Bitcoin gains strength in Japan, wins support from a leading payment provider
September 25, 2014at 2:31 am by David Corbin

Bitcoin’s cloudy future in Japan just got a bit brighter. The virtual currency has been slow to catch on in Japan following the collapse of noted bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox and the government’s subsequent refusal to categorize it as a currency. There are still proponents of Bitcoin in the country, however. Now you can add GMO, one of Japan’s largest internet infrastructure firms, to the list of fans. It announced that its payment solution, GMO Payment Gateway (“GMO-PG”), will support bitcoin payments alongside standard payment options like credit cards and bank transfers starting in November. GMO-PG made a partnership with and investment in BitFlyer, a bitcoin marketplace and settlement service, in order to add bitcoin support. Considering GMO’s status as a top tech firm, the tie-up with nine-month-old BitFlyer seems unexpected. However, BitFlyer has done a lot in that time. Though BitFlyer only just started operations in January, it has quickly risen to the top of Japan’s bitcoin food chain. It now claims to be the largest bitcoin company in Japan and is also the leader of the Japan Authority of Digital Assets. The firm’s official legal representation comes from Nishimura & Asahi, widely considered to be one of the top law firms in Japan. GMO-PG’s decision to take the bitcoin plunge could have large ramifications in Japan. The firm is already the most used company for credit card processing, having assembled over 48,000 online stores. Not even Rakuten, the country’s leading ecommerce service, has more stores. Use of bitcoin requires both parties in a transaction to have a bitcoin wallet, so it is unlikely that users will be able to pay in bitcoin at all 48,000 stores. Even so, the mere act of GMO-PG coming out in support of bitcoin so openly is a sign that the winds may be shifting in Japan. In its unusually detailed statement, the company noted an important change in Japan’s regulatory environment – in June, the government’s IT strategy committee came out in support of bitcoin. According to the committee, “Bitcoin is something that creates new innovation in business.” GMO-PG agrees but the next step is convincing 48,000 merchants.

Banks would do the same thing, if its not your money its your obligation to report it (at least in the US). Had the same thing happen to me with an extra $500 in my account one time.



Not saying its right....

bitcoinwisdom down?

Alot of the demand for paper money comes from the fact that you need it to pay taxes to the government, you can't use anything else.

what exclusive use cases does bitcoin have? internet black markets.

you can't use fiat on internet black markets because of the paper trail it will leave, you HAVE to use bitcoin (or some other crypto but for simplicity sake lets say its bitcoin because its the most liquid and has the most secure network in terms of hashing power).
bitcoin is the only way to send money over the internet anonymously, all other methods require interfacing with the banking system which is highly traceable.

so assuming the world drug business remains illegal, and most of it moves from dangerous physical black markets to much safer internet black markets like silkroad, that is very bullish for bitcoin.

we're talking about a huge industry that will have to use bitcoin and will create constant demand for it.

Öhm, ich denke der wichtige Abschnitt ist der hier:


Vorerst kann man nur bei Anbietern, die den PayPal Payments Hub nutzen, mit Bitcoin zahlen. Und auch das nur, wenn der Anbieter sich vorher aktiv dafür entschieden hat. Außerdem braucht der Anbieter wohl auch einen Account bei Coinbase oder BitPay (zusätzlich zu PayPal). Es geht nicht um das bekannte PayPal-System, das fast jeder Webshop nutzt. Noch nicht, jedenfalls. Im Endeffekt also nur wenig bedeutender als die Braintree-Sache.

Aber es ist schön zu sehen, wie sich auch aus so kleinen Fortschritten eine große Euphorie entwickelt. Das deutet tatsächlich auf eine Trendwende hin.

Private Schlüssel, auf Schallplatte gepresst

http://www.golem.de/news/sound-wallet-private-schluessel-auf-schallplatte-gepresst-1409-109073.html



gar nichts mehr über drogen und so ... auch wenn golem sicher zu den besser technik-quellen gehört 

PayPal and Virtual Currency

Scott Ellison, Senior Director Corporate Strategy, PayPal
 
Bitcoin has been big news this year, and for good reason. Although crypto-currencies have been around for some time, only Bitcoin has achieved significant scale. This new entrant in the world of payments has people asking lots of questions – including how and if PayPal will decide to work with Bitcoin.
 
While we’re focused on giving people everywhere safer and more seamless buying experiences, we’re also fierce advocates of giving businesses -- and in turn their customers -- flexibility and the freedom of choice. Earlier this month we announced that businesses working with Braintree will soon be able to accept Bitcoin as a payment option through their innovative v.zero SDK and relationship with Coinbase.
 
Today we are announcing PayPal’s next step in helping merchants accept Bitcoin payments. PayPal has entered into agreements with leading Bitcoin payment processors BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin. Starting today, these agreements let PayPal digital goods merchants accept Bitcoin with a simple integration through the PayPal Payments Hub. This will be available to merchants in North America first.
 
We chose to work with BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin because of our commitment to offering innovative and safer ways for businesses to accept payments. All three companies have taken steps to ensure that they know their customers and that those customers are offered certain protections. We believe digital goods merchants will be excited to work with these industry-leading companies to sell ringtones, games and music and get paid with Bitcoin.
 
To be clear, today’s news does not mean that PayPal has added Bitcoin as a currency in our digital wallet or that Bitcoin payments will be processed on our secure payments platform. PayPal has always embraced innovation, but always in ways that make payments safer and more reliable for our customers. Our approach to Bitcoin is no different. That’s why we’re proceeding gradually, supporting Bitcoin in some ways today and holding off on other ways until we see how things develop.
 
But giving our digital goods merchants an easy, one-stop way to test the waters with this new form of payment isn’t the only way we work with Bitcoin.  For some time now, we’ve helped merchants selling Bitcoin mining equipment to accept PayPal payments. This will continue. But to safeguard customers, we’ve decided not to work with merchants who pre-sell these products.  This is consistent with our approach to pre-sales of other goods; we hold off anytime we determine that pre-selling may not provide a good buyer experience.
 
Pre-selling is when a business asks for money up-front for a product or service it will deliver in the future. Customers may not get their money back if the business goes out of business before the product is shipped but after a buyer protection period expires.  Again, our decision not to support pre-sales is shaped by our desire to protect our customers.
 
PayPal also needs to follow the laws and regulations in every market we operate. For this reason, virtual currency exchangers and administrators interested in working with PayPal in the future must secure the appropriate licenses and put anti-money laundering procedures in place.
 
PayPal is excited about all the innovations taking place in payments these days. More choices in how people create value, share it, buy, sell and trade it – that’s exactly what PayPal is all about. And we believe Bitcoin offers unique opportunities as more people and businesses experiment with it. We are excited to work with businesses and business models that allow us to offer new experiences and the trusted service our customers expect. We hope to do more with Bitcoin as its ecosystem continues to evolve.
 
Topics: Innovation

Was Loaded's cryptic smiley a 'blue horseshoe loves' moment earlier?  

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2014/09/19/1976132/cult-markets-when-the-bubble-bursts/

... and they is calling for fear and capitulation!

I think they could be right, I don't think so but its hard to know what you really feel when you've been desensitised by the previous two bubble/recoveries. I have also said this before, but it really does feel like the low single digits after the ~$30 high.

I thought the latest sell off could have been that capitulation event, but i wonder if it really had enough impetus?... perhaps one more to come? I don't know.

For sure this is not advice to sell (for me nothing has changed in the value proposition of HODLing)

This post is just me thinking out loud and seeing what anyone else might be thinking. It's even nice to get feedback from the odd frothing troll, as good an indicator as any of what's probably not happening

I think we still bouncing around the bottom, building a base. I still think its telling that we are only ~66% off the all time high. For me this confirms the idea that BTC is building innate value as a medium of exchange in addition to its value derived from being speculative vehicle for traders looking to flip a quick profit.

If it was really the south sea oil tulip bubble, then the collapse would have been longer harder, and with very much less retained value at the end. More like a 95%+ crash back to sub $100 prices, certainly below the previous ATH. Yet, that did not happen.

Risto called the bottom as $340 in feb, we went up,we came back down. It feels like normal price action for bottom discovery when you strip away all the post-hoc reasoning and just take a longer term view of how something like this would probably behave in its inevitable rise. We still haven't really deviated from the long term exponential S curve that one would expect. We still appear to be in the early growth stages, and all the right things are still happening. When the public eye comes around the next time, it will discover that far from going away. BTC just carried on going from strength to strength whilst people's backs were turned. I think thats going to make people sit up and look.

They were pretty interested last time around and all we had was a shabby exchange, and very little regulatory oversight. This time around... and its coming... I wonder what people will make of it? Eventually all this smoke is going to give away the fire.

Its a tough wait, but I think its going to be worthwhile.

頑張る!

And we believe Bitcoin offers unique opportunities as more people and businesses experiment with it. We are excited to work with businesses and business models that allow us to offer new experiences and the trusted service our customers expect. We hope to do more with Bitcoin as its ecosystem continues to evolve.

What could possibility go wrong?