Topic: We're a bit "odd" - David Birch Lift 2012 (Read 1797 times)

While I was watching that video I also fund THAT video:

The incredible (but true) story of Bitcoin, told by Adrienne Jeffries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4sKx6lhxM_8

Its really well narrated by her, give it a watch when you just love to hear the greatest story ever told over and over again (like me)!

Let's prove them wrong.

Right, which is the complete opposite of simple to do. Maybe he means simple to imagine?

;tldr fuck Birch, bitium is the new gold

just discovered this vid, there's tons of shit to tell Birch.

His main mistake is the same one Tony Gallipi makes: viewing bitcoin as solely a payment system.

This guy is so entangled into payment mechanics ([loosely quoted]"transaction services will become more like a utility") that he cannot understand that bitcoin is not only a payment machanism, but also a MONEY.

This is a very similar mistake to the one gold-bugs make when they demand a "digital currency must be backed by gold": they view bitcoin in the framework of the idea of a "promise to pay" some real money in exchange for pieces of the currency (bank notes).

There's no "promise to pay" by anyone to anyone else involved with bitcoin!

Bitcoin is not a currency, it's money.

In that sense, I really like the idea of Bitium

The speaker is a consultant for banks and financial institutions: his freedom of speech is long gone..The guy is not a protester but a servant.

Personal computers were once the realm of Radio Shack geeks playing in their garages. Geeks have come a long way since then. Forums like this are the new think tanks replacing places like Menlo Park. This forum has more useful information about financial transactions than any University. Pundits will always be pundits and they can suck it.

We had David Birch at last years European Bitcoin Conference:

http://bitcoinmedia.com/eurobit-david-birch-next-generation-money/

Not sure why Adrianne Jeffries is talking about bitcoin though. She's a journalist, not a payments expert and some of her writings have been wrong or shown a deep lack of understanding about bitcoin and the community.

David Birch is actually a payments consultant for the conventional banking industry. So when you hear him speak, you know this is the current conventional wisdom in those circles.

I don't think Birch really understands bitcoin and thinks it's the same (but less efficient) than some centralized system like mpesa. At one point he claims that bitcoin is a payment system and he could use it to manage transactions in pounds or dollars (rather than in bitcoins). The only way that could happen is if the government of the UK or the US moved all pounds or dollars into a block chain as all transactions have to happen there. Given how unlikely that is, I don't think he really knows what he's saying.

The bitcoin blockchain system seems complicated and unwieldy but really it's just amazing that someone was able to come up with a system that works without a central authority - at all. I think it's unlikely we'll see any major improvements on the public ledger inside a blockchain idea anytime soon, so predictions of some next big thing taking over from bitcoin seem unlikely to me at the moment.

I've had my cards declined enough times for spurious 'for my safety' security checks to be tired of the payment processor second guessing my payments. There is a clear market for cash like transactions on the internet that are private and free from interference (however well intentioned) by any 3rd party.

I'm sure there will still be a large market for centralized digital currency wallets and NFC and all that stuff - but none of that is competing in the same space as bitcoin.. they're just new debit card systems.

I think it's simple in the sense of if you've got a ton of capital then it's quite easy as sellers want to use you to expand their potential market and buyers want to use you for ease or whatever you offer. However you've got to be of Paypal level to do that.

Ignorance is bliss. I encourage him to start his own successful e-currency. Once (and if) it becomes successful, let's see what he has to say about Bitcoin, as his currency gets shut down by the feds.

Half way through Birch says creating a digital currency (a centrally controlled one I presume) was simple. I was under the impression that it would require millions of dollars and years of legal wrangling before someone could obtain the proper licenses to run a digital currency. Just think of e-gold.

Is this guy actually the expert that he says he is???

Interview with David Birch and Adrianne Jeffries at Lift 2012

http://armdevices.net/2012/02/24/adrianne-jeffries-and-david-birch-on-bitcoin-digital-worldwide-currencies-at-lift-2012/

They both agree that digital currencies will be big in the future but they predict that Bitcoin will only be used by the odd people at the fringes of society.