Wild Predictions

Predictions are spinning out of control. People once coined crack pots are now getting a voice in reputable publications such as time magazine. This journalist guy thinks the price will hit $3000 USD. Ironically this is where I first found out about bitcoin. My mum sent me the article.

Some people think it will go higher to $40000 and the media, with little better to report are picking up on this amongst the steep increase in the price of bitcoin over the last 6 months. I have even made my own predictions in this blog.

Though I'm confident that bitcoin won't go away and will go up over time, I'm not too interested in this spin. It would be great if the general public actually started using bitcoin for spending and not just seeing dollar signs. It is actually a much easier and more convenient way to buy online and even makes a slick and cost-effective point of sale for your local shop or service person.

The Simul-Buy

This is it, The power of coordination seems to be taking effect. Bitcoin purchase volumes in China are at record highs. Are people realising the advantage of non-political money to a united world? 

Giving Bitcoin for Christmas

So many of us are last minute shoppers, why not put some bitcoin under the tree?

It's much more intriguing than fiat money. I found my family really appreciated it. Wth the recent increase in value they all thank me two fold. When I try and encourage them to spend it they all say "no I want holding on to mine, It's a good savings account." I am afraid I have seeded a new generation of Christmas bitcoin hodlers. This year they might have to get litecoin instead.

I Cry for ChangeTip

It's not hard to see why ChangeTip had to shut down. They didn't charge anything so it's pretty clear that they must have been getting quite poor and hungry after coding for all these years. The charity gift/ social bribery/ online begging and busking economy just isn't that lucrative as yet. Someone really needs to do something with that code though, it's just so easy to use. Maybee in good crypto tradition it will become open source.

Never fear though we have Brave, a new, super-speedy add blocking auto bitcoin tipping browser, and ProTip, a Chrome extension which can work automatically and has social functions basically like ChangeTip. With these new apps all you have to do to get paid (or potentially accept small donations once in a blue moon) is to spurge one of these on your page.

Bit me,

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Browse faster and safer w

Price Hits $800 USD

I have been busy moving house lately so haven't had much time to write or draw. Bitcoin has been keeping busy too with the price building on a solid uptrend and now hitting over $800 USD on OK Coin and BTCC. It's a sunny dey in Tauranga and a pretty good outlook for our bits.

Rickshaws Bitcoin Revolution

I've been reading "The City of Joy" recently and this cartoon seems appropriate given the latest cash crunch in India. Hopefully these unbanked people cam find a smart phone and download a bitcoin wallet. Its free to download and recieve money/bitcoins person to person. There are no denomination limits either, just dont drop your phone in the water without backing it up!

Special Discounts on Satoshis Available Now!

War on Cash.. and Maybe Still on Bitcoin

Owning a bitcoin machine these days means, ironically that you end up with a lot of old fashion cash. Sounds ok except when you go to put it in the bank they want to ask a whole lot of questions, basically assuming that you're a criminal. The general anti-cash movement is growing and it's a bazaar story.

Cash has been villanized as of late as being the currency of criminals, as beeing "dark money". The thing is though this was invented by the government. Are they criminal? Dark money with the president's face on it!

The real reasons for having cash are quite innocent and very relevant in our post-banking crisis world. People need to have a choice of whether to hold on to their hard earned money their selves. We can't force people to put their savings into a bank. It's an organisation that has risks involved, Banks can go bust and your money disappears in the process, actually they loan it out as soon as they get it. Cash gives people a way to avoid this.

People haven't forgotten about fractional banking, Distrust of this unstable debt system is part of the drive for bitcoin in the first place. This is why bitcoiners are paying attention when news breaks on India banning the 500 and 1000 rupee note. Europe have also taken away their 500 euro note. Printed bills that we have had for decades. Why the sudden change of heart? Maybe the banks need the money. We have a right to take our money out of the bank and that's not a suspicious activity.

The dark economy tax collection argument doesn't stack up. In India these are poor people who are having to use cash, in many cases they won't even have a bank account because the bank doesn't want to give them one. not profitable enough. Also transactions that happen in the banking system are notoriously hard to track. Unless your spending at the casino (government sanctioned money laundering facility) where large transactions are flagged, then Banks couldn't care less and the government need a court order to find out. This is definitely more difficult to track than transaction made publically with bitcoin,

So it seems "innocent until proven guilty" is under threat worldwide. Thankfully I don't think there will be any success. They can take away the 50 pound note too, but they can't stop inflation, they can't force us to trust the banks that screwed us over in 2008 and they can't stop bitcoin.

Keep this up and Mt Gox Could be Solvent

For those with the patience to follow their Mt Gox bankruptcy claims there is a small shining light. The custodian is holding onto over 200 thousand bitcoins. Those that Mark Karples casually found in his back pocket when feeding his cat. They have not been sold, likely won't be and are steadily gaining value.

The hilarious thing is these bitcoins are going up in value and are now worth around 14 billion Yen. having doubled in value the last months. Should this continue, then those 200 thousand bitcoin might actually be worth the total sum of what is owed to MtGox's creditors. The magic value is $2185 USD or 225284 Japanese Yen per bitcoin.

Considering the bankruptcy case has already taken three years there could be plenty of time for this to happen. We just need to continue the trend seen over the last two years. The seemingly innocent, chubby and softly spoken Mark, could somehow ridiculously fall on its feet.

Mario Draghi's Crazy Dragon

The ECB won't say whether they will extend or complete their QE program. Mario is not sure where he's headed. It could be a runaway dragon.

Lightning Infinite Transactions

The Lighting Network is Ready

The potential for unlimited transactions is being unlocked on the bitcoin network.

The Mr Robot Buy

For cyberpunk fans the tv show Mr Robot is great, if you haven't seen it, get on it. Bitcoin and the concept of competing corporate crypto-currencies even feature in the plot. Despite this technical depth and alternative theme, it seems to have heaps of fans. It averaged 1.4 million views every week in America last year.

It makes you think about the growing level of awareness in society for bitcoin, and of current cultural preferences. With bitcoin still in its infancy as far as market capitalisation what is the real level of enthusiasts investment? Is there a whole lot of people who are currently into bitcoin theoretically, but not yet invested? With a market cap of around 10 billion USD what does this equate to per person? How many people are into bitcoin? Are we still early adopters?

Estimates I've read of how many people are using bitcoin range from a 1 or 2 million to 100 million people something more accurate would be useful. So it could be anything from $10,000 to $100 USD held per person on average. From my initial perspective, the higher number of users feels like it makes sense, considering the number of people I know with bitcoin. However taking the pessimistic stance might be a better choice.

In this case, what if every Mr Robot fan decided to buy one bitcoin?  This would equate to an increase in investment of over 840 million USD, a pretty big number. This could make the price rise by a minimum of 8%. Not nothing, but if you take into account current daily exchange volumes, with a mean around 25 million USD. That day would theoretically make the "Mr Robot buy" put the price up, worst case scenario to...  $20,760 USD. Crazy moon!!

These back of the envelope calculations are baffling. 1.4 million Mr Robot fans each buying new bitcoins in a day would certainly not be an insignificant event. Yet we haven't seen anything like this recently, why doesn't the social change convert to bitcoin price? It brings to mind a few ideas. Is bitcoin trading volume becoming a less significant part of its overall volume? Are bitcoin fans just not that into money?

With 1 million holders the average bitcoiner would have more than $10,000 USD worth of bitcoin. A number that seems quite high for a young computer punk. The value of bitcoin is supposed to be dispersed. It could be more like 2 or 3 million holders and It may even be that MR Robot fans already own bitcoin. The exact numbers must be in the block chain.

With further research on bitcoin wallet numbers we can find that there are currently 4,233,000 bitcoin wallets with a decently spendable amount of money in them. With around 3 million of those containing less than one bitcoin leaving about 1.2 million wallets with more than one coin. You can start to see why the 1 million holders assumption used above is reasonable and why "the Mr Robot buy" throughs up such big numbers. We can safely say that there are between 1 and 3 million bitcoin holders.

The math shows that we do in fact have a simple solution for toppling debt and "Evil Corp" issues we see on TV and in real life. Yet, for many old school crypto holders this is eye role material, Images of bear whales haunt our minds. We know most value held in bitcoin sits in wallets holding between 10-100 coins and we have been trying this for years. It seems that many of us are already in bitcoin to a high level and have become critical and pessimistic. We have taken a few hits and in a way we'd rather watch a show and dream about change than drop any more cash. A typical state for a bitcoiner, an atheist like distaste for self-promoting sermons. The truth is though that the corporate investors have not yet got to bitcoin and it is still accessible to masses of early adopters. If we just picked up our nerd sized investments and bought that one more coin, it might make all the difference.

So what will future episodes bring? It seems likely that the majority of people who would say they are "into bitcoin" don't actually own a significant amount. Are people afraid because of past criminal associations?  Is the show an elaborate hoax distracting us from this truth? At what point do people reach maximum conspiracy theory saturation?

So let's get excited, if we do this will then lead to more interest and become a catalyst for change. We've got to understand that the 100 million odd potential bitcoin curious might actually just get angry at Evil Corp and buy bitcoins too. All of the sudden "Evil corp" would be left out of the picture. Hopefully we can read this and understand, that though it's confusing it doesn't have to be, and that popular culture is on board. If everyone stands by their morals and gets behind the concept, no elaborate hack is necessary. If you don't have bitcoin then why not vote against the establishment with your money and buy bitcoins. We can change the world. But we have to snap out of our stupor.The money will flip to those who participate in the new popular culture. Is real or is it a hallucination? Just like Elliot, underground bitcoiners are no longer so sure.

Cryptonopoly

WW3 and Bitcoin

This is the internet, drama and conspiracy theories are rife. the best of us hold a healthy scepticism of all the things we read here. Votes by click power, however has got to have some merit when thinking about public opinion.

A common YouTube military theme is World War Three. Brazen comparisons between the US and the Chinese or Russian militaries and secret technologies are at the top of the list. On that theme I want to explore what might happen to Bitcoin, should these ideas have any truth to them.

Financial engineering is a major factor in large scale conflicts. Where the militaries of the USA and its proposed enemies might be similar in terms of soldiers and power the United States spends a lot more on maintaining its dominance than others spend. $597 billion as compared with China's $145 billion. This is currently sustained by the US in the face of large trade deficits (484b), government indebtedness(17trillion) and a lack of foreign reserves (125b). China for one is in almost the opposite situation with a trade surplus (293b) and huge reserves (3trillion). The USA is able to do this in essence, because of worldwide support, but the numbers are huge and baffling. When did we sanction all of this spending? You have to ask why we don't feed hungry people with this money instead and how long the USA will be able to use credit from the rest of the world, so called enemies included, to continue its military dominance?

It's a strange situation which there is no one clear answer, however should it all fall apart, or should a situation like world war three come to bet, the financial engineering will surely become a problem for the USA. What is an advantage now can certainly turn around in the future under very different and very stress WW3 conditions.

There is one solution however, drop the dollar completely! A radical solution to radical paranoid conspiracies, but a solution nonetheless. With technology like bitcoin, creating an impartial world currency, there is a quick way to make the debt problem go away. The USA could inflate away its financial issues, and when it comes to payback, simply switch to bitcoin. This would erase any imbalances. I'm not saying it will happen, nor would I want to endorse such crazy violence, but to all you war mongers conspirators out there, there might be a back up plan at the pentagon. Cryptocurrency could be the latest weapon in the futures dirty financial warfare. 

Bitcoin; The FUN Investment

I get the feeling when I watch the financial new these days, and when I see my friends talk to other people in the restaurant about there new experiences with bitcoin. One of the best things about bitcoin, is how it is an investment, yes it might be high risk, and YES it is exciting!

When you money doubles in 6 months it is great feeling', quality fun. It's hard to find an investment like this that is accessible to the masses, Bitcoin is. The price can go down too, you've got to be prepared for maybe 20% in a day, it can be shock, it makes you feel compelled to check on it regularly, it is all part of the intriguing drama. It is in this way that Bitcoin fills a serious savings niche.

Its become apparent that this niche is not so small. It's the a gap between straight up gambling in a casino, conservative savings accounts and putting gold in a safe. Its the middle class cash and what is becoming clear is that this is where most people are these days.

You might have money in some super fund doing nothing and boring you to death. If your in New Zealand, you might be unhappy to hear about how these funds have been investing in al sorts of unsavoury things and illegal thing. Nevertheless the money sits there in a kind of unhappy de-facto relationship. Most people don't have enough money to have shares or become angle investors in some highly lucrative exciting business like what Uber once was. Smaller online share services tend to have high fees and predatory tactics. Traditional brokers don't want to talk to you unless you have $25K to blow.

So when your saving for a house, a new car or a holiday, you just put your money in the bank and its even more totally boring (that is unless your bank goes bust). Instead you could put it in Bitcoin? If you had done that in the last six months you could have doubled your money! Beats zero interest. Not only that, but when you go on the holiday, you won't have to pay as many currency conversion charges!

If you have some spare money and you feel the need to make it big, if your one of the many unfortunate gabling addicts, instead of going to the casino why not just buy some bitcoin. Then you get a little bit of a fix, everyday! Even when the price of Bitcoin goes down it is a little fun to own, because you know that tomorrow you could hit the jackpot. It's like holding your hand for the next deal.

So as over the year bitcoiners, myself included, have been expelling energy convincing people of the soundness of the investment and of how volatility wasn't so intense and that it will recede with time. We come to the realisation that all the excitement is actually a good thing. Who wants a boring immoral elitist investment when you can have a wild one from accessible yet underground counterculture. Something more personalised to your way of thinking and your sense of life.

The Invisible Wedge

There was a time when writers and philosophers thought of the industrial revolution as a beacon of hope for society. Eradicating poverty and oppression. Alvin Toffer writes about how a invisible wedge separates society in the transition from primitive to 'civilized' industrialised economy. I think we need to redefine what this word is about. Inspiring when thinking about crypto currencies, could this be part of the new Third Wave. Bitcoin is an invisible wedge of hope.

When the Ancient Gems Were Found - A Bitcoin Analogy

After reading a Coinbase article, as many bitcoiners are drawn to do once in a while, I became inspired to write a kid friendly story to describe bitcoin. One where the essential function and structure of bitcoin is described in a basic form without mention of any modern technology. Something to fill in time at all of these two-year-old's birthday parties we seem to be invited to these days. A mystical legend.

In a land long ago the people of the land lived in many different villages around a big, tall mountain. The people would mainly stay in their own villages because it was easier that way. Some  years some of the villagers would have a bad crop and go hungry whilst at the same time others would have more food than they could eat. People got jealous and there were many problems.

One day when searching for an answer to the troubles of the land, one of the villagers, Satoshi Nakamoto, climbed to the top of the mountain. He could see all the villages all around. At the very top of the mountain he found what he thought was a very special gem. It was very geometric and mathematical, not like any Gem that had ever been seen in the land. Satoshi sat on top of the mountain and thought about how this could help the people.

The gem could be broken into smaller pieces easily and then moulded back together. if you looked into the gem closely, you could magically see its history and where it came from. The shiny reflections in the stone's translucent surfaces told the story of the stone's sharded history going back to when he first broke it from the tip of the mountain. After many days and nights of meditation and communication with gods and wizards, Satoshi decided the best use for the gem would simply be to trade with it. People all over the land would want it and it was hard to get, but the mountain was right in the middle of all the villages, it would be fair for all.

Satoshi saw his own reflection in the gem. This worried him. The people might get jealous of him or his village and this precious discovery if he kept it to himself and this would defeat the purpose. He wanted the solution to work for all the villages. He climbed slowly down the mountain with the biggest gem he could carry. He took the gem to another village where nobody knew his face and left it, wrapped in a note, on a path leading to the mountain. Then he went back up the mountain to get some more gems and mark the trail.

The villagers in the unknown village found the package and they got excited. A few of them took the path up the mountain to get some more. When they came back with Gems, more people saw it was real and did the same. It was a very steep and narrow path. Towards the top of the mountain it was not like a path at all, more like a ladder of stone, only one person could go up and down at a time.

Over time many villagers had the gems and they were trading with all the other villages. People from all the villages were climbing the mountain to get gems and the track got worn down. Holds of stone were polished by hand and feet, some broke off and it got more nd more difficult to climb. People could not carry as many gems down the mountain as they could at first. Only the best and most dedicated climbers could get more gems. they became very valuable. A piece of gem which you could once trade for a pizza from a friend could now buy a house.

Over time people started to race up the mountain. People got angry about it and many people still did not know about the gems, about how they held their history and about how they could be easily split. They knew little of the detailed history of the gems for all to see. They only recognised their value to trade. When they first discovered them they looked into the gems and the first thing they noticed was that some of the earlier villagers had big stashes of gems, collected in the days when climbing the mountain for new gems was not so risky or difficult. They envied the luck of the early villagers.

The majority of villagers called for a grand meeting, an appeal to change the mountain to make it more open for all. They wanted to have the same opportunity that the original villagers had. The first gem climbers did not agree, "before the mountain" they said, "your village was very rich whilst our village was hungry". Still the original villagers understood the struggle and wanted to help. They knew of the example of Satoshi's anonymous gift they had once found lying on the path.

The original villagers had become wealthy in their discovery, but the discovery was long ago now. They spent and gave away their spare gems to those who did the most good. They hid gems in exciting places. They felt good in the acts. In giving up their stash, they showed faith in themselves, that new opportunities would come and that they would be able to spot them. They were happy that the legacy of their generosity and their freedom from greed would be forever reflected in the history of the gems. For all to see, just like the first acts of Satoshi.

My Open Bazaar Store

Time to sell stuff on Open Bazaar and retire. This is the killer app we have been waiting for. E-bay, trademe, amazon kiss my ass. Open Bazaar is here. Download bazaar Hound to browse and shop on your phone or the real app here. It easy and stylish. Look what i did in ten minutes! and the prices are so good. It's free!

Here's my store, I do air poluttion control:

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Happy Bitcoin Halving Everyone!

Now is a time great time to get excited about bitcoin. Rumors about how the price would go down after the halving have been pretty much defunct. This psychological idea, based on the notion that traders had built the price up in anticipation is over and now the simple math can take over and the price is bound to rise. 

Bitcoin miners will get half as many bitcoins for mining as they used to. It happens every 210,000 transaction blocks and it's a milestone for the network. The last time it happened, around 4 years ago, the price went up exponentially. Supply of new coins is reduced.

Whilst the Wall Street Journal does an article title "bitcoin miners get another pay cut" the reality of this is not as you might judge from this sentiment. The pay cut, is to a network which is in fact overblown. With more power than any other computer network by a factor of over one thousand fold. People don't need to feel regret for pulling back on this resource it is in-fact a conservation measure. Reducing the network incentive can also actually be a positive force of decentralisation. It can help little miners, the home miners, have long since given up on mining bitcoin, by shifting the balance in their favor. This can happen because of new efficient chip technologies are becoming available to the masses and existing miners are disrupted. Large miners with the current set ups will be stuck with their current equipment and may have to move from bitcoin into different crypto-currencies. In this way the bitcoin halving could also lead to a boom for other SHA256 crypto currencies. More decentralisation again.

Coins sharing the same mining algorithm as bitcoin tend not to be quite up to the standards of Litecoin and others that we are used to. It is a motley top 10, Zetacoin (ZET), Digitalcoin-SHA-256 (DGC), Mazacoin (MZC), Digitalcoin-SHA-256 (DGC), Terracoin (TRC), Titcoin (TIT), UniversalCurrency (UNIT), Curecoin (CURE), Freicoin (FRC), NeosCoin (NEOS), There are many more, I found 21 in total. They do have potential but it has been difficult to develop in this area due to risk of manipulation from powerful and unloyal bitcoin miners. They all have values that are a fraction of that of a bitcoin. If they are to gain a loyal mining base one of these coins now stand to become the second most powerful computer network in existence and along with it a significant currency.

As of now, price action seems pretty stable after the initial blip in bitcoin. This current relative stability is actually much like the last halving 4 years ago. the halving only lead to a huge price increase by building gradually over the following month. 

If the bitcoin price doesn't do the same again then surely some altcoins will benefit from some of the extra hash power moving to them. Altcoin prices haven't yet seen any action and If they are up to it or deserving, is another question. Who would you choose out of the top ten? Digitalcoin seems to be taking the first step forward and seems quite reputable. Others like Freicoin do have some deep thinking economic concepts at hand.

This will be a very interesting space to watch. There's always a countdown here. Happy Bitcoin halving! I'm looking forward to many more halving parties to come. Will our next halving party be for an altcoin?

75C Big Mac Standard

In 1976 a big mac cost 75c in New Zealand. Today that price is an average of $5.20. The economist did an interesting article on this which offers good insight into the value of currencies. As a crypto-currency fan I wanted to find out to find out what kind of inflation that equated to and how that compared to the official figures.

The example above equates to 5% annual compound inflation. This is quite high especially in current terms, however looking at the history of New Zealand inflation this may not be too far from the truth. There was so hectic hyper-inflation in the 80' as you can see on the government chart. But how does this compare in the USA? The Big Mac debuted at Delligatti's Uniontown, Pennsylvania restaurant in 1967, selling for 45 cents. Now a big mac costs $4.93, this also equates to a flat rate around 5% a number much further from the official rate. if we are to take the US numbers as accurate the mighty Big Mac should cost an average of $3.24 USD. This is a major difference! More than a buck fifty, a 50% increase.    

In July 2010, a Big Mac cost 6125 bitcoins in New Zealand. That year bitcoin gained parity with the USD and after a series of ups and downs, a Big Mac now costs less than half of one cent in bitcoin (0.0038 btc). That is one cheap sounding burger. And people using bitcoin to buy things now tend to talk in "bits" or "Satoshis" which are the terms for fractions of bitcoin cents. It seems like monetary time travel. For bitcoiners prices are going back in the future. 

McAffee: King of the North

Mr McAfee the man behind one of the worlds largest internet security firms is building a huge, hydro powered bitcoin mining operation in Wyoming. The technology will be used in there security systems. The software that you can't kill, McAfee, just took allegiance with cryto-currency. With so much hostility, brexit and terrorism in Turkey, world politics are starting to have a stark resemblance to those in Game of Thrones.  

Election Fears

Comparing Bitcoin to a Basket of Currencies

You may be aware that Chinese measure the Yuan against a basket of currencies. So why can't we measure bitcoin in the same way? Surely someone could programme an international digital basket measure and put it in a DAO. Speaking of such organisational baskets, soon the Yaun will be entering the IMF's global currencies basket club. China will be entering the group of currencies required to be held and part of the measure for rating the value of the elusive international currency we all forget about called the SDR.  The international monetary fund, IMF for short, have been talking about bitcoin too, even holding informative conferences. It makes you think, could one day Bitcoin join the IMF basket club?

International currencies are becoming more and more volatile. Right now a bitcoin is worth around $950 NZD or $677USD. In 2014 that comparison was more like $770 to $670. these are significant differences, so why do we continue to compare the price of our crypto currencies against them. Our local currencies like the USD the Yuan the GBP the EURO or the NZD hold great meaning to us in our day to day lives, but when thinking on an international level, as is the inclination with crypto-currencies, this makes less sense. We don't like the implications of things line the petro dollar. and we want to function as good global citizens. When global currencies are moving so much it might be best, as an international society, to compare bitcoin price against a basket of currencies.

If we measure bitcoin to a basket of currencies we find it appears less volatile. The same is true for the Yuan and there for bitcoin comparison to the yuan, can in some ways be more valid. But better than that, until the DAO is established, why not measure Bitcoin value against the SDR? Because the SDR is already based on a basket of currencies it should be very stable.

So after locating the SDR price in USD and that give us a bitcoin worth 481 SDR. Tell Mike that the heart is still beating!

#tothemoon

Can you hear the music? #bitcoinstarwars #tothemoon #deathstartakedown

BItcoin Fights Back and the Price Ramps Up

Bitcoin has been beaten down pretty badly over the last couple of years, but it seems like a comeback is in the making. This weekend the bitcoin price jumped 5% to over $550 USD. This is on top of a 5% gain the previous week. So there is a healthy upward facing curve on a scale bitcoiner's haven't seen over a year.

The digital village has been ravaged by the Empire, but it never died. Maybe we are now just battle hardened. Get ready for big things to happen.

Hash Rate Doubles in 5 Months!

It wasn't very long ago when I was in aw of how the bitcoin network had achieved one Exahash, a world first!

But TIB "This is bitcoin" and we should have known. The growth is completely exponential. Now even with the halving approaching, the networks security power has spiked and achieved what had taken 5 years in just 5 months. This even with some significant mining companies going bust a shutting down this month. Their is clearly nothing stopping this mathematical vortex. Maybe we will be seeing a Zettahash sooner than we think.

Screen Junkies and Mass Enchantment

Some nights me and my girlfriend/fiancé relax on the coach and watch a film series on Netflix, just like anyone else. Sometimes we also both surf the internet or social media on our phones or dual each other on Supercells latest flourescent smiley Clash Royale game craze. All at once, it is a guilty pleasure I guess, it's soo luxurious to revel in such excessive levels of entertainment.

It is not yet decided what the full impact of this screen information technology might be on society.  We are experimenting as it grows, images become more vivid. Screams are popping up like technicolored tulips all around us and VR is next. Though me and my partner still find time to get outside, ride bikes and climb mountains, it is clear that we are combatting the force of the screens. Society is enchanted on mass by all this new tech and surreal imagery, it's in our lives, no matter how hard we try to resist it.

We are the first generation to be fully exposed to this. New parents don't know how much time to let their kids play on their screens. It was easier when it was just the TV to say just one hour a day. Now when the devices are also learning tools, portable communications and navigation devices, the lines are blurred. The kids are after the screens like candy and are taking two or more at once. I sometimes have five screens going, three computer screens a tablet and a phone. It does seem a lot like crack, i wouldn't recommend this for my kids. At work most people have more than one screen, I've seen some traders run eleven! I'm jealous of them, I feel I need more! At the hotel I'm at today there are even TV's in all the booths next to the pool. It looks bazaar then you consider that they are also above every bar counter, on the walls in restaurants and by the elevators, not to mention in all the rooms and, just in case we are all carrying portable units in all our pockets or purses. Never mind electrocution, clearly if you don't bring screens there isn't much of a pool party in this town.

To me this is kind of sickening. A withdrawal from reality and from living in the moment. I also think this wall of screens is part of the reason why many people are slow to get into Bitcoin and crypto currencies. When people already spend time trying to get away from the screens of work and generic hotel resorts, Bitcoin can seem like a step back into the digital void. Worse still, when they see a person like myself, who used to spend more time on sports and adventures in the outdoors, it can seem like and A class technological drug, one step up in buzz and addiction to the screens that people are used to.

Bitcoin and crypto currency are certainly advanced technology. Etherium could be likened to heroin for home programers. There are even social effects in the community which resemble addictions. Some enthusiast find themselves falling into a rabbit hole of crypto currency research and end up isolated, up all night, forgetting to shower and only able to relate to other enthusiast. This is strange because it's a concept, its not like looking at a screen or a drug, there is no specific act or drug. I argue that it is not the same type of addictiion. Bitcoin doesn't nail you to the couch and capture your attention with revenue grabbing flashing lights. It lets you reflect on the world and to learn things like coding that where once just an obscure magic. This can take a lot of time, but it can also make technology less overwhelming. Crypto currency inspires devoted fascination, but it is not a digital entertainment addiction.

To some a mix of technology and money seems like a monster to be avoided. Both concepts are mind boggling and very much a sideline to having fun in the moment. Crypto currencies are however a concept of the moment. They are actually designed to help us escape the monster that is our legacy financial system. They can reduce the influence of the financial system on our lives. Something the anti-money crowd can get behind. They are also often designed not to take over our lives with screens and actually reduce the amount of digital hardware required in our daily lives. One phone per person might even be a reduction. We can get rid of eftpos machines, credit cards, bank statements, adding bills, the continual pin numbers and personal information forms, the money changing when we are overseas and the currency calculations, the call centres and the lunch time queues. The new advancements can free us from the parts of technology that we don't like, making transactions a smaller part of our lives, in doing this they can give us more time to focus on nature and other things that matter.

Even so, mass enchantment is here to stay and screen addiction is on the rise. The latest move of world gaming company Steam, accepting bitcoin, is capitalising on this. It's a perfect match for 3D gaming screen junkies who do freelance programming for bitcoin. Crypto currencies are not going to stop this. We should however, be careful not to confuse bitcoin as an A Class side car for holographic harley screen lovers. Bitcoin is not really a digital tether and it could actually help us cut some cords. It's already curing some of the side effects of technology and our financial system that liberal environmentally conscious friends try to block out. Screens may be dividing society, but Bitcoin is not. Greenpeace even accepts bitcoin.

Why We Want MORE MORE MORE Bitcoins

The number of issues or emergency events on the bitcoin network is decreasing! It's been 6 months since the last one and they seem to be reducing overall. The status of the decentralised network and the up time is something any payments processor would be proud of.

Shell Companies, Shadow Banking and Restricting Transfers to Mexico

We have known about shell companies for a long time, but the Panama files are bringing the dubious practice into the spotlight. Three terabytes of spot light on the entrenched exploits of corporations and the wealthy, a file more than 40 times the size of the entire Bitcoin blockchain. The full extent of the information that is contained in the file will come out over the next weeks and months. Already many prominent figures have been exposed. Even so the Panama files only represent a fraction of the shell company and the offshore account tax avoidance industry. The size of the data alone is a testament to the efficiency of the blockchain system, not to mention the ability to easily measure and track the level of anonymous transactions.

The wide-ranging impact of the Panama files, stretching as far as our world leaders, illustrates the depth of secrecy in our current financial system. Shadow banking, which comes hand in hand with shell companies and offshore accounts, has been on the rise in recent years despite government AML laws (anti-money laundering) and other measures.

The shadow banking system makes up 25 to 30 percent of the total financial system, according to the Financial Stability Board (FSB), a regulatory task force for the world's group of top 20 economies (G20).
This sector was worth an estimated $60 trillion in 2010, compared to prior FSB estimates of $27 trillion in 2002.^[17][13] While the sector's assets declined during the global financial crisis, they have since returned to their pre-crisis peak^[18] except in the United States where they have declined substantially.

We can see that as the banking industry gathers more information on the bulk of the population though AML, they are allowing the 1% to slip off into the dark. Intricate legal structures shrouded with endless paper trails and a maze of international laws and privacy rights. Banks have always offered special services for their high-end customers and in part this can be expected in business, but this is clearly not up to public expectations. This is our government and our economic freedom and it's fair to say we want it to be the same for all. The Bitcoin system is the same for everyone, and dark payments are on the decline and easily measured.  Although precautions can be made to use bitcoin anonymously this is contrary to the natural state of the public ledger. In banking the natural state of a transaction and or a balance is secret. Bitcoin can be part of a solution to the shadow banking problem.

There is general discontent in society and the battle for attention is growing. Governments and international corporations like Apple and the FBI joust for public approval and justification of their actions. Countries play off each other for power in trade deals and struggle with new international organisations like the EU the UN and the IMF or even Greenpeace. Everyone needs a moral mandate, but even public opinion seems to be fractured and unsure of the correct path. Donald Trump's aka Drumpth's presidential bid is at the forefront of this discontent and confusion. His latest campaign message that he would make Mexico pay for a wall (between USA and Mexico) by threatening to prevent people from sending money across the border shows how fractured society has become.

Even if shell companies did not exist, and I'm sure Drumpth has many, and if international shadow banking didn't already have a growing base of willing clients. people who are aware of Crypto-currency technology know that what is being proposed is nearly impossible to achieve. A migrant worker can very easily send bitcoin home to their family in a way that nobody can censor. If only 1% of existing money transfers were to be made in bitcoin the math would increase the bitcoin price by $22. If that's not enough to get your attention try 20% or considering the whole world. Even so your jaw drops in disbelief if you calculate crypto-currency values based on the volume of the shadow banking sector. If the more secretive crypto-currency Dash were to be used for all shadow banking, a price of $571,428 could be expected. Math may be the one thing that is trustworthy given the state of society today, however, people still struggle to come to terms with the scale.

Drumpth's wacky agenda is not likely to happen, he bad mouthed somebody's wife, but maybe the odds are better than the local lottery. The potential bitcoin pay-off is similar. The likes of international corporations shell companies and shadow banking are not likely to change or subside unless the public forces them to. It might be that we muddle through and that Mexican workers living in the USA end up sending their money home through shell companies, shadow banking and things like amazon gift cards. This is the line in the sand for economic control. People want to be able to by things over the internet. It becomes clear that restrictive government policies only pose a threat to the conventional national organisations, and that this plays into bitcoin and other organisations operating at an international level. The struggle is becoming more vivid and as it plays out untrustworthy parties are exposed. As trust is slowly eroded many things will likely change, but trustless international systems like bitcoin and those created in other crupto-currencies stand to benefit in the wake. People's attention is scarce and fickle. Should protectionist economic policies come into favour, attention will likely be grabbed by another skyrocketing bitcoin price. Mexicans may just be sending their new money home to build nice modern ecotowers.

Touquet Accepts Bitcoin - Why Not?

Last week I met with my friend and showed him how he could accept in his restaurant. I wasn't hard, it doesn't cost anything to do. We had a tap beer and I talked to the owner Antoine, Ordrey and Kenny from of front of house. I showed them what to do and gave them some bitcoin tippers to put on the counters.

"How will people know what it is?"

I said, "Bitcoin people will know what they are, they are all pretty enthusiastic about it, you don't need to specifically promote it".

"The customer can even help you with if you're not sure about something. But all  you need to do is download an app on your phone."

"Whats it called?"

"Well there are hundred of apps that work, I recommended using Airbitz to start, this one is good because tourist who don't have an internet connection on can still pay you."

She download the app and we did a couple of test transactions.

These tippers can be used for easy, fun bitcoin tipping amd act as a subtle signal to bitcoin users that you accept bitcoin. Signs and stickers are also available but these are a great way to start. It's not to much of a comittment just setting up to accept bitcoin for tips and I feel they also quickly get accross the elegance of the bitcoin system, that is, that you don't need much at all to make it work.  The guys at Touqet quickly figured out how easy and free it is to accept bitcoin. At the same time i think people get a little inspired by the idea,

I want to turn Auckland New Zealand into a Bitcoin hub. A place where you can pay for your whole holiday with international money value crypto energy stuff. In this quest I'm going to set up the coolest resyaurants in town, of which there are quite a few. The food is great here and the people are open minded.

Bitcoin can be a strange thing for non-technical types who havn't tried it, but I think they were impressed by how easy it is and how cool and impowering the idea is. Next step bitcoin meetup at Touquet! Promotions and cruise ships! Contact me here if you want a tipper and i'll make you one, I have them laser cut in card and can make sure you keep your money totally safe. Otherwise you can even make your own here. 

Touquet is on the bitcoin map in the South Pacific!

Bitcoin Fighting The One Percent

The 1% wealth issue is a big concern for many crypto currency users. This concept of dysfunction in the current system has been part of what has formed the appeal of the alternative monetary systems. However, it appears that bitcoin is at least not immune to the concentration of wealth.

Charts from https://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/rise-of-the-zombie-bitcoins

On investigation of the bitcoin rich list, which in itself is a testament to transparency. I have found something that I think calls for further investigation. There are 8 addresses that are all holding just under and almost exactly 66,600 bitcoins! This currently valued at over $28 million USD is not likely to be just a coincidence.

Is there a group within which there is some agreed maximum level? Who are these people? All these address's show similar behavior. Could this be a sign that at the top there are people working to prevent too much wealth centralisation? Or could all these addresses be held by the same entity? They would then control over 528,000 bitcoins. That is 221 million dollars today! It would be a large organisation in the bitcoin world. These addresses would certainly be able to shine more light on what the real wealth divide is in the bitcoin world.

Details as follows:
7
$ 28,701,364.50
66,583.22
1KiVwxEuGBYavyKrxkLncJt2pQ5YUUQX7f
8
$ 28,644,827.68
66,452.07
1PnMfRF2enSZnR6JSexxBHuQnxG8Vo5FVK
9
$ 28,613,249.67
66,378.81
1AhTjUMztCihiTyA4K6E3QEpobjWLwKhkR
10
$ 28,551,614.41
66,235.82
1DiHDQMPFu4p84rkLn6Majj2LCZZZRQUaa
11
$ 28,550,715.10
66,233.74
1EBHA1ckUWzNKN7BMfDwGTx6GKEbADUozX
12
$ 28,538,531.47
66,205.47
14e7XAZbepQp9MXXzjNG3fNLoAUpaBAXHW
13
$ 28,523,540.24
66,170.70
1PB4xXUFyy4kSNqroCBVaQuCuw9VcN3be4
14
$ 28,520,414.69
66,163.45
18f1yugoAJuXcHAbsuRVLQC9TezJ6iVRLp

All these addresses were active until the end of 2014 and none of them have had any withdrawals. this might suggest that they may even be paper wallets. The largest recent transactions are of most note. However these trails quickly become dispersed as many of these contributing addresses appear to use brainwallets  and coin consolidating transfers which mask their identities.

Initial transactions are also a good place to start. Addresses 7 and 8, 10, 12, 13 and 14 all received a large and almost equal amount of funds from the same address in a simultaneous transfer. This suggests some kind of connection

The answer may already be out there. A lot of volunteer investigation goes on. Online articles on the subject are have been common in the past, but many are now comically in need of updating. I found this one from Forbes when bitcoin was worth $6.50. Some forums even link some of these addresses to Mt Gox. There are so many opinions that it becomes difficult to know who to trust. An authoritative source on rich list identities would be a valuable asset to the community. Information is freely available. but after some hours of investigation, no simple conclusive answer can be found.

Many of these addresses contain public notes which have been written into the blockchain. This is where people have sent money to these addresses in the hope of receiving larger payments in return. Many of them are the same, as someone people have annoyingly appealed to all these addresses separately, creating false linkages on the blockchain.

"Public Note: Good afternoon! Your help is necessary. My wife has a problem with health, treatment is necessary (we expect a baby). If you have some unnecessary btc or satosh, please, help, we will rejoice any help."

"Public Note: i see many people here begging for money, but i`m looking for an investor for my app-idea.Mr. Zuckerberg payed for Whatsapp $19 bil. My app will be used worldwide.i tried to get money this way: milliondollarsapp.com. Do you want to be my private investor?"

And others even offer email addresses.

"Public Note: No1 Bitcoin Program 200days online FinMutual https://finmutual.com/?ref=yonce my email: yoncedownline@gmail.com"

Though simply a bazaar distraction, it's amazing that there are these kinds of things out there to be found. How successful have these digital beggars have been? I await a reply from the person above. It also sparks the idea, whether it may be worth spamming or politically pressuring these account holders in this way. This micro-donation spamming provides a direct method of communication

As in the fiat financial system, we must understand that the one percenters may not want to be identified. Some of them even may have earned their money illegitimately. In 2013 after silk road was shut down the FBI was in the top 10. Since then there have been government auctions and some anonymity has been lost for these coins. Over time, it can become harder to maintain an anonymous profile in bitcoin. When coins are spent identity becomes increasingly harder to conceal. This leaves any criminal millionaires left in a difficult position as, at the same time, the longer they hold their coins the more likely they will be detected.

Most of the owners of these bitcoins are likely legitimate. they may even be linked to a popular company. As yet I have come up empty handed. Bitcoin investigation though freely available has much to be developed. It may have already become so vast that it is insurmountable by the individual. Companies like Elliptic attempt to chart these flows of funds and offer some resources for free. Possibilities of transparency are much higher than the levels that we accept today. Blockchain investigation on this may always be expensive and time-consuming, working against people who do not want to be found. It may be better to use people power to change this. We can spam their addresses, but this requires generosity on the part of the poorest bitcoiners. A clever twist learned from the beggars.

We could spam these addresses with political requests for them to expose their identity.  A petition could be put up requesting signatures of bitcoiners on a public site, and that site could then forward the request to the rich bitcoiners through a small payment with a message and link. Shall we band together to find out what's going on in bitcoins royal coffers?

It is not clear whether wealth inequality is an issue with bitcoin, but it is clear that we can do something about it.

If you would like me to do this, please comment below, this page will form the petition. Once sufficient support is gathered I will send a single message to the top 14 bitcoin addresses, linking to this page. Hopefully the willing holders will identify themselves through a small transfer in return. This is not a fight against anonymity, but for transparency, even pseudonyms would do. The more support we have the more likely they will be to reveal their identities.

Price Level Consensus

For all this talk about core and classic and coding consensus. Talk about a lack of consensus leading to downward pressure on the price, talk about transaction taking 40 minutes, I've had been using bitcoin more than ever in the last few weeks and haven't had any problems.  It seems clear to me that people are thoroughly invested and prepared to solve any problems that may arise in the future. In depth talk about the need for consensus may be syndrome of anxiety that seems so common in our modern society. Bitcoiners tend to be very sensitive, normal people have bigger things to worry about.

The idea of consensus does bring a new concept spring to mind. With so much energy focused on it how would we fair if we aimed for a pricing consensus.

Volatility in price has been a major issue for bitcoin adoption. People do hesitate to invest in something that can move so wildly. This volatility has been reducing with the price hovering around the $400 USD level for 2016. If we could agree to hold the price at this level we would create value and aid adoption of bitcoin.

This is something all traders can actively have a hand in, something that we can actually control relatively easily. It also feels now that holding a floor of $400 USD (or 2500 Yuan) would not be difficult. Neither would creating a long term average of $500 USD (or 3000 Yuan). These are useful and commanding numbers. When you tell newbies about them they feel like it is strong and significant.


The moon is a always very tempting when it come in to sight however the purpose of this in devour would not be profit but for the unity. Something akin to the whale club but one that actively encourages stability. As the group grows there will be a great sense of community and once established the effect on the price action will be empowering to those who are involved.

Share this post and help hold the value stable at these levels with your trading. This will help build community and promote adoption. Shareable poster images are on my profile. With people power we can create stability. By developing price consensus we may even get more stability than the currencies we are comparing to!

#priceconsensus

Lie Low Laxing in a Radical February

Whilst world news has been off the crazy charts, Banks have been advertising with dancing transsexuals. Go the pride parade! We have shooting in the USA, and silicon valley ad odds with Washington. Bitcoin and Crypto currency have been remarkably sensible and subdued. Something odd for a juvenile rebel currency, but hey, It's relaxing!

The price has been stable at around $420 USD per Bitcoin (you could say 42 cents per millibit). I'm looking out the window to another sunny day back in Auckland New Zealand and finally starting to eat again. I can even buy fries at the local bitcoin meet up. Its great, I may even pump up the lie low and some rum cocktails, but first I want to take the opportunity to list a few cool things about crypto currency that I have stumbled into.

MyBitcoinSaver - set up an automatic payment and save bitcoin in New Zealand.

Keepkey - a cool looking device to keep bitcoins super secure.

BTproof - Lets you put any data you want into the block chain, so you can prove the truth with a forge proof time stamp. Make predictions or cement your vows.

Abra - a network of people who act like uber human ATM machines.

So on those four notes I'm going to continue chilling, finding new apps, trying to learn to code and to create a bitcoin friendly tourist paradise in Auckland. I have JS just about down. I also have a VR kit in the mail courtesy of Overstock. I guess that makes NZ the on the fore front of tech? Maybe Apple should move it's head office here?

We have radical corporate noodle banks, maybe they'll let you pay your staff in bitcoin. A one cent satoshi doesn't seem so out of place.

Martin Shkreli - Preparing to Steal Your Bitcoins

The Exit Signs

I like the EU but it looks like the exit signs are popping up everywhere. The unified currency is definitely something that is needed in the area.  It's proving hard to get it to work. The difficulty is the cross over with money and politics. Crypto currency can be highly political, but it can also be politically agnostic.

It is a relief that the UK have come to a deal today, however the union is now more politicised and this may be difficult to manage. despite the tweet the drama is far from over, the UK still need to vote on it. All this when the Greeks still stand precariously next to the emergence exit asking for money. How many more exit signs will be turned on? Italian banks may soon need EU bailouts. It feels like the theater might be getting ready for a fire drill. This has got to be a good thing for the bitcoin price.