(Where) will the bitcoin massacre stop?
I have been looking at tradingview.com charts almost hypnotized for the last week, just to see this intriguing pattern developing before my eyes. While the rise of the bitcoin was [...]
7
02, 2018
31
01, 2018
Yes, Bitcoin should be considered a competitive zero-sum game
What is the essence of a zero-sum game? Wikipedia: A zero-sum game is a mathematical representation of a situation in which each participant's gain or loss of utility is exactly [...]
30
01, 2018
Should Bitcoin be considered a zero-sum game?
In principle, you can use Bitcoin to pay for things electronically. Bitcoin turns out to be a clunky, slow, costly, and - due to its volatility - a very uncertain [...]
25
01, 2018
Bitcoin revisited: “What do you think about bitcoin? Should I ….”
Since the meteoric rise of the bitcoin, and especially after it entered "black tulip"-type speculative territory in q4/2017, I have been asked multiple times by family members, friends and work [...]
15
03, 2015
The huge potential for fiat currencies based on block-chain
The last few days I have been listening to keynotes attending a European payments congress in Vienna, Austria. Among many issues presented against the use of the bitcoin - and [...]
11
03, 2015
Cognitive dissonance: “Remittances”
When considering a new car you suddenly start seeing the car you fancy everywhere. There are not suddenly more cars of the particular brand and model driving around, but you [...]
18
02, 2015
Disruption via undercurrent trends
The term "Disruption" is used often, as it is embedded in our contemporary vocabulary of fancy and popular management speak. It has a way of using broad terminology without being [...]
17
02, 2015
ECBcoin and BoEcoin next to FEDcoin?
One of the main gripes by skeptics with bitcoin is its volatility, next to the fact that the “issuer” is not controlled by regular democratic structures. By linking the bitcoin [...]
8
04, 2014
R.I.P. Mintchip?
Mintchip and cryptocurrcies urge us to better understand how money and payments relate. We have taken both for granted as separate topics; but they are like two sides of the same coin. Mintchip can provided useful insights in existing payment practices.
17
03, 2014
Evolution of currency predicts path (r)evolution of digital money
Walking to the office this morning it struck me that the evolution of (physical) currency in relation to payments could show us the long term development of digital money as well: step by step the currency has been developing until at a certain moment in time the transaction will be done directly between the payer and the payee.
14
03, 2014
Bitcoin: „Look the emperor has no cloths!”
...you could miss the major contribution of bitcoin as it presses us to reassess the way we have been doing things for years where all those little and some bigger inconveniences build into the current payment industry have to be discussed again and seen for the real merit they have.
12
03, 2014
„Money is not gravity” or bitcoins potential – The Talk Show #74
Once in a while I listen to Daring Fireballs' podcast The Talk Show by John Gruber. Walking to my office today I started to listen to episode #74, I kept [...]
6
03, 2014
Typically EU: let’s have a bitcoin taskforce!
A year ago, in march 2013, the US Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) published a paper FIN-2013-G001 on crypto currency defacto regulating bitcoin in the US [...]
5
03, 2014
Will the „middle man” disappear?
The removal of the middle man function in an exchange based on the bitcoin protocol does not automatically lead to the disappearance of the companies (and their interests) performing these today. The middle man function will slowly but surely erode with the advent of the bitcoin protocol, the middle man of today (parties) will be the gate(way)keepers of tomorrow.
25
02, 2014
Different Scalability in Different Circumstances
Our societies and economies are impacted heavily by technological change, they always have been. While some technologies - like the bitcoin protocol - allow for smaller economic actors to be relatively more economically viable then before other developments go in different directions.
18
02, 2014
PSD2 PAAS gateway to MintChip or Ripple-like transaction networks?
Looking at a wallet based payment chain (P2P) the central pivot point is the wallet itself. The wallet needs to have the values available either in the wallet or immediately on call by a service provider. Euro’s – or any other currency for that matter – could be provided by a gateway provided per bank based on the PAAS conception.
17
02, 2014
Trust is key for cryptocurrencies
The acceptance of Bitcoin protocol currencies and Ripple like networks is dependent on trust even if trust is said not to be necessary for the value to be transferred between two actors. Neglecting this will hamper adoption of the Bitcoin protocol by the masses.
16
02, 2014
Bitcoin: It’s the platform, not the currency, stupid! – The Next Web
(1 minute reading time + 15+ minutes external article) As with Marc Andreessen's article "Why bitcoin matters" from three weeks ago I can recommend an other landmark article on crypto [...]
10
02, 2014
Apple bigger threat to Bitcoin then Russia, China and India?
Often antitrust is connected to behaviour in the disadvantage of competitors – and hence the dis-economies this brings for consumers – we should have a wider perspective at the (potential) negative impact companies have on society. Slowly but surely we should start looking at the disadvantages to society’s ability to collaborate as well.
22
01, 2014
Why Bitcoin Matters – NYTimes.com
Sometimes you are made aware of an article very worthwhile (Thank you Henk!). Marc Andreessen (from Andreessen Horowitz) has written a pretty balanced and informative piece on Bitcoin (BTC) via [...]
16
01, 2014
MintChip/Bitcoin: no processor role between payer and payee
(3 min. read) Yesterdays post dealt with MintChip, the new Canadian digital currency based on a secure element on a chip to make payments. The novelty of this scheme is [...]
14
01, 2014
What is “digital money”? Or what is money in the digital age?
(4 min. read) FinExtra today covers the introduction of the MintChip in Canada: “Royal Canadian Mint demos digital currency.” Questions arise: why are we talking currency here? what is “digital [...]
22
11, 2013
Market efficiency of bitcoin trading still a long way off
My bitcoin wallet address Earlier this year I bought a fraction of a bitcoin. Getting a bitcoin wallet app (Blockchain) was easy enough. Getting it loaded with bitcoin [...]
6
06, 2013
The interconnected world brings good as well as bad…
In a side line of this Mondays post on the way governments will enforce their interest - while hopefully representing us citizens for the better - in this interconneceted epoque: [...]
3
06, 2013
Bitcoins’ anarchistic character will be pounded into line by real world regulations
Finextra: Bitcoin exchange MT. Gox introduces account verification: In a statement on its Web site about the new verification system, MT. Gox says: "The Bitcoin market continues to evolve, as [...]