Bitcoin going Berko

[Sooz]

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/su...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]

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]

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]

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]

Max Keiser sits in studio with Alex Jones to discuss the future of currency.

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

[Sooz]

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.

[Sooz]

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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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.

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[norman]

Is Bitcoin a conspiracy?

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

[BabaRa]

Is Bitcoin a conspiracy?

Source: 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]

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...

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

[KosmicKat]

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]

Hi Babs,

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

Sooz

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.

[Sooz]

Wow, just seen this - March 2015 Island of Dominica's 70,000 residents to receive free bitcoin!

http://www.coindesk.com/70000-caribb...-bitcoin-2015/

[Sooz]

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

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

[Sooz]

Deleted....