Use as wealth preservation, avoiding capital controls, hedge against wreckless policy

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This thread is for current ongoing examples of cryptocurrencies being used to protect wealth from confiscation, inflation, capital controls, or any of that nasty stuff.

There is a separate thread about payment processors, current merchant adoption, etc.

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In Argentina, they can't buy US dollars or gold. Inflation is ridiculously high. Some are turning to bitcoin to preserve their wealth.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTbtI4Gpp-Y

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This guy put 1/3rd of his retirement into it because he's concerned about trusting the government with it.


My government is fiscally incompetent. This is how I win and stay secure. (http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1chm5n/my_government_is_fiscally_incompetent_this_is_how/)
submitted 11 hours ago* by vistophr (http://www.reddit.com/user/vistophr)

Herro Rabbit Hole: Shortly after being introduced to bitcoin, I found myself sitting at my desk, asking myself, "Just how far do you want to get into this thing?" About 1/3 of my retirement portfolio was dedicated as my "high risk" allotment, however, none of my holdings (regardless of risk) were performing anywhere near what I expect from a major financial instituiton. I decided that I would withdraw my high-risk 1/3, and put it into btc, YOLO.

A Necessary Fiatsco: That 1/3 happened to be a roth IRA. I reviewed the rules, tax information, and penalties associated with early disbursements, only to become increasingly bewildered by the inadequacy of my system of government. Long story short, I can't touch MY earnings until I'm 60 years old, or I have to pay additional taxes (on my post-tax dollhairs). I just wanted my money out. I withheld 10% of my withdrawal, and drained the rest from that account (my high-risk 1/3, remember).

Derp Derp: After fumbling around with AML instructions from both Dwolla and Mt. Gox, I eventually landed some BTC. I'll skip the part where I freaked out about the wallet/change thing.

I got in between $16 and $48. My holdings went from 15k to 200k. I had piddled (without success) in the stock market prior, so I wasn't going to piddle away my BTC by trading. AAAAnd now we're back to sub-100 prices. I'm still ahead, but it would have been nice to sell at 250! Heres why I feel excellent in spite of that...

Steppin' Large & Laughin' Easy: I now have a significant portion of my retirement portfolio in something magnificent and UNREGULATED. No one can inflate or devalue this monster. BTC will only become harder to acquire over time, and so its value will only perpetuate as its utility unfolds. I can't wait until the mBTC becomes the standard traded integer.

Your (Intelligent) Thoughts Exactly: Alt coins? No other SHA256 coin will be a worthwhile endeavor. Even if it's "better," BTC can and will always be patched as needed. Also, if you're trying to flee to another SHA256 to get away from ASICS, you'll only find more ASICS. The only alt coins that have a chance of holding value are the ones that offer something unique. LTC has scrypt, an excellent design attribute that makes it attainable by anyone with a gaming rig. PPC has proof of stake, and is 51% proof. I believe PPC needs a mint limit somewhere MUCH, much lower, but at least it offers something unique. All in all, and at the end of the day, it's really all about Bitcoin. All the others' fates are tied to the ONE coin.

Pweeze: Don't lock in a loss by selling low. Not even daytraders catch EVERY rally. Average down if you want to, but this is only the tip of the iceberg as far as crypto's value, just the tip. When you're in your 50s, and the government has found more ways to redistribute YOUR disbursements than they already do now, you'll be glad to hold something you control. Because frankly, I can't think of anyone more entitled to my income than me and my family.

My Security Suggestions (feel free to add): You may be a linux NOOB, like me. Nonetheless, obtain and run the free VMware client and download Linux Mint Mate. Hear me out. Don't use Zorin as it doesn't let you encrypt the home folder. Install Mint on your virtual machine (mine was created with 60gigs), and encrypt the home folder. Install the QT client, and immediately encrypt your wallet with a moderately long password. Backup your encrypted wallet.dat file in a 7zip or truecrypt file container with an easy-to-remember, but absurdly long password, with some special characters. Back THAT up on external media, redundantly. Don't do any web surfing or stray clicking on that virtual machine, EVER. THAT is your bank, don't compromise it!

This is my first Reddit post. Thank you for reading.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1chm5n/my_government_is_fiscally_incompetent_this_is_how/

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Bitcoins gain traction in Argentina

Apr 16, 2013 9:25pm by Jude Webber (http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/author/judewebber/)
14 (http://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=240084812701288&link=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.ft.com%2Fbeyond-brics%2F2013%2F04%2F16%2Fbitcoins-gain-traction-in-argentina%2F&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.ft.com%2Fbeyond-brics%2F2013%2F04%2F16%2Fbitcoins-gain-traction-in-argentina%2F&name=beyondbrics+%7C+FT.com&caption=Bitcoins+gain+traction+in+Argentina&description=)http://gold-silver.us/forum/image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAADcAAAAUCAIAAAC mgTKJAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAzdJREFUSEvVl01IVFEUx23bolWLRPqyIIiCol1tIiIw 2rRoEbaJWgRCEIVYCm1yKjIkU8xIm1JbWE3B5MegZkzOWPYyQU eLqWlCRkRGxmaajyyp3/M8L6+ZgYGB4jUc9Lxzzz33d//n3ue4IvVjcTQU/RhOFFjys3n1yh1FqwpeBSMjoW+/rPqBDcKCNi1kVUKDC8L/hzK5sGhlM7TMidjmmbA5h3zTkZyZfyPBoIymfiqzvxwLzSfNkf 31XUVV7ftqHprjpB203TdbXZfXPCsPXwvOIUTmRIMyklhQVvFk qPBs06l7rp6xIMHq/okNtc/XX+0uqrCX3nKqNCqi7oUHvWtOXi5r7sIffB8y18nDP3SljVKZE 7NQspWt1zoRD6wyx/Duu6+LG4c31nvWXnoKfSAcG5mal0I0dyr8FUqvfxofLas6XhBH 8r0X7wi0U5ssrXuEc7NH23O+gThNmIl9J9I7GiipthNkq0Qcw5 Obymq2nL4OK4qaWQ1Kksw28Hlue4Mb/VARxOImjZ/4oBeeaWwZeKeSKQdl/3iQCMuzhjgiMD6IxxseyxAcDq+PIYfmpxU4bMw98WXnuXpAKQU x3OSwTzNPdkoEO9H5QecTxCVDzm03+g7fdtW6tKyUlGZhzglk6 AEWdZAHOZEQVjaDwUECWDCBSKS8tZs0aqqOp6lmULIAxv7EwRC 8pGNcIUrTOaPEKaHS6L5oKRGWR0Ii8EGJL+pCCROgGEGkhYwhF eGoMJ27yKgqrpw/KP2z8aNNzyo7Pe1aoNw1uWtZRRGSw8raaSWkcYpSGgoTaYIrqw IBJdPZZLPrDc3lUDLK2eVAIzaPpKGlHMq0VQzKQCSJMUahY63u dTYnWKrd+AdaBrkiesJSpjI2hiSwqgo8ctp4pJtysfCRE9l4lD 2QT4Q0iTAFStJ4K0tEFZSyy5ThGOuBiDGf21M58OmIw4dxQO1v 9cuhT1hKSDP+1sr2xOJJ/f6K6vhqCM30oWicfCklbwkSVAVWIQdLW8ugBNFsoqs6wjymJeT 9mFkK3JzVslPmnPaPEwxK30zcyqZT8h2zzz/LzbKmwaZ/C04kU/ziBWFNg43/eX4DKuVtXDsPfl0AAAAASUVORK5CYII=2 (http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/04/16/bitcoins-gain-traction-in-argentina/#respond)
http://blogs.r.ftdata.co.uk/beyond-brics/files/2013/04/bitcoins-167x107.jpg (http://blogs.r.ftdata.co.uk/beyond-brics/files/2013/04/bitcoins.jpg)

Argentines would love to save in dollars rather than a peso ravaged by inflation (http://www.tucumanoticias.com.ar/noticia/argentina/en_marzo_la_inflacion_congreso_fue_154-97453.html) and whose value is on the skids, but the government won’t let them.

Demand for gold – another traditional safe haven – has surged. Banco de la Ciudad, the only bank to sell to individuals, says it can hardly keep up (http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/03/19/argentines-go-for-gold-literally/).
So … Enter the bitcoin? The virtual currency is emerging as the latest inflation refuge – and Bloomberg reports (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-16/bitcoin-dreams-endure-to-savers-crushed-by-cpi-argentina-credit.html) that TradeHill, a US-based bitcoin exchange, is now planning to open an office in Argentina where demand is fastest in the region.

Bitcoins are absolutely not words on everybody’s lips here and many people have no clue about how to use them. But a quick squint at the website of MercadoLibre (http://listado.mercadolibre.com.ar/bitcoin) – a kind of ebay – reveals that you can buy plenty of things, from motorbikes to apartments to an anti-slip spray for bathtubs, and pay with bitcoins.

Argentina’s two centuries’ history of currency turbulence (http://www.clarin.com/politica/Bicentenario-festejo-creado-perdio-ceros_0_901109967.html), has wired a need for financial smarts into the national DNA.

After convertibility in the 1990s, when their peso was wedded to the dollar at par (a fantasy romance, which ended, predictably, in divorce), and the quasi-currencies that emerged after convertibility collapsed in 2001, Argentines are used to taking their financial management into their own hands.

Part of the rise in bitcoin demand must be for saving, economists say, since Argentines lack instruments that can keep pace with inflation.

But it’s a rocky road – such instruments (and some see bitcoin use as a kind of pyramid scheme) tend to lend themselves to bubbles and bubbles have a nasty habit of popping.

Bloomberg quoted Claudio Loser, a former IMF Western Hemisphere director and now head of Centennial Group Latin America, a research group, as saying:

Some Argentines are willing to take very risky investments and bet on this thing which feels almost like a Ponzi scheme because they feel their options locally are even more dangerous … They don’t see an easier way to save money.


A sad indictment of Argentina’s economic reality.

Read more:
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/04/16/bitcoins-gain-traction-in-argentina/

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Video at link

Bitcoins in Argentina: How to “beat” government’s dollar exchange controls

Argentina’s government has tightened dollar exchange controls over the past months in a move aimed at fattening the Central Bank’s international reserves facing a global scenario where the so called World Powers still spread out crisis and uncertainty.


But telling Argentineans -mainly middle and upper classes-, “you cannot buy dollars” can lead to big pot-banging protests with people calling a democratically elected president to leave office.

The green currency has been a top saving shelter for decades here challenging Argentina’s devaluated peso currency.

Less radical than a noisy anti-government demonstration and with a philosophical spirit that could be described as “utopist”, Patricio Fink thinks he has found the way to “do whatever you want to do with your money” dodging official controls: bitcoins.

The 24-year old software developer has been dealing with this method for two years now needing only his smartphone and online access to Mt Gox, Bitcoin’s top exchanger, to check the cybercurrency’s rates.

So, could Argentineans’ green fever turn into a bitcoin contagious?

If that happens, risks must be carefully considered.

Read more:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/04/17/298779/bitcoins-in-argentina-how-to-beat-governments-dollar-exchange-controls/

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Short documentary on how bitcoin is changing things in Argentina.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e__m-w4N7NI