I got a database error and lost all of my hard-typed content! AAH! Here goes again ...
Here is a letter that I sent to both of my U.S. Senators regarding Bitcoin. I urge anyone who feels the same to send the same or a similar letter to their own Senator or anyone else in government who might be able to take action:
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Hello - as you know, Bitcoin, the virtual currency, is now a hot topic, and is being discussed in the senate. There is some indication that the U.S. Government may lend its approval to the circulation of Bitcoin as a virtual currency. I would like to propose an alternative:
The major problem that I see with Bitcoin is that a large percentage of the available coins have already been 'mined' by early adopters. The creator of the Bitcoin protocol him/herself almost certainly hoarded a large percentage of available Bitcoins in the first year of its existence.
I believe that if the United States Government is to endorse a virtual currency, it should begin its own Bitcoin-like currency, using the same protocol, but with a new block chain that it creates in which:
* 1/4 of the initial coins are allocated for the U.S. Government
* 1/2 of the initial coins are allocated to be fairly and evenly distributed among all U.S. citizens
* The remaining 1/4 of the coins are left for 'mining' just like the current Bitcoin system (this is critical as it provides incentive for miners to use the virtual currency, which is what builds the infrastructure necessary to support the currency)
* The U.S. Government should enact law that only this new virtual currency will be accepted as legal virtual tender by the U.S. Government and no other virtual currency. This will provide legitimacy of the currency.
I believe that this is a critical juncture for virtual currency, which is an inevitability in the world of modern technology, and that the U.S. Government will be doing its citizens a great disservice if it does not enforce this much fairer currency scheme now, before Bitcoin becomes the de-facto virtual currency standard.
I personally have nothing to gain from this proposal, as I would have no more of this virtual currency at the outset than anyone else; I make this proposal only from a deep desire to see our country provide all people with an equal footing in the world of virtual currency rather than leaving the lion's share to the "early adopter cabal" of Bitcoin.
I can discuss the more technical details that would enable the fair distribution of this virtual currency if you would like to contact me.
Thank you, and best wishes!
Bryan Ischo
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Since this is a technical forum I can discuss the more technical details here:
- The major technical hurdle would be tracking which of the initial bitcoins is assigned to which U.S. citizen. Assuming that social security numbers can be used for this, I would propose that the initial block chain be seeded by the U.S. government with a social security number embedded in each block, thus assigning that coin to that citizen. Citizens would have 10 years to 'claim' their bitcoin by presenting proof of personage to a government agency (the U.S. mint? whoever is trusted with the starting block chain keys ...); upon presentation of this proof, the government would send the coin to an account of the person's preference.
- After 10 years, any coin not claimed becomes property of the U.S. government and thus, in the ideal world where the government represents every citizen equally, evenly distributed in value amongst all citizens by its common ownership by all citizens via the government
- This would be a U.S. only currency, although it could be used by other people around the world just like the U.S. dollar sometimes is. I would expect every country to enact their own virtual currency in this way, with the resulting currency arbitrage etc, and maybe someday, in a distant future perfect world, all governments could cooperate so as to merge all virtual currencies into one ... but in the real world of now, a virtual currency per country is the only thing achievable.
- The government should announce this scheme months ahead of time (perhaps while the NSA is using their supercomputers to generate the initial block chain?) so that everyone has a chance to buy into mining companies to further help the even distribution of the remaining coins. This is meant to alleviate some of the early adopter advantage that mining companies already set up for mining Bitcoin have.