAbara and modwiz.

Calz
18th November 2013, 16:37
Well the idea at the heart of the matter was to take the monetary control *out* of the hands of the banksters.

Modwiz makes a good point regarding "worthless federal reserve notes" (which I eluded to earlier in the thread).

At some point toilet paper will have more use than paper monetary a$$ets (pun intended).

Where bitcoin falls in that ... who knows?

My initial (brief) interest in bitcoin (aside from the middle finger salute to the banksters) was due to my investment history in that I saw the potential for a big short term "in then out" profit. Take your profits and buy something useful ... like toilet paper http://www.pic4ever.com/images/245.gif


http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/toiletpaper01.jpg

BabaRa
18th November 2013, 18:12
My initial (brief) interest in bitcoin (aside from the middle finger salute to the banksters) was due to my investment history in that I saw the potential for a big short term "in then out" profit. Take your profits and buy something useful ... like toilet paper



I agree Calz, if you are a good day trader, Bitcoin like anything else could be a good investment, but in the end, if this whole thing goes belly up, would you trade food or toilet paper for bitcoin? . . . or even gold or silver?!?!

Calz
18th November 2013, 18:19
would you trade food or toilet paper for bitcoin? . . . or even gold or silver?!?!



I "daytraded" futures (commodities) ... not sure there is enough liquidity in bitcoin for that.

My point was using bitcoin profits to purchase more useful things (food, toilet paper, silver or gold).

Cannot eat paper (or digital) money ...

Calz
19th November 2013, 08:56
Interesting. From mainstream news outlet no less ...

__________________


Virtual currency can get you a real Subway sandwich in Pennsylvania

Bitcoin may be a virtual currency, but it's real enough to get you a big sandwich at one Subway location.

A shop in Allentown, Pa., has made history of sorts by becoming one of only two Subways in the world — the other is in Moscow — to accept bitcoin for payment. Bitcoin is a digital currency created by a network of online operators that has been soaring in value recently, with one unit now worth more than $600.


http://www.nbcnews.com/business/virtual-currency-can-get-you-real-subway-sandwich-pennsylvania-2D11613670

Sooz
19th November 2013, 09:30
This is my point, it's a NEW currency. For all our belly-aching about the Fed etc, this is another avenue.

I'm not saying at all, that it's a future currency, although it may be.

But it's a way out. Towards a kind of freedom.

Just like the early internet was and look where we are now after 20 years or so...the internet has transformed our world.

I feel the early days of bitcoin will do the same. And I'm happy to be in on the game.

I invested a bit of money - still yet to regain my investment....who knows?

modwiz
19th November 2013, 10:11
Money to make money is both true and old. Like the stock market, it is about the lure of profit. The promise of getting the two birds in the bush for one in your hand. Some will end up with two birds, it is the cost of doing business. I used to fish. Chumming was a big part of making the bait work better, or work at all.

My final words on what is clearly a source of entertainment for some.

Happy hunting.

I assume that berko is a mangled form of the word berserk. Is it spelled with a "z" if the word is plural?

Sooz
19th November 2013, 10:38
Yes Mr WiZ it's a mangled OZ term, you can take it as my own if you would like?

I prefer it with a Zed, because I like Zeds'.

Plural it at your pleasure.

Yours in berzurkuzness.

SooZ
X

Spiral
19th November 2013, 11:52
http://youtu.be/yRqfjnLd_ok

Published on 19 Nov 2013

In this video Luke Rudkowski interviews Jeff Berwick of the dollar vigilante about the future of the U.S economy and the rise of bitcoin. Jeff is a Canadian entrepreneur, economics, finance, investment writer, libertarian and anarcho-capitalist activist.

Melidae
19th November 2013, 14:51
Currency is still just currency...whether fiat dollars (pieces of paper that are distinguished only by the denomination placed on it that makes one piece of paper more valuable than another piece of paper) or bitcoins (digital 'dollars' that can disappear if the grid goes down permanently). They have no value whatsoever in themselves...only the value we place on it.

Gold and silver hold value, no matter what the currency may be doing at any time...but cannot be eaten.

When everything else is wiped away, all that is left is your skills and knowledge.

Sooz
12th January 2014, 05:50
Just an update on Bitcoin and an interesting article I found.

Firstly BTC is now up over the $1,000 mark again - AUS$ that is. It slipped to a low of around $500 about a month ago and has made a steady but slow climb up again.

I noticed an article today in Oz that a Mother whose son died from purchasing drugs online with BTC, now has an online petition to ban BTC in Oz, solely on that premise. While I very much sympathise with her loss, BTC had nothing to do with her son's death. Marrying the two is crazy imo.

And here is an interesting article I found on Rense. Is the NSA the inventor of BTC? Don't know how legit this article is....dated 1996, 2 years before Satoshi apparently invented it.

Very long article and haven't read it all, just skimmed.

Interesting anyway...

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/money/nsamint/nsamint.htm

Sooz
12th January 2014, 05:57
Seems to me there are a whole lot of posts missing on here that were here before.

Interesting ones at that. Nevermind.

Church
12th January 2014, 14:18
There were, Sooz, you are correct. Are you not aware of the server issues Malc had recently? He had to revert to a backup, and he was behind on backups, so we lost about a month of posts. :(

Sooz
20th January 2014, 06:19
Hi All, just an update on Bitcoin for those interested:

'The Change to End All Change
Monday, 20 January 2014
Melbourne, Australia
By Kris Sayce

Hopefully your parents convinced you to save from the time you were young.

If you were like me you probably put a few coins aside each week in a money box or tin and then put the money in the bank once you'd saved a worthwhile amount.

(Remember, I'm talking about the days before internet banking and online accounts.)

Over time you would have saved up a tidy sum. Maybe you used it to buy your first TV or perhaps your first car if you were a really good saver.

But money isn't what it used to be. It's changing. In fact it's changing so much that the coming years could see the biggest change for the monetary system since Australia went decimal in 1966...

.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .......................

The idea that money is changing is one of the big themes Sam Volkering has explored in Revolutionary Tech Investor.

That's right, money isn't just a banking story. Money is a technology story...a high-technology story. The future of money is also the subject of Port Phillip Publishing's up-coming conference, World War D: Money, War & Survival in the Digital Age.

But how will or could things change? What will money be like in the future? We'll still use notes and coins won't we? I wouldn't bet on it. The way we see it, coins and notes are about to become history.

In the future (the near future) you and your kids won't save money in a piggy bank, you'll save money on a microchip...or potentially your body will become your savings repository.
Bitcoins for Basketball Tickets

If you think that sounds a bit weird, I'll explain in a moment. Rest assured, I don't mean that you'll have to carry all your savings around in your pockets. As I said, soon coins and notes won't exist. This will be a high-tech solution.

To show you where things are going, so you don't think I'm making this up, consider this report from the Los Angeles Times:
'The Sacramento Kings will be the first [US basketball] team to accept bitcoin, the controversial digital currency that is increasingly gaining acceptance in the commercial world.

'The basketball franchise said customers can already buy merchandise at its team store. By March 1, the Kings will also start accepting bitcoins for tickets and for products bought online.

'The NBA team is one of a string of companies and organisations that have recently begun accepting bitcoin for payment, ushering the currency into the mainstream.'

If you're not familiar with Bitcoin, it's a digital virtual currency. It doesn't exist in coins or notes. It only exists as an encrypted string of numbers that you can hold in a 'virtual wallet'.

The whole concept may seem ridiculous to you if you're not up to date with the latest technological trends.

But let me put it this way. It's not a whole lot different to how your money exists in a bank account today. Although you may deposit notes and coins into a bank, the bank doesn't hold those notes and coins for you in a safe.

In fact, few people realise this but Aussie banks only hold about $2 in notes and coins for every $100 of savings held in bank accounts.

In other words, 98% of the money held in banks is electronic money.

Compare that to Bitcoin, where 100% of the money is electronic. You see? It's not so different after all.

However, there is one major difference. Bitcoin is a purely private money system. That means unlike national currencies such as the Aussie dollar, US dollar, British pound or the euro, it can't be easily manipulated by a government or central bank.Oh, and that brings me to one other key difference. Bitcoin is anonymous...
Ideal for Liberty Seekers

If the Pursuit of Happiness eletter had a mission statement it would be, 'To get the government the heck out of our lives.'
One way to achieve that is to own a currency which is anonymous. The anonymity of Bitcoin means that the government doesn't know how many Bitcoins anyone owns or even who owns them.

That makes Bitcoin attractive to liberty seekers.

But even though Bitcoin is an interesting story, it's not the whole picture. The real interesting part is that it's becoming an accepted form of money, albeit in a small way.Let's be honest, you can't get much more mainstream than an NBA basketball team's merchandise store. This isn't likely to be the end of Bitcoin's intrusion into the mainstream.

Online retailers should be the natural early adopters of digital currency.

And if these retailers are happy to accept Bitcoin, what's stopping them from accepting other digital currencies? That answer is nothing.

This is where the global money system is heading. This is why I forecast that coins and notes will disappear from circulation within the next 10 years, possibly within the next five years.

Instead of paying for things with coins and notes you'll use new technology. But don't assume it will involve plastic cards either.
Not If or When, But How

Already more and more people use 'touch and go' transactions to pay for things. This is possible due to the chip technology now present on all credit cards.

For transactions under a certain amount you don't need to use a PIN or a signature. It's sufficient to just tap your credit card on the reader to register the transaction.

As this technology grows it will become unnecessary for banks to issue plastic credit cards. In their place banks will issue 'key fob' discs that you keep on your key ring. All it needs is the embedded chip.

Or let's take things further. It's just as likely that the financial system will move on to the next logical step, where smartphones and other mobile devices (perhaps Google Glass or a smar****ch) become the payment method.

Rather than tapping a chip-embedded key fob you'll just hold your mobile device near the reader. Or maybe you won't need to hold it near anything. Maybe proximity sensors or other technology will confirm that you're in fact at the point of sale and automatically debit your electronic account without you needing to lift a finger.

Or, speaking of fingers, that's another way the money system could develop. Biometrics is finally hitting the mainstream. New mobile devices are coming out with biometric technology that involves eye scanning and fingerprint scanning.

Schools in the UK have a fingerprint scanning option for kids to pay for their school lunch. Rather than carry cash, they scan their finger at the counter and it debits the amount from their parents' account at the school. What's to say that in the near future that's how you'll 'store' your savings and transact money? In effect, your body becomes your savings account.

It's a weird thought. But the bottom line is that money and how you use it is changing fast. Those who think the next change in the money system will be a reversion to a Gold Standard are kidding themselves.

Gold will play some role in the future of money, but not in the way the 'gold bugs' would like to think. The future of money is an entirely electronic future. In short, it's not a question of if or when it will happen, but how it will happen.'

Port Phillip Publishing, Melbourne, Australia.

BabaRa
20th January 2014, 20:51
Thanks Sooz,

I believe all of the above is true. We can embrace it or resist it, just like all technology, but like it or not, it's our new world.

The basketball team Kris refer to (the Kings) is located in Sacramento the capital city of California. Having the Kings except Bitcoins, might just be the thing to accelerate their acceptance. Buying them and storing them for investment will only take Bitcoin so far. Companies need to begin accepting them, so they can be used, IMO.

I do appreciate your keeping us updated.

Sooz
21st January 2014, 06:24
Thanks BabaRa,

I realise that not all of us here are interested in Bitcoin and have their doubts. But I will still endeavour to update this thread.

And in saying that, I ask everyone to post brickbats regarding BTC (Bitcoin), all views are essential to understanding what it is.

I believe Bitcoin is the way of the future. Just like the internet. Early days with lots of naysayers. That's OK with me.

Cheers,
Sooz

TimeLab
21st January 2014, 09:22
Can someone tell me where the cash goes that you buy bitcoins with? And you can also apparently cash them out, and/or 'invest' in bitcoins and ultimately make cash, right? So I don't understand how Bitcoins are 'just' digital, but have this relationship to cash, or what am I missing or getting wrong?
Thank you.

Sooz
21st January 2014, 09:43
Hi TimeLab,

Yes, you can use your fiat dollars to purchase Bitcoins and/or you can 'mine' for Bitcoins - using sophisticated computer software to solve mathematical algorithims (sp?).

Yes if you have a digital wallet where you keep your Bitcoins, you can cash it out for fiat dollars if you want.

Where do your fiat dollars go in the first instance? Into normal bank accounts I would guess, where else? I would suspect that money goes to buy more hardware to create more 'hashing' power to mine the bitcoins.

Start page, 'cloudhashing' and watch the video, that will give you more of an idea, if you are interested.

I understand your questions and I am no expert, but understand it's a fledgling new currency. It's not perfect. It will go through many reincarnations before it matures into anything, if at all.

Lol....sorry if that all sounds a bit Zen.

Edit: You can also try the Reddit Bitcoin Forum, lots of good stuff there to learn from.

BabaRa
27th January 2014, 21:36
Personally, I hope this doesn't scare folks off. I'm sure MSM will make a big deal out of it, while they barely mention, if at all, the money laundering that goes on in US $$.


Bitcoin dealers charged with money laundering

Federal agents have charged a Bitcoin dealer and an executive at a Bitcoin company with money laundering for allegedly selling more than $1 million worth of the cyber currency to people doing business on Silk Road, a black market website that dealt in drugs and other illicit goods.

Robert Faiella, 52, allegedly known as "BTCKing," was arrested Monday at his home in Cape Coral, Fla., and charged with money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Charlie Shrem, 24, chief executive officer and compliance officer at the Bitcoin exchange company BitInstant.com, was arrested Sunday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. He is charged with money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to file reports of suspicious activity with the federal government for Faiella's transactions on the Bitcoin exchange.

complete article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/01/27/bitcoin-dealers-charged-with-money-laundering/494131

Sooz
28th January 2014, 07:24
Hey BabaRa,

Thanks, Yep caught that. Mainstream will try to kill it to be sure. Like you say, how much fiat dollars have been spent by the government in drug dealing.

If you have BTC, gold and silver, be prepared to hang onto it for a LONG time...it won't come good anytime soon. Lol..

BabaRa
28th January 2014, 19:57
The good news (I think) is that more and more businesses are accepting it.

A big online store and 2 Las Vegas Casinos are now accepting it.

This can be looked at 2 ways.

The good: having it will be an advantage because we can buy things.

The bad: Are they simply trying to get it into their hands and out of ours. (Sadly, I've become suspicious of almost everything these days. Perhaps cautious would be a better description)

BabaRa
28th January 2014, 23:53
Hey Sooz, I think you'll enjoy the speaker on the first part of this Coast to Coast broadcast about Bitcoin. He talks about the indictment of the people who allegedly laundered money through bitcoin.

http://jandeane81.com/threads/1875-Coast-to-Coast-Turning-Points-27-January-2014

Spiral
29th January 2014, 08:07
@Sooz I have moved this over here for you & I will remove it from the other post as they are unrelated stories, this is a livestream folks, you will need to convert the time to your local time to work out when its on !

BITCOIN : LIVE INQUIRY - ON CAMELOT LIVESTREAM

JOIN US! Wednesday, Jan 29th, at 7pm EST / 4pm Pacific Time:

LIVE On the Camelot Livestream Channel I will be talking with Paladin from the White Hats (currently a columnist here on the Camelot site), all about BITCOIN. Why it differs from fiat currency and the efforts of the PTB to stop it from replacing our monetary system. Paladin is uniquely qualified to weigh in on this topic as a forensic financial investigator with a background in corporate and government agency contracts.

As a member of the website responsible for the investigation and publishing of a number of reports following the money into black projects and down the rabbit hole (http://tdarkcabal.blogspot.com/ ) his views of this current challenge to the corrupt monetary system should be fascinating and enlightening to those who will take the time to listen.

LISTEN LIVE ON THE CAMELOT LIVESTREAM CHANNEL : http://livestream.com/projectcamelotlive/

Spiral
29th January 2014, 08:21
Russia Bans Bitcoin, As Top Russian Bank Halts All Cash Withdrawals !


http://youtu.be/5nzff8XVmms

Published on Jan 28, 2014

Beware of the scheme. Watch as they manipulate the money over the Olympics!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-28/russian-bank-halts-all-cash-withdrawals

http://en.ria.ru/business/20140127/186966541/Russias-Central-Bank-Bitcoin-Users-Can-Face-Jail-Time.html

BabaRa
29th January 2014, 17:17
. . .and the beat goes on.

If I ever get my hands on that damn drummer!!!:magic:, Poof!

Sparky
1st February 2014, 18:17
Sooz:

Thanks for keeping this going. I knew the CIA was in on the ground floor with Bitcoin, stayed away and waited till concrete info appeared. Well, here it is published today. It was reported to be a "beta test" how electronic currency could/would work implementing the NWO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXm6py-T2dU&list=UU-7vnmA1Zf1cRyqs9aR77ag&feature=c4-overview



If you click on “TruthNeverTold” next to •529 videos you’ll find many more videos on Bitcoin

video won't post...will look for another link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXm6py-T2dU&list=UU-7vnmA1Zf1cRyqs9aR77ag&feature=c4-overview

Sooz
15th February 2014, 05:34
'Five Finger Special':

Uh Oh.....a glitch in the system. Only a matter of time before someone found something to tinker with.
Possibly $36 million. A possible thief is from Oz....not me! Not with my computer skills.:p

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2014/02/13/silk-road-2-0-hacked-using-bitcoin-bug-all-its-funds-stolen/

BTC took a big tumble in recent days, plopped from around $1,000 AUS = 1 BTC. Plummetted to $638AUS, but slowly crawling back up as people are taking advantage of the low price.

Sooz

Sooz
15th February 2014, 05:42
And this from Project Cameltoe (I mean Camelot)....

Mt Gox down due to a stuxnet like virus:

http://projectcamelotportal.com/blog/31-kerrys-blog/2015-bitcoin-issue-a-stuxnet-like-virus

BabaRa
15th February 2014, 17:43
Partially to play the devil's advocate - and partially because, by nature, I resist following arrows that are coming from others - I like to connect my own dots - I'd like to propose some thoughts:

The Federal Reserve banking system controls just about all the money world-wide. And I think most of us know who controls the Federal Reserve.

Now imagine some form of currency crops up that they can not control - and it begins to gain popularity - and it won't go away.

What do you think they would do? . . . Maybe arrest Bitcoin CEO for money laundering - and splash the headlines. hmm, True or Not? Sting operation or not?

Now ask yourself, was anyone in the Libor rate fix arrested? hmm, AND HSBC was caught money laundering huge amounts last year. Were any of their CEO's arrested? . . .Answer: NO, slap on the wrist and a fine 1% of what they made.

Then to further create suspicion of public about BitCoin, the Fed's start releasing whistleblowers saying it is CIA controlled or owned or whatever to cause further confusion.

I'm not saying any of the above is true. I'm just saying be careful how quickly you follow arrows being shot by unknown archers to unknown potentially pre-determined conclusions. Could this be Problem, Reaction, Solution?

norman
16th February 2014, 00:58
Partially to play the devil's advocate - and partially because, by nature, I resist following arrows that are coming from others - I like to connect my own dots - I'd like to propose some thoughts:

The Federal Reserve banking system controls just about all the money world-wide. And I think most of us know who controls the Federal Reserve.

Now imagine some form of currency crops up that they can not control - and it begins to gain popularity - and it won't go away.

What do you think they would do? . . . Maybe arrest Bitcoin CEO for money laundering - and splash the headlines. hmm, True or Not? Sting operation or not?

Now ask yourself, was anyone in the Libor rate fix arrested? hmm, AND HSBC was caught money laundering huge amounts last year. Were any of their CEO's arrested? . . .Answer: NO, slap on the wrist and a fine 1% of what they made.

Then to further create suspicion of public about BitCoin, the Fed's start releasing whistleblowers saying it is CIA controlled or owned or whatever to cause further confusion.

I'm not saying any of the above is true. I'm just saying be careful how quickly you follow arrows being shot by unknown archers to unknown potentially pre-determined conclusions. Could this be Problem, Reaction, Solution?

Works both ways.

I'm not a CIA/NSA operator and I'm seriously anti bitcoin and the rest. I see it as the first stage of a globally centralised currency. Although the enthusiasts prefer to see it as quite the opposite.

Mass clout, is what we'll be giving up if bitcoin becomes the 'rebel' currency. The big law making guys are making noises as though they are against it. That works 2 ways. It convinces the national political class that something is being done to stop it catching fire. It also convinces the new-agers and the rebels/patriots, who struggle to ever really see the big picture, that if the 'bad guys' don't like it, it must be a good thing.

I'll just say, never underestimate 'the enemy' .

As time goes on, I see this; I see the bad guys gaining more and more organisation, and I see the rest of us losing what organisation we ever had. Talking on the internet is NOT organisation, and probably never will be. Most internet talk seems to me to be reducing everything down to "everybody's got a view and their own truth". It's what's bound to happen when millions of perfect strangers get talking in cyberspace. The trouble with that is that it's straight out of the 'Madam Blavatski' play book and has obviously been very well anticipated to diss-empower us inversely as we, ourselves, one by one, claim our own little bits of personal sovereignty.

These guys are bloody magicians, remember.

BabaRa
16th February 2014, 19:12
I'm not a CIA/NSA operator and I'm seriously anti bitcoin and the rest. I see it as the first stage of a globally centralised currency. Although the enthusiasts prefer to see it as quite the opposite.



I hear what you're saying, but I'm not convinced a globally centralized currency has to be bad. It depends on how and who controls it.

In my mind we already have just that, as the Central banks in almost every country are controlled by the same group. Even though we 'call' our currencies by different names, truth is they are all being manipulated to suit tptb's agenda. If bitcoin - the emphasis on if - is not in their control, it could potentially be a good thing.


I'll just say, never underestimate 'the enemy' . . . I never do, but I'm not convinced those behind bitcoin ARE the enemy.


As time goes on, I see this; I see the bad guys gaining more and more organisation, and I see the rest of us losing what organisation we ever had. Talking on the internet is NOT organisation, and probably never will be. Most internet talk seems to me to be reducing everything down to "everybody's got a view and their own truth".

I see the same things, Norman, and sometimes I get discouraged. But there is something inside of me that always reverts back to the positive. I sometimes wonder: False Hope? Maybe. But more often I've come to understand that one of my jobs (and I'm just one of many) is to inspire. So I do my job as best I can, and I don't see it as work, as it truly comes from the heart.


These guys are bloody magicians, remember.

I well remember. But, we are miracle workers, it's just most of us haven't quite discovered or believe it fully yet.

BabaRa
27th February 2014, 05:04
Just two days ago, the largest bitcoin exchange MTGox suddenly and without warning shuttered its doors, blocking all customers from accessing their accounts which are collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The entire MTGox website now reads:

Dear MtGox Customers,

In light of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox's operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly.

Best regards,
MtGox Team


This from Mike Adams of Natural News:

(NaturalNews) In April of 2013, I warned Natural News readers about investing in Bitcoin, saying on the record:

The bitcoin infrastructure is subject to the whims of just one person running MTGox who can arbitrarily decide to shut it down whenever he thinks the market needs a "cooling period." This is nearly equivalent to a financial dictatorship where one person calls the shots.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/044090_bitcoins_MtGox_currency_collapse.html#ixzz2 uV2aP8Eq

Sooz
27th February 2014, 05:31
Thanks BabaRa,

When I heard of Mt Gox hitting the skids, I went scurrying frantically to see if my miniscule amount of BTC wasn't connected to them. :frantic: It wasn't I'm glad to say.

I meant to post this the other day...another interesting take on the Mt Gox 'crash and burn':

http://www.techinsider.com.au/2014/02/whatever-may-heard-isnt-end-bitcoin/

My guess is that it will be a wild ride - I don't think we've heard the end of BTC.

That's my optimistic view although I'm probably biased, lol....

Sooz
27th February 2014, 07:47
Here you go, everyone's an expert, yet another perspective:

http://www.naturalnews.com/044090_bitcoins_MtGox_currency_collapse.html

Yeah, like everyone has got money to go out and buy a farm, lol....good luck with that.

Altaira
28th February 2014, 07:55
I'm not following bitcoin because I personally think this is currency supported by the bankers, otherwise it wouldn't been able to exist so long time without real resistance from the banks. Instead it seems its been existing peacefully within the regular currency. The video below explains it better and resonates with my own thoughts. However I think also it can be good for making quick money for those who know more about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG7PUa8oz8M&list=UUG-G8LLr38fQUNZU8K0t-EA&feature=c4-overview

BabaRa
28th February 2014, 16:54
I'm not following bitcoin because I personally think this is currency supported by the bankers, otherwise it wouldn't been able to exist so long time without real resistance from the banks. Instead it seems its been existing peacefully within the regular currency. The video below explains it better and resonates with my own thoughts. However I think also it can be good for making quick money for those who know more about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG7PUa8oz8M&list=UUG-G8LLr38fQUNZU8K0t-EA&feature=c4-overview


He makes some good points, not only about Bitcoin, but about what's going on in the Ukraine. (short video - 5-10 mins)

norman
28th February 2014, 18:59
The more I hear about bitcoin, the more I believe the banksters created it.

We all know they launder the proceeds of their own crimes through their own banks. Where are all their foes who are also criminal supposed to launder their crooked money? There are a lot of maveric crooks and lords out there who don't play ball with the bankers. Those are the people we hear about when there are big media displays of crime prevention acts. The smaller guys, who don't play by the bankers rules and won't tip their hats to them etc.

A 'Maveric' alternative money system that bypasses the banks and never get's near a bank, is a good 'corn feeder' to attract the very people the bankers want to wipe out of their way.

Once there are a good cluster of them all in one place, the banksters can clobber them all in one go very simply.

Sooz
5th March 2014, 07:15
Here is an update of where things are at with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

I like this guy, Sam Volkering.

I've tried to clean this up a bit with paragraphs and editing out the advertising.

But in the interest of copyright and ethics, it should be linked back to the site and the original author.

Interesting thoughts here....especially the cryptocurrency in Iceland.

Sooz

Cryptocurrencies Aren't Bubble-Gum Wrappers...
March 5th 2014, by Sam Volkering, London England
In today's Tech Insider...a revolutionary new trend...face to face with the detractors...a parallel financial system...using new technology to find a way around banks and governments...and more...

A new trend has emerged. But it's actually more than a trend. It's a revolution. It's the cryptoconomy, the new global financial system.
Bitcoin is still the hot topic when it comes to 'virtual currencies', 'cryptocurrencies' or 'digital scams'. Yet what side of the fence you sit on with Bitcoin is irrelevant.
Because Bitcoin has started a movement.
In fact it's similar to the Maker movement that's brought 3D printing into the mainstream. Except this movement has even greater reach than 3D printing will ever have...

.................................................. .................................................. ........................
Last week I wrote about the cryptoconomy. It's the new, parallel financial system gaining momentum in the digital world.
I have pretty strong views on Bitcoin and the cryptoconomy. As such, last Friday night I appeared on an American news TV show, The Rick Amato Show, for an interview. (We'll upload the video to the Tech Insider website later today.)

The topic of conversation was Bitcoin.
While I was in the camp of 'Pro-Bitcoin' the show also had Andrew Blount, the Republican Candidate for Governor of California and successful entrepreneur. Andrew is firmly against Bitcoin.

During the interview Andrew likened Bitcoin to bubble-gum wrappers. He was highly pessimistic of the long term legitimacy of Bitcoin.
Rick put it to me that the Bitcoin craze shares similarities to 'Tulip Mania' in Holland centuries ago. He then asked if I shared the same pessimism as Andrew on the integrity of Bitcoin?
Of course I didn't share the same pessimism.
To quote myself,
'Bitcoin has become more than just a currency or bubble-gum wrappers; it's become an entire online infrastructure...actually if anything it's become a parallel monetary system to what we're all used to today.'

But there was one question which I answered, but didn't quite answer fully.
Andrew asked what I'd bought recently with Bitcoin. And at the time nothing came to mind. Because to be honest with you, I hadn't bought any physical goods recently with Bitcoin.

However, what escaped me at the time was I had purchased something with Bitcoin. Literally one day before I'd used Bitcoin to purchase other Cryptocurrencies.
You see for me to completely understand and appreciate just how big the cryptoconomy will be I needed to see it for myself. Now of course I'm not talking about thousands of dollars' worth of Bitcoins and other crypto currencies. I'm talking about $40 worth; its experimentation money.
I needed to see how easy it was to buy other crypto currencies. I needed to understand what the transaction systems are like and how it works. The point is to understand if the potential for it all is really as big as I think it is.

And the answer is yes. The potential is possibly even bigger than I can imagine.
So I looked around at the many cryptocurrencies available now. I mentioned a few of these not long ago. There's Dogecoin, Litecoin, Sexcoin, Maxcoin and Unobtainium.
Now there's CorgiCoin, TeslaCoin and MurrayCoin (after Bill Murray). But even more interesting is two other new ones, Auroracoin and Mazacoin.
You see these last two are different from the others.

The new, better financial system
What's so interesting about Auroracoin and Mazacoin is they're now national cryptocurrencies. Meaning the goal is to have them as the primary national tender.
Auroracoin is the new cryptocurrency for the people of Iceland.
During the GFC the Icelandic banking sector collapsed. And ever since, the government has had strict controls on capital flows in and out of the country.

The Auroracoin website explains,
'This means that the people of Iceland have, for the past five years, been forced to turn over all foreign currency earned to the Central Bank of Iceland. This means that the people are not entirely free to engage in international trade. They are not free to invest in businesses abroad. The arbitrary use of power this entails and the unsustainable debt of the Icelandic government has created uncertainty and risk in all aspects of commerce.'
The founders of Auroracoin decided Icelanders needed something better. The government wasn't moving fast enough to change the situation. So they decided to do it themselves. Thus, Auroracoin was born.
The plan is to pre-mine half of all Auroracoins that will ever exist. And then the idea is to distribute them, for free, to Iceland's citizens. That equates to about 31.8 coins per person.

In dollars and cents that means the equivalent of US$2,693 per person. Now although that sounds enticing, it's not the point of Auroracoin to give away free 'money'.
Like Bitcoin the point of Auroracoin is to create a new financial infrastructure for Iceland. Because the current system is broken. It doesn't work and it's the people that had nothing to do with the banking collapse that are paying for it.

But as I mentioned at the start of today's e-letter, there is a trend emerging. Another cryptocurrency reserve has emerged over the last week.
The Lakota people are the indigenous people of the Great Plains of North America. They are part of a confederation of seven Sioux tribes. And for a long time many of the Lakota people have lived below the poverty line.

But believe it or not, they now have the world's first sovereign national cryptocurrency.
Mazacoin is the idea of Payu Harris. In an interview with Forbes, Harris said,
'I think cryptocurrencies could be the new buffalo.

'Once, it was everything for our survival. We used it for food, for clothes, for everything. It was our economy. I think MazaCoin could serve the same purpose.'
The Lakota people are an extremely impoverished part of America. And Harris believes that Mazacoin could be the answer to give people hope that they can financially have a future.

Again this isn't some get-rich quick scheme by a 'scam-artist'. It's a movement to drag his people out of poverty and give them hope.
This is the use of technology to create a new financial system. It just happens that this new system exists online. And that's what many people struggle with.
It's difficult to accept change, when this kind of change is so frightening. And when you hear nothing but reports about related cybercrime, and security risks, it's hard to believe in its future.

But this is happening whether we like it or not. And it may replace the financial system we know so well. Right now the cryptoconomy runs parallel to the 'traditional' financial system. But the 'traditional' system has failed dismally. And in a world of competition, nothing is immune to a better alternative.
This is all part of the P2P trend that's sweeping across the globe. It's a power shift from bureaucratic hierarchies back to the people.
And those people realise they can make a difference. They're building new infrastructure to support it all. But this infrastructure is in the digital world. This 'movement' is building a whole new financial system right in front of our very own eyes.

It's not a tulip mania, it's not bubble-gum wrappers. This is a new kind of financial system. It's the cryptoconomy.
There are a lot of benefits of this kind of financial innovation. There's also great risk in it all. As much as I'm a big believer in this as the future of the global financial system, I'm not naive to the potential for its catastrophic failure.

I'll cover the good and the bad of it at our World War D conference in Melbourne, amongst other technologies that will create a better future for us all.
But for now, you need to know that the cryptoconomy is real. And there's far more to it than crazy valuations. It's a whole new monetary system, and it's growing at an amazing pace.

Regards,
Sam Volkering+
Editor, Tech Insider

For Sam's latest updates, follow him on Twitter.

Disclaimer: I currently own a nominal amount of Bitcoin, Blackcoin, Maxcoin and Mazacoin as explained for the purpose of figuring out how all this actually works. But at no stage do I believe this should be invested in for the purposes of making money.
Click here for his full report.


.................................................. .................................................. ........................

Tech Extra
World War D is far reaching, and isn't just about high-tech security threats. Even the most basic technology still poses a problem for many armies on the battlefront. The war for spectrum is a part of it.

The Peer-2-Peer network is vital to a connected future. It's a shift of power back to the people. But this kind of P2P is on a whole different level.
And while we're on the topic of technology revolutions 3D printing is still moving ahead at exponential pace. It's all due to technological compounding. And its application in the future of biomedicine is as important as ever.


Calculating Your Future Returns: It's important to remember that investing in shares can lose you some or all of your money. The potential gains in this letter are based on investing in Australian share markets and do not include taxes, brokerage commissions, or associated fees. Please seek independent financial advice regarding your particular situation.

Also, while useful for detecting patterns, the past is not a guide to future performance. The value of any investment, and the income derived from it, can go down as well as up.

Investments in foreign companies involve risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Specifically, changes in the rates of exchange between currencies may cause a divergence between your nominal gain and your currency-converted gain, making it possible to lose money once your total return is adjusted for currency.

For any investment, never invest more than you can afford to lose, and keep in mind the ultimate risk is that you can lose whatever you've invested. If in doubt of the suitability of an investment please seek independent financial advice.

Sooz
5th March 2014, 07:40
Just highlighting this bit:
Sooz


The Auroracoin website explains,

'This means that the people of Iceland have, for the past five years, been forced to turn over all foreign currency earned to the Central Bank of Iceland. This means that the people are not entirely free to engage in international trade. They are not free to invest in businesses abroad. The arbitrary use of power this entails and the unsustainable debt of the Icelandic government has created uncertainty and risk in all aspects of commerce.'

The founders of Auroracoin decided Icelanders needed something better. The government wasn't moving fast enough to change the situation. So they decided to do it themselves. Thus, Auroracoin was born.

The plan is to pre-mine half of all Auroracoins that will ever exist. And then the idea is to distribute them, for free, to Iceland's citizens. That equates to about 31.8 coins per person.

In dollars and cents that means the equivalent of US$2,693 per person. Now although that sounds enticing, it's not the point of Auroracoin to give away free 'money'.

Like Bitcoin the point of Auroracoin is to create a new financial infrastructure for Iceland. Because the current system is broken. It doesn't work and it's the people that had nothing to do with the banking collapse that are paying for it.

But as I mentioned at the start of today's e-letter, there is a trend emerging. Another cryptocurrency reserve has emerged over the last week.
The Lakota people are the indigenous people of the Great Plains of North America. They are part of a confederation of seven Sioux tribes. And for a long time many of the Lakota people have lived below the poverty line.

But believe it or not, they now have the world's first sovereign national cryptocurrency.

Mazacoin is the idea of Payu Harris. In an interview with Forbes, Harris said, 'I think cryptocurrencies could be the new buffalo.

'Once, it was everything for our survival. We used it for food, for clothes, for everything. It was our economy. I think MazaCoin could serve the same purpose.'

The Lakota people are an extremely impoverished part of America. And Harris believes that Mazacoin could be the answer to give people hope that they can financially have a future.

Sooz
7th March 2014, 00:39
Founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto has been found, living in the USA.

Very interesting back story here. Bitcoin is 'now out of his hands and been handed over to other people'....mmmmm

http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/bitcoin-satoshi-nakamoto.html

By the way, even though Mt Gox has been nixed, Bitcoin is still going strong and has increased in value the last week or so.

Sooz
26th March 2014, 06:30
Looks like Bitcoin isn't going away anytime soon.

This is a bit controversial but interesting anyway for those following it:

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/controversial-figure-behind-push-for-australias-first-bitcoin-atm-20140326-hvmma.html

Starrover
26th March 2014, 09:43
I think if it's digital, i.e. not tangible then it's going to be easily obfuscated what is in existence. If it's not physical they can easily take it away, far more easily than physical money although they stole Cyprus' savings but I guess the principle is still the same, it's still all on a ledger where money can be wired easily - not actual physical money, which is open to corruption by it's very nature. Also, it would be a great insider trading racket wouldn't it? If a handful of people can obfuscate how much is in existence they can hold some back (concealing loads) and then flood the market at the right terms to create boom and bust cycles and control economies. That sort of playbook is ancient. Bad news in my opinion.

Sparky
26th March 2014, 18:25
IRS slams Bitcoin millionaires with new tax rules… Is gold next?


March 26, 2014
Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile
http://www.sovereignman.com/finance/irs-slams-bitcoin-millionaires-with-new-tax-rules-is-gold-next-14030/

Well the IRS has certainly had a busy week.

1) Yesterday, the service released brand new rules pertaining to the taxation of Bitcoin.

And particularly for anyone who was an early adopter of the digital currency, the new tax rules are a major blow.

In short, the Treasury Department has chosen to tax Bitcoin as 'property' rather than as a currency.

This means that all those 'Bitcoin millionaires' out there who traded the Bitcoins they purchased for $0.01 for a shiny new Maserati will actually owe beaucoup bucks in back taxes.

More importantly, though, I think these rules set a rather dangerous precedent for gold.

You can see what I'm talking about here.


2) Last week, the Criminal Investigative Division of the IRS released its annual report, highlighting all sorts of lovely statistics about how many people they put behind bars.

To be fair, there are definitely some lowlifes out there. Corrupt Congressmen and thieving banksters were all nailed to the wall by the CID last year.

Unfortunately they only get it right about half the time, according to their own statistics.

And the report shows a rather disturbing trend-- they 'seized' 1.7 million gigabytes of data last year from individuals under investigation, more than double the volume of data seized in 2012.

But since almost half of these people are innocent, you can just imagine how much these investigation turn people's lives upside down.

The CID report is a perfect example of the 'multiple flags' strategy that I advocate.

If you use a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox, for example, you are making it incredibly easy for the government to freeze you out of your digital assets, even if you've done nothing wrong.

By shifting your assets to a similar service based overseas, especially one that's encrypted, you can save yourself this risk.

And best of all, it costs you absolutely nothing.

You can read more about it here.




http/www.sovereignman.com/finance/irs-slams-bitcoin-millionaires-with-new-tax-rules-is-gold-next-14030/
6) If you trade your Bitcoins for some other property that exceeds your cost basis, you are subject to tax. This is a huge ruling that effects all the ‘Bitcoin millionaires’ out there– early adopters who purchased Bitcoins at a dollar or less.
So let’s say you were one of the first Bitcoin adopters and bought 5,000 bitcoins at $0.05. Last year when Bitcoin was valued at roughly $1,000 in paper currency, you traded 250 of them for a brand new Lamborghini.
The IRS would say that you had a cost basis of $12.50 for those 250 coins. But you traded them for other property with a fair market value of $250,000. This means you have a taxable gain of $249,987.50.
Naturally, the US government is happy to go back in time and thrust all sorts of interest and penalties upon you if you didn’t comply with the law.
According to their ruling, “failure to timely or correctly report virtual currency transactions when required to do so may be subject to information reporting penalties under section 6721 and 6722.”
What’s most interesting about this new set of rules is what they might mean for gold.
If you’ve ever read Currency Wars (a fantastic book by my colleague Jim Rickards), you may recall early in the book when Jim suggests a potential outcome for gold.
Imagine– paper currencies go into freefall. Gold soars. Anyone who bought gold early sees sizeable profits (in paper currency)… at which point the government steps in after the fact and sets up new tax rules to confiscate a substantial portion of those gains.
Think it can’t happen? These Bitcoin rules certainly establish a precedent.:/

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-14-21.pdf

Calz
26th March 2014, 18:35
Banksters won't go down quietly regardless of whatever front ...

(I will save my emotional remark and see if I can express it without harm to anyone ...)

Sooz
14th May 2014, 04:10
Here is an interesting development: Richard Branson getting on board (sic) with Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Just Gained $30M Worth of Credibility

May 14th 2014, by Sam Volkering, London, UK

In today’s Tech Insider...drugs, guns and hitmen...the old vs. new...BitPay pops its cherry...and more...
Remember that terrifying website on the Deep Web? You know, the one where you could buy drugs, guns and order a hit on your worst enemy?
Silk Road. That’s what it was. And I refer to it in the past tense because the FBI shut that bad boy down. I picture it went down with a SWAT team busting through glass windows on ropes, helicopters above, lots of flash grenades, smoke and yelling.

In all reality it was nothing like that, probably. It was more likely a couple of guys (or girls) in suits or maybe just a polo shirt and jeans executing some lines of code to seize the site.
The side story to Silk Road was indeed the anonymous currency used to transact on the site. Yes, Bitcoin. Silk Road is where Bitcoin got its infamy and reputation.
But that’s going back now almost five years. And in the world of the cryptoconomy that’s like...forever.

I have no doubt that the entire global financial system is in the midst of the biggest change since the beginning of money. The funny thing is many have no idea it’s even happening.
Old school vs fintechI experienced this first hand over the last year at a couple of conferences I’ve been at. One had all the big banks in the world, Wells Fargo, Barclays, Santander and the Aussie big four, CBA, ANZ, NAB and Westpac. The other had some of the smallest most innovative companies in financial technology (FinTech).

The major difference between the two (apart from billion of dollars of net worth) was ego.
You see the established, well-credentialed bankers of the world were more than happy with the way things were going.
But the start-ups realised that the system isn’t working. The global financial system is broken. And there’s a growing need for something new.
Enter Bitcoin and the cryptoconomy under construction around it.

Bitcoin is the beginning of a whole new way of looking at global finance. There are plenty of detractors. Many who think Bitcoin is as valuable as ‘chewing-gum wrappers’. But that’s a very naive and narrow view of the real impact of this game changing technology.
You see people try to pigeonhole Bitcoin into a category. It’s a currency. No, it’s an investment. No, it’s a digital commodity. Well they’re all wrong. Bitcoin is none of those, but it might be all of those. I don’t think we can call it this or that. The sheer fact is there's been nothing quite like it in history.
You could almost look at Bitcoin as a whole system. It’s probably a bit of currency, a bit of commodity, it’s definitely an exchange of medium, but it’s also more than that.
Bitcoin is a payments system, it’s financial infrastructure, it’s derivatives, funds, exchanges and ATMs. It’s an entire digital, new economic system. And it’s in full swing, gathering even more momentum and attracting a lot of influential backers.
Bitcoin, now more credible than it’s ever been. Just ignore the Winklevi

Just this week Future Capital launched a brand new Bitcoin fund. The purpose of the US$30million fund is, ‘to make equity investments, globally, into companies facilitating payments, exchanges, trading and smart property rights based around the Bitcoin and other digital currency ecosystem.’
The fund is accepting investments from around the globe in AUD, USD, RMB and of course Bitcoin. Is this an opportunity to get in on the ground floor? Is it a good opportunity to invest in the entire Bitcoin system? I don’t know. But it’s something we’ll be looking at closely here at Tech Insider.
The Bitcoin fund is one of many new ventures into the Bitcoin ecosystem.

As you may have heard, the infamous Winklevoss twins of almost-Facebook fame are large holders of Bitcoin (allegedly). The ‘Winklevi’ are rumoured to be very close to launching a Bitcoin ETF on the NASDAQ. Now this in itself is annoying. For one the ETF is set to track the price of Bitcoin. Therefore it’s more concerned in the price of the ‘coins’ themselves, with little regard to building the system or infrastructure. That means its open to speculators and runabout Bitcoin Cowboys.
However, the sheer fact it’s actually going to be available on the NASDAQ goes a long way to explaining the power of this cryptocurrency.
But the most interesting buzz around Bitcoin is a huge injection of capital into BitPay.

BitPay is one of the companies in the world fighting to bring Bitcoin mainstream. They’re a crucial part of building the infrastructure of the system that allows Bitcoin to be viable. They are singularly the biggest payment processor of Bitcoin in the world.
Launched in 2011, by the end of 2012 BitPay had 2,100 merchants using their services. By the end of 2013, that had ballooned to over 30,000.
And today BitPay announced they’d secured $30 million in funding from some of the world’s biggest and most notable entrepreneurs.
Richard Branson (founder Virgin) and Jerry Yang (founder Yahoo!) are two of the big names to now be on board.
Branson had this to say about the investment, ‘‘Banking as we know it is in the midst of enormous change and innovation. We have jumped in by investing in alternative payment models and also by accepting bitcoin for tickets on Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline.
‘Bitpay has proven itself to process bitcoin safely and reliably, growing the market and increasing adoption, which continues to build trust, legitimacy and momentum in this exciting currency revolution.’

This is the kind of boost Bitcoin needs to continue its path towards global domination. Names like Branson bring both credibility and experience. Add to the mix some serious entrepreneurial flair and it seems like a great step for BitPay. Even more, it’s a big tick for the whole system of Bitcoin and the cryptoconomy. I’m in no doubt this will help Bitcoin go to another level. It will strengthen its resolve against detractors and importantly entrench it as a legitimate financial system.

Bitcoin is going to be around a long time, longer than you or I will be alive. We’re in a privileged position to see the beginning of something so powerful, revolutionary and exciting.
And at the right time, in the right way we might also be privileged enough to invest in it like Branson, and make some money along the way.

Regards,
Sam Volkering+
Editor, Tech Insider


.................................................. .................................................. ........................

Tech Extra
The Government will have you believe they’re investing in the future of Australia with money into a Medical Research Future Fund. But that’s just to hide the fact they’re slashing investment in innovation and technology elsewhere. If you’re a scientist in anything other than biomedicine, it’s tough times ahead.

Where there’s a will there’s a way. The once dead Popcorn Time streaming pirated movie service has popped up again in the most unlikely of places. On the Android ecosystem. It’s like streaming from Netflix...except technically its illegal. However it shows that developers will find a way to make something work if they believe in it enough.

I’ve said for some time AI in the sense of robots achieving consciousness is highly unlikely, if not impossible. My primary argument is that we cannot build AI as we have no definitive understanding of the human brain. Hence you can’t build something you don’t have the plans for. And although a slightly different approach, it seems science and maths agree, sentient robots are unlikely.

All content is © 2005 - 2014 Port Phillip Publishing Pty Ltd All Rights Reserved
Port Phillip Publishing Pty Ltd holds an Australian Financial Services License: 323 988.
ACN: 117 765 009 ABN: 33 117 765 009
All advice is general advice and has not taken into account your personal circumstances. Please seek independent financial advice regarding your own situation, or if in doubt about the suitability of an investment.
Calculating Your Future Returns: The value of any investment and the income derived from it can go down as well as up. Never invest more than you can afford to lose and keep in mind the ultimate risk is that you can lose whatever you've invested. While useful for detecting patterns, the past is not a guide to future performance. Some figures contained in this report are forecasts and may not be a reliable indicator of future results. Any potential gains in this letter do not include taxes, brokerage commissions, or associated fees. Please seek independent financial advice regarding your particular situation. Investments in foreign companies involve risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Specifically, changes in the rates of exchange between currencies may cause a divergence between your nominal gain and your currency-converted gain, making it possible to lose money once your total return is adjusted for currency.

Sooz
28th May 2014, 04:44
A very interesting newsletter from Sam Volkering I thought you all may be interested in;):

The world in turmoil, economic instability, the rise of Bitcoin, crowd solving the mystery of Flight MH370, building a 3D house - cheap housing for all and more:

2014 the Year Bitcoin Went Mainstream

May 28th 2014, by Sam Volkering, London, UK

In today’s Tech Insider...the far-right grab hold of the EU...Bitcoin gets stronger...the new breed of ATM...and more...

Just hours ago the BBC reported Donetsk airport in the Ukraine is now in full control of the Ukraine military.
A bloody battle raged over the last two days. Reports say at least 30 pro-Russian separatists are dead. Airstrikes and well equipped ground forces took control of the airport. And the Ukraine army has declared a small victory.

Meanwhile in Brussels four people were killed by a gunman at the Jewish Museum on Saturday. The gunman is still at large.
Also, over the weekend European elections were in full swing. A number of ‘fringe’ parties have now secured seats in the European parliament.
One of the new parties is a German party, now with a seat. They are the National Democratic Party. And many reports are in circulation describing them as another neo-Nazi party.
And Golden Dawn, the Greek ultra-nationalist party, now has three members in the EU parliament. Golden Dawn is also a far-right neo-Nazi-esque party. There are even accusations of murder amongst party members. They secured nearly 10% of the vote in Greece. Of course the French have also spoken, with the Front National Party getting...25% of the vote in France. FN is also a far-right political party. Granted less than half of France voted (it’s not compulsory to vote in EU elections). But it’s still an indictment to the current state of the European Union. In fact the whole of the European union looks like it will crumble under the weight of regressive and backwards ideology.
And of course I mustn’t forget that Thailand is currently under martial law. A military coup has overthrown the government and a strict four hour midnight curfew is in full swing.
Apparently military coups are supposed to return ‘stability’ to a country...

So it’s fair to say right now the world is in the midst of serious upheaval. The world hasn’t broken out in full-blown traditional warfare, just yet. But it seems like everything is teetering on a knife’s edge, just waiting for one of the real global superpowers, US, China or Russia, to do something really stupid.
If I were a betting man, I’d say the Russians are the likely candidate.

What to do in times of terror and turmoil?
But amidst all of this across the globe people are beginning to think. To think what if full scale wars do break out? Or maybe not another war, but what if the EU disbands? What if the EU cut the fat (Greece, Portugal, Spain, Turkey) and divides into the haves and the have-nots?
What if the US and China enter a digital assault on each other the likes of which we’ve never before seen? What will happen to...everything?
This fear permeates through across media channels, and before you know it the Saturday arvo backyard BBQ is a hotbed of discussion about the impending end of the world.
Your everyday ‘Joe Blogs’ in the street is merely concerned with his or her way of life. They know they have little control over the lunatics that run nation states. They just want to know how they’ll pay the bills and feed the family.

People want security their ‘hard earned’ will be safe and untouchable. People have lost all faith in banks, government and the supposed people who ‘represent’ them.
So what’s not all that surprising is that in the last week the market cap of Bitcoin has gone from around US$5.6 billion to US$7.5 billion. That equates to a price shift from US$443 BTC to around US$589 BTC. And if you want to know what that means in percentage terms...32.9% up in a week. Of course this isn’t because Bitcoin is a great investment vehicle. It's because people are starting to fully appreciate they have greater security in this digital ‘currency’ than they do anywhere else. Even the old school way of ‘money in the mattress’ is coming around to ‘hard earned on the hard drive’.

The path to success of Bitcoin has always been dependent on building an entire platform with which we can transact around the world.
2013 will always be the year the price of Bitcoin took off. But 2014 will be the year Bitcoin became truly mainstream. Bitcoin now at a shopping centre near you
For instance, at Westfield in Sydney CBD you can go use a Bitcoin ATM. And this Friday in central London, Satoshipoint, a Bitcoin company is going live with two new Bitcoin ATMs and a third in Bristol. But these aren’t your ordinary ATMs running Windows XP. No, these Satoshipoint ATMs have hand scanners for biometric authentication and facial recognition technology to identify you from your licence or passport photo.

Satoshipoint is doing all this with Robocoin machines. Robocoin is the world largest network of Bitcoin ATMs. Now in over 13 countries, with 12 different national currencies to exchange, Robocoin is building the infrastructure Bitcoin has been crying out for. Bitcoin has gone from the ideals of the digital world to the high street. Even I had to concede that as early as last year Bitcoin was too complicated and difficult to get into for the average person.But now it’s as easy as using an ATM.
This continued construction, both in the physical and digital worlds, is vital to ensure Bitcoin is a lasting success.

With continued global turmoil I have no doubt that more and more people will turn to Bitcoin as a trusted source for their finances.
As the Bitcoin community continues to develop the technology and the infrastructure, the legitimacy of Bitcoin will grow. While the current global economic system is in shambles, Bitcoin goes from strength to strength. And as a viable alternative economic system it’s only going to get bigger, stronger and more dominant over the coming years.

Regards,
Sam Volkering+
Editor, Tech Insider
Port Philip Publishing, Melbourne, Australia




.................................................. .................................................. ........................

Unfortunately the links in the stories below didn't transfer when I copy and pasted this - Sooz. Or it could be the ::Seffect:

Tech Extra

If the powers that be ever want to really find out what happened to MH370 they need to let the data into the ‘digital wild’. And that’s exactly what they’ve done. The flight data between Immersat and the flight is now open source. Which means that potentially the power of the crowd could solve this unsolved mystery.

You think it’s impossible to 3D print a house? Well there’s lots of research into proving you wrong if you do. One such company, BetAbram is about to sell house 3D printers some time this year, maybe July or August. Interestingly it’s not going to cost millions of dollars. How about approximately $17,600? Cheap housing for all!

In a connected world every networked device is vulnerable. And yesterday a whole lot of Australians woke to their iPhone’s realising this possibility first hand. This is why the white hat cyber security firms of the world are so important to the future of our world.

Sooz
12th June 2014, 08:10
Hi All,

For those who might be interested, here is an explanation of how to obtain and use Bitcoin, by Sam Volkering.

How to: Get Started With Bitcoin
June 12th 2014, by Sam Volkering, London, UK

In today’s Tech Insider...the basics of Bitcoin...setting up a wallet...experimenting with the currency of the future...and more...
As promised last week, today we’re going to step out the basics of how to get involved with Bitcoin. This isn’t the definitive guide, but it’s a good little introduction to getting you on your way.

It’s also not a technical guide as to what Bitcoin is and how influential it will be. I’ve covered that before, and will cover it again in the future as things develop.

But part of getting Bitcoin into mainstream adoption is getting it in the ‘hands’ of people. This is crucial — in order to understand the true potential of this disruptive technology, you need to feel comfortable using it.

Now before we get started, there are a couple of key things you need to understand.

This is not investment advice. In fact, right now I don’t believe that Bitcoin should be an investment at all. If you plan on ‘investing’ in Bitcoin, you do so on your own accord and at your own peril.

What I’m suggesting is you get a minimal amount of Bitcoin and then simply get used to the system.
This will ultimately prove extremely useful when your kids, grandkids and great grandkids use Bitcoin as their primary monetary system in the future.
So when little Jimmy asks, ‘Grandad, can you send me half a Bitcoin for my birthday?’ you’ll be well up to speed in how to do it.

Also finally, when getting into Bitcoin for the first time, start small. Maybe use $50 or so to get a bit of Bitcoin. You’ll probably end up with anywhere from 0.05 to 0.1 Bitcoin. That’ll be enough to experiment with.

In other words, make sure it’s money you’re happy to lose — not that you necessarily will. But if you make a mistake somewhere along the line or transfer to a wrong address, then you might lose your Bitcoins.

Okay so let’s tear into it.

Wallets

In order to get Bitcoin you need somewhere to keep them. Because Bitcoin exists solely in the digital world, you need a digital wallet to hold your Bitcoins. I use two kinds of wallets. A desktop wallet and a mobile wallet. The desktop wallet you install on your computer. You can choose to install it on your computer’s hard drive, or on an external hard drive.

A mobile wallet is simply a mobile app you install on your mobile phone. This is essential for using Bitcoin in the real world.
There are also web wallets. These are companies that store your Bitcoins on their servers. So if the company disappears, so do your Bitcoins.
You can see the kinds of Bitcoin wallet available at the Bitcoin.org website here.

I’d recommend getting the MultiBit desktop wallet. This means you don’t have to download the entire (18Gb) Bitcoin blockchain. MultiBit is easy to use and quick.

If you want a mobile wallet, then the Bitcoin Wallet for Android is the way to go. It’s also simple and quick to use. If you have an iPhone, then you might want to consider registering with CoinJar, an Australian Bitcoin company.

Thanks to recent changes in the Apple App Store conditions, CoinJar is now a fully functional Bitcoin wallet.

In our example, I’m going to assume you’ve downloaded and installed the MultiBit desktop wallet, or you’ve registered with CoinJar.
Once you’ve downloaded MultiBit to your computer you need to set up a new wallet. That’s as easy as choosing ‘New Wallet’ from the tool bar. Then you need to set a password for your wallet by choosing ‘Add Password’ from the toolbar.

Make your password memorable and difficult. Use a mix of capital letters, numbers and symbols. This helps to protect your wallet.
One more thing. On MultiBit under the ‘Request Bitcoin’ tab you will see a jumbled series of letters and numbers. This is your address.
You’ll need your address to get Bitcoins into this wallet. So have it handy and don’t get it wrong, otherwise ‘no Bitcoin for you!’
With CoinJar you have to fully register your name and email address to sign up. This kind of defeats the anonymity of Bitcoin, but it’s one of the easiest ways to get started with Bitcoin.

Now that you’ve got your wallet up and running, it’s time to get some Bitcoin.

Bitcoin — how to get some

There are several ways to get Bitcoins, some a little more difficult than others. Unfortunately, it comes down to where you live.
For example, if you want to buy Bitcoins in Australia, you can go to a site such as BitTrade Australia. Here you can buy Bitcoins by choosing how many you’d like to buy (AU$50 minimum) and inputting your wallet address.

However — and here’s the difficult part — to pay for the Bitcoins in AUD, you need to make an over-the-counter deposit at either Westpac or CBA. BitTrade will give you the account details to deposit the cash into and a reference number, which is key to ensuring they send the Bitcoins to your address. But you have to physically go to the bank to make the cash deposit...a bit of a drag really.

Another site is BTCMarkets here you can also make cash deposits over the counter to pay for your Bitcoins, or use bank-to-bank EFT. This is a bit easier, albeit slower than cash deposits.

If you decided to register with CoinJar, then you can BPAY funds into your CoinJar account and then buy Bitcoins through their system, which then adds the Bitcoins to your CoinJar balance.

Either way, there are plenty of ways to buy Bitcoin in Australia. However, most options will take a day or so because of the slow bank-to-bank transfer system. For me, the easiest way is to use a site like Bittylicious. As I live in the UK, it’s a lot easier since I don’t need to register and can have Bitcoins in as little as ten minutes. I simply put in my wallet address and email address, choose how many Bitcoins I want, and then make a bank transfer to the advised account.

As bank transfers in the UK are virtually instantaneous, I get my Bitcoins and the Bitcoin seller gets their cash in minutes. It’s the fastest, easiest way I’ve found yet to get Bitcoin...but it’s only for people with a UK bank account.

Using Bitcoins

So by now you’ve hopefully got a small amount of Bitcoin. And it’s sitting happily in your wallet. Now what?
Well you can use those BTC online to buy things from online shops and websites.Maybe you want to book accommodation for your next holiday. 9Flats is an accommodation booking site very much like AirBnb.

9Flats has a service called Instant Booking where you can instantly book accommodation without having to check with the host. You can pay for ‘Instant Booking’ bookings with Bitcoin.All you do is send the amount of Bitcoin required at the time to the 9Flats Bitcoin address from your wallet.
To do that, open up your wallet and choose ‘Send Bitcoin’ from the toolbar. Then put in the 9Flats Bitcoin address and the amount of Bitcoin to send. Finally, enter your password when prompted, and that’s it.

The Bitcoin system will verify the transaction and you get to book accommodation with your Bitcoin.
Or perhaps you want to use Bitcoin in the real world. Before you do this, you’ll need to transfer (send) some BTC to your mobile wallet. The wallet on your mobile will be a different address from your desktop wallet.
All you do is find your mobile wallet address and use that to send your Bitcoin from your desktop to your mobile.
The screenshot (from MultiBit) looks something like this...

Now armed with Bitcoins in your mobile wallet you can spend them in the real world. You could head over to the Kodiak Club on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy for a bourbon or two. Or you could go to Hero Subs in the Melbourne CBD to grab a bite to eat.
If you happen to be near Blessington Street in St Kilda, you could grab a coffee from Imbiss25 cafè and pay with Bitcoin. It’s actually quite easy.

These are real world places. And if you’ve got a bit of Bitcoin in your mobile wallet, take the time to try and use them wherever you can.
Even just sending some Bitcoin from your desktop wallet to your mobile wallet is a small step to get you on the path to using this new technologically advanced currency.

To find more places to use your Bitcoins, check out Bitscan Directory and BitPay Directory.


Summary

The three key steps are set up a wallet, buy a Bitcoin and spend a Bitcoin. If you can get these steps down, you’ll be on your way. Use the links above to find out more and also check out the Bitcoin Organisation for more easy to understand information.

Regards,
Sam Volkering+
Editor, Tech Insider
Port Philip Publishing
Melbourne Australia

Sooz
27th June 2014, 06:14
This could prove interesting - on Friday 27 June, the US government is auctioning off $17 million worth of Bitcoin obtained from the closure of website, 'Silk Road'.*

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-25/bitcoin-auction-draws-wall-street-silicon-valley-bidders.html

*:scrhd: How does that work?
The US Govt stands to benefit by selling Bitcoin, on a site they closed by the FBI and then moved the money onto US Marshals - whatever that means - because 'Silk Road' were selling drugs, guns and false passports?:belief: All legal I suppose.....

norman
27th June 2014, 08:18
*:scrhd: How does that work?
The us govt stands to benefit by selling bitcoin, on a site they closed, because 'silk road' were selling drugs, guns and false passports?:belief:



yes we can !

Sooz
27th June 2014, 08:21
Honour among thieves I guess.

Sooz
2nd July 2014, 08:53
This is an interesting precedent. And don't think because it's being mooted in Oz, that it won't come to you. This is in the pipeline for everyone.

Perhaps everyone under 30 years of age, will never, ever get their superannuation, that they are forced to save for.

I'm putting this article here in the Bitcoin thread, because there is a possible answer to this conundrum with cryptocurrency and the philosophy behind it. Early days I know.

Bear with me.

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/super-system-letting-retirees-down-073810384.html

Here is an excerpt, please read the full post at the link above.

A sensitive recommendation in a new Deloitte report recommends taking unused super away from a dead retiree's dependants and putting it into a pension pool for other Australians who need it.

Please that excerpt again....

A sensitive recommendation in a new Deloitte report recommends taking unused super away from a dead retiree's dependants and putting it into a pension pool for other Australians who need it.

Sooz
2nd July 2014, 09:08
Here is a more in-depth review from a newsletter I receive:


'All this came about because of some email chatter that went around our office last week.

It was off the back of some news on Yahoo Finance about a new report from Deloitte regarding the Australian superannuation system.
The Yahoo article said, ‘A sensitive recommendation in a new Deloitte report recommends taking unused super away from a dead retiree's dependants and putting it into a pension pool for other Australians who need it.’

How do you like that? Taking a dead retiree’s superannuation away from their dependants and giving it away to someone else.
Imagine you’re at death’s door, and everything you’d worked so hard for your whole life wasn’t going to your dependants. No, instead it was going to go to Joe Blogs down the street. Joe barely has enough in retirement to live off. But he also squandered much of his earnings on booze, smokes and the punt, while you toiled away for the future and legacy of your family.

The Deloitte report indicated that, to live ‘comfortably’ in retirement, an Australia man needs about $640,000 in superannuation.
This really grinds my gears. Why? Well, it’s now another call to revamp the superannuation system. And when you look at it closely, it’s a matter of time before some crackpot politician thinks it’s a good idea.

The latest PPP email thread
Our Publisher Kris Sayce has been saying the government is going to steal your super for years.

In response to the article, Kris sent this around the office,
From: Kris Sayce
Date: Thursday, 26 June 2014 07:42
To: Port Phillip Publishing
Subject: RE: Kris' day of reckoning coming closer
I can confidently predict that anyone below the age of 30 will never see their superannuation. Busybody freaks like this guy are always thinking up ways to take your money. One day, some crackpot politician will listen and it’ll be gone.
You will get a government ‘super aged pension’ instead. Good luck with that.
A few hours later (I’m on London time remember), I had this to say.

From: Sam Volkering
Sent: Thursday, 26 June 2014 7:32 PM
To: Port Phillip Publishing
Subject: Re: Kris' day of reckoning coming closer

When I started working in a financial adviser office while I was at uni (around 2002), it was the same stupid statistics. Everyone was calling for a revamp to the system. So they did. Then the statistics said the average person with super has six tenths of bugger all to last them in retirement. The stats haven't really changed in 12 years. So through all the bloody reviews, recommendation panels, whitepapers, increases in SGC, changes to superannuation rules, changes to superannuation rules and then some changes to superannuation rules after some changes to superannuation rules, nothing has changed and the statistics are still the same. Basically if you don’t work till you die you’re stuffed.

What makes this douchebag think now if we put super into a ‘pool' for other people it’ll change anything either? I’d love to see the social backlash when the government says 'hey you who actually has a million in super, you just died so instead of leaving a legacy for your family we’re going to give it to those poor buggers down the street instead’. That’d go down a treat. I’d like to see how well this goes when the people that do have enough superannuation take it all out and move it out of the superannuation system and head offshore with it.

Good luck with your infrastructure projects, government, when super funds haven’t got the cash to pay for it. EY reckons super funds contribute already about $45 billion to infrastructure projects. Try figure out where else the money will come from when the country can barely get enough together to fund school chaplains...
As much as I agree that people like me will never see super, if the government does dip into it anymore than they already do, then I’m not coming back. And I’d expect to see some kind of mass exodus from the country as retirees rip their money out and leave the country too. God knows I’d be telling my own Dad to get it all and head OS.

I wonder how long it’ll be until some ingenious person (probably me) figures out a way for people to shift their 'retirement savings’ into an anonymous monetary system and move it globally without transfer issues so that governments can’t get near it...hmmm...Bitcoin or an alternative crypto currency perhaps? So when the government does come looking for it to ‘share the wealth’ they can get stuffed because they’ll never find it as I simply bounce it around the world through decentralised masternodes. How does an anonymous retirement savings system sound to you guys?

As far as I know there’s no restriction on a self-managed super fund investing in Bitcoins. But you’d want to check with your fund administrator first.
And as for the idea of completely hiding the assets. That would only serve you until your annual super fund audit. So before you get the bright idea of squirreling those assets away, there’s the practical side to consider...oh, and it’s illegal!

Even so, as a hypothetical exercise, think about that last bit for a moment. An anonymous retirement savings system. Let that percolate in your brain for a bit while you read more proof your superannuation is doomed.

Industry funds purport to act only for their members. Yet one of the biggest super fund administrators has just blown $180 million dollars of super members' money on a botched IT project.
Superpartners is the administrator for superfunds, AustralianSuper, HOSTPLUS, HESTA, MTAA and CBus. And in 2008 they started a project to upgrade the technology platform for all those superfunds.
According to the Australian Financial Review,the new platform ‘would replace eight existing platforms and run the accounts of 4.7 million members. It was due to be completed in early 2010 for $70 million.’
The AFR continued, ‘Late last year only one small super fund, the Aust (Q) scheme, had put ¬member accounts on the system, and the costs had exceeded $250 million.’

What a waste of money. And they’re now still looking at new proposals to upgrade their system and spend even more of members’ money.
If it’s not the government blowing your retirement savings, then the fund administrators themselves waste it on projects like this.
It brings me back to the point I made earlier.
The new economic system to save for retirement

What if we did have an alternative, anonymous retirement savings system?

What if, through the world of cryptocurrencies, we could store our cash and tuck it away from everyone we didn’t want near it?
It would be clear of the prying eyes and grubby hands of government. It would be clear of the incompetence of fund administrators. And it would be far away from the fraud of dodgy financial advisers like those recently reported involving the CBA.

Seeing as the ATO has decided that they can’t decide what to do with Bitcoin, it leaves open a massive opportunity for a new kind of retirement system.
Imagine being able to drop some extra funds into Bitcoin instead of a superannuation fund you’ll likely never see a dollar from? What if there were a legal ‘superannuation’ option that put your money into Bitcoin and/or a basket of cryptocurrencies?

You could effectively still be saving for retirement, but you could have it anywhere in the world. You wouldn’t be restricted to a specific country, and you wouldn’t have the government stealing it from you. It would be invisible to everyone except for you.
So as the government forces your employer to put your 'hard earned' away for retirement, what if you chose the ‘Anonymous Fund’? Your money (hypothetically) could go into a basket of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Peercoin, Darkcoin, Cloakcoin and Vericoin.

Importantly, through some of these coins, you actually still earn ‘interest’ on your coins. That means by holding them in an open wallet, you ‘stake’, which means you can generate new coins anywhere from 1-6% per year. So potentially you’d be getting better than bank rate interest.
Look, this is a very wild idea. A retirement system based in cryptocurrencies is not exactly going to draw the approval of regulators. In fact, our compliance team might get mad at me for suggesting this is even possible. (Looks like my buddy Nick Hubble and I are both in for a telling off.)

And as I’ve said before, the world of cryptocurrencies right now is highly volatile and going through a very wild discovery phase. So it’s not the right time for something like this. But it’s the right time to think about it and look at ways to make it happen.

If the cryptoconomy is going to be as big as I think it will be, then it would only make sense that you could use it to secure and keep your retirement money safe.
Now I just need some people smarter than me to help me figure out how to build a cryptocurrency-based retirement savings platform and we’re away...any takers?

Sooz
5th August 2014, 12:26
Just heard today on the Alex Jones Show, that he is going to be accepting Bitcoin at his online store, from maybe next week.

That is something coming from Alex. He's been against it right from the get go.

Interesting.

Sooz
9th August 2014, 14:00
For anyone following this thread or is interested in Bitcoin, here is an interesting chart.

Registration for blockchain wallets relating to Bitcoin. (There are many other online wallets. This is just one.)

http://blockchain.info/charts/my-wallet-n-users

norman
19th August 2014, 09:54
Max Keiser sits in studio with Alex Jones to discuss the future of currency.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTvNt_5-Bkg

Sooz
19th August 2014, 10:34
Ah, good call Norman. I was going to post this yesterday but got caught up with other things. Thanks.

It was an interesting discussion. I have other very interesting things on BTC, but I wonder if anyone here is interested.:whstl:

Sooz
19th August 2014, 10:42
Here is a little something to add:

We Speak to a Real Altcoin Developer

August 14th 2014, by Sam Volkering, London, UK

In today’s Tech Insider...an intro to altcoin...amid the noise is potential...speaking to the developers who make it all happen...and more...

I first came across Bitcoin in 2010. Since then I’ve been fascinated with the concept of cryptocurrencies. The idea behind these ‘digital currencies’ has always been anti-control. By that I mean they all work as a decentralised system. There is no one controlling power. It’s not like there’s one guy that decides whether or not there should be more or less of the currency.

In other words, it completely goes against the typical ‘established’ forms of monetary control. It’s easy to see why government doesn’t like it. It’s also easy to see why government wants to regulate it...to control it. And Bitcoin is the first, most glaring example of this. Over the last two years mainstream media has put Bitcoin in its headlines. Rarely a week goes by where Bloomberg, the New York Times or the Australian Financial Review hasn’t got a Bitcoin headline on the front page.
Bitcoin, as I like to put it, was the Big Bang. It was the first. It was the spark that did far more than just create one cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is the reason there’s a thriving, and dangerous, universe of altcoin.

And in the cryptoconomy there are literally hundreds of altcoins. On average there’s one brand new altcoin every day.

The design of these altcoins is purely digital. That means technically they’re just cryptographic code. Computer code, to put it simply. Many of these new coins come to life from a simple cut and paste. They look at an open source code, copy it, and create their own new coin. The idea behind many of these altcoins is to launch, create a bunch of hype, and then sell for Bitcoin. They then rinse and repeat the process. They get their coin onto an exchange, pump it up, and dump it on unsuspecting investors. Below is what one of the bigger altcoin exchanges looks like.

This is just a small list of the coins you can trade for Bitcoin on this particular exchange. And there are plenty more exchanges, too. Some of the more popular exchanges will trade volume of Bitcoin literally in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per day. Certain days those volumes will exceed millions of dollars.
But as I said, a new coin comes to market on average once a day. The reason for this is because anyone with even just basic computer skills can launch their own coin. If you can give it a snazzy website, a cool name and promise the world, you can hype a coin to be worth something.
I wrote about this before in a previous article. It’s worth checking out if you haven’t seen it before.

In the world of altcoins there are opportunistic people who are making off with a lot of Bitcoin. It’s a pretty harsh world really. But that’s part and parcel in an unregulated world. And it’s very typical of a system that is in its absolute infancy. But there’s far more to this world than ‘scamcoins’ and people trying to rip others out of Bitcoin.

There are some altcoins with developers that are actually trying to improve on what Bitcoin has done. Many are experienced IT professionals that believe they can build something better than Bitcoin. And in some cases, they might just do it. Some of these altcoin are building and innovating more than just an anonymous coin. They’re looking at how their coins will actually exist in the real world. They want people to use them to transact with each other. And that’s essentially the whole point to these cryptocurrencies. It’s to build an alternative monetary system where government can’t stuff it up. Where we can buy and sell goods and services in a pure, genuine free market.

With all this in mind, I’m watching this world from the outside. I want to get to know really what goes on in the altcoins that I think have the potential to co-exist with Bitcoin. As such I’ve reached out to a few of the lead developers. And some of them have been kind enough to answer some questions for me.

My Q&A with the Lead Developer of Cloakcoin

One of the altcoins I think has some potential is Cloakcoin. You should know Cloak is only a few months old. However they have one of the most active development teams I’ve seen in terms of innovating and trying to bring new features to their coin. Initially Cloakcoin had a focus on anonymity. From the information available it seems the coin is now anonymous with their Proof of Stake Anonymity (PoSA) technology. But that’s not it. The team continue to fine tune PoSA and bring to life other projects.

OneMarket aims to be ‘eBay without any profit making corporation’. Other developments include OneJury, Block Escrow, CloakPay, CloakTrade and something they call CIARA. The lead developer of Cloakcoin is Alty. He kindly took the time to answer some questions about the coin for us. This is what he had to say.

SV: What’s the point of CLOAK? Why did you start it (and anyone else that might have started it with you) and what impact do you hope it will have?

Alty: ‘Cloak came to life because of the desire to make a ‘better’ coin. After a series of altcoins I was invested in it became clear that there was room to make something with an emphasis on quality of innovation. It seemed improvements could be made on the development aspect of the coin and/or in terms of public behaviour or communications with investors. I pulled together a team, all of whom I've known for a while, and CLOAK was born. The goal of Cloak is to get market recognition via innovating and developing an ecosystem that encourages use as opposed to spending all it's life cycle being traded as a commodity like the vast majority of altcoins.’

SV: Can you explain OneMarket? With OneMarket the inevitable questions will come about illegal activity. Is there a way to stop that or is it a pure, free market, where the market decides what is and isn’t acceptable?

Alty:‘A good way to describe OneMarket would be to think of eBay and then imagine the database distributed over a [peer-to-peer] network instead of central servers. Then imagine eBay without any profit making corporation in charge, but with all the security in place for transacting. To have a pure free market that means no central body to dictate what is acceptable or not acceptable to be sold on the market. However the challenge with providing such open freedom to trade is it can be used by people to list ‘taboo’ items. Cloak team developed something we call OneJury in which the item will have to pass with a majority of yes votes from a total of 11 ‘reviewers’ in order to be accepted onto the marketplace. We feel it's a good way to allow the freedom of decentralisation whilst having a system to reduce the illegal or immoral items that could find home on such an open marketplace.’

SV: How have you managed to build the development team? Where do you find each other? And how do you know that one developer can actually do what they promise?

Alty:‘Some of the developers I've known since last year and another two it's been a few years prior to that, four of the core team are US based and another two including myself are European. Most of us are entrepreneurial in one way or another with the majority having experienced successful careers in running and working in IT related businesses. In terms of how we found one and other, I'd worked with everyone before on various projects and realised each of them has a skill set to compliment the team to cover ‘most’ aspects of development. Everybody gets on well and we therefore have a good working environment that’s a good seeding ground for creativity and solution finding.’

SV: Can you give us an outline as to the roadmap for CLOAK and other projects in the pipeline (i.e. CIARA)? Does it really have the potential as an alternative to Bitcoin?

Alty: ‘Right now our primary focus is on Block Escrow for PoSA that will truly solidify our anon tech as being ‘trustless’. Block Escrow is also a part of OneMarket, which is helpful. OneMarket being the biggest delivery for the time being. There are plenty of projects in the pipeline but we need to keep them to ourselves rather than letting the cat out the bag too early, it's good to announce new projects over time as opposed to revealing all in on go.’

SV: If you cast forward five years from now what would you like to see CLOAK look like?

Alty: ‘I would like to see CLOAK being used in a thriving OneMarket, having achieved the goal of real world adoption for which it was designed.’
Of course with any early stage technology you must tread with caution. What you mustn’t do though is judge these altcoins based on a price converted to fiat currency. If you do that you’ve completely missed the point to begin with. With exchange markets so small, wild price swings are part of the game. And this puts off many investors, innovators and supporters. But when you look to the technology and innovation of some of these coins, the future looks bright.
As this ecosystem of altcoins matures, the scamcoins and rubbish clones will eventually disappear. That’s when things will really start to take off. Remember, Bitcoin’s been on its journey about five years now. Many of these altcoins are just months old; they’re just babies.Give it time and you’ll see that the cryptoconomy is a promising system. It’s certainly more promising than the ‘traditional’ monetary system we have to deal with today.

Regards,
Sam Volkering+
Editor, Tech Insider

.................................................. .................................................. ........................
Tech Extra
Of all the countries in the world to adopt Bitcoin, Argentina likely isn’t on the list. However, it might just prove to be the biggest supporter of Bitcoin yet. Well, probably not the government, but it seems the people are crying out for it.

Some in tech circles are already saying this is Skynet 1.0. If you’ve never seen Terminator, Skynet is the self-aware military system that wipes out humanity. And yes, when you read what the NSA are trying and then watch the movies, you’ll probably come to the same conclusion.
Another day, another beautiful story about 3D printing helping the world. Sure, it’s a duck. But who doesn’t love ducks?
And this...

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norman
26th August 2014, 01:16
Is Bitcoin a conspiracy?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Svr4LD4lQ

BabaRa
26th August 2014, 17:18
Is Bitcoin a conspiracy?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Svr4LD4lQ



This video proofs, to me, that bitcoin is NOT a conspiracy. Although, I must say, I never thought it was - only because of how our gov't and MSN has responded to it.

The things that have kept me from investing in it are:

a) I am not a techie, so I have concerns about having it safe. (and then I ask myself: Is my money in the bank safe? Well, so far it has been, but . .?)
b) Like most, I have to use my $$ for essentials. Groceries, gas, utility bills. Until a large grocery outlet accepts it, it seems most of my money would just be sitting there.

I would like to know if anyone here has bought bitcoins, and if so, do you use them, or do you just have them as an investment.

Sooz
27th August 2014, 09:00
Hi Babs,

I have a small amount of Bitcoin that I invested in, as a speculative thing. I don't use them to buy anything yet. I could if I wanted to, from my virtual wallet on my PC. I wouldn't use my iPad for it though when out and about because of Wi-Fi hacking, unless you have a vpn that you remember to switch on.

I'm looking at it more as an investment. I initially had a blockchain wallet, then transferred it to an Australian based virtual wallet, called 'Coinjar'. Both websites were very helpful for an older sheila like me who was not born into the digital era. Surprisingly easy actually, given my nervousness. Transactions went through almost instantly. I tried first with a $5 amount - that went through licketty split and then transferred the rest. Easy peasy, all in seconds.

Down the track should I want to use them for normal shopping transactions, I would need to get a smartphone (at the moment I am resisting getting one and doing OK with a dumbphone just for emergencies).

I am no techie either, but if you have a virtual wallet you can set up a system linking your mobile phone (cell phone) and email. So if anyone gets into your account, you are notified instantly. Double authentification system it's called. My normal bank account will tell me via email what transactions are made, but not linked to my mobile phone. So what is safer?

I truly believe BTC or a similar cryptocurrency is the way of the future. It's only a matter of time.

I remember saying to my male staff back in the 80's - you had better get used to key-boarding and not relying on a secretary, because that's the way of the future. Heck that was over 30 years ago. Some things are just so obvious.

Anyway, there is plenty of information in this thread to get started. And if I can get started at my age and being almost computer illiterate, anyone can. It's like anything, you learn as you go along, at your own pace.

Bear in mind, anyone wanting to use BTC or holding it as an investment, be aware it's a VERY volatile currency. That is until it gains currency...:p

But I believe the early adoptees will benefit, imo. I may be proved wrong. I'm willing for a small gamble while it's still relatively cheap.

And don't forget, you don't have to buy one bitcoin, ($AUS550). You can buy a tenth of a bitcoin, $55 or half a bitcoin $275) Or 0.10 BTC. (About $5).

*In todays price in $AUS.

Hope this helps.
Sooz:tiphat:

KosmicKat
27th August 2014, 12:13
I have an online friend who bought a handful of bitcoins as a curiosity before the currency took off in a big way. When he remembered his digital wallet he had a pleasant surprise.

BabaRa
27th August 2014, 17:20
Hi Babs,

I remember saying to my male staff back in the 80's -

Sooz:tiphat:


You have a male staff - - now I'm more interested in how to obtain that than I am in how to get bitcoins!

Sorry, couldn't resist. :back to topic:

Sooz
28th August 2014, 02:58
Wow, just seen this - March 2015 Island of Dominica's 70,000 residents to receive free bitcoin!

http://www.coindesk.com/70000-caribbean-island-residents-receive-bitcoin-2015/

Sooz
8th September 2014, 08:10
Hi All,

A very interesting interview Fri 5 Sept between Alex Jones and Julia Tourianski. Is the government behind Bitcoin and lots of other interesting tidbits.

I also read the other day that Ecuador is getting ready to go 'digital currency', but nothing like Bitcoin apparently.

Starts 1.07 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEuvFl9Jy50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEuvFl9Jy50

Sooz
8th September 2014, 14:29
Deleted....

Sooz
16th September 2014, 14:47
Thought this article may interest some who are following this thread - Bitcoin, Gold or Both?

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/bitcoin-gold-or-both-cm391244

Tonz
17th September 2014, 12:33
difinitely, haha! i spelt that like a kiwi would say it.definitely both especially when/if gold drops under the 1000 mark.

Sooz
17th September 2014, 13:11
Things sure get tricksy when one is getting older and deciding what is going to get you through, when you may not be able to work anymore.

I still may end up in a caravan park, lol....

Tonz
17th September 2014, 13:14
in one way or another we all all end up under the big tent,see u at the camp fire .

Sooz
17th September 2014, 13:17
See ya there brother, lol:)

Sooz
22nd September 2014, 12:15
An update on Bitcoin - things not looking so good. See below.

I'm still going to hold onto my small holdings. Early days yet, just like the internet. And I'm old enough to see how that has all unfolded. Or perhaps I'm in denial?

The future will be the judge.

Sooz.

The Perfect Storm Hitting Bitcoin...and How You Can Weather It
September 22nd 2014, by Tim Dohrmann, Melbourne, Australia

Here’s a simple quiz question for you.
Which asset...that could help shape Australia’s economic future...has plunged in price this year by more
than 45%?

If you said ‘iron ore’...you’re wrong.
The answer is bitcoin.

Yes, bitcoin...the currency of choice for thousands of internet-savvy people.
The digital cryptocurrency’s value slipped below US$400 per coin late last week. It slumped to an intraday low of US$380.75 on Friday.
The price action has made fools out of the ‘smartest men in the room’. Investors who bought bitcoins up to November’s US$1,145 peak are licking their wounds.
So what’s gone wrong?

Well, I can see several reasons why bitcoin’s value has cooled off.
Does that make now a good time to think about a bitcoin investment?
Well, that depends...
Nasty trends
Bitcoin suffered a stormy end to last week. You can see it in this seven-day chart of the cryptocurrency’s value in US dollars.

Source: Coindesk.com
‘In US dollars’ is your first hint as to why bitcoins have broken down.
America’s currency is riding a wave of strength. Traders’ bets on an interest rate rise next year have buoyed the greenback.
That means the US dollar is pulling in money like a magnet. It draws cash away from other currencies and commodities.
You might define bitcoin as a currency, a commodity or (as I do) something in between. Either way, the outcome here is the same...a lower value in terms of US dollars.
But bitcoin has sunk against any currency you care to mention...not just the USD.
That means nastier trends must be pushing down the cryptocurrency.

A perfect storm
I tend to ignore most technical charting analysis. I believe asset prices move looking to the future, not because of what happened in the past.
But you can’t ignore bitcoin’s dramatic breakdown through $450 late last week.
It shows all the highlights of a large group of traders who probably had $450 as their lower bound exit point. Once the price breached that figure, they raced for the exit.
A perfect storm of technical, fundamental and macro headwinds is buffering bitcoin.
I never thought I’d point to the central bank of Bangladesh as a market-mover. But the Bangladeshi policy-makers recently made their country the fourth to ban bitcoin.
Their central bank says it’s illegal to deal in cryptocurrencies. Bangladeshi users face up to 12 years in jail.
I’ll put to one side the difficulty...even futility...of enforcing a judgement like this.

But it blows an ill wind across a sector where the biggest challenge is guessing how regulation will shape up.
As I wrote to you back in July, ‘it’s hard to see the regulators staying out of bitcoins. So investing in any bitcoin-related business really is a big risk without knowing what the regulators will do.’

Don’t underrate your government’s ability to re-write the rulebook to suit its goals.
Regimes may choose to pump millions, even billions of taxpayer dollars into surveillance of cryptocurrency users. They could pursue policies that demonise this young industry.
If that happens, the authorities could snuff out bitcoin faster than you think.

Heck, there’s one thing the markets should have taught you over the past six years. Governments and central banks can act in an extremely coordinated fashion when the stakes are high enough.

Of miners and merchants
If you’ve read Sam’s and my articles on bitcoin, you’ll know it’s tricky to identify the forces that drive its value.
New merchants are adopting bitcoin as a payment option every day. Cryptocurrency awareness is rising. Nobody is arguing with that.
But the experts can’t agree on how merchant adoption and ‘mining’ operations influence the bitcoin price.
You see, bitcoin fans have generally viewed moves by firms like Dell Inc [NASDAQ:DELL] or Expedia Inc [NASDAQ:EXPE] to accept bitcoins for laptops or hotel bookings with glee.
But many observers are coming around to a different conclusion.

Lots of merchants convert bitcoins they receive from customers into traditional currency immediately. That puts selling pressure on the bitcoin price.
As long as large merchants view bitcoin as a hot potato to palm off as quickly as possible, this selling pressure will keep a lid on its price.
So bitcoin may become a victim of its own success.

This flies in the face of what bitcoin fans would have you believe...but adoption may do nothing to drive long-term demand.
This makes holding large volumes of bitcoin a potentially risky investment.

By the way, that’s not the only dynamic that looks bearish for bitcoins.
If you follow the Aussie economy, you’ll know that many iron ore miners struggle to make a profit, with the commodity mired near US$80 per tonne.
Similarly, many bitcoin miners may struggle to make a profit when the cryptocurrency only fetches US$400.
It costs plenty of money and takes a lot of computing power to mine bitcoins at an industrial scale.
As the job has gotten more complex, bitcoin miners’ costs have risen.

These cost pressures could force miners to sell their freshly unearthed bitcoins as quickly as possible. If that activity steps up, the bitcoin price could grind lower.
Some observers think these trends will consign bitcoin to niche status...or even ‘history footnote’ status.
I don’t agree with that.

Despite certain governments’ best efforts, cryptocurrencies are here to stay.
The bitcoin system has been developing for several years. But it’s too early to tell what a fair and stable price will be for this digital currency.
Just as Dom Carosa (chairman of the Future Capital Bitcoin Fund) said earlier this year, ‘we’re all exploring without a map.’

These crosscurrents play havoc on the bitcoin price and the value of firms engaged in the industry.
That creates chances to buy mispriced assets...but it brings a huge dose of risk.
That’s why I don’t currently endorse any bitcoin stocks to my readers in Australian Small-Cap Investigator.

I suspect Sam has a similar rationale in holding back on a bitcoin stock tip for Revolutionary Tech Investor.
If you want my advice on how to weather the storm hitting bitcoin, here it is: Don’t invest just yet.

Cheers,

Tim Dohrmann +
Small-Cap Analyst, Australian Small Cap Investigator
Port Phillip Publishing, Melbourne, Australia

Sooz
10th October 2014, 07:33
Hi All, just an update on Bitcoin. The price has tanked in recent weeks and people think that's the end of it.

But here is a well-reasoned article by my mate Sam Volkering. He's not really my mate and I don't know him personally, but I love his newsletters because:

a, he's an Ozzy and
b, he breaks down Bitcoin into language anyone can understand, including me

Bitcoin is here to stay, here is his article:

'Why You Have to Ignore the Price of Bitcoin

October 10th 2014, by Sam Volkering, London, UK

In today’s Tech Insider...stupid Bitcoin questions...why Bitcoin and the price of it is irrelevant...two things you need to remember about Bitcoin...and more...

A couple of days ago a friend asked me about Bitcoin. They more or less asked if it was dead, and if the hype truly was bigger than the technology.

After I stopped beating them with my smartphone, I took to answering the question. In short, no, Bitcoin is not ‘dead’. Nor will it ever be dead.
I almost took offence to the question, really. It was abundantly clear that my friend simply still did not understand what Bitcoin is all about.
I started to explain to him about the idea of a decentralised system.

‘So you’re telling me that no one actually has control over it?’
‘Not entirely,’ I said. ‘The system, the users regulate it, it’s self-regulating.’

After some semantics over what the actual definition of ‘regulation’ is, we moved on to price.
‘Well it’s like a third of the value it was about a year ago,’ my friend argued. ‘So if you ask me the hype has worn off and people are beginning to realise its crap.’

I then jumped onto CoinDesk on my phone and showed him the chart of Bitcoin over the last year.

Source: CoinDesk
‘Well actually, it’s about triple the price it was in October last year. It’s a third down from its highs in December about 10 months ago. And it’s still around 123,000% higher than it was four years ago,’ I smugly reminded him.

And then I caught myself and began to explain the biggest problem with Bitcoin at the moment, the exchange rate.

I’ll get to the Bitcoin ecosystem and its potential in a minute. But let me make something abundantly clear. The worst thing about Bitcoin is being able to exchange it for fiat currency. In all honesty the best thing you can do is to completely ignore what it’s worth in USD, or any other currency.

Here’s what I mean.
In order to get Bitcoin you have to exchange your fiat money for it. Whether it’s AUD, USD, GBP or anything else, you need to buy some to get some. (You could mine it, but I don’t have the space to go into that today.)

What a lot of punters do is buy Bitcoin in the hope the price will appreciate. They then plan to sell their Bitcoin and exchange it back to a fiat currency. In short there are many investors (gamblers really) that are doing nothing more than currency trading.

This really goes against the whole principle of Bitcoin. These speculators are solely intent on make a (fiat) currency profit on the price fluctuations in Bitcoin. They often have very little regard for Bitcoin and its potential.The whole point to Bitcoin is to use it as a medium of exchange online. It exists in the digital world and should only exist in the digital world. It’s supposed to be an alternative solution to fiat currency.

Its core premise is it’s a decentralised system with no government intervention. So when people continuously relate it back to a fiat currency, it loses its purpose.

The way we should use Bitcoin:

I’ve always maintained that the success of Bitcoin is dependent on infrastructure. That means you need places to use it with ease for the system to work.
I need to be able to go down to the shops, grab some milk and bread and pay with Bitcoin. I then need to be able to walk past the corner shop, grab a six-pack and pay with Bitcoin.
My pay would be in Bitcoin. My savings would be in Bitcoin. I would use the ‘currency’ in the real world through digital technologies (e.g. a smartphone).
Country currencies would still probably exist. But Bitcoin would truly be the only global currency.

I like to think everywhere that accepts MasterCard and Visa now, will accept Bitcoin in the future. But with Bitcoin, you don’t have to bleed transaction fees or exchange fees and commissions wherever you go.

The other thing is most people likely won’t actually own a Bitcoin. There’s every chance in the future a whole Bitcoin will (if you had to compare it to something) be worth possibly tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most people will deal with Bitcoin in ‘Satoshis’. Satoshis are just smaller denominations of Bitcoin.

This is what’s so great about Bitcoin as a system. It liberates the world from the restrictions of their government’s economic power. It’s the financial tool that breaks down borders.
As an ideal and in practice it’s an extremely powerful financial tool. That’s why countries like the US and Russia are so worried about it. They’re worried because it renders them useless. It allows their citizens to financially operate external to their control.

But while people continuously look to use Bitcoin solely as a way to generate quick profits, it will struggle to achieve widespread adoption.
The thing is, without the crazy price jump in the last year Bitcoin wouldn’t be what it is today. The $1,200 price surge gave it notoriety that literally made it a worldwide phenomenon.
Now, although many people still don’t quite understand it, they’ve at least heard of it. And that’s a good first step.

The next step is for Bitcoin to gain some credibility as a legitimate alternative to fiat currency. The infrastructure is continuing to develop, and this is a crucial element. But then from there people will simply need to start using it more.

Of course there’s a long way to go. And it’s all going to happen step by step. Don’t forget, this is a new financial system that’s barely five years old. The fiat currencies we know today have had a couple hundred years lead in time.

So here’s two key points about Bitcoin you must not forget.

1. Stop thinking about it in terms of price to USD (or AUD/GBP etc.). It’s a standalone entity. It’s not like the conventional currencies we know today.
2. Give it time. It will become far more powerful and widespread in the coming years. And it will not die. It will grow stronger and live longer than any of us likely will.'

Regards,

Sam Volkering +
Editor, Tech Insider
Port Philip Publishing, Melbourne, Australia

Sooz
6th November 2014, 09:03
For those interested in Bitcoin and if you have a business, you may be interested in this.

https://blog.coinjar.com/2014/11/05/why-bitcoin-matters-to-your-business/

PS: I have no financial affiliation with Coinjar, I just have a wallet there. This article is from one of their newsletters.

Sooz
25th January 2015, 06:00
This is an interesting development. Today from the Wall Street Journal.

Is Bitcoin challenging the global economic order? I'm wondering if it has any place in the anticipated global economic reset. I should point out that BTC is certainly not going 'berko' - it's had quite a volatile 6 months. Down to around $375 AUS atm, but enjoying a bit of a rally - yesterday it was $275 AUS.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-revolutionary-power-of-digital-currency-1422035061?mod=ST1