http://www.demorgen.be/economie/geens-pakt-misbruik-met-digitale-munten-aan-b199683e/

The article says "Belgian minister of justice implies tight regulations on crypto transactions and expands the traditional financial sectors legal obligation to coorporate with justice to the cryptocurrency world.
Also new procedures are beeing developed to make it easier to trackdown and confiscate cryptocurrency's in the EU"  

Virtually all exchanges are subject to KYC & AML regulations, nothing new here. Strict regulations on crypto payments ?  That may be a serious adaption hurdle, if merchants are loaded with regulations when accepting btc there is no advantage over traditional payment systems.

Will this have, in your view, impact on btc integration ?  
 

THIS!!!
I was not planning any trip this year but the Greek's troubles and especially the way this is handled by the "Institutions" made me decide to go to Greece in the next weeks.

As a tourist that wants to make a statement, show moral support to the Greek nation and people, airbnb (and low cost airlines) brings me as close to the people as I can get. I'll bet that the total cost of my 2 week stay is going to end up below 1000€ 

I'm not afraid of what I might encounter there, for example to get cash or supply's.
Strikes however may mess up my travel timeline (and budget) especially @ the airport, due to political and economical situation in their country I am aware of the likeliness of strikes. Keywords: empathy, sense & understanding, patience. No prob.

However I'm afraid the general tourist has a different mindset (or motivation if you want) and will consider Greece as less comfortable and maybe risky. No doubt this is going to affect the Greek tourism industry.   

 

Does that surprise you ?
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/?_r=1

Correct, found this article October 2013, about banks refusing to execute transactions to BTC related accounts, Netherlands & Belgium.
http://debitcoin.org/blokkeert-ing-bitcoin/

And banks are talking about Bitcoin: http://securities.bnpparibas.com/files/live/sites/quintessence/files/Quintessence%20-%20Sept%202014/Files/p16-17%20BNPP%20Bitcoinv7.pdf

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/bitcoin-could-destroy-the-global-financial-system-one-of-worlds-biggest-banks-admits-10373003.html

http://uk.businessinsider.com/bnp-paribas-bitcoin-blockchain-securities-firms-redundant-2015-7?r=US

A newspaper article today says the whole Balkan region is preparing for default

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/960/Buitenland/article/detail/2290212/2015/04/17/Grieken-halen-steeds-meer-geld-af-bij-de-banken-Balkan-bereidt-zich-voor-op-failliet.dhtml

Edit to add : Greeks are withdrawing their money fast, banks are "bleeding dead" Looks like a bank run

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/960/Buitenland/article/detail/2290212/2015/04/17/Grieken-halen-steeds-meer-geld-af-bij-de-banken-Balkan-bereidt-zich-voor-op-failliet.dhtml

Article in our newspaper today (Dutch) :

Summary:
Greece peeps are taking their money out of the banks at a rising pace, Greek banks are bleeding dead, in need for another rescue operation, Balkan region is preparing for default.

I like it when fiat ponzi schemes get in trouble

Deadcoin,  the European commission took over 720k€ from this guy in Cyprus, leaving just over 127k€ with a shitload of restrictions, I wonder if he ever recouiped anything of his losses. See: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=160292.0 

edit to add: Asked if, like in other bank closures, it could take six to seven years before depositors get back there money, he said: “maybe yes. And the amount [returned], could be 20%. Certainly, for depositors above 100,000 euros it could be a very significant blow.” source: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/03/27/cyprus-finance-minister-uninsured-laiki-depositors-could-face-80-haircut/

Well maybe Jim is not a scientist but he seems to know what he's talking about, in that case a serious collapse on short term is not that far  fetched, not to say inevitable. I wonder if my BTC stash can somewhat protect my net worth in case the sh*t hits the rotary impeller....

In this context, how credible is this Jim Rickards guy ? His series "the dead of money" paint a grim picture of global economy on short terms. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYW5OGWfqJc

I think it would be unwise to write a tutorial on how to retrieve the data on those disks. I'm not even a computer expert but i managed to find retrieval software on a HP support site...

I found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCKr5WgVVN8

The same applies for MFP printers, I checked mine : http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c02738751-1%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.tpst=ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01&ac.admitted=1409502745239.876444892.199480143

I pulled the HD from my mfp and docked it to my computer, I was able to retrieve EVERY DOCUMENT EVER PRINTED, COPIED or FAXED ON THIS MACHINE INCLUDING MY PAPER WALLETS !!!!!!

SOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND IF YOU PRINT PAPER WALLETS ON A MFP PRINTER !!!

Found this today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCKr5WgVVN8

Closer investigation shows that my mfp printer has a HD : http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c02738751-1%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.tpst=ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01&ac.admitted=1409502745239.876444892.199480143

Even closer investigation allowed me to retrieve EVERY document ever printed, copied or faxed on this machine...

28 and buying more on every occasion

I stumbled upon Bitcoin in the year it was launched, briefly mined them on CPU power.
First tought: Neat!! But Banksters will kill this because it is capable of undermining their monopoly and power.

Long before BTC came on the scene I was convinced that our fiat money systems are simply unsustainable, and that banks ar a far cry from the thrustworthy institutions they would like to appear as. This is the kindest way I can clarify my view on banking & money.

Just after I discovered Bitcoin my life took a dramatic change, I chose a very different line of work which took me a couple of years to establisch myself in: wet contracting. Since 2010 I live on an operational tugboat and seldom step ashore. Learned things like navigating, geosurvey and operating cranes.

By the end of 2012 my career allowed time for some non work related stuff, like Bitcoin. By that time CPU mining was long gone, ASIC mining gear trickled into the network surpassing GPU farm efficiency. Bitcoin traded @ +-$30. I was ready to get in.

January 2013 I ordered mining gear @ BFL, by november 2013 it was still unclear when the gear would get shipped so I "upgraded" my order to a hosted mining contract. This order status remains "processing" up until today, that is 19 months after my initial order, almost 9 months after my "upgrade".  

I decided to buy some coins instead of investing further in BFL vaporware, bought coins @ $72 and after last december/january ATH some more @ €325 (may 15).
If I would have bought coins @ the time of the BFL order, that investment of nearly $3K would have been >$60K today w/o short term trading...

Today I have like 1K € @ Paymium (I know it's a "no go" to keep money @ an exchange but I do trust and like the way Paymium is complying with regulations) and a modest stash (<100) BTC's (all in cold storage).

I keep some fiat ready to buy extra BTC's should it flash-crash, any surplus fiat money (surplus is every € that exceeds my security savings treshold) is converted into BTC, I buy them by halves to keep fiat savings levelled sharp to a safe and comfortable minimum. My savings are divided like 10% in € and 90% in BTC @ today's $620/BTC  

I saw the enormous potential of BTC (more precise: the blockchain tech) immediatly but never ever expected that adoption would go this amazingly fast.

Should bitcoin reach $3K within the next 4 years (hopefully not too overly entousiastic expectations) then my life would again take a dramatic change for the better....

* Edited for typo's

Since about a year, i told my brother in law (website designer) several times about btc.

I bought my first batch in may 2013, second batch in november 2013, third batch may 15 2014, just sold some fractions of btc to test exchange processing and transfer time.

Last april on a family reunion i asked him if he looked into btc, he said btc was passé already.....

You can lead a horse to water.....

Edit to add:  other people i told about btc had no spare money to buy in, new kitchen, just bought an appartment, car  etc etc....

I consider myself lucky to be debt free.
I was saving money to buy a BMW X5 but once I had the money I just could not "waste" it all on a car....

Instead I bought a second hand Mercedes E280 and used the surplus money to buy btc. Never ever regretted this.   

According to http://bitcoinclock.com/ next reward drop estimated at 2016-8-18.

In which countries exactly?

Holland.

One can pay for gas & electricity in BTC also http://www.energienieuws.info/2014/03/energiebedrijf-bas-accepteert-bitcoin.html

Sorry, didn't know that the M-word was taboo 

https://www.mtgox.com/img/pdf/20140320-btc-announce.pdf

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/942/Economie/article/detail/1825128/2014/03/21/Mt-Gox-vindt-voor-86-miljoen-euro-aan-bitcoins-in-oude-portemonnees.dhtml    (Dutch)

I have no gox account, i saw red flags before i ever registered.

Nevertheless I like the gist of this open letter, if done properly this could be THE ultimate showcase for blockchain tech, not sure tough if Karpeles fits in this plan as CEO.