Posted on 03/17/2014 12:53:04 PM PDT by Errant
Bitcoin is coming soon to a town near you. Or, more likely, it's already there.
The five-year-old digital currency is increasingly being adopted by brick-and mortar businesses, including dentists, pet boutiques -- even a small honey business in Utah.
In 2012, about 1,000 businesses used BitPay, the largest processor of Bitcoin payments. Today, more than 26,000 businesses worldwide use BitPay, said Tony Gallippi, its cofounder and CEO.
The majority of those firms are small businesses -- about half are in the U.S. and the rest are international. And while a majority are online sellers, Gallippi said 20% are merchants with storefronts.
Most prominent in tech hubs like San Francisco, New York and Atlanta, the shops range from bakeries and wine stores to car dealers and mattress sellers.
BitPay estimates that there are currently about 5 million active digital wallets, or Bitcoin accounts, worldwide. But the currency has had its fair share of negative headlines lately for the volatile price, underground drug market busts, high-profile hacks and calls for regulation.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3133881/posts
Here’s one.
I think Bitcoin fits right into satans way.
It’s just as stable and reliable as any of his lies.
It was the CEO of First Meta, Autumn Radtke, who was found dead from an apparent suicide.
“More than half of BitPay’s merchants convert the Bitcoins immediately into cash. That’s what Kerr opts for, since it’s a way for him to mitigate the risk.”
In other words, accepting bitcoin is more or less a gimmick since more than half don’t actually want to OWN bitcoins. This is pretty much like saying we accept Rubles for payment and then immediately converting them to U.S. dollars a microsecond after they were received.
Maybe I’m just too dense to understand this whole Bitcoin business, but since it’s an “independent” currency, not backed by any government entity, why would any legitimate business want to accept it? It seems to me it’s the equivalent of accepting Monopoly money.
You are most welcome. I find all of the comments interesting and just kidding about the negative ones. This is history in the making, IMO. We're seeing a new medium of exchange come into being because of technology and the internet. Think of the "printing press" and what it led to, as my son likes to use as an analogy.
What folks are missing is the most important aspect of cryptocurreny is it's ability to serve as a secure ledger that all may have access to. All currency functions this way. Cash and coins themselves become a sort of physical "ledger" by their very existence, while fiat currency's ledger is maintain and hidden away by some central authority somewhere.
The most promising thing that I see with this new invention of man, is the possibility of putting control of the "money supply (i.e., currency)" back into the hands of the people and out of the hands of the banksters and their government cronies.
Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing for the advancement of mankind the world over?
>>The most promising thing that I see with this new invention of man, is the possibility of putting control of the “money supply (i.e., currency)” back into the hands of the people and out of the hands of the banksters and their government cronies.
Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing for the advancement of mankind the world over?<<
And why would “the people” be so all-seeing, all-knowing, about managing a money supply exactly? For that matter, who are these “people” you keep alluding to? Is Putin one of them, for example, or perhaps Snowden, or you, or me? Who? This is silliness to the nth degree...
Good questions friend. Who are these "people" managing the money you've spent you life earning now??? I hear the "real" owners of the FED aren't known. Do you have a list of the owners?
As for Bitcoin and other crytocurrencies, it's the miners who create the units and the free markets that set the values thereof.
That’s the same “gimmick” that many see for themselves in getting into the stock market. They’re not necessarily interested in a particular company - but rather how much they can get out of the stock.
However, that doesn’t make the stock market any less useful.
You will if you’re told to.
Bitcoin is coming soon to a town near you. Or, more likely, it’s already there.
;-)
It would be a money supply managed by the intersection of supply and demand in the market instead of the whims of a political and financial elite armed with a printing press. Which do you prefer, and why?
For that matter, who are these “people” you keep alluding to?
They're mentioned a few times in the Constitution, you've heard of it, right?
Capitalism rocks!
When it's allowed to. Unfortunately, I think we're seeing a form of fascism becoming entrenched. The American people seem to dumbed down to be able to even recognize true freedom from centralized control. At least that's what I'm seeing - even here to some extent.
Another of a crytocurrency's unique characteristics is agility afforded by its P2P network. ;)
“Let’s see....
Bitcoins were selling for $1,100 about a year ago, now the same coin sells for $700. Ouch.”
Actually, a year ago BTC were selling for under $100. So if you’d bought then and held, you’d be up 500%+ (they’re at $615 or so today). Not so “ouch”.
A year and a half ago, gold was at almost $1700/oz. Now it’s under $1400, and heading lower today. Ouch?
“What backs Bitcoin?”
A robust, distributed protocol, beholden to no government.
“A large Bitcoin outlet, Mt. Gox, went broke under suspicious circumstances.”
Yes, an exchange went bankrupt. Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. More similarly, Bernie Madoff lost people a lot of money. So, the dollar is defunct?
“The CEO recently committed suicide.”
Nope, you’re confused.
“The originator claims not to have any to do with the product, so who is the originator and where is the transparency?”
The originator is still anonymous. Most likely he’s a techie who’s not interested in the drudgery of running the Bitcoin Foundation. The folks running it seem to be doing a good job though. Several thousand businesses accept BTC so far, and the number is growing rapidly.
“Hmmm. I’ll pass.”
Feel absolutely free to do so. :-)
“In other words, accepting bitcoin is more or less a gimmick since more than half don’t actually want to OWN bitcoins. This is pretty much like saying we accept Rubles for payment and then immediately converting them to U.S. dollars a microsecond after they were received.”
No, in other words BTC are an alternative to credit/debit cards, Western Union and wire transfers. Transaction fees for BTC transactions are far lower than for Mastercard etc. That’s a powerful incentive for businesses to accept them, and one of the main reasons for their continued success.
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