Topic: rpietila public diary -- Episode II - page 10. (Read 40800 times)

Yes. Barricade yourself on a Caribbean Island.

In all seriousness, you touch upon a very important problem. When the whole economic landscape changes and The Last Big Bankrun (on the dollar dominated fiat system) hits us, most people will find it extremely unfair that early adopters sit on this wealth and their private pensions as well as the government's pension schemes are gone. There is one solution for that though. I will outline it in another thread.

99% of people are relatively poor - its not the purpose of Bitcoin to change that.  As long as people have excess food and good housing, there is no reason to be concerned about the fact that wealth is concentrated in 1% of the population.

Interesting thought, and one more reason why we should spend our coins now.

There is a thread that has some deeper-than-Bitcoin discussion about the state of the world. It has several facets of the topic, so best read when you have time to read several pages. Combined with my recent findings about the Bitcoin market cap growth vis-a-vis new investment flow, this paints a troubling picture of the equality of the bitcoin distribution at the bubble top.

It is hardly possible to stall Bitcoin's appreciation to a long-term sustainable value of, about 10 average apartments per bitcoin. At that point, bitcoin has risen 8 orders of magnitude already, and it is just hitting the masses (maybe 100 million people are in, so most are still out). There is just not enough time for the early adopters to get rid of the coins and acquire anything valuable. If they buy something, it is likely from other well-off people, which does not increase the number of bitcoins in the masses' hands. Capital Gains Tax is one thing that greatly hinders bitcoins from being distributed, and should be abolished.

98% of humanity won't have any bitcoins when it enters a bubble and this is a problem, since these are already the laggards, and by buying at the bubble, they make their situation worse, not better. Any thoughts?

typo: adopters not adaptors,  but I agree, it is sad to read these people embarrassing themselves.

I think that even if other coins do emerge to address some of the problems with Bitcoin (like 10 minute settlement time, representation of other commodities), Bitcoin will still exist as a reserve and large value settlement currency... so long as Bitcoin is quite valuable there will be inertia to changes to protect the existing value from being lost due to bugs.  But when/if some other crypto currency starts to eat into Bitcoin's value, its features will be incorporated Bitcoin...

Huh, last week did indeed score a tall green, and this week will also. On Friday I sold a BTC5 casascius for €1,470. When the buyer came back with the money, the price rise had already eaten my 5% margin over spot. The following day it had eaten the BTC1 physical premium. Then it crashed 29% and is already pretty much back where it was. Well done.  

The saddest thing on the Earth are bitcoin speculators who have sold out (at a profit, or loss, doesn't matter) and can't bite the bullet to buy back significantly higher. So now they spend their time in agony and attack old and new adopters alike in forums and Facebook.

I acknowledge the fact that Bitcoin has technical issues and it may have to be reengineered sometime in the future. But from an investor's point of view, every uncertainty can be mitigated by not investing 100% of your assets into same thing. As bitcoin's rise averages over 1000% per year, it is ridiculous to think that it would be risk or volatility free.

This ATM thing is really cool. It makes Bitcoin somewhat better to accept (cash machine -> cash). Never underestimate the psychological aspects.

Thanks for the encouraging words! It does not take that long to become millionaire with bitcoin. Today I was offered a bet concerning whether bitcoin will hit $5,000 before next June. Of course I took the "no" side. It is very nice if it happens, but in that case it does not matter to lose a bet. Furthermore, I already have a similar bet, but for the cutoff price of $1,000. That one I am on the "yes" side.

All in all, if in next June the price is less than $1,000 or more than $5,000, the bets cancel each other. If the price is in between (what I consider the most likely scenario!), I win both, netting 2,000mBTC.

This is just an example that you should strive to make your financial arrangements such that you win regardless (or minimum that you don't lose). Then just wait the required approximately 2 years and you will be a millionaire if bitcoin stays on track.

In the celebrations I got to use the Bitcoin ATM, and it was really cool. The bitcoins came instantly to my mobile wallet and premium was so low that I am almost ahead by now (I bought @199€, now: 197).

Congrats!  Wish we could join you in that party! We are a quite far from joining a millionaires club.  Perhaps in a couple years some of us can be there too if we can hold on that long and all goes well.   

This morning saw the ATH, nothing special businesswise.
(Later edit: crossed the $266 ATH from last April - from now on we would see ATH four days a week)

We are celebrating it in our BitcoinMillionaire(tm) club currently with some champagne etc. Sorry for being so short-worded.

Started a new thread, which is related to my work (enabling people to exchange bitcoins for other types of non-fiat money). Go, look and vote!

Since this was dubbed "Golden post", I will copy it here:

Today a quiet day. Bitcoin closed 4th consecutive "green" week yesterday. Last time this happened in January. I have the feeling based on multiple indicators that we have just started a megamove. I even bought back 170,000mBTC which I had previously sold.

Introduction

Satoshi started to run Bitcoin software 3.1.2009. In the first weeks, the community of bitcoin users numbered only a handful. The first BTC/USD transaction was 5,000 bitcoins for $5, ($0.000,001/mBTC). All the bitcoins of the world were valued at $100 at those prices.

Currently bitcoin is well established in several exchanges with large daily trading volumes. The exchange rate is now about $1/mBTC, and all the bitcoins are valued at $13 billion.

Bitcoin is the first thing in the history of the world whose value has appreciated this much (a millionfold) this quickly (less than 5 years).
This is making many ask the question -
What is this phenomenon called Bitcoin?


About rpietila

I have a long-term interest in Economics and it was also my major in Aalto University (formerly Helsinki University of Technology). This has led me to pursue a career of "private finance". I was previously interested in silver as the lynchpin of the global monetary economy. I am Founder and Partner in several investment silver dealerships.

I had known about Bitcoin in 2010 and we had arranged debates in our investment club, whether it was a viable monetary system already that winter 2010-11. I bought in only after the 2011 bear trap. I started to actively solicit Bitcoin and organize related events in late 2012. In February 6, 2013 I began to fully embrace Bitcoin and turned my back on silver. That day I sent a letter to all my clients, subscribers and later also posted it in my blog, somewhat ashamed of the slow progress of silver, and also of the (seemingly) late decision to quit it in favor of bitcoins. In the letter I issued the strongest possible buy recommendation for bitcoin.
(translation mine)

I (still) recommend each and every one to invest at least a small sum in bitcoins. I also recommend that all familiarize themselves with bitcoin [sic]. Even though typically it is more prudent to familiarize yourself with the investment first, and only then invest, bitcoin's value appreciation has been so rapid (15% monthly during the last 1.5 years) that even the reverse order could be taken. This only if you pretend to not find enough time at your disposal, to familiarize yourself with this fascinating invention, which has already revolutionized the international micropayments remittance industry and may in the future be a paradigm shift to the monetary system as a whole.

/—-****—-

I am rather proud of the millions of euros that my clients have prospered by investing in silver. One good piece of advice is better than any number of bad. Now, I believe that an investment comparable to silver has been invented. Although the risks are high (bitcoin can go to zero, like euros or dollars, unlike silver or gold), the value appreciation potential is staggering.
Risto Pietilä 6.2.2013


Since writing that and investing an increasing percentage of my and the companies' portfolio into bitcoin, I have become a Bitcoin multimillionaire. I live in Helsinki with my wife and daugher. I have recently purchased a castle to act as a Bitcoin Retreat Center.


Bitcoin Economics Resources

Apart from the Beginners' Introduction and the FAQ, the other resources are my primers and forum contribution to the bitcoin knowledge base:

Introduction to Bitcoin

Bitcoin FAQ

How bitcoins are distributed among holders of different size

Bitcoin's price trend 2009-2013

The TOP-500 Bitcoin wealthiest (not reliable, not updated)

"SSS" (Bitcoin Savings Plan)

What is the value of a bitcoin (EV method)

rpietila Wall Observer (chat thread)



Happened in previous episode of rpietila public diary 12.4.2013-18.6.2013
- rpietila explaining how he makes money with bitcoin
- Deduces bitcoin's long term target price of $300/mBTC
- Talking about Real Bills Doctrine
- Sent BTC13.37 to nkspace, an unknown forum troll
- Organized an international Bitcoin Summit in Finnish country hotel
- Developed concepts of Bitcoin Supernode System and Bitcoin Dealer Network Association
- Closed down due to declining health in anticipation of $1.400/mBTC


Happened in this thread
- Noticing that Bitcoin is designed such (declining mining rewards) that it will likely revert to corporate control starting in 2033
- Design proposal of a CPU-mineable altcoin with ever-increasing monetary base
- This discussion is tied with the Bitcoin's price trend, which will go to over a million $/BTC in its peak, which is probably 18-48 months from now
- Typhoon hit the Philippines, and we are organising the (possibly) first ever P2P cryptocurrency aid effort (lots of PICS)
- The second Bitcoin crash of 2013 is underway
- The thread is closed


Current all-purpose thread



If you want to follow my stream (all comments, most of which are quite situational).

I use mBTC whenever practical.

If I have time, I actively moderate the threads for
- bad behavior
- negative posts
- noncontent
- repetition, including "rpietila is k1ng", "+1"
- off topic.
In some threads, most of the content gets deleted after a time, because the threads are preserved for newcomers to be read in entirety.