How can we as a group of users support bitcoin in the long run, other than mining and using bitcoins as currency?
I find that carrying around a Casascius physical bitcoin comes in handy as a way to introduce someone to bitcoin. Though many people (particularly in the tech industry) know of bitcoin, few have seen a physical bitcoin. To help explain it, I also keep a "broken" Casascius coin as well. The mystery of how bitcoin can be a physical coin is explained simply by saying how the code printed on the outside is for receiving coins, and the code underneath the hologram is simply like a password. The value of the coin remains protected until the hologram has been tampered with.
- http://www.casascius.com
- http://memorydealers.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=bitcoin
Has anyone here considered running an online business centered around bitcoins? The currently available ones are not that great in terms of quality. Most are also based on the bidding system and not on buy now ideology.
There are a limited number of e-commerce sites thus far. As far as buy-now, possibly the one with the widest selection is:
- http://www.BitcoinDeals.com
And a more comprehensive list of sites and services accepting bitcoin as payment:
- https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade
An existing e-commerce site can add bitcoin as a payment method with a shopping cart interface (e.g., weex just updated the Bitcoin module for OSCommerce) or there are payment processing systems such as Bit-Pay which enable that.
- https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/OsCommerce_Bitcoin_Payment_Module
- https://bit-pay.com
Are you are looking to create a site or service where bitcoins accepted and are looking for ideas, or do you have a specific idea you are considering implementing?
