"What follows is my response to a question that was posted on the Rugatu website asking, "What is the legal status of Bitcoin?" After composing this over the course of 10 minutes or so, I realized I liked the response, and decided I want to "polish it up" into a better op-ed style article. Any feedback, positive or negative (though keep it constructive, please) is appreciated.
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In what could to grow into a class action in US courts, a Chinese woman is suing the Federal Reserve after discovering that the real value of the USD250 she put in an account in 2006 had shrunk by 30%.
Read more »APRIL 2013 - The dramatic recent events in Cyprus have highlighted the fundamental weakness in the European banking system and the extreme fragility of fractional reserve banking. Cypriot banks invested heavily in Greek sovereign debt, and last summer's Greek debt restructuring resulted in losses equivalent to more than 25 percent of Cyprus' GDP. These banks then took their bad investments to the government, demanding a bailout from an already beleaguered Cypriot treasury. The government of Cyprus then turned to the European Union (EU) for a bailout.
Read more »Bitcoin sounds like something from science fiction: A purely digital currency, created by an anonymous hacker, that operates outside the world's traditional banking systems. The four-year-old currency is very real, though, and it's trading an all-time high, tripling in value in the last two months alone. One bitcoin is was worth about $40 U.S. dollars on Tuesday, and surged on Wednesday to nearly $49. That's up from around $13 in January, and 5 cents in 2010, according to Mt. Gox, the bitcoin market's main exchange.
Read more »The finance ministry for the European Union has announced that cash transactions over 500 euros would soon be banned. Large transactions will only be allowed via credit card, or by check, which essentially amounts to mandating that people have bank accounts. Believe it or not a lot of people don’t have, and don’t want bank accounts. The finance ministry hopes this will help combat tax evasion.
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That’s right… Big Brother is in our graphics editing software. Even a screen capture triggered the alert, so this wasn’t some kind of copyright protection embedded in the file. Adobe Photoshop now has some kind of image recognition that prevents you from importing banknotes.
Read more »An accurate portrayal of the virtual nature of the US dollar which explores misconceptions and realities of the money used by so many.
Read more »Congressman Ron Paul questions Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in a U.S. House Financial Services Committee Meeting shortly after reports surfaced that the Federal Reserve was preparing for a third round of quantitative easing.
Read more »Ransom demands are for BITCOINS or Romney's tax returns will go public.
Read more »The 0.2-mil property tax for the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) passed by a huge margin in Metro Detroit's primary election. It will cost taxpayers with a homeowner's market value of $200,000 and a taxable value of $100,000 an additional $20 annually.
Read more »I declare "The author of this article is clueless...."
Of all the virtual currencies out there, BitCoin is the most interesting from a technical perspective - and the least interesting from the business point of view. But aside from its status as a technical marvel, it has little practical benefit for business users or consumers.
Here are seven reasons why....
Read more »Yes, it’s entirely possible [according to this Forbes article] to fund your existing debit card, or credit card, with your accumulated bitcoin.
Read more »There’s actually quite a bit to learn from the history of Islamic coinage that could benefit the alternative currency movement today. In the 7th century the Arabian Peninsula was inhabited almost entirely by nomadic tribes of Bedouins. Arabian markets were flush with Roman and Persian silver coins, but when those Empires began debasing their currencies Muslims began to mint their own. So, from the outset the industry of Islamic coins was a movement to provide an honest alternative to fraudulent currency.
Read more »In Kreuzberg, Berlin, virtual currency Bitcoin has expanded off the internet to become a favoured medium of exchange in real shops and bars. Joerg Platzer, the owner of bar Room 77 is helping to establish what he believes to be the world's first Bitcoin local economy.
Read more »Where does the money go when buying bitcoins?
No one in bit-landia seems to know, or are willing to tell. LOL
"Follow the money" is the oldest and wisest saying since currency was invented. Soo, who ends up with all the money used to buy bitcoins???
The miners? The exchanges?
The FED's owners get all the value of the Dollar.
Who ends up with all the value of the bitcoin? Bottom line.
Over the years, Bitcoin has experienced ups and downs; the currency has been targeted by hackers and thieves and botnets and been victim to more than one embarrassing software glitch. But it has persevered, and this week, one can fairly say that Bitcoin came of age. On Monday, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network released its first “guidance” as to how “de-centralized virtual currencies” should fit into the larger regulatory regime under which currencies of all kinds are required to operate.
Read more »Washington is reportedly considering opening all US financial records to national intelligence agencies in order to prevent future crimes.
Read more »The unregulated digital world of Bitcoins suffered another flash-crash last night. According to Ars Technica, the 23% plungefest in the value of the digital currency (the second in a week) was due not to Waddel & Reed, not HFT algos, but 'forking' Cryptographic algos gone wild agreeing on different (legacy) keys as being correct - akin to finding Tungsten in your Gold bars (and hence the drop in the value). This latest glitch is different from the problem that caused Bitcoin prices to briefly crash to zero in June of 2011.
Read more »There are some other digital currencies out there that deserve some attention.
Read more »bitcoinstore.com, an electronics retail outlet that only accepts Bitcoins as payment. Bitcoinstore.com stands out among potential competitors because the site's investors have only one goal – to urge major online retailers to start accepting Bitcoin.
"The idea behind the site entirely is to force Amazon and Newegg to accept Bitcoin by saying 'Hey, look at our prices, we beat you, now beat us,'" said bitcoinstore.com head of marketing Jon Holmquist.
To do that, bitcoinstore.com sells its products at 0 percent markup.
Read more »Welcome Free Talk Live 2.5! Now, with Reddit!
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