Bitcoin News
Daily diary of what's happening with Bitcoin.
Segment 4 of BrianLehrer.tv (@BrianLehrer) aired on March 18, 2013 and is titled Cloudy Cash. Interviewed is Marc Hochstein (@MarcHochstein), executive editor of American Banker magazine, and Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees), marketing and communications director at payment processor BitInstant.com.
Begins at 00:37:06, duration 17 minutes.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI3TIglNJ7Y&t=37m6s
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=156302.0 (Further discussion of the segment)
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BitInstant’s Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) was a guest on the Peter Schiff show, hosted by Thomas E. Woods (@ThomasEWoods).
The interview gives a general overview of Bitcoin, from a libertarian perspective, and concludes with Q&A from listener callers.
Runtime: 31 minutes.
- https://dl.dropbox.com/u/696520/schiff-woods-voorhees.mp3 (MP3)
- https://dl.dropbox.com/u/696520/schiff-woods-voorhees.ogg (OGG)
- http://www.schiffradio.com/programhighlights?date=20130308
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A discussion on Bitcoin at the 2013 New Hampshire LIberty Forum, an annual gathering of voluntaryists and Libertarians, included panelists Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees), Roger Ver (@RogerKVer) and Charlie Shrem (@CharlieShrem).
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Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) couldn’t let pass a flawed argument about what fiat money is, so he penned a new post. Excerpts:
“Money is not money because of ‘common agreement.’ No common agreement ever happened.”
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“Money is money because it is specifically useful in fulfilling the function of exchange. Money is money because its specific properties make it superior in exchange to other alternatives.”
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“Governments realized that if they could force the population to use a specific arbitrary money – say instead of pink triangle paper maybe green rectangular paper – then they could create that money at whim and benefit from it. It is not hard to understand why politicians would love this scheme: they get to dish out benefits by magically creating tokens that they themselves force people to accept as ‘legal tender.’ But while it’s not hard to understand why governments approve of their own fiat tender, it is very hard to understand why the public accepts this scam…”
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“For those who learn about Bitcoin, it is not hard to understand why it is now succeeding as an amazing new form of money.”
- http://bit.ly/11gd1b1
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=135552.0 (Further discussion of the post)
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In a post on the BitInstant blog, Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) takes a deeper look at Wikipedia’s stance regarding accepting Bitcoin donations. Excerpts:
“The response [from Wikipedia] was as follows: ‘The Foundation does not currently accept Bitcoin or other currencies not backed by the full faith and credit of an issuing government.’”
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“By using a Bitcoin merchant processor […] Wikipedia never even holds or handles a single bitcoin. Wikipedia would receive USD, just as they do when taking credit card donations.”
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“Consider the fact that Wikipedia accepts Saudi riyals, as well as currencies from other ‘Enemies of the Internet,’ […]. In other words, Wikipedia doesn’t mind accepting donations backed by a regime that has institutionalized the beheading of women for adultery or ‘witchcraft,’ but it won’t accept Bitcoin, because it’s not backed by such an organization.”
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“Surely, WordPress also has ‘a fiduciary duty to be responsible and prudent with its money.’ What anomaly of WordPress enables it to prudently accept Bitcoin payments while Wikipedia stands idly by?”
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“Why do you [Wikipedia] approve of the freedom of expression when it comes to speech, but not when it comes to money? Why do you value open-source knowledge, yet reject open-source exchange?”
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“Why can I donate information that has not been stamped with government approval, but I cannot donate money in similar fashion?”
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“[Wikipedia, you] neither harm nor exclude anyone by this choice, yet you empower everyone.”
- http://bit.ly/Seyc6D
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=127141.0 (Further discussion of the topic of this post)
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BitInstant’s Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) writes about last week’s development in which Bitcoin was introduced to bankers in Brazil. Excerpts:
“We discussed Brazil’s “boleto” system, which enables relatively easy payments between individuals and companies. BitInstant has plugged into this Boleto Bancario system via our partner, ZipZap, and has thus been able to help Brazilians easily acquire bitcoins for the past few months.”
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“The modern global economy allows collaboration between people who have no idea they’re collaborating.”
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“Luis Feldman from Chile’s Centro de Compensacion Automatizado gave a talk about his country’s internal bank payment network. The most interesting feature was the volume of internal payments – the entire country of Chile was doing only 5x the monthly volume of transfers via its banking network that BitInstant had now achieved.”
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“Mark my words, sometime in 2013, the Bitcoin economy will be larger than that of a few small nations.”
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“With Bitcoin, the [Remittance Payments System] “RPC” is not a company, but a decentralized computer network. The law states the RPC must do certain things, but the RPC in Bitcoin’s case is an inanimate, uncaring protocol. Bitcoin will not (indeed, cannot) respond to a Dodd-Frank summons when it fails to comply with the rule!”
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“The [legal counsel to the Federal Reserve] didn’t yet comprehend the awesome power of Bitcoin. He didn’t realize there are no farms to seize.
- http://bit.ly/SQuIeg
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=109856.0 (Further discussion of this article)
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Joel Falconer (@JFalconer) stands out among his peers by penning unbiased, objective reports on Bitcoin developments. He published his latest, which appears on TheNextWeb.com. Excerpts:
”Developer and Bitcoin evangelist Julian Noble pointed out, in an interview with TNW, a number of legitimate ways Bitcoin is currently being used in transactions. Virtual private networks, legal online gambling, Bitcoin mining equipment and even tea make the list. He notes that Roger Ver of memorydealers, a computer parts dealer, has indicated that he uses Bitcoin to pay suppliers in China.”
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“Moving money from country to country by an international money transfer not only exposes parties to risk as exchange rates fluctuate but can take up to 10 days to get from point A to B. Bitcoin would make the process incredibly fast and that would fix many problems with payment delays.”
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“’The single most important event is for a government like the US to issue a statement regarding how Bitcoin will be treated legally. Once companies know the legal status of Bitcoin – whether it will be treated as a currency, a commodity, or something new – that will then enable them to really dive into it and utilize the currency for their benefit,’ says [BitInstant’s Erik Voorhees].”
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“We’ve entered an age where we are seeing startup incubators and venture capitalists plunge American dollars into ventures that will serve the Bitcoin economy.”
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“[Bitcion is] anything but dead. It’s growing, and the ecosystem around it is growing too. With BitInstant, we’re going to see greater integration between traditional currencies and Bitcoin. With Coinbase, we’re seeing a confusing process made simple. More merchants and more consumers are signing up every day, and more value is being traded in the system all the time.”
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“You might not like Bitcoin, but it’s not going away.”
- http://tnw.co/RBdvi5
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=105504.0 (Further discussion on this article)
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Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) describes Bitcoin for business use. Excerpts from his blog post:
“Bitcoin is not a company nor organization. It is best thought of as a technology protocol, like VoIP or HTTP. [Just as] email lowers the cost of transferring writing across distance, Bitcoin lowers the cost of transferring money across distance.”
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“Bitcoin is increasingly being adopted as a payment method for online commerce because it carries several advantages over traditional payment methods such as credit cards, bank wires, or PayPal. Unlike traditional payment methods, […]”
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“From the consumer side, Bitcoin accounts are not attached to personal identifying information. This means consumers do not need to expose sensitive financial data every time they buy online.”
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“Bitcoin thus offers a far more secure, and far less expensive, way for business to be transacted online.”
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“Typically, Bitcoin makes the most economic sense for online retailers selling in an ecommerce environment (especially if they have international customers or have a high chargeback risk, which Bitcoin solves).”
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“With a Bitcoin payment, there is no 3% fee to these processing companies, and this savings goes directly to the bottom line of the merchant. Consider also that Bitcoin removes all chargeback risk and payment reversal liability from the merchant.”
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“There is no reason that a digital payment of US dollars from one country to another should take a matter of days, when a digital email is sent and received in a seco-nd. Bitcoin makes money as efficient as email.”
- http://bit.ly/NErXU3
- http://bit.ly/OvVUKK (as a PDF)
Additional Community Discussion Of This Document:
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=91782.0
- http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/w3fm9
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Free State Project participant and serial bitcoin entrepreneur Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) reports on how Bitcoin was a big part of this year’s Porcupine Freedom Festival. Excerpts:
“Dozens of people registered for PorcFest with Bitcoin (myself included), and this set the tone for the whole event. ‘Bitcoin accepted here’ should’ve been the subheading on this year’s program.”
“Bernanke’s Bitcoin Exchange was a fully-functional trade and educational hub, buying and selling Bitcoin for fiat with a spread of 3%, hooking up new people with Bitcoin Spinner and Blockchain.info’s App on their phones, and educating the masses on proper wallet safety.”
“‘We’re actually reconstructing an entire financial system from right here on our laptop with a $50 Verizon Mifi.’ Indeed, we just plugged the largest libertarian camping festival of the year into the global high-tech Bitcoin forex network, and the government hadn’t a clue what was going on.”
“Transacting for physical goods, in a remote corner of New Hampshire’s beautiful wilderness… well, that lent a certain ‘meatspace cred’ that we can’t wait to replicate all over the world.”
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BitInstant’s press release announcing their expanded service offering was published by various media today. Excerpts:
“By simplifying this exchange, customers now just visit BitInstant’s website, print out a receipt, and deposit physical cash for the virtual currency at their nearest retail or convenience location. Bitcoins are credited to their account within 30 minutes.”
“Bitcoin enables users to transfer funds instantly to any other Bitcoin account holder in the world. There is no middle-man or controlling entity.”
“Instead of waiting 3-5 business days for a wire transfer across an ocean, Bitcoin transfers are immediate and have zero fees (for the most part). They also prevent merchants from suffering costly chargebacks, or requiring customers to expose personal information.”
[Ediitor’s note: Through a partnership with ZipZap, cash deposits for processing through BitInstant can be accepted in the U.S. and U.S. Territories (e.g., Puerto Rico) at WalMart, 7-11, Moneygram locations (e.g., CVS) and many other locations. Boleto is the payment system for accepting payment from customers in Brazil.]
