[Freedombox-discuss] FreedomBox and Bitcoin (and the petition)

[Daniel Pocock]

I'm just wondering if anybody has done any analysis of the suitability
of Bitcoin for FreedomBox?

For example, Bitcoin provides a certain amount of anonymity, but not
complete privacy.  In other words, anybody can create an anonymous
Bitcoin account, but anyone else can trace the movements of Bitcoins
through that account.  Does this lack of 100% privacy make it awkward
for FreedomBox to include Bitcoin?

What Bitcoin does excel at is providing an alternative money supply.  In
previous eras of bank failure (e.g. over 9,000 US banks went pop in the
1930s) people reverted to gold and silver.  Nowadays, so many of us are
involved in businesses that rely on ecommerce and distant clients paying
for virtual/intangible services.  Most trade relies on electronic
payment by bank transfer or credit card, not a physical meeting with
cash.  Iceland's banks went pop and it's been speculated that Greek
banks will go the same way when they leave the Euro.  It seems like
fertile ground for a solution like Bitcoin deployed on a convenient
platform like FreedomBox.

There is also the diversity of businesses supported by Bitcoin - it can
be very difficult for a business to start accepting credit card
payments, banks often insist that the business already has capital or
real estate.  But any start-up business can accept Bitcoin payment
without such discrimination.

Back to the original question though: do these potential social benefits
outweigh the lack of 100% privacy in Bitcoin?  Is there a `privacy
threshold' for something to be included in FreedomBox?

Also, somebody has started a petition to ask the ISO to provide a
three-letter symbol for Bitcoin (BTC is not officially recognised yet):


http://www.change.org/petitions/six-interbank-clearing-include-a-symbol-for-bitcoin-in-iso-4217