Bitcoin Blog | The Bitcoin Trader

The NASDAQ Still Hasn't Recovered from the 15 Year-Old Dot-Com Bubble, How Long Will it Take Bitcoin?

2014-12-27T10:21:00.003-08:00

If you were investing in tech stocks back in the late nineties, you may still be trying to recover your initial investment. It's been 15 years since the NASDAQ index hit an all-time high of just over 5000, yet it still hasn't regained that high which was driven by intense speculation on the value of Internet-based companies.

Here we are just over a year since Bitcoin bubbled to over $1000, and the recovery is nowhere in sight. Is the technology still sound? Yes. Is it gaining adoption? Yes. Perhaps just a little patience is in order. Maybe even 2015 or 2016 will be too soon.

And I'm Back...

2014-12-11T09:38:00.002-08:00

Philosophies aside, nine months later and I'm back into Bitcoin. I am a trader after all, am I not?

Meanwhile in the Capital of Slovenia...

2014-12-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

Bitcoin in Ljubljana from Bitnik on Vimeo.

Anyone Still Around from 2011?

2014-12-11T09:15:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I started blogging about Bitcoin over three years ago! Are any of my original readers still out there? Who knew we'd go from a market cap of under $50 million to over $5 billion! Crazy!

Anyway, please share your stories in the comments below.

Testing 1, 2, 3...

2014-12-09T06:47:00.004-08:00

Hello, hello. Testing 1, 2, 3. Is anyone still out there? Still awaiting the Bitcoin Renaissance... I think it's coming but not just yet.

If Someone Buys Bitcoin Today, They'll be Lucky to See a 300%+ ROI

2014-03-02T08:34:00.001-08:00

There's significantly less incentive for someone to speculate on Bitcoin today. To see a return comparable to what we've been seeing over the last couple of years, the amount of capital that would have to be injected into the markets is exponentially more than it was just over a year ago. This is going to cause investors to really do their homework before buying Bitcoin, and recent news events are exactly the sort of thing that will deter new investors.

Next, the vast majority of merchants are using Bitcoin as a protocol, not as a store of value. Anytime we hear of a new merchant choosing to "adopt Bitcoin," what they're actually doing is two-fold. One, they're getting free advertising for themselves, especially local businesses that find themselves on the front of the business sections of their local papers. Two, they're not adopting Bitcoin, they're adopting BitPay or Coinbase. These merchants care about lower fees and irreversible transactions, not so much the value of a Bitcoin itself. There are a few exceptions where the merchants retain some or all of the Bitcoins, but they're the minority, by far.

Third, Bitcoin early-adopters are cashing out. When you hear about Overstock, TigerDirect, Fancy, and others doing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars of business in Bitcoin, those are old Bitcoins that are being sold. No one is going out to buy Bitcoins so they can make purchases they could already make with PayPal. It's inefficient and expensive.

Finally, there are better protocols that are being derived from and have improved upon Bitcoin. If Bitcoin is more useful to businesses as a protocol, then why wouldn't a better protocol oust Bitcoin in the long run? The Bitcoin 2.0s of the world (Ethereum, Open Transactions, Ripple, etc) will eventually unseat Bitcoin. Some say that Bitcoin will remain an ideal store of value, and the other technologies will become the ideal "payment rails," but is Bitcoin really a good store of value if 35% of Bitcoins are held in only 500 addresses?

Anyway, suffice it to say that I'm not done in the crypto-currency space. I've divested into Bitcoin 2.0 technologies, and look forward to seeing the space grow. I expect to see better returns on those investments than I would if I simply held Bitcoin.

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Please discuss here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=496365.0

I Sold All My Bitcoins

2014-03-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

There are better ways to implement globally distributed ledgers that allow for instant payments, sans drama.

Feel free to comment on this post when Bitcoin hits $10,000 so you can ask me how "butt-hurt" I am!

Ripple's Director of Business Development: Major Players to Adopt the Network in Near Future

2013-11-20T17:54:00.001-08:00

Ripple Labs has been on a massive hiring spree, recently boosting their payroll to 30 employees:

We're a team of 30 now! Meet the latest additions to our tech team: http://t.co/9KJgsXcLX7 #ripple
— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) November 6, 2013

Occasionally they'll use their blog to profile a new hire; this time it was Welly Scully, their new "Director of Business Development."

When answering the last question, "what do you think will be the tipping point for merchant adoption," he dropped this bomb:

"Once merchants realize that the network is secure and stable, and that the value proposition is viable, there will be a race to join the network.
The signal will be clear when the first major merchants go live on the network. Based on the response we have received so far from some of the largest actors in the ecosystem, this event will be around the corner."

Just who is Ripple Labs in discussion with? Sounds like we might find out soon... and it could be big.

Who do you think it could be, and when Welly refers to "actors in the ecosystem," is he talking about banks, or is he talking about merchants? Please comment below!

This Will End Poorly

2013-11-18T16:37:00.003-08:00

I don't care how awesome Bitcoin is; all signs point to a massive bubble:

tradingview.com

You can't go parabolic forever!

"Bitcoin Black Friday" Parters with "Fight for the Future"

2013-11-15T17:05:00.001-08:00

Site: http://bitcoinblackfriday.com
Site: http://www.fightforthefuture.org/

BITCOIN BLACK FRIDAY PARTNERS WITH FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE

Energizing Bitcoin’s Second Annual Black Friday Event

Bitcoin Black Friday (formerly known as Bitcoin Friday) announced today a partnership with Fight for the Future, a digital rights advocacy group best known organizing the first massive protests against SOPA in 2011. Fight for the Future will be providing Bitcoin Black Friday with resources, viral organizing knowledge, and grassroots experience. Through this partnership, Bitcoin Black Friday aims to appeal not only to Bitcoiners, but to any internet user looking for a better way to pay for goods online.

“Before Bitcoin Friday, in early 2012, people were wondering whether Bitcoin could even exist as a currency, whether people would ever spend their hoarded bitcoins.” The founder of Bitcoin Friday, Jon Holmquist, remarks, ”Last year’s wildly successful event alleviated those fears.” The idea is simple: Bitcoin merchants opt-in for a free listing on the site and list their ‘deal’ that is only redeemable during Bitcoin Friday. Last year’s deals were wide-ranging from 20% off a WIKISPEED car to 25% off VPN services. Participating merchants saw anywhere from 2x as many sales to some merchants having their best single day of sales ever. BitPay, the largest Bitcoin payment processor, recorded their largest amount of orders placed in a single day during Bitcoin Friday, and other Bitcoin payment processors universally reported similarly high results.

This year, Bitcoin Black Friday is occurring on November 29th, the same day as Black Friday, and will include a much larger selection of merchants. Instead of being able to fit all participating merchants on one page, the website will now be split up into categories. About 500 bitcoin-accepting merchants are going to be participating.

New this year for Bitcoin Black Friday is a charity section. If Bitcoin consumers have a few bitcents in their wallets after their shopping sprees, they can donate directly to one of the many charities and nonprofits accepting bitcoin, such as the Internet freedom group Fight for the Future or Sean’s Outpost.

Bitcoin Black Friday is not only online. The digital currency Bitcoin is gaining an increasing amount of ‘meatspace’ businesses. To celebrate Bitcoin brick-and-mortar merchants, Bitcoin Black Friday Parties will be occurring around the globe at locations that accept bitcoin payments in person. In Berlin, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and in other major cities, these parties will bring Bitcoiners in the community together, to bond over cocktails and love of cryptocurrency.

“We are extremely excited to be helping with this year’s Bitcoin Black Friday,” said Fight for the Future co-director Holmes Wilson, “Bitcoin is so close to mainstream adoption, and moments like this can help push it over the edge.”

Over the last year, Bitcoin has risen in value, popularity, and adoption. The growth of Bitcoin is being tracked by the massive growth in merchant adoption. Last year’s event drew in about 75 merchants. This year’s event will pull in more than 500. More and more people around the world are turning to bitcoin as an exciting, secure, and innovative online currency. Bitcoin Black Friday will help rally the growing bitcoin community and help merchants connect to a new vibrant and global market.

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1 For more specific numbers: http://codinginmysleep.com/bitcoin-friday-results/

Put that Obsolete Bitcoin Mining Hardware to Good Use and Earn XRPs!

2013-11-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

Ripple Labs just announced another XRP giveaway:

While you donate computing power to useful projects such as testing HIV and cancer drugs, or discovering new materials for renewable energy applications, you will earn points which can be exchanged for Ripples (XRPs).

Those of you with obsolete Bitcoin mining hardware (i.e. GPUs) can once again earn money by joining the Ripple Labs Team in the World Community Grid. Note that not all projects support GPU mining, but definitely CPU mining.

While I doubt this was an intentional jab at Bitcoin, it's sort of making a point that Bitcoin mining is a little wasteful.

Giveaway instructions can be found here.

Bitcoin Price Charts

2013-11-01T12:29:00.001-07:00

Thanks to dc-charts.com for the new Bitcoin price chart that can be seen on the right-hand side of this blog. If you're a webmaster or a blogger, I highly recommend dc-charts!

There are many other options available, including charts and widgets for the most popular alt-coins.

No One Understands Bitcoins

2013-10-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

One Step Back, Two Steps Forward: Digital Currencies Making Headway Through Regulation

2013-10-09T07:34:00.002-07:00

The April Bitcoin bubble was exciting, really exciting. From the moment the old $32 record was broken, to the days after the $266 bubble popped, I think I slept no more than five hours a night, and that was for a month straight. In fact, I still find it difficult to fathom that I can type out a number like "266" and actually be referring to reality. It wasn't that long ago that $20 seemed like a figure we'd never see again.

But what the hell has happened since? It's been five months, and frankly things around here have gotten really quiet. I almost feel like shouting, "last one out, get the lights!"

Mt.Gox is on life support, to the point where today's volume on BitStamp was nearly 200% greater than volume on Mt.Gox. The Silk Road is gone, though that gap will no doubt be quickly filled. Trading on Tradehill has ground to a halt until regulatory issues are sorted out. BitInstant is still nowhere to be seen, though rumor has it they'll be resurrected shortly, which will be a relief to the Winklevoss twins.

As of today, US residents are no longer allowed to use BitFunder. Similarly, all trading has halted on BTC Trading Corp.

Lets face it, the wild wild west era of Bitcoin is over. Cracking that billion dollar market cap was the death knell for anyone handling money without the proper licensing. For all you "crypto-anarchists" out there who were hoping to give the government the middle finger and construct a new financial paradigm, sorry, but it just doesn't work that way.

The digital currency economy is now re-building itself, but this time it's being done properly. Bitstamp now requires proper verification before money can be moved into and out of the exchange, even if it's via Ripple. Kraken ensured it had the proper licensing before even launching the site. As a result, many would-be clients find themselves unable to use its services for the moment, but that's better than being able to use the site and then having your funds locked up due to a regulatory violation. From Kraken:

"Our business is compliance, and we have this exchange we sometimes work on in our spare time. Payward has led the charge in the formation of DATA and we are committed to operating only where we can operate legally. As a consumer, you may find this inconvenient and as a business it does put us at an immediate competitive disadvantage. The industry has, unfortunately, seen where shortcuts take us and our long view is that the only way out is through."

You might just say Kraken knew what it was doing. As a result of putting regulation first, they've been able to open themselves up to certain US customers, and even just announced a partnership with a real, licensed, insured, regulated bank in Germany, Fidor Bank AG, which will pave the way for mainstream adoption of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ven, and Ripple.

Similarly, Ripple just announced a partnership with ZipZap, another regulated entity that competes with the likes of Western Union. Just today, CoinX, launched their "compliant" Bitcoin exchange, with emphasis on compliance.

So all that to say, yeah, Bitcoin had an exciting couple of years, but it really wasn't possible to move forward without taking a step back to sort out the regulatory issues. Now, Bitcoin and other digital currencies can thrive, and will really prove their value in the coming months and years.

Kraken.com to Offer Digital Currency Trading Services in Exclusive EU Partnership with Fidor Bank AG

2013-10-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE

Kraken.com to Offer Digital Currency Trading Services in Exclusive EU Partnership with Fidor Bank AG

London, 9 October 2013

Payward Ltd., the developer of the Kraken digital currency exchange, today announced plans to partner with Fidor Bank, the Munich-based leader in innovative online banking, to give Kraken’s customers in the European Union access to a full suite of traditional financial services. The partnership will be the first of its kind between a licensed, insured, and regulated bank and a digital currency exchange.

‘From the beginning, our goal has been to establish Bitcoin and other digital currencies as legitimate complements to the euro, the pound and other traditional, government-issued currencies,’ said Jesse Powell, CEO of Payward Ltd. ‘In Fidor Bank we’ve found our ideal partner: a responsible, forward-thinking financial institution looking to combine the predictability and stability of traditional banking relationships with the social and economic benefits of new digital currencies. We’re thrilled to bring these services to our customers in the EU and look forward to making them available globally in cooperation with financial industry partners and regulatory authorities around the world.’

Fidor’s partnership with Kraken fits with its business strategy. ‘Our long-term goal is to bring important market innovations to our business partners and private clients’, explained Matthias Kröner, CEO of Fidor Bank AG. ‘Digital currencies are emerging as serious and useful alternatives to government-issued currencies. With Kraken, we can enable our customers to trade Bitcoin and other digital currencies just as securely, easily and flexibly as they trade other foreign currencies today.’

Pursuant to the proposed partnership agreement, Kraken will become Fidor Bank’s exclusive provider of digital currency trading and payment services throughout the EU (except in the German market, where Fidor has a limited existing partnership with a German exchange), while Kraken gains the ability to offer a full suite of Fidor banking services to Kraken’s EU customers.

Mr. Powell envisions more such partnerships to come. ‘Once they see Fidor entering the digital currency space, I’m sure many other banks will want to follow suit. The use of digital currencies in financial services has potential to benefit customers and businesses all over the world. This partnership marks an important step down the path of bringing those services to the global financial service marketplace in full compliance with applicable law and regulation.’

About Payward Ltd.:

Payward combines years of experience in the virtual goods and currency markets with a highly skilled engineering team and a host of carefully cultivated banking and finance relationships. Kraken (http://www.kraken.com), Payward’s full-featured professional digital currency exchange and trading platform, offers advanced trading tools, a sophisticated user interface, robust technical security and full regulatory compliance to traders in digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ven. Since its public launch on 9 September 2013, Kraken has enrolled thousands of users to its platform. Kraken attributes this success to its robust user interface, strict regulatory compliance and professional array of advanced order types, the result of two years of development.

Press contact:

Ayako Miyaguchi | Payward Ltd.| London | info@payward.com

- Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/krakenfx)

- Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/krakenfx)

About Fidor Bank AG:

Fidor Bank AG (http://www.fidor.de) is an internet-based direct bank licensed in Germany. With its FidorPay account the bank addresses private and corporate clients. The FidorPay account is a primary bank account, offering a combination of a classical bank account with internet payments and innovative banking services. The services on offer to corporate clients include selected financing products and a FidorPay business account especially created for e-commerce. Fidor Bank AG makes consistent use of Web 2.0 mechanisms. To interact and communicate with users the bank leverages its own community as well as all popular social media platforms, including:

- YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/FidorCommBanking)

- Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/fidorbank)

- Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/ficoba)

- XING (https://www.xing.com/net/ficoba)

XRP Surges Nearly 300% in Just Over a Month, and the Real Reason Why!

2013-09-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

The last couple of months have been a little painful for all but the most patient of traders, as XRP fell from a high of just over $0.02 USD (two cents) to less than $0.0025 (a quarter of a cent). Now, and seemingly in tandem with an announcement that Ripple may be open-sourced by the end of the month, XRP has surged back to just under $0.01 USD, or approximately 300% higher than the mid-August lows.

Personally, I think there's a more important reason why XRPs are trading higher as of late, and that's this little hint of an announcement hidden in the Ripple Blog post about the Developer Conference taking place next month:

10:25-11:20am – Integrating with Ripple for Merchants and Gateways, Bob Way and Brian Keller-Heikkila

Integration Engineer Bob Way will explain how merchant and gateway integration works. Brian Keller-Heikkila, CTO of ZipZap, will join Bob on stage to share special news.

What special news could the CTO of ZipZap be announcing? Well, considering they operate a global cash transaction network of 700,000 payment centers, perhaps they're going to be integrating with Ripple to become a massive multi-currency gateway?

That's just a guess, but I can't imagine any other reason why the CTO of ZipZap would make an appearance with Bob Way, the Integration Engineer for OpenCoin.

If ZipZap is indeed becoming a gateway, it'll be a massive win for OpenCoin, and a huge vote of confidence for the technology.

OpenCoin Aiming to Open Source Ripple by September 26th

2013-09-14T06:18:00.003-07:00

Start watching at 27:06, where Patrick Griffin reveals that Opencoin is targeting September 26th to release the source code for the Ripple server software!

Release the Kraken!

2013-09-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

After what felt like an endless wait (in Bitcoin time), Kraken has finally come out of beta and now allows real money trading!

At the moment you can trade in EUR, BTC, and LTC. XRP and CAD will be coming very soon.

I expect Kraken will quickly become the major player in the new era of regulated digital currency trading.

Edit: here's the official announcement.

SnapSwap Launches Ripple Gateway, Accepts Direct Deposits from Any US Bank Account

2013-06-10T22:33:00.001-07:00

SnapSwap has launched the first Ripple Gateway aimed at US clients.

New users who verify a US bank account with SnapSwap will receive 1000 XRP, free, from OpenCoin. Users can deposit directly from their verified US bank accounts.

At present, there are $355,000 in USD balances within the Ripple network, almost exclusively through the BitStamp Gateway. We will have to keep an eye on the network to see if SnapSwap can give them a run for their money (no pun intended)! Expect this to be one of many new Ripple Gateways to be launching in the coming weeks and months.

In related news, BitStamp announced that as of June 17th, they will no longer be providing BitStamp codes as a means of transferring BitStamp deposits between accounts. Instead, users will have to use Ripple exclusively.

Finally, an independent developer, Tony Gaitatzis, has released an open-source Ripple app for Android, which is available for download at the Google Play store. You can see a demo of the app in the video below:

Is This the End of the "Experiment?"

2013-06-06T18:33:00.002-07:00

"But, but, but, Mr. Bitcoin Trader, how could you even pose such a question?"

Well, loyal and ever-bullish Bitcoin fan, I'm starting to see some cracks in the system, and I think it's my duty as a citizen of Bitcoin-land to let you know that something is going down, and it's not just the price of a Bitcoin.

You see, Bitcoins are still quite valuable, compared to just a few months ago when they were trading well below the all-time high of 2011. Anyone who bought Bitcoins before early 2013 is laughing all the way to the bank, I mean, they've been one of the best investments in recent memory.

I was continuously bullish from $32 all the way down to $2, and I bought, and I bought, and I bought. I did that because I knew that Bitcoin was one of the most important developments in the history of mankind, and I don't use those words lightly. It really was.

The difference between 2011 and now is that there are alternatives to Bitcoin. There's Litecoin, Feathercoin, Terracoin, Yo-Momma's-So-Fat Coin (okay I made that last one up), or any of the others that claim to be just that much better than Bitcoin.

For example, I received an email this week that asked me to look into Feathercoin:

"Feathercoin is seeing a lot of interest recently as a large community has rapidly sprung up around its adoption. This community is now positioning Feathercoin to be the next major success in crypto currencies."

I literally spent an hour reading through the various posts in the Feathercoin forums, looking for the reason why this alt-currency had garnered so much attention. In the end, the only logical conclusion I could come to was that people were interested in Feathercoin because they wanted it to succeed. There was no reason why it should succeed, just that they wanted it to.

"So why are these alternatives a threat to Bitcoin?"

Well, they're not.

"Please, Mr. Bitcoin Trader, my time is precious. Tell me why you think this is the end of Bitcoin?"

Alright, alright.

Bitcoin is, in fact, still an amazing innovation. Unfortunately, it's hit an adoption plateau. The problem is, Bitcoin's destiny is to remain limited to use within a very niche segment of society.

"You're wrong. People are sick of central banks and governments. They want monetary freedom and anonymity. They want to be able to send money to anyone, anywhere, cheaply and without a middleman. They don't want payment processors deciding who gets paid and who doesn't get paid. People want de-centralized, peer-to-peer systems that stick it to the man!"

You're right. Some people want exactly that, and they have it with Bitcoin (or Litecoin, or Terracoin, or whatever).

Unfortunately, hardcore, militant Bitcoin fans are failing to recognize the fact that the vast majority of people just want a cheap, hassle-free payment system. They want to spend their money anywhere and do it cheaply, quickly and securely. They don't want to go through the trouble of buying a volatile, intermediate digital currency just so they can buy the very same things they could with a credit card or PayPal. Yes there are Silk Road users and gamblers that may find it worthwhile to use Bitcoin for their own reasons, but it's a tiny group of people that will bother to do it; maybe hundreds of thousands at best.

The truth is, the Bitcoin economy is 98% speculators, and 2% economy, which means it's no better than the Feathercoin community that supports its currency simply for the sake of supporting it. In the grand scheme of things, about the same number of people use Feathercoin as Bitcoin: a fraction of the population near zero.

"So why didn't you think this way in 2011 and 2012 when you were buying up all those Bitcoins?

Because there were no alternatives at the time, and I mean real alternatives, like "Ripple."

"You mean that scam run by OpenCoin?"

Ahh, yes, the ubiquitous scam claim, ever popular on IRC, at Bitcointalk.org, and on Reddit.

Wake up, Mr. Bitcoiner, and smell the profit. Ripple is in the process of developing that very system that everyone else is hoping for, outside of the militant-libertarian-anarchist Bitcoin community, of course. Once completed, Ripple will be a peer-to-peer global payment solution that will satisfy the rest (i.e. most) of us.

While Bitcoiners wonder why their investments are dwindling in value, I'll be instantly converting my Canadian dollars into US Dollars, or Yen, or Euros, and spending freely. Transactions will be irreversible, instant, and global. They'll be in fiat and math-based currency alike. That's right, you'll be able to trade your Bitcoins, Feathercoins, and Terracoins within Ripple (you already can).

While I swipe my Ripple debit-card at the grocery store, Bitcoiners will be buying Gyft-cards using their smartphones and trying to make their square currency fit into a round economy. Bitcoin is clunky and volatile. It's slow, cumbersome, and expensive. It's fringe, complicated, and difficult.

I still think Bitcoin was an incredible stepping stone to bigger and better methods of leveraging the Internet for global payments. Remember, "Bitcoin is an experiment," and it's achieved some amazing things.

However, after four years of beta-testing, it's time to take the concept and make it work for everyone else. Unfortunately, Bitcoin is not going to be the one to make that happen.

Remember when, at $3 each, I said Bitcoin was the best investment of 2012? At 53 XRP to the USD, Ripple is the best investment of 2013, and I've already put my money where my mouth is. I recommend you do the same.

We'll talk in 2015.

(Note to readers: you can now also find this blog at therippletrader.com.)

Tech Feed News Talks Bitcoin Regulation at Bitcoin 2013

2013-05-25T08:31:00.002-07:00

Interviews include Buttercoin, Gavin Andresen, Patrick Murck (general counsel, Bitcoin Foundation), and Dan Friedberg (lawyer).

Did Open Transactions Just Become a Legitimate Challenger to Ripple?

2013-05-21T17:38:00.000-07:00

Last week, OpenCoin Inc. chief cryptographer David Schwartz was interviewed on the "Let's Talk Bitcoin" show. If you listen from 17:44, you'll hear his opinion on Open Transactions:

"In Open Transactions, nodes have to actively perform transactions, so you can't as easily have a public state of the network. So because the state of the [Ripple] network is public, if I want to make a payment to you, I can look at the exchange offers, I can look at the available liquidity in the network, and I can very easily find the cheapest path to make a payment to you.

In Open Transactions, I would have to go around to different servers and get quotes, and then the transactions can't really be atomic, they're working on it but they're not quite there yet, so if part of the transaction succeeds, and the second half fails, I can wind up with something that I was going to trade to pay you, but now I can't trade it, so I wind up with some asset that may be completely valueless... payments are atomic in Ripple, meaning the entire payment either succeeds or fails."

Today, Open Transactions developer FellowTraveler claims to have found "the Holy Grail," which is to use Bitmessage to allow for discovery across federated servers, server-to-server wiring of funds, escrow based conversion of currencies across federated OT servers, and the ability to send any currency p2p, all of this done without the issuance of credit or using a "pre-mined" currency.

Well, I am not a developer, so, the question is, have they done it? Is it now just a matter of who brings their product to market first?

The Bitcoin Trader Goes to San Jose!

2013-05-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a weekend. To be honest, I wasn't sure exactly what (or when) I was going to write about the conference, because it really was a personal experience more than anything else.

That being said, IT WAS A HELLUVA WEEKEND!!

I didn't take any notes, at all. Except for the couple-dozen tweets I sent out over the course of three days (hope you were following!), and the dozen-or-so business cards I collected, I'm relying strictly on memory here.

People I met in real life for the first time:

- Arthur Britto, a long-time Skype friend and confidant and developer for OpenCoin: what an upstanding individual, just as I expected. Ripple's lucky to have him.

- My co-blogger, Hazek. We sat at the same table for 10 minutes, talking amongst the group, before we even realized who the other person was. He's my co-blogger FFS! I blame the name tags that had the uncanny ability to flip over to the blank side (note for next year's organizers, print double-sided name tags!)

- Jon Holmquist formerly of Coinabul and now of BitcoinStore: fortunately he didn't turn up for the poker game on Sunday, because apparently he would've wiped the floor with us. We tried to get him to say something bad about Roger Ver, but he refused! =)

- Brian Santos: just like he is online, super-passionate, energetic, and charismatic. Once I saw UpTweet on an iPad Mini, I was convinced that he was on to something. Thanks for getting the BBA together for lunch, and damn the staff for not giving us tables!

- Blaine-the-guy-that-let-me-sell-him-BTC-for-cash: I showed up to the conference with $7 USD, a bunch of BTC, and a credit card. While we were waiting for Dan the Comedian to begin his performance (I thought he was hilarious, by the way), Blaine sold me $20 for BTC, which gave me enough money for tips and other incidental expenses. We met up again at the Bitcoin Fund after-party on Saturday and had a great chat about all things Bitcoin.

Dan Nainan warms up the crowd on Friday evening.

- David Schwartz, chief cryptographer for OpenCoin. Probably the smartest guy I've ever met, and more importantly, he's able to articulate his brilliant ideas in such a way that we can all understand them. I spent an hour or two hanging out in front of the Ripple booth and he could easily handle any question thrown at him. I can't say I'm surprised, after reading his posts on the forums or in Reddit (JoelKatz is his handle).

- Alex Kravets and Vinnie Falco, a couple of huge Ripple enthusiasts (we had a lot to talk about).

- The Tropos guys, Jon, Mark, Andrew, Eric, as well as Carl, all on the bleeding edge of finance, and I think they know it.

- Jesse from Kraken (and Ogrr): We didn't get to chat much (thanks for the nachos!), but you could definitely feel the vibe that him and his team was putting off that entire weekend; they know they're on to something big.

- A couple of the people behind Satoshi Square in NYC (sorry I forgot your names!), who recently found themselves in the media spotlight after holding an open-air Bitcoin exchange in New York

- Jerry, a guy who works in the construction business, and just wanted to know what this Bitcoin thing was all about.

- Frederic from Hong Kong: thank you for listening to my drunken Ripple promoting.

- Ludvig, known for the various funds and passthroughs that he manages. I bought my first Casascius coin from him. We go way back, so I was glad to meet him in real life for the first time. I don't think he was old enough to drink the Satoshinis.

Thanks to Satoshi Dice, we all had a good buzz on.

- James of VPS: super-nice guy who unfortunately got caught in between his investors and a disgraceful company called Butterfly Labs. I truly believe he has his investors' best-interests in mind.

- Gavin Andresen: introduced myself to him in the elevator for five seconds (damn those were some fast elevators at the Marriott!). Thanked him for his contributions and dedication.

- Athony Di Iorio and the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada: I went to the first Canadian Bitcoin meet-up after the conference ended on Saturday and I met up with some fellow Canadians who were in San Jose. Unfortunately I let myself get dragged away to talk business with another group, but there was an excellent turn-out and I had some fruitful conversations with my fellow countrymen!

- Ed of BitBrew: First there was Alpaca Socks, then there was BitBrew. It was awesome to meet one of the "old school" Bitcoiners at the after-party. He said, "everyone knows the Bitcoin Trader!" Unfortunately, not really, but thanks for making me feel like a celebrity for half a second.

- All the crazy guys who were at the poker game on Sunday, including Mike, who's like the George Clooney of Marriott rewards programs.

- Adam Harding of BIPS: Another awesome Canadian and great guy. You probably saw him working his booth for most of the weekend.

- Vitalik Buterin: the almost super-human writer for the Bitcoin Magazine, copies of which I saw in people's hands all weekend.

- Henry Brade: the Finnish Bitcoin juggernaut that often commented on my blog posts over the last couple of years. Like everyone I met at the conference, an enthusiastic, intelligent, and driven individual that will make (even more) of a name for himself in the Bitcoin sphere.

And the list goes on and on; my apologies to anyone I didn't mention. To those of you who gave presentations or sat on panels that I didn't get to meet up with, it was just as awesome to see you guys in the flesh, promoting the future of payments.

Like I said at the beginning of the post, for me the conference was an intensely personal experience. It wasn't about the booths or the presentations, but the people, and finally making the leap from virtual to tangible.

Bitcoin News Bits - May 13th, 2013

2013-05-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

I get quite a few emails from people looking to promote their products, services, events, and sites. Unfortunately I don't have the time to get back to everyone in a prompt manner, but I can assure you that all of your emails are read and I always take the time to check out your sites.

Here are the latest and greatest:

Pocket Rockets Casino - A new Bitcoin poker room (there are actually a bunch of new ones as of late) just opened up, called "Pocket Rockets Casino." They went live on April 16th. It's a great browser-based poker experience that just needs some players to get the ball rolling, which is usually the first big struggle for any poker site. They appear to be running some decent promotions to get bums in the seats, so be sure to check them out!

Silk Road - WhoisHostingThis.com put together a great infographic that questions the dependency of Bitcoin on Silk Road, and whether Bitcoin can survive without its most infamous service. Personally, I think if Silk Road disappeared, there would be another Silk Road ready to take its place. The bigger question being asked here is, "will anonymous transactions continue to be a mainstay of the Bitcoin economy?" I don't think there's any doubt about that.

Ripple Giveaway - If you were lucky enough to sign up to the Ripple email list prior to May 9th, then some free Ripples (XRP) are headed your way! Nobody knows how many are going to be given away this time around, but I'm going to venture a guess and say 1000ish to each person.

CoinCliff - Are you *still* staring at Bitcoinity or Clarkmoody, watching every Bitcoin trade? Well, stop! Get CoinCliff for Android (iOS coming soon) instead and set a variety of configurable alarms to let you get back to living your life again! By the way, if you've been staring at Bitcoin prices over the last week, you're more patient than I am.

The Bitcoin Catalog - Until I read The Bitcoin Catalog, I wasn't aware of how many Bitcoin sites existed that I hadn't even heard of; there are lots! The Bitcoin Catalog does a beautiful job of listing hundreds of Bitcoin-related sites, and would look great on a coffee table or in a waiting room. Be sure to take a look at the online .pdf version as well.

Inside Bitcoins (July 30th, NYC) - All eyes are focused on the Bitcoin 2013 conference, kicking off in San Jose this Friday (yours truly will be there). As a result, I bet most of you aren't aware that another big conference is planned just over two months later, on the east coast in New York City! "Inside Bitcoins" will take place at the New Yorker Hotel, and Charlie Shrem will be there to preach the good Bitcoin word!

WalletRSS - Looking for a way to track your Bitcoin transactions without opening your wallet? Check out WalletRSS and get real-time transaction info sent to the RSS applications that you already use!

BitcoinPaperWallet - One of the most secure ways to create a Bitcoin wallet is to do it on paper and store it safely. Keep in mind that no method is fool-proof, but BitcoinPaperWallet has done an amazing job of providing a free design for anyone looking to print their own paper Bitcoin wallet. Follow the additional security instructions for additional peace of mind.

I was offered $550 to say that "Ripple is a Scam."

2013-05-08T17:34:00.001-07:00

I received an interesting message in my bitcointalk.org inbox today. It said that a user going by the name of 'TradeFortress' was paying forum members 5 BTC to edit their posts in this thread to say that, "Ripple is a scam."

This is the exact text he wanted each user to post:

"Ripple is a scam! Ripple is a get rich quick scheme for it's creators, a private for-profit company. It is NOT open source. It is CENTRALIZED, akin to PayPal rather than Bitcoin. For more info, visit RippleScam.org."

Ironically, in the earlier days of Bitcoin (2010, 2011, and well into 2012), the same accusations were spread about Bitcoin. Bitcoin was a "Ponzi-scheme," "pyramid scheme," "scam," etc. The same Bitcoin supporters that fought these accusations tooth and nail are now saying the same thing about Ripple.

Ripple is led by Jed McCaleb (founder of MtGox, eDonkey) and Chris Larsen (e-loan, Prosper.com), both successful businessmen who do not have an interest in sullying their good names.

Arthur Britto, Stefan Thomas, and David Schwartz are major contributors to Ripple's development, and all played an active role in Bitcoin's early successes.

OpenCoin, the company overseeing Ripple, has already raised venture capital from firms led by the co-founders of PayPal and Netscape. These firms do not invest in scams, but in companies with unique ideas that will turn a significant profit if successful.

Ripple will only be successful if it's able to provide its users with the ability to send quick, cheap transactions to anyone, anywhere in the world, using any currency. Its intended goal is to let users do just that, in their currency of choice, as easy as it is to send an email.

Some Bitcoin users, like TradeFortress, are afraid of the idea of a central organization driving the development of such a capability. They think that if anyone is in charge, and if that anyone might turn a profit, then it's not in the best interest of anyone to use their service. Some Bitcoin users, like TradeFortress, are adamant about this, to the point that they're willing to pay out thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin to get their message across. Ironically, a very large percentage of Bitcoin users are hoarding Bitcoins to do just that, turn a profit. Profit is fine for them, as long as it's just for them.

If Ripple is a scam, and its users are unable to take advantage of Ripple's services as advertised, then Ripple will quickly disappear as another failed business. If the fact that a centrally organized team is driving the development of a product equates to "scam," (this is the main argument) then pretty much every product and service you've ever used is also a scam.

You've probably heard that large websites like Reddit and OKCupid are now accepting Bitcoin. The fact of the matter is, they're not accepting Bitcoin at all. They're actually accepting US dollars. Reddit and OKCupid are using the services of a company called Coinbase that instantly converts Bitcoin payments into US dollars for a small fee. Reddit and OKCupid don't want Bitcoins because they can't pay their employees or their bills with Bitcoins, but they can do that with US dollars. In other words, large corporations aren't interested in Bitcoins themselves, but in the savings that can be had by using Bitcoin as a value-transfer mechanism, or protocol.

Similarly, Ripple is a protocol for sending money, but with Ripple you don't have to buy a digital currency like Bitcoin to get your money from A to B. You can send USD, EUR, CAD, AUD, whatever you wish, and as more Gateways come online, more currencies will become accessible. As long as you have a very small quantity of Ripples (XRP) in your account (just one or two dollars worth), you'll be able to complete thousands of transactions. This is Ripple's main advantage over Bitcoin, and why a lot of Bitcoin users are afraid of it.

Even Roger Ver, a.k.a. "Bitcoin Jesus" has to pay his supply chain to keep the Bitcoin Store running, so he can't use Bitcoins either. Roger Ver doesn't accept Bitcoin, he accepts US dollars from BitPay. If even Bitcoin Jesus isn't interested in Bitcoins themselves, then why not let customers use their local currencies from the get-go and take out the Bitcoin middleman? If the same, or even greater savings can be had with a better protocol, then why not use Ripple?

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As always, do your due diligence, and come to your own conclusions. I can assure you that Ripple is not a scam, but I can't guarantee that it isn't a threat to Bitcoin.