Quote from: Jessy Kang on June 12, 2011, 08:48:53 AM

What DID generate a huge amount of interest was Bitcoin as a barter medium. Clients hate to fork over a wad of $20s- it's a bit crude and ruins the experience for many. Within our community barter or "tribute" as a means for paying for service is very common. Unfortunately the goods and services that a client has to offer usually are not the ones that the business or it's contractors need. Bitcoins enable any client to earn sufficient funds to visit my facility with a modest investment of goods or his professional expertise. This has a great deal of appeal for salaried employees, who budget for a certain amount of time at the facility each month, and cannot easily increase their income under current market conditions, as well as for the large number of clients who prefer not to pay directly with cash for esthetic reasons.

In-house we have been referring to this as the "Cookie Factor". My neighbors will help me put up a shelf for a tin of cookies or a casserole, trying to pay them in cash equivalent to their time spent on the shelf or my time baking cookies would create discomfort all around. If I tell my clients Bitcoin is "cash", they already pay cash- so have no incentive to go through the hassles of acquiring Bitcoin. Bitcoin as a digital representation of their labor, or goods is another matter.

I've been starting to think more of Bitcoin as Whuffie or a way of measuring barter-based transactions as well, FWIW.