A Key Misunderstanding About Bitcoin

daviderangelv

| Originally published on TheBusinessofBitcoin.com on February 20, 2014 | Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a well-known and very distinguished technologist, has a recent post in the Wall Street Journal that exemplifies the biggest misunderstanding yet remaining about Bitcoin. In his post, he cites different high-profile opinions on Bitcoin, from Marc Andreessen’s bullish “Why Bitcoin Matters”, to Charles Stross’ bearish (or worse) “Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire”.… Continue reading A Key Misunderstanding About Bitcoin

Bitcoin for B2C Payments, Part 2: Merchant Savings

daviderangelv

| Originally published on TheBusinessofBitcoin.com on February 7, 2014 | In my previous post on payments, I went over the different factors that would influence fees in a Bitcoin-based payment system. In this post I'll try to be more concrete about potential merchant savings. First three notes: Let me emphasize again that any numbers discussed here are… Continue reading Bitcoin for B2C Payments, Part 2: Merchant Savings

A Payments Taxonomy

daviderangelv

| Originally published on TheBusinessofBitcoin.com on February 2, 2014 | Payments is a big topic, with intricacies that can make it confusing. And it's not getting any simpler, with Bitcoin coming onto the scene and many companies, like Apple and Amazon, now potentially entering mobile payments. There are even rumours that Starbucks may be planning a rollout of their mobile… Continue reading A Payments Taxonomy

Bitcoin for B2C Payments, Part 1: Lower Fees?

daviderangelv

| Originally published on TheBusinessofBitcoin.com on January 29, 2014 | As mentioned in my frameworks post, one of Bitcoin's key applications is its role in facilitating consumer/merchant payments. In fact, many are judging its success, rightly or wrongly, by how much it's being used in day-to-day B2C transactions. So this begs the question: what will drive… Continue reading Bitcoin for B2C Payments, Part 1: Lower Fees?

The Nature of Bitcoin, Part 3: Network Effects and Altcoins

daviderangelv

| Originally published on TheBusinessofBitcoin.com on January 19, 2014 | The last two posts have been about how Bitcoin works, how this gives rise to value, how it compares to offline alternatives and how we can think about its long term potential. But to get a complete picture of the fundamentals there is one more topic to cover:… Continue reading The Nature of Bitcoin, Part 3: Network Effects and Altcoins

The Nature of Bitcoin, Part 2: Gold, the Dollar and Future Value

daviderangelv

| Originally published on TheBusinessofBitcoin.com on January 17, 2014 | In the previous post I discussed the interplay between the Bitcoin protocol and the Bitcoin currency and some of its implications. To sum up, there are two interesting points to make: 1) Bitcoin is often thought of as a one-dimensional virtual currency. This is incorrect as the… Continue reading The Nature of Bitcoin, Part 2: Gold, the Dollar and Future Value

Frameworks for Understanding the Bitcoin Ecosystem

daviderangelv

| Originally published on TheBusinessofBitcoin.com on January 3, 2014 | One of the main issues standing in the way of a wider understanding of Bitcoin is that there are a number of concepts that have not always been well explained in the general media writeups on Bitcoin. These concepts relate to both technology and business.… Continue reading Frameworks for Understanding the Bitcoin Ecosystem