Business magnate Sir Richard Branson’s no stranger to the topic of bitcoin and digital currency.
In November of last year, Branson announced that his latest and greatest venture, Virgin Galactic, would be accepting bitcoin for short flights to space.
In the April issue of Delta’s SKY Magazine, Branson spoke about a number of topics, of which include (yes, you guessed it) bitcoin.
“It was a genius who set [Bitcoin] up,” he told the magazine.
But despite the genius behind bitcoin, Branson says there’s a number of flaws with it — chiefly, its transparency. Specifically, the fact that most people don’t know who Satoshi Nakamoto — the creator — is.
“It may not be the perfect global currency of the future yet, but it’s the pioneer of a global currency.”
Mr. Branson instead feels that a successful means of digital payments could come from someone well known like Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
Dorsey, of course, now runs Square, a company that seeks to make accepting credit/debit cards simple.
“He’s the kind that’s more likely to come up with the currency of the future that would be completely transparent,” he said, “Maybe using the Virgin Money brand.”
Branson noted in late January that “six or seven” individuals had purchased a Virgin Galactic flight using bitcoin, including a stewardess from Hawaii. Each flight is priced at about $250,000, or about 500 BTC at the current exchange rate.
Read the issue here. See page 150.
[textmarker color=”C24000″]Image[/textmarker] INMA/Jarle Naustvik
Neal Palmquist 
Eric Westernhagen 
Singapura 
I used to like him.
Funny how Bitcoiners flamed Warren Buffet as a guy who is proud that he doesn’t use a computer. But now they run to Branson.
“But despite the genius behind bitcoin, Branson says there’s a number of flaws with it — chiefly, its transparency. Specifically, the fact that most people don’t know who Satoshi Nakamoto — the creator — is.”
Ummmmmm. Does Richard know the definition of the word, “transparency?” If Bitcoin was transparent then we would know who the creator is. Does Richard want Americans to pay USD for BTC in anonymous transaction from God only knows who in the Bitcoin exchanges or not?
Here’s some flaws: Bitcoin is forever unfit for pure trade into silver or gold. Bitcoin is calibrated to the United States Dollar at the same time it is also the world reserve currency. Bitcoin loses purchasing power as the price goes down and as the price goes up. Cash paid for Bitcoins leaves play as the seller will keep the cash or buy back in under the price you paid him for it. As the dollar grows in strength in trading against all other FIAT currencies it costs even more of those even stronger USD to buy a Bitcoin. As the USD weakens, BTC crashes and everybody blames China who just laughs at us for being so stupid. Vendors can’t afford to lose their merchandise, so they throw your stupid Bitcoins back onto the exchange like it was a live grenade.
Bitcoin is to gold as a house of cards is to tremors.
Bitcoin is to the United States Dollar as Stuart Smalley is to his mirror.
I would like to hear Richard explain how Bitcoin is genius but the Confederate Dollar printed by the South during the Civil War was not genius. And would Bitcoin still be genius in the context if the South won the war and it is now the United States Dollar that no longer has central authority control? And how does Bitcoin have the power by itself to stop the world reserve currency USD from becoming the reward and whole payments system for any hypothetical scenario of forced labor operations that can potentially pop up anywhere in the world?
After a 98% crash from the all time high, Bitcoins should be captured and re-minted into a new crypto-currency with municipal backing, laws, financial service regulations and customer service. In other words, I think Las Vegas will turn them into casino chips and they don’t necessarily need Branson to tell them how to do it properly. I mean, if Branson gets that interview then I want an interview, too! After Las Vegas builds the Vegas Coin Exchange, then banks can build financial services and merchant systems based on the Las Vegas Coin exchange. AND GUESS WHAT!!! A Las Vegas Coin ATM will actually pay you cash for your currency!!! Imagine that, Bitcoiners! Life without pretending that a vending machine networked to a trading exchange is supposed to be called an ATM. Wow, such a marvelous, pioneering concept!
I don’t see any ATMs that pay cash for Bitcoins in any of the Virgin Mobile store fronts. That will NEVER happen, for sure! Right, Richard? You going to buy my Bitcoins with YOUR United States Dollars? Space flights in the future are acceptable virtual transactions, but keeping the logistics for cash in transit operational at all times for every one of your locations isn’t so very virtual. Nawww, no worries. I didn’t ever think you were going to give me my money back.
I must say that I am surprised Branson has not figured out to be quiet and he has not attempted to slip silently into the background as far as Bitcoin is concerned. Apparently, the Bitcoin suicide cult desperately needs an evangelist to start a revival. It must be too expensive for people like Branson to come up with the cash to stop the Bitcoin crash by themselves. So now they are positioning to allow Bitcoin to have total collapse.
Well said mister Goldman § Sachs
Awww, dang. Well maybe someday soon if I keep trying you will be calling me Mr. Soros.
I am not a bitcoin evangelist, but I understand how bitcoin works and it is genius. Unlike your poker chip example, people can’t just print an unlimited number of bitcoins.
Bitcoin also didn’t crash 98% from it’s all-time high. It’s sitting at about 45% as compared to the USD. I wouldn’t call that a crash, though. It was overhyped like some .com stocks. Unlike the stocks, though, people around the world see value in bitcoin and there is definitely a supporting price. Whether that’s $500 as it is now or $200, which I think is more realistic, there is a price.
I think you’re also missing something about Bitcoin. It’s not measured in dollars. We do in America, but the Chinese look at price compared to RMB. The British compare to the Pound.
Which brings me to another topic. Do y realize that Richard is not American? He might have US Dollars, but it works not surprise me to know he has far more British Pounds. And why does he not have Bitcoin ATMs in his stores? Because he’s not in the money exchange business. You’re blasting the man for no reason. He has a balanced view. AFAIK, he holds no bitcoins, either. He exchanged the bitcoins for Virgin Galactic flights into fiat currency immediately. That’s reasonable for any business that doesn’t want to subject itself to the price volatility.
Confederate Dollars are also limited issuance, diminishing availability over time and no central authority control. So why are Bitcoins the warts that live on FIAT USD and not money from the South? My casino chip example was a gambling currency chip built on a captured Bitcoin. It will always be worth at least one Bitcoin because it was born from a Bitcoin.
I didn’t say Bitcoin did crash 98%. I said when it does then it will have potential to be used. Bitcoiners don’t know the direction of true north. They believe that higher prices are success but higher prices are actually proof of failure. I believe the supporting price of Bitcoin should not be in terms of USD, but rather one single ounce of silver. That is my main objection. If the Bitcoin community divorced itself from the world reserve currency then I would think it was not a bad thing but a good thing. Or if the USD lost it’s role as the world reserve currency, then my problem with Bitcoin would be moot.
RMB and the Pound are not considered to be the world reserve currency. The United States Dollar is. When the USD is stronger against all other currencies, it should cost LESS of the even stronger dollars to buy a Bitcoin, not more. So your comparison of BTC to currencies that are not the world reserve does not apply to the special conditions that are only applicable to USD. Calibration of the Bitcoin to the USD is an invitation to bring ugliness into this world that would have never existed without Bitcoin. If the day ever comes when other countries have proof of slave labor operations springing up like meth labs, Bono, Matt Damon and President Obama will explain this to you and other countries will blame the Americans who buy Bitcoins with USD without consideration of the effects it has on other people in this world.
Drug Mart isn’t in the money exchange business but every one of those stores has an ATM. Richard doesn’t have Bitcoin ATMs in his stores because he would run out of cash and then run out of Bitcoins repeatedly until he had nothing left at all. It is the same reason why EVERYBODY doesn’t have machines that dispense cash to customers in exchange for Bitcoins. I am not flaming Richard for no reason. I am flaming him because I don’t support innocent people having their wealth destroyed by Bitcoin.
Richard holds no Bitcoins and you think that serves to prove your support for Bitcoin? “We Accect Bitcoin” means “We Can’t Afford To Lose Our Merchandise But We Can Afford To Lose Our Customers” When Richard immediately throws your Bitcoins onto the exchange like they are live grenades, that point serves to support my views that Bitcoin is a self justified scam, not your views. Demand for Bitcoin does not lie with the fools who pay cash for them. It lies with vendors who want to actually keep and hold them. And if Richard doesn’t even want them, why should anybody else?
I’m pretty sure most people who are not American love Bitcoin. I would, too. How else would I be able to get United States Dollars in exchange for absolutely nothing? I could make a good living selling pre-mined and freely distributed Scotcoins and Auroracoins to Americans for their Bitcoins and then bring home the cash by dumping Bitcoins onto the exchanges. The opportunities would be endless.
Branson is an insecure person wrapped in an enormous ego. When Mandela died he plastered the internet full with pictures of the man. Of course each picture had himself in it as well. He has the same ethics as Bono with a lot more money to inflate his ego. Bitcoin is the future and the future does not belong to any one person, especially not Richard Branson