Tag: BITCOIN

BITCOIN: Try and wrap your head around this paradigm shift

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https://bitcoinmagazine.com/print/stage-is-set-for-bitcoin-to-replace-fiat?utm_source=Bitcoin+Magazine&utm_campaign=31a110c8e6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_12_16_08_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f7d45fbb67-31a110c8e6-357073741&mc_cid=31a110c8e6&mc_eid=386b7b0895

The Stage Is Now Set: Bitcoin Will Replace Fiat

  • Bitcoin represents an unprecedented paradigm shift, and while the world may not be ready to replace fiat, that change is inevitable.

Beautyon
Dec 15, 2022

*** begin quote ***

Bitcoin, which will transform the way you transfer money, needs to be understood on its own terms, and not just as an online form of money. Thinking about bitcoin as money is as absurd as thinking about email as another form of sending letters by post; one not only replaces the other but it profoundly changes the way people send and consume messages. It is not a simple substitution or one-dimensional improvement of an existing idea or service.

*** end quote ***

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. — Morpheus in the Matrix (1999)

In this case, it’s the “orange pill”.

I wrote about how “job search” changed in the 80’s from the “gold watch” to “everyone is an entrepreneur”.  I used to say there was no K-Mart Blue Light announcing that there was a “special” in Aisle 7.  There was now announcement that the rules of employment had changed.  But they had and those that failed to adapt were left flopping on the beach like soon to be dead fish when the tide went out.

This “orange pill” tell a similar tale.  The Financial “rules of the game” are changing silently

TECHNOLOGY: Micropayments using bitcoin might solve the problem of revenue sharing

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

https://www.reddit.com/r/MaliciousCompliance/comments/zgytrl/left_murder_scene_because_my_manager_complained/

Left murder scene because my manager complained about overtime
r/MaliciousCompliance
•Posted by u/Longjumping_Bad9555
6 hours ago

*** begin quote ***

In a past work life I worked at a small newspaper where corporate insisted on paying me hourly, despite the job not being capable of being done in 40 hours.

*** and ***

fishter_uk
4 hr. ago

This was several years ago, that newspaper no longer exists.

DreamOfTheEndlessSky
Avid Voter ·
4 hr. ago

Less funny when you consider how many newspapers have disappeared.

BigRiverHome
Monthly Top 5% Karma+2 ·
2 hr. ago

Funny what happens when you keep decreasing the value of your product.

I used to get the paper and I truly enjoyed reading it every morning. But, it kept getting smaller and smaller, and eventually it was bought out by Gannett, the people behind USA Today. That was pretty much it for me, it just became another version of the USA Today with a thin veneer of local news.

*** end quote ***

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I’m a retired IT guy. I personally have always been surprised that “newspapers” didn’t figure out and implement a micropayment system.

Imagine if you were asked for 0.0001 of something (i.e., a dollar; a bitcoin; a ruble; a yen) for an article. Not some number of dollars for a year, or month, or such.

When you get on internet scale, it’s not hard to imagine getting 50k readers each paying say a penny for an article. That translates to 500$ for that one article.

The current payment technology doesn’t pay to scale that price point.

But now, a paper could collect a fraction of a bitcoin from someone’s public key and encrypt the article so that only the person’s private key could decrypt it. At that level, it wouldn’t be worth pirating it or sharing you private key to deprive the sender of the revenue.

I think that would be the way to save the “local” paper with digital distribution of content.

FWIW YMMV

—30—

MONEY: “Blue Light Special” announcement — fiat currencies like the U$D are being stolen by “inflation”

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The 5 Stages Of Getting Orange-Pilled
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/5-stages-getting-orange-pilled

 — via my feedly newsfeed

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​I’m at “acceptance and hope” stage​.  Back when the employment model switched from “lifetime employment” to “job hopping/consulting”, I told my turkeys that there was now “Blue Light Special” announcement like at the now defunct Kmart to tell them that “the game” had changed.  So to, now, imho, the “financial game” has changed and no announcement is being made.  Bitcoin, alternative forms of money, and other commodities are replacing fiat currencies like the U$D, Euro, and others.  Only the Russian Rouble has made the shift.  All other forms of fiat are subject to “inflation” aka Gooferment Theft. 

Unfortunately, not many have gotten the “non-announcement” and so will pay the tax and take the losses.  Heaven help the bond holders who will get triple screwed (i.e., inflation, loss of income, and loss of capital value) when the 1/7 seesaw rocks against them (i.e., 1% rise in interest rate yields a 7% decrease in the dollar value a bond).

FWIW YMMV and TANSTAAFL (“There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” From Robert Heinlein’s classic) 

—30—
 

GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Airlines are “zombie companies” due to Gooferment bailouts

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https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-songsheet-airline-miles?utm_source=Bitcoin+Magazine&utm_campaign=4e1027bcbe-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f7d45fbb67-4e1027bcbe-357073741&mc_cid=4e1027bcbe&mc_eid=386b7b0895

Bitcoin Songsheet: Airline Miles Are The Original Altcoins

  • Airline miles are the original altcoin, allowing zombie companies to issue value for nothing while encouraging people to be “Miles Chasers.”

Jimmy Song
Apr 11, 2022

*** begin quote ***

Because governments view airlines as a display of national prestige, there’s a tendency to bail them out of their troubles. The three major U.S. airlines (Delta, American and United) have gone through at least one bankruptcy in the last 20 years. The bankruptcy proceedings usually result in a merger or some new company that’s injected with government funds. Even airlines that might go bankrupt are bailed out by the government such as during the travel shutdowns of the pandemic. The result is that airlines are now zombie companies that repeatedly get revived through government intervention.

Zombie companies typically don’t do that well in the marketplace. It’s no coincidence that air travel times are slower now than in the ‘70s. Planes might be more fuel efficient, but they’re not really faster or more convenient. The way these zombies have survived, besides government intervention, is through the financialization of their miles programs.

*** end quote ***

One really has to see the link between bailouts and inefficient zombie companies.

Real competition between financially healthy airlines would make air travel faster, more convenient, as well as “cheaper”.

The DHS / TSA “airport security” is “security theater” at best and further allows zombie airlines to shift costs to the public at large.

Argh!

—30—

MONEY: Can bitcoin stop the “bad guys”? Can anything?

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https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-the-foundation-of-human-rights?utm_source=Bitcoin+Magazine&utm_campaign=f8fa15ec24-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f7d45fbb67-f8fa15ec24-357073741&mc_cid=f8fa15ec24&mc_eid=386b7b0895

BITCOIN CAN BE THE FOUNDATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
The bad guys can’t stop Bitcoin, but Bitcoin can stop the bad guys.
GREGOR HERBORT
MAR 18, 2022

*** begin quote ***

60 years ago, it was not Syrians, Afghans, Iranians and people from various African states who had to leave their homes and sought refuge.

It was Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Jews, Poles, Russians and Germans who needed a new home before, during and after World War II. Displaced by an occupying power, by the ruling government and by hunger and war.

Many had to leave their hometowns and were not able to take much with them, let alone transfer money across national borders. This is what happened to many Jews. Refugees were deprived of their remaining possessions in Germany. In a perfidious way, the war and the extermination of the Jews were thus co-financed.

Within experiences of these and other inhuman acts, the Universal Human Rights have been defined. A commission led by Eleanor Roosevelt worked out 30 articles under the auspices of the United Nations in 1948.

Reading these 30 articles, it becomes clear that the potential bad guy is often seen on the side of the state or government.

*** and ***

Everyone has the right to freely access a healthy international currency!

*** end quote ***

I certainly like that it’s inflation proof.  It may be a hopeless gesture to liberty, but what choice do we have?

—30—

CRYPTO: BITCOIN provides a “financial parachute”

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https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/surviving-off-crypto-when-cash-fails/?ftag=CAD-04-10aai6g&bhid=28093491592028715072518150828614&mid=13749287&cid=2046605583

Surviving Off Crypto When Cash Fails
Many Ukrainians and Russians lost access to their bank accounts in the days following Russia’s invasion.
Daniel Van Boom  
March 15, 2022 5:27 p.m. PT

*** begin quote ***

Fedosov is one of approximately 5.5 million Ukrainians who own cryptocurrency. His ability to live off bitcoin and ether is music to the ears of cryptocurrency proponents. They point out that situations like Fedosov’s, when the financial system stutters or fails, are the precise reason bitcoin was created. Using a cryptocurrency wallet — as opposed to going through an intermediary exchange like Binance — holders can access their cryptocurrency with nothing more than an internet connection and a 12-word seed phrase.

*** end quote ***

I find this story is a warning to everyone.

It costs a little in opportunity costs, but it could be a life saver.

How about a “flat tire in a strange place” without a credit card machine?

—30—

MONEY: “Inside Money” standard and the “Outside Money” reality

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https://tomluongo.me/2022/03/13/ins-outs-whose-money-is-it-anyway/

MONEY, POLITICS
The Ins and Outs of Whose Money is it Anyway?
Date: March 13, 2022Author: Tom Luongo

*** begin quote ***

Today’s “Inside Money” standard, known colloquially as the Dollar Reserve standard, is actually what I like to call “Milton Friedman’s Nightmare.” It is nothing more than a system of competitively devalued and inflated debt-based scrips running around drinking each other’s milkshakes until everyone’s glass is empty.

FYI, there are a lot of empty glasses around the world right now and more are being created everyday as the financial system turned predatory after the Lehman Bros. collapse in 2008.

It was then that the Central Banks and governments turned fully against the people sucking up more and more outside money by inflating inside money egregiously to control more and more of the real wealth of the world.

There is only one problem with that, however. Eventually, you run out of property to squeeze out of people’s hands. The more you take, the less people are restrained by little things like laws.

Eventually two things happen. The first is what we’ve been seeing from Russia and China for the past twelve years — steady accumulation of gold and other hard assets, outside money, including the building of real manufacturing infrastructure as well as the financial infrastructure to house it.

The second is just over the horizon — the moment where all the legal claims to controlling outside money mean nothing when enforcement of those legal claims gets exposed as a bluff because there aren’t enough enforcers capable of keeping the looters from taking it.

*** end quote ***

I’m am waiting for the “Great Reset” to drop on “We, The Sheeple” of which I am part of in someways.  I know this is going to hurt the poor, the seniors, those on fixed incomes, as well as the non-super rich.

Wonder what the price of gold will go to … … (the fellow’s guess)  about 45k$.  By other guesstimates, that’ll translate to 80$/gallon for gas.  Now I’m not predicting this but even if gas goes from 4 to 8$/gallon, the economy is totally screwed.

The U$D would be near worthless.

Argh!

The future is murky and there could be a cliff in the fog.

—30—

 

ECONOMICS: There should NOT be any taxes on “Virtual Currencies”

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https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/virtual-currencies

*** begin quote ***

Virtual Currencies
 
Virtual currency transactions are taxable by law just like transactions in any other property. Taxpayers transacting in virtual currency may have to report those transactions on their tax returns.

What is Virtual Currency?

Virtual currency is a digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and/or a store of value. In some environments, it operates like “real” currency (i.e., the coin and paper money of the United States or of any other country that is designated as legal tender, circulates, and is customarily used and accepted as a medium of exchange in the country of issuance), but it does not have legal tender status in  the U.S. Cryptocurrency is a type of virtual currency that utilizes cryptography to validate and secure transactions that are digitally recorded on a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain.

Virtual currency that has an equivalent value in real currency, or that acts as a substitute for real currency, is referred to as “convertible” virtual currency. Bitcoin is one example of a convertible virtual currency. Bitcoin can be digitally traded between users and can be purchased for, or exchanged into, U.S. dollars, Euros, and other real or virtual currencies.

*** end quote **

Sounds like they are defining “money”!

We don’t tax when “dollars” (i.e., Federal Reserve Note fiat greenbacks) are converted to Euros or visa versa.  So why are we taxed on “Virtual Currencies”?  For that matter, why are we taxed when buying gold or silver?  Doesn’t the Constitution define a “dollar” as an amount of gold or silver?

Argh!

Guess the IRS is going have a hard time finding all the non-custodial crypto wallets!!!

#endthefed 

If they can keep drugs out their prisons, how will the keep crypto out of a free society?

—30—

VOCABULARY: “The Overton window”

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https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/overton-window-bitcoin

The Overton Window & Bitcoin
BY TYLER DURDEN
SATURDAY, FEB 12, 2022 – 09:00 PM
Authored by ‘DON’ via BitcoinMagazine.com,

As Bitcoin enters the mainstream conversation, it is becoming increasingly common for politicians to embrace or disparage the technology…

*** begin quote ***

“The Overton window is the range of policies politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time. It is also known as the window of discourse.

“The term is named after American policy analyst Joseph P. Overton, who stated that an idea’s political viability depends mainly on whether it falls within this range, rather than on politicians’ individual preferences. According to Overton, the window frames the range of policies that a politician can recommend without appearing too extreme to gain or keep public office given the climate of public opinion at that time.”

*** end quote ***

Can’t stop BITCOIN because it fulfills a basic human need — the ability to save financial wealth from the rapacious of seizure by central Gooferments!

—30—

GOLDBUG: Time to diversify savings?

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EMAIL TO LUDDITE AND OTHERS

Bitcoin: The Inevitable Path Toward Global Adoption Of The Next World Reserve Currency https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/bitcoin-inevitable-path-toward-global-adoption-next-world-reserve-currency

So, if the USD has a shelf life partially due to historical precedence and partially due to fiscal irresponsibility (overprinting of the money supply), what comes next? What replaces the USD? Another fiat currency? It’s possible, but my guess is the days of trusting a centralized party to maintain a stable supply of a currency have come and gone. Why trust, when you can just verify? An argument could be made that gold is today’s reserve asset as it is held by the majority of central banks.

RESPONSE

Not sure what to say on this, it’s above my pay grade.

MY CONCLUSION

Me neither. But, with the Gooferment’s inflation destroying the U$D’s value, it would seem that “diversification” of savings is essential to preserving what little wealth one has. 

Pre-1913, people saved gold and silver coins.  Since there was a gentle price deflation in the USA during that interval, it was a great strategy for preserving wealth.  After 1913, the erosion began, I blogged in June of 2006 about Evy’s Dad and his Fifty Dollar bill  —

https://reinkefaceslife.com/2006/06/30/rant-a-visit-from-one-of-my-favorite-socialists/

*** begin quote ***

My now departed father in law used to have a folded up fifty dollar bill in his wallet. He had carried it their since he was a young man, so that he’d “never be broke”. He was blue collar working guy. Salt of the either. Raised his family, paid his bills, and did the best he could. He was poor! BUT, he never realized, (I didn’t tell him cause he wouldn’t have believed me! I was just a child in his eyes.) that HIS beloved DEMOCRATIC (not that the R’s are any different), silently stole his “fifty in sunken city”. Yup, when he put that Fifty in his wallet if could buy lots of stuff: A hundred gallons of gasoline. Feed his family for a week. Ffity cartons of his beloved Lucky Strikes. Pay an entire hospital bill for an accident. It had value 60 years ago. After 60 years of inflation, I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his beloved Fifty was really was worth about 13 cents. Sad isn’t it.

*** end quote ***

As you know I like gold and silver bullion coins, but recently I’ve been thinking about diversifying to bitcoin.  Now I’m thinking about GOLDBACKS. I’ve dabble in BITCOIN and ETHERIUM.  I’ll probably dabble in GOLDBACKs too.  My bullion coin dealer is shifting out of coins and into middleman.  (Why use him when I can go directly AMPEX or others?). Sigh. So in March, I’ll be shifting.  Not sure exactly what mix but I’ll do something.

YMMV

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“Three hundred years from now where will you be and where shall I be?” — Thich Nhat Hanh

—30—

MONEY: The US dollar that is the fraud

Published on by reinkefj1 Comment

>>>> I really wish I understood the crypto world better. It seems like such a scam.

There are numerous good videos on crypto, bitcoin, etherium, and other “distributed blockchain ledgers”.  Some sites will even give you coins to watch their tutorials.

Essentially a bitcoin is nothing more than having a number that is the product of two large prime numbers.   For example, 77 is the product of 7 and 11.  You prove that “77” is yours because you have a public key of 7 and a private key of 11.  This “ownership” is written in a “distributed ledger” in lots of places.  That’s all you really need to understand.  

The “mining” that everyone talks about is people finding these pairs and writing the public key found and their private key to the distributed ledger.  Then, transfers are done by someone combining that public key to your wallet’s public key using their private key and writing it to the ledger.  Copies of the ledger are then created by all the other ledgers who repeat that calculation and confirm it. 

Sounds complicated but it really isn’t.

What makes these “coins” of great interest is that, in the case of bitcoin and bitcoin/cash, there is a limited supply that can not be inflated by anyone.  Including the Gooferment.  As such, it becomes “maney”, similar to gold and silver.  Especially as it gets wide spread adoption, it will become that store of value that every one seeks who realizes that the fiat Federal Reserve Note is essentially being made worthless by the Gooferment inflating the number of “dollars” in circulation.   

Just like the Romans devalued the denarius (silver) coin and the French the (gold) franc, so to the USA is devaluing the dollar to give politicians the money to spend on our version of “bread and circuses”.

Like all empires, the USA will financially collapse … … sooner or later.

BITCOIN might emerge as the money of the future.  

I probably won’t be around to see it, but I believe it WILL happen.  

If you’re looking for a scam, it’s the US dollar that is the fraud.

Sadly.  Sigh!

—30—

MONEY: A negative on bitcoin

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http://dont-tread-on.me/?p=31861

26 Reasons Why I Will Never Support Bitcoin
By Silver Shield, on December 21st, 2013

*** begin quote ***

20. Then there is that anti government aspect of it.  Really? It seems the Anglo American bankers love it, including Ben Bernanke and JP Morgan.  It is right up their alley with something for nothing.  They may crack down on Bitcoin only to launch their own brand.  Look at the Lotto.  They went after the mob for running numbers, but then made it legal for them to profit off of.  They went after Charles Ponzi and then created their own Ponzi Scheme with Social Security.  I am telling you Bitcoin or something just like Bitcoin will be used to sell to the people after the dollar collapse, a new electronic worthless currency.  Who knows maybe we will get bonus points for watching TV and using it?  They already have millions hooked on EBT cards, get the corporations involved and the government muscle and you could see the final realization of a digital currency where they can cut you off if you get out of line.  How many stories do we already hear about bank bailins and IRS and NSA messing with people’s bank accounts.  Having real wealth outside of the system is the only antidote for that.

*** end quote ***

It’s the “intrinsic value” argument that hits me hardest.

In POW camps of WW2, cigarettes were “money”.

Gold and silver have the advantage of “intrinsic value”. Junk silver, (i.e., pre-1964 US coins), will be the money of TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It)!

The survivalist community plans to use ammo as money. As well as commodities, like liquor, can be barter fodder. 

Remember barter will precede “money”.

So, save wealth in forms that are not paper!

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MONEY: Another business takes bitcoins

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/bitcoins-lemonade-stand_n_4563348.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000540

These Girls Accept Bitcoins At Their Lemonade Stand
Posted: 01/08/2014 3:46 pm EST | Updated: 01/09/2014 11:44 am EST

*** begin quote ***

Bitcoins have been everywhere in the news lately. Their value crashed, it crashed again, yet more and more businesses are accepting them. One particular business has really caught the Internet’s attention: a lemonade stand run by two adorable girls in San Francisco.

*** end quote ***

Inevitable?

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MONEY: Bitcoins goes mainstream as a fiat alternative

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http://cashintocoins.com/index.php

cash into coins
faq and support

*** begin quote ***

Q. How do I know if this is safe?

A. Every new business faces trust issues when developing relations with first time customers. However, doing business with CashIntoCoins is incredibly safe. We are required by law to provide several forms of identification, when starting my business, opening new bank accounts, and sending and receiving money. To top it off, you get a cash receipt, from a FDIC insured bank, with lots of cameras and paperwork that link your cash to this busines specifically.

*** end quote ***

Bitcoins appears to be the real deal.

It certainly is a challenge to fiat currencies.

Orginially popular for SILKROAD and the drug culture, it’s now moved into the mainstream.

Overstock Dot Com has just legitimized it.

Now in addition to gold, silver, and nickels, you can save and diversify into bitcoins.

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SOFTWARE: KRYPTOKIT for bit coin and encrypted email

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http://kryptokit.com/getting-started.html

What is KryptoKit?

KryptoKit is the world’s first instant Bitcoin wallet and secure messaging system that’s built right into your browser. It’s the easiest and fastest wallet to set up, and the easiest and fastest way to make Bitcoin payments. KryptoKit is a free extension plug-in for Chrome, making Bitcoin and GPG secure messaging instantly accessible even for beginners.

We believe in frictionless systems. We do things to remove the amount of clicks and friction that can often be involved when working with webwallets or making Bitcoin transactions. Below we’ll explain how to set up KryptoKit, its wallet and messaging system, as well as some of the other features KryptoKit offers.

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