Seemed semi relevant

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30976610

He said: "I don't mean by that that it will necessarily at any stage be compulsory to vote in that way, but I think that the notion that, if it can be established as secure and reliable people should have the option to vote online, will gain ground more and more and more."
He said the 2020 poll "could be the first election in which people have the opportunity... to vote online".

The Digital Democracy Commission also envisages public participation in Commons' debates via an internet forum.

Personally I've speculated that businesses being unable to hold Bitcoin is a primary factor in Bitcoin's decline as it potentially means the more utility Bitcoin gains the worse it does, obviously inflation & speculation plays a role and other external factors/events. Just thought I'd post to see what people's thoughts are on the subject & whether we should communicate this angle more.

---

Bitcoin was more well known in 2014 than ever before with more VC investment than ever before and is now accepted by tens of thousands of businesses worldwide, yet the price generally, clearly trended down the whole year. Why?

I suggest the reason is volatility.

The majority of businesses immediately sell their Bitcoin for fiat.

"Mr. White says that Coinbase’s list of merchants is continuing to grow at a rate of 10% each month despite bitcoin’s recent price drop. The “vast majority” of them convert their bitcoin into dollars, he says." http://www.wsj.com/articles/even-bitcoins-fans-prefer-to-keep-cash-1419539916

The problem for the price of Bitcoin is that a sale IN Bitcoin equals a sale OF Bitcoin. Imagine if every time you paid in Dollars at a shop, the shop didn't keep the Dollars and had to immediately sell the Dollars for Euro. I imagine the Dollar would rapidly devalue. Unfortunately the more people shop with Bitcoin the more selling pressure there is.

When few people accepted Bitcoin the price could rise, because we were all hoarding it. New demand had to chase newly mined coins. Now new demand has to soak up high inflation and all the Bitcoin we spend that businesses are selling for fiat as soon as they get it.

Except for inflation, a Bitcoin Dam was in place but now the Bitcoin leaks out via businesses.
If the businesses held & re-circulated more crypto, it would make a lake that got bigger and bigger with new demand & whenever people replenished. But Bitcoin leaks out because businesses don't hold it. Currently we're just refilling a leaking dam, which wouldn't leak nearly as much with a stable crypto-currency option for businesses. Though Bitcoin's short term value is speculative, I think the 2014 trend shows Bitcoin is losing a lot despite greater investment, development, exposure and utility.

It's likely that once options like BitUSD gain traction which offer stability, interest and all the advantages of decentralization that this situation will reverse & crypto will rise especially as an average of $3 worth of BitShares backs each BitUSD, so a little demand could go a long way.

---

If that is a primary factor. I think we should communicate that more as the mindset now is that 'crypto is doomed/declining or not taking off' - if we can communicate that crypto is doing better than ever before but businesses not using stable BitCurrency options yet is a big factor in the downturn and once they do use BitCurrencies more the trend could rapidly reverse, that could be beneficial.

Here's a little BitShares video I did, hope you like it 

Updated Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnunXnLdJdw&feature=youtu.be

Short versions of the main BitAsset part with slightly different intros...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC0ppfbp0gI&feature=youtu.be

I have used the song ‘Welcome to the blockchain’ by Toby Ganger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbzNJr26H-4
If you like this video and want to tip, please send to his BTS address:  tobyganger (as listed on his YouTube video)

POW as we know is starting to look very lonely in the top 10 & BTC has been on a long general downtrend. LTC has been on a downtrend for ages and broke a big $100 million psychological barrier.
Ripple is centralised, with huge centralisation of stake, it has it's own market but it's not a decentralised alternative imo.

So two fantastic things are happening LTC is bringing itself within reach and POW as a whole is clearly dying.

So passing LTC will make us look very strong indeed.

I've been bullish on BTS, but definitely not a super-bull for a host of reasons that have resulted in BTS being significantly undervalued imo. The board is shaping up in BTS's favour and giving us a shot though imo.

I see we have some guys working out of the Bitcoin Embassy in Argentina who are developing a BitUSD mobile wallet  This is fantastic news imo!

https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=11902.msg156761#msg156761

Dear community,

My name is Matias Romeo and together with Pablo Tutino we are both cofounders of Latincoin.com.

We are based in Buenos Aires (Argentina) working from the "Bitcoin Center Buenos Aires" (aka: Bitcoin Embassy)

As many of you know the current situation in our country is one of a big opportunity for bitUSD, and seeing that the mobile wallet for bitshares is lagging behind we decided to do our contribution and started the development of a mobile bitasset wallet.

We think that Argentina has a lot of potential for the daily use of bitUSD and we have a lot of efforts going on in that sense that hope to release soon.

Check out this video I found which shows some of the Bitcoin businesses that are all co-located there & makes the case for Bitcoin in Argentina.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=God__fg2kwg

Now multiply that Bitcoin potential by infinity, take it to the depths of forever and you will still have barely a glimpse of what we're talking about with BitUSD there imo. (To paraphrase Joe Black.)

We have a new, united BitShares beginning on Nov 5th.

We have an opportunity to define a new beginning about who we are and where we're going.
Whether that's a constitution, mission statement or just some basic values, I don't know.
(I think MethodX has previously expressed interest in helping draw up a draft for something like this.)

For me a big question is this...

Should BitShares define it's maximum annual dilution for eternity?

Personally, I think yes.

A BTS that is limited & defined like Bitcoin but puts the dilution towards positive, productive uses rather than wasteful centralised mining is something I think will be more successful.

Bytemaster, is open to that angle.

Quote from: trader on October 31, 2014, 07:05:42 pm

Its 2021:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supply

Great... an enshrined constitution that stipulates an dilution rate strictly less than BTC's inflation rate would "tie our hands" and should be carefully considered, but from a marketing perspective there is a strong case.

https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=10816.msg142543#msg142543

Do you think we should cap our dilution rate in a constitution forever? Other thoughts?

A recent comprehensive study found that the two countries most likely to adopt Bitcoin (BitAssets  ) are Venezuela and Argentina.

http://www.coindesk.com/argentina-most-likely-adopt-bitcoin/


Primary Reason: Highly inflationary local currencies and low accessibility to alternatives.

Those two countries are literally begging and clawing with their fingernails for BitAssets.

What is the opportunity?

Argentina's GDP:      $600 Billion+
Venezuala's GDP:     $400 Billion+
Total:                      $1 Trillion +

In Kenya, up to 40% of the GDP flows through M-Pesa
(A mobile phone based money transfer service using cellphone minutes as currency.)

I would say M-Pesa's success is the result of poor banking infrastructure but it does show that even a third works country can adopt a new payment & money system if the need is there and what a significant part of its GDP it can become.


Targeting: There are only a handful of Bitcoin exchanges and partners that need to be pitched BitAssets in these countries. Once they understand them I'm sure they'll agree that they are what they're looking for vs. Bitcoin. That's the entry point. I believe BitAssets can spread like wildfire there because that's where the need for them is highest. The potential market size could be very significant too.