Kim Dotcom

Kim Dotcom Discusses the Swelling Crypto Economy and His Plans to ‘Accelerate P2P Electronic Cash’

13/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

This week, news.Bitcoin.com chatted with Kim Dotcom, the founder of the now-defunct file hosting service Megaupload and the creator of the content monetization application called K.im. The Internet entrepreneur Dotcom is a big believer when it comes to the crypto economy and during the conversation, we discussed subjects like bitcoin cash, the recent Big Tech censorship, and how cryptocurrencies will forward financial freedom.

Kim Dotcom is a well known Internet entrepreneur and political activist that believes the crypto economy will continue to swell in value. Dotcom is well known for being the former CEO of the now-defunct file hosting platform Megaupload. The site was taken down by the U.S. government in 2012, but before the takedown Megaupload served 180,000,000 registered members, and saw 50,000,000 visits per day.

Currently, Dotcom is working on a content monetization application called K.im which will meld the benefits of cryptocurrency solutions and file hosting. News.Bitcoin.com reported on the application in the summer of 2017, and the K.im platform is expected to launch in Q4 of 2021.

Moreover, Dotcom has revealed that the next-generation content monetization app will see bitcoin cash (BCH) integration. During our phone conversation, Dotcom spoke about the recent demand for digital assets, why BCH has a lot of upside potential, the recent Big Tech censorship, and how decentralized platforms will invigorate our future.

Bitcoin.com (BC): While the global economy has been extremely gloomy, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have seen significant demand. Do you think cryptocurrencies will continue to shine in 2021?

Kim Dotcom: What we’ve seen with the global economy because of the pandemic, in my mind is really just the beginning of greater global distress of the economy and currencies. Simply because governments are printing money to finance debt. In the U.S. alone in 2020, over 30% of all the U.S. dollars in existence have been created during the year. It’s just not sustainable, you cannot keep printing money to pay what is required.

I think there is a significant devaluation of the U.S. dollar going on and that is driving the demand for cryptocurrencies. Digital currencies are now seen to be more stable than fiat currencies. If that trend continues, which I think it will, it’s going to accelerate the devaluation of fiat currencies. Therefore causing significant disturbances in the markets as well.

BC: Recently you said that Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has great “upside potential” and is currently “undervalued.” Can you tell our readers why you think this is the case?

Kim Dotcom: There are a couple of factors. One factor is that bitcoin cash (BCH) already does around 10% of the transaction volume that bitcoin (BTC) does. But BCH is only valued at 1% of the current valuation of BTC. So that’s a little bit of a discrepancy there. It is a very simple way to understand why it is undervalued. Another reason is that bitcoin cash, unlike bitcoin, is electronic cash where bitcoin wants to be electronic gold. Bitcoin is not really what you use to pay for things online. If you go and buy an apple and transaction fees cost more than the fruit, that’s not a viable electronic cash solution.

Now when you look at the transaction volume potential for bitcoin cash, it is significantly higher than that of bitcoin because of the parameters of BCH. It has very low fees, currently, on txstreet.com it says that the average media fee for bitcoin cash is $0.001 per transaction.

You don’t have that with BTC, so bitcoin cash is likely to take a more significant share of daily, real-life transactional volume. That’s where the upside potential lies and that’s why I think BCH is undervalued.

BC: You also said the other day that you plan to make bitcoin cash the “leading electronic cash solution in the world” and said you plan to help “accelerate the use of BCH.” How do you plan to do that?

Kim Dotcom: So global credit card transactions are about 1.01 billion a day, I think that bitcoin cash in the next ten years will be able to compete with that. More and more vendors are accepting bitcoin cash at their point-of-sale and we are going to accelerate that with partnerships. Getting big retail chains to accept bitcoin cash like grocery markets and really anything that does big volumes of transactions. Then of course, online transactions as well because nothing works better and smoother than bitcoin cash. It’s already a proven system with over 100,000 vendors that have implemented BCH, so you can see that there is a demand for a solution that is cheaper and better than traditional credit cards.

BC: Can you tell our readers about the progress of the application K.im you have been working on?

Kim Dotcom: It’s going well and we’ve been working on it for a number of years. We’re basically turning files into shops. For example, if you are a music artist and you created an mp3 file, you can embed that into a K.im file shop and then the file becomes the shop. You can unlock the content inside the file with a crypto payment, and that’s a new way for people to basically transact. They can also have a section in the file shop for commissions, so they can have a sales force all over the Internet.

Anyone who wants to sell their content can get whatever share the artist or creator wants to have, so you can basically turn the entire Internet into a massive sales force. We expect K.im to have several hundred million users within five years of launching and a lot of that transaction volume will sit with bitcoin cash. Simply because it is the cheapest, fastest way to transact right now with crypto.

BC: How do you think the world’s governments will react to the swelling crypto economy and permissionless innovations?

Kim Dotcom: I think cryptocurrencies are going to be a target for governments, because crypto is in reality competing with the money-printing schemes. The governments want to continue to print money to pay their bills. To pay for its military, to pay for whatever the government needs. As long as crypto continues to grow, the ability of the government to do that and run these old schemes is undermined more and more. I think we will see governments creating difficulties for cryptocurrencies and I expect that.

BC: Just recently, Big Tech censored the sitting U.S. President and a number of other voices and even applications like Parler. Why do you think this is happening?

Kim Dotcom: You can see that Big Tech is getting more and more engaged in politics. One has to wonder what these companies want to get out of this. They are not doing this out of their good heart, they are doing this for a purpose and one has to wonder what that purpose is.

BC: With governments encroaching on freedoms worldwide, do you think cryptocurrency networks will help protect financial freedoms?

Kim Dotcom: Absolutely, cryptocurrencies are the game-changer. They will definitely unlock more freedoms for people around the world. It is just one of many components. What the Big Tech companies did has very little to do with crypto because they run the infrastructure we are all using. They can now basically control what we see, what we hear, and that is frightening. Blockchain is just as interesting as the Internet was and the opportunities are endless. I think that it is important that we have more decentralized, non-corporate owned networks to communicate.

We don’t really want a single entity to be able to change the way we communicate. It should be a network for the people, by the people, open source, decentralized, and I think that is the future. I think the tech giants are making a big mistake in underestimating the power of open source and the willingness of people to switch to something else.

BC: When do you think the masses will catch on to cryptocurrency solutions?

Kim Dotcom: We will see a steady rise of people adopting cryptocurrencies. It is only roughly 3% of Internet users that have had any contact with crypto. The upside potential is enormous. The more people learn about the benefits of cryptocurrencies, the easier it becomes to use and the safer it becomes to use. With those improvements, more people will engage and that is part of my mission. We need to do a good job of marketing crypto better.

The crypto community also has to come together and work together toward that effort because the sooner we have critical mass, the better for everyone involved in the crypto space. I see a lot of infighting, I see a lot of tribal negative arguments and they are counter-productive. We should all just work together to make sure that users feel safe coming into this space. So the first thing they see is not all these arguments and bickering about what is the best cryptocurrency.

BC: Do you think applications like K.im will help fuel the crypto economy and peer-to-peer electronic cash solutions?

Kim Dotcom: Yes big time. K.im is going to have hundreds of millions of users and they are going to fuel the crypto economy no doubt. It’s going to be a part of making mass adoption happen and there will be some killer apps like K.im, that will do the same and combined, we’re going to drive more and more people toward accepting cryptocurrencies.

What do you think about our conversation with Kim Dotcom? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Kim Dotcom’s Next-Generation Content-Monetization Service K.IM Announces Bitcoin Cash Integration

04/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

PRESS RELEASE. Megaupload creator Kim Dotcom announced this month to use Bitcoin Cash for his newest innovation, K.IM, a suite of tools to enable anyone around the world to manage, protect and sell digital content at ultra-low fees and without intermediaries.

Dotcom, who’s website Megaupload was once the 13th most popular site on the Internet and responsible for 4% of all Internet traffic, said K.IM turns “digital files into file shops. Users can use our service to package a file that they want to sell into an encrypted container file and then they can place it anywhere on the Internet. Customers who want to access the content inside the encrypted container can make a payment using cryptocurrency like Bitcoin Cash.”

Asked why he was excited about K.IM and Bitcoin Cash in particular, Dotcom said that while Bitcoin (BTC) has been a great tool for asset storage, Bitcoin Cash is “great for payments” for services like K.IM and offers new financial opportunities for consumers, vendors and investors. Kim had the following to say about the crypto market:

“My opinion is that crypto use is on the rise and BCH is in a good position to accumulate market share. For me it’s simple: The more users you have the more value you have.”

“The winners in the crypto race will be decided by vendors and users. Focus on the fundamental question: What do vendors and users want? Low fees, fast transactions, high security and ease of use.”

He went on to say that Bitcoin Cash was currently “undervalued” and that the “upside potential for those who missed the BTC train” is enormous. Bitcoin.com Founder and friend of Dotcom, Roger Ver, said that Dotcom has “always been ahead of the rest of the market and that people should pay attention to his predictions”. He went on further to say:

“When you look at interest in BTC these days, a lot of it comes in trying to chase its historic investment gains. As long as the price keeps going up, there is going to be a lot of interest. But what happens when people want to start actually using it to pay for things? They will discover the limitations of Bitcoin and look for an asset that can be both an investment and a true peer-to-peer payment system like Bitcoin was originally meant to be. That’s what Bitcoin Cash is.

Speaking further on Bitcoin Cash, Ver said the following:

It has all the great qualities that helped BTC become a store of value but it’s not artificially rate limited. Entrepreneurs like Kim Dotcom can actually use it to build their business without relying on central parties to provide payment layers. It’s not surprising that he would be so bullish about Bitcoin Cash.”

Ver said that K.IM is one of the most exciting products he’s seen in years and has the potential to get millions of people using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Cash which can handle the massive volume Dotcom’s businesses have created in the past.

K.IM is currently in development with updates coming soon. The platform is expected to launch in Q4 of 2021. To find out more information visit the K.IM website today.

About K.IM

Providing advanced services and technologies to manage, protect and sell digital content, K.IM will revolutionise the monetisation of digital content and create a fair market for content creators and consumers.

KIM is the source of this content. This Press Release is for informational purposes only.

This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

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Kim Dotcom Says Bitcoin Cash ‘Great for Payments,’ Expects BCH to Cross $3K in 2021

17/12/2020 by Idelto Editor

On December 17, the internet entrepreneur and political activist Kim Dotcom spoke about bitcoin being a “great asset for storage,” and then further stressed that bitcoin cash was “great for payments.” Dotcom said he expects bitcoin cash to jump in value by 900% next year and reach a $3k per unit handle.

Megaupload creator, Kim Dotcom, has been tweeting about the rising cryptocurrency economy, alongside the troubled U.S. economy as well. Last month, Dotcom said a “great depression is coming” and also insisted that the “U.S. economy [is] on such a massive jolt of monetary heroin there’s no dialing back the dosage.”

The day after bitcoin (BTC) surpassed the crypto asset’s all-time high, Dotcom tweeted about the sixth largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap, bitcoin cash (BCH).

“Bitcoin > great for asset storage,” Dotcom tweeted. “Bitcoin Cash > great for payments. Bitcoin Cash at $310 today. I expect $3,000+ next year,” the internet entrepreneur added. Dotcom also said:

Why? More and more vendors accept crypto. Vendors want low fees and fast transactions. I’m bullish on [bitcoin cash].

Of course, Dotcom got a lot of criticism from those who dislike bitcoin cash and BTC maximalists. One individual wrote: “I respect you but please don’t shill bitcoin cash.. it has no use case.”

However, Dotcom was quick to respond and said: “BCH has many use cases today. And K.im will use BCH.” The K.im platform allows anyone to upload documents, code, videos, and music files so they can get paid in crypto for their work.

When software engineer Josh Ellithorpe responded to Dotcom’s tweet he wrote that “there is no doubt that BCH is undervalued right now at $310.” Dotcom responded to the developer’s tweet:

’Undervalued’ is the key word here. Real upside potential for those who missed the BTC train.

Dotcom has openly spoken about his thoughts on bitcoin cash (BCH) in the past. In an interview with BTC maximalist Tone Vays in January, Dotcom said maximalists were “stupid” for ignoring a peer-to-peer cash vision. “You and Roger [Ver] have a lot of disagreement about a lot of things,” Dotcom said to Vays during a poker game interview.

“I met with Roger and I sat down with him, and I understood where he was coming from,” Dotcom continued. “He shared with me some of the innovations that he’s working on. I think the guy at the moment, in terms of his way of thinking and where he is in his innovation, is a step ahead. I feel it would be stupid to ignore someone like that … that helps to use whatever he creates to make the entire space better.”

What do you think about Kim Dotcom saying bitcoin cash will gain 900% by next year? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

The post Kim Dotcom Says Bitcoin Cash ‘Great for Payments,’ Expects BCH to Cross $3K in 2021 appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Why User Experience Is Crypto’s True ‘Killer App’

21/01/2020 by Idelto Editor

There’s been a lot of buzz in the space recently about the importance of user experience. Kim Dotcom’s proclamation that “Mass utility is going to lead to mass adoption,” speaks to this. Peter Schiff’s bitcoin wallet fiasco, CZ’s claim that centralized exchanges are safer than private wallets, and promises of a still undependable Lightning Network as salvation all point to the same. As cashless payment systems proliferate around the globe, one thing becomes crystal clear: crypto doesn’t need a killer app – it is the killer app. Crypto needs better UX.

Also Read: Bitcoin Cash Gets Significant Privacy Boost With Cashfusion Alpha Launch

The Ongoing Quest for Crypto’s Killer App

When it comes to the search for Bitcoin’s killer app, internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has been on the hunt for years. Though his recent kind words about bitcoin cash and jarring reality check to the cryptosphere have ruffled feathers, his conversation with Tone Vays and Willy Woo nonetheless resounds:

It’s nice to be a store of value, but if you really want to succeed in this game, you need to be the electronic cash … Right now only 2% of internet users have even been exposed to crypto. We are a niche, small piece of shit in the universe of business.

Dotcom goes on to note that almost nobody knows or cares about the bickering and tribalism in the crypto space, but that users will naturally gravitate to “the currency that gives them the cheapest fees, the fastest transactions, the most reliability.” The entrepreneur adds that “currently, unfortunately, that is not bitcoin [BTC].” He noted the importance of many developments in the areas of privacy and security on the BCH network as well, to the uncomfortable fidgeting of his friends.

UX Discussions Take Center Stage on Crypto Twitter

Even for BTC maximalists and neutral parties in the everyday tribal feuds, Kim’s sentiments don’t go unrecognized. Monday’s “forgetful wallet” fiasco involving Peter Schiff generated not only humorous mockery, but also observations about the general usability of bitcoin wallets in the first place. After all, if Schiff can’t use it, your grandfather probably can’t either.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao took the opportunity to mock Schiff and leverage questionable UX to send more folks to exchanges, tweeting:

“Many hardcore crypto ogs advocate storing your own keys. But the truth is, today most people are not able to secure a key even from themselves (losing it). A trusted centralized exchange is #SAFUer for most people. The numbers speak for themselves. Need to work on wallets.”

Overlooking the fact CZ just called us all too stupid to hold our own private keys in a bid to drum up business, his comment on the state of crypto wallets does have merit. User experience in crypto is still very difficult, compared to the slick products everyday consumers are used to.

Bitcoin ABC Lead Developer Amaury Sachet and Cointext CTO Vin Armani also sounded off on the topic, with Armani asserting that “Bitcoin’s UX is so far from ‘working,’ it’s laughable.” Sachet noted further down the thread: “This space value new shit rather that slick shit, so we get a ton of new shit and none of it is slick.” He continued:

There is no secret, good UX require many iterations and nobody is going to do that if this is not valued.

Though one might not agree with all the views of these entrepreneurs and devs, one thing stands out: they’re all seeing something wrong with the current state of bitcoin UX in general — this even across bitter lines of tribalist allegiance. Even Tone Vays thinks something needs to change. For him, salvation lies in the Lightning Network, a developing solution still so riddled with problems and plagued by constant delays that mentioning it in the same sentence as UX almost seems like a joke.

Anarchy in the UX

The world has gone from centrally controlled fiat money, routine privacy invasions, forced payments and usage to the realized possibility of completely permissionless exchange without a third party. For those who can remember sending or receiving their first bitcoin back in the day, the experience was almost spiritual for its clean mathematical simplicity. Crypto itself is the coolest ‘app’ there currently is in finance, hands down.

Threat of state force notwithstanding (granted, that’s a big one), a clean and easy UX for crypto apps is really all that stands in the way of mass adoption. Easy, cashless payment systems with intuitive and simple user interfaces are already proliferating worldwide.

This is what Japan fintech payments just in a 7 Eleven stores. You can see even with all these payments bitcoin is not here. pic.twitter.com/MTIQmYRsyw

— TiENCHATHK (@tienchathk) January 18, 2020

When even those who could care less about ideas like economic sovereignty can shop online, buy a cheeseburger, interact with social media, or pay their utilities with crypto easily, a paradigm shift begins to occur. Obsolete institutions will become too top-heavy to stand without popular support. They’ll have to adapt or fall under their own weight. This further opens the door for more freedom-minded users to transact however they want with less risk. Ongoing privacy enhancements also bring greater fungibility and continued convenience to this process.

So while there are a great many apps, crypto itself and an excellent UX are the real killer feature being sought. Enjoyable and efficient user experience is what keeps people using Apple products, coming back to Facebook even if they claim to “hate it,” or using Google search. We’ve got the tech. The next step is to show everybody just how killer it is.

What do you think will be crypto’s “killer app”? Let us know in the comments section below.

Op-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, fair use.

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Judge Rules Snowden Must Give Book Proceeds to US Government

21/12/2019 by Idelto Editor

Judge Rules Edward Snowden Must Give Book Proceeds to US Government

A U.S. district judge has ruled that former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden must turn over the proceeds of his new book to the U.S. government. According to the ruling, Snowden failed to obtain clearance for the materials and information used in his book. The same judge previously ruled against Kim Dotcom and Megaupload.

Also read: Regulatory Roundup: Crypto ‘Inevitable’ in India, China Rankings, NY Streamlines Policy

Judge Rules US Government Entitled to Snowden’s Book Proceeds

A judge in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has ruled that the U.S. government is entitled to the proceeds Edward Snowden receives from his book because he failed to get approval to publish its contents as required by his employment contracts.

In his ruling, District Judge Liam O’Grady explained that Snowden signed agreements with the U.S. government requiring him to protect information and material of which he had knowledge from unauthorized disclosure. He is also required to submit for review any writings or other presentations he prepared related to intelligence data or protected information.

Snowden tweeted on Thursday in response to the ruling:

The government may steal a dollar, but it cannot erase the idea that earned it. I wrote this book, Permanent Record, for you, and I hope the government’s ruthless desperation to prevent its publication only inspires you read it — and then gift it to another.

The former U.S. intelligence contractor is now living in Russia to avoid arrest by U.S. authorities. He remains a fugitive from prosecution on federal criminal charges for alleged violations of the Espionage Act relating to his 2013 exposure of the NSA’s massive collection of phone and internet data. While the Justice Department is seeking to recover all proceeds Snowden has earned, CNBC reported on Thursday that the actual amount owed is likely to be decided later by Judge O’Grady.

Judge Says Snowden Needed Permission From NSA and CIA

Snowden’s book called “Permanent Record” was published in the U.S. in September by Macmillan Publishing Group. Snowden, however, did not get clearance from any government agencies prior to the publication which is allegedly in violation of the agreements he signed with both the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). His book details the intelligence-gathering activities of the two agencies, including classified programs. It also describes how Snowden viewed himself as a whistleblower by revealing details about the government’s mass collection of emails, phone calls and internet activity in the name of national security.

In his ruling, Judge O’Grady affirmed that under the agreements, Snowden was required to allow the government to review anything he planned to publish containing any information or material known to be classified. He elaborated:

The terms of the CIA secrecy agreements further provide that Snowden forfeits any proceeds from disclosures that breach the agreements. These terms continue to apply to Snowden.

Snowden’s Defense and Kim Dotcom’s Response

The lawyers representing Snowden argued that the government had already broken the secrecy agreements by indicating that it would not give his book a fair prepublication review. They additionally claim that the book contains no material that had not previously been made public. However, Judge O’Grady ruled that the secrecy agreements “are unambiguous and clear,” with “no genuine dispute” that Snowden breached the agreements.

The judge also noted Snowden’s argument that the suit “is based on animus toward his viewpoint,” with the government selectively enforcing secrecy agreements. Lastly, Snowden maintained that the agreements did not support the U.S. government’s claim against him.

O’Grady is also the judge in the extradition proceeding against Kim Dotcom relating to his now-defunct file storage service, Megaupload. Commenting on the ruling against Snowden, Dotcom tweeted:

Corrupt U.S. Judge Liam O’Grady, the former Disney lawyer who destroyed Megaupload without due process and declared me a fugitive and forfeited all my assets to the U.S. govt without trial, has just ruled that Snowden’s book proceeds belong to the U.S. govt.

What do you think of the ruling that the U.S. government is entitled to proceeds from Snowden’s book? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Hollywood Reporter, and the New York Times.

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