Topic: Backing Bitcoin with People - page 2. (Read 2696 times)

Yes, your points about producing other revenue to handle things is great. I would want it to be non-profit as I think this would lend to greater credibility. I'm sure many would disagree with me on this, but i know marketing and people "trust" the non-profit brand.

I also sincerely am not looking for a way to make money, I make plenty with my core career/business.

I don't give a shit about money, which is why I like bitcoin. I hate liars and thieves and love anything which cuts them out or makes them pay. I firmly believe human society would be exponentially more peaceful and productive if people were not greedy and could be trusted.

Anyway, rant aside, anything to help people wake up to the fiat scam, increase personal freedom and embrace bitcoin is high on my list.

True, but the point is, it's not your "entire" productivity you are willing to accept bitcoin for. This is the trouble for bitcoin start-ups currently. They need to pay their bills with fiat.

If you sharpen chainsaw blades and bitcoin value soars and it is now $1000 usd to have your blade sharpened, well no one calls you to pay with bitcoins for a while. No big deal because you already should have a fiat sharpening business.

This is simply a way to get a marketplace going, with limited risk to the people providing the goods/services and limited risk for the customers.

A way to simply start greasing the wheels of bitcoin commerce.

So maybe the key part is a "craig's list" for bitcoin with a sophisticated feedback system to help develop localized bitcoin economies.

Maybe instead of escrow, the entity could accept donations and a small transaction fee in order to help people who get ripped off. Kind of an insurance policy of sorts.

Another key point is to separate it from exchange rates. In order to do this of course, people would essentially have to be willing to "lose" fiat money on the deal. This is why I used the word donate in the original post.

Personally I believe in the underlying principals of bitcoin enough, that I would be perfectly willing to treat 5-10 patients per month for bitcoin, no matter what its exchange rate was, in order to further the idea of bitcoin.

I also am in the process of obtaining an MBA and have been running a business for almost ten years and would be willing to provide a certain number of hours of business consulting, etc.

There could also be a portion of the website which allows people to invest in bitcoin start-ups, make donations, etc. I also believe a separate bitcoin to fiat exchange would be great which was backed by this legit international business entity to help alleviate the fear of using the current exchanges. People will feel far more comfortable using an exchange where they have direct legal recourse if they get screwed.

TRUST, TRUST, TRUST is what we need to build more than anything at this point.

I know that simply getting people to use bitcoin will ultimately make the currency work long-term, but in the near term, some sort of "guarantee" would go a long way toward adoption.

I know we can't make people do anything, but sheer volume would make up for the few who state they will do something and ultimately fail to deliver. The feedback system once mature would take care of that. I also think if the central body could hold payments in escrow until the service/product is delivered, this would help with lay people using the system and being afraid of "losing" their coins because bitcoin doesn't have chargebacks. An ebay type of system if you will.

I understand that, but regular people do not. Maybe "backing" was the wrong term to use, but I think if you read my post you will get my drift which is to say it would be great if we could come up with a way in which bitcoin will always have some "inherent" value.

Maybe "securing" the value of bitcoin or "stabilizing" bitcoin is a better term. The electricity has no "value" after it has been utilized and the proof of work only secures the uniqueness and security of the currency as to it being unable to be fraudulently duplicated or double spent.

The question I'm trying to answer, which I hear often from people I talk about bitcoin with, is what is the value of a bitcoin? or what happens if bitcoins are no longer worth money?

Bitcoin is backed by MATH. 

Indeed.

I think Bitcoin is already backed by hardware power and miner's know-how.

bitcoins are backed by the proof of work and elecricity used to mint the coin

So one of the major weaknesses of bitcoin is that it is "backed by nothing". I know there are many who would suggest this is not the case, but this is the current perceived reality by outsiders and certainly regular people.

This is not a discussion about bitcoin's "value", but more its perceived value.

What if we could start a bitcoin co-operative of some sort where people "donated" or "guaranteed" their time or resources/assets? The prices were set in bitcoin only and were not reflective of bitcoin's value to any other currency. The prices were "set" for a given time period let's say, or maybe forever(lifetime)?

For example: I am an acupuncturist and my USD cash fee is currently $65 per follow-up visit. Since I believe in the utility and decentralization aspects of bitcoin, I pledge to "donate" or "set aside" 5 acupuncture treatments per month in my schedule for 10btc each. I will not accept any payment but bitcoin for these 5 visits each month.

Now I'm not sure it needs to be so attractive as to be a discount against the usd, which the above examples means they would be getting approx. $25 off at current bitcoin exchange rates, instead I believe the guarantee aspect is the key. The simple idea that no matter what happens to fiat currency, or gold or any other payment method, there are a group of people willing to exclusively accept bitcoins for certain services/goods, etc.

Said another way, bitcoins will always be able to be exchanged for something, no matter what their value is in fiat currency. a way to drive out the fear that this digital currency could be worth nothing at some point.

Now of course this is a fledgling idea with lots of holes, but I think the main premise is worth exploring. Can we create a new method of "backing" this currency which aligns itself with the current goals of bitcoin. Or at least the main goal of bringing the power of money back to individuals and away from state and cartel control.

Now my acupuncture example is only useful for those who can physically get to my location, but there are many people in this community with farther reaching skills such as programming, server space, etc. Of course, if we could get thousands of people all over the world to join, then it would become exponentially more attractive and essentially more valuable.

Of course we would need a website or some other space to connect people and also a secure way for people to pay, etc. maybe even a unique exchange to help make it easier for people.

I also think we would need some stable, official, legal body to act is the intermediary to settle disputes and such. Maybe we could form an international non-profit entity which handles the web operation and is composed of volunteers?

My brain is churning and I think there's some merit to this idea and I would love some feedback.