7 ms·

This is very interesting. Having that many people all holding BTC will have a bootstrapping effect around MIT. The three obvious effects are: 1. stores near c

by dlss 12y ago

This is very interesting. Having that many people all holding BTC will have a bootstrapping effect around MIT. The three obvious effects are: 1. stores near campus will (probably) start supporting it 2. the black market on campus will (surely) start accepting it 3. Some undergraduates will invent things using it I think #1 and #2 are more interesting by far than #3... I can't wait to see what happens when BTC and USD are even vaguely on the same footing in a geographic area.

leorocky 12y ago
> the black market on campus will (surely) start accepting it This made me guffaw. The black market on campus? Would that be the Hob where Katniss Everdeen sells her poached turkeys while the corrupt Capitol police look away? Are Jay and Silent Bob behind the campus bookstore selling blunts, stolen books and test answers? Is there a darknet on campus accessible only to Angelina Jolie style hackers? Maybe you meant some kind of informal marketplace on campus where people buy and sell drugs and stolen merchandise but I don't think such a place exists on MIT. It's mostly hard working students trying to make it through school. I think you've been watching too many movies. Edit: I'm totally ok with this comment being downvoted, I would have downvoted it myself, but I couldn't resist.
- mcintyre1994 12y ago
  Ha, isn't alcohol illegal for under 21s, AKA most college students? I'd be stunned if there isn't a way to buy drugs on campus too.
  - leorocky 12y ago
    Yes it's probably a tiny minority who buy it through off campus drug dealers and friends. Such as there are drug dealing trends, they will happen across MA, New England and the general area and will happen regardless of bitcoin experiments at MIT. I'm rolling my eyes at this notion of a single purpose black market, hidden in the depths of the halls of MIT, the ire of faculty and administrators alike. It's such a silly idea. Might make a great young adult novel plot though.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - smtddr 12y ago
      http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N13/damelio_police_arrest.html http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N13/damelio_police_arrest.html
  - atmosx 12y ago
    So MIT alumni selling drugs, will accept illegal transactions which are displayed on a virtual leather board where everyone has access and can never be erased? I would expect MIT students to be smarter than that. Not to mention that most students will prefer to pay in USD than BTC. ps. Bitcoin as a form of payment, has a really questionable success. If a virtual currency is going to be accepted by the public, will have to be state-backed in some way. So bitcoin as a currency, might be (extremely) interesting, but I'm sure 100% it will never be able to replace FIAT in it's current form.
    - baddox 12y ago
      A virtual ledger board that, with a small amount of effort, contains no information about the physical person who controls a wallet. Of course, MIT could implement the Bitcoin handout in such a way they they know the initial recipient of each wallet.
- morgante 12y ago
  Uh, you do realize that "the black market" is a term for underground exchange, right? Not a literal location. As with any college campus, MIT surely has a healthy black market (buyers and sellers of alcohol, drugs, and various other illegal goods & services). With every student having Bitcoin, some will surely try to use it on said market. Or perhaps you also thought the stock market was a building in downtown Manhattan...
  - judk 12y ago
    Wall Street was where the original NY stock market place was. There is a commemorative statue there now.
perlgeek 12y ago
4. Lots of bitcoins will be stolen, because people don't realize how insecure their various computer systems are
- astrodust 12y ago
  If you think selling "elevator passes" is profitable, wait until you can hit up freshmen for BTC.
- DennisP 12y ago
  They're MIT students. If they lose their free hundred bucks because they didn't secure their computers, they should've known better, it'll be a valuable educational experience, and maybe it'll motivate some to figure out better ways of storing bitcoins.
  - Consultant32452 12y ago
    MIT offers degrees in gender studies, anthropology, theater, etc. Not everyone at MIT is a computer geek.
    - tlrobinson 12y ago
      And not all computer geeks properly store their Bitcoins either.
      - jafaku 12y ago
        In my experience, geeks didn't realize mtgox and the like weren't a secure way to store your money, while non-geeks did simply by using common sense (ie. Do they have insurance? Can I sue them locally should something go wrong?). I know that's not even the proper way to store your coins. But only security experts knew better.
        StavrosK 12y ago
        I'm a geek, I knew MtGox wasn't a secure way to store my money, but I didn't know what a secure and convenient way was. Hint: It was https://electrum.org/ https://electrum.org/. It's amazing.
aqme28 12y ago
Cash is still a better medium of exchange in a localized black market than bitcoin, since cash is actually anonymous.
- mseebach 12y ago
  But much harder to store (hide), transport and spend in significant quantity.
  - crater 12y ago
    But for the MIT undergrad black market I don't know if there would be the quantity or type of goods that would require a student to "hide" a significant quantity of money.
Nursie 12y ago
4. Students figure out how to cash out to dollars and spend it on booze.
mseebach 12y ago
I would expect 1 and 2 to be driven by 3 to a large extend.
tbrock 12y ago
I would think that the cost of any single merchant converting their payment systems to accept bitcoin payment negates the potential value of doing so. It is a cool idea but I'm not sure $100 each is enought to move the needle. I'm, of course, assuming the students don't all spend it at the same place.
- DennisP 12y ago
  Also assuming students don't decide they like bitcoins and get more of them. One cheap way to set up is Coinbase. No fees for the first million dollars in revenue, no chargebacks, cash out to dollars every day, and they've got a point-of-sale app for your smartphone.
patio11 12y ago
I'm thinking 0. A few smart undergrads become briefly the most popular people on campus for passing out $50 bills to a large portion of the student body.

by dlss 12y ago

leorocky 12y ago

> the black market on campus will (surely) start accepting it This made me guffaw. The black market on campus? Would that be the Hob where Katniss Everdeen sells her poached turkeys while the corrupt Capitol police look away? Are Jay and Silent Bob behind the campus bookstore selling blunts, stolen books and test answers? Is there a darknet on campus accessible only to Angelina Jolie style hackers? Maybe you meant some kind of informal marketplace on campus where people buy and sell drugs and stolen merchandise but I don't think such a place exists on MIT. It's mostly hard working students trying to make it through school. I think you've been watching too many movies. Edit: I'm totally ok with this comment being downvoted, I would have downvoted it myself, but I couldn't resist.

mcintyre1994 12y ago
Ha, isn't alcohol illegal for under 21s, AKA most college students? I'd be stunned if there isn't a way to buy drugs on campus too.
- leorocky 12y ago
  Yes it's probably a tiny minority who buy it through off campus drug dealers and friends. Such as there are drug dealing trends, they will happen across MA, New England and the general area and will happen regardless of bitcoin experiments at MIT. I'm rolling my eyes at this notion of a single purpose black market, hidden in the depths of the halls of MIT, the ire of faculty and administrators alike. It's such a silly idea. Might make a great young adult novel plot though.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - smtddr 12y ago
    http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N13/damelio_police_arrest.html http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N13/damelio_police_arrest.html
- atmosx 12y ago
  So MIT alumni selling drugs, will accept illegal transactions which are displayed on a virtual leather board where everyone has access and can never be erased? I would expect MIT students to be smarter than that. Not to mention that most students will prefer to pay in USD than BTC. ps. Bitcoin as a form of payment, has a really questionable success. If a virtual currency is going to be accepted by the public, will have to be state-backed in some way. So bitcoin as a currency, might be (extremely) interesting, but I'm sure 100% it will never be able to replace FIAT in it's current form.
  - baddox 12y ago
    A virtual ledger board that, with a small amount of effort, contains no information about the physical person who controls a wallet. Of course, MIT could implement the Bitcoin handout in such a way they they know the initial recipient of each wallet.
morgante 12y ago
Uh, you do realize that "the black market" is a term for underground exchange, right? Not a literal location. As with any college campus, MIT surely has a healthy black market (buyers and sellers of alcohol, drugs, and various other illegal goods & services). With every student having Bitcoin, some will surely try to use it on said market. Or perhaps you also thought the stock market was a building in downtown Manhattan...
- judk 12y ago
  Wall Street was where the original NY stock market place was. There is a commemorative statue there now.

perlgeek 12y ago

4. Lots of bitcoins will be stolen, because people don't realize how insecure their various computer systems are

astrodust 12y ago
If you think selling "elevator passes" is profitable, wait until you can hit up freshmen for BTC.
DennisP 12y ago
They're MIT students. If they lose their free hundred bucks because they didn't secure their computers, they should've known better, it'll be a valuable educational experience, and maybe it'll motivate some to figure out better ways of storing bitcoins.
- Consultant32452 12y ago
  MIT offers degrees in gender studies, anthropology, theater, etc. Not everyone at MIT is a computer geek.
  - tlrobinson 12y ago
    And not all computer geeks properly store their Bitcoins either.
    - jafaku 12y ago
      In my experience, geeks didn't realize mtgox and the like weren't a secure way to store your money, while non-geeks did simply by using common sense (ie. Do they have insurance? Can I sue them locally should something go wrong?). I know that's not even the proper way to store your coins. But only security experts knew better.
      - StavrosK 12y ago
        I'm a geek, I knew MtGox wasn't a secure way to store my money, but I didn't know what a secure and convenient way was. Hint: It was https://electrum.org/ https://electrum.org/. It's amazing.

aqme28 12y ago

Cash is still a better medium of exchange in a localized black market than bitcoin, since cash is actually anonymous.

mseebach 12y ago
But much harder to store (hide), transport and spend in significant quantity.
- crater 12y ago
  But for the MIT undergrad black market I don't know if there would be the quantity or type of goods that would require a student to "hide" a significant quantity of money.

Nursie 12y ago

4. Students figure out how to cash out to dollars and spend it on booze.

mseebach 12y ago

I would expect 1 and 2 to be driven by 3 to a large extend.

tbrock 12y ago

I would think that the cost of any single merchant converting their payment systems to accept bitcoin payment negates the potential value of doing so. It is a cool idea but I'm not sure $100 each is enought to move the needle. I'm, of course, assuming the students don't all spend it at the same place.

DennisP 12y ago
Also assuming students don't decide they like bitcoins and get more of them. One cheap way to set up is Coinbase. No fees for the first million dollars in revenue, no chargebacks, cash out to dollars every day, and they've got a point-of-sale app for your smartphone.

patio11 12y ago

I'm thinking 0. A few smart undergrads become briefly the most popular people on campus for passing out $50 bills to a large portion of the student body.