Archive for 'e-currency'

The Revolution has begun…

Monday, June 13th, 2011 at 4:05 pm  
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You’re probably wondering why there has been so much buzz about bitcoin lately. In short, it puts you in control of your money and takes it away from the banks, politicians, central bankers and tyrants of the world.

The ramifications are revolutionary. The world will not be the same in a few years as a direct result of bitcoin.

There’s something magical about having your money sitting on your laptop or mobile phone which can then be transferred across the room or across the globe while completely bypassing the entire banking system at almost no cost.

Think about the last time you paid a credit card fee, ATM fee, checking account fee, bank wire fee, currency exchange fee, balance inquiry fee, cash deposit fee, credit card fee, PayPal fee, etc., etc. Imagine never having to pay those again.

Think about the last time you had to provide a Social Security Number, 3 forms of identification, and give a DNA sample just to open a bank account or cash a check.  Bitcoin bypasses all of these.

Yes, bitcoin is a little difficult to understand initially, and it is not the most user friendly at the moment but that is all changing at lightening speed.

To get a quick feel for it you can easily open an account at  www.mybitcoin.com while you study and learn more. From there you can move on to downloading the software so that you can actually store your money on your computer. Then you can continue to increase your knowledge on the finer points. New tools and resources are coming on daily that will help make this transition easier.

Actual bitcoin money is a little difficult to acquire right now but there are several sources at http://www.bitcoin.org or you can contact us for a recommendation.

The opportunity is before you to, not only gain more freedom, but to profit by figuring out what products and services you can begin offering to the growing bitcoin community. It reminds me of The Great Oklahoma Land Rush. A whole new economy has opened up and there are numerous opportunities to be the “first to market” with your product or service.

Here are a couple of news links about bitcoin and a link to some great economic analysis as well:

Bitcoin is Economic Singularity
http://tinyurl.com/44zoplu

New Decentralized Currency Stimulating Underground Barter Economy
http://tinyurl.com/3fektol

Several Articles on the Economics of Bitcoin:
http:///www.economicsandliberty.com

The revolution as begun. Are you going to be a part of it?

Bitcoin is Economic Singularity

Monday, June 13th, 2011 at 3:22 pm  
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By Astrohacker
Saturday, June 4, 2011

http://astrohacker.com/ahc/bitcoin-is-the-economic-singularity

Three weeks ago I discovered bitcoin. It sounded interesting enough that I decided to devote an entire Saturday to it—that was my “day of bitcoin.” My day of bitcoin evolved into my three weeks of bitcoin. In that time, I have been obsessively reading about it, writing about it, buying it, and creating businesses for it. As far as I can recall, I have never been so obsessed about anything. But the reason I am obsessed with bitcoin is simple: it is the most incredible thing to ever happen in the world. I am not exaggerating. We are presently witnessing the most disruptive change to ever happen to collective human behavior. Although there have been other disruptive changes to human behavior in the past, bitcoin is happening much faster than those. Consider, for instance, computing. Charles Babbage invented the mechanical Analytical Engine in the 1830s. It took on the order of a century or more before those seeds of an idea blossomed into something that actually started being used on a large scale. Or consider, say, the internet, which was invented in the 1960s, but took on the order of decades before it saturated the world. That was faster than computing, but still long compared to bitcoin. Bitcoin was only invented about 2.5 years ago. And already, I have been able to ask random people about it, and they know what I’m talking about. If the growth of bitcoin continues exponentially like most widely useful technologies, it will only be on the order of years—not centuries, not even decades, but individual years—before virtually everyone is using it.

The standard term for such a rapid change is a “singularity.” Robin Hanson predicted an economic singularity. Bitcoin, as I will argue, is that singularity. (Hat tip to noagendamarket on the bitcoin forum for reminding me of Robin Hanson’s article.)

What is bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the decentralized digital currency. I say “the,” rather than “a,” because there can only be one. Since decentralized digital currencies rely on computational power to ensure security, the currency with the most computational power is the most secure. If we ever found ourselves with more than one decentralized digital currency, which ever one had more computational resources devoted to it would be the most secure, and thus more people would trust it, and thus more people would use it, and thus it would come to dominate and be the only one. Bitcoin is that currency. (Previously, I argued that there could be a market of currencies. However, I now realize that, while there can be a market of currencies, there can’t be more than one decentralized digital currency.)

Why is it gaining traction?

Bitcoin is useful for all the same reasons that any currency is useful: it is a medium of exchange. The advantage of being decentralized is that you do not have to rely on a third party for security. Thus, bitcoin is more useful than digital dollars for the same reason that digital dollars are more useful than paper dollars, or paper dollars are more useful than gold: it is just easier to pay people with them. No banks means less headaches, in the same way that no gold means there is a lot less weight you have to lug around. Bitcoin is thus a better answer to a problem humanity has been slowly solving for millenia: how do we remove barriers to payment?

There are other advantages to bitcoin too, besides being more convenient. The fact that no central party party controls the supply means no central party can inflate it to redistribute wealth in their favor. No one can debase bitcoin to pay for a war. Also, since it is deflationary (in the sense that prices reliably go down), it encourages savings, because everyone gets richer that way.

Exponential growth

Certainly, then, bitcoin is a candidate for an economic singularity, because everyone has incentives to use it, and it makes the world a better place. That’s great in theory, but the reason why it cleary actually is a singularity is because its adoption is, in fact, growing exponentially. There are at least two exponential curves we can see. One is Google Trends, where bitcoin has crystal clear exponential growth. And another is its value in USD, where again the growth is clearly exponential. Although these quantities are not the same thing as adoption, they are probably proportional to adoption. 2.5 years ago, there was one user of bitcoin. We may estimate that there are somewhere between 104 and 105 users of bitcoin at present. Thus, in another 2.5 years, there will be somewhere between 108 and 1010 users. Since there aren’t even 1010 people on the planet, we may estimate that adoption will be ubiquitous in approximately three years.

Attack vectors

This incredibly rapid exponential growth is being powered by the fact that people around the world are quickly learning about it. Thus, the exponential growth can only last until it saturates the world, at which point it will continue growing only at the rate that humanity grows (which is also exponential, but much slower). At present, there is no reason to think the growth will stop before that. There are no credible attack vectors at all; not even government (the US government or any other) can stop it, because the economic incentives are too large. A War on Bitcoin would have exactly as much efficacy as the War on Drugs: none. Bitcoin is susceptible to DOS attacks, but that would only slow its growth, not stop it. The only credible threat to bitcoin is quantum computers, because bitcoin relies on classical, rather than quantum, cryptography. But that threat is many years away. Bitcoin will be ubiquitous by then.

What will happen?

Bitcoin will take over as the currency of the internet. It will also take over as a store of value; why earn a measly, less-than-inflation interest rate in a savings account when you can have steady appreciation of value if you just keep your money in bitcoin? People will spend less and save more because they know if only they do that, they will be richer in the future. Companies will no longer produce things of no value, because no one will buy them. The world will become more efficient, because there will be less waste. Everyone will realize how much they lose by spending money on valueless things. There will be a more equitable distribution of wealth, because no one can inflate (or, to use a less charitable term, counterfeit) bitcoin at their whim.

Bitcoin will also take over any fiat currencies that inflate too rapidly (think Zimbabwe, Argentina, or any other country that presently has or will have a rapidly inflating currency). Central banks will be under enormous pressure to stabalize their currencies or become obsolete. Many banks will collapse. Many fiat currencies will become worthless. Probably, all fiat currencies will become worthless eventually, because it is only a matter of time before the central banks fall into the temptation of inflating their currencies just a bit too fast.

How to proceed

Since bitcoin appreciates in value very rapidly during the singularity phase, you should convert all of your liquid assets to bitcoin as quickly as possible. Do not keep any cash, savings, or checking beyond what you need to pay for goods and services that cannot yet be paid for with bitcoin. The more things you can buy with bitcoin, the more bitcoin you should keep.

Stop wasting money on excessively expensive meals, televisions, cars, and anything else that loses value quickly or instantly. Instead, put your money into bitcoin. You will be much richer that way. You may think having less stuff is less fun, but actually the pleasure of financial freedom far, far outweighs any losses.

During the singularity phase, you should also take out loans to buy bitcoin, since bitcoin appreciates far more rapidly than interest on any fiat currency loan. When bitcoin gets near saturation, which is the end of the singularity, you should pay off the loans, because at that point the rate of appreciation will probably be a lot closer to the interest on the loans, and you may not be able to reliably earn money that way anymore.

You may also be tempted to convert other assets to bitcoin. If you are invested in anything that is likely to be bitcoin-unfriendly, like a bank, it would be wise to convert those assets into bitcoin. However, if you are invested in companies that actually produce value, those companies will thrive after the singularity, so it is not necessarily a good idea to convert those assets to bitcoin.

If you own assets where the ownership of those assets is certified by a country that is likely to collapse after the singularity, such as if you owned land in a country where the currency is rapidly inflating, you should consider converting those assets to bitcoin, or risk losing it when your country’s government collapses.

If you own a business, you should start accepting bitcoin as quickly as possible to maximize your ownership of the bitcoin economy. If you don’t own a business, consider starting a bitcoin business. See my previous post to learn more about bitcoin startups.

Conclusion

The economy is going to change very dramatically in a matter of three or so years. You are likely to be doing a significant amount, if not all, of your economic activity in bitcoin very soon. The change will be as dramatic as, say, computing or the internet, except that it will happen much faster. The change will be for the better, since it is more convenient to use bitcoin than fiat currencies for digital payments. Fiat currencies may stick around if they do not hyperinflate; they will probably still be useful for buying coffee. The most interesting change is that we will all become more motivated and productive, since we will see very clearly how our work ethic affects how rich we are. And the world as a whole will be significantly more efficient, since it will be extremely difficult to finance huge wastes of money, like wars.

Personally, I have invested most of my savings into bitcoin, and am in the process of figuring out precisely how much more it is wise to invest. I have not yet taken out any loans to buy bitcoin, because that decision is too hard to swallow (I may yet do it if I can stomach it—Falkvinge did.) I have also begun producing bitcoin businesses which I am hoping will support me after I graduate. (My bitcoin savings alone will actually probably be enough to support me, but I will be richer if I work too.) Most of the other ideas I had about what to do with my life after graduation have gone into the toilet—I will probably do something with bitcoin.

In the future, books that summarize the history of money will have a line that says, “and then came bitcoin.” It is the economic singularity. And we are living in it now.

Reprinted with permission. Donations to Astrohacker appreciated: 1CU8KRSTcrYKyjfeGRTjpJ1S57jViwqrnh

The Coming Attack On Bitcoin And How To Survive It

Monday, June 6th, 2011 at 9:11 pm  
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From EconomicsAndLiberty.com:

By Anthony Freeman

(This article is the third in a series on bitcoin. Read parts 1 and 2 here and here.)

With bitcoin gaining mainstream attention the coming attack on its users is inevitable. In this short piece I will explain how it is likely to unfold and how you can survive it.

First, a little background:

In 1996 E-gold was one of the early entrants to the market with a private, global e-currency. They achieved stellar growth and widespread attention – much like bitcoin today. Accolades came from freedom-lovers everywhere. They were the “Great Gold Hope” that would free the people by freeing the money. Privacy-enthusiasts, libertarians, gold-bugs, autarchists, anarchists, voluntaryists, drug-dealers, and even unsavory types flocked to it with praise and adoration.

Of course, the monopolists of the monetary system didn’t take lightly to this threat to their very existence. They came after the independent exchangers and e-gold with their full force and fury – eventually succeeding in convicting the key players for “conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business” and “conspiracy to engage in money laundering”. E-gold was fairly easy to take down because their operations and data-center were centralized and readily accessible.

Many folks who are now currently acting as currency exchangers for bitcoin will be the first to come under attack. Many will get hurt and possibly even imprisoned but, because of its decentralized nature, bitcoin will survive where e-gold did not.

If any of the large exchangers like mtgox.com are operating out of the US then it won’t be long before they are raided and shut down. Individual exchangers will be targeted as well – just to make an example and to scare others out of the community. This will create a giant “wet blanket” on the current enthusiasm for bitcoin and I expect the currency to take a major drop in exchange value when this happens. Not to fear though. Bitcoin will survive due to its decentralized “peer to peer” nature and it will continue to operate as an “alter-cash” resuming its growth albeit at a slower rate during the immediate aftermath.

To protect yourself I recommend the following:

You probably have a little more time before the attacks come (maybe a couple of months?) to acquire bitcoin with cash – and there are profits in speculation to be made until then but, when the raids come, expect a sharp correction before exchange values move on to new highs over a longer period of time. What you do not want to do is be involved as an “exchange service” conducting exchanges in and out of national currencies and you definitely do not want to have your money sitting in the exchanger’s account when they are raided and shut down.

Remember, e-gold was shut down for “conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business”. Do not store any money in online accounts like mybitcoin.com in case they get taken down along with the exchangers. Keep all of your bitcoins on your computer with multiple, encrypted back-ups both on the cloud and on an external thumb drive.

The safest way to acquire bitcoin is to let people know that you will accept it as payment for your products and services. Do not ever exchange it for national currencies. The point that people miss here is that national currencies are the very problem that freedom-lovers are trying to get away from. Instead, use bitcoin to trade with merchants and individuals who accept it as payment. Offer it as payment to those who are unaware of it and explain the benefits to them. This will help develop the market and create a solid economy outside of national currencies. After the initial attack, bitcoin will likely be one of the most powerful and revolutionary tools to bring about more freedom and liberty to humankind.

Fascinating video interview with Gavin Andresen, the Bitcoin technical lead, and Amir Taaki, founder of BitcoinConsultancy.com

Saturday, June 4th, 2011 at 8:39 pm  
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Bitcoin on Reason.tv

Saturday, June 4th, 2011 at 12:23 pm  
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On the Potential Adoption and Price Appreciation of Bitcoin in the Long Run

Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 7:08 pm  
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(If you don’t know much about Bitcoin, please read the excellent introduction posted at the MIT Technology Review by Tom Simonite. You may also want to read the recent paper by Reuben Grinberg, a J.D. candidate at the Yale Law School.)

In less than a year, the price of Bitcoin has increased from close to zero to nearly $9 as I write this (see below), prompting the digerati to question, only half-jokingly, if Bitcoin prices are in a “bubble” – see this post by economist Tyler Cowen for a typical example.  For the underlying conventional wisdom is that use of Bitcoin is highly unlikely ever to expand beyond a few niche markets – e.g., idealistic hackers, online gamblers, and miscellaneous underground characters.

Price of BitcoinThe price of Bitcoin has risen from approximately zero to nearly $9 in less than a year. 

I disagree with the conventional wisdom: I’m persuaded that in the long run (think many years or even decades, not just a few years), Bitcoin is likely to gain wide adoption worldwide, and its price is therefore bound to rise far above current levels over time.

Before explaining why and how, allow me to take a brief detour to discuss what happened in Zimbabwe on January 29, 2009 – just over two years ago. On that date, the BBC reported that this poor nation was forced to abandon its currency, the Zimbabwean dollar, because virtually no one inside or outside the country trusted it anymore. As I write this, Zimbabwe doesn’t have an official currency: for the moment its citizens are free to conduct business in any currency.

Continue reading…

An Emerging Free Market Currency

Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 6:05 pm  
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By Joel Bowman

leadimage

06/03/11 Buenos Aires, Argentina – “I’d feel a little stupid buying these things,” a dear friend of your editor’s recently remarked. “But that’s probably not, in and of itself, a bad thing. After all, I felt pretty stupid buying gold back when it was still $250 per ounce.”

Our friend was referring to a peer-to-peer (P2P) cybercrypto currency called bitcoin. What is bitcoin? How is it used? What are the risks? Let’s begin where all good non-Tarantino stories begin…at the beginning.

The demand for a totally free market currency arose, naturally, out of the dismal state of the current monetary environment, in which governments around the world systematically debase the value of their printed monies in order to pay for the various welfare-warfare states they promised but can’t possibly afford. The resulting inflation is sometimes referred to as a “sneaky tax,” one that silently, insidiously infiltrates the marketplace, with each freshly-inked dollar compromising the value and integrity of each and every currency unit already in circulation.

This is by no means a new phenomenon, as we remarked in this space last Friday:

“The history of centrally controlled monies is a history of theft, inflation and, eventually and invariably, defaults. From coin clippings during the Roman Empire through to debasement of German marks under the Weimar Republic…to hyperinflationary corruption of, in no particular order, Hungarian pengős…Zimbabwean dollars…Greek drachmai…Brazilian cruzeiros…Polish zlotych…Chinese yuan…Nicaraguan córdobas…US continentals…Peruvian soles…Angolan kwanzas…Russian rubles…Argentine pesos…

“…and the list goes on (and on…and on…).”

It is hardly a surprise, therefore, that after having labored under the state’s unquestionable, unchallengeable monopoly on counterfeiting, and enduring the capricious, inflationary whims of the central banker class, the free market would demand – and will eventually provide – a superior alternative.

At various times throughout history, this has meant chaining the Feds to a gold and/or bimetal standard. Alas, as we know too well thanks to the likes of FDR and Nixon, the temptation to inflate is matched only by politicians’ reliable tendency to make promises they can’t keep. And so, gold standards are frequently tossed out the window at moments of manufactured convenience, proving further that entrusting the state to maintain the integrity of its currency is about as effective as locking them in a cell and giving them the key.

The free market requires something better, something beyond the grasp of the state and its many and varied manipulators and do-good meddlers. So, what’s the solution? Again, from this space last week:

“Advocates of a small but fast-growing digital currency network called bitcoin think they’ve found the answer (or, at the very least, an answer). If it is successful, claim its adherents, this totally-decentralized, peer-to-peer (P2P) currency could supplant the world’s central bank-issued money, potentially providing savvy speculators with an opportunity to cash in on the greatest politically motivated market distortion of our time.”

Which brings us back to our original questions. First, what is bitcoin? An article that appeared on Yahoo! News this morning provides as good a definition as any (and a hint that the mainstream is catching on). Bitcoin is “a peer-to-peer system of electronic money that allows payments to be sent directly between two parties without the need for a financial institution.”

The currency also makes redundant the concept of a central bank, Federal Reserve or any other such easily corruptible nonsense institutions. For starters, bitcoins are not generated, but rather awarded to miners – individual computers participating in the network – as a reward for processing transactions and securing the bitcoin currency network, thus providing an entirely decentralized, highly competitive marketplace, much like the Internet itself. What’s more, the amount of bitcoins is strictly (mathematically) limited to 21 million coins. There are currently about 6.5 million coins in circulation and anywhere up to half a million dollars worth (at today’s exchange rate) changes hands daily. As more and more coins are mined, the difficulty (amount of CPU required to mine each coin) increases exponentially, ensuring a steady (though ultimately finite) supply.

As more and more vendors begin accepting bitcoins as form of payment for goods and services, the universe expands against the number of available coins in circulation, thereby driving the value of the currency ever higher. (When we mentioned bitcoin last Friday, it was trading for about B$1 = US$8. Today it hit B$1 = US$14.25.)

As you might expect, bitcoin has its fair share of skeptics; maybe even more than its fair share. Bitcoin has appreciated at an incredible rate since it “took hold” in the online community, especially over the past few months. One of the first ever transactions using bitcoin, according to the forums, involved a consumer who paid B$10,000 for a pizza online one year ago. Those same bitcoins are today worth about US$140,000. Not a bad tip for the delivery guy. Still, such phenomenal currency appreciation has led many to assert that bitcoins are in a “bubble.” And maybe they are…but not for the simple reason that they have appreciated against other currencies.

Value, as Ludwig von Mises described it, is not determined by the nature of objects themselves, but through our interactions with and appreciation for them. “Value is not intrinsic, it is not in things,” he wrote in Human Action. “It is within us; it is the way in which man reacts to the conditions of his environment.”

Is Google Inc., to take a real world example, in a bubble because it has more or less quintupled since IPOing in 2004? Or is it fairly priced at US$525 (or one third an ounce of gold…or B$37.5) because buyers and sellers of the stock agree, in this moment, that’s what it is worth?

Another cause for concern among bitcoin skeptics is that, as the economy of the free market currency expands it will inevitably begin posing a threat to the state’s own money-printing racket. It will, thereby, raise the ire of bankers and politicians who will have every incentive to make the currency illegal in order that they may protect their own monopoly and continue cheating their citizens of the value of their president-stamped notes and coins. Given the state’s nature when it comes to these matters (and here we refer readers to the recent and despicable case against Bernard von NotHaus) there is every reason to expect that it will indeed crack down…and hard.

Here we expect all the usual arguments from all the usual suspects: Bitcoin transactions are anonymous and therefore provide cover for peddlers of child pornography and drug traffickers, they will contend.

But the astute reader knows in his gut there is something very wrong with this line of thinking right from the beginning. Cash is anonymous too. People by things deemed illegal by the state with state-issued currency all the time. So what? Does this mean US dollars should be banned? Some people drive their cars recklessly, with little or no regard for their own safety or for others’. Should we ban cars?

The question, however, is not whether the Feds should do something (moral considerations have rarely, if ever, stopped them before), but whether they could do something, even if they wanted to…

Whether or not you agree with the organization itself, the WikiLeaks scandal did nothing if not expose the limited power of government when it comes to policing the cyber world. Presented with every motivation to “take down” the WikiLeaks site, the Feds went after them in typically cumbersome fashion. Within a few days of the attack on their site, 10,000 WikiLeaks mirror pages had sprung up around the world. Six months after the largest leak of sensitive, highly-classified and obviously embarrassing state documents found its way into the light of virtual day, the organization now has more followers and supporters than ever before. Go figure.

Your editor has no idea whether bitcoin is a great idea or simply a great scam. Maybe it’s both. And maybe it is in a bubble of epic proportions due to implode promptly at high noon tomorrow. And maybe the Feds can and will crush its rapidly expanding base of freely associating participants. Who knows?

In any case, the fact that the market has demonstrated the motivation and, arguably, the means to challenge state-sponsored currency manipulation is good news for freedom lovers everywhere. Bravo!

Joel Bowman
for The Daily Reckoning

Read more: An Emerging Free Market Currency http://dailyreckoning.com/an-emerging-free-market-currency/#ixzz1OGjYa3Wc

The Real Problem With Digital Currencies and Privacy

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011 at 9:07 am  
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(Source: The Freedom School)

The Real Problem With Digital Currencies and Privacy

By Anthony Freeman

The readily observable problems with digital currencies is that they have two major weak links. The first is the exchangers who convert cash to e-currency and e-currency back to cash again. “Authorities” target these exchangers and the system fails (see the story of e-gold.com). If the “authorities” do not shut them down they then regulate them and privacy is eliminated (see goldmoney.com).

The second major weak link is that the e-currency must be defensible and the asset that backs the e-currency must be verifiable. Systems like Pecunix are excellent but if they were to achieve a meaningful size they (and the businesses that store their gold for them) would come under attack by world powers. These power-hungry “rulers” would attack anyone who threatens their control of the monetary system.

The real problem is the widespread lack of understanding of property rights and individual liberty. It is the pagan faith and belief in “external authority” as described by Rose Wilder Lane in her book The Discovery of Freedom. What is needed is a powerful network of individuals who respect property rights and are willing to defend them. This “territory” is where the asset that backs the e-currency would be stored and defended. The individuals of this territory would reject and repel attempts to violate these property rights. The “territory” need not be centralized if it can be defended. E-currencies like Bitcoin have attempted to address these issues but they still face many challenges.

The ultimate territory is in the individual minds and actions of the masses who have learned, understand, and appreciate what property rights and liberty are all about. An excellent source for this knowledge is The Freedom School (http://www.freedomschool.org). The ultimate state of individual awareness is described as “autarchy” or “self-rule” (see http://centerforselfrule.org specifically the essay A Way To Be Free).

One man alone cannot defend his property but when he and his neighbors have matured to the point where they understand, respect and appreciate property rights; and when they can outnumber the plunderers, they can then repel the attacks of the aggressors.

The answer is Autarchy.