I have created several securities that allow you to put your money on the price of Bitcoin.
These bonds will pay fully once Bitcoin hits a certain price, high or low.
One can even get returns by selling their bonds before fulfillment -- and even by predicting initial market sentiment, buying and selling before a swing.
Just look for anything under the STANDARD name at https://glbse.com/assets .
Feel free to email about pre-IPO sales and any questions or comments you may have.
2. Click funding options and buy Bitcoins with a method you prefer. I recommend choosing the option to deposit money at your local bank and having the money deposited in your Mt. Gox account within the day.
3. Order your Bitcoins with your deposited USD and use them through Mt. Gox as you wish.
Optional: 4. If you wish to have complete control of your Bitcoins, create an independent and encrypted wallet at http://blockchain.info/wallet. Send your Bitcoins here.
I'll state what many have already stated: The future of Bitcoin is not certain. I can't say who, what or when. Here's what I will say:
Life is a will to power. There are powerful people out there, especially in the Bitcoin community. There is a force beyond the likes of Gavin Andresen and the toys like Bitcoin Magazine. It is going to hit this world very hard.
Not even I know what it is fully but my intuition knows it's going to leave a impact.
The year ahead will be an exciting one, to say the very least.
ABSORB, a set of binary options on the GLBSE exchange, is predicting a 85% chance of Bitcoin hitting the Mt.Gox price of $6 before ever hitting $4.
This percentage is derived from the final dividend payment of 1 Bitcoin on ABSORB's long option. If the Bitcoin price hits $4 before hitting $6, this option will be worthless since it will pay nothing. The chances of Bitcoin hitting 6% soon, would be 0%.
Ergo, if this option is 100% certain to payout and Bitcoin hits $6, then its value will be worth the full 1 Bitcoin payout, representing a 100% chance. All lower numbers would serve as a lower percentage (e.g. .99 = 99%, .85 = 85%).
In reality, there will always be a slight chance of Bitcoin dropping to $4, thus the option will sell at a lower rate to account for the risk: Right now that's 85%-94.4%, the 94.4% being the current ask price.
Now, ABSORB has a short option that will payout if Bitcoin does hit $4 before ever hitting $6. Currently, it's declining and selling at 25% or .25 Bitcoins per share. The amount of money behind this bet is only a volume of 75 Bitcoins with the ABSORB long option being at over 250 Bitcoins.
In essence, these binary options serve as a clearer form of Bitcoin speculation with an all-or-nothing approach to payment. Right now they are only serving long-term price movements due to GLBSE's current $40 security price.
In the future, we may see exchanges dedicated to these kinds of securities for shorter movements (e.g. $6.25 to $6.30) which would give traders more control over their speculation: There is no forced liquidation for short sporadic price swings within the range of the bond. Additionally, one could use these options to predict the price far into the future; e.g. Bitcoin will hit $100,000 before hitting 0.01 cents.
One could even use these to indirectly tie Bitcoin to the trading price of an ounce of Gold. (e.g. Bitcoin will trade at 1 ounce of Gold/USD before trading at .01 ounces of Gold/USD.)
The Bitcoin securities market continues to become more diverse which brings more information to the people; information backed by cold, hard money. If the information is bad, money is lost and the hopeless leave the system. The good information profits and stays. More good information means more stability and certainty which encourages investment.
I see only a brighter future ahead for the Bitcoin economy through securities such as these, undeterred by regulations and other limitations of the mainstream world of finance.
While there was turmoil in most markets around the globe, Bitcoin’s BTC/USD exchange rate just finished its most stable one month period in its history.
For the month of May, 2012 the closing price of $5.197 was nearly a quarter dollar above the previous month’s close giving a 5% gain for the...
There are many ways to access Bitcoin but only a few wallets make the top cut in accessibility, features and security.
Others (Bitcoin-Qt) offer long wait times (Hours) as they verify the blockchain while offering no redeemable features, such as multiple wallet support found in advanced clients.
The best clients can be instantly accessed from the browser through any internet-connected device. There are little to no wait times and your coins are stored online with top-of-the-line encryption -- that you exclusively know the password to! There will only be one on our current list.
Hopefully there will be more simple and browser-based Bitcoin wallets in the future but here's what we have for now:
Number 3: Armory
Armory is a modified and extended Bitcoin-Qt wallet. With a sensible interface and a full suite of security tools, Armory is the best wallet for securing your Bitcoin finances.
It still has the standard and barely acceptable wait time of the standard Bitcoin-Qt client; however, it makes up for it in every other department, including the ability to create offline wallets.
If you want to take advantage of all that Bitcoin has to offer, Armory is your wallet of choice.
Number 2: MultiBit
One word: Fast.
After install, it syncs with the network in minutes and you're ready to send your money. It comes with most of the features and security you need while having a cute Bitcoin exchange rate counter on top.
Its highlighted feature is its ability to switch through multiple wallets quickly.
Arguably, Multibit's interface is the best out of Bitcoin's desktop wallets.
Number 1: Blockchain.info
No install required. Easy registration and AES encryption -- all in your browser. You will be ready to start sending and accepting Bitcoins within minutes through Blockchain.info's wallet.
In the end, when we want our money, we want it now. Blockchain.info delivers in that respect. It helps us meet our needs the fastest while remaining reasonably secure.
It is the go-to for new users and Bitcoin veterans alike with its easy interface and convenience. Blockchain.info can be accessed on any device.
The future of Bitcoin, finance and computing in general will be in the browser and Blockchain.info currently leads the way.
An Interview with Jonathan Ryan Owens of Kronos.io, Hermes and Ringcoin.
I recently spoke with Jonathan Ryan Owens, the founder of Ringcoin. We have covered the ins and outs of Ringcoin's latest and greatest, including the coming Kronos.io Bitcoin margin trading service along with their private stock exchange project, Hermes.
This is all powered and made possible by Ringcoin's pride and joy, the proprietary ZipConf software suite. ZipConf allows you to instantly transfer Bitcoins through exchanges without waiting for a blockchain update. The method for this is secret. The good news is that it gives advantages in the arbitrage and trading markets, where traders and their scripts have to be fast in reaching profitable opportunities.
That's not all. ZipConf is a swiss pocket knife of Bitcoin networking and includes tools, features and efficiency that makes the standard Satoshi client look like Windows 95. In essence, automating payment services with ZipConf is the best and easiest way to accept Bitcoins, for now.
To go in depth, I'll bring you the words and wisdom of Mr. Jonathan Ryan Owens:
Atlas: You know, you're a piece of work, Jon. You guys don't get enough of press.
Jonathan: Flattery, eh? So... Atlas. The Atlas I know?
Atlas: Yes, the one [you met on] skype and atlas.bitkoin.su. I am doing a blog and I would like to do a story on you. Mostly about your stock exchange and possibly Kronos.io.
So, I'll just leave you with a question. What separates Kronos.io from Bitcoinica? Will you be a bucket shop [like Bitcoinica] or an actual exchange?
Jonathan: Not a bucket at all. Not a CFD either.
Bucket = synthetic, no actual trades on a real exchange, house bets against the user(s), or takes on counterparty risk only for so long as it takes to offload that risk to an opposing position.
Atlas: So your exchange actual deals in real trades unlike Bitcoinica? And what do you mean not CFD?
Jonathan: CFD. Bitcoinica was half bucket shop, and half margin trading.
Atlas: Which side was the bucket?
Jonathan: Internal market. Users [were] betting against each other, facilitated by bitcoinica matching long / short counterparties, and hedging when there were none.
Kronos pushes all orders to real exchange markets, and does not match users on kronos with each other.
Atlas: That's awesome. So this will have a more potent and accurate effect on the Bitcoin market, eh?
Jonathan: Yes, since all trades are real and multi exchange. If you go long 100 bitcoin 10:1, using 10 bitcoin as your base, those 100 bitcoin will actually be purchased on the exchange(s). [The] current breakdown is ~85% [Mt.Gox], and the rest is bitstamp and cxc.
A key differentiator with kronos also has to do with the fact that it doesn't accept fiat.
Atlas: So only Bitcoins in and Bitcoins out? Does this have any consequence?
Jonathan: For starters, It's better for bitcoin since kronos is heavy bitcoin, and not heavy USDs. Bitcoinica allowed people to use USD to borrow bitcoin to sell. We aren't going to be allowing that. If you want to go short bitcoin on leverage, you'll need to purchase bitcoin first. :)
Atlas: That's very positive. However, it's going to add a hurdle for shorters, won't it? Aren't shorters necessary for a stable price?
Jonathan: The only hurdle is that they have to fund their account with bitcoin.
Atlas: They can cash out in USD easily?
Jonathan: They can take their bitcoin to an exchange and sell it for USDs, sure.
Atlas: Yeah, that's what I meant but I guess it's mostly good that it's easier to profit in BTC.
Jonathan: But [you can't profit directly in USD] from kronos, no. Bitcoin in, bitcoin out. USD values are only represented for informational purposes / knowing the current position. But they never have access to dollars through kronos. Only bitcoin.
Atlas: I see. So, how big is Kronos.io at the moment in terms of volume? It is invite only still, correct?
Jonathan: Its invite only, and we went out of private beta to close bugs and do additional security audits, and to complete the Zipconf withdrawal integration. So kronos public is a few weeks off.
Atlas: Tell us more about Zipconf. What should the average Bitcoiner think of it as?
Jonathan: Well at its core, Zipconf is a suite of tools that allow for us to script transactions in novel and arbitrary ways. 0 confirmation respend, double spend attempt detection through mass peering / network listeners, and miner rewards.
Second, zipconf as a web facing application allows for both web UI and API use to create bitcoin and USD coupons at mtgox, bitstamp and cxc; instant bitcoin to USD coupons.
Atlas: Nice, nice. So there is an easy withdrawal option for shorters then? That's cool.
Jonathan: Yeah but core services like kronos need to be bitcoin only, for security, idealistic and potentially also legal reasons.
Atlas: Hopefully AML doesn't apply with Bitcoins.
Jonathan: Zipconf is a utility and the platform that we are building everything on going forward, because it gives us incredibly granular control to be able to facilitate novel scripting and do a lot of things, that with the satoshi client directly would be impossible. And if we used the satoshi client, we'd be in a situation where we'd need to be running a number of higher level scripts and kludgy and increasingly complex infrastructure. The satoshi client is not mature or stable enough to support enterprise level services.
Atlas: Yeah, I hear the Bitcoind is, erm, quite a mess... amateurish. Do you plan on licensing out ZipConf in the future? Do you see ZipConf having a bigger role in the future?
Jonathan: Yeah, assuming bitcoin sticks around and goes into the growth path that it needs, we'll be continuing to mature zipconf core suite of tools, and licensing is one strategy along with building our own services to utilize zipconf.
However, I can't think of who'd want to license it atm, but if they were to approach us, and sign an NDA, we'd be more than happy to go over our different tech stuffs.
Atlas: It will be a valuable piece of work in the future, I am sure, as long as Bitcoin continues to grow. Could you put a $ number on its value?
Jonathan: Probably couldn't do that right this moment, no. I think its value increases more with the services that are utilizing it. Actually, not think.. I know.
Atlas: : ) I admire that confidence.
Jonathan: As a starting point, zipconf is software, and it is also the people behind it.
Atlas: Yeah about that... Your team seems to be mostly a mystery.
Jonathan: It's not all that mysterious.
eric, noi, matthew, jon
We're currently looking to [sic] at 1 or 2 coders, who can start to work with eric to spread the work load. Rather, adding 1 to 2 additional coders in the near future.
Atlas: Nice. Full-time, eh? Are you guys on Bitcoin-based salaries yet? I ask because Bitcoin jobs are pretty essential.
Jonathan: I'm not sure if you know this, but i'm also working with jered (tradehill jered) and living in SF in the mission district right now. Jered and i are joining forces to deploy the actual services, and the software is retained by Ringcoin.
Atlas: I hear you guys are registering in Iceland.
Jonathan: We are in fact
We had a conversation with a partner in one of the most prestigious law firms in iceland earlier today,
Did you just talk about iceland out of the blue, or were you already somehow aware of our plans?
Atlas: I've heard it mentioned once or twice.
Why Iceland? I know they have been freed from the central banking cartel for now. Does that have anything to do with it?
Jonathan: First and foremost, it's no [sic] the USA. We aren't eliminating the US as part of the market for some or all services, but there's a whole world out there, and because of iceland's various helpful treaties and agreements between both the EU and the US, there's a compelling use case for Iceland as a digital financial hub to the world.
Second, Iceland has the strongest digital safe harbor laws in the world afaik.
Atlas: Makes sense. With Bitcoin being in such a grey area, it's good to have some certainty.
Jonathan: Third, iceland is desperately in need of foreign investment.
Atlas: Ha, are there any grants in the works?
Jonathan: Grants? No, we aren't seeking grants through Iceland. we're seeking to go there, servers there, domicile there. We have additional opportunities available in iceland including dalpay, icelands largest merchant services processor
Thorsten is a VP there, and we're friendly. he made the referral to the attorney in iceland.
Atlas: I have one last thing to ask you, Mr. Owens. What can you tell us about your coming stock exchange platform, Hermes?
Jonathan: us? lol are you multiple personalities?
Atlas: Ha, well to the people who will read this.
Jonathan: Hermes is a planned, private (members only) indicative trading platform, with a secondary market. We're focusing on delivering kick starter - type user and admin panels, and making it stupid simple to use the exchange, both for the users and companies.
We also further seek to move beyond bitcoin only assets, as money is money is money, no matter where you get it.
Atlas: So how does one get into Hermes and make an offering on the exchange?
Jonathan: We're not going to allow unknown parties to list assets, so that's a core difference. We'll also be handling the site income differently than glbse currently does.
GLBSE currently takes trade fees for buy/sell assets. Hermes won't be doing that.
Hermes will charge to post an asset. Hermes will charge to verify identity to various degrees (basic, advanced), and provide additional services with 3rd parties, and on site / in application functionality that we don't want to talk about yet.
But the key, and it's an important one, is that it be made accessible to users, and to legitimate companies that want to interact in a private securities marketplace.
Atlas: So, professional? Will you be using the same sexy dark interface as Kronos.io? It's so easy on the eyes. As long as it isn't Twitter Bootstrap, we'll be happy. Haha.
Jonathan: Yeah, our design aesthetic is going to remain relatively consistent for all of our services.
Atlas: Excellent. Well, it was a pleasure speaking with you, Owens. I look forward to seeing your work!
Jonathan: You're hilarious, Atlas. Also, thanks for asking.
The Bitcoin Community's Anger and Paranoia is Excellent
A lot of grief was had with my recent posting about Pirate's Bitcoin Savings and Trust. People were upset that I didn't back my claim of Pirate's identity being out in the open. My explanation of him having a controlled market didn't appease them either.
A loud sect of the Bitcoin community is set on the idea that this man is a fraud and that he is somehow maintaining a pyramid scheme that has continued to sustain despite constant speculation.
The fact is there has already been efforts to put financial backing behind the idea of Pirate being a fraud, and that has failed miserably with the security discontinued.
This means no one truly believes that Pirate is a fraud to so far put their own money on it.
To add salt to the wound, the fact people continue to invest with Pirate only shows that more and more people are willing to put more money on the contrary: That Pirate is a legitimate business.
And as it stands, this continued market engagement couldn't be remotely close to actual manipulative fraud. The information and risk-assessment is out there: Every investor knows that Pirate has not fully disclosed his method of business and they accept that risk. There is no illusion here. If this were to collapse, the market collective would be able to handle it appropriately.
This leads us to the conclusion that the continued doubt thrown at Pirate's direction is of pure emotion and social angst, whether it be envy or just pure tribalism.
However, I hold this as a virtue. Constant skepticism is constant vigilance and it brings more information into the markets like no other force.
I encourage the naysayers to continue to shout as loud as possible because in the end, there will always be some useful info coming out of that noise.
Pirate's Profits Are Not That Significant; It's Called Sound Proprietary Business
The explanation for Pirate's successful venture is simple: Profitable and proprietary business strategy.
That's it. There is no ponzi scheme. There is no Bitcoinica scandal.
Additionally, $8,000+ a month in profit for a venture like Mr. Pirate's is more than reasonable. Men are supposed to make a living.
Pirate is not the only one successfully making money off his model. He has stated that there are others like him.
There are a couple of people that I know doing the exact same thing I do. One in the states and one in the UK. Early on they both contacted me within days of each other asking for some tips on how I handled the process. Now this was after a very detailed description of what they thought I was doing. Considering they're not in my area and we'd end up helping each other out, I decided I'd lend a hand in getting them off the ground. We've keep in contact and to-date (based on how many of you have no idea what's going on) they've kept the information I've told them secret and I can't tell you what that means to me.
Now, I never expect anything in return and this is not a call for them to come forward in the least (they know that). I simply wanted to mention it and say thanks.
Pirate via bitcointalk.org
Additionally with his real identification being out in the open, there's nothing short of hell waiting for him if this ends in him stealing a lot of people's money.
As for naysayers claiming nuance in his limited depositors and greater interest rates: It's less paperwork and labor to deal with a smaller and dedicated base of people. It's simply better and more efficient business.
Now, like any venture, Pirate could fail at any time but it won't be due to fraudulent activity. He would of stopped by now especially with -- again -- his identity known; along with him being in the strict-financial-state of the USA.
Pirate is not even making an astonishing amount by any reasonable financial standard. This will be nothing but a small blip in the history of Bitcoin unless Pirate goes on to expand his base exponentially.
Regardless, a grand future awaits the Bitcoin capital market despite the claims of risk and instability. Even a demise in Pirate's circle or a high-interest-rate bond won't shake it too much; for Bitcoin's value lies in its utility and all desires it can fulfill: Not just in the affairs of today.
If Bitcoin as a tool can't survive a small social blunder today, it wasn't fit to live in the first place.
Update: My good friend Mr. Buterin is stating that a return of 10.65% per week, "aka 19545% per year" is astonishing and questionable.
All that needs to be known is Pirate's total capital base. If it's reasonably small, then these returns are far from shocking.
New P2P Bitcoin Stock Exchanges Threatens the GLBSE
With Nefario and associates' (GLBSE) strict guidelines and insecurity in regards to listing new IPOs, it was bound to happen: A new exchange will now be used as a refuge from the current censorship.
The KRONOS bond representing the early profits of the new Bitcoin margin exchange Kronos.io, has been removed from the GLBSE due to the very fact that its creator is opening a competing exchange.
Due to GLBSE's lack of confidence in their own exchange, Mr. Kluge must now go through a laborious process of transferring his securities from the GLBSE, using manual verification.
As I've said, GLBSE is amateurish at best and pretentious at worst, demonstrating the bureaucracy of the over-regulated world of mainstream finance.
Let it rest in peace once it is displaced by more open and courteous methods of security exchange.
A humble tour of your local Bitcoin stock exchange...
The GLBSE (Global Bitcoin Stock Exchange) is the precipice of Bitcoin capital and related financing -- for now.
Opened by Dr. Nefario in early 2011, it was a centerpiece in the early Bitcoin community. Although it was easily funded by various investors, the hired talent was far from well-managed or talented. The first round of securities were of dubious quality, and any client that would consider doing business on GLBSE 1.0 was met with a complex and cold GPG-based interfaced.
While most problems have been resolved, the current software revision -- GLBSE 2.0 -- is amateurish at best with its Twitter Bootstrap interface, ala Bitcoinica.
Regardless, GLBSE is now a functional and liquid exchange of various securities, most being considerable. A $40/BTC deposit is required to start any individual security, eliminating anything that is silly or fraudulent.
Now, let's take a look at its most notable assets.
GIGAMINING by gigavps
GIGAMINING is a Bitcoin mining operation representing 100 gigahashes/second of computing power. As of date, this is nearly 1% of the Bitcoin computing network.
According to the gigavps forum thread, this operation is powered by ATI graphics cards, and specialized FPGA CPU technology by Butterfly Labs.
The GIGAMINING security is debt with production-based interest -- or more simply, a bond. With each of the 20,000 bonds having an original value of 1 Bitcoin; each entitles its user to the produced Bitcoins of 5 Megahashes/second of computing power.
Current Bitcoin production and speculation at $5.10 per Bitcoin has raised the price of GIGAMINING to 1.5 Bitcoins per bond. Currently, it is the most highly traded security on the GLBSE at a volume of more than 22,000 Bitcoins. At $5.10, that's a total valuation of more than $122,220.
Gigavps has the fully-enforced right to buy back all of the bonds 1.05 times the highest price over 360 hours, but its doubtful that will ever occur.
PPT.E by BS&T
One of various bonds representing a proxy into the Pirate Savings and Trust . Where your money goes and where the profits come from is a mystery: All that's known is that Bitcoins are trading hands.
What is certain is the 25% insurance on this bond and its expiration on June 16th, 2012, at a buyback price of 1.28 Bitcoins.
BIOETHANOL by Bioforce
Bioforce is a small company that produces ethanol from fermented fruit.
Little else is listed about Bioforce and its operations; however it continues to post small dividends for its shareholders.
TYGRR.BOT by TyGrr Virtual Industries
TYGRR.BOT is a security representing a computer program that trades Bitcoins for profit at various online exchanges. With the current stability with the Bitcoin price, the dividend payments for this security are expected to be quite small.
I have given you a small sample of what the GLBSE has to offer. While most of the securities are less exciting than what I've shown you, I'm sure there are more opportunities yet to be seen. Check them out on the GLBSE assets page.
