This introduction to Bitcoin Brief aims to prime non-bitcoiners for the rest of the content on the channel.

Bitcoin Primer

The big news for UK bitcoiners this week is that Coinbase - a San Francisco based bitcoin exchange, has just started accepting 3D secure card payments. What that means is that you can now buy bitcoin with your debit or credit card online instantly, just like you would buy pizza.

It take about 5 minutes to set up your account, and then it’s a case of plugging in the amount you want to spend, selecting your card as payment method, and pressing the buy button. Personally I then prefer to send my bitcoin to a secure wallet of my own so that coinbase no longer have to look after it for me.

Why should you care? This service has been running in the USA for a good while now, and is considered one of the most prominent services worldwide. The big 5 UK banks have refused to give them access to the faster payments network, just like they’ve refused to give a corporate bank account to any bitcoin related company thus far, and so until now we have been limited to using wire transfers which take a few days to clear, and cost quite a bit in fees.

Bare in mind, the card option is for buying only, so you’ll need to use a bank transfer, or move your bitcoin out of the exchange if you want to sell. It’s not a liquidity problem in terms of bitcoin, so you can sell instantly into GBP if you have to liquidate your bitcoin, it’ll just take a few days to then get that GBP into your own bank account.

Controversy - Coinbase do have a bad reputation for closing people’s accounts willy nilly. So make sure you don’t do anything suspicious, and certainly don’t mention drugs, sex work, or terrorism because they will likely they’ll close your account without further notice.

Coinbase will play by the rules with no exceptions, so expect to hand in a scan of your ID if you want to trade a decent amount, and know that they will happily send all of your data to HMRC on request.

If privacy is a concern for you, I recommend you find a local bitcoin ATM, pop cash in it wearing an anonymous mask, and flee whilst waving your arms wildly. Look for a Lamassu ATM in your local CEX, or find your closest one on the map using the link below:
http://www.wheretospendbitcoins.co.uk/bitcoin-atms-in-the-uk

Coinbase UK Card Payments

A summary of the Scotpound proposal, and why bitcoin adoption is the smarter option for Scotland's future.

The New Economics Foundation and Common Weal have just released a proposal to create a new digital currency for Scotland - the Scotpound.

Having read the 64 page document and attended the launch event with one of the authors, I’d like to summarise the content for you:

Firstly, there’s some fantastic information on the current UK monetary system in there, and it echoes a lot of the information previously circulated by positive money, which is a group which proposes a similar solution for the UK as a whole.

What is the Scotpound?

It’s a digital currency, not unlike the pounds you have in your bank account right now. The difference being, it would be controlled by Banca Alba, instead of private banks, and it would be digital only without and paper cash equivalent.

The proposal is to spend 3.71 million pounds of tax revenue setting up a payment network, central authority, and cross-platform apps; then use the helicopter money approach to distribute 250 scotpounds to each registered voter in Scotland. To clarify, it proposes injecting one billion scotpounds into the economy of Scotland by typing numbers into a computer. What an innovative idea!

The report is quick to point out how morally abhorrent the creation of money by private banks is; whilst completely glossing over the fact that the proposed strategy is to centralise this money creation to one entity. As Lord Acton once said: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

When questioned about what would happen to that new money, the author suggested that it would bounce through the economy generating tax revenue until eventually it was all back in the hands of the government. Thus revealing the true nature of the beast. It's just a thinly veiled tax. 

The long term proposal is for Banca Alba to type new scotpounds into existence and spend them on social programs. Where does this money come from? Well, technically this is called counterfeiting, and the value in the new money, comes from the reduction in value of each individual pound already in existence.

The most infuriating part of the Scotcoin proposal, is this: The stated objectives are to provide a free and inclusive payment system, to allow SMEs who don’t accept digital payments to do so, and to prove that a new currency can be implemented.

Bitcoin could achieve all of these objectives, for free, tomorrow. Unfortunately, this report only includes one reference to Bitcoin. 
“Only one currency has succeeded without first creating such a network and that is Bitcoin. In this case, entrepreneurs and innovators independently started to accept the currency after it came into existence, often because they had a financial stake in the success of the currency. This was helped by the clever issuance method (the ‘mining’ algorithm) which rewarded early adopters with a large quantity of Bitcoin. This can, however, be contrasted with over 300 other failed cryptocurrencies where no redemption network has emerged and the value of the currency remains low.”

It is entirely apparent from this dismissal that the author has little to no understanding of Bitcoin as a technology. To explain this phenomenon I refer you to Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

Let's compare Scotpound and Bitcoin.

If the NEF and common weal really want to achieve their states goals on this front, they should encourage their supporters to adopt bitcoin, instead of proposing we spend 3.71 million pounds on a magical central bank of wonder dreams. 

Put your questions in the comments below, and remember to like share and subscribe if you want to keep up to date with bitcoin news from a UK perspective.

Scotpound - how to waste £3.71M and kill the economy

You can join the peaceful revolution by accepting bitcoin for your own products and services, or simply transferring some of your wealth into the bitcoin economy by purchasing some on an exchange or from a bitcoin atm near you.

I believe in a world where money cannot be printed or typed into existence; it must be earned.

I believe that one day there will be no war. The initiation of force will cease, as there will be no
incentive.

I believe there is a fundamental flaw in the way our monetary systems operates, and that that flaw is the root cause of a huge amount of unnecessary suffering.

Real money is a durable, divisible, portable, distinguishable, discretionary, and most importantly scarce. In the last six years our central bank has typed 375 billion pounds into
existence. This exhibits an abundance of money, the very opposite of scarcity, and is equivalent spending now and allowing an asteroid of debt to annihilate our unborn children.
I refuse to believe anyone who tells me “you must vote to change society”. We do not need permission to change our own future.

Imagine if you could prevent war, eliminate the prevalence debt, and create economic freedom for every human being on earth, without a single instance of violence. That is what Bitcoin is all about.

It could be considered the most important invention in human civilisation. For the first time in history, we all share the power to distribute money by contributing valuable resources to the
network. It does not require government, it does not require trust, and it does not require permission. As the world's most secure decentralised network, it is classed as anti­fragile. It
gains strength from attack, adapts to new environments and most importantly ­ gives no individual power over others.
Bitcoin is the future of money, and could bring economic freedom to everyone. I propose that we stop waiting for permission. It will never come. We must take Bitcoin for ourselves.

All you need to do, is accept it.

Why You Should Accept Bitcoin Right Now

By accepting your local fiat currency you are condoning the continuation of the actions of your government, Bitcoin presents a new option for those who disagree with the actions of their government. Accept bitcoin for your products and services, and you will then transfer your value into an economy based entirely on voluntary transactions, without taxation, without bombs.

Lead the way.

Move Your Value Into The Bitcoin Economy

Bitcoin's block reward is about to perform a scheduled drop from 25BTC to 12.5BTC which will mark the protocol's four year cycle.

Last time this happened - bitcoin doubled in price within a four month period. Related? I think so. Can't prove it. Lets see what happens this time!

Check out twitter #halvening to follow the news and http://www.thehalvening.com/ to watch the count down and https://bitcoinwisdom.com/markets/bit... to watch the price action.

Happy Halvening Bitcoiners!

The Halvening - Buy Or Hell?

If you're new to Bitcoin, this is another attempt to explain what's wrong with British money in the first place, why bother with something like Bitcoin, and an explanation about how each of the systems work in some detail.

References for these ramblings:

Bank of England, about QE (So you know it's true, because these are the people responsible for doing it!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9wRq6C2fgo

Positive Money, about UK banking system (They have a socialist agenda to do QE for the people, which is very anti liberty, but their revulsion at the current system and their research seems solid) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE8i-4HpKlM

Princeton University, about Bitcoin under the hood - (for the techie folk watching, this is a good place to start understanding bitcoin right down to the fundementals)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOMVZXLjKYo

Andreas Antonopoulos - Cypherpunk guidance
https://www.youtube.com/user/aantonop

Stefan Molyneux - Philosophical guidance
http://cdn.media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_2678_Next_Web_Speech.mp3

UK Banking Vs. Bitcoin An - Cap System

How to buy and sell bitcoin, bitcoin cash, bitcoin gold and other crypto currencies. This is not investment advice, but rather a guideline on how to do these things correctly.

Storage:
(Private - Hardware) https://trezor.io
(Mixed - Phone) https://airbitz.co
(Custodial - Web, App) https://www.coinbase.com
(Private - Desktop) https://electrum.org
(Private - Cold paper) https://www.bitaddress.org

Buy and Sell:
(Bank Transfer, Decentralised) https://bisq.network
(Bank Transfer, Custodial) https://bitbargain.co.uk
(Debit Card, SEPA, Custodial) https://www.coinbase.com
(Cash, ATM) https://coinatmradar.com
(In person) https://localbitcoins.com
(Spend, Debit Card) https://wirexapp.com/

Research:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin+Bitc...
https://www.bitcoin.com
https://www.bitcoin.org

I am not responsible for these services, and so cannot guarantee their security - use at own risk.

How To Buy Bitcoin

Bitcoin Brief aims to update people who already know about Bitcoin, by summarising news from Bitcoin related subreddits, news articles and forum posts. The views are from a UK perspective, as there are many American podcasters talking about Bitcoin, but few British. Occasionally there will also be episodes which attempt to explain the political and philosophical sides of Bitcoin in simple terms, in an attempt to encourage more people to become Bitcoin users.

Bitcoin Brief

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