- Squeezy Farm
- Jun 16, 2009
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$100,000 bounty for software platform that can replace the Bitcoin Foundation (self.Bitcoin)
submitted 8 hours ago * by anarchystar
Hi Everyone,
My name is Olivier Janssens, early adopter and Bitcoin millionaire. The Bitcoin foundation has had its role in the last 2 years. Unfortunately, it is internally recreating the same archaic political system that fails to work for society. Bitcoin is the currency of the internet generation. It puts the power back into the hands of the people. You cannot expect its main representative organisation to be exactly the opposite: A non-transparent, political and secretive elite. We have been trying to push the BF for transparency and clear communication for years, without result. Meanwhile they started creating even more political structures inside, such as committees, which can only be accessed by knowing the right people. At the bitcoin 2014 conference, organised by this same organisation, I expected to see full internet participation + live streaming of their events. Especially of the BF member meeting, where they are supposed to get input from their members and disclose what they have been up to. Instead, the board decided that the event is not to be recorded or broadcasted. We have also no idea or say on how our money is spent. Half of their board gets elected by industry members (a group of about 100 companies), and recently lead to another extremely controversial election of Brock Pierce, which has a history of being connected to cases involving fraud and pedophilia. This needs to stop.
We as an internet community, don’t need public figures to decide what’s good for us. We need to stop politicking and start focussing on the projects directly. For example, we need a project to fund the core development of bitcoin, and put our money straight to that. We need a project to have lobbyists in Washington, to fight the anti-bitcoin lobbyists from Mastercard, and to prevent the government from destroying the currency. Basically, we don’t need another intermediary. We can do this ourselves. Therefor, I want to announce today that I am organising a contest and giving $100k USD in BTC, to the group that can come up with the best platform to make this happen. I am thinking of a system where prominent people can voice their opinion, where people can propose projects, and where the core devs can actively show their roadmap with detailed features + costs, and where we can vote on the features being implemented by sending bitcoins towards the feature of our choice. This will allow the core dev team to expand by being able to add/pay more devs for feature requests which are fully funded. Maybe we can even evolve to a system later where anyone can work on a feature, which, when programmed properly (approved by the core team), will receive the bounty. The same applies to lobbyists, we just send bitcoins towards the one that we consider the most competent for the job. This will allow Bitcoin to grow and expand at a rate it deserves, a rate that a political organisation such as the foundation can never accomplish.
Let’s liberate bitcoin.
Olivier
Rules of the contest:
Anyone can participate
Software will be open sourced
I will cover the initial hosting costs, until it can be self funded and created as a DAO
Reddit community can help by voting on the platform submissions they like the most
Ultimately I will decide who wins, but I will take all votes and feedback into account
Deadline for submissions is 1 month from now: 17 june 2014 at 12:00 UTC
[–]EnglishBulldog 18 points 7 hours ago*
A DAO that runs on the btc blockchain is worth more than 100k, immensely more. If this comes to fruition, then thank you, from the bottom of my heart. If you truly make this open source, then you are not only buying a new DAO that can represent a bitcoin majority, you've also created a very valuable framework that can be applied to many different areas of life.
[–]Beetle559 12 points 7 hours ago
Say what you want about Bitcoin, you can't say it's boring.
[–]obvious__throwaway_ 9 points 6 hours ago
sigh. Please don't get me started on the Bitcoin Foundation. The amount of bullshit and arrogance expressed this Thursday (at the non-recorded part of Bitcoin2014) was unbelievable.
You know what we did as a 'exercise' to start the day? Encircle sequential numbers on a piece of paper filled with random numbers. And yes, that's as bad and pointless it sounds. Was it used to explain proof-of-work? No. What was it for then? I STILL DON'T loving KNOW. And of course (!) more pointless games including "opportunities vs threats", "write down your favourite organisation you've been part of", etc.
And good gracious, the terminology used. My Bullshit Bingo card was full after one hour, I think. "Leadership", "maximizing profits", "turn-key membership platform (to streamline management??)", "disrupting market forces", "high technology penetration". What the hell, really.
I did like the organisation of the public event at Friday and Saturday, although I found it really wasteful. Is it really necessary to distribute plastic bottles with maybe 50 mL of juice in them? Or to distribute bottled water, instead of encouraging reuse of a cup or glass? Or to package two types of food thus encouraging trash? (Maybe I'm just being an rear end in a top hat about it.)
tl;dr: lovely event, would go again. B+.
The Secret To Bitcoin's Success Might Be Not Telling People They're Using Bitcoin
[...]
“We’re really trying to make using digital money accessible to mainstream users,” said Circle’s Jeremy Allaire in a video of how his service works.
Circle — which will let users buy Bitcoin with a credit card (!), debit card or bank account — is going head to head with Coinbase, while Bitreserve — which will only store Bitcoin obtained elsewhere — is competing with Blockchain.info. What they hope will set them apart is their focus on “normal money.” New Circle users instantly get $10 in their account; its .022 BTC-equivalent is grayed-out and de-emphasized below that. By pushing the weird virtual money created by an unknown dude into the background, these companies hope to appeal to mainstream users, truly threatening banks, money transfer services, and financial technology giants like Paypal that charge sometimes exorbitant fees to send money around the world.
Of course, to start an account with Circle, you still need a bank account of some type to buy bitcoin unless you already own them. And with Bitreserve, you do need to have Bitcoin to begin with. Bitreserve claims it will actually convert people’s Bitcoin into U.S. dollars, British pounds, euros, renminbi, or yen while it holds them, backed by a real-world currency reserve, protecting them from Bitcoin’s infamous volatility. But Circle does not have a system like that, and I do wonder what its users are going to think when their “$10″ is worth $12 or $8 the following day, depending on how the Bitcoin market is swinging. For Circle’s service to work, the price of Bitcoin is going to need to stabilize in a big way.
“Circle doesn’t shield users from bitcoin’s price volatility, meaning that account balances will change if the value of bitcoin changes relative to the dollar,” says a Circle spokesperson.
[–]Poryhack 19 points 7 hours ago
I think this right here effectively negates the whole article:
'and I do wonder what its users are going to think when their “$10″ is worth $12 or $8 the following day, depending on how the Bitcoin market is swinging.'
People are going to be painfully aware that they're using bitcoin for that reason alone.
[–]Throwahoymatie 1 point an hour ago
Painfully aware? You mean happily aware.
How dare the Bitcoin price appreciate! How dare people have extra buying power! Cease these impure thoughts immediately!
[–]_nightengale_ 12 points 6 hours ago
Not if fiat is held, and you quickly trade into and out of Bitcoin for money transfers. I believe this is going to be Bitreserve.org's model -- it makes a lot of sense. And once enough volume is using Bitcoin for moving money, it will become a more acceptable store of value and prices will increase and stabilize.
[–]ba4s 1 point 3 hours ago
Your final paragraph is correct as of today, but eventually Bitcoin is likely to become stable, and not experience the volatility of today, then it can be a way to send payment without fearing volatility.
[–]unk1911 -1 points 2 hours ago
rules if bitcoin club
1st rule: you do not talk about bitcoin 2nd rule: you DO NOT talk about bitcoin
TIL Satoshi's disappearance immediately followed Gavin's correspondence where he mentioned 'going to talk at the CIA' (bitcointalk.org)
submitted 6 hours ago by hmsimha
[–]samsonx 20 points 5 hours ago
This is well known. As soon as Gavin said he was going to the CIA Satoshi disappeared. I don't blame him, who'd want to be mixed up with that bunch of crooks.
Is Gavin now a CIA stooge ?
[–]dfgs352342342 41 points 6 hours ago
More like the CIA talk was Gavin's "job interview".. after he was accepted they nolonger needed to maintain the 'satoshi' persona anymore.
[–]corebtc 7 points 4 hours ago*
If it is the NSA (plus CIA no doubt), that to me is a buy signal. It means they have won and General Alexander or a rival is ready to assume the Imperial Throne, dissociating themselves from dependence on Congress as a means of funding their operations. There is no point in resisting an omniscient, omnipotent sovereign. http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1u89qv/why_the_nsa_revelations_make_me_worried_about_the/cefifmz
[–]ElHombreDelQueso 4 points 4 hours ago
That's a scary thought. A global secret police with it's own independent funding piggybacking on the value of a globally used depreciating asset...
Why PayPal Should Integrate a Wallet Service For Bitcoin
2 Replies
At face value, PayPal and Bitcoin are direct competitors. PayPal charges a 1.9-3.4% fee for sellers, which is based on the amount of money that’s sent. Bitcoin clearly has an advantage when it comes to fees, as Bitcoin has a very small transaction fee that’s significantly lower than PayPal’s. (Also known as the miner fee, which gives incentive to miners to continue mining. Expected to slowly rise as mining increases in difficulty)
John Donahoe, ebay CEO, has stated that the company is very interested in the technology of Bitcoin. When asked about Bitcoin, John Donahoe spoke with cautious optimism over Bitcoin’s future and potential.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at it and it’s truly fascinating. The way that the currency has been designed and the way inflation is built in to pay for miners and all of that is truly fascinating.
I think for us at PayPal, it’s just a question of whether bitcoin will make its way as a funding instrument or not. We’re kind of thinking about it.”
While John Donahoe shows optimism, it seems like eBay is still undecided when it comes to how to approach the integration of a digital currency like Bitcoin.
Instead of allowing for Bitcoin to be swapped in a PayPal wallet, the company should opt to create an entirely new wallet that’s specifically designed for digital currencies.
In a way, PayPal should consider to integrate a business model similar to that of Coinbase and Circle. Instead of charging fees on transactions, which seems counter-intuitive, PayPal should take and give Bitcoin at 1-2% of the current exchange rate. This takes advantage of PayPal’s sheer size, which boasts 110 million active accounts. One of the reasons why Bitcoin is used by many is its advantageous transaction model, which offers a clear incentive to use over credit cards and services like PayPal.
The process would be fairly simple, with a competitively priced exchange rate withholding fee. PayPal could create its own exchange, which it could then monetize. If one Bitcoin goes for $500, PayPal could give the Bitcoin to a person for $505. If someone is exchanging their Bitcoin for fiat, PayPal could give them $495. This would allow for PayPal to get rid of any fees, which could potentially turn away users. (The exchange rates are for explanatory reasons, as they would likely be much lower as competition sets in.)
This could be akin to a type of brokerage account, with some differences. Whenever you exchange a security, you’re subject to $7-$10 in commission fees. PayPal would make transactions to others via Bitcoin and fiat free, as PayPal would only make money from exchanges in Bitcoin to fiat or fiat to Bitcoin. In a way, this would allow for PayPal to operate as a brokerage, exchange, and bank. (Think of a combination of Bank of America, ETrade, and the NYSE)
Unlike fiat currencies, Bitcoin acts like a hybrid between a piece of property and a currency. PayPal would be much better off by taking advantage of volatile exchange rates to profit as opposed to charging outright fees. This would not only help PayPal with an extra avenue of revenue, but it will also provide Bitcoin with a greater sense of legitimacy.
While it may be true that the widespread adoption of Bitcoin directly competes with services like PayPal, it would be better for PayPal to be the first to establish leadership in the digital currency space. If PayPal doesn’t act now, it could stand to suffer as other businesses, large and small, come in to provide these crucial financial services.
With a pragmatic approach, PayPal could provide incentives like insurance for Bitcoin, which is something that the digital currency lacks. Companies like Coinbase just aren’t large enough to provide insurance, and no government will take the role for now. If PayPal provides a comprehensive insurance policy, it could easily attract existing users that currently use services like Coinbase and Circle.
[–]themattt 1 point 40 minutes ago
Paypal will integrate within 1 month of Circles launch or they stand to potentially lose a huge amount of market share (and they all know it). It would be an epic beuracratic failure if that somehow didnt happen.
http://www.bitcoinfaithful.com/
Bitcoin Faithful helps you connect with other Bitcoin enthusiasts around the world.
Bitcoin Faithful is the social network for Bitcoin enthusiasts around the world to do business and talk about anything related to Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Faithful includes forums, blogs, pages, photos, videos and even an online market place and auction section where you can list Bitcoins or Bitcoin related products or services for sale.
Bitcoin Faithful even includes it's own App Api and we welcome Bitcoin Exchanges, Bitcoin Mining Pools and any other Bitcoin service to create an App and get it listed in our App Market Place.
InterNational Wallet Backup Day (self.Bitcoin)
submitted 4 hours ago by MHolinde
I hereby decree, on behalf of my scrypt/n-scrypt cryptocurrency Mining farm "Frygar" that today be InterNational Wallet Backup Day.
Remember: Old backups don't have all your addresses!
Apple allows apps like venmo, square cash, xoom, etc. (self.Bitcoin)
submitted 7 hours ago by bubbasparse
What is it in the TOS that allows apps like that and not bitcoin wallets?
[–]cqm 3 points 6 hours ago
because bitcoin is not a company or individual, it cannot sue apple for antitrust violations or damages.
so apple operates without consequence
[–]omen2k 2 points 2 hours ago
I've used only apple products for 10 years and if they don't accept Bitcoin wallets in the next year it's going to be a deal breaker for me.
Andreas Antonopoulos & the Bitcoin Foundation (self.Bitcoin)
submitted 9 hours ago by flesh_coating
hey /u/andreasma...
Are you attending Bitcoin 2014?
If they asked you, why didn't you choose to be a speaker?
Why didn't you accept the Blockchain award?
I would also like to hear your opinion on the foundation in general.
[–]jratcliff63367 2 points 8 hours ago
I would guess that since Andreas works for blockchain he thought it was the right thing to do to pass it on. This is just my guess but it shows both humility and integrity.
bwahhaha holy poo poo these people are idiots!
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May 18, 2014 06:33
