Whenever a major bank advises its customers to spend less and save more, there is always a hidden meaning behind the message. In the case of HSBC, they intend to make consumers more aware of their spending habits and reduce future debts through the Nudge app. But at the same time, money stored in a savings account allows the bank to generate more profit and puts consumer funds at risk. Bitcoin, on the other hand, gives consumers complete financial freedom and does not allow for anyone to create debts in a traditional sense.

http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/01/20/hsbc-nudge-app-wants-control-consumer-spending-bitcoin-gives-complete-financial-freedom/

Bitcoin has worn many different labels throughout the years, ranging from “fake internet money” to ‘ponzi scheme” and various other not-so-nice things. The Chinese government warned the public about the MMM Global Ponzi scheme that accepts Bitcoin payments, in an attempt to ensure consumer funds is kept safe from harm at all times. Such risky investments should be avoided at all costs, and this warning is a positive sign for Bitcoin itself.

http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/01/20/chinese-government-warns-bitcoin-investors-mmm-global-ponzi-scheme/

Even though there seems to be a lot of positive focus on the future development of blockchain technology for real life use cases, there are still some people who need more convincing. At the same time, there are a lot of media misconceptions regarding the implementation of the blockchain, and creating a research group that is exploring the boundaries of this technology. Are we simply jumping the gun, or are some people suffering from blockchain fatigue?

http://themerkle.com/news/blockchain-fatigue-starts-set-due-buzzword-approach/

Depending on how people want to look at things, the financial sector is in need of a revamp or works fine the way it is right now. While it seems clear to most Bitcoin users how the financial sector needs to be disrupted sooner rather than later, landing a job as finance manager is still the number two most popular job choice. At the same time, the number of jobs in the Bitcoin world keeps growing month over month.

http://bitcoinist.net/finance-manager-remains-a-popular-job-opportunity-despite-bitcoin-growth/

Bitcoin provides a lot of value to people with or without access to existing financial services. But there comes a certain time when every single one of us will come face to face with their own mortality, and for some, that might happen sooner rather than later. Ensuring the Bitcoin wealth is transferred to family members or trusted parties when we pass away is not as straightforward as it could be. But there are some ways to ensure your Bitcoin testament is safe.

http://themerkle.com/news/the-bitcoin-testament-where-digital-currency-ends-up-when-we-die/

Making Bitcoin more convenient remains the highest priority for any company venturing into the world of digital currency today. Mycelium is the most popular Bitcoin wallet for Android users, and the seamless integration of this service into the Cashila platform providers users with fee-free payments. This announcement comes on the heels of news posted by Mycelium regarding the pairing of the mobile wallet with Cashila. No fees on the first 1,000 EUR worth of Bitcoin transferred sounds good to a lot of people!

http://themerkle.com/news/mycelium-integrates-cashila-offers-fee-free-transfers-users/

There are multiple signals that our current global financial structure is not working optimally, and the recent price restructuring by Apple is yet another indication of why things need to change soon.  App store prices will go up in seven countries around the world, as tech giant Apple needs to account for volatile exchange rate changes in the affected regions. Bitcoin remains the only global currency in existence today where the playing field is even for anyone in the world.

http://bitcoinist.net/local-apple-app-store-pricing-changes-show-why-bitcoin-is-the-only-global-currency/

Keeping financial wealth safe and secure is of the utmost importance to consumers all over the world. With financial services not being available to everyone on this planet, alternative ideas are being tossed around, and Paytm has come up with a new concept to let users transfer money through ultrasonic sound waves. A similar concept has been proposed for Bitcoin wallet purposes at Inside Bitcoins Berlin in 2015.

http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/01/19/using-sound-waves-in-traditonal-finance-and-bitcoin-wallet-security/

Bitcoin is looking to conquer the world, and by keeping a multi-pronged approach to things, it seems to be only a matter of time until this happens. The ETN Bitcoin Tracker EUR, which is a financial trading instrument created by XBT Provider AB, is now available on the Nasdaq Nordic. As a result, the ETN Bitcoin Tracker EUR is now available for trading in no less than 179 countries, further cementing Bitcoin’s global presence.

http://themerkle.com/news/bitcoin-tracker-eur-now-avaialble-179-countries/

Unlike what people might believe right now, Bitcoin has not failed by any means. Even though Mike Hearn outlined the sentence how “Bitcoin has failed” in his opinion, the ecosystem is trucking along nicely and carries on with or without him. Mainstream media outlets are rubbing their hands to spread more negativity about Bitcoin to mainstream consumers. Political games are slowly entering the Bitcoin world, and this will not be the last attack made against the digital currency.

http://bitcoinist.net/the-war-on-bitcoin-has-only-just-begun-with-mike-hearn-leaving/

It goes without saying there has been a lot of debates and discussions taking place in the world of Bitcoin and digital currency lately. However, various industry experts feel how everybody should calm down, as the situation is far less dire than imagined.There is no reason to think Bitcoin is losing momentum, let alone dying, simply because of a few misconceptions.

http://themerkle.com/news/the-bitcoin-ecosystem-is-in-better-shape-than-people-want-you-to-believe/

Network nodes play an important role in the security and health of any digital currency. Over the course of the past twelve months, the topic of Bitcoin nodes has been kicked around a few times, and new solutions have been found to bring plug-and-play solutions to users all over the world. The Ethereum network, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be having any problems adding more nodes to its network.

http://bitcoinist.net/number-of-ethereum-nodes-grows-exponentially/

Various banks are the world are working on releasing their contactless payment applications, as all of these financial institutions want to be part of the new hype. Barclays is the latest bank to do so, and their application features the Host Card Emulation technology. Whether or not this app will put contactless payments on the map, even more, remains to be seen, as Bitcoin remains a stiff competitor.

http://themerkle.com/news/host-card-emulation-is-a-prime-example-of-why-bitcoin-is-better/

Even though it may look differently, there are some very powerful women active in the world of Bitcoin and digital currency. Elizabeth Ploshay McCauley is one of those females that deserve nothing but respect from the community. Her hard work has been paying dividends for the Bitcoin ecosystem throughout the years, and she has now taken on a role at Coinsecure to boost Bitcoin adoption throughout India.

http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/01/18/coinsecure-has-big-plans-for-bitcoin-in-india-and-hires-elizabeth-ploshay-mccauley/

SpectroCoin has unveiled their Bitcoin debit cards, bringing more competition to this market. One of the main advantages of Bitcoin debit cards is how this medium creates an instrument for digital currency users to spend it in a more convenient fashion. The new Bitcoin debit cards offered by SpectroCoin are denominated in USD and GBP, which complement the company’s offering of EUR denominated cards.

http://themerkle.com/news/spectrocoin-launches-two-new-bitcoin-debit-cards/

Bitcoin podcasts are a great medium to get the word out about what is going on in the world of this popular digital currency. The adoption rate of Bitcoin has been growing steadily over the past few years, and a video format for the latest news will go a long way when it comes to introducing new members. Let’s Talk Bitcoin has been one of the most successful Bitcoin podcasts so far, but their Youtube channel has been suspended for copyright infringement reasons.

https://news.bitcoin.com/lets-talk-bitcoin-youtube-channel-suspended-for-copyright-infringement/

The Bitcoin block size debate has taken another interesting plot twist in the past few hours. F2Pool, one of the largest Chinese Bitcoin mining pools in the world, has announced they support the hard fork for an increased 2MB block size. While the post on BitcoinTalk is a weird translation from Chinese to English, it looks like F2Pool might be attempting to push people to accept the Bitcoin hard fork. Not a great move in the Bitcoin mining industry if this were to be the case.

http://bitcoinist.net/f2pool-statement-indicates-plan-to-hard-fork-2mb-bitcoin-block-size/

Over the past few weeks, British Internet Service Provider TalkTalk has been the center of media attention. Not only did the company suffer from a hacking attempt on their customer database, but they also failed to encrypt a lot of sensitive information. To make matters even worse, the company is now denying thousands of victims any form of compensation.

http://bitcoinist.net/bitcoin-a-perfect-tool-to-offer-hacked-talktalk-users-a-form-of-compensation/

Even though we reported earlier how the Bitcoin network hashpower had started to drop off when the Bitcoin price started slipping, it looks like the missing hashrate has returned in spectacular fashion. In fact, the charts have peaked well above the 1,000 petahash mark over the past 12 hours, indicating somebody is adding a lot of hardware to Bitcoin mining in general.

http://themerkle.com/news/bitcoin-network-hashpower-peaks-above-1000-petahash-per-second/

If there was any doubt left in people’s mind, it is safe to say Bitcoin is far from dead. Even though the digital currency has made the obituaries more times than people can count these days, the demise of Bitcoin has been greatly exaggerated every time. Mainstream media outlets still refer to digital currency as a failing system, while fiat economies and crumbling and oil becomes all but worthless. While Bitcoin started the recovery process, there is no improvement in sight for traditional finance.

http://themerkle.com/news/bitcoin-is-nowhere-close-to-dying-just-yet/