[2013] Bitcoin May Be the Global Economy's Last Safe Haven

[MULTIZ321]

The Winklevoss Twins Are BitCoin Bulls - by Stacy Cowley/ CNNMoney/money.cnn.com

"The Winklevoss brothers' legal battle with Facebook (FB) over the social network's messy creation made them rich. They eventually walked away with stock worth around $150 million at today's share price. (They haven't disclosed how much of the stock they're still holding.)

A few months ago, word spread that the twins, Cameron and Tyler, had set up their own investment firm and decided to focus on a curious market niche: bitcoins. "

The Winklevoss brothers gave a keynote talk at Bitcoin 2013, a conference that brought together enthusiasts of the virtual currency.

Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

World's First Bitcoin ATM to Launch This Week - By Radhika Sanghani/ Finance/ The Telegraph.co.uk

The world's first bitcoin ATM will go live in Vancouver, Canada on Tuesday (Oct 28).

Built by company Robocoin, the ATM will trade the digital currency for cash and vice versa.

Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

Brooklyn Bitcoin Bodega Owner Told Us Why All Merchants Should Start Accepting Bitcoin - by Rob Wile/ Finance/ BusinessInsider.com

"The latest deal at Brooklyn's Greene Avenue Market is an unusual one: 10% off if you pay with Bitcoin..."


Richard

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

You must not be the only one who remembered that episode. Some game designers put it into a pinball game: http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=281455

I remember it well because even though I was a preteen I realized that Rocky and Bullwinkle was actually written on many levels. And it was one of the first times I realized that I could catch irony at a level that generally sailed over my parents' heads.

****

And of course there is a Wikipedia article on the episode: Box Top Robbery

The basis of the world economy is not gold, silver, or even uranium but, rather, cereal boxtops. Fiduciary Blurt, the head of the World Economic Council, has informed members that someone is flooding the market with counterfeit box tops, threatening to devastate the world economy. Suspicion quickly falls on Bullwinkle, who has amassed tens of thousands of box tops. However, Bullwinkle has come by his fortune legitimately, and once his name has been cleared he is asked to appear before the Council as an expert on box tops. Blurt also summons his chief security officers, Hemlock Soames and Dr. Watkins, who are actually Boris and Natasha in disguise. As they are in fact the box top counterfeiters they realize that the jig is up and set about bundling off their stash of counterfeits, just as Rocky and Bullwinkle discover their hiding place. The heroes survive being launched into the air in an elevator car and fired upon by the Coast Guard. Boris and Natasha's printing press is accidentally destroyed by Rocky and Bullwinkle, who are given a parade and awarded medals before heading off into the sunset.

 

[CarolF]

This theft made the news a few days ago -

Australian bitcoin user TradeFortress says site hacked, $1 million in virtual currency stolen

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-08/bitcoin-site-hacked-founder-says/5078148

 

[easyrider]

And there they go.......... going ... going ... gone ?

Another 4 million of so disappear in China.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-exchange-gbl-holding-41-billion-vanishes-2013-11

 

[MULTIZ321]

Regulators See Value in Bitcoin, and Investors Hasten to Agree - by Nathaniel Popper/ Legal-Regulatory/ DealBook/ The New York Times.com

The virtual currency bitcoin took a big step toward the mainstream on Monday as federal authorities signaled their willingness to accept it as a legitimate payment alternative.


Richard

 

[Ken555]

Regulators See Value in Bitcoin, and Investors Hasten to Agree - by Nathaniel Popper/ Legal-Regulatory/ DealBook/ The New York Times.com

The virtual currency bitcoin took a big step toward the mainstream on Monday as federal authorities signaled their willingness to accept it as a legitimate payment alternative.


Richard

And the price went from ~$425 two days ago to ~$700 today.


Sent from my iPad

 

[MULTIZ321]

Bitcoin is the Segway of Currency - by Matthew O'Brien/ Business/ The Atlantic.com

"Silicon Valley thinks it's the future, but Bitcoin is more ridiculous than motorized scooters for adults. "

Can we get these half off if we pay with bitcoins? (Reuters)


Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

Oh Good, You Can Now Use Your Fake Money to Fly in a Space Plane - by Brian Barrett/ Gizmodo.com

"Congratulations to all aspiring crypto-currency cosmonauts out there; you'll soon be able to use Bitcoin, everyone's favorite pseudomonetary bubble, to book flights on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space boats..."


Richard

 

[rickandcindy23]

My brother-in-law wrote the lyrics and music of the following song when money no longer had the backing of silver and gold (how does one say that?):

"Paper Money" by Ronnie Montrose (may he rest in peace)

I play the game of a rich boy,
I buy everything I can.
My bankroll is a foot thick,
I'm a wealthy man.
A million dollar reserve note is right there in my hand
And I can't stand to think...it's all that I've got.
Take away all my silver
Take away all my gold
And hand me a stack of paper
Paper money don't hold. Paper money don't hold.
Well, you act as though you don't remember
The way it all used to be.
Now one man, he locks up the money
Another man holds the key.
My car cost me fifteen grand,
Some say I got a deal.
Melt it down, I've got a thousand pounds of junk
And ten dollars worth of steel.

 

[MULTIZ321]

Why Isn't Bitcoin Interesting to Leading Economists? - by Eric Madsen, economics PhD Student at Stanford Graduate School of Business on Quora/ Forbes.com

"I’ve fielded variants of this question from non-economists many times. I always respond with the same question: What does Bitcoin have to teach us about the economy?..."


Richard

 

[Tia]

I am easily confused as this is a warning and then

And there they go.......... going ... going ... gone ?

Another 4 million of so disappear in China.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-exchange-gbl-holding-41-billion-vanishes-2013-11

this -

Regulators See Value in Bitcoin, and Investors Hasten to Agree - by Nathaniel Popper/ Legal-Regulatory/ DealBook/ The New York Times.com

The virtual currency bitcoin took a big step toward the mainstream on Monday as federal authorities signaled their willingness to accept it as a legitimate payment alternative.


Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

Bitcoins: Widely Known and Widely Misunderstood - by Michael Hiltzik/ Business/ Los Angeles Times.com

"Some people think of bitcoins as investment vehicles. Others see them as weapons against nefarious central banks. Both impressions are certainly wrong..."

Bitcoin values are set not by a government authority but partially through a complicated mathematical algorithm and partially by what people think they should be worth at any moment. (George Frey, Getty Images / November 22, 2013)


Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

Render Unto Caesar, But Who Backs the Bitcoin? - by Andrew Ross Sorkin/ Dealbook/ The New York Times.com

"How can bitcoin be anything but a passing fad?

It seems you can’t open a newspaper or read a website these days without hearing about the super-yet-mysterious virtual currency known as bitcoin..."


Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

In Bitcoin's Orbit: Rival Virtual Currencies Vie for Acceptance - by Nathaniel Popper/ Dealbook/ The New York Times.com

"For many people, bitcoin seems like something from the day after tomorrow.

For Lawrence Blankenship, it’s already a thing of the past.

A software engineer from Springfield, Mo., Mr. Blankenship is putting his money on PeerCoin, one of the biggest of the virtual currencies that are being promoted as alternatives to bitcoin..."


Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

In the Murky World of Bitcoin, Fraud is Quicker Than the Law - by Nathaniel Popper/ Legal/Regulatory/ DealBook/ The New York Times.com

"The call went out on Twitter: “For insane profits come and join the pump.”

It was an invitation to a penny stock-style pump-and-dump scheme — only this one involved Bitcoin, the soaring, slightly scary virtual currency that has beckoned and bewildered people around the world.

While such bid ’em up, sell ’em off scams are shut down in the financial markets all the time, this one and other frauds involving digital money have gone unchecked. The reason, in no small part: Government authorities do not agree on which laws apply to Bitcoin — or even on what Bitcoin is.

The person behind the recent scheme, a trader known on Twitter as Fontas, said in a secure Internet chat that he operated with little fear of a crackdown..."


Richard

 

[x3 skier]

I think I read somewhere Bernie Madoff is running a Bitcoin exchange out of his cell. :whoopie:

Cheers

 

[jebloomquist]

I had a birthday party in late August. One of my sons gave me a bitcoin. I knew what it was, but had no idea how to cash it in. Its value was $124 then. I guess that I should be glad that I still don't know just how to cash it in. my son said that he had purchased about 15 when they were quite cheap. Good for him.

Jim

 

[MULTIZ321]

For Bitcoin, Square Peg Meets a Round Hole Under the Law - by Peter J. Henning/ DealBook/ The New York Times.com

"The advent of a new medium to conduct business inevitably means avenues for criminals to swoop in to take advantage. The development of Bitcoin, the virtual currency that is not issued by any government, presents challenges for the authorities to use laws that were not designed for the digital world to combat illegal conduct..."


Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

Into the Bitcoin Mines - by Nathaniel Popper/ Business Day/ DealBook/ The New York Times.com

"On the flat lava plain of Reykjanesbaer, Iceland, near the Arctic Circle, you can find the mines of Bitcoin.

To get there, you pass through a fortified gate and enter a featureless yellow building. After checking in with a guard behind bulletproof glass, you face four more security checkpoints, including a so-called man trap that allows passage only after the door behind you has shut. This brings you to the center of the operation, a fluorescent-lit room with more than 100 whirring silver computers, each in a locked cabinet and each cooled by blasts of Arctic air shot up from vents in the floor.

These computers are the laborers of the virtual mines where Bitcoins are unearthed. Instead of swinging pickaxes, these custom-built machines, which are running an open-source Bitcoin program, perform complex algorithms 24 hours a day. If they come up with the right answers before competitors around the world do, they win a block of 25 new Bitcoins from the virtual currency’s decentralized network..."


Richard

 

[presley]

I had a birthday party in late August. One of my sons gave me a bitcoin. I knew what it was, but had no idea how to cash it in. Its value was $124 then. I guess that I should be glad that I still don't know just how to cash it in. my son said that he had purchased about 15 when they were quite cheap. Good for him.

My son tried mining coins when they first came out. He had about 10 cents worth of bitcoin. When Bitcoin hit it's high recently, the 10 cent coin was worth about $700.

He tried to set up my machine to mine (back in the day) and it overheated and shut down. I told him that Bitcoins would never take off and to just leave it alone. He is always doing the math, trying to figure out if we could earn by mining, but it never pans out. Congrats to all the geeks who started mining in the beginning.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Cryptolocker Ransomware Being Described As ‘The Perfect Crime’

Made possible by bitcoin.

In the past 90 days, thousands of people worldwide have opened a seemingly innocuous link to track a holiday package. Suddenly, all the files on their computer are encrypted. …

As the ransomware takes over your computer, a countdown clock appears and shows victims how long they have to pay up. That means purchasing a key, or software, to reverse the process. And victims must do that using the online virtual currency known as bitcoins.

“Once you have purchased a bitcoin, then the transaction that you use that bitcoin in is encrypted, and therefore you cannot trace it,” explained Goodchild.

 

[Ironwood]

Bitcoin is a ponzi. Don't buy it.

Would stay clear of Bitcoins....it will inevitably collapse, and latecomers will be left holding the bag....an empty bag. The smart money has already cashed in!

 

[Ken555]

Cryptolocker Ransomware Being Described As ‘The Perfect Crime’



Made possible by bitcoin.

Yet if all those people had a backup of their data they would not have any need to pay to decrypt their data.


Sent from my iPad