From the Front Page - General
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Bitcoin Simply Cannot Replace Fiat
November 9th, 2013 by
John Delono We're all here because we love Bitcoin. There's no denying that it's as versatile as it is brilliant, but is it really the future of money? Sometimes we need to put aside our ideals and look at the serious challenges that Bitcoin faces- challenges that, as John Delono illustrates, it may never overcome. Read More -
Join LTB @ Inside Bitcoins, Las Vegas!
November 7th, 2013 by
Adam B. Levine For the first time since the San Jose Bitcoin Conference, all the hosts of Let’s Talk Bitcoin! will be in attendance. Adam will be hosting a panel on New Ideas in Bitcoin, Stephanie will be conducting her trademark conference interviews and Andreas will be absolutely exhausted after flying directly from Buenos Aires to Las Vegas in order to be there. Hope to see you there! Read More -
Highway Robbery? Bitcoin User Not Affected!
November 6th, 2013 by
Dan Roseman Asset forfeiture, unsurprisingly, can be shady business. The seizing of funds and resources by law enforcement isn't just easy to abuse- the abuse is systemic. Civil forfeitures of fiat currency can take resources for nearly any reason, and leave citizens with no means of recovering it. Bitcoin, however, has natural advantages. Read More -
The Ripple Problem
November 4th, 2013 by Adam B. Levine Mentions at the recent C2SV conference have brought fresh attention to Ripple, the alternative-alternative to cryptocurrency- but attention doesn't always bring understanding. Ripple takes a very different approach to digital transactions and ultimately carries a very different philosophy with it. LTB's Adam B. Levine discusses Ripple's purpose, and prices of anonymity and compliance. Read More -
DAC Revisited
November 2nd, 2013 by
Daniel Larimer In recent months, the concept of "Distributed Autonomous Corporations" has evolved from jargon to terminology. The DAC concept is a highly promising ideology for the array of disruptive, innovative technologies that are emerging in Bitcoin's wake... but how does it really apply? Are any really in use right now? DAC pioneer Daniel Larimer of Invictus Innovations returns to Let's Talk Bitcoin to help make sense of what is- and perhaps what ISN'T- a DAC. Read More -
Keynes
October 28th, 2013 by
Nicolás Mendoza Propaganda comes in all forms, on all sides. Bitcoin, as apolitical as we like to think of it, gets politicized left and right, with few debates more furious than Keynesians versus Austrians. Is Bitcoin really so incompatible with Keynes, or is it just a matter of perspective? Guest writer Nicolás Mendoza suggests it has plenty in common. Read More -
Infinitely-Divided We Stand
October 26th, 2013 by
George Ettinger Deflation isn't just a far-off oddity of Bitcoin's future. At the rate that we are losing Bitcoins from circulation -often permanently- there won't be many to go around in the years to come. Divisibility seems like the shining hope for the long-term future, but it's a future we need to prepare for right now. Read More -
Why Bitcoin IS Intrinsically Valuable
October 19th, 2013 by Dan Roseman The common outsider complaint is that Bitcoin has no quantifiable value. Without physical mineral resources or obvious physical efforts behind it, people seem to think it cannot be used as currency- even if transactions every day prove them wrong. As Dan Roseman reports, Bitcoin retains value more like the US Dollar than many realize... and has plenty of advantages over it. Read More -
Silk Road Seized Coins' Soapbox
October 14th, 2013 by
Justin O'Connell The US Government might not be THE biggest holders of Bitcoin on the blockchain, but they've certainly hit a windfall in the form of Silk Road's seized assets. With so much digital wealth hoarded into federal hands, everyone is asking what will become of it. Thanks to the blockchain, some users are speaking up. Read More -
Money's Future May Lie in Its Past
October 12th, 2013 by
Greatest Instruments The mad scramble of competing currencies and a frustrated federal government fumbling to keep up is nothing new. In fact, before the centralization of federal reserve notes, banks, currency, and tax collection were an anarchic new frontier that took years to tame. Independent columnist The Greatest Instruments shares a story of money as a tool, a weapon, and a means of control over a young nation, and how it affects the digital age. Read More -
The Music Industry Needs Innovative Currency
October 10th, 2013 by Justin O'Connell Digital distribution of currency is now foremost on our minds, but digital distribution of entertainment media went through many similar growing pains a decade ago. Zealous litigation ultimately destroyed early fileshares like Napster, slowing piracy but stalling the growth and development of digital media for years. Now, the utility of Bitcoin may be just the thing to bring it to the masses. Read More -
The Great Silk Road Experiment
October 9th, 2013 by Justin O'Connell The Fall of Dread Pirate Roberts is a dramatic enough tale already, but behind the excitement and intrigue there's a lot it teaches us. Silk Road wasn't just a market; it was a social experiment with enormous repercussions. Justin O'Connell reports on the ups and downs of business in the freest free market. Read More -
Michigan Mayor's Campaign Accepts Bitcoin Donations
October 7th, 2013 by Dan Roseman In the face of Silk Road's closure and the wealth of complexities and regulations involved, one enterprising Michigan mayor is accepting Bitcoin campaign donations towards his re-election. Dan Roseman reports. Read More -
Bitcoin's Finally Growing Up
October 6th, 2013 by Adam B. Levine Cryptocurrency has been moving fast this past year, and we've all seen how innovation can move in just months or weeks at a time. The roots have grown deep and far enough that, ultimately, the closing of Silk Road hasn't shaken the community. LTB's Adam B. Levine discusses stability, monetization, and the wide diversity with which Bitcoin is accomplishing both. Read More -
OIG Hands Virtual-Currency Reins to FinCEN
October 5th, 2013 by
Brian Cohen Seemingly moments before the US Government went offline, the Treasure Office of Inspector General quietly released the U.S. Treasury's Annual Plan for 2014. Unlike its 2013 predecessor, the new plan makes several new distinctions for the concepts of "virtual currency." Brian Cohen researches and explains many of the subtle points of the new plan, and how new lines of authority may lead to future regulations.
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Trickle-Down Bitcoin
October 3rd, 2013 by
Michael Magan How Bitcoin Could Develop the Developing World: We hear talk of Bitcoin in Africa and South America often, but how plausible is a technocratic concept like cryptocurrency in underdeveloped nations? Michael Magan suggests that not only is the demand there, so is the infrastructure. Read More -
Proof of Work is Kryptonite for DDoSers
October 2nd, 2013 by Michael Magan Bitcoin wasn't just a proof-of-work for the premise of cryptocurrency- it's a proof-of-work for Proof-of-Work networking. The turbulent summer experienced by Mt.Gox and its users is a red flag that DDoS attacks can destabilize a whole economy. Could PoW insulate our exchanges? Read More -
Implications of a Bitcoin Economy
September 30th, 2013 by
Robert Berry What does a crypto-currency economy look like? How can we describe a Bitcoin future to the huge stretches of society that have yet to grasp it? Sometimes we need to step back from the individual components of the crypto revolution and look at the big picture. Only then, do the really big implications become clear. Read More -
Society's Rock Bottom Puts Bitcoin on Top
September 26th, 2013 by George Ettinger MAKE BITCOINS WITHOUT LIFTING A FINGER! THIS ONE WEIRD BITCOIN TRICK IS THE KEY TO WEIGHT LOSS! SAVE YOUR BITCOINS NOW BY SENDING THEM OVERSEAS! 100% PROFIT! ...do idiots shouting their spam and scams really cause a problem for Bitcoin? George Ettinger suggests than the new rash of capital letters and exclamation points may have unforseen benefits. Read More -
The Regulation of Bitcoin
September 25th, 2013 by
Amir Taaki Today, Amir Taaki guest-blogs for Let's Talk Bitcoin and sheds some light on a troubling new direction Bitcoin is taking. As investors and foundations strive to find even ground with legislators and regulators, is the revolutionary nature of Bitcoin being sacrificed? At what point does pragmatism become defeat? Will regulation become collaboration? No matter the direction, the onus is on us, the community, to preserve the integrity of Bitcoin itself. Read More
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