Topic: I am never using Bitpay!Former SEC chair takes advisory roles bitpay and vaurum! (Read 2063 times)

BitPay has hired another professional, great news!

Not good for this SEC punk to come in.

That is exactly how they will destroy it, with all kinds of bs regulation! The people who are rooting for this are the ones who want to get rich in dollar terms! Exactly what Bitcoin was designed to avoid in the first place! FIAT!

I never used bitpay, and hearing some of the comments about it, I am not sure whether I will use it in the near future.

Don't worry, from what I've seen, the big players are thinking exactly what you are thinking.  I just don't know if they can pull it off. I suspect not.  What attracts the masses, and the users, of Bitcoin is the anonymity factor, which is going away fast. If Bitcoin loses anonymity, it becomes just another PayPal IMO.  Maybe a cheaper PayPal, but essentially another PayPal.

I am serious.  What we need is the big boys to come and play.  Let's take the Forbe's top 400.  If we can get them to diversify their portfolio's to a measly 3% bitcoin, at current prices that would be infusing over 100 billion USD into the bitcoin system, a system right now that is only worth 4.5 billion.  I am not sure what kind of pressure that would put on the price, but I am guessing bitcoin would go over 100,000 USD per coin easily, probably much more than that. 

But these big boys aren't going to come into the system until they have heard official rulings from the main governments of the world saying that, "Yes, Bitcoin is approved and you don't have to worry.  It might be a risky investment, but it is completely legal."  Your crazy if you think they are going to buy in without getting confirmation from high ups in the government that their investments will be legal.  I don't know how many billionaires the old SEC chairman has met in his life, but I am guessing it is a whole lot.  This is exactly the type of guy they call before making a decision to buy in. 

We not only need one former SEC chairman on our side trying to smooth things out for Bitcoin, we need like 50 more.  Some heads of FinCEN would be nice. How about some heads of the IRS?  That sure would make things a lot easier for Bitcoin to be accepted if the government ruled it as a place to avoid some taxes (it won't ever be a place to avoid all taxes, but what we really want to make sure is that legal bitcoin businesses aren't over taxed, after all most businesses will be legal and will be paying taxes.) Some high up governors and senators.  Hey, it would be really nice if we could get a former (liked) President to go on a talk show and say they just bought some bitcoin.  Bill Clinton maybe?  Not while Hilary is running though.  The point is, right now Bitcoin has maybe a handful of big players pushing it (two of them are twins).  We need a lot more than that.  As much as these people are hated, they are the ones that will ultimately decide if the policies set by the governments of the world are pro-Bitcoin or not.  If the governments join us, it will make life a lot easier to transition.  Legal tax paying businesses (which the majority of the economy) and big investors will be much more likely to join in. 

Ok, I give up, you guys win.

This is some of the best news in a while for Bitcoin.  This guy probably has some serious connections in the SEC.  We need them on our side.  If you don't think so, you are stupid.  If you think that Bitcoin will just up and depose fiat without the government sanctioning Bitcoin, you are crazy.  If the government declares war on Bitcoin, they can seriously make it difficult for Bitcoin to grow.  Can it stop it completely?  No.  But if all the governments in the world ban it, then it is going to fail.  

On the other hand, if big hands within government good ole boy system use their power to help Bitcoin gain approval from governments, then Bitcoin will be free to grow legally and without worry.    

Look...... the SEC isn't going to be able to change the code or the clients.  They can make no fundamental changes to the Bitcoin code.  What they can do is make it a pain in the ass to use for Americans, and even to a large extent non-Americans.  

The more people like him are on board with Bitcoin moving forward, the better.  

Look...... we didn't join the old system.  The old system joined us.  This is what HAS TO HAPPEN for Bitcoin to get big.  We don't want to fight fiat, we want to be better than it so that everybody, the people and the governments just switch over because it is the natural thing to do.

This man for almost a decade was one of the most powerful financial regulators of the world.  Having him as an ally is huge.

This is a very good point. Too add onto this, companies like bitpay will help get more consumers to start using bitcoin as it gives them a reason to do so. This will overall benefit bitcoin over the long run

No company is going to follow your political beliefs 100% of the time across all issues. 

Build an economy around bitcoin only, transact in bitcoin only!! That is what bitcoin was made for!!

How exactly does one "remove" bitcoin's "association" with the US Dollar??

LOL The "public trust". You have got to be shitting me! After everything that has happened since 2007, you think the SEC or any government institution has the "trust" of the American people??

Did any of you read the article? Did you see the guy's pic?? Would you trust anyone that looks like that guy, LOL?

I think it the other way around, noob!

Bitcoin isn't "pegged" to the U.S. dollar, it's value floats freely against the dollar just as any other currency or investment does.

Nor does it have any association with the dollar. But users who want to buy BTC or sell it either need to go through things like local bitcoins or else transact with a company that is "associated" with both dollars and bitcoins. There's no way to just snap your fingers and make it so that people can no longer ascribe a dollar value to a bitcoin.

Companies dealing with Bitcoin, in the US at least, are going to be heavily regulated entities, just like companies that handle cash, stocks and other investments. You might grumble about it, but there's no choice. Better that bitpay gets proactive and hires someone who can think through each of their decisions from th3 angle of "will this get us in trouble with regulators? Why or why not?", than try to do so through guesswork alone.

I don't see this as a bad thing, more of a pragmatic action

I don't think you understand how economics work.

BitPay serves a purpose.

A business might not know much about Bitcoin and might not be willing to change how their whole system operates to adopt it.

BitPay allows them to keep things running the same but take a few extra minutes and start accepting Bitcoin. They continue to do their finances the same way, get paid in fiat without any major disruption while saving a little bit of money on transaction fees in the process.

If you were really concerned, instead of a boycott you would be coming up with simple solutions for businesses to integrate bitcoins into their finances such that accepting them without a middle man would make a lot of sense.

Yes, they should avoid middlemen, but they don't. Reason is convenience. Most people simply do what seems convenient, without thinking too much about the possible consequences.

That's how banks became so powerful (it's even the reason why they exist at all).

However there's a difference when it comes to Bitcoin: The issuance of new currency units is not in the hands of government and banks, it's in the hands of an algorithm. So Bitcoin is not debt money like fiat, that can be manipulated by the slave masters.

ya.ya.yo!

I'm down with a boycott. But there is no way to enforce any bitcoin rules that are outside of the protocol. There is a financial reward for not joining a boycott and no repercussions for playing spoliator. Similarly you can't "peg" the price of bitcoin to anything. You can make all the rules you want, but they are voluntary and no one has to obey any of them.  

This is significant.  As I have said, it's inevitable that BTC loses some anonymity in exchange for greater market share. 

Levitt of course is right about what he says below.

TonyT

The Wall Street Journal reported today that consultant Arthur Levitt – who served as SEC chairman from 1993 to 2001 and was actually the longest-serving person in that role – has joined the boards in order to guide the bitcoin firms' approach to financial regulation.

Levitt affirmed he was impressed by the "innovative energy" of the digital currency industry's youthful representatives, but that they remained unaware of the inevitable regulatory issues their companies would face in winning the public's trust.