Crypto Currency

Inaugural Interview with “The News Doctors” – Bitcoin, Freedom and Decentralization

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Last Friday, I had the opportunity to sit down with Eric Dubin, editor of The News Doctors, an alternative news site, and host of Liberty Rising Radio. This was a lengthy interview and we cover a lot of very important bases. Eric asked many key questions on the minds of Bitcoin skeptics, so I think this particular … Read more

You Can Now Book a Hotel Room with Bitcoin at Over 200,000 Properties

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Cheapair.com has been leading the way as far as providing consumers with the ability to book travel services with Bitcoin. I first highlighted the company back in November of last year when they announced airfare purchases for BTC. Well it turns out they had such success with that rollout that they are going to offer … Read more

A Majority of U.S Technology Professionals Would Accept Bitcoin as Payment Reports WSJ

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There’s no telling exactly how accurate this survey is, and whether or not the participants are thinking in terms of part of their paychecks or the entire thing, but if the figures are anywhere near the reported 51%, it is a very positive signal.

People being paid in bitcoin represents a huge step in the process of the currency transitioning into something more akin to the role fiat money plays in everyday life. We may be much closer to this reality than many people think, particularly with the recent launch of the very innovative BitPay Payroll API, which makes it incredibly simple for employees to receive a portion of their wages in bitcoin.

From the Wall Street Journal:

A majority of U.S technology professionals would welcome being paid in bitcoin, according to a survey by event organizer Tech in Motion.

Out of 847 responses to a questionnaire sent to Tech in Motion’s 18,000 members, 51.12% answered “yes, absolutely,” to the question “Would you be interested in being paid for your work in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin?” A further 18.06% ticked “Maybe, let’s see where Bitcoin is in a year or two,” with the remainder saying that they would prefer to be paid in traditional currency. Just 9.92% rejected the option because they “do not think Bitcoin will last,” and 1.18% said they didn’t know what bitcoin was.

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Inaugural Interview with Hard Assets Alliance – India’s War on Gold, Bitcoin in China and More…

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This past week I sat down with Andy Duncan of the Hard Assets Alliance for an inaugural podcast and we discussed a variety of timely topics. From India’s “war on gold,” the emergence of new political parties around the world and, of course, Bitcoin. This is the first interview in which I discuss my view … Read more

Why China’s Attack on Bitcoin is a Sign of Weakness

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For myself and many others back in the 2008/09 period, it seemed obvious what China should to do from an entirely nationalistic perspective on the grand geopolitical chessboard. With the reputation of the U.S. laying in tatters following a gigantic financial collapse and an utterly embarrassing, unlimited taxpayer bailout of the criminals that caused the crisis, the entire world (including Americans) was looking for something else. Something new, something more lawful. Something more just and more stable. The U.S. dollar and the Federal Reserve System had been exposed and entirely discredited in many people’s minds. One of history’s most bold and monumental geopolitical moves was ripe for the taking. China could attempt to back its currency with gold, something I discussed with Max Keiser in a May 2010 interview. Immediately, capital flows would flood into the country, Chinese consumer purchasing power would explode and a rebalancing of their economy would experience a traumatic, but monumental and necessary shift. They could have announced such a plan and then implemented it slowly and with safety nets for manufacturers. It wouldn’t have been easy, but the window of opportunity was open. Instead, they did nothing, and now I think it’s too late.

I think there are two obvious reasons why the Chinese authorities failed to take bold action on the world stage. First, many of the wealthiest billionaires and elites in China have benefited greatly from so-called “free trade” partnerships with the West. The ponzi relationship in which we print pieces of paper and give it to them for manufactured goods has resulted in fabulous fortunes for the Chinese power players. Not to mention their existing personal, social relationships with Western elites. So why rock the boat?

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BitPay is Now Adding 1,000 New Merchants Per Week

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Earlier today, the Bitcoin news website Coindesk reported that BitPay is adding 1,000 new merchants per week, within an article highlighting the fact that private jet company PrivateFly had just teamed up with the payment processor to accept BTC for its charter flights. Just to put this into perspective and understand just how staggering this … Read more

Overstock’s First Day of Bitcoin – $130,000 in Sales, 840 Transactions, CEO is “Stunned”

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Upon the conclusion of the Senate hearing on Bitcoin this past November, I tweeted that I thought we had entered Phase 2 of the Bitcoin story. A month later, following news that Andreessen Horowitz had led an venture capital investment of $25 million in Coinbase, I wrote: As I tweeted at the time, I think Bitcoin … Read more

Time to Say Goodbye to 2013 with “A History of Bitcoin” Timeline

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There is no doubt that the most important story of 2013 from an economic and monetary perspective was Bitcoin. Whether you love it, or thinks it’s “evil” like statist lemming leader Paul Krugman, this was the year in which decentralized, crypto-currency first entered human consciousness, a concept which is unlikely to go away any time … Read more

Jeffrey Lacker: “Fed Has No Interest in Stopping Bitcoin”

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While I don’t believe a word the professional criminals at the Federal Reserve say about anything, this is nonetheless an interesting clip from CNBC earlier today. The guest was Jeffrey Lacker, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Of course, I do note that after Lacker says his statement about the lack of … Read more

Paul Krugman Once Again Irrationally Attacks Bitcoin…Here’s My Response

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The last aggressive anti-Bitcoin tirade I recall from Paul Krugman was written on April 14th of this year. It was such an irrational piece of drivel that I decided to respond to his Op-ed nearly paragraph by paragraph in my piece, Paul Krugman Goes on the Attack: Calls Bitcoin “Antisocial,” which I strongly suggest you read if you haven’t already.

What is most interesting about that previous article in hindsight is that he wrote it right after Bitcoin experienced its first major crash of 2013 (there have been two thus far, both after greater than 10-fold increases in the price). While I know Krugman periodically attacks Bitcoin, it’s interesting that this latest Bitcoin hit piece also came directly after the second crash. For those who are holders of Bitcoin, this should be taken as a very positive price signal going forward. Krugman’s prior article was written the day before the abolsute low price for the decline was reached at $50/btc on April 15th. It seems that Krugman becomes particularly comfortable slamming Bitcoin only after a price crash.

In any event, his latest Op-ed is almost as bad as the first one, and so I thought it’d be worthwhile to highlight his ignorance, irrationality and blatant use of statist propaganda once again. So let’s go.

From the New York Times:

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