Wave goodbye to the Bitcoin Bowlhttp://www.engadget.com/2015/04/03/bitcoin-bowl-is-dead/Bitcoin's journey on the road to legitimacy has just taken a step backwards with the news that the Bitcoin Bowl is no more. The event was a tie-up between Bitcoin payment processor BitPay and ESPN to re-brand NCAA post-season game the St. Petersburg Bowl as the Bitcoin Bowl. According to CoinDesk, the three-year agreement between the pair was torn up by mutual consent, and no-one's saying anything beyond that. Earlier this year, CoinDesk reported that the reaction to the Bitcoin Bowl by participating retailers was lukewarm, which might have been one of the reasons behind the move. Fortune, meanwhile, believes that the dwindling value of the currency is hurting BitPay and it may not be long for this world.
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Dumb question.
If I have private key only as a number and I want to upload it to android wallet (which only allows to scan QR of priv key), what's the best (safest) way to convert key number to QR code?
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Nasdaq to Provide Trading Technology for Bitcoin Marketplacehttp://www.wsj.com/articles/nasdaq-to-provide-trading-technology-for-bitcoin-marketplace-1427140006Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. has agreed to provide New York-based startup Noble Markets with core technology to power a new marketplace aimed at allowing companies and institutional investors such as hedge funds to trade bitcoin and related digital-currency assets.
According to a joint statement provided to The Wall Street Journal, Noble’s platform will use Nasdaq’s X-stream trading system, a high-tech system for matching market participants’ orders that is used by more than 30 exchanges and marketplaces worldwide. Nasdaq will also provide marketing support.
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Found on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2zwi8i/brazilian_bitcoiner_is_climbing_everest_and_will/A member from the Bitcoin Brazilian Community is climbing Everest and, if he succeeds, will put a Bitcoin flag almost on the top of the Earth's highest mountain. The current news is that Allex Ferreira (the mentioned member of BR community) will arrive to the Everest Base Camp in about 4 days, where he should put the Bitcoin flag (at an altitude of ~5,000 meters). Here is one picture: https://i.imgur.com/323Iadd.jpgIf it succeeds, Bitcoin will be (really) nearest to the Moon. Go Allex! Go Bitcoin! I'm not very excited by the idea. They already have serious problem with all the rubbish left behind by the climbers (not to mention over 200 dead bodies). If succeeded, the flag won't be even at the top, and, to be honest, it's not the prettiest of flags: |
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Cryptocurrency round-up:
Bitreserve maps bitcoin transactions and Intel looks into blockchainhttp://www.ibtimes.co.uk/cryptocurrency-round-bitreserve-maps-bitcoin-transactions-intel-looks-into-blockchain-1492871Bitcoin's value has stabilised over the last 24 hours following several days of plummeting prices, prompted by the disappearance of the biggest dark web marketplace earlier this week.
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Bitreserve maps bitcoin transactions
Online payment platform Bitreserve has launched a microsite featuring a real-time visualisation of how its users store their funds.
Change Money plots the currency that people hold their funds in various locations around the world, revealing that around 65% of users store them in bitcoin.
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Is The World Ready For Bitcoin To Go Mainstream?Bitcoin is changing the way people pay for things and the larger economy overall. Although bitcoin remains mysterious and confusing to most people, there are signs nearly every day that bitcoin is gaining more and more legitimacy, not only in technology circles but also amongst the mainstream.
Bitcoin was pegged in a report by Goldman Sachs as having the potential to reshape the financial industry, in large part due to the way the currency decentralized the movement of money. If that’s not enough, just recently one New Hampshire legislator introduced a bill that could lead to the state accepting bitcoins for taxes and fees.
... Edit: Forgot to paste source url: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ilyapozin/2015/03/19/is-the-world-ready-for-bitcoin-to-go-mainstream/
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http://www.coindesk.com/ukraine-to-crackdown-on-separatist-bitcoin-accounts/Nalyvaychenko noted:
"The financing of terrorism in the territory of Ukraine is carried out not only by the cash coming from Russia, but also through attempts to make money through electronic systems [...] we will work to block cards and bitcoin accounts being used by the separatists." What is bitcoin account? Where can I get one? Sounds like just another strange statement from Ukrainian security service and I sense Mr Nalyvaychenko doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.
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Do you know any UK (or EU) based on-line shops that directly accept bitcoins and are not limited to electronics/games etc?
I know there are businesses like cex, scan.co.uk, overclockers etc but all of them are limited to computer accessories and I'm looking for a place(s) that sell general goods (ie household, sport supplements etc).
If you know any, please share (but don't post links to untrusted sites created overnight)
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Winklevoss Twins: Bitcoin Will “Wipe Out” Cash By 2025http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/03/winklevoss-bitcoin-prediction/In today’s not the onion….. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have predicted that we will be living in a “cashless society” in ten years, by which time Bitcoin will have asserted its supremacy. The former Olympic rowers are most famous for their legal battle with ex-Harvard classmate Mark Zuckerberg over who really owns Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), but their new project aims to popularize Bitcoin, writes James Covert for the New York Post.
Bold predictions for success of Bitcoin
The twins believe that bitcoin will effectively end the use of cash, credit cards and other services such as PayPal. “Cash is going to be killed,” Tyler Winklevoss told the crowd at SXSW Interactive. “It will be nostalgia … You’ll tell your grandkids about the wallet, it was this thing made of leather.” Too optimistic? ps didn't know Winklevoss twins are former Olympic rowers... you learn something new everyday
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Bitcoin's tech could be used to prevent digital gift card fraudhttp://www.engadget.com/2015/03/17/gyft-bitcoin/Bitcoin may linger on the fringes of the mainstream, but plenty of companies are casting envious eyes towards the technology that underpins it. Just days after IBM announced a plan to use the blockchain as the basis for its own payments platform, Gyft has said that it's doing the same. The digital gift card company has revealed that it's looking into ways to "tokenize" gift cards and issue them on the blockchain for better theft protection. CEO Vinny Lingham has admitted that the company is a long way away from having a working prototype, but it's clear that Bitcoin isn't going anywhere. ^^ that's the entire article More details on Gyft's plans: http://www.coindesk.com/gyft-to-embrace-radical-blockchain-concept-in-gift-card-fraud-fight/
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Secure Messaging App Wiper Adds Bitcoin Support, Gets Yanked In Chinahttp://techcrunch.com/2015/03/15/secure-messaging-app-wiper-adds-bitcoin-support-gets-yanked-in-china/Wiper, a chat application designed to provide users with control over their sent and received messages, recently rolled out support for bitcoin transactions between its users. The tool is simple, allowing individuals to send cryptocurrency to others inside the app’s main chat interface.
When the company first rolled out bitcoin integration, I tested it and found it a competent way to share bitcoin.
But CEO Manlio Carrelli told TechCrunch that Wiper was “removed from the iOS App Store in China due to violating that app store’s policies,” and that “Apple [had] explained to [the company] by phone that this violation was related to Wiper enabling bitcoin payments.”
Wiper has seen quick growth in recent months. According to the company’s own metrics, the app has received 8 million downloads in the last 90 days. A download does not a monthly active user make, but the uptake among users makes it ban more interesting. Last summer, Wiper raised $2.5 million.
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Fresh article from CoinDesk: Top Global Law Firm: Virtual Currency is Here to Stayhttp://www.coindesk.com/top-global-law-firm-virtual-currency-is-here-to-stay/“Virtual currency is here to stay”, according to a partner at one of the largest and most prestigious law firms in the US.
Judith Alison Lee, partner in the Washington, DC, office of global law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, was a panellist in a company webinar on virtual currencies, which took place earlier this week.
Lee, who is also co-chair of the firm's International Trade Practice Group, said she isn’t putting all her faith in bitcoin as the virtual currency that succeeds over any other, but she does believe digital currency isn’t just a fad.
“We think this type of technology, this method of payment, has so many advantages over fiat currency. It's unlikely to completely go away,” she explained.
According to Lee, Gibson Dunn is also interested in other applications of bitcoin’s underlying technology, the blockchain, and she sees many applications other than currency coming to the fore this year.
“We think that some of the most interesting applications, from a legal perspective, are the potential use of blockchain technology for smart contracts, securities, property registers, IP and the storage of other data,” she told CoinDesk after the webinar. There is surely a noticable change-of-heart by the governments and major players toward Bitcoin and cryptos comparing to 1-2 years ago. |
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Some big news from yesterday. A record funding of $116 m raised by secretive Bitcoin startup "21 Inc." The nature of 21's operations is yet to be revealed. List of investors include chipmaker Qualcomm, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and renowned venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz. http://www.wsj.com/articles/big-names-put-cash-in-bitcoin-startup-21-inc-1426029318Nor has it publicly disclosed precisely how it will use those funds, though Chief Executive and co-founder Matthew Pauker flagged “several interesting developments over the next weeks and months” that will deal with software and hardware products designed “to drive mainstream adoption of bitcoin.” Can't wait to hear more details. The official (I assume) website for 21 inc doesn't say much for now: 21 million Bitcoin, infinite possibilities.
The future of money belongs to those who show up. https://21.co/ |
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Bitcoin price rallies as secretive startup 21 receives record fundinghttp://www.ibtimes.co.uk/cryptocurrency-round-bitcoin-price-rallies-secretive-startup-21-receives-record-funding-1491323The price of bitcoin has continued to rally over the past 24 hours, rising by around 6% in value to take its market cap above $4bn for the first time since January. Several other major cryptocurrencies have followed in bitcoin's lead, including a 5% rise for litecoin and a 2% rise for dogecoin.
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Bitcoin startup 21 Inc has announced it has raised $116m in venture funding, the most ever received for a startup in the digital currency space.
Backers include chipmaker Qualcomm, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and renowned venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz.
21 is yet to publicly reveal the exact nature of its operations but co-founder Matthew Pauker told The Wall Street Journal there will be "several interesting developments over the next few weeks and months" that he hopes will "drive mainstream adoption of bitcoin".
Pauker said: "Bitcoin is going to change the way that people and businesses and even machines interact with each other. But for bitcoin to realize that vision we need mass adoption. It can't just be for Silicon Valley."
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/katevinton/2015/03/10/three-anonymous-bidders-take-home-50000-bitcoin-in-silk-road-auction/The U.S. Marshals Service has announced the results of its third Silk Road Bitcoin auction, which began on Thursday. Two winning bidders took home the bulk of the Bitcoin, with one anonymous participant winning 27,000 Bitcoin and the another winning 20,000 Bitcoin, according to USMS spokesperson Lynzey Donahue. A third winner took home just 3,000 Bitcoins.
The USMS would not comment on the price of the winning bids. At current market value, the three winners’ Bitcoin is worth $8 million, $5.9 million, and $0.9 million, respectively.
... So let's do the math: $8m / 27,000 = $296.30 $5.9m / 20,000 = $295 $0.9m / 3,000 = $300 Slightly above the current market price. But I guess it's still cheaper than buying such quantities on exchanges (that would drive the price up). Seems there's no risk that any of the buyers will dump their coins if the price stay on current level (~$290) (also posted in Press board)
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Ex-J.P. Morgan CDS Pioneer Blythe Masters To Head Bitcoin Trading Platformhttp://www.wsj.com/articles/ex-j-p-morgan-cds-pioneer-blythe-masters-to-head-bitcoin-trading-platform-1426048878Former J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. executive Blythe Masters has become one of the most high-profile Wall Street bankers to join the burgeoning digital-currency sector, taking on the leadership of a new trading platform for bitcoin and other digital assets.
Ms. Masters, best known for helping pioneer the credit-derivatives markets in the 1990s, has agreed to become the chief executive of Digital Asset Holdings LLC, the company said late Tuesday. It was founded last year by Don Wilson, the CEO of proprietary trading firm DRW Trading and Sunil Hirani, the CEO of trueEX LLC, an exchange for interest rate swaps.
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Three Anonymous Bidders Take Home 50,000 Bitcoins In Silk Road Auctionhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/katevinton/2015/03/10/three-anonymous-bidders-take-home-50000-bitcoin-in-silk-road-auction/The U.S. Marshals Service has announced the results of its third Silk Road Bitcoin auction, which began on Thursday. Two winning bidders took home the bulk of the Bitcoin, with one anonymous participant winning 27,000 Bitcoin and the another winning 20,000 Bitcoin, according to USMS spokesperson Lynzey Donahue. A third winner took home just 3,000 Bitcoins.
The USMS would not comment on the price of the winning bids. At current market value, the three winners’ Bitcoin is worth $8 million, $5.9 million, and $0.9 million, respectively.
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Another bitcoin article by BBC, this time the subject is remittance http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31735976Could Bitcoin ease the pain of Africa's migrant workforce?Over 30 million Africans live in the diaspora. They sent almost $40bn (£26.5bn) home in 2014, a figure that is likely to grow significantly in the coming years.
While north African countries such as Morocco, Algeria and Egypt receive the most, east African countries are particularly dependent on remittances.
The average per migrant is almost $1,200, representing 5% of GDP on a country-by-country average.
Yet the cost of sending this money is high.
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