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The Demographics Of Bitcoin
With the growing popularity and perhaps relevance of a globally decentralized currency system in a world adrift in fiat devaluation death-matches, it is perhaps interesting to understand just who these Bitcoin'ers are? The ongoing survey of Bitcoin users (here) has some intriguing results already: The 'average Bitcoin user' is male (96%), 32.7 years old, libertarian / anarcho-capitalist (37%), non-religious (61%), with a full time job (43%), and is in a relationship (56%). The biggest motivation for new users are curiosity, profit, and politics; and 39% of users do not drink, smoke, gamble, or take drugs. Just over half of users have mined bitcoins and the greatest community fear for Bitcoin is “regulatory/legal intervention” followed by ”reputation problems”. Overall more people seem to find Bitcoin intellectually rewarding (70% have learned more about cryptography) than socially rewarding (22% have made friends).
Wait: If you haven’t filled out this survey please do so HERE! I will continue to draw on this dataset for future posts, and it is open for others to use, so by responding you are contributing to a community resource.
Some highlights…
- The average user is a 32.7 year old libertarian male.
- Top motivators for new users are curiosity, profit, and politics.
- Bitcointalk.org is the dominant community platform.
- Far more people have used Bitcoin to make donations than to buy narcotics.
- 39% of users do not drink, smoke, gamble, or take drugs.
The “average Bitcoin user” is male (96%), 32.7 years old, libertarian / anarcho-capitalist (37%), non-religious (61%), with a full time job (43%), and is in a relationship (56%).
But of course there is no such thing as an average Bitcoin user, and flattening out the figures like that ignores the large numbers of users who are Christian (20%) or single (37%). Also by using the broadest possible terms (ie including liberals and environmentalists), you get a left-of-centre contingent with over 45% of users.
The arrival of new users correlates with price and media coverage, with Q2 2011 the most popular quarter for the question “When did you first install the Bitcoin client”.
The biggest motivation in exploring Bitcoin is curiosity (4.3/5), followed by profit (3.7/5) and politics (3.5/5). Trailing behind are practical concerns (3.1/5), challenge (2.9/5), and community (2.7/5).
The age distribution around the mean average of 32.7 is fairly balanced, with people in their late twenties slightly overrepresented. The mode is 31 years and standard deviation is 10.5 years.
Miners
Just over half of users have mined bitcoins, most of them as part of a mining pool. The average hash rate (using geometric mean) is 318 MH/s. The average miner has spent $3,188 on a rig, but the spread is huge. The median spend is $500, 35% of miners have spent nothing, while 8% have spent $10,000 or more.
How does a miner spend nothing? Well almost 10% of respondents have mined bitcoins on someone else’s hardware, so that’s one way to do it.
Community
As expected Bitcointalk.org is the dominant platform of discussion, used by 76% of users. Reddit (39%) also had a strong showing, while the classic IRC got a mere 24%. Google+ had a strong showing among early respondents which is now somewhat dwindled, at 18%.
The greatest community fear for Bitcoin is “regulatory/legal intervention” (29%) followed by ”reputation problems” (19%). A large number of people answered “Other” and in the free-form field wrote to the effect that Bitcoin was too technically demanding for mainstream use.
The most common use of bitcoins was for gifts/donations (55%), while computer services was also quite high (38%). Only 11% of respondents have bought narcotics (using Bitcoin that is). In fact the community has a contingent of clean-living ascetics, 39% of respondents do not drink, smoke, take drugs, or gamble.
Overall more people seem to find Bitcoin intellectually rewarding (70% have learned more about cryptography) than socially rewarding (22% have made friends).
Here are the other graphical elements of the survey in full:
Finally, here is the obligatory wordle based on uers’ “favourite aspect of Bitcoin.”
Words used in descriptions of “favourite aspects of Bitcoin”
You can also download the raw data to play with. As the survey is still open, the data may differ slightly from the snapshot above taken after 533 responses.
Source: Space Druid
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Please define fiat... Also please enlighten us as to how BTC is a ponzi. Your correct about the reliance onthe net aspect. Definately something for all potential users to ponder; however, who uses paper to capture CCs anymore? Dont the majority of CC accepting merchants use an electronic solution to get paid...over a network of some sort? Finally, you suggest it is "created from nothing". Dont buy BTC if you dont understand it, there are risks to using it. It means lower prices for me! Stay ignorant!
Hey, I aint really downing it in fact I love the idea. The downsides are obvious, but honestly I dont think the outweigh the positives.
I totally support anyone using it, even an a**hole like you.
Like I said...stay ignorant. And if I have driven you from.adopting BTC in the short term then I have done my job. Less demand to compete against and someday you will adopt it.
Job well done, promotions all around.
decree
mark of the beast comes to mind, just sayin'.
Mark of the voluntarily selected, free market competing, non fiat, beast that will tear down the anachronistic federal reserve.
A badge of honor I proudly wear.
BTW any priests here? Was revelation referring to BTC or is Blindman just trolling?
thank you for responding p.d..
well, maybe trolling as a form of fishing? all i'm
saying is that if looks to good to be true it probably
isn't true, or you haven't looked close enough. plenty
of posts above pointing out the existing and potential
problems with the bitcoin concept. i agree it has qualities
of integrity but it has fatal flaws too, the first being it
is a derivative of a ponzi ! that would have to be addressed
and corrected first i think.
the federal reserve will own bit coin before it will be
destroyed by it is my guess, just a guess but the one
that appears to be more probably correct?
( trolling is a fishing reference, no? )
see the cia bit on youtube ....
http://www.figanews.com/bitcoin-cia-connection-youtube/?utm_source=feedb...
.
BitCoin CIA Connection – YouTube
By: FigaNews | Date: March 7, 2013
.
another take on it ...
[KR416] Keiser Report: Bitcoin Millionaires vs Paper Billionaires
http://maxkeiser.com/2013/03/09/kr416-keiser-report-bitcoin-millionaires...
Thanks for the response. I'll check out the vids when im on a comp. Im using a tablet with limited data at the moment. Care to explain the derivative of a ponzi bit? I think it could help illuminate bitcoin for all of our benefit.
it is a digital currency and can be bought with
fiat federal reserve notes and other debt notes,
so it attempts to be a standard of reference or another
store of value of debt, a derivative of debt
exchanges or fx markets, but it claims to have
the integrity of being secure, algorithmic, fungible and virtual.
what?
.
s.s. said .."bitcoin is the illusion of the ghost of money (fiat currency)
.." like that. the thing is it can be traded and as such people
will speculate and influence the price of the illusion of the ghost and
make gains and losses in other currencies or in bitcoins ! perfect,
but still, it is a derivative of value and as such refers to
another currency or instrument/s to price in.
the world of finance will not leave it alone. it will either
claim it is an extortion of sovereign currencies and outlaw it
or it will be used and manipulated by the main extortioners to
do even greater and more creative stealing and asset stripping
of the naive and trusting users, and they will do it more securely!
.
"With Bitcoin up to $48 I think it is time to separate the hype from reality.
Listen to all.
Follow none." s.s.
http://dont-tread-on.me/?p=28425
.
it seems to be an extortion racket on the crime of fiat inflation
based debt money, so, is that a good thing? who knows but it is not
a solution to anything, though, the players may make money or lose
money playing in the market. where does it fall on exter's pyramid?
http://paperempire.net/exters-pyramid/
fail
are you saying that because you can buy gold/silver with fiat frn, gold/silver attempts to be a standard of reference or another store of value of debt, a derivative of debt???
in a sense yes, but, mostly if it is virtual silver
or gold, paper gold and silver. the physical stuff
is what it is, it may have a derivation but it is not
a derivative value as the others are. as i agreed
there are features of bitcoin or con, we will see, that
are advantageous, you can spend them or earn them at
a distance. but you have to ask yourself what is going
to keep the other players in that "market" from manipulating
the price or value of your investment in those virtual tokens?
i have my own failing personal suspicions and concerns,
they need not trouble you if you know better.
best to you and good luck !
yes. tangibles vs. intangibles. physical vs. paper, etc. that distinction was not apparent at first. otherwise, btc, imo, can be manipulated by "those" who can print fiat at will = run it up as far as "they" please and then crash it => destroy faith.
i started using bitcoins for online transactions because i don't like giving strangers my credit card or bank account numbers. i don't think bitcoins was designed to replace fiat or p.m.'s. it's just a safer way to buy things online.
..and of course i realize that nothing is 100% safe.. but it is safer
use fiat for everyday transactions, use bitcoins for online purchases and preserve wealth with precious metals.
Some historical context for those of you that read.
"The End of Ordinary Money" by J. Orlin Grabbe, 1995. He predicted and described Bitcoin 14 years before its existence:
http://www.orlingrabbe.com/money1.htm
http://www.orlingrabbe.com/money2.htm
Who was Grabbe?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Orlin_Grabbe
I kept an archive of Grabbe back in the 90's on my first website. Too bad he didn't live to see Bitcoin.
He would have ended up the first Bitcoin billionaire. Do you still have the archive?
No,
But you can find snippets of it in the CN archive
Or you can search google for the archive page, but your going to end finding a lot of porn. Most of it sadly, has slipped down the memory hole, but there still is:
The Web Archive
Enjoy
Wow, that's a blast from the past. I loved reading Grabbe's blog (before it was called a blog.)
It is safe for now until people determine how to mess around with it and when institutions find ways to track transactions. Don't forget, if you somehow forget/lose your password it is game over.
Btw, Fractional Reserve Banking may actually be a possibility with BitCoins.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Fractional_Reserve_Banking_and_Bitcoin
Bitcoin Exchange: https://mtgox.com/
Granted, you could have the same issues with regular online banking, but you have no recourse if someone takes your money.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-03/08/bitcoin-heist
BitCoin is essentially printing money from home... mostly techie people are interested in it (Look at the stats of what was purchased - over 50% is for computer software/hardware.) This is divide and conquer against those who are not technically proficient against those who are. I suspect most of the most virulent proponents of bitcoins have likely invested on mining rigs at home, while the others are people who want to believe in an alternative to "fiat".
Guess what is going to happen as BitCoin reaches the 21 million BitCoin Hard cap (we are at the projected 2013 amount of 1 million (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supply). The majority of the available BitCoins will be in the hands of early investors and miners who will hoard them for investment purposes and wait for the currency exchange to appreciate, everybody else will be fighting for the scraps. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/06/22/the-bitcoin-richest-ac...)
Well, if this survey is right, most of them will be dumping it on the market at some point in time because half of them don't have jobs.
Perhaps that's why they are so invested in bitcoin.
The BitCon
By Silver Shield, on March 7th, 2013
.
http://dont-tread-on.me/?p=28425
" With Bitcoin up to $48 I think it is time to separate the hype from reality.
Listen to all.
Follow none." s.s.
It's funny, I remember someone on ZH commented that the gov't would never be able to get people to move their transactions and money online.
Guess what someone using BitCoin is doing. Even if you get physical BitCoins, you still leave tracking online to check your wallet.
God knows what information is attached to your BitCoins.
> God knows what information is attached to your BitCoins.
Here's $5.2 million in bitcoins. Tell me what info is attached to it.
https://blockchain.info/address/1933phfhK3ZgFQNLGSDXvqCn32k2buXY8a
Dunno, I'm not god and I'm definitely not the people who programmed these hashs.
How would you find out exactly what information is found or stored within the encyption and file? Do you know how to read a few extra bytes of information?
As an example of something seemingly innocuous: did you know a lot of information is stored within images? Here's a basic example: if you have a digital camera, save a picture from it onto your computer. Right click it and check the properties. You will find some basic information such as the type of camera.
It gets worse as things have become more hightech, take for example John McAfee's arrest last December:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57557443/john-mcafee-arrested-in-gua...
"Joel Brenner, who until 2009 was the nation's top counterintelligence official, says the computer security guru was done in by the phone's GPS technology, which attached precise longitude and latitude coordinates to the photo.
"This is a tracking device, there's no question about it, and we're all carrying one now," Brenner says.
When smartphone users use the tracking device to take a photo and send a photo, their information is also sent.
"And some of that data, depending on how the phone is set, is going to include the location where it was taken," says Brenner."
Bitcoin was designed to be trackable and public to be able to be an above board public ledger but also designed to be pseudonymous. If you acquire your bitcoins in a careful manner, no one but you knows that you have them. Your transactions are seen on the network but if you use a VPN or if you trade them physcially, no one can really know or prove that it's you. The address of a bitcoin changes with every transaction and you're the only one with the encrypted keys to every bitcoin you own.
If you're technically inclined, you can read the scripts that create the Bitcoin transactions so you can see what information is being transmitted.
"Dunno"
There. Fixed it for ya. Most Bitcoin critics have no idea what they are talking about, and about 30 less IQ points on average than the people they are arguing with.
The Bitcoin Channel
+1
46% means that less than half of bitcoin users have a full time job, doesn't it?
I don't care one way or another, but less than half is not most :)
Bitcoin is for the technical elite at the moment, and you need to be multi-disciplinary in order to grasp all aspects, probably poly-maths, for a full understanding. It may become easier for others to use but I don't really think bitcoin users care that much either way as it is an experimental, beta-release, more for curiosity than profit, as they survey indicates. If others choose to use it as a currency, and do all the things with Bitcoin that people who hang around money do, profit, trade, comparitive pricing, lying, cheating, stealing, that is entirely up to them. If it proves to be a superior form of money it will be a successful experiment but likely in no way the last of its type.
At this point in time though, if you would like to experiment with the money that the technical elite are using, the leaders of free thinking and the rational individualists, get yourself some bitcoin ;)
If Rusty were a bigwig at an alphabet agency, Rusty would be drooling over the prospects of handing out maxed out USBs stuffed to the gills with btc to my friends and associates so they can go forth throughout the globe and "get err done".
How do you hack Bitcoin...... oh, I don't know; how about scrambling everyone's passwords at the same time (yeah, they could do it); how about forging Bitcoin and creating false currency that never existed through transaction manipulation, thus throwing the entire counterparty system into doubt - and likely driving inflation in BitCoin. What about tracing transactions and dropping the IRS down everyone's shorts at the same time - oh, and just for fun, declaring everyone in the world who has used BitCoin to now be a person of interest to the USA for taxation purposes (I suggest investing in companies providing US "extradition services" and stock options in the new generation of drone technology). And this is just off of the top of my head - I'm sure there are many better ways to do it. P2P only works if you trust not only the other counterparty, but their computer as well
If these guys want to take you down, you're down. The only stuff that flies, is the stuff that flies beneath the radar, and as these knobs are getting greedier and greedier, they are continually lowering the threshold altitude for observance. Keep it small, local, low key - 100's of years ago, people understood this well - anything flashy the king's tax collectors would swoop in on. More historical rhyming going on here. Just another day on this f'ed up planet.
Wow, black helicopters much?
I hear lithium is good for paranoia, gold buggery not so much.
The only reason you're using bitcoin is because you're a wacked out conspiracy theorist afraid of government currency, so why don't you lay off the bullshit?
I think goldbugs and bitcoinroaches pretty much do what they do for the same reasons. At least gold is physical.
> P2P only works if you trust not only the other counterparty, but their computer as well
Bitcoin removes trust by replacing it with very complex proof-of-work mechanisms that work across all levels of the network. To understand Bitcoin beyond the "itz teh money on the intertoobs" level, you have to understand checksums, a little bit of public key cryptography and some basic logic. Any adult of an average intelligence could get a basic understanding of Bitcoin in a day if they chose to put time into educating themselves on the above topics.
Your fantasy only requires a world government and a world police state, the dream of many I suppose. Like Hitler, many end up with their dreams dashed on the rocks of reality.
Bitcoin is not only worse than physical assets, it's worse than dollars. There is nothing of value supporting it, it's based on hype. When the hype is gone, so is your wealth.
Oh boy.. I wish you could grasp what you're missing out on.. but oh well you don't need to change, you can go extinct. ;)
What is "value"? If I am willing to trade my apples for your bitcoins, then your bitcoins have value to me, otherwise, I would not accept them.
Yet another confirmed ZH imbecile.
Tks all for the primer.
The issue I have with Bitcoin, is looking at the percentage of speculative investors is that you can trade dollars, euros, etc for Bitcoins. If Bitcoin wanted to be a complete alternate currency, then Bitcoins should have been able to be mined, and traded for labor, but never allowed to be traded for fiat.
Allowing the trade of Bitcoins for Dollars has brought the world destroying speculators. They hope to trade dollars for Bitcoins in the hope the value of the Bitcoin increases allowing them to trade back for more dollars. Increasing net worth with no need for the expenditure of labor.
Bitcoiners praise the currency for being so hard to mine and being so different from fiat, yet allow speculative investors to obtain them by trading dollars. It doesn't make sense to me.
I see early adopters riding a speculative wave seeing the value of their holding increase exponentially in dollar denominated terms. Survey participants claim Bitcoin has made them a lot of money and the reason they "invested". They did not make a lot of money if they held 200 Bitcoins and still hold 200 Bitcoins. But if 200 Bitcoins was worth $2k dolars and is now worth $10k dollars then they did make a lot of money in dollar terms.
If you want to bring the worst possible human beings into something. Tell them they can see the value of something they hold increase without having to do anything for it. I see a lot of that with Bitcoin.
Bitcoins =/= Labor vouchers and never will.
Take your commie shit to Ithaca.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca_Hours
Simplicity is lacking for the average Joe. Any attempts to simplify and standardize to encourage widespread adoption will render its initial advantages void.
So basically a bunch of nerdfags who don't know jack about economics, cryptography, or math. Nice misreporting btw according to your own numbers the average is unemployed and not an anarcho capitalist, eg they are full blown commies.
B'ain't be no viable currency till my woman can buy her Louboutins with it
May as well be Facebook credits till then
What is bitcoin?
Bitcoin IMHO, is an anonymous, untraceable digital currrency.
Will bitcoin replace fiat currencies?
Most likely, no. Bitcoins are priced in fiat.
Why was bitcoin created?
IMO, bitcoins were created by Agorists, a type of anarcho-capaitalists. Agorism is more than just an ideology, it is also a means to affect change which was developed by the late Samuel E Knokin III (SEK3). Agorism tells us that the best way to create real change is to bring down the sysstem through nonviolent means. Specifically, economic means. Agorism also tells us that the best way to bring down the system in its current form, is to undermine it through the use of black, grey, and alternative markets. It draws on the knowledge of how the black markets of the former Soviet Union helped to collapse the Communist/Socialist system by devaluing the state's monopoly currency. As more goods became scarce (as in shortages), as more regulations and bureaucracy created road blocks, the more the black market was utilized.
Is Agorism an effective means?
That is open for debate. But, bitcoins are an essential tool in the implementation of Agorism in ever increasing digital world. We see increases in regulations, taxes, and intentional inflation.
Are there other points of view as to what bitcoins are? Yes.
Digital currencies wer first envisioned by David Chaum.
http://www.chaum.com/articles/Security_Wthout_Identification.htm
Agorism Primer:
http://www.kopubco.com/pdf/An_Agorist_Primer_by_SEK3.pdf
Possible uses of digital cash offline:
http://cs.brown.edu/~anna/papers/chl05-full.pdf
Bitcoin, actually, is not anonymous. Anyone with net analytics software (the authorities, hackers, etc) can analyze the public database that holds every single bitcoin transaction and using other data can figure out who bought what from whom. InQTel (the CIA's venture capitalist company) had one of the bitcoin guys come give a presentation in June 2012. This thing that you think is all anti-authoritarian and naughty is actually the digital one world currency of the NWO, designed to steer power into the hands of the same elite. Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? No one fucking knows, that is why you shouldn't go near this shit.
edit
Which is why most exchanges now offer a "tumbling" service.
http://forum.theuklibertarian.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=597&start=10
Nothing is 100%. But Silk Road alone does $1.2 million in transactions per month, and I can count the number of arrests on one hand. Not to mention all of the other shit that goes down on other [.onion] sites. I'm sure law enforcement would like nothing more than to put an end to this. They obviously, can not.
Nothing digital is private. Nothing digital is secure. Nothing digital is safe from vaporization. Doesn't matter how much you fool yourself.
Bitcoin users: 100% douchebag.
Trolls: 100% useless.
Thanks for the compliment!
Bitcoin has none of the good qualities required to be a currency:
1. it has no intrinsic value in itself: the string of digits/alphabets is valueless outside of the bitoin network. so the value totally depends on the crypto-network, a cult-like ponzi-like structure(late-comers benefit the earliers greatly), albeit hi-tech
2. just like fiat money, it is backed by nothing. its quantity and quality relies on the morals of the administers.
compared with commodity currencies like gold and silver, the above points are fatal!
bitcoin only appeals to libertarians who are not educated in Austrian school of economics or who don't read/understand atlas shrugged.
i wonder whether they qualify as ibertarians if they dont understand the concept of money.
i hope zerohedge could start a campaign to wake up these lost souls who gamble in bitcoin.
for god's sake, turn them into stackers!
Bitcoin has none of the good qualities required to be a currency:
1. it has no intrinsic value in itself: the string of digits/alphabets is valueless outside of the bitoin network. so the value totally depends on the crypto-network, a cult-like ponzi-like structure(late-comers benefit the earliers greatly), albeit hi-tech
2. just like fiat money, it is backed by nothing. its quantity and quality relies on the morals of the administers.
compared with commodity currencies like gold and silver, the above points are fatal!
bitcoin only appeals to libertarians who are not educated in Austrian school of economics or who don't read/understand atlas shrugged.
i wonder whether they qualify as ibertarians if they dont understand the concept of money.
i hope zerohedge could start a campaign to wake up these lost souls who gamble in bitcoin.
for god's sake, turn them into stackers!
All value is subjective. If people are willing to accept it for payment voluntarily, it has value.
BTW, Rand was not an economist. And I do not know any 2 economists, even within the Austrian School, that can agree 100% on exactly what money is. Your lack of knowledge of the intricacies of monetary theory leads me to believe that you are the one that is clueless.
Gold has been money for almost 5000 years
Fiat paper, off and on for a few hundred years
Bitcoin has been a currency for a couple of years
If confidence is an issue, I see only one bet worth taking
So since my local food and hardware stores, state / local / federal taxes must all be paid with fiat, and not gold, silver or bitcoins, once I have converted cash into bitcoins, how do I redeem the bitcoins back to cash?
I can easily walk into MANY brick n mortar retailers to trade in gold or silver for cash there's got to be a cash for gold store every 5 miles now, this can be an anonymous transaction if the amounts are small enough.
How do I do the same with bitcoins?
Why aren't these bitcoins more popular with multinational corporations who have a gigantically long supply chain converting through many currencies?
.