Topic: more bitcoin spam email (this could become a problem) - page 2. (Read 3415 times)

That sounds like we're putting a lot of faith in bitcoin or something. However, it's a fact that certain people screams "BUBBLE!" every time bitcoin does a dramatic price rise. If you cry wolf everytime, people are going to ignore you.

Sure thing, and I never argued otherwise. They can be indistinguishable though, and the spammer probably linked here knowing that this is where the most enthusiastic bitcoin believers hang out.

There's a difference between spamming and talking about the rise of bitcoin.

This is exactly what is going on here. The e-mail is full of useless information and references to the gold standard and lack of a central bank that are designed to get people riled up about how bitcoins are the answer. If they come to this forum they'll see all sorts of posts from people who insist bitcoin is going to take off, 'go parabolic', hit $1000 USD, etc.

Anyone who bought in to bitcoins has every incentive to get as many people hyped up about bitcoin as possible. The more people who believe it will just keep going up, the more buyers you have. More buyers == higher prices when you want to sell.

Just look around the forums and see how starry-eyed people are here. The number of threads about how bitcoin is just going to keep going up and up is absurd, and every reference to a bubble draws people out of the woodwork to attempt to smash the argument.

Watch out.

seems ... unlikely. how could it possibly have any noticeable impact on bitcoin prices?

It may be a "pump-and-dump". The perpetrator buys some bitcoins, then spams the internet with bitcoin-promotion in the hope of making the price rise before selling out.

... there is no obvious sales pitch or scam

From: ----------------------------------
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2011 3:47 PM
To: -----------------------------
Subject: Bitcoin

Dear friends and family, If you've spoken to me in the last 6 months, you probably know that I have been more than a little obsessed with a new form of money called "Bitcoin". After the recent surge in press attention and an almost 1000% increase in apparent market value of 1 Bitcoin to the US dollar (1 Bitcoin at the time of writing is trading for $7.80 USD), I thought it might be time to share some resources broadly explaining what Bitcoin is, and why it MAY be an incredibly important economic development. To get started, I first of all recommend that everyone watch the video on the front page of this site: -> http://www.weusecoins.com/ This video explains what Bitcoin is, and I will further summarize: - It is a PURELY digital currency, with no representation in the physical sense (bills, gold, etc). - It is peer-to-peer, meaning a financial institution middleman is NOT required for transactions. - It is nearly free to make any sized transaction. - It is NOT issued by a central authority or managed by a central bank. - It cannot be infinitely issued; there is a fixed number of Bitcoins and they are rare by design. - It doesn't know national borders, so can be used more or less anywhere. - Transactions can be made extremely private with little effort. - The entire source of the whole system is open, meaning it can be reviewed and scrutinized by ANYONE. If it all seems very "unreal" or hard to correlate with real value, then perhaps the following is worth noting: "On August 15, 1971, the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the dollar to gold. As a result, "the Bretton Woods system officially ended and the dollar became fully 'fiat currency,' backed by nothing but the promise of the federal government." This action, referred to as the Nixon shock, created the situation in which the United States dollar became the sole backing of currencies and a reserve currency for the member states." -> ( see: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bretton_Woods_System ) In other words, Dollars and indeed, Euros, are backed by nothing other than a faith or belief that they are worth something... And surprisingly, this seems to be enough to keep the whole system moving! This subject was also highlighted on a recent episode of This American Life called "The Invention of Money", which I highly recommend checking out: -> http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/423/the-invention-of-money I'm writing this not because I expect you to run out and buy Bitcoins; it's much too early in the game for me to recommend something like that. The value fluctuates every day and there is not a lot which can be purchased with them at present. However, I do recommend that you keep your eye on what is going on here, because I believe that it represents a major sea change in the role of money in our society: The future may indeed be decentralized, no longer attached to any private or government functionary, and more absolutely controlled by the individual holder. Bitcoin itself may not be what succeeds, but SOMETHING like this, I truly believe, will. And this has really big implications for just about everything. More specific and technical details on Bitcoin are available here: -> https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bitcoin If you would like a few FREE Bitcents go here (you will need a wallet -- get a temporary one here: www.instawallet.org ): -> http://freebitcoins.appspot.com/ If you want to play with Bitcoin more seriously, considering downloading the desktop software, available at the bottom of this page (again, FREE): -> http://www.weusecoins.com/ If you like, watch an interview with two of the current developers of the project (jump to 7:20 to skip some mostly unrelated nonsense). This interview also involves everything from government implications to some of Bitcoin's potential use in South African businesses: -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwNfBgwbqng The Bitcoin forum is a great place to ask the general Bitcoin community anything that you might think of: -> http://bitcointalk.org Where I can, I am making myself available as a public resource for Bitcoin-related inquiries and information. Feel free to use me in that capacity, to answer any questions that you may have (I don't know everything so your questions also help me further understand Bitcoin through research and community outreach). I am also giving all of my current Bitcoin stash away, so ask if you would like a few I'll send them to your purse while supplies last. Interesting times, no? .wendel