Any tattooists accepting BTC?

[beez]

Curious, with the rise of decentralized cryptocurrencies, if any tattoo artists have jumped on board and started accepting bitcoin?

bitcoin (BTC) info

[David Flores]

I am new to this idea, @beez so if the funds are not linked to any institution, how do you get your money, is the value still tied to the US Dollar. Personally it sounds to me like a headache to accept it as currency, but the idea intrigues me.

[Graeme]

[slayer9019]

I am new to this idea, @beez so if the funds are not linked to any institution, how do you get your money, is the value still tied to the US Dollar. Personally it sounds to me like a headache to accept it as currency, but the idea intrigues me.

It's like having a online account in EUR in the US. You would have to swap your BTC for USD to withdraw at a US bank. It is just another currency. The exchange rate is just less stable than a fiat currency. Most people view it more as like stocks since the price can be all over the place.

Just to let you all know I sold my BTCs when they were around $2 a BTC....they sold for over $140 a piece....I could have been pretty friggen wealthy.

[beez]

@slayer9019 I think they peaked at around $226! Right now it's about $100 USD to 1 BTC. @David Flores part of the reason I'm bringing it up is because I learn best via discussion, and although I am slowly wrapping my head around it, I am still working towards an understanding about bitcoin! I am not math-y, this may have something to do with it :).

Looks like android devices have the most secure offerings re bitcoin wallets etc.

[David Flores]

@slayer9019 I think they peaked at around $226! Right now it's about $100 USD to 1 BTC. @David Flores part of the reason I'm bringing it up is because I learn best via discussion, and although I am slowly wrapping my head around it, I am still working towards an understanding about bitcoin! I am not math-y, this may have something to do with it :).

Looks like android devices have the most secure offerings re bitcoin wallets etc.

I guess right now, I am getting it I think , but it seems like the benefit is more the money you could make on this currency and not the convenience of payment, but again I just learned what this thing was an hour ago, so I would like to hear more about this stuff for sure.

[slayer9019]

Yea I had a few hundred BTCs. I was generating them back when it was just some dudes posting this crap on forums. Sold em when I need some cash for a longboard...mistake. Well you live and you learn. I'm just glad I shorted Apple stock and skipped on Facebook! (Whew).

The concept of BTC feels so foreign to most, because people think that money nowadays is actually tied to something, it isn't. USD used to be redeemable in gold, not anymore. Moneys today are worth what people can get for them. BTCs became a valued commodity because they were used for "anonymous" transactions (aka Silk Road), and for moving money around to other sources without getting whacked with massive fees, or having to pay taxes on it. Without the underground markets needing such a device, this currency would be worthless.

The reason the price dipped after the 200+ spike was the US Fed wanting to get a piece of the pie, and starting to monitor the transactions. This kinda killed the "value" tied to such a currency. Imagine if you get paid in JPY but you live in the United States. You never had to pay a tax on it, and you could make "anonymous" transactions to shady people, etc; then one day you find out that all that will change. Well that kinda makes you not want to get paid in JPY anymore now does it, because at this point it is more of just a pain in the ass.

It is a cool concept, and interesting traders market (if your into Forex type-stuff), but I will steer clear myself for the time being. I also know of people who have lost a ton of money on it, but there is also a dude who bought a house with BTCs...madness!

[beez]

@slayer9019 what stopped your mining? did you find the power needs cost prohibitive? I'm also looking into litecoin. (not being mathy myself, working with a miner).

@David Flores more and more places are accepting BTC as payment, which one day will be as easy as cash (and with the exception of how long it takes the blockchain to synchronize is already pretty painless).

resources:

What is Bitcoin Mining?

Bitcoin

We Use Coins

- - - Updated - - -

Bitcoin Baby

[slayer9019]

@slayer9019 what stopped your mining? did you find the power needs cost prohibitive? I'm also looking into litecoin. (not being mathy myself, working with a miner).

@David Flores more and more places are accepting BTC as payment, which one day will be as easy as cash (and with the exception of how long it takes the blockchain to synchronize is already pretty painless).

I stopped mining because at the time it seemed kinda pointless and I lost access to free electricity. I found projects that were much more rewarding for use of my free CPU cycles and turned my rigs into folding rigs (Folding@home is for protein folding), which helps scientific research to help cure diseases.

I think that BTC will never be easy to use as cash, simply because cash is physical, harder to trace than BTCs (BTC is not untraceable as people think it is). and fiat currencies are much more stable. If you were to say own a store that accepted BTCs and BTCs that day were worth 1USD=1BTC. You sell 200USD worth of product. Then the next day you went to spend that 200USD on product, only to find out that it is .70USD=1BTC. You effectively lost 30% of your money. Also another problem I have is keeping too much USD tied up in BTC. Bank accounts are federally insured for 250,000, something that is a major pain point with BTCs. I treat BTCs as high-risk investments, not as a currency. I also have not found a benefit for using them personally.

[beez]

@slayer9019 you make some very good points! Thanks for letting me know about folding@home!

Odds and ends, BTC and BTC related info that I have gathered:

Princeton study: http://www.weis2013.econinfosec.org/papers/KrollDaveyFeltenWEIS2013.pdf

Check out this internet credit union: https://iafcu.org/special-posts/ideals/

More about IAFCU: Credit Union: Bitcoin's New Best Friends? - IEEE Spectrum

And also, just for fun: ZXX: ZXX: This Typeface Might Fool the NSA - ANIMAL

[slayer9019]

I've been in discussions about this stuff since it started. I think the media is hyping it too much, and people are manipulating the market as well. Personally I advise people steer clear until the dust settles on this. Now that banks and governments are getting their nose in it, it's just gunna turn into a pile of crap. The time to get in this is like all other things, a long time before you heard about it.

[Shannon Shirley]

I don't know about all that....credit cards still urk me...

[slayer9019]

I don't know about all that....credit cards still urk me...

Cash is king

[Shannon Shirley]

cash is queen..gold is king....wait a minute...why's the price droppin'''?

[MadeIndelible]

I don't know why tattooers would accept bitcoins. It's not like there's a need for tattoo transactions to be anonymous.

[real meta]

Unless there are tattooers out there looking to buy used panties off reddit, or even less savory things off some Tor site, I can't imagine any tattooer would want to accept them as payment. Until you can pay bills, buy food, or do anything practical with bitcoins, cash (that is, physical currency) will indeed remain king.

[Shannon Shirley]

Unless there are tattooers out there looking to buy used panties off reddit, or even less savory things off some Tor site, I can't imagine any tattooer would want to accept them as payment. Until you can pay bills, buy food, or do anything practical with bitcoins, cash (that is, physical currency) will indeed remain king.

here here.....the bills are tough enough and yall wanna pay in virtual money....now Im very afraid...

[slayer9019]

Actually I think the easiest way to answer this question is: Would you like your job to pay you in BitCoins.

[Delicious]

Actually I think the easiest way to answer this question is: Would you like your job to pay you in BitCoins.

exactly... to me, it almost seems like fake money. you earn these coins solving math problems, and somehow they are worth something, and you can trade them for real money? seems like a recipe for disaster. I remember seeing, as a 16 year old, a picture of a woman wall papering her house with hitler's money that he printed, since it was essentially worthless. Only with this currency, if it becomes devalued, you will have nothing to show for it, not even wallpaper

[slayer9019]

exactly... to me, it almost seems like fake money. you earn these coins solving math problems, and somehow they are worth something, and you can trade them for real money? seems like a recipe for disaster. I remember seeing, as a 16 year old, a picture of a woman wall papering her house with hitler's money that he printed, since it was essentially worthless. Only with this currency, if it becomes devalued, you will have nothing to show for it, not even wallpaper

Like I stated before ALL money nowadays is "virtual" to a sense. Without gold backing money, it is essentially worth what people are willing to trade for it. Technically the USD could become as worthless as the Deutsche Mark or the Zibabwean Dollar.

I also think you were referring to the Deutsche Mark post-WWI not WWII. The hyperinflation in Germany was one of the catalysts for WWII

Hyperinflation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Delicious]

Like I stated before ALL money nowadays is "virtual" to a sense. Without gold backing money, it is essentially worth what people are willing to trade for it. Technically the USD could become as worthless as the Deutsche Mark or the Zibabwean Dollar.

I also think you were referring to the Deutsche Mark post-WWI not WWII. The hyperinflation in Germany was one of the catalysts for WWII

Hyperinflation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

yes, I remember now, got my dates mixed up. It's been a long time, when I did world history in college a few semesters ago, totally focused on 1400-First world war, then we ran out of time, so definitely alot has slipped out of the noggin, with only the base picture remembered

[beez]

I don't know why tattooers would accept bitcoins. It's not like there's a need for tattoo transactions to be anonymous.

I'm not using btc because of anonymity reasons, though certainly there are those who are, and I have accepted payment for legit services (anyone want a handknitted/crocheted something or other? ;)) in btc.

@real meta more and more places are accepting btc, but yes, would feel more legit if you had more options as to where you could use it.

I feel positive about the future of bitcoin right now, but at the moment cash is still the reigning monarch. ;)

[CABS]

I stopped mining because at the time it seemed kinda pointless and I lost access to free electricity. I found projects that were much more rewarding for use of my free CPU cycles and turned my rigs into folding rigs (Folding@home is for protein folding), which helps scientific research to help cure diseases.

I think that BTC will never be easy to use as cash, simply because cash is physical, harder to trace than BTCs (BTC is not untraceable as people think it is). and fiat currencies are much more stable. If you were to say own a store that accepted BTCs and BTCs that day were worth 1USD=1BTC. You sell 200USD worth of product. Then the next day you went to spend that 200USD on product, only to find out that it is .70USD=1BTC. You effectively lost 30% of your money. Also another problem I have is keeping too much USD tied up in BTC. Bank accounts are federally insured for 250,000, something that is a major pain point with BTCs. I treat BTCs as high-risk investments, not as a currency. I also have not found a benefit for using them personally.

First time I ever heard about BitCoin was oddly enough, at a tattoo shop.

There was this lengthy conversation about BitCoin while I was getting tattooed. Blew my mind.

[slayer9019]

First time I ever heard about BitCoin was oddly enough, at a tattoo shop.

There was this lengthy conversation about BitCoin while I was getting tattooed. Blew my mind.

The thing that kinda blew my mind was just how simple of an idea could work. It also shifted my view of dollars/euros/etc. Same deal, just people "believe" more in USD/EUR/ETC

[Electric i]

So, here we are in May 2014. Are any artists accepting Bitcoin (or any other cryptocurrencies)? And if so, would you like to talk to me about?

I write for one of the bitcoin news websites and I'm always looking for new stuff.