Bitcoin Forum

Significant news.  Anyone have access to the full text?

http://pevc.dowjones.com/article?an=DJFVW00020130819e98jauzi8&from=alert&pid=32

Google Ventures are investing in bitcoin startups?? Wow I didn't know that

I only found out when I saw them on the list of subpoena'd NY companies. Its the most bullish signal I have seen recently, too bad the first thing I hear about it is how they are getting stifled.

horrible name for whatever buttercoin will be

Thats amazing!
It shows that google is interested, don't know if that is a good or a bad thing..
I hope they beat the charges.

Forwarded from a friend who has an account:

International Bitcoin Exchange Buttercoin Raises $1M to Revamp Remittance
Lora Kolodny
August 19, 2013
(c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Four-employee financial tech startup Buttercoin has raised $1 million in seed funding to scale its international bitcoin exchange, co-founder and Chief Executive Cedric Dahl told VentureWire.

Buttercoin's investors include Google Ventures, Y Combinator, Initialized Capital, Floodgate and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

Bitcoin is a virtual currency introduced in 2009 that recently gained regulatory scrutiny and legitimacy in the U.S. Federal regulators have placed bitcoin exchanges under the same requirements as traditional money-transmission businesses, and a Texas judge this month recognized bitcoins as a legal currency.

On August 16, Bitcoins were selling on the largest existing exchange, Mt. Gox, for $108 to $112. Buttercoin will compete with Mt. Gox and a range of money-transmission businesses, like Xoom Corp ., PayPal and others.

Currently participating in the Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Buttercoin, which is operated by Digital Currencies FinTech Co., partners with banks, credit unions and licensed financial services businesses around the world to offer remittance through bitcoins.

Here's how it works: People who want to send money to another country log onto a bitcoin exchange on a financial services firm website, "powered by" Buttercoin. They use their local currency to buy bitcoins, which they can then send instantaneously across borders.

Switching from one currency to another through bitcoin, the financial services firm may gain some value from arbitrage, but that part would remain invisible to the consumer sending the money, Mr. Dahl said.

"The benefit to a financial service company that becomes our partner is that [Buttercoin] gives them access to fee-free, bitcoin buying and selling," he said, adding that the company charges the end-user a 0.1% fee per transaction to use the service and splits that fee with its partner.

At this point, Buttercoin has not struck any partnerships with banks but has inked several deals with remittance companies in India, Canada, Brazil and Hong Kong.

Seed investor Mr. Ohanian said that Buttercoin eliminates foreign exchange risk for financial services firms. Based on this feature alone, he says, Buttercoin has the potential to massively disrupt the international remittance industry.

Mr. Dahl says he wants to ultimately help hardworking immigrants transfer money back home to their families overseas, without giving up a high proportion to entities like PayPal or Western Union .

The market for remittances hit $513 billion in 2011, according to data from the World Bank .

Venture investors have been increasingly interested in bitcoin businesses. Union Square Ventures invested in Coinbase, a startup that allows people to store bitcoins in a digital wallet and transact with merchants who accept the currency. Bit Angels, an angel network and incubator focused on early-stage bitcoin and virtual currency startups, raised 53,620 bitcoin in order to fund virtual currency startups.

Boost VC launched a specialized fund and incubator program to back and support Bitcoin startups. Lightspeed Venture Partners , Rothenberg Ventures, the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund and Ben Davenport all invested in the fund.

http://buttercoin.net

Write to Lora Kolodny at lora.kolodny@wsj.com. Follow her on twatter at @lorakolodny

This is pretty huge  :o

Yeah, I'd avoid using 'coin' as a suffix for something like that - can potentially cause confusion as to what they really do. But the whole idea of competing with Gox is a welcome development.

they invested in Ripple (OpenCoin) months ago.

Yes. This is an extremely weak name and clearly experienced branding people have not been engaged to do a proper job. Seems a common failing with many bitcoin startups. Only a few, "BitPay" for example, have a top-notch name.

congrats for buttercoin

we need more bitcoin related startups to be funded by established tech VC / investors

I hear it's just a working title. Thank God.

Wow, seems like a huge thing. It combines an exchange and a international payservice!

Also great news google 's behind it.

I was also thinking about names, and I mean, the "bit" and "coin" thing has become redundant. It says nothing.

really great news.


"Google Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of Google Inc. that makes financially driven investments in technology companies. Google Ventures seeks to invest in start-up companies in a variety of fields ranging from Internet, software, and hardware to clean-tech, bio-tech, and health care.[2]

The group was founded on March 31, 2009, with a $100 million capital commitment.[1] Partners on Google Ventures include Wesley Chan, Joe Kraus, Kevin Rose,[3] Bill Maris, Karim Faris, Krishna Yeshwant, and Rich Miner.[4][5][6]"

That must be a joke.

Reminds me of the "Asian crew members" named in this report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZR4Em9JJDw.

http://letstalkbitcoin.com/e34-bitcoin-and-the-butters/

Coming up on Today’s Show:

    Stephanie interviews Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge Capital Partners for the Venture perspective
    Andreas interviews Cedric Dahl, CEO of Buttercoin on their White Label Exchange service and Viral Liquidity
    Ryan Charleston of Bitcorati tells Stephanie why we don’t need a yellowpages any more.
    Andre DeCastro of eCoinCashier explains his App that will buy your Bitcoins, but won’t sell you any!
    Stephanie has a good talk with Josh Zerlan, COO of Butterfly Labs.


if you like the show, you can make Litecoin or Bitcoin donation  :)



have fun

LiteCoinGuy

I just need to say wheres the toast

It here http://toastwallet.com

woah that's better than sliced bread!!  ::)

No No it has to be the best thing since sliced bread  ;)
(Except bitcoin which is the master of all wallets :))

They call their offer white label - meaning that customer can brand it as they like.

I heard it was named buttercoin because the core body of the project is an incredibly attractive proposal whilst on the face of it there is a lot to be desired.