An Interview With America's Top Bitcoins Expert: Bitram "Bitty" Coins

This interview with a Bitcoins expert is just too good to ignore...

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Reality Check: 

Today, I interview Bitram "Bitty" Coins, the nation's leading expert in the Bitcoins market. 

GN: Mr. Coins, I am happy you consented to an interview. 
BC: Call me Bitty. 
GN: OK, Bitty. I want to find out what this Bitcoins deal is all about. 
BC: It's about liberty. It's about a new international market. It's about a New World Currency Order. 
GN: It's also about buying 10,000 Bitcoins for $50 in 2009, which are worth $13,000,000 today. 
BC: I call this value-added investing. 
GN: I call it a digital tulip mania. 
BC: I see that you are a skeptic. 
GN: You have very clear eyesight. 
BC: Maybe I can persuade you otherwise. 
GN: Give it your best shot. 

BC: Let me tell you about the #1 benefit. You get complete privacy. 
GN: Complete? 
BC: That's right. 
GN: How does this work? 
BC: You go to an exchange and buy Bitcoins. 
GN: You mean like Silk Road? 
BC: Not Silk Road. The U. S. government shut it down. 
GN: Then maybe Sheep Marketplace, Silk Road's replacement? 
BC. It went out of business when someone stole $100,000,000 in Bitcoins -- maybe the biggest theft in history. 
GN: How did he do this? 
BC: Nobody knows. 
GN: Will the police catch him? 
BC: The police can't do anything about it. 
GN: Why not? 
BC: Because, with Bitcoins, you have complete privacy. 
GN: So does the thief. 
BC: That's the price of complete privacy. 
GN: Then what recourse do the victims have? 
BC: Well, one of them said this. "I won't find this guy. Somebody else will. I assume he'll be jailed, blackmailed, tortured or killed." I find this inspirational. It's 100% privacy at work. 
GN: Are these heists a pattern? 
BC. Not at all. They are random. 
GN: But there are so many of them. Here is a list. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=83794.0)

BC: It's just a cost of doing business anonymously. 
GN: Because there are no contracts. 
BC: Correct. 
GN: Because there are no courts. 
BC: Correct. 
GN: Because no one knows who he is dealing with. 
BC: Correct. 
GN: So, if you get robbed, you lose everything. 
BC: Yes. But the risk is low. 
GN: How low? 
BC: No one knows. 
GN: Because the Bitcoins market is 100% secret. 
BC: Correct. 

GC: Let's get back to your account of how I get 100% secrecy. Let's say that I buy some Bitcoins on an exchange. A reliable exchange. 
BC: A good idea. 
GN: How do I get money to the seller of Bitcoins? 
BC: By a bank draft. 
GN: Is there a public record of this? 
BC: Not on a Bitcoins exchange. 
GN: I mean at my bank. 
BC: Oh, sure. It shows that you have spent the money. 
GN: So, I don't transfer the money secretly. 
BC: Correct. 
GN: Then how do I get 100% secrecy? 
BC: Because no one can follow your money after you transfer it. 
GN: Even me, if it gets stolen. 
BC: Correct. 

GN: What if I want to sell some of my Bitcoins? 
BC: No problem. You sell them, and you get dollars. 
GN: Untraceable paper dollars? 
BC: No. Digital money. 
GN: But digits can be stored only in a bank. 
BC: Correct. 
GN: Then the digits -- dollars -- wind up in my bank account. 
BC: Correct. 
GN: So, this is not secret. 
BC: Of course not. It's central bank digital money. 
GN: So, to maintain 100% secrecy, I must never sell my Bitcoins for dollars. 
BC: Correct. 
GN: What can I buy with Bitcoins? 
BC: Illegal drugs. 
GN: What else? 
BC: Computer programming. 
GN: Anything else? 
BC: Not much. But there are more things all the time. 

GN: So, let me be clear about this. I give up dollars, with which I can buy anything, so that I can buy Bitcoins, which can't buy much of anything. 
BC: You are buying secrecy. 
GN: But I can go to my ATM and get currency. I can spend currency anywhere. I can spend it on anything offered for sale for dollars. This leaves no trace. 
BC: But there is a record of this withdrawal. 
GN: There is a record of my withdrawal to buy Bitcoins. 
BC: True. 

GN: Then why should I buy Bitcoins? 
BC: Because they keep rising in price. 
GN: Why do they go up in price? 
BC: Because of success stories. 
GN: Give me one. 
BC: In 2010, you could have bought 10,000 of them for $25 in pizza. 
GN: But in 2009, someone paid $50 for 10,000 Bitcoins. He took a 50% loss. 
BC: The dollar-denominated price of Bitcoins is volatile. 
GN: So, I should buy them as a speculation. 
BC: We don't call this a speculation. 
GN: What do you call it? 
BC: Buying the money of the future. 
GN: Will it buy more things in the future than illegal drugs and programming? 
BC: Of course. 
GN: What is the evidence of this? 

BC: It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 
GN: That's the New Testament's definition of faith. 
BC: Say, you really know your Scriptures! 
GN: I do. This one comes to mind. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal." 
BC: Right! Lay up your treasures in the cloud! 
GN: But not in Silk Road or Sheep Marketplace. 
BC: Right.

It gets even more interesting from here on. Read the rest of the interview here: http://bit.ly/1bCOxNl