An interesting announcement was made late last night when news broke that Ripple Trade will halt all operations come January 13, 2016. Customers are advised to withdraw all of their remaining funds before that date, and a new platform has been announced. GateHub is the name of this new platform, which has been created to develop a trustworthy business around the consumer and gateway use case.

http://themerkle.com/news/ripple-trade-to-shut-down-in-january-gatehub-takes-its-place/

Now that Bitcoin is gaining more popularity all over the world; the time has come – once again – for central banks to warn about the potential dangers of digital currency. Just a few days ago, a similar warning was issued by the Minnesota Commerce Commissioner. But this time, it’s the central bank of Kenya issuing a statement on trading or holding Bitcoin and other virtual currencies.

http://bitcoinist.net/central-bank-kenya-warns-bitcoin-paid-newspaper-advert/

In an attempt to come up with a viable solution to counter phishing attacks against customers of financial services and platforms, a new domain extension has been created. Financial institutions across Europe and the US are looking to secure their .bank top-level domain. Whether or not this solution will be a successful one, remains to be seen. Perhaps we will see a .bitcoin domain name in the future as well?

http://themerkle.com/news/unlike-traditional-finance-bitcoin-has-no-need-for-fancy-domain-names/

Over the course of recent years, numerous stories have been making media headlines regarding governments attempting to hack certain services and platforms. A recent story published on the Wired UK website this morning details how several Twitter users received an email stating their account “may have been hacked by state-sponsored actors”.

http://bitcoinist.net/state-sponsored-actors-target-certain-twitter-users/

More and more payment methods are popping up all over the world to bring financial services to unbanked and underbanked regions of the world. AirTM is one of those services, as they allow customers to deposit and withdraw US Dollars to and from their cloud-based platforms. Whether or not this is strong competition for Bitcoin, remains to be seen, but there are some interesting aspects to this concept.

http://themerkle.com/news/spending-us-dollars-cloud-airtm-no-direct-competition-bitcoin/

Interesting things are going on over in China, as the country’s cash reserves are dwindling at an alarming pace. A recent report by the Chinese central bank indicated how there is only US$3.4 bn left in foreign exchange reserves, which is the lowest levels since the beginning of 2013. Getting funds out of the country is proving to be a difficult task, and Bitcoin seems to be the solution investors could be looking for.

http://bitcoinist.net/chinese-foreign-exchange-reserves-dwindling-bitcoin-alternative-way-store-wealth/

Acquiring Bitcoin is still a rather tedious process for the everyday consumer, but it looks like things have become a bit easier. Popular referral/conga website Prizerebel is now paying out its users in Bitcoin, rather than relying on just gift cards or Paypal payments. Doing so creates an easy way for novice users to get their hands on Bitcoin, without having to go through an exchange’s verification process.

http://themerkle.com/news/prizerebel-now-pays-out-in-bitcoin-through-snapcard/

One of the main reasons why the Bitcoin block size debate has been attracting so much attention is that there is a growing number of network transactions that need to be validated. By increasing the Bitcoin block size limit, more transactions can be included in every network block. According to Gregory Maxwell, there is no real need to include more transactions per block just yet, as the situation is not as dire as people assumed.

https://news.bitcoin.com/gregory-maxwell-gavin-andresen-shed-interesting-light-bitcoin-block-size-debate/

Warnings against the usage of Bitcoin are nothing new in the for Bitcoin enthusiasts, and the recent statement by the Minnesota Commerce Commissioner is not mentioning anything the world hasn’t heard before. The recent “manhunt” to identify Satoshi Nakamoto – the creator of Bitcoin and blockchain technology – showcased the popular digital currency’s mystery aspect. That doesn’t mean Bitcoin buyers should be worried about anything just yet, though.

http://bitcoinist.net/minnesota-commerce-commissioner-mike-rothman-warns-bitcoin/

One of the most interesting projects in the digital currency ecosystem as of late is OpenBazaar, the decentralized peer-to-peer marketplace. It was only a matter of time until OpenBazaar would get a dedicated Meetup group, and London appears the place to be if one is passionate about this project.

http://bitcoinist.net/openbazaar-london-meetup-group-looking-members/

There is no denying the financial system as we know it is slowly starting to fall apart. Banks are struggling to keep up with the growing demand for convenient services, and internal errors are alienating customers from their brand. Barclays, one of the largest banks in the world, mistakenly put out a fraud alert against one of its customers, preventing him from taking out credit, secure a mobile phone contract, or even move banks.

http://themerkle.com/news/blockchain-technology-is-the-answer-to-invisible-credit-rating-marks/

For those among us who are looking to land a job in the Bitcoin world, Coinbase is now hiring remote workers. This is the first time one of the world’s major Bitcoin exchanges is openly hiring employees abroad without forcing them to relocate. Coinbase is located in San Francisco, CA, but remote full-time engineers are becoming a new trend within company ranks.

http://themerkle.com/news/coinbase-looks-hire-remote-bitcoin-engineers/

KnCMiner is one of the most prominent companies in the Bitcoin mining scenes, and they have gotten a lot of attention in recent years. Additionally, the company has seen its fair share of success, and KnCMiner data centers have been erected in multiple places. According to an article by PCWorld, a new four-week data center build-out is scheduled for the company.

http://bitcoinist.net/new-kncminer-data-center-will-running-within-four-weeks/

Over the past few weeks, it has become apparent that digital currency exchange Cryptsy is facing some serious problems. While the official word is that the site is under DDoS, and hardware upgrades are being implemented to cope with the growing demand, a lot of Bitcoin community members feel this exchange is turning into a new Mt.Gox. After all, users can still deposit funds to Cryptsy, but withdrawing has not been possible for quite some time now.

http://themerkle.com/news/for-some-reason-people-are-still-depositing-funds-to-cryptsy/

Credit agencies offer a way to measure a country’s financial health, and as you would come to expect, there is quite a bit of scheming and influencing going on behind the scenes. Russia has gotten fed up with being rated by Western credit rating agencies, so they have created a new agency altogether. Whether or not this will be beneficial to the Russian economy, remains to be seen.

http://themerkle.com/news/russia-launches-own-credit-rating-agency-door-is-wide-open-for-bitcoin/

Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high value in Ukraine earlier today, indicating a strong uptrend in the interest for this popular digital currency. At the same time, a new Bitcoin exchange has been announced, which will launch very soon in the Ukraine. Things are looking up in this country, which can only be a positive sign for the rest of the world.

http://bitcoinist.net/ukraine-bitcoin-price-reaches-new-ath-exchange-launching-soon/

In the world of Bitcoin and digital currency, there is no shortage of bright minds and aspiring developers. Andreas M. Antonopoulos is one of the most prominent members of the Bitcoin ecosystem today, and he has a project on GitHub allowing users to pay their Wifi minutes with Bitcoin. What is really interesting is how the project uses the 21 Inc Bitcoin Computer as the authentication server for any OpenWRT router running Wifiportal21.

http://themerkle.com/news/wifiportal21-project-lets-pay-wifi-minutes-bitcoin/

The recent terror attacks in Paris has left a deep scar on the world as we know it. As a result of this tense situation, government officials find themselves in an awkward position to make sure events like these can never transpire again. French law enforcement is pressing to ban the usage of public WiFi, as well as Tor, whenever a state of emergency is declared.

https://news.bitcoin.com/french-govt-mulls-blocking-public-wifi-tor-state-emergency/

Over the past few years, it has become abundantly clear that Russia is not a big fan of the Bitcoin concept, to say the least. However, that doesn’t mean the local banks aren’t keeping a close eye on the evolution of blockchain technology. Sberbank has indicated they want to join the growing consortium of banks developing blockchain-based technological solutions.

http://bitcoinist.net/russias-sberbank-openly-shows-interest-blockchain-technology/

It was only a matter of time until more and more major players in the computer industry tried their hand at mobile payment solutions. Microsoft is the most recent company to announce their project, although they have taken a page out of Apple’s book and opted to go with carrier billing for now. Users will be able to make purchases by adding the charges to their monthly phone bill.

http://themerkle.com/news/microsoft-enables-carrier-billing-for-windows-store-bitcoin-integration-soon/