I'm Patrick Byrne, a pro-freedom supporter of cryptocurrency and school vouchers, early critic of Wall Street, three time cancer survivor, journalist at DeepCapture.com, and CEO and founder of Overstock.com. AMA!

[deleted]

It depends upon what their hesitancy is.

There are business reasons to do it: save on transaction fees, eliminate fraud and charebacks, etc. There may be business reasons not to do it as well, such as the risk of volatility (but this concern can be obviated by trading out of Bitcoin immediately upon receipt, a service that the firms like Bitpay, Coinapult, and Coinbase all offer, I believe).

But if they are pro-freedom, they should want to get behind it on principle alone. Ghandi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."

[deleted]

Truly. The beautiful thing about bitcoin is that we can all be a small part of this change. The peer to peer aspect makes it truly pro-freedom

True dat.

Hello Mr. Byrne,

Clearly bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have the potential to change how our world does money for the better. What made you such a strong believer in bitcoin, and how would you spread this knowledge to other CEOs like yourself.

I became a strong believer in several ways.

1) As a grad student at Stanford I studied computation thory, which underlies public key encryption, and so when cryptocurrencies came along it was not as magical-sounding to me as it might have been.

2) I am a proponent of the Austrian School of Economics, which, in general, eschews fiat currency in favor of a gold standard. The goal is not really the gold standard, however: the goal is to have a form of money that is intrinsically limited. Bitcoin et. al. accomplishes that.

In addition, cryptocurrencies are SpaceCash (a word I think I just made up) that can be beamed across the galaxy! (Henceforth in my answers I will use "SpaceCash" top refer to all cryptocurrencies.)

Love the term. Im sure that its going to spread like wild fire throughout reddit. And yes there is no doubt that currency SHOULD be limited. The fact that our government has unlimited power over printing money gives it no intrinsic value. This is something that must be changed, and Bitcoin is obviously the medium in which we can do that

Right. Some say that Bitcoin is a figment of someone's imagination. But as I said on Fox or CNN or something recently (search my name on Youtube, you'll find it), I would be happy to debate the metaphysical properties of Bitcoin versus whatever the metaphysical properties are of those 65 billion figments Janet Yellen createde last month.

An opponent would say that those 65 billion figments are backed by the taxing authority of the US government. To which I respond: But if that taxing authority is tapped out (which it obviously is, otherwise we would not be in the fiscal state we are as a country) then those 65 billion figments are backed by.... nothing. At least there are a limited number of Bitcoin figments!

If one believes in limited government, one should favor a form of money that the mandarins cannot whisk into existence with a pen stroke.

The Snoop Dogg Overstock commercial was awesome! When can we expect to see more ads from him?

Thanks. It was even more fun hanging out with the guy for four hours. He is one smaaaart dude. He asked me more intelligent questions about our business than any of the 80 or so VCs with whom I ever dealt. No kidding.

Also, he rolls a mean cigar.

Hello Patrick, Thank you for doing this. Do you know when Overstock.com will be accepting bitcoin for international shipment? I've been waiting this for months! (I'm in Canada)

Working on it now. Phase II was getting so we could issue credits back in Bitcoin. I think it came live last week. Phase III will be accepting it internationally. Should happen late summer +/-.

Thank you for accepting bitcoin Patrick. I've made several purchases on Overstock instead of Amazon because of it.

Thanks. Spread the word! We took a chance by taking it. Help make it pay off by getting more people to think like you.

(Notice Amazon recently dissed Bitcoin? They do not want to appear as Me-too'ers.)

Hi Patrick! You've gotten a lot of praise for accepting Bitcoin, I think its great. But I'm curious what you've found to be the biggest challenge or drawback with accepting this new form of currency. What is something new merchents need to keep in mind before accepting bitcoin?

It has been unbelievably seamless.

Coinbase made it easy. But Bitpay and Coinapult do as well, I hear.

Once integrated, it has not demanded an ounce of effort.

Hello Mr. Byrne,

A simple question not related to Bitcoin or anything else.

How's your day been?

Cheers!

Yesterday was a bit sad, for various reasons. A good friend was lost.

Today... Just getting by.

Hello Patrick

Glad to see you made it to AMA land!

I see other Bitcoiners are showing up on your AMA, which is no surprise. You've become a Quasi-God in crypto-land for having the guts to take the jump while the rest of the space dithers.

What convinced you to damn the torpedoes and what other examples, successful or not, can you give of this full speed ahead orientation with respect to your life?

Just wondering how you came to be where you are and whether or not you think this type of jump on in attitude has helped or hindered you, overall.

Thanks. Samuel Johnson said, "When you tell a man he is to be hung in a fortnight, it tends to focus his mind tremendously."

As is well known, I spent a few years hospitalized with cancer. Read my one and only explanation of it here.

So that has focused my mind tremendously. Lot of things I want to get done, and none of them have to do with knuckling under to the Combine. In fact, they largely have to do with blowing up the Combine. (Gold star to the first who can say where the expression "Combine" comes from.)

Combine = "Our Benefactors" in the half-life universe. HL3 confirmed!

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I'm a computer programmer, so I'd like to ask a technical question if it's not a secret - what do you use for source control?

Ironically enough: Subversion.

Patrick, What was your evolution toward being "pro-freedom" like? Were you always so? Was there some event that turned you in that direction?

I grew up in New England and thought of myself as a Yankee Republican. Then the Republicans went crazy getting worked up over things that are none of the government's damn business. The old man with whom i sued to build stone walls in Vermont, Earl Barre, taught me that government should pave the roads, run the Post Office, and stay the hell off my porch. I think he must roll over in his grave to see the kinds of things Republicans care about today.

My friend, mentor, and teacher Milton Friedman used to say, "I'm a small-l libertarian and a small-r republican." Sounds right.

PS Thanks for seizing the term. We have a lot of people in our society who call themselves "progressives". If they can hijack the word "progress" I can hijack the word "freedom".

Hi Patrick, do you have any thoughts on where the economy is heading? Are we truly in a recovery as the powers that be suggest? Do you have examples you see in business that say one way or the other?

No we are not in a recovery. We have re-inflated a bubble and called it a recovery.

The government lies to us about the stats. Think of it this way: assume Alleged GDP (that is, "Nominal GDP") is growing at 3%. Inflation is calcualted to be 2%. So Real GDP is growing 3% - 2% = 1%. That is the basic equation. However, what if they are lying about inflation? Imagine it were really 5%? Then the truth, God's-eye-only view would be 3% - 5% = -2%. That is, if inflation is understated, then growth is overstated. I think this is likely the case. I think we are in a shallow dive that they are trying to make look like a level or small climb. See John Williams' site Shadow Government Statistics for more.

The Fed's policies are all about driving up asset prices (homes, stocks) in order to create a wealth effect. Your 401k goes from being worth $300,000 to $500,000. You think, "Gosh I made $200,000! I'll go out and spend $50,000 of it."

Hey Patrick! Thanks for doing this AMA!

What are your thoughts on some of the high profile Bitcoin arrests like Charlie Shrem?

Shouldn't the government be spending our tax dollars on putting wall street guys who caused the financial crisis in jail (instead of making them pay fines) ? Not one of them has ever been criminally convicted.

Thanks!

I don't know the specifics of Shrem's case, so I cannot comment.

But I do think the government should put more resources into policing Wall Street. The last I checked, the SEC budget was about $800 million. I think it was around the size of the budget for the Denver police force. It should be about 10X that. However, they should unplug the SEC and ship it to the DOJ. The only thing that scares these guys on Wall Street is an orange jumpsuit, and only the DOJ can issue those.

I work over at castle and I challenge you to a game of ping pong.

You're on.

My paycheck against yours?

(Joke: I don't get paychecks, I believe.)

Hello Patrick!

You have done a great service to the bitcoin community by taking the bold leap and becoming the first major retailer to accept bitcoin. Do you have any future plans to use a payment processor such as GoCoin to take advantage of people holding the major alternative currencies such as Litecoin, Doge, NXT etc? It seems that it is a largely untapped market with a lot of potential.

Ultimately, my support is for cryptocurrency, of which Bitcoin is currently the most well-known example. I am happy to see other cryptocurrencies gain momentum. As far as Overstock goes.... We integrated through Coinbase. I think they are keeping an eye on other cryptocurrencies, and will integrate with them as they develop adherents. Thus, our single integration with Coinbase will allow us to accept others, in time. So take your lobbying to Coinbase, not me! :)

Organised crime on Wall St -- Can you elaborate?

Yes. Wall Street started to be infiltrated by Organized Crime. It sttarted with Michael Steinhardt in the 1970's (his dad, Sol Steinhardt, was the biggest Mob fence in America, and went to Sing Sing, from whence he put his son Michael through Wharton, who then started what was arguably the first hedge fund in 1968, funded over time by cash from his dad's cronies.)

Google "Operation Uptick": the largest Mob arrest in US history was 120 goons from around Wall Street.

The Gambinos and Genovese fought over Wall Street in the 1990s. The Genovese won. Wherever Genovese are, there is Russian Orgnized Crime (the Genovese sponsored the Russian OC into the US like you or I would sponsor a family from Laos). See "Red Mafiya."

Anywhere you see "bucket shops" you are seeing OC.

I also work as an editor and journalist at DeepCapture.com, which explores this subject in hundreds of posts.

Mr. Byrne,

What is your take on companies that operate solely in Bitcoin (i.e. Blockchain, Bitcoinstore.com, etc)? Are you offering your employees to take a percentage of their salary in Bitcoin?

Thank you in advance!

No opinion on such companies.

Not offering it to employees yet, but there is always the year-end bonus to consider!

Did you have better experiences at Stanford, Cambridge, or Dartmouth? Which school influenced you the most, both culturally and intellectually?

Good question.

The day I got to Dartmouth I swore to myself that while I was there I would never enter a church, a party, or a fraternity. never did. Never had a single beer with anyone in college, went to a party, anything. I was a total grind. I did play football two years, then split, went to Asia, mucked around, came back just to graduate.

Cambridge - Marshall Fellow - Did a Master's in moral philosophy but was mostly an invalid, and spent my time with a handful of people, just reading for two years. Was in the uber-Lefty envornment of King's College (where the British traitors come from). When I got there I was Left-Curious, but when I split I was into Sowell and Milton Friedman.

Stanford - PhD They were great to me. I was an invalid there as well for much of the experience. Started in mathematical logic, ended up doing stuff in development economics, jurisprudence, and political philosophy. As a grad student my major influences were the other grad students, with whom one forms close bonds. Martin Jones (Oberlin?) and Taylor Carmen (Barnard?). Ask them.

Thank you for doing this AMA, and thank you for your activism and conviction you have shown over the years!

Hindsight is 20/20, what is one decision that you would make, or wouldnt make, if you had to start Overstock.com all over again?

When someone is dishonest, do not try to cajole or coach them. Get rid of him.

Your top executives (Stormy Simon, Johnathan Johnson, Dave Nielsen) make $350K a year in salary, while Amazon pays their around $160K. This information is made public in SEC fillings. How is your executive compensation determined?

One must look at cash and non-cash together.

Is naked short selling still a problem? What do you see currently as the biggest risks to our financial system?

"Is naked short selling still a problem? " Not so much, or at least, not as obviously as previously.

"What do you see currently as the biggest risks to our financial system?" Chains of title. You think you own something because you have some paperwork that says you do. However, in the central clearing systems of our economy there is slop. The slop was designed in as a way of providing fault tolerance. However, crooks figured out how to game that slop and create circumstances where more than one person thinks he owns the same thing.

Fractional reserve banking without a reserve requirement.

Where do you see Bitcoin in 1 year? What about 5? Or 10?

I have no theories as to valuation.

Adoption.... I would imagine SpaceCash (of one flavor or another) will gradually increase until you see 2-3% of transactions occur within it. If that day ever comes, it will leap quickly to 15-30%. (Lots of things are like that in life, rates of HIV infection in the adult population being one of them, for example.)

What percentage of transactions (# or revenue) are paid for in Bitcoin on Overstock.com?

Tiny. <.1%

Thanks for doing this Mr. Byrne. I was curious if overstock held a small % of the btc from purchases or is it all automatically sold on the market?

10%.

Did you ever reveal who the "Sith Lord" is??? Inquiring minds want to know!

It was an amalgam of two people. 1) Steven A. Cohen of SAC Capital (hence, all my references to "someday I am going to sack up and tell the world....")

2) Michael Milken, who, I believe, is the Hannibal Lecter of the financial world. Read Den of Thieves. Since he was let out of prison (on his 98 count indictment) he spent a lot of money burnishing his image, but he is a really bad guy.

The bitcoin community is full of tons of young entrepreneurs. As founder of a wildly successful company/one of the most well educated people I have ever read about (Dartmouth B.A, Cambridge M.A. and Stanford PHD -- talk about a ridiculous academic record), do you have any advice for these young leaders that are just getting started?

BTW I had never used Overstock before you started taking bitcoin and I have to say the experience was excellent, keep up the amazing work.

BS = Bullshit MS = More Shit PhD = Piled Higher and Deeper.

Thanks.

We love you. ;)

I love you too.

Nice to see you on Reddit, Mr. Byrne.

Here is my question. Peter Schiff and many others think that a collapse of the dollar is imminent. What do you think about that? And what impact this collapse will have on digital currencies like Bitcoin?

I like Schiff. Opponents say, "Even a broken watch is right twice per day." But he shares my Austrian views.

Yogi Berra said something to the effect, "Anything that cannot go on forever won't." We are living on borrowed time in many ways. However, it is like seeing a bridge built for 10 cars, that now has 80 driving across it. Will it collapse? I have no idea. I thought it would ahve collapsed at 20.

As a successful entrepreneur, what advice would you give to someone just starting up their own (tech) company?

Calculate how much capital it is going to take to start your business, and how many years. Then square both those numbers.

My company's CEO thinks there are more important things to take care of rather than bitcoin payments. What would you say to him?

Beat the rush.

I'm sorry that you contracted cancer numerous times, do you have any ideas about what caused it?

Also, Bitcoin :-}

Nope. Just lucky I guess.

Hi Mr. Byrne,

If someone has a good creative idea and is committed to develop and implement it, but needs more financial resources for research, development, and production, what ways would you recommend to get funding and get the business off the ground? Assuming that for one reason or another a bank loan is not an option, I'd appreciate your opinion on specific ways someone nowadays can get funded for their business, for example $100k to start. I think this is something that a lot of people with great ideas and entrepreneurial spirit can benefit from.

Thank you!

Edit: I also want to thank you for pioneering the way with cryptocurrencies and exposing Wallstreet corruption. Your work is very much needed and greatly appreciated!

Thanks Walden.

You are talking about an "angel investor." In every city there are circles of retired execs and what-not who want to be angel investors. Start there.

However, I think the crowdfunding movement is spectacular, and might be considered as well.

You mentioned the term bust out in your presentation on Ecomonic Warfare. You taught that an example of this was the S&L crisis. Where do you see the next bust out occurring?

I don't know. Wherever you see an industry get over-leveraged, I suppose. Look for whatever sector has the most cronies of Michael Milken: thta would be a good guess.

I've heard from multiple sources that the stock market is due for a major retraction this year because its been artificially propped up by the FED's QE. Your thoughts?

It is true that the Fed is propping it up, but they are not going to stop. They cannot stop lest we slide back into a deeper recession/depression.

However, eventually reality has a way of happening.

Remember, we used to refer to "The Great War" before we learned enough to start numbering them. The same will be true someday of "The Great Depression".

When and from whom have you first heard of Bitcoin, and what was your first reaction?

About two years ago I read a short piece about it in Wired, or Fast Company (perhaps). It struck a bell, from my computation studies at Stanford. I was also struck by how it has properties similar to gold's.

hello patrick first i will like to say thank you for all you do. i have 3 questions 1. who are your favorite philosopher's and what book on philosophy do you recommened for enlightenment? 2. I admire tesla as a person and for his work, have you heard of the keshe foundation? where do you stand on free energy? 3. Will the criminal cabal who runs the united corporation of america fail?

1. who are your favorite philosopher's and what book on philosophy do you recommened for enlightenment?

Nietzsche is my favorite philosopher as a writer, but I do not support his philosophy. (He pretends to be individualist, but he is not. His support of the individual is only in a Germanic "I" kind of way, a Zarathustra.) Thomas Sowell is the most important living political philosopher.

1. I admire tesla as a person and for his work, have you heard of the keshe foundation? where do you stand on free energy? NO THOGHTS

2. Will the criminal cabal who runs the united corporation of america fail? I'M WORKING ON IT, I'M WORKING ON IT.

Just want to say you sound like a really cool mega rich person.

Thanks. If so, it helps that I was a really cool person before I became a rich guy.

I admire your position and fight for school vouchers, now that charter schools have become more common, do you feel that charter schools can replace the need for school vouchers? Charter schools are less controversial but not as readily available due to the lottery system.

I see there as being incremental steps towards educational freedom:

1) Backpack funding (e.g., Oakland) - Send your kid to any public school in the district that you want, and the funds travel with him (in his "backpack" so to speak). Something like Henry Ford saying, "You can buy a Model T in any color you want as long as it's black." But it's a start.

2) Charter schools - As you say, these have momentum.

3) Vouchers (or their economic equivalent, tuition tax credits). These create the most freedom of all the methods.

Hi Patrick! I'd just like to say it's great working here at Overstock.

Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck?

Having been nibbled to death by a duck, I would rather fight the horses of whatever size.

You have previously mentioned in a interview with Forbes that you are very intersted in a "Bitcoin version of the stock market" and having the ability to conduct more than just simple transactions via a blockchain.

NXT - the first second generation cryptocurrency is doing this with it's new features being launched in the upcoming weeks and months. Have you looked into it and / or considered accepting it for overstock?

I am a bit confused about what you are asking. My fight with Wall Street came about because I became convinced in 2004 that the market's mechanisms for clearing and settling trades had been corrupted by bad elements. It all started there. Hence, the peer-to-peer aspect of Bitcoin et. al. deeply attracats me.

I do not know NXT, but I am interested in finding (and even potentially investing in) efforts to create a peer-to-peer capital market. In fact, if a good solution emerges, you might even see Overstock be the first issuer of a stock or bond in such a market, just to help things get going! (Incidentally, we were the first to do a Dutch auction IPO, for precisely that reason.)

The solution that you are requesting is exactly what the NXT decentralized Asset Exchange is all about (it launches in 10 days).

Here is a link to a comprehensive article explaining the NXT Asset Exchange

If you are interested in learning more you can learn more at http://mynxt.org or contact me at [email protected]

Contact me about this.

[email protected]

(RHIP)

Clearly bitcoin has the potential to rid the world of much corruption. Have you thought of publicly endorsing it in this manner. Because most people do not understand the countless benefits that this technology has to offer to our society.

All our new commercials end with a "Now Accepting Bitcoin" under the logo. Look for them.

What was the last thing you bought from overstock.com?

A book about Camille Claudel, I think.

I'd like to thank you for the nice red lounge chairs I got from Overstock. I was able to get a good price for them at a garage sale later. My question is how do you ensure a stable inherent value in cryptocurrency? Unlike Gold, which is a tangible thing, or a Federal Reserve Note which has value simply because the government says it does, with something like Bitcoin how can it retain value and trust without some "official" endorsement and tie in to a national currency? - if you DID tie it to something like the dollar.. then what would be the point?

Right. Some say that Bitcoin is a figment of someone's imagination. But as I said on Fox or CNN or something recently (search my name on Youtube, you'll find it), I would be happy to debate the metaphysical properties of Bitcoin versus whatever the metaphysical properties are of those 65 billion figments Janet Yellen createde last month.

An opponent would say that those 65 billion figments are backed by the taxing authority of the US government. To which I respond: But if that taxing authority is tapped out (which it obviously is, otherwise we would not be in the fiscal state we are as a country) then those 65 billion things are backed by.... nothing. At least there are a limited number of Bitcoin figments!

Sorry if this has been mentioned already but how would you suggest the community as a whole informs the general public about bitcoin? Obviously mainstream media isnt doing a great job since their main focus are the negative stories relating to bitcoin since thats what sells.

Like Ho Chi Minh, make it a war of the ants against the elephants.

What do you think of the issues cryptocurrencies have been having in terms of security (Mt Gox "break-in", Flexcoin, etc all)? Will people ever be able to overcome their bias of Bitcoin or will it need to rebrand as a more secure currency or more user friendly to gain wider acceptance?

So did Target.

It won't "rebrand" deliberately because there is no owner. It will morph and evolve to be better and better. I suspect that as other currencies develop traction, Bitcoin will harvest their better attributes and make them its own. However, switching costs are not too high.... Other currencies may fare well.

[deleted]

You sound obsessed. Stop getting yourself all worked up listing to Supertramp, and you'll be fine.

OK OK, maybe you got ONE right.....

(Not really.)

What do you like about Utah and what do you do for fun here?

Any chance the Ostk benefits would include more than the Snowbird pass discount? Maybe more resorts discounts benefits?

What do you like about Utah and what do you do for fun here? BUILD OVERSTOCK

Any chance the Ostk benefits would include more than the Snowbird pass discount? Maybe more resorts discounts benefits? NO. WOULD RATHER JUST PAY THE CASH.

Do you know who's behind the Satoshi twitter account?

No.

You think the world of wall street sees you as an troublesome CEO who needs to be dealt with. The reality is that you and your company are small potatoes to them. You don't have any mindshare AT ALL with these guys. They do deals daily with more value than overstock will ever have.

Someone shorted a dot-com stock like ten years ago. Boo hoo, get over it already. You've wasted $20+ million in court fighting against the big bad empire, and have nothing to show for it.

Here's my question: Will you please just get over yourself, and recognize that no one is out to get you?

Related note: Seriously, no one is out to get you! Quit moving your damn office every three months!

Returning to the real world for a second:

1) My attempts to expose and reform Wall Street have little to do with Overstock. it was just the vehicle by which I explored there nefarious ways. I just do the right thing to do the right thing. I get that is hard for someone like you to grasp.

2) In January 2007 a well-known hedge fund manager, very famous, not a bad guy himself, sat me down and opened up saying, "Patrick, you need to understand that you have become the most hated man I have ever known. You used to be a Golden Boy around Wall street. Now you could kill someone, and you would not be hated in this town like this town hates you now." That's high damn praise, I think. Carve on my tombstone, "Here lies the Most Hated Man on Wall Street c. 2007"

3) I move my office because we are a flexible, agile environment. Sounds like that was something you could not grasp during your tenure here.

"three time cancer survivor"

Did you grow up under power lines? Or did you just like the way lead-based paint tasted?

Some guys just get lucky.

Hi Patrick,

thanks for wathing trully innovative cryptos, like Nxt. There is a simple infographic to show some features: - http://i.imgur.com/PEoLtEU.jpg

Nxt crypto platform has its blockchain and tons of features, like messages or aliases for better communication with customer. Nxt stock market is hosted on blockchain, you can simply issue any shares on Nxt asset Exchange.

Latest development news about Nxt are here: http://www.coinssource.com/nxt-crypto-platform-version-1-0-0-released/

You will be able to issue assets just in 10 days :) Nxt calls it "Asset exchange" and you can check it on testnet right now, without any installations: http://nxtra.org/nxt-client/

Thanks

I will definitely look into that.

What the fuck was the deal with Snoop? Stormy just wanted to meet the guy, so you waste MILLIONS on an ill-fated promotion that is so at odds with your brand?

You mean this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPMHIpLpjt4

Note our appearance in his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSGisZvvFgM

It has 2.5 million hits. Seems to have struck a chord for some.

What are you, racialist?