Calvin Ayre: Bitcoin SV controls a global monopoly on immutable data storage on a public blockchain

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on February 20, 2020.

Six months ago, it was all about the power of scaling. Things have fundamentally changed since then, and the CoinGeek London conference is going to be the tipping point for the Bitcoin ecosystem, according to Ayre Group founder and CoinGeek owner Calvin Ayre.

“We’ve put a lot of effort into recreating the original protocol in the community, and at the same time that that was happening, the awareness has been building. And I think we’re going to see that the announcements that’ll be made at this event is going to end up being the tipping point and I think you’re going to see from here forward, people are going to be looking back and saying, ‘Well that was when things fundamentally changed,’” Ayre said.

A lot has changed since Bitcoin SV (BSV) has been freed a little over a year ago. The Genesis protocol upgrade activated key protocol changes, including eliminating any default block size limit (previously set at 2GB). Not only has BSV won the platform wars, it holds the monopoly on data storage on a public blockchain.

“If you look at what’s happening right now, Bitcoin SV controls a global monopoly on immutable data storage on a public blockchain,” Ayre said. “Not only does it control that globally, but even if one of the other chain sees this interview and decides it’s going to start trying to do this, we’re talking years if they ever do it when you look at the patent portfolio that nChain’s got in place protecting the moat, if you will, around this technology.”

Now the ecosystem is in the midst of an application war, as developers and businesses race to build applications powered by BSV. There are a lot of talented individuals with ingenious ideas in the space at the moment. Ayre shared:

“I’m old enough to remember when that exact same question and that exact same criticism was leveled at the internet itself. And I remember when the first internet bubble happened, and everybody said that this isn’t going to amount to much. Yes, sure you can you know share some pornography with your friends and yeah sure maybe you can send some emails and stuff, but commerce on the internet? That’s not really going to be a thing. I remember that. I say to all those people that doubt what BSV can do on top of the internet, watch out.”

And to the entrepreneurs setting up businesses on BSV, Ayre has this to say:

If I was 20 to 30 years old right now, I would be building an application on BSV. That’s exactly what I’d be doing. I wish them luck.

Watch the CoinGeek London Conference Day 1 livestream here:

Calvin Ayre: Long term value only comes from utility

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on September 30, 2019.

Hedge your bets, because casino-like speculative trading in the cryptocurrency sector will be over soon. And what will replace these speculative exchanges, according to CoinGeek owner Calvin Ayre, is an exchange model that will be fiat on- and off-ramps into secondary markets for tokens built on top of the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain.

“There’s a lot of confusion around what’ happening with short-term token price, and token price right now is, first of all, a lot of it is artificial, it’s being manipulated by exchanges, exchanges aren’t regulated, a lot of people are getting hurt, and I’m hoping that over the next two years that we’re going to see I think it’s starting already, that governments are going to step in and get some kind of sanity in what’s going on,” Ayre said at the opening of the CoinGeek Seoul Conference in South Korea.

And the end of the day, he said, “long term value only comes from utility.” And as government step in, expect more anonymous tokens to be outlawed globally.

“The real world economy is going to be run by tokens that work inside the law. And BSV as an example not only platform that scales, it’s also dedicated to not changing this protocol which makes it a safer target for developing to, but it’s also designed to work inside regulatory environments,” Ayre noted.

It’s why BSV is the only option in the world today, particularly for application development. BSV, after all, is the only one that currently scales and represent real-world value of some sort—from securities to commodities, or even concert tickets.

“It’s all about scaling. At the end of the day, when you’re looking at these platforms from the perspective of application development whether for startups or enterprises, if it doesn’t scale you’re not going to get microtransactions and you’re not going to be able to create unique business models,” he explained.

The power of scaling takes the center stage at the CoinGeek Seoul Conference, with members of the cryptocurrency and blockchain community gathering at Le Meridien Seoul on Oct. 1 and 2 to discuss all the exciting developments happening on the BSV ecosystem.

“This conference is all about us spreading information about what’s possible on this technology and us wanting people that are involved in some facet or another on these other platforms that have technical challenges telling them that the technical challenges have all been solved here and there’s no need for you to keep over there, stay over there hoping that they can solve them when we’ve got them all solved,” Ayre said.

Read Calvin Ayre CoinGeek Seoul Conference welcome address:

Welcome to CoinGeek Seoul, our fourth technology conference, following our successful events in Hong Kong, London and Toronto. However wonderful those other events might have been, CoinGeek Seoul is unique, as it comes at a particularly extraordinary moment in time.

It’s been nearly one year since the hash war that helped secure the future of Bitcoin, by which I mean Bitcoin’s original protocol, which will soon be locked in place so that companies can focus on development. Early next year, the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision network’s Genesis upgrade will restore all remaining opcodes from Satoshi’s original design, after which the protocol will be locked down. After years of frustration, businesses will finally have a stable and scalable foundation on which to build, and with it the confidence to take risks, knowing that the ground won’t be shifting under their feet.

The past year we’ve seen record-breaking blocks mined both on the STN Testnet (2gb) and in the wild (256mb). The Genesis upgrade will go even further, removing all artificial caps on blocksize, thereby empowering miners to set limits as they see fit in an infinitely scalable environment.

Bitcoin allows the world to create, to build, to earn and – most importantly – to use. BSV is currently only teasing it’s potential, but in the coming months the world will begin to discover the infinite depths of this potential.

It’s truly an exciting time to be alive.

At long last, the greatest invention of our time is being unchained from its shackles and the commercial world will never be the same. Businesses are being handed a golden opportunity to blaze new paths, to build applications that solve real-world problems through the benefits of blockchain technology, safe in the knowledge that the rules underpinning this technology won’t change after the game is begun.

Given all the disinformation that plagues our industry and the seemingly non-stop emergence of fly-by-night ‘me too’ coins, it’s truly amazing how BSV has managed to achieve such traction in such a short period of time.

It’s easier than ever to buy BSV as more exchanges offer it for trade and sites like BuyBSV.com allow people to buy directly with fiat currencies.

Applications like Twetch, WeiBlock and Streamanity are giving people the ability to earn BSV by creating content that engages audiences. Bypassing traditional social and video channels, content creators are now making money directly from their viewers without the need for middlemen.

And how can we forget Unwriter, who has provided a vast array of tools that allow developers to begin building with BSV both swiftly and efficiently.

Over the next few days, we’ll hear from some of the people behind such success stories, like Paul Chiari, whose on-chain weather app WeatherSV has given us a glimpse into the future of mining profitability. As the block rewards continue to halve, it’s these sorts of apps that will enable continued growth in transaction volumes, ensuring that miners continue to earn a just reward for securing the network.

In the years to come, the continued success of BSV will be down to you, the builders who develop the next killer app, and the investors who empower creators to exploit BSV’s limitless potential.

The next few days here in Korea will prove both exciting and informative. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take the lessons learned here and spread the gospel of BSV through the fruits of your labours. The future is here, now, and you have a role to play. The platform on which we stand is stable and ready to support whatever you want to build and whatever your imagination can conceive.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, architects of the future, I welcome you all to the fourth CoinGeek conference, Seoul 2019.

Watch the CoinGeek Seoul Conference Day 1 livestream here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmwzC01Qd1w

Watch the CoinGeek Seoul Conference Day 2 livestream here.

The CEO of crypto blog Coin Rivet has publicly admitted publishing false information regarding Calvin Ayre’s recent trip to Cuba

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on May 1, 2019.

The CEO of crypto blog Coin Rivet has publicly admitted publishing false information regarding Calvin Ayre’s recent trip to Cuba.

On Wednesday, May 8, Coin Rivet editorial director Darren Parkin (pictured) read a statement in the UK High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, in which Coin Rivet CEO Sheba Karamat admitted publishing “completely untrue” claims that Ayre had been referred to Interpol, police and child abuse charities over photos and videos Ayre posted to social media featuring several Cuban women.

Karamat admitted that, contrary to information published via Coin Rivet, none of the women in Ayre’s social media posts were ‘pre-teen’ or under the age of consent. Karamat further admitted that Ayre had not been referred for investigation by authorities or child abuse charities and there were no grounds to suspect him of child abuse.

Coin Rivet previously agreed to publicly apologize to Ayre via their website and to pay him £5,000 in damages. As a condition of the settlement, Parkin appeared in court to acknowledge the falsity of the site’s claims, to repeat their apology to Ayre and to confirm that they wouldn’t repeat these allegations in future.

Ayre was justifiably outraged by Coin Rivet’s allegations but his primary concern throughout this process has been for the five Cuban women featured in his social media posts, who lacked the financial means to pursue justice on their own.

Prior to the settlement, Ayre had publicly announced that he would forward all monetary damages paid by Coin Rivet to the five women, for whom such sums represent a significant boost to their annual income. But the money may prove cold comfort for at least one of the women, who has paid the highest price of anyone involved in this debacle.

This woman, a 21-year-old named Elianna, was called in for questioning by local authorities, who apparently felt the publicity reflected negatively on Cuba. The women were hired to stage a dance performance for Ayre’s cameras, but coverage by Coin Rivet’s Helen Bennicke – who called Cuba “a well-known destination for sex tourism” and said Ayre had “effectively ‘bought’ [the women’s] company” – left the impression that something infinitely more salacious was at play.

Unlike the other women, who were all from Havana, Elianna is from the town of Las Tunas, and the Havana police evidently decided to make an example of her. Regrettably, CoinGeek has learned that Elianna has been sentenced to two years in prison. The authorities apparently charged her using the pretext of violating Decree 217, a 1997 law restricting Cuban citizens’ ability to travel to Havana without permission.

Ayre is understandably outraged by this development but for the time being all he can do is figure out a way to assist Elianna upon her release from prison. Ayre is all the more disgusted with the individuals at Coin Rivet and their ilk, because this whole incident was completely unnecessary.

Ayre maintains that the majority of the abuse he was subjected to via crypto blogs and social media trolls had little to do with outrage over perceived sexual impropriety and everything to do with the desire to tarnish his name and, by extension, the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) protocol he has publicly endorsed.

The crypto sector is still in its infancy, as is the mindset displayed by many of its most ardent supporters. Until it evolves out of this juvenile state, with an ‘ends justify the means’ approach toward attacking supporters of rival technologies, crypto will remain on the fringes of the ‘traditional’ financial sector.

For anyone who wishes a grown-up discussion on all things crypto, travel to Toronto on May 29-30 for the next CoinGeek Conference. Ayre will be there advocating on behalf of BSV. Bring your ‘A’ game and challenge him with your own views on the sector and see whose argument wins the day. Just leave the mud at home. ​

The Bitcoin Ambassador

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on April 9, 2019.

Calvin Ayre would like to present to the world his unique credentials as the planet’s only official Bitcoin ambassador.

Calvin Ayre is a celebrated entrepreneur who has played a pivotal role in the development of several industries, including a successful stint in the online gambling industry that ultimately landed his picture on the cover of the 2006 Forbes’ ‘billionaires’ issue.

In August 2017, the government of Antigua and Barbuda took note of Ayre’s rising stature in the emerging blockchain/cryptocurrency sector and appointed him a Special Economic Envoy with responsibility for advising on economic cooperation and commerce between Antigua and Barbuda and other sovereign states where blockchain technology is being utilized.

There’s no doubt that Ayre, a noted history buff, was honored to receive this designation. Throughout history, ambassadors have provided valuable assistance in lessening the likelihood of minor disagreements between nations developing into more serious fights. Then again, some ambassadors have brought their office no great honor by taking undue advantage of a perk known as diplomatic immunity.

Diplomatic immunity, which effectively puts a government’s appointed representatives above the law in the countries in which they serve, has resulted in all sorts of flagrant law-breaking over the years, ranging from the banal ($18m in unpaid parking tickets run up by United Nations diplomats in New York City) to the infinitely more serious (a U.S. embassy staffer shooting two Pakistani citizens dead on a street in Islamabad).

So, to assuage the concerns of the global community, here are the things that the Bitcoin Ambassadayre will and won’t do. Starting with the latter, Ayre won’t drive blind drunk through your city streets (apart from motorcycles, jet-skis or stock cars on closed tracks, Ayre hasn’t driven himself anywhere for years). Nor will he light up a fat cigar midway through an international flight while guffawing loudly and humming the main title theme to ‘Homeland.’

On the flip side, Ayre will continue to travel the world while singing the praises of Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV), the only true Bitcoin due to its unique capacity for the massive on-chain scaling that will realize the promise in Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2008 Bitcoin white paper.

Ayre will also continue to bend the ears of decision makers around the globe regarding BSV’s future as the next evolutionary step in the long history of cash and commodities. And when the global merchant class finally falls in line, Ayre will be happy to play host to his governmental guests and pay the bar tab with BSV. Now, there’s a diplomat for you…

Ayre’s latest CoinGeek Conference is scheduled to kick off in Toronto on May 29-30. The future of money awaits in Toronto, and it’s easy to register and use the world’s new money to register—and you’ll even get a discount if you use Bitcoin SV via Coingate.

Calvin Ayre: The only one that’s got sustainable business model is Bitcoin SV

This article was originally published on CoinGeek on November 29, 2018.

The one good thing that has come out of the recent so-called BCH hash war is that the original Bitcoin is back—now in the form of Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Vision).

Bitcoin SV is the only cryptocurrency with a blockchain that massively scales; it’s the only one that has utility value and the one that can do it all. At the CoinGeek Week Conference, taking place at The Mermaid at Puddle Dock in London, CoinGeek founder Calvin Ayre explains how BSV is set to take over and replace other non-scaling platforms, and then also grow utility value.

“I believe firmly that the business models of all the alternative coins, the ICOs and the digital gold and whatnot are actually not real business models and that they actually, it’s a bit of an illusion or a mirage that is being sold to people, and people who don’t understand how this stuff works are being sold a bill of goods. I think one positive outcome of the hash war is the fact that people were forced to focus on the technical choices in front of them, and I think a lot of people got educated on what the differences are,” he said. “The only one that’s got a sustainable business model, that can have growth and take enterprise investment is Bitcoin SV, which is the original Bitcoin. It’s the original economic model.”

The CoinGeek Week Conference is the perfect place to hear from thought leaders about the implications of the world’s first Bitcoin Hash War fought according to Nakamoto Consensus. The three-day conference, with a special invitation-only Miners Day kicking off the week’s events, is important for anyone already involved in crypto, as well as those looking to get started. As the only cryptocurrency that is being developed to truly serve as a digital currency, Bitcoin—now in Bitcoin SV—has the most potential to make a difference in the retail industry.

Ayre said, “This is about learning, but it’s also about planning. We’re getting a lot of thought leaders together here to plan how to move ahead to actually finally show what the power of the economic model is in Bitcoin. Because now the people that were kneecapping the business model aren’t here anymore so from that perspective, there’s a lot of euphoria about the opportunities and a lot of planning going around it, but it’s also a celebration of sorts. I mean, it’s the 10-year anniversary now of the birth of the original Bitcoin and it’s also ironically the rebirth birthday, so instead of having two birthdays like what we thought we had with BCH and BTC, we’re back to having one. And that one birthday is the birth of Bitcoin because Bitcoin SV is Bitcoin.”

There’s still time to secure your seat to the last day of CoinGeek Week, where a major announcement is about to be made. Don’t be stuck on the sidelines watching as history is made at CoinGeek Week Day 3, buy your tickets to the conference via Eventbrite today.