IMPORTANT - See Bitcoin Exchange Announcement Below Regarding The Latest Changes To Occur With Virtapay That You Will Definitely Want To Be Aware Of - LIKE WOW!!
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is an innovative payment network and a new kind of money. Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. Bitcoin is open-source; its design is public, nobody owns or controls Bitcoin and everyone can take part. Through many of its unique properties, Bitcoin allows exciting uses that could not be covered by any previous payment system. Watch Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um63OQz3bjo
What is Bitcoin?
An agreement amongst a community of people to use 21 million secure mathematical tokens--"bitcoins"--as money.This is accomplished by the use of powerful cryptography many times stronger than that used by banks. Instead of simply being "sent" coins have to be cryptographically signed over from one entity to another, essentially putting a lock and key on each token so that bitcoins can be securely backed up in multiple places, and so that copying doesn't increase the amount you own.
Because bitcoins are given their value by the community, they don't need to be accepted by anyone else or backed by any authority to succeed. They are like a local currency except much, much more effective and local to the whole world. As an example of how effective the community is at "backing" the bitcoin: on April 4th 2011 30,000 bitcoins were abruptly sold on the largest Bitcoin exchange, consuming nearly all "buy" offers on the order book and dropping the price by nearly 1/3. But within a couple of days, the price on the exchange had fully rebounded and bitcoins were again trading at good volumes, with large "buy" offers slowly replacing the ones consumed by the trades. The ability of such a small economy (there were only 5 million out of the total 21 million bitcoins circulating then, or about 3.75 million USD worth at then-current exchange rates) to absorb such a large sell-off without crashing shows that bitcoins were already working beautifully.
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5:46 PM 11/1/2012
Bitcoin World
Bitcoin Cyber Geeks Outraged at Paul Krugman
Presented By Thomson Reuters
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2011/09/paul-krugman-incites-bitcoin-cyber-geek-infighting/42188/#
JOHN HUDSON 8,045 ViewsSEP 7, 2011
It's quite common for liberal economist Paul Krugman to ruffle the feathers of Republicans with his Keynsian-infused biweekly columns. But today, The New York Times columnist rattled a more obscure subset of society: the reclusive cyber geeks of the Bitcoin world, who are letting their outrage be known. For the uninitiated, Bitcoin is a digital currency that can be exchanged for goods and services at participating vendors (for practical purposes, there are very few well-known organizations that accept them outside of WikiLeaks). What does Krugman think of this novel currency, which has no transaction fees and doesn't rely on a central bank? After championing it as a "good investment" (its value has "soared" in comparison with the dollar), he dismisses the currency as a workable model for society:
What we want from a monetary system isn’t to make people holding money rich; we want it to facilitate transactions and make the economy as a whole rich. And that’s not at all what is happening in Bitcoin.
Bear in mind that dollar prices have been relatively stable over the past few years – yes, some deflation in 2008-2009, then some inflation as commodity prices rebounded, but overall consumer prices are only slightly higher than they were three years ago. What that means is that if you measure prices in Bitcoins, they have plunged; the Bitcoin economy has in effect experienced massive deflation.
And because of that, there has been an incentive to hoard the virtual currency rather than spending it. The actual value of transactions in Bitcoins has fallen rather than rising. In effect, real gross Bitcoin product has fallen sharply.
So to the extent that the experiment tells us anything about monetary regimes, it reinforces the case against anything like a new gold standard – because it shows just how vulnerable such a standard would be to money-hoarding, deflation, and depression.
Heresy! The dismissal of the currency has triggered a range of emotions from the Bitcoin community and even poisoned the well with liberal vs. conservative infighting in a place first-and-foremost united behind this strange currency. Many initially reacted with euphoria that a Nobel-winning economist had acknowledged their obscure currency:
At the Bitcoin forum, Bitcointalk.org, evorhees expresses initial delight:
OMG!!!! Krugman wrote an article on Bitcoin!?!?!?!
That is actually serious news!
User elux responded in kind:
Awesome to have Krugman with his Nobel clout discussing Bitcoin.
But the delight of new-found exposure didn't last long. In a post titled "Liberals HATE Bitcoin," Evorhees writes:
This is the same "economist" that still doesn't understand Bastiat's broken window fallacy.
If Krugman's against it, Bitcoin must be absolutely amazing!!
A number of other Bitcoin users began commenting on Krugman's wall and complaints of censorship began swirling. molecular writes:
I posted a comment. No off-topic or abusive content. Well, I call him childish, is that abusive?
User hugolp says he/she was censored as well:
Krugman is known for censoring comments he does not like. In fact, he was getting schooled in his own blog (even by other keynesians) so he lowered the size allowed for the comments so people could not elaborate a propper answer to his posts. Krugman's blog at the NYT is more of a political propaganda platform than anything else.
But as Krugman began receiving attacks for his liberal leanings, other Bitcoin users began defending him, suggesting a more complex political dynamic within the community. User ampirebus writes:
im a liberal and a bitcoin enthusiast, by the way krugman wasnt very hash on bitcoin especially compared to republican/conservative journals... he said it was a good investment for early adopters but didnt look realistic for a long term gain or viable as a replacement for the dollar... which is a pretty high bar
it really gets my goat when i see people turning everything into a political faction tribalist war or something
you should feel good inside that one of the smartest minds in economics looked into bitcoin seriously
User hugolp adds:
I actually though the post wasnt that bad. I was specting Kruggy to be much more agressive towards Bitcoin.
Finally, others took on Krugman's arguments on the merits. User osmosis notes that Krugman says "The actual value of transactions in Bitcoins has fallen rather than rising." He/she asks "Is there any data to support his claim he makes?" Responding, user evoorhees writes:
Depends on the timeframe you use. If you measure from the price peak, then transactions have fallen. If you measure from the beginning of the year, transactions are up significantly. Stats are always deceptive =)
On the transaction point, it's important to realize that as services consolidate the transactions visible to the blockchain may fall even though real transactions increase. For example all the trades between mtgox or instawallet or flexcoin accounts won't show up on the chain.
And lastly, andrewbadr takes on Krugman's assertion that "What we want from a monetary system isn’t to make people holding money rich; we want it to facilitate transactions and make the economy as a whole rich":
Bitcoin *is* facilitating transactions. The Bitcoin economy is growing, slowly. There are a lot of people, including funded startups, working on making it useful in more cases. It's far, far too early to say that Bitcoin isn't facilitating enough transactions.
Bitcoin hoarding is not due to the fixed total supply, but due to the expectation that the Bitcoin economy will grow. If there was built-in inflation at 3% and the economy was growing at 20%, hoarding would still happen.
No matter how much hoarding is happening, there will be some exchange rate from Bitcoins to dollars. The existence of a traded exchange rate is proof that some people think Bitcoins are not undervalued. These people will be willing to spend their Bitcoins.
The claim that Bitcoin is worthless because of guaranteed deflation is self-contradicting.
Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at jhudson@theatlantic.com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
John Hudson
Topics: Bitcoin, Monetary Policy, Paul Krugman
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The Problem of Bitcoin - Solved
Find local Bitcoin traders in your area.http://www.tradebitcoin.com/about
BitCoin Local
The Problem of Bitcoin - Solved
"Relying on the honesty of random strangers from the internet is not an effective or sustainable way to found an economy..."
So, you've heard about the newest craze for buying and selling online: bitcoin http://www.bitcoin.org/. For the first time in history we have a cash-like currency for online transactions. It's instant, anonymous and irreversible. How do you get some so you can go buy some of the products or services available through bitcoin? http://www.bitcoin.org/trade Well, besides these options your only choice is to send some money to someone using other methods. Here's a table summarizing your choices.
| Method | Cost Per-Transaction | Time to Send | Time to Receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wire | $15 - $50USD or more. |
1 hour+ | ? |
| Western Union | $20USD or more. |
1 hour+ | ? |
| MoneyGram | $20USD or more. |
1 hour+ | ? |
| ACH | $0USD |
1 day+
* |
? |
| FedEx Express | $15USD or more. |
1 day+
** |
? |
| UPS | $15USD or more. |
1 day+
** |
? |
| United States Postal Service | $0.44USD or more. |
???? | ? |
*1 day is best case, this method can take up to 7 to 10 days, depending on the bank.**Cheaper shipping methods are available but overnight service costs $15 USD or more. |
|||
- You don't know if the person you're sending money to is
trustworthy.
- You have no way of verifying that your exchange
partner owns bitcoins to trade with you.
- If you send Western Union, Moneygram, FedEx, UPS or postal
mail you have no way to prove that the money was received by
your exchange partner.
- There is no way to buy bitcoins today that costs less
than $15 USD minimum.
| Local Exchange | |
|---|---|
| Cost: | Negotiable |
| Time to Send: | 1 hour+ |
| Time to Receive: | 1 hour+ |
So what's the solution? The solution is local trading. Find a local Bitcoin user willing to trade with you. Set up a time to meet in person for the trade and how much you're willing to pay. You'd have to pay $15 minimum to send money to an unknown trader half-way across the world. Why not pay $15 for a secure trade locally? They'd show you they have the Bitcoins in stock right on their Bitcoin client. Physically hand them some cash and you'll have your bitcoins in no time at all.
That's what this site is about. It's about finding those local Bitcoin users and making it easy to connect with them. And because Bitcoin empowers technophiles and Internet users with instant online-cash goodness; it's ultimately about building a better world through Bitcoin.
I hope you will consider participating in this effort. We won't sell, license or lend your information. Read our transaction guide to get an idea of how a transaction will go. If you already have some Bitcoin you're willing to sell it could be a way to make some extra money on the side. If you don't have some you can buy a few using traditional methods http://www.bitcoin.org/trade#Currency_exchange and then make them available to other Bitcoin users for profit.
Bitcoin empower individuals by giving us a way to preserve our anonymity if we choose. It gives us the certainty of instant and irreversible transactions. And most importantly it allows us to conduct business online without paying intermediary parties for the privilege. Bitcoin is a way for anyone who conducts business online to regain the rights and privileges they have in the offline world. Because of this it is a great goal to contribute to.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Jeffus
Local Transactions
So how does a typical transaction go? Purchasing Bitcoin can be a
great way to meet like-minded people in your area. It works like
this:
Remember, be safe. Many other sites (like Couch Surfing) have shown that networks of trustworty people are a powerful thing. Have fun and good luck.
- Search tradebitcoin.com for a local trader.
- Contact them through their listed contact methods.
- Find out how much you are going to pay them for the trade.
- Arrange a time to meet for the transaction.
- Meet and exchange.
Remember, be safe. Many other sites (like Couch Surfing) have shown that networks of trustworty people are a powerful thing. Have fun and good luck.
Acknowledgements & Thanks
This site uses MaxMind's GeoIP
service to show relavant search results to incoming users.
Portions of this site use (or have used) Geocoder by the great guys at Geocommons.
For Helping Me With My Student Loan Consolidation - Student Loan Systems
And thanks to my wife Genny for her tireless support and understanding.
Portions of this site use (or have used) Geocoder by the great guys at Geocommons.
For Helping Me With My Student Loan Consolidation - Student Loan Systems
And thanks to my wife Genny for her tireless support and understanding.
Feedback and new feature requests are very welcome to: support@localbitcoins.com
From the makers of Easywallet.org, © Kangas Bros. Innovations Oy 2012
Terms Of Service
02/01/2013 1:24 a.m. Time zone: America/Indianapolis
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12:45 AM 2/1/2013
WeuseCoins
http://www.weusecoins.com/getting-started.php
Step 1 - Get a wallet
The Original Bitcoin Client is free, open-source software. The current version is 0.7.2, you can download it here:
Windows
Windows Setup (9.2MB)
Mac
Mac Installer (12.0MB)
Linux
Code & Binaries (11.1MB)
After downloading, simply install the client on your Windows, Mac or Linux computer. It will automatically create a wallet for you and start downloading the transaction history. (Future versions will have a "lightweight" mode where this is not necessary.)
Another way to get a wallet is to get one online at Coinbase, InstaWallet or MyWallet. With this option you don't have to install anything, but you have to take great care not to lose your password and you're trusting that site to keep your wallet safe.
Once your wallet is set up, you'll get your first Bitcoin address, which means you're ready to receive Bitcoins!
Step 2 - Get Bitcoins
Not the most convenient way, but bonus programs offer small amounts of Bitcoins when making other purchases, for completing surveys etc.
See if there are local Bitcoiners in your area at LocalBitcoins.com and TradeBitcoin.com!
Physical Bitcoins are available through Casascius and BitBills. Those places only accept Bitcoin, but you can get them with a credit card through MemoryDealers. You do pay a markup for the production and delivery, but it's a fairly easy way to get moderate amounts of coins. Plus the physical coins make a great and memorable gift!
For larger purchases there are several currency exchanges, such as Mt. Gox, Intersango and Virtex (CA).
Fund your exchange accounts or buy Bitcoin directly at one of over 700 000 locations worldwide via BitInstant.
If you prefer skipping the exchange and dealing directly with other people you can head over to Bitcoin OTC.
What to do with my Bitcoins?
You can find lots of Bitcoin-related services on the Trade page in the Bitcoin Wiki.Check out Bitcoin's largest online auction house at BitMit!
An increasing number of physical stores, restaurants and other venues accept Bitcoin as well. Check Bitcoin Travel and Bitcoin Navigator to see if there are any in your area.
Turn your Bitcoins into gift cards from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes and many more at SpendBitcoins.com. Or get gift codes for services like XBoxLive, PSN or iTunes instantly online at Bitcoincodes.com.
Buy music, ebooks, wallpapers and other downloadable content at CoinDL!
You might also want to check the Bitcoin Marketplace forum on Bitcoin.org.
Over-the-counter trading is being done via IRC chat in Bitcoin OTC (#bitcoin-otc on Freenode).
Keep up with the community more »
Here are some good places to follow if you want to stay in touch with current Bitcoin events:- Bitcoin Money -
Bitcoin news and articles
- Bitcoin News -
Daily diary of what's happening with Bitcoin
- The Bitcoin
Trader - Blog with original articles about the Bitcoin market
- r/bitcoin -
Bitcoin links and discussion by the Reddit community
- Bitcoin Trading
Signals - Technical analysis and market coverage
- The
Monetary Future - Virtual currency news and analysis
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Bitcoin Exchange
Announcement
Upcoming changes to VirtaPay will allow you to exchange your
VirtaPay currency for Bitcoin, and from there, to any national currency.
The changes that will make this possible replace our original plans for a VirtaPay debit card. We are very excited about this development — read on to learn more!
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a virtual currency, like VirtaPay. Bitcoin launched in
early 2009, about 18 months before VirtaPay. Bitcoin is the first
virtual currency to achieve widespread acceptance as a form of payment.
It has even begun to displace national currencies in countries with
unstable economies and currencies.
Bitcoin started as all virtual currencies do... worth nothing. Then
it slowly gained value. For almost 2 years, you could buy hundreds or
thousands of bitcoins for just US$1. But, then, the value of bitcoins
began to steadily rise...
- In February 2011, 1 bitcoin finally cost US$1.
- In June 2011, 1 bitcoin cost US$10
- In March 2013, 1 bitcoin cost US$50
- In July 2013, 1 bitcoin cost US$100
- In November 2013, 1 bitcoin cost US$500
In late November 2013, the price soared past US$1,000 for a single bitcoin!
Debit Card Plans Terminated
Creating our own debit card was one of our goals since VirtaPay
began. But, we had no way of knowing the course history would take and
how that would affect VirtaPay. Due to recent events surrounding
Bitcoin, we have terminated our plans for a VirtaPay debit card.
Instead, we plan to provide VirtaPay users with something much better —
VirtaPay will be converted to a crypto-currency that will be
exchangeable with Bitcoin.
Why drop the Debit Card?
Powerful banks and financial institutions have a strangle hold on
the existing financial system. They were unwilling to let VirtaPay
create a debit card and participate in their network. So, we planned to
create our own network. We knew that developing our own debit card
system on our own network would be a monumental task. Completion and
large scale adoption of such a network would probably still be years away. Bitcoin has changed all of that!
Bitcoin is Good for The World
Bitcoin is decentralized. It operates on a peer-to-peer
network of computers, without a central server. This makes Bitcoin
nearly impossible to shut down. It is out of reach of the powerful
players that control the existing financial system. Enough people are
now using Bitcoin that governments, central banks, and almost everyone
relying on the old financial system are starting to get scared. The
central banks of most major governments have issued warnings to their
citizens about Bitcoin. They see what is coming — as virtual currencies
succeed, they will lose control of the people's money. Virtual
currencies put the power back in the hands of the people.
Which is the real scam? In its early days, many people called the Bitcoin project a scam — and some still do. But, Bitcoin went on to become the first virtual currency to gain enough traction among people to challenge fiat currencies issued by governments... and Bitcoin is winning.
It seems clear that Bitcoin has embarrassed all national currencies,
including the powerful U.S. dollar. People are tired of holding national
currencies that lose value every time their central bank decides to print more money. Each time your government prints more money, it devalues the money held by you
and everyone who holds that currency. Many people are beginning to wake
up and realize that the "scam" is actually being run by the governments
against their own people.
Bitcoin is Good for VirtaPay
Bitcoin proves virtual currencies can succeed. Thanks to
Bitcoin, a healthy and triving ecosystem of independent virtual
currencies has sprung up in defiance of the old system, putting the
power back in the hands of individual people. The success of Bitcoin is extremely beneficial
for the VP$ and for the health of the entire virtual currency
ecosystem. Competition in markets is healthy. However, when a few big
players control any market, that is unhealthy and bad news for everyone
except those at the top.
Bitcoin opens the door. The success of Bitcoin has opened the
door for widespread acceptance of virtual currencies, including
VirtaPay. Bitcoin has proven to many people that a virtual currency can
be more desirable than fiat currency issued by a government central
bank. Until recently, if you wanted to do business, you were forced to
participate in the old, corrupt financial system... but now, you have a
choice.
VirtaPay is following Bitcoin's example. We are planning to
migrate the technical framework of the VirtaPay currency to a
crypto-currency similar to Bitcoin. This means that the VirtaPay
currency:
- will be decentralized
- will be nearly impossible to shut down
- will have a mathematically limited amount of currency
- will be steadily created over time by people who contribute computational power ("miners")
The Changes are Good for You
It can be ready much more quickly. On a technical level,
these upcoming changes will be far less difficult to develop than it
would be to create our own debit card network. These changes could be
available within weeks or months, instead of years.
Spend your VP$. The changes will allow you to exchange your
VP$ for bitcoins. From there, you can spend your bitcoins on goods and
services offered by countless merchants worldwide that accept bitcoin
payments.
Convert your VP$. Another option is to exchange your VP$ for
bitcoins and then convert those bitcoins into the national currency of
your choice. There are now countless people and services worldwide who
are willing to exchange bitcoins for national currencies. Just search
for bitcoin exchanges.
Invest in VP$. You may also choose to buy and hold
VirtaPay dollars. Imagine if you sold off all of your VP$ balance and
then VP$ rose thousands or millions of times in value as bitcoin has.
Here is something to think about... In May 2010, a man
purchased two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins. In late November 2013, those
same 10,000 bitcoins would have been worth almost $12 Million U.S.
dollars. You may want to hold some VP$ in reserve, or even buy more, in case they experience a similar rise in value.
Why Add Funds Now?
VirtaPay is planning to convert into a decentralized, distributed crypto-currency — like Bitcoin. Once this conversion is complete, VirtaPay can be freely traded on existing crypto-currency exchanges. That could cause the value of VP$ to rise dramatically.
Right now, you can add funds to your balance while the exchange rate is very low. After VirtaPay becomes a crypto-currency, your only option to get more will be by "mining" or by purchasing on an exchange. Take advantage of this opportunity while it lasts!
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