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Dissecting Bitcoin – For India

Posted by Benson Samuel on June 8, 2015
Posted in: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Event, Coinsecure, Companies of the Future, Future Technology, India, IndiaBitcoin. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 Comment

Bitstreet.co recently penned an article on Suril Desai, introducing him as “an analyst at Nishith Desai Associates, one among a handful of law firms in India trying to develop a way to present the Bitcoin framework effectively so that its legitimacy comes from the fact that it is decentralized, rather than regulated”. Nishith Desai Associates had completed a study surrounding Bitcoin in India and had found that Bitcoin is not illegal in India.

Suril posted a request on a Bitcoin Whatsapp group recently, for a small gathering of Bitcoiners to visit Mumbai and engage in a full day discussion on Bitcoin in India. Investors, Entrepreneurs, Lawyers, Media and Jack Hidary, amongst several others, gathered to discuss possibilities surrounding Bitcoin in India.

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The meeting began with Suril welcoming the guests and introducing the topic for the day, ‘Dissecting Bitcoins’. Mr. Nishith Desai, of Nishith Desai Associates, then stepped forward to shed light on the issue at hand. He mentioned in his speech that new technology brings with it new problems. Describing his law firm as constructively disruptive, he offered insight into the mindset and culture that nurtures breakthrough innovations such as bitcoins.

Sunny Goenka, provided a powerful overiew on Bitcoin and the Evolution of Money. He spoke about several global scenarios involving hyperinflation. He continued to testify about Bitcoins soundness by displaying a quick statistical overview on its long term prices along with the names of some of the large companies that accept Bitcoin globally.

The guts of the system were examined by Amitabh and Benson Samuel, where Amitabh introduced, that the origin of blockchain technology lies in cryptocurrency, which ensures that there is no single point of failure and ensures peer to peer payment. He continued to state that the bitcoin public ledger is an application of the blockchain technology. Everyone has an identical copy of the ledger, which lasts forever, similar to a bank ledger. One can only add and not remove entries. It is practically irreversible and the process of adding transactions is known as mining. It is a disruptive technology. IBM, Infosys, and banks were looking into this technology.

He proceeded to explain that Bitcoin comprises of rules embedded in software, cryptography (hash function and digital signature) and miners (who provide proof of work). The room engaged in several discussions at this point, trying to simplify the concepts and understand why this is the future of money.

The session concluded with the summary that the fundamentals of bitcoin look strong. It has been around for over 5 years now, but even with 5 years under its belt, the subject is still new and needs further exploration.

Dissecting BItcoin

Niki Gomez, an economist working with Wired Magazine, started the post lunch session with a quick overview on Bitcoin in a simple manner, outlining several of its characteristics.

Jack Hidary, board member on Google-X and co-founder of X-Prize took the stage alongside Vipin Surelia who is the Head of Cheque Clearing for National Payments Corporation of India, for a fireside chat.

Jack Hiddary raised the question on the approach towards Bitcoin in India by the Indian Government. Vipin talked about a meeting of all the Central Bank officials of countries across the world in Johannesberg, where a stance was taken to wait and watch the development of the Bitcoin. He went on to conclude that the regulators decided on a wait and watch policy for India, as they did not want to stifle innovation.

Vipin explained that in India 90% transactions are in cash, 3% are electronic and 7% of them are in cheque.

This further testified to the decentralised structure that India is already accustomed to, and the growth potential of Bitcoin. While cash is highly anonymous and attempts at being phased out are in progress, Bitcoin is already in the space of providing a decentralised model for the world to adopt and create transaction trails. 90% of a country transacting through cash and hand to hand transactions, is a strong case for decentralizing rather than centralizing further.

Mr. Nishith Desai concluded the day with a request to help clear the uncertainty surrounding Bitcoin in India, from a neutral perspective. While organic adoption of Bitcoin will occur over time, some of the steps outlined below should pave the way for greater clarity and ease of entry from existing companies and interested parties as soon as possible.

1. A set of rules on how the Bitcoin Policy in India needs to be developed.
2. A committee or a think tank should be created comprising of industry players, bitcoin experts and academicians both national and international. Maintaining credibility is very important.
3. The present Government is keen on consulting. The above mentioned think tank should have its research and policy in place before approaching the Government in a consultative capacity.
4. The first step will be a press release. The think tank will be funded by using crowd funding, funds from research organizations and the contributions of the think tank members.
5. A public ledger will be created for funds subject to certain rules. If rules aren’t followed, the concerned person’s pipeline will be cut off. This is how transactions will be validated.
6. The think tank needs to be independent. It should not be politicized for preserving credibility and integrity.
7. The main issues identified with regard to the think tank were :
a. Budget
b. Driving of the committee
8. The present members will keep in touch through a Whatsapp group and meet again as decided.

The overall outcome was positive, with a huge emphasis on innovation along with responsible self-regulation.

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The Rise of Bitcoin & Technology in India

Posted by Benson Samuel on April 9, 2015
Posted in: Bitcoin, Companies of the Future, Finance, Future Technology, India, IndiaBitcoin, Jeff Garzik, Payment Technology, Startup. Tagged: , . 2 Comments

Technology has always propelled the world in various directions creating a positive connecting impact on a global level with ease.

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As we move closer to a border-less world, we are encouraged and driven by technology and decentralization as centralization is no longer sustainable due to larger populations with audiences and greater individual requirements taking the front seat.

Driving past villages this weekend, on a quick weekend getaway, I happened to notice the change in India that no one could have imagined few years ago. Schools and Technology Institutes dotted our map as we passed these newly built structures aiming to take India to a higher altitude. Farmers, moving sugarcane in their overloaded trucks, were loud and chatty on their Smartphones as they drove through the country to deliver their wares. There were mobile stores in the smallest of villages and posters of Internet Service Providers and their tariffs all over the place.

Discussions have been rampant in terms of decentralizing the Internet further by moving away from Internet Service Providers and into the realm of hot air balloons, drones and more interestingly, Jeff Garziks, Dunvegan Decentralized Space Solutions. Intent on delivering a Bitcoin node in the sky, plans for a Low Earth Orbitter have been realised and are close to lift off.

Bitcoin is the Internet of Money. It connects people to each other and removes boundaries of engagement, similar to the Internet.

* India occupies 2.8% of the world’s land area but supports over 17.5% of the world’s population. At the 2001 census, 72.2% of the population lived in about 6,38,000 villages, and the remaining 27.8% lived in more than 5,100 towns and over 380 urban agglomerations.*

** A report on the Financial Exclusion in India suggests that 41% of India is Unbanked.** This is a number derived from 203 million households in India. A total of 40% of the unbanked reside in urban areas and the rest remain in rural areas. This is a win for technology as the world begins to realise that the stage to enable and simplify money transaction and the ability to freely transfer value is now set.

Most of these lessons helped us design Coinsecure to be user friendly and enabling. With one of the simplest methods of getting involved with Bitcoin in India using bank-level security and strict AML and KYC guidelines built in, Coinsecure gets set to focus on enabling a larger audience in India.

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Our primary focus rests on building an Exchange capable of handling high volumes and lightning fast trades to enable existing traders to gain a transparent and self-managed platform.

We continue in that direction as we prepare to launch our Private Order System, Merchant Platform, API, and we will follow that with an enabler, which will further reduce the barriers between 203 million households in India.

We work with a vision to be leaders in this space as India grows and changes, diversifies and enables even the weakest at the remotest with the best.

 

Sources

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India

** http://www.bankofindia.co.in/FI-BOI/images/FI%20presentation.pdf

International eCommerce with Bitcoin – The Growing Force

Posted by Benson Samuel on April 23, 2014
Posted in: Uncategorized. Leave a comment

 

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International eCommerce with Bitcoin – The Growing Force

Bitcoin’s promise to ensure international low cost transactions has seen a slew of usage across various verticals; but none as dominant as e-commerce. From pen drives and drones, to state of the art Bitcoin miners, CoinsForTech has been quietly carving a name for itself as a champion e-commerce service provider. I happened to catch up with Lee Marburg, the CEO and founder of CoinsForTech, an Australian e-commerce store that focuses on the sale of electronic goods for Bitcoin.

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CoinsForTech was recently mentioned in a comprehensive post on Reddit, where Lee had penned their success story. In just 9 short months, the team has got over $ $300,000 USD in sales and are keen to build on their excellence by providing all customers with one of the healthiest customer support programs in the current Bitcoin eco-system.

One of the larger problems being faced by the e-tailers today is the sharp volatility in prices as Lee rightfully mentioned: “The exchange rate is the most damaging part of Bitcoin to our business. This is understandable though as customers are reluctant to purchase if they could buy the product for less tomorrow or the next day. The exchange rate can be very volatile and it does have an effect on peoples spending. Some of our customers have combated this by replacing the Bitcoin as they spend it (making the exchange rate irrelevant) but this is a very small minority.”

Despite the volatility, Lee is confident that Bitcoin will survive the long run and he said: “We are most popular in countries with generally high electronics prices. I also think that these countries will benefit most from Bitcoin and I sincerely hope it opens doors for them to afford-ably trade internationally.”

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With just two suppliers accepting Bitcoin in payments, Lee is working hard towards an evangelism effort to get more suppliers to accept Bitcoin and this has been at the background of most of the work he does. “The month of March 2014 has been the best ever for CoinsForTech since its launch with total sales of about $100,000 USD! And this has been achieved within 9 months of our launch…” says the proud owner – Lee Marburg, though it’s much lower than what the infrastructure can handle. Products such as Galaxy S4 and new HTC One are now made available on the site.

CoinsForTech was launched primarily to prove how useful Bitcoin is for international trade. The company definitely wants to be more vocal in the Bitcoin movement and push for its uses in the payment system. They have repeat businesses from customers across Europe, Australia and the Middle East and one customer from Africa. CoinsForTech has been able to cater to countries with difficult markets and though they do not play a huge role in daily orders, customers are incredibly happy. They now service 42 countries in total since their launch June 2013.

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Their customer support is provided by CoinSecure who takes care of their customers while they are asleep (time zones!) “One of the issues we battled as the store grew was that much of our customer activity happened while we were asleep. That problem ceased when CoinSecure reached out to us. Not only have they provided an excellent support service and taken care of our customers; they are full of ideas to further our business and have gone over and above with their work for us. I was pretty much sold when I saw CoinSecure accepted Bitcoin and realized they could solve our time zone problems. I am much more than satisfied with the service. If you need live support and are pro-bitcoin it is a no-brainer!”

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Their main focus in the near future will be to reduce prices of their products (They currently have excellent prices on many of their products but want prices to continue to come down) to pass on the savings to customers, as it lowers merchant risks and definitely reduces cost. They are working to provide excellent shipping options as the economy grows and increase their customer base.

 

We need Bitcoin startups in India

Posted by Benson Samuel on January 31, 2014
Posted in: Alternative Currency, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Funding, Bitcoin Regulation in India, Colored Coins, Companies of the Future, Cryptocurrency, Finance, Future Technology, India, IndiaBitcoin, Meetup, Payment Technology, Reserve Bank Of India. 1 Comment

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Chasing the Bitcoin train in India has been a challenge beyond expectations. Of course, no one expected this to be easy. The patterns that emerged from Europe, US & China have been similar to the patterns across India. Mining interest came first, followed by Exchanges, and now eCommerce has started, possibly to be followed by gaming.

Lightspeed Ventures, Maninder Gulati’s prediction of USD $100 mn rolling into the Bitcoin ecosystem through VC funds promises to make 2014 a year to reckon with. It would be great to see a percentage of those funds reaching India.

So, where exactly are the legendary technology people from India? Agreed that the world has seen tremendous contribution from them, but what about India. Several global Bitcoin startups have emerged with Indians at the helm. But hardly any have grown out of India. Where does the problem lie?

The lack of clarity in regulation could be a large part of the problem, apart from Bitcoin being rendered as an investment vehicle above all else. Most Asian Countries have stayed cautious towards Bitcoin as its gaze grows stronger over these regions as well. India, not to be underestimated, engages some of the strictest capital controls. Tough as it can be to get money into Indian businesses, it is just as hard to purchase things from outside.

Bitcoin brings a level playing field in this space as crowd funding projects for Crypto in India becomes easier, as crypto currencies are as global as email. Several Crowd funding platforms exist where any project that is well thought of can be funded from around the world. This is another use case for Bitcoin in India, where the world gets to vote on a project to succeed.

There are millions of other uses that are gaining traction with 2.0 protocols coming to life in the form of Etherium, hybrid alt-coins, Open Transactions and several other innovative products based around this vibrant technology. These are still at a stage of early adoption and are in dire need of ecosystems to grow.

Highkart seems to be a great step in the right direction for India. A superb effort from a Delhi group of entrepreneurs, this is a great move towards building up the blocks that will form a stronger case for the community to use as a value addition. Everyday products that can easily be purchased by Bitcoins, makes for a pressing statement. Lower transaction fees and a better control over the customer cycle enables businesses like this to grow quickly and stimulate the economy.

Greater innovation is demanded in this ultra fast world of Cryptcurrencies, where we have total control over our audience and effort. The world has come a long way from the time of exchanging shells and we finally have reached a solution where a certain form of democratic money has been achieved. There are specific implementations that can be achieved through colored coins and decentralized verification systems; These will rapidly change the way we identify with all facets of the future.

As the regulatory authorities failed to provide any form of clarity, suggestions, open discussions or direction towards Bitcoin trading, a strong movement to gain clarity has arisen from Hyderabad. Led by Badravada Venugopal, the ‘fan’ of Bitcoin has filed a notice through Chaitanya Associates from Bangalore to gain answers from the regulatory authorities. An Independent effort, this is a testament to the effort in place to gain some ground across India. The PDF copy of the notice can be found here.

The community in India moves on, with active meetup groups across 6 cities and a growing sense of urgency to grab a piece of the pie. India needs its fair share of Bitcoin and the longer we delay, the harder it gets to catch up with the rest of the world. Cryptocurrencies are still in their infancy and have not yet reached their potential. If current laws are applied to a future technology, no one is going to get it right.

To learn more about Bitcoin and to get started, do check with Coinsecure’s chat support. This service runs from 10:30am to 5:30pm IST and is aimed mainly at Indians who want to learn about getting started with Bitcoin.

Bitcoin meetups in India

Posted by Benson Samuel on January 18, 2014
Posted in: Alternative Currency, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Event, Companies of the Future, Future Technology, India, IndiaBitcoin, Meetup, Payment Technology, Startup. 3 Comments

Over 750 Indians are now a part of Bitcoin meetups across India. Spread across Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkatta, these groups are active and gather every month to explore new possibilities in Bitcoin.

The recent Bitcoin Bangalore Creativiy Crew meetup at the Microsoft Research center in Bangalore created an awareness of a new technology as people discussed alternative uses of the Blockchain and the uses of it for micro-finance and colored coins.


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As the next logical step in several remote areas of India is a community currency, there were discussions around colored coins and how they could transfer value with a single satoshi. The group will focus on development of the Bitcoin ecosystem apart from other initiatives.


The Bangalore Bitcoin meetup group was started in 2012 and has over 450 members. Host to the Global Bitcoin Conference, a first for India, which was held in Bangalore. Starting from coffee shops, to open source labs, the meetups were creative and enabled several entrepreneurs to build up. The group meets once or twice a month and invites anyone to participate in a well organized discussion. The group was also responsible for organizing the well covered Global Bitcoin Conference at the Sheraton earlier this year.

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Initiatives that have come out of this group include coimonk.com, unocoin.com, The Bitcoin card company, and several others who have added to the voice and Crypto Infrastructure that India now supports.

The Bombay Bitcoin meetup group enabled Kolonial’s to accept Bitcoin. Kolonial’s are the first bar in India which accepts Bitcoin. Nesteled in a cozy part of Mumbai’s bustling financial machine, this is a testament to the work conducted in enabling merchants by the meetup group.

mumbai groupWhat comes next for them would be more important as people add to this growing meetup which has over 175 members already. An active community that has several interests and initiatives in mind including bitterco.in which seems to be run by a focused individual who has shown tremendous commitment to the Bitcoin community.

The Bitcoin in Delhi meetup is a new group focused on working towards enabling Bitcoin and teaching more people about it. Led by a crypto expert and some very involved Bitcoiners, get prepared to meet with early adopters, miners, developers and a host of people getting ready to take Bitcoin to the capital of India.

The Chennai Bitcoin meetup group which was started recently has seen a nice group of people join in and they seem ready to go as well. Expect a similar crowd to gain force as the days pass. Over 20 members in the first few days since it began, will be great to see it grow.

The Hyderabad group and the Kolkatta groups have been started and intend to host meetups in their respective cities. These groups are still young and will grow large over the next few weeks.

The meetup scene is still in its infancy as India has a large geography. More cities need to participate in order for it to grow. A veritable library of information and opportunity, these meetups help build start-ups and enable entrepreneurship before all else.

The platform used popularly is meetup.com. This has enabled all the above meetups to start and grow.

aBitsocial.com is a social network created by a Bitcoiner from India in order to get like minded people together. A solid platform, aBitsocial enables events, blogs, chats and several other necessary tools in order to organize meetups as well. Still at an early stage release, hoping to see this grow in the future.

Bangalore Bitcoin Creativity Crew Meet Up

Posted by Benson Samuel on January 12, 2014
Posted in: Alternative Currency, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Event, Companies of the Future, Cryptocurrency, Future Technology, India, IndiaBitcoin, Meetup, Modern Banking with Bitcoin, Payment Technology, Startup. Leave a comment

Date: 11th Jan 2014

Venue: Microsoft Accelerator, Lavelle Road

The meetup website had over 40 RSVP’s for the first Bitcoin meetup that we had at Microsoft Ventures Accelerator. 20 participants came on time to explore some new possibilities in the Crypto-currency space.

Our first Meetup at Microsoft Ventures Accelerator

Our first Meetup at Microsoft Ventures Accelerator

 

As this was the first meetup, we discussed a short presentation, scraped from around the Internet, to introduce newbies to the Bitcoin concept.

Suprisingly, although we have had a healthy ecosystem for Bitcoiners in Bangalore, almost all the people who attended were new. Developers, Entreprenuers, Startup Founders, NGO Workers and more developers gathered to understand the scope of what this technology could offer.

Post a quick sign up at the front desk, we ran through a short presentation that outlined some basic aspects of Bitcoin. Several questions were asked and were answered as to my best ability. The questions ranged from its legality, to its block size to problems associated with it, and opportunities that stem from problems.

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A short little break with soft drinks and snacks, enabled everyone to network a bit and catch up with people.

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The group then came back together for a group discussion which enabled exchange of ideas and an understanding into the application of Bitcoin technology into various aspects ranging from public verification systems to creation of colored coins and creating payment processors!

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As this was the first meetup in the new format, we wound up with some discussions as to how we can proceed with the meetups and we set a short agenda on what can be expected over the next few months.

We get together at the same venue on the 25th of January 2014 at 14:00PM to continue our discussion and try to form groups that can enable various services across the ecosystem.

Several Meetup groups have evolved across India and more are in the Making. If you are in any of the below mentioned cities, do join a bunch of active like minded Bitcoiners and help the Community grow.

Bangalore: Bangalore Bitcoin Creativity Crew, Bangalore Bitcoin

Mumbai: Bombay Bitcoin

Delhi: Delhi Bitcoin

Chennai: Chennai Bitcoin

 

 

Opportunities in Bitcoin outlined by the RBI

Posted by Benson Samuel on December 27, 2013
Posted in: Alternative Currency, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Regulation in India, Companies of the Future, Cryptocurrency, Finance, Future Technology, India, Modern Banking with Bitcoin, Payment Technology, Reserve Bank Of India. 3 Comments

27/12/2013

The recent events surrounding Bitcoin in India, stemming from a circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India have seen a flurry of confusion across the Bitcoin India Community.

The circular clearly outlines opportunities for Bitcoin in India and sets a firm set of rules to be followed in order for it to gain acceptance outside the community. In no place are there indications of Bitcoin being banned or made illegal. Here are the opportunities to be targetted for Bitcoin to succeed and push forward. Click this link to view the circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India.

  • Keep your software wallets secure. Keep paper wallet backups and follow best pactices. If you do not know how. Ask, there are several forums that help with even the minutest of queries. That being said. Bitcoin is not for zero-knowledge users.
  • Use an arbitrator between transactions. Have a clear cut contract before doing any Bitcoin transaction. There is no central authority that will take ownership of your loss with Bitcoin or the loss arising out of it.
  • Bitcoin is highly Volatile. There are mechanisms in place to bridge that gap as well.
    • Processors: Use a processor if you need to accept Bitcoin for your business. The processor should be able to convert BTC to INR and cover any risk for your business.
    • If you need to send Bitcoin to someone, Buy it and send it within a timespan of 15 – 20 minutes. Avoid holding Bitcoin for too long if you are using it to transfer value.
  • Talk to a lawyer, if you think that is expensive or out of reach, do not start a business to trade Bitcoins. Research and understand the scope of the regulations and take advice when needed.
  • Maintain and share records when requested by the authorities if you run a Bitcoin based business. Pay taxes on gains and check with a CA if needed. Asking the RBI for a statement and acceptance of Bitcoin must be reciprocated with a community effort of keeping an eye out for their interests as well.

The past few years have seen Bitcoin attract attention from outcast markets and in order to stem the usage of Bitcoin in those markets, the community decided to maintain records, abide by regulatory requirements and keep Bitcoin accessible to everyone.

We are now at the threshold of a point where we either see Bitcoin surface in a controlled, well established manner. Or it may be classified to the cash only markets that India is heavy on.

Bitcoin is not an investment or an asset as yet. It is a high risk experiment on a technology and social level. It requires greater centralization in order to be recognized by the current regulatory regime in India. Crypto-currencies need a new legal framework in order to maintain parity with this technology.

They key here is for us to start talking about the technology behind Bitcoin rather than the ideaology behind it. It does hold a lot of conversational material, but needs to grow beyond that into the technical mammoth that it is.

Bitcoin is not just a store of value and a transfer mechansim, it is also a bountiful library of secure well tested code, that has numerous applications outside of its financial spectre.

Although shaken by the recent events, the core of the community and several intelligent people around the Legal and Intellectual communities are aware of Bitcoins potential. India has the potential to rocket past the rest of the world due to the variety of uses of Cryptocurrencies across our diverse nation.

The RBI are currently going down the correct path of investigating end points rather than stopping Bitcoin itself. This is a futuristic market and any country undergoing a modernization routine cannot afford to stand back or impede growth.

Crypto-currencies that are decentralized and open source, cannot really be shut down. The recent Bitcoin Conference in Bangalore, which had over 200 delegates saw this technology in action as people discussed it and disceted it and still did not have a clear understanding of how to stop it.

The Bitcoin community, now has to ‘wait and watch’ and aid in any way possible to bring about this positive movement for Crypto currencies.

How to accept Bitcoin at your Physical store in India

Posted by Benson Samuel on December 7, 2013
Posted in: Alternative Currency, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Future Technology, India, Modern Banking with Bitcoin, Payment Technology, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . 2 Comments
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Image courtesy: http://www.bitcoin-exchange-berlin.com/2013_04_01_archive.html (Photoshopped Image)

 

In 4 simple steps.

  1. Visit http://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet and select a wallet that suits your requirements.
  2. Once you get a Bitcoin address, your account has been setup. This process is generally completed in 2-3 minutes.
  3. Print out the image below and stick it on your shop window near the cash counter and outside your shop.
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Image Courtesy: http://hostquickly.net/pages/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/bitcoin_accepted_here.png

4. Accept Bitcoin using the address created from the wallet of your choice.

Disclaimer: Do read a bit about Bitcoin before diving in.

Dragon’s Tale gets ready for BETA

Posted by Benson Samuel on June 19, 2013
Posted in: Alternative Currency, Bitcoin, Companies of the Future, Finance, Future Technology, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . 1 Comment

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Dragon’s tale evolved from the same engine that ran the highly successful ‘A Tale in the Desert’ and DT is by far the most innovative game in the world of Bitcoin & Casino’s. Having spent a year in Alpha, with extensive live tests from a growing community, DT gets set for a BETA release in the next few weeks. The play to win Bitcoin game that I had written about last year is all grown up and has made US$ 1mn+ over the past year.

I caught up with Teppy, the President and game developer of eGenesis and he was proud of the milestones crossed since the game began, “The two biggest additions to Dragon’s Tale in the last year (not counting the dozens of new released games) have been the Tournament system and the system of Governed Islands. High-level (10+) players can set up tournaments for others to play in, with a really rich set of rules and options. They can charge entry fees for these, though many are freerolls, sometimes just for their mentoring family. We’ve had player-sponsored tournaments with up to 10 BTC in prizes.” Said Tepper,

An Island on DT currently governed by Zombie

An Island on DT currently governed by Zombie

“Governed Islands are our way of creating subcommunities within Dragon’s Tale. For an explanation of why I feel it’s important to do this, I’d suggest reading about “Dunbar’s Number.” Governors and their deputies control who may visit their island, and have a few other tools to cultivate their subcommunities. The election system is novel, and has been crafted to encourage the formation of these groups: it borrows from range voting, weighted voting, and single-transferable-vote systems.”

There have been massive jackpots on Dragon’s Tale such as Jase’s nearly back-to-back pair of
950 BTC wins on Shrines. Bitcoins were only worth $12 at the time though. More recently parse-eval had an 88 BTC jackpot for performing an exotic cow-tipping technique, and Umuri won 100 BTC by shaking a coconut tree. Umuri is a great mentor along with many other level 5 and above players in this MMO.

“We don’t track where players are from (or collect any other demographic information.) Judging by chat, we seem to have lots of player’s from Europe, the United States, and some from South America.” said Teppy, when asked about the demographic distribution of players in DT.

A Bar menu

Dragon’s Tale also features physical Cigars that can be shipped. Teppy plans on including more items such as chocolates to help grow the borders of Dragon’s Tale well into the Physical world.

We ended the chat with Teppy presenting his views on a mobile app for DT. “It’s probably not something we would build ourselves, but I’ve been approached about this and I don’t yet have a clean way to integrate mobile into the persistent world, so it’s not in the immediate future.”

Dragon’s Tale has grown immensely since it began. With a comprehensive list of games and a growing community, this is 2nd or 3rd highest earning game in the Bitcoin gambling space with wagers totaling 416,123 BTC(USD $45m) and won jackpots totaling 406,759 BTC(USD $44m). And that has been its Alpha release accomplishment.

The last security breach was 2 and a half years ago when someone found a loophole that let them change the wager base on a retained state game. This is a testament to the games security and reliablity.

Having moved servers to Costa Rica, Teppy will be hosting a series of tournaments over the next few days towards the build-up of the BETA release.

The Tournament Sign-up Board

Almost everyone who plays is likely to win 5BTM. 50 out of the 53 entrants from the last tournament had won 5 BTM as a minimum, the rest of the small stakes bets won people between 20 and 100 BTM. These were some statistics only from the small stakes bets.

Looking forward to an actively developed and maintained game become more of an industry as the years pass. The game offers massive future potential for in-game placements, professional mentors, herb hunters, soldier scavenging and many other earning opportunities. Credit cards are also accepted by Dragon’s Tale.

Over 100 games and counting, ranging from Drinks to Bench kicks, Dragons Tale is a legend in the making.

External Sources

Dragon’s Tale Casino Wiki

Is Ashish Gulhati, an Indian, Satoshi Nakamoto?

Posted by Benson Samuel on May 28, 2013
Posted in: Alternative Currency, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Celebrity, Bitcoin Regulation in India, Crypto Anarchy Manifesto, Cryptocurrency, Finance, Future Technology, India, IndiaBitcoin, Payment Technology. Leave a comment
Ashish Gulhati

Is Ashish Satoshi Nakamoto?

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto has become a word-wide slogan.

An astute deduction on ‘Who is Satoshi Nakamoto’ was derived by Phinnaeus Gage from the bitcointalk forums.

Between sessions at MFC’s, Gage stumbled upon some literature that introduces us to some names of legend. These led him to strong conclusions of India’s involvement in the evolution and early stage development of Bitcoin.

This is a strong case to add to Ted Wilson’s articulate deductions earlier this month.

While Gage has made a more prominent case with facts, citations and several spot on inferences, It would be great to see how the panel of entries identifies the most likely candidate from the deductions of several other people as well.

While this information is a lot to analyze, I am providing the forum link below for anyone who wishes to understand the chain of events that leads to some powerful conclusions about one of the most elusive man/ collective on the planet.

A proud moment for me, not just to see an Indian associated with Bitcoin, but most importantly the contributions from Ashish Gulhati in aiding the backbone research to our currency of the moment and the future.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=217732.0

Update:

Ashish tweeted a reply confirming that he is not Satoshi. But that is what the real Satoshi would have said as well. 🙂 Ashish deleted the tweet from his feed after messaging me, confirming a need for privacy. Hmmmm, Satoshi indeed.

The hunt continues with Adam Beck, Inventor of Hashcash joining the thread.

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