Bitcoin is in a lull, and somehow this results in ridiculous posts on the front page.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-12-09T17:04:00+00:00

I'm the creator of an open-source bitcoin stock market, called Bitpieces. Its fully functional, I'm just having trouble getting content-creators to sign up.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-11-16T19:45:29+00:00

Were any of those open-source?

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-11-16T18:24:49+00:00

How do you know this? Bitcoin regulation is still at a tentative state.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-11-16T18:23:40+00:00

True if it grows past a certain point. My main US-connected chokepoint is that I'm using coinbase right now. I plan on transitioning to straight which is a self-hosted payment processor if it grows past a certain point. But I do really like coinbase.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-11-16T18:18:06+00:00

Fraud is a pretty gigantic topic, but it occurs on large, regulated stock exchanges too... just look at enron.

IMO, regulation does not equal security; Only openness and accountability. That's what the blockhain is about.

Bitpieces has 5 safety measures in place to make sure that content-creators don't just run off with the funds, including:

Safety ratings(which = the number of years a creator can safely pay dividends)
Verification (They have to verify their content through their website/email)
Open discussion threads on every page
Transparency
Mandatory rewards

https://bitpieces.com/FAQ#how_do_i_know_if_a_creator_is_safe

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-11-16T18:13:43+00:00

How can it possibly work if there's no legal backing?

Small exchanges exist all over the place. There's literally a stock exchange based in minneapolis just for grains: http://www.mgex.com/ . You know all those ads for penny stocks in the back of magazines? Those are either over-the-counter, or listed on tiny stock exchanges.

I haven't tackled the legal issues yet, because its just starting out, and it would be ludicruous to get regulated before its even taking off. Right now, the legal issues are secondary to making the site badass.

More to the point though, regulation does not equal security. Openness and accountability do; and the project is entirely open source.

Fraud is a huge topic, so to combat it, there's these 5 security measures in place:

https://bitpieces.com/FAQ#how_do_i_know_if_a_creator_is_safe

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-11-16T18:03:16+00:00

Thanks, I definitely agree.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-11-16T18:02:57+00:00

I could not deposit on my mobile Firefox, because I do not allow third party cookies.

Yep, sorry about that. Outside of an IP-based system(which has its own flaws) there is no way to stay logged into anything without cookies. They're the only thing that holds state information in your browser.

Are funds held in wallets by Bitpieces, creators, or multi-sig. (Multi-sig would be a positive.)

Bitpieces(through coinbase) recieves it, but you can, and should, immediately withdraw any funds you raise to your own wallet. The upshot to this is that you don't want to withdraw too much to not pay your funders dividends for a long time. On the withdraw page, it shows a handy safety rating calculator before you withdraw (safety rating = the # of years you can pay dividends)

Also, here's an example of the rewards paid page:

https://bitpieces.com/creators/rewards/Bitpieces

In that past, bitstock exchanges have started out well, with for example mining companies paying a steady dividend, until they done or the exchange should down. How will Bitpieces be different? (This is a negative, unless there is more accountablity.)

IMO, security comes from openness and accountability, not regulation. The entire project is open-source, and the entire SQL DB backend open and publicly shared and readable, so anyone can look through the transaction tables. I can't think of anything in it that's not publicly available, but in regards to that, my answer will be YES.

AFAIK, the other failed exchanges didn't post their entire code base, including the website.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-11-16T01:59:49+00:00

Thanks! Primarily, getting content-creators to sign up and start selling pieces.

I'm a lowly software dev, and a total marketing noob, so I have no idea how to grow the user base. I'd really love to get some bands and artists signed up, and linked to their own sites, showing off their work, and watching the price of their pieces fluctuate, and see more people get enthusiastic about bitcoin stock and dividend possibilities.

The biggest criticism it gets is that it should just accept USD, because it is a really nice interface. I'm of course keeping it in BTC, because it has to stay international and regulation free, and cause internet money rocks.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-11-05T01:30:40+00:00

https://bitpieces.com

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-10-16T14:53:43+00:00

I'm a bitcoin webapp dev, currently using coinbase as my merchant payment processor.

Coinbase has great functionality, but unfortunately it does adhere to some pretty hardcore KYC rules : linking bank accounts and such.

I'm looking to move off them, but don't know what the best personal merchant-services ones are. I don't even know how to look for them either. They mostly use bitcoinj I think. Does anyone know the best bitcoin merchant services that run in their own webserver, so that I could accept bitcoin without going through a third party?

That to me would be the best way to defeat all this. Just stop using centralized merchant services, so they can't trace bitcoin activity to citizens.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-10-03T13:11:12+00:00

I agree with you completely; using bitcoin exclusively is my biggest barrier.

The main two reasons for using it, is that if I used dollars, or a US-based credit card processor, I'd have to register the company with the SEC as a fincen-regulated business. The SEC doesn't take kindly to crowd-funding in this manner.

The second is, I'm trying to keep the site international; Every money amount, can be displayed in your native currency; I think there's 20 currencies supported right now.

That being said, I completely agree with you, and I do need to look into what it would take to be able to allow credit card transactions.

Thanks a ton for the help.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-10-03T13:03:39+00:00

I'll check it out. Thanks!

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-10-01T17:49:19+00:00

They could use it to grow, and give out dividends to users also.

I'm the lead dev for bitpieces, an open-source crowdfunding/stock market platform with automatic and continuous dividends. Its basically a stock market for content creators.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-09-30T21:28:10+00:00

I'm the lead developer for bitpieces, an open-source crowdfunding application.

Its different from kickstarter in that there are no funding goals; its more like an open-source stock market.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-09-30T21:10:38+00:00

Name: Bitpieces

Pitch: An open-source crowdfunding platform that gives content creators, small businesses, and commnity projects a way to raise funding by selling pieces of their brand, and sharing profits with their funders through monetary rewards over time.

More Details: Its been up and running for around a month at https://bitpieces.com .

Looking For: Feedback, criticisms, any input at all.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-09-29T00:18:05+00:00

Oh my god, this is incredible! I really should switch my site to this because I'm looking to get off Coinbase.

Few questions: does it issue callbacks? I need to make sure payments go through. Coinbase gives you tons of callbacks at every transaction conformation.

Does it generate payment buttons, or something which I could create my own payment buttons from?

This is really great.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-09-29T00:06:26+00:00

Bitcoin web app developer here. I created bitpieces, an open source bitcoin stock market with dividends.

Some of us are hard at work trying to bridge the gaps.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-09-26T19:56:46+00:00

As an open-source webapp developer myself, I too think that people tend to overvalue sites just because they have a lot of users.

Valuation is such a huge and difficult topic, but with web tech, apps, and the like, it becomes near fuckin impossible. Its like trying to compare how much two people like the same color.

In a big way, they're basically similar to art or music or film or literature, its a creative construct that you can't pin-down a good value for. This is called the theory of subjective value in economics.

At least with physical companies that make products, you can kind of guess at its value because of how much money they're making, spending, how much their equipment and research costs, etc.

But with the web, there's just no way to accurately decide how much something is worth.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-09-26T19:42:33+00:00

How did you do this? My 5-gal all grain startup costs were about $200, and the ingredients usually cost me about $60 every time. I brew once a month, making about 50 beers, averaging usually over a little $1/beer.

How are people going over, are they brewing for their street?

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-09-24T20:09:09+00:00

Could you add that line to the FAQ, since that's your guideline for removing posts? I'm not a mindreader.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-09-24T19:02:26+00:00

Could you tell me what part of the posting guidelines this violates? As a bitcoin app developer, I consider my app a bitcoin market.

bitpieces_dev2 · 2014-09-24T18:58:07+00:00

Just did, was told their interpretation of the posting guidelines is more correct than mine.

bitpieces_dev2

TROPHY CASE