bitcoins!!!

So without going into technical details just yet, I wonder what you hobbyist/providers would think about trading in bitcoins for services.

I'll leave it to the reader to Google bitcoins for more info if you're not familiar with bitcoins, but a user on the bitcointalk forum site has come up with an awesome idea with card, scanner, and iPhone app!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=57260.0

Basically it allows the transfer of bitcoins to the provider, and she sees the current value (in USD) and gets money automagically transferred to her.
This is not my product, but it's so cool I thought I'd pass it along for the people who are (or maybe) interested in crypto currency.

That is pretty cool.

It looks like a great idea, but depending on the conversion rate (which I noticed in one article that it just recently spiked for 1 bitcon equaling to $6.5 to $7 per bitcoin). This may not be the case all the time.

So in the escorting world - before you send bitcoins, you would have to know exactly how much the conversation rate would be per bitcoin so you would know exactly how much to give?

I'd like to see some reviews online (I can't seem to find any) to see if people have had issues getting their money.

But all in all, it's a great idea.

Well if you're curious, make an account over at bitcointalk.org and join in on the discussions, etc. You'll find a wealth of information about bitcoins in general, transactions, and maybe find out if people do have problems with bit-pay or not. I've not yet used them.

I have, however, used bitcoins to buy things that I didn't want my wife to know about.. to her bitcoins are "fake" money, and as long as I don't use "real" money, she has no problems. I'm a small user/miner compared to a lot of people, but in the last year I've been able to upgrade my gaming computer with $500 of "free" (to her) parts.

So finding providers who adopt this would be beyond awesome.

A tech-savvy bitcoin provider who's in it for the long haul wouldn't even have to get cashed out right away, maybe hobbyist and provider have their computers, make the transaction, and once it's verified (initial verification, not waiting for the rest of the network to catch up) then have fun.

I dunno, I'm excited about bitcoins for lots of things, so I might sound a little preachy here, so I'll stop.

What I'm also curious about .. for hobbyists.. is the fact that there is still a papertrail. They have to purchase the bitcoins. It looks like they can purchase them with paypal, but I saw a company a few weeks ago that wanted you to mail CASH to them to fund your wallet with. That would seem to be the only way to not have a papertrail, otherwise you would still have paypal, your credit card, etc.

I'd be interested in seeing what happens with it in the future.

What is the process if you dispute a payment?

There is no way to dispute payments, which can be good or bad, depending on the situation.

Basically both sides have to have some level of trust, or maybe relationship before hand, to know if there is a dispute that they can handle it between themselves.

Really it's the same thing as dealing in cash with someone you just met. Pay for service (or item, etc) and if you're not happy, you deal with them. If they give you cash back, same with bitcoins, you could send it back, but you'd then need their address to send back.

I like to think of bitcoins as cash. In terms of spending, potential anonymity, etc.

Seems to be too volatile for me (click - Oh, and this link makes interesting reading too), at times the value of a Bitcoin has been as little as 1 US cent with trading suspended and 1 US dollar in active trading. . . . not to mention that I can examine a piece of United States currency immediately and know it is real, as Bitcoins have been faked (click again) and stolen (yet another link). Plus, I can spend my money in my pocket anywhere - very few merchants accept Bitcoin, and why on Earth would I want a paper trail in converting Bitcoin to real currency through an exchange?

There's a ton of reasons why this is a very bad idea - not the least of which may be that if one of the parties to a transaction in this endeavor ever admits to using Bitcoin for remuneration it would possibly be able to be technically construed by an overzealous prosecutor to be a Federal offense (as the currency is virtual and crosses state lines to be deposited / moved to facilitate a crime [payment for sexual services]) - Shyster Jon might have more insight. I do know that credit card transactions have landed Agencies in Federal court based solely on the fact that the transaction was facilitated by a clearinghouse located physically in another State, separate from that of the Agency; I can't see a reason why this would not be similar . . .

In cash I trust (or in precious metals, gemstones, good rifles and plenty of ammunition).

Sometimes it is better to just keep it simple, IMHO.

Kisses,

- Jackie

Here are a couple of articles from wired.com... http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/11/mf_bitcoin/all/1 http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...oins-comeback/ I might look into mining bitcoins. I wouldn't mind losing my mined bitcoins, but I would hate to buy bitcoins and have them disappear (e.g. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...tcoin-malware/ ). If one doesn't have much real money to lose, my advice would be to cash out quickly -- that is, not build up a stash of bitcoins that will be missed if lost.

Seems to be too volatile for me (click - Oh, and this link makes interesting reading too), at times the value of a Bitcoin has been as little as 1 US cent with trading suspended and 1 US dollar in active trading. . . . not to mention that I can examine a piece of United States currency immediately and know it is real, as Bitcoins have been faked (click again) and stolen (yet another link). Plus, I can spend my money in my pocket anywhere - very few merchants accept Bitcoin, and why on Earth would I want a paper trail in converting Bitcoin to real currency through an exchange?

There's a ton of reasons why this is a very bad idea - not the least of which may be that if one of the parties to a transaction in this endeavor ever admits to using Bitcoin for remuneration it would possibly be able to be technically construed by an overzealous prosecutor to be a Federal offense (as the currency is virtual and crosses state lines to be deposited / moved to facilitate a crime [payment for sexual services]) - Shyster Jon might have more insight. I do know that credit card transactions have landed Agencies in Federal court based solely on the fact that the transaction was facilitated by a clearinghouse located physically in another State, separate from that of the Agency; I can't see a reason why this would not be similar . . .

In cash I trust (or in precious metals, gemstones, good rifles and plenty of ammunition).

Sometimes it is better to just keep it simple, IMHO.

Kisses,

- Jackie Originally Posted by Jackie Devlin

Amen, sister. Seems a little too iffy to me.

yeah it's still too early in the game to know what's going to happen.

It could become the next awesome thing, or it could go to zero.. but right now I've come out ahead. I tend to cash out my bitcoins as I get them, since I don't know what's going to happen.

If you're a tech-type, there's a couple places where you can buy like amazon or newegg.com giftcards (which I do) and that let's me buy the crap for my gaming computer.

Annie...how ever you want paid is fine with me and worth every bit, penny, pound or yen! *kisses*

CT

@Lawrence70, the larger issue, IMHO, is that in within this endeavor there will be precious few of us ladies that will have the ability to completely understand / comprehend being paid in a possibly volatile (unlike conventional fiat currency Bitcoin has no issuing authority and may collapse at any moment) unregulated digital currency. If you prefer Bitcoin because it allows you to obfuscate your spending within your household and you can find a regular or semi-regular lady to accept the Bitcoins after you have established a relationship with her - more power to you (both). As for the use of the Bitcoin as an accepted way to pay for services broadly in this business, I don't ever see it happening.

As for Bitcoin becoming the next awesome thing, I feel if it was going to take off - it would have by now. As it stands, you really have to be pretty geeky to even "get" it; let alone have even heard of Bitcoins.

Kisses,

- Jackie

As a general principle, there's nothing wrong with innovation. I don't profess to really understand bitcoin technology, but applying the technology to a criminal enterprise, especially one that's generally low-tech and low-level like prostitution, seems like a bad idea.

We all know how difficult it is to escape detection for so many things we do in our day-to-day lives. We go into 7-11 to take money out of our account at an ATM and a camera records our presence. Maybe we're going to commit a crime with the money by placing it in an envelope and leaving it in a provider's restroom.

Compare the foregoing level of recording to the inevitable creation of records using bitcoin technology, especially the making of a record conveying something of value directly from a hobbyist to a provider. Further, we must assume there will be such infusions into a provider's account by other hobbyists, which seems to me would be further proof of a criminal enterprise.

Adding to concerns is the fact that LE is given some discretion to intercept and monitor electronic communications, and that using wire transfers to engage in criminal activity is a federal felony.

To me, it seems that simply conveying cash in person is less risky than using technology to achieve the same result and creating records while doing so.

I think they would fun to get as tips. New Egg and Amazon have plenty of stuff I'll buy with "surprise" money. I have a pretty geeky customer base and I can definitely see having a little bitcoin mention on my site being that little extra thing that gets me an email.