Hi guys,

I've been browsing the forums trying to figure this out for a few days now, but I just can't solve it. I know how helpful this community is to newbies trying to figure everything out, so I figured I should ask.

I originally downloaded BitsharesX a month or so ago. I bought some Bitshares from BTER and sent them to my account..no problem. I was using the application a couple weeks later when I noticed how long it seemed to be taking for the blocks to sync. Eventually, it just gave up and said not connected. I thought this was because I didn't have the latest update, so I downloaded 0.4.20 and tried again. Unfortunately, even with the update, it's not working. When I open the application, it says that I'm about 27 days behind on syncing blocks. It seems to be attempting to sync for a while, but it always ends up just going back to "Not Connected."

I know that there's a solution out there, but part of the problem is that I'm not very well versed in the super technical side of things. I come from an economics background, not a computer science one. I would VERY much appreciate it if someone could explain for me, in layman's terms, how to fix this problem.

Finally, I have a question about the update. When I downloaded 0.4.20, it created a whole new BitsharesX app on my computer. So now I have two of them. Obviously I only need the latest one. If I delete the old app from my computer, is it going to affect my funds at all? It seems to me I can still access them from the new app....Sorry if I'm a little behind on all of this. Thanks for the help!

Quote from: bits on October 17, 2014, 05:59:08 pm

Quote from: Rune on October 16, 2014, 12:12:08 pm

BitUSD will be fine. When it comes to purchasing power, they trust USD the most. Making a new name will just make pitching it even harder, and will fragment the market.

Well, yes and no.  People still have to pay for many things in Bolivar regardless.  So whenever that debit card functionality arrives, it could be very helpful for relating to the way in which things are priced.  Plus the government would probably look more kindly on it's citizens using BitBolivar, and might even encourage it's adoption.  The Bolivar is itself pegged to the USD, but has undergone some devaluation in recent years.

The reason they have such a huge USD cash based black market economy is because they dislike the inflationary Bolivar.

The banking system already allows unrestricted access to Bolivar I assume. BitBolivar can be introduced but it is an extremely low value proposition. It also won't be looked on any more favourably by government because of the greater privacy BitBolivar provides.

The mother lode is BitUSD.

Anywhere demand is high but supply is limited or restricted. That's the market. It's like selling water in the desert, easy.

The marketing strategy should clearly be to find the 4/5 markets that fit those criteria the most & try penetrate them, starting with the ones that are the most targetable.

I spent 6 months in Argentina recently, and it's pretty obvious that they're in desperate need of a new system. I really think BitUSD could work. The problem with creating an asset like BitBolivar or BitPeso is that, like Empirical 1.1 said, the citizens of these countries do not have any confidence in their local currency.

In Argentina, people buy dollars in order to SAVE their money in a currency that, to them, seems more stable. They still have to buy everything using pesos, but they're literally saving dollars in their mattresses rather than keeping pesos in Argentine banks. The government has serious controls on how many dollars you can buy, but that doesn't REALLY affect things because there is a huge black market for it. You can walk down to a street called Calle Florida and see tons of people calling out offering to buy/sell pesos and dollars. The local newspapers even publish the black market exchange rates on the front page daily.

I agree with Empirical 1.1 that BitUSD would work much better in these countries. Yes, they still buy and sell things within the country using pesos, but the exchange rate has become so well publicized, and coupled with the fact that people there really THINK in dollars, I think the conversion to using BitUSD would be very simple for people in Argentina. I think it is a place with huge potential for this technology. I don't know as much about Venezuela, but I would assume similarities.