Saving Sabrina: Bitcoin virtual currency does real world good

Press Release: 4/15/13

We’ve heard of Bitcoin buying beer in New York City, but a Los Angeles based cause has turned to the virtual currency to help save the life of Sabrina Xin, a dying 2-year-old Chinese orphan.

Xin has a congenital heart defect and will die soon without life-saving surgery, so a California couple is raising money to adopt the child.

“I had no real contact with Bitcoin until a friend suggested that I accept it for donations on save-sabrina.org,” said Josh Rubino, the site’s webmaster and brother to the couple. “But I am willing to explore all options available if it help’s save this girl’s life.”

“My friend educated me about everything I need to do to accept Bitcoin safely and securely,” said Rubino. "I feel that accepting Bitcoin is advantageous to our cause of saving Sabrina. Engaging with an entire online economy only broadens our chances of reaching our June 1, 2014 deadline."

For Save-Sabrina, Bitcoin makes sense. Bitcoin will give the cause several advantages, said Rubino.

“We were able to integrate a Bitcoin donation address into the site very quickly, enabling us to receive near-instant donations globally,” said Rubino.

The Rubinos’ receive paypal donations as well, but Rubino said it is not ideal, because PayPal charges a  2.9% and $.30 fee for every transaction. Bitcoin transactions cost a few pennies worth of Bitcoin and are often free, Rubino said.

Anybody with access to the internet can use a site like Blockchain.info to see to see how much Bitcoin has been donated to the public address. This provides transparency to the public and helps foster trust, said Rubino.

"After the money has been donated, the amount received through Bitcoin will match the amount spent for the cause of adopting Sabrina and bringing her home," said Rubino.

Currently, the Rubino’s need $25,000 more worth of donations to finalize the international adoption, and any avenue of income, including Bitcoin, is a welcome source, said Rubino. Any amount in excess of what is needed for the adoption will be donated in whole to the Little Hearts Charity organization, which focuses on treating congenital heart defects in children.

Rubino is also campaigning locally in his Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood. Local restaurants have agreed to host flyer drive events, where 10 percent of customer's bills will be donated to the cause. This represents a traditional form of fund-raising effort, but Rubino is excited about the potential Bitcoin could have in making a very real difference in a little one's life.

@Bitcoin_Trends

Full Disclosure: I know Josh Rubino personally. I am just trying to get the word out.

$10,000 Trolling? Or is this guy really a billionaire?

Redditor bitcoinbillionaire sends three tips worth almost $10,000 in a few hours.

By tipping 35 BTC while Bitcoin was trading around $230 USD in three verified transactions, the 1-day-old redditor has created quite the stir on the Bitcoin subreddit. This then created stir on the "best of" subreddit.

Let's be clear, to be a billionaire in Bitcoin, you'd need to own almost half of all Bitcoin in existence at the current market cap of over $2 billion. So it is not likely he/she is actually a billionaire, but the name may represent a certain optimism about the future price of Bitcoin.

Certainly he/she has a fair amount of Bitcoin, at least enough to not care about giving away $10,000 worth of it. But is this all a hoax to get attention or a grand act of random charity? Maybe option one, considering the comment that received the 20BTC tip was "Drugs! You can always use it for that."

@Bitcoin_Trends

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Open Letter To Journalism Educator

News University: Please offer a course for journalists who want to report on Bitcoin intelligently.

News University is an online media and journalism training program run by the Poynter Institute, which  is "dedicated to teaching and inspiring journalists and media leaders," according to newsu.org/about. They offer hundreds of online classes for journalists trying to improve their craft.

Sent to info@newsu.org

To Whom It May Concern:

Bitcoin has received much media attention lately and much of that attention has been applied by journalists who do not fully understand it. 

Poynter's News University is in a unique position to educate journalists on how to report on Bitcoin intelligently. 

I am agnostic as to what journalists choose report about Bitcoin. I just care that when they do so, they know what they are talking about.

Would you consider offering a course through your service that educates interested journalists on the basics of Bitcoin and how to report on it effectively?

Sincerely,

@Bitcoin_Trends

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6 Major Media Errors About Bitcoin

Bitcoin is getting a ton of media attention as of late. Often times writers get it wrong. Here's a list that should be good for a laugh.

1. Claim: Bitcoin is in a bubble. On Forbes, The Economist, News Statesman and many others.

Reality: It's one thing to discuss whether we are in a bubble, but several commentators have declared it so. No one knows if we are in a bubble. Only time will tell. The argument for it being a bubble is that it "feels" like one. The argument against is essentially the network effect, that as Bitcoin gets used by more people for transactions, then more businesses will cater to a Bitcoin economy. This makes it more useful for people, so more people will use it. And more businesses will accept it and. . .

2. Claim: There is no way to break up a Bitcoin into smaller units. -Business Insider

Reality: Bitcoin can be split up into 100,000,000 parts called Satoshis. Bitcoin is also often expressed in millibitcoin or mBTC which is of course .001 BTC.

3. Claim: "No one knows who mint [Bitcoin] or who is controlling the supply." -CNN

Reality: Bitcoin creation isn't mysterious at all, they are mined kind of like digital gold. And although it is hard to know who individual miners are, we do know that 75% of mining is done by some pool or other, according to bitcoin charts.

And as for the money supply, that is controlled collectively by anyone running the Bitcoin client and miners. Central to the Bitcoin software is that only a certain number of Bitcoin will ever be created and that they will be created at a certain rate (currently 25 BTC around every 10 minutes.) Miners create new Bitcoin and machines running the client confirm those new coins.

4. Claim: Bitcoin is a fiat currency. -New Statesman

Reality: From Wikipedia, "[f]iat money is money that derives is value from government regulation or law." Fiat money is as trustworthy as the government that issues it. Bitcoin is exactly the opposite of fiat money. It relies on no government or central bank. Instead, Bitcoin derives it's value simply from it's ability to be reliably used for barter. Far more can be said than that, of course.

5. Claim: "Someone could make counterfeit Bitcoins." -Business Insider

Reality: Every Bitcoin mined or transaction made has to be confirmed and recorded by the entire Bitcoin network, which is decentralized and peer-to-peer. Every transaction ever made is publicly available. Because of this, it is generally considered near impossible to counterfeit Bitcoin.

6. Claim: "The anonymous creators of Bitcoin could decide to create a lot more, thus debasing the value of the currency." -Business Insider

Reality: Although the identity of Satoshi Nakomoto (the progenitor of Bitcoin) is unknown, the operators of the Bitcoin Foundation are well known. The foundation operates similar the Linux Foundation, both are non-profit organizations that are responsible for maintaining their respective open-source frameworks.

The foundation has paid employees and relies on donations as well as grants from institutions that are keen on the continued strength of Bitcoin, such as Mt.Gox.

Because of the nature of the software, if anyone in the Foundation or Satoshi Nakomoto (him/her/ them?) wanted to mine new Bitcoin, they would have to compete with everyone else mining Bitcoin. Just like the claim in #5, there would be no way for them to magically make new coins.

And if they were to change the software such that they could magically make new coins, everyone would know about it, because the software is open-source. They would also still run into the problem of recording these magic coins on the blockchain.

I'm sure there are many more misconceptions, this is just what I could find while trying to keep up with the deluge of new media coverage in the last few days. Post comments if you find more out there, or if I too have made an error.

@Bitcoin_Trends

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Bubble Trouble: Shorting Bitcoin, Bears vs Bulls

The debate rages: Is it a bubble? Well, if you're a Bitcoin bear, here are a few options to make money if Bitcoin does plummet. If you are a bull, there are corresponding ways to make money off the bears.

Disclaimer: I am in no way encouraging you to use any of these services. Any information is for educational purposes only. All speculating behavior is risky.

Bitfinex is a trading platform based in Hong Kong. Offers traditional methods of shorting for Bitcoin. 

Bears: Works like short-selling in the stock market. You can borrow Bitcoin from other users then sell them on the open market. You then buy Bitcoin back at a later time to repay your lender. If the prices dropped in the meantime, you capture the price differential and you have successfully shorted. If the prices rise, well, you just sold low and bought high. OUCH!

Bulls: Lend Bitcoin to those bears!

ICBIT is a Bitcoin derivatives and exchange market which trades futures contracts. There are currently three open contracts which settle on 4.13, 9.13 and 12.13.

Bears: Enter a contract today to sell BTC on the settlement date. If the price of Bitcoin goes down, the buyer still pays the agreed upon price. For example, if you agree to sell BTC for $300 in the future and the price drops to $50, you collect the difference.

Bulls: Enter a contract to buy BTC in the future. If the price goes up, you only have to pay what you agreed to in the contract so you could buy BTC under the market price on the settlement date.

MPEx is a Bitcoin stocks and derivatives market. It's interface is very barebones, but they trade options. For the best explanation of an option trade read on wikipedia.

Bears: An option is similar to a future, so enter a contract to sell Bitcoin in the future and hope the price drops.

Bulls: Do the opposite!

Bets of Bitcoin is a site that allows you to make bets about real world events, including the future price of Bitcoin. Placing a bet is free. Creating a bet costs 0.1 BTC, but you earn a percentage of the losing bets after it is decided.

Bears: Create or place a bet about the future price of Bitcoin. You could bet that it will drop in the future or bet against a rise in the future. But if you win, you will win in a currency that is now devalued.

Bulls: Again, do the opposite!

Camp BX is another trading platform like Bitfinex, but based in Atlanta. They plan on offering shorting in the future, but currently do not.

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