"The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets."
-- Will Rogers
The tax season has come and gone here in the U.S. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and the U.S. government thanks you for p(l)aying.
To ease the pain of tackling your taxes in the future, our Chief Architect Nick recently launched a new bookkeeping application, which you can access by obtaining a BOOKKEEPER token. Once you have the token in your LTB/Counterparty wallet, you'll have access to the "Accountant" section in your user profile.
Now you may plug in any bitcoin address, and specify an asset name you want to have imported; leave it blank if you want all assets in the wallet to be displayed. Eventually you'll have a comma-separated-value (.csv) file which you can then import onto a spreadsheet. Brilliant!
While Nick has sorted out most of the kinks, there may still be some minor bugs floating around, so in case you run into one, be sure to message Nick.
One of the most popular shows in recent memory, both in terms of number of listeners, as well as number of show comments, has been Let's Talk Bitcoin! #203 - "Digging in", in which Adam interviews Mike, the Editor-in-Chief of Coin Fire. Mike leads Coin Fire's team investigating Josh Garza and his GAW Miner and Paycoin projects.
There was quite a bit of pushback from GAW/Paycoin defenders, some going as far as attacking Mike's integrity as a journalist. Such reactions are understandable though. The cryptocurrency landscape is still ripe with scam artists with shady projects, and the investors' eventual realization of a project or a company being a scam, brings up frustration, anger, and often even embarrassment. The internet warrior in us awakens, and heated online debate ensues. How do I know? Because I've been there once (ok, maybe twice...) myself.
In the aftermath of EP#203, comes a thread "Journalism is dead. Long live journalism" by user 'deadnettlez'. In it, 'deadnettlez' describes how our societies have transformed from having initially the church serve as the news outlet, then governments, and finally, arriving at the modern model of advertisement backed and corporation funded (controlled?) journalism.
But just maybe, independent, often volunteer-based online news hubs, with their access to online video channels with raw feed, global social media and citizens turned-on-the-spot-journalists at ground zero, and fraction of the operating cost of a traditional news organization, are the future of journalism. 'deadnettlez' exclaims: "So, no one goes to church anymore, the government is bankrupt, advertisers threw the baby out with the bathwater and volunteers cannot compete with the voluminous and obnoxious drivel that passes for 'main stream media' these days. JOURNALISM IS DEAD! Long live journalism!"
What say you?
The Counterparty Foundation Community Directors Vote 2015 drew to a close last night. The results are not yet confirmed, but unofficially we can now congratulate all three new Counterparty Community Directors, Chris, Robert and Devon! Well done gentlemen.
User 'thatlarkin' asks a valid question, whether or not there's a contradiction how Let's Talk Bitcoin! employs decentralization, specifically when it relates to LTBcoin. The question was answered in the thread, but it is worth repeating. While the Let's Talk Bitcoin Network theoretically controls the asset LTBCOIN, the disbursement schedule is fixed as follows (for reference, we are currently at approximately week 40):
With a user-controlled asset, such as LTBCOIN, the final number of tokens in existence could be altered by the issuer, in this case Adam. However, tampering with the final number of coins would only damage Adam's and LTB's name, while driving users, contributors and sponsors away from the platform. In other words, while theoretically possible, it is practically irrational.
LTBCOIN price on the other hand is dictated by the market. There is an ongoing effort to make the token more usable, but so far it is limited to in-network use only. Most of the price comes from the BTC/LTBC exchange rate on Poloniex, but even if Poloniex was to be down for a day or two, the sale of SPONSOR, LTBDISPLAY or HOURCONSULT tokens for LTBC, to advertise on the site, or to sponsor an episode, creates demand (or lack thereof) for LTBCOIN, driving the price up (or down).
Finally, some random numbers:
- LTB has 18,200+ followers on Twitter
- According to Google, the average user spends approximately 3 minutes on our site
- Only 1.26% of LTB visitors come from Los Angeles
- The LTB YouTube Channel has over 5,000 subscribers
Until the next roundup, be excellent to each other.
Tuomas
Community Manager
