Re: Interesting article on Des Moines-based startup

On 11/11/2011 04:36 PM, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
> On 11/11/11 4:23 PM, Jeff Sayre wrote:
>> I thought this article was relevant given the work we are doing in
>> this CG.
>>
>> This 28-Year-Old Is Making Sure Credit Cards Won't Exist In The
>> Next Few Years:
>> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/11/10/businessinsiderthis-28-year-old-is-.DTL
>
> How does this differ from a Bitcoin based venture aimed at
> delivering same value?

I think it's a bit worse, really. Neat idea, but closed network, closed
protocol. We want an open network with an open protocol - that's the
only thing that's going to force the market to drive the price down for
performing monetary transactions.

> Personally, I believe Bitcoin actually knocks aside the plastic
> network.

Another interesting story on Bitcoin:

The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/11/mf_bitcoin/all/1

I wouldn't quite call it a "fall" in the catastrophic sense, since the
currency still has value.

I do think that Dwolla and Bitcoin are two very different technologies
aimed at two very different markets. They do have overlap, but
long-term, I'd bet on something like Bitcoin.

The beauty of Bitcoin isn't the currency... it's the technology... the
proof that you can do pretty solid P2P payments without a central
authority is pretty huge. Forget the proof-of-work stuff, I don't think
it's that important. Apply digital signatures and a public ledger to
fiat currencies (which are going to stay around for a very long time,
imho), and you have a pretty powerful way to cut out many of the fees
that are taken from our transactions on a daily basis.

-- manu

-- 
Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny)
Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
blog: The Need for Data-Driven Standards
http://manu.sporny.org/2011/data-driven-standards/

Received on Thursday, 1 December 2011 04:10:35 UTC