Becoming a Forum Supporter by Donating Bitcoin

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toffeestillidie

toffeestillidie

Player Valuation: £35m
D/D, have you considered this option?

I don't know if either of you are familiar with Bitcoin, but it's a very simple system, at least from your end.

If you're not familiar with it, it's basically an online currency that floats relative to other world currencies, it's growth is controlled by computer software, and transactions are processed by people who contribute their computer's processing power.

That's the super basic overview, you can find out more at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=9430.0 or https://www.weusecoins.com/


Anyways, if you wanted to accept donations in Bitcoin, it would be very simple. First you would just go to blockchain.info and make a bitcoin "wallet". For this wallet, you can generate a virtually unlimited amount of "receiving addresses."

So you could easily make a protocol where I send a message saying that I wish to contribute to the forum. You generate a new receiving address for me, and send me that address. I send Bitcoin to the address, and once the transaction clears, you can upgrade my status to 'forum supporter'

Once you've received my Bitcoin, there are a number of exchanges where you can trade them for pounds, and I believe there are some services that will instantly convert your Bitcoins to GBP upon receipt.

Sorry if any of that is confusing, and I understand if you don't have the time to deal with something new like this, but I've been trying to stay away from services like PayPal after hearing so many horror stories, and as I have a fair number of Bitcoin on hand, this would be an easy way for me to contribute to the forum.
 
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So my timing is just awful, apparently several sites that allow users to buy Bitcoin have shut off access for UK users. Since the cyprus fiasco started, the price of bitcoin has steadily risen with a lot of europeans opting to pull their money out of european banks. I wonder if these sites were forced to stop because regulators saw that this could be a threat to the london financial sector in the future. There are still a couple sites that allow UK users to purchase them though (will provide for any curious but I don't want to spam here).

Bryan said:
No. They are only valued by a few areas of commerce, they devalue faster then any other currency too.
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Like I said in my post, few vendors accept it now, but more will later. Any brick and mortar store can potentially do business in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin are a deflationary currency, the growth rate diminishes, whereas with most currencies the growth rate increases. So no, they don't "devalue" faster than other currencies, scheduled scarcity means they gain value, which carries its own set of economic problems. Please do some research before putting forth vague and unfounded criticisms

Brennan said:
Not being funny mate, but just use Paypal.
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I closed my PayPal account about a year ago, heard too many horror stories about poor security and customer service. Plus their reversible transactions are a nightmare for vendors, and I'd rather not support a company that conducts business in such a manner. I may end up creating an account again just for situations like this, but I'd really prefer not to.

GrandOldTeam said:
Thanks mate (I've just upgraded your account). No doubt appreciate the effort for feedback.

Isn't Bitcoin a bit black market? (I recall reading something like that about it)
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You really didn't have to do that, but thank you very much. I hope they sort out any lingering legal ambiguity and the currency catches on like I expect it to. Maybe if it gets more common this could be a possibility for the future.

A lot of the attention bitcoin got is for its black market potential, since once you have bitcoin, you can exchange them anonymously fairly easily. A website called the Silk Road that facilitates drug sales for Bitcoin got a lot of international attention and sort of put bitcoin on the map, but it has a lot of legitimate applications too. This link lists vendors who accept Bitcoin in the UK. It includes several web hosting companies, don't know if GOT's host is on the list.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AqR4ICE3b15vdDdmTFZMd2l6dGxWUTNXcVlqZ3RVcXc

paulbefc said:
Blatant advertising here.
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Advertising for what? $14 million US were spent on Bitcoin today in the US alone. Do you really think contributing a few quid on a forum is going to make an appreciable difference with that?

You're right though, I am trying to spread the word about something that may help GOT raise money more easily, don't really see the harm in that.

In fact, I have a little offer for any current forum supporters who are feeling adventurous and would like some Bitcoin to play with. I will send you Bitcoin if you promise that once you receive them, you'll contribute the equivalent amount in pounds to Grand Old Team. Anyone interested let me know and I can explain how to set up a wallet
 
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I'd like to have a little dabble into buying bitcoins - bit overwhelmed though trying to figure out where and how to do it...can u recommend any good sites to get started?
 
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toffeestillidie said:
I closed my PayPal account about a year ago, heard too many horror stories about poor security and customer service. Plus their reversible transactions are a nightmare for vendors, and I'd rather not support a company that conducts business in such a manner.
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FWIW I don't think PP is that bad. A lot of people run scams through PP and when they get caught kick up a lot of fuss -- I'm not saying that is 100% of the criticism but it's some. As for the vendor issue my company runs a lot of money through PP and while they are difficult to deal with (due to their scale) and have a few rules we aren't that fond of (which are allegedly in place to prevent scams and money laundering) they are a net positive based on a positive impact on conversion rate. So from a vendor perspective I'd give them a very small thumbs up ... like a babies thumb. They could be better but they do help us make more money than if we didn't associate with them.

From a consumer standpoint I've only ever had positive experiences dealing with their customer service. They've protected me against a couple of scammers on ebay.
 
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Gwladys St. Glory said:
I seriously doubt GOT's host (or any host, for that matter) accepts Bitcoins as payment and I would assume that's what most of the money from subscriptions goes to pay for.
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Wikileaks accept Bitcoins.


Brennan said:
Not being funny mate, but just use Paypal.
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Paypal blocked Wikileaks donations. Some out of moral principle prefer to use other methods to donate to sites of their choice. For example an Evertonian Wikileaks supporter would prefer to use Bitcoin rather than Paypal to support GOT, if it was available.


GrandOldTeam said:
Isn't Bitcoin a bit black market? (I recall reading something like that about it)
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This is a common misconception. The Daily Mail has written a few sensationalist articles about a recreational drugs buy-n-sell site which offers Bitcoin as its payment system (rather than Paypal or online banking, for obvious reasons).

Bitcoin is thus, in the mainstream, associated with illegal acts. Bitcoin is in itself not illegal. But it's also not a legal licenced centralised currency as we know and 'love' it. Think of it as the kind of online credits system we know from epic strategy computer games like Elite.

That illegal trade is attracted to Bitcoin is an obvious side-effect. But many use Bitcoin for legal and moral purposes (Wikileaks donations, for example).
 
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peteblue said:
Since you raised this I've been doing a fair bit of reading up on the subject. I have come to the conclusion that I still don't understand it.........
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Which parts are you confused about mate? If you'd like you can PM me and I'll try to explain anything I can.

Chavarotti said:
I'd like to have a little dabble into buying bitcoins - bit overwhelmed though trying to figure out where and how to do it...can u recommend any good sites to get started?
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I know what you mean, it's difficult enough in the U.S. to get Bitcoin, and from what I understand it's even harder to get them in Britain using pounds. Once you have Bitcoin though, they're incredibly easy to send around, spend, or trade in for cash.

One option is to use this site https://localbitcoins.com/postal_code/UK/Liverpool/, although you will likely pay a price premium (you won't have a favorable pound-to-bitcoin exchange rate, although the deflation will take care of that eventually)

I can't personally speak to the credibility of any site that allows you to buy bitcoin in the UK, but some of the guys in these links seem to know what's up
http://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinUK/comments/1bbx8v/infographic_convert_gbp_to_btc_for_1_credit_to/
http://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinUK/comments/1b8rug/gbp_into_btc_using_transferwise_and_bitstamp_now/

Tubey said:
bitcoin.org seems as good a place as any.

Techcrunch fell for an April Fool about Bitcoin in a big way yesterday:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...hrome.0.57j58.2049j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

^^
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This is f*ing hilarious. Wish I had seen on the day of, the panic must have been hilarious.

On a serious note, I would kind of like the price of Bitcoin to come down. Too many speculators in the market are detracting from the actual usefulness of bitcoins (like being able to contribute to websites you frequent)
dholliday said:
Wikileaks accept Bitcoins.




Paypal blocked Wikileaks donations. Some out of moral principle prefer to use other methods to donate to sites of their choice. For example an Evertonian Wikileaks supporter would prefer to use Bitcoin rather than Paypal to support GOT, if it was available.




This is a common misconception. The Daily Mail has written a few sensationalist articles about a recreational drugs buy-n-sell site which offers Bitcoin as its payment system (rather than Paypal or online banking, for obvious reasons).

Bitcoin is thus, in the mainstream, associated with illegal acts. Bitcoin is in itself not illegal. But it's also not a legal licenced centralised currency as we know and 'love' it. Think of it as the kind of online credits system we know from epic strategy computer games like Elite.

That illegal trade is attracted to Bitcoin is an obvious side-effect. But many use Bitcoin for legal and moral purposes (Wikileaks donations, for example).
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All of that is spot on, and interesting sidenote, BitPay, a service that allows merchants to accept accept bitcoin and immediately exchange it to cash, has surpassed the Silk Road (drug website) in total bitcoin transactions. In other words, the legitimate uses of bitcoin have officially passed the illegal ones, I definitely think that's progress.
 
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