Bitcoin is hot right now. It is known as a crypto-currency, but has the potential to be applied to far more than exchanging value. Bitcoin is a protocol, one that many consider the next great protocol for the Internet and the emerging Internet of Things. As advanced applications are developed that leverage the capabilities that make Bitcoin possible, enterprise technologists will be able to tap into new capabilities for security and functionality.
CTOvision will cover more on Bitcoin and related technologies with our focus on helping enterprise executives understand the power of this new capability. We will begin with the basics and then move into real-world examples designed to help you better leverage the functionality.
In this post we start with a bitcoin introduction and a level setting on the proper user of terms.
Bitcoin is many things. From a user perspective it can be seen as cash on the Internet. You can trade it for other traditional cash, or you can buy products and services or you can just hang onto it. More precisely, bitcoin is a digital asset and a payment system. It was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, who published the invention in 2008 and released it as open source software in 2009. The system is peer to peer, so users can transact directly without an intermediary. Transactions are verified by a network of nodes and recorded in a public distributed ledger called the blockchain. The bitcoin is the unit of the ledger. The design of this system operates without a central repository, making it a decentralized virtual currency.
There have been other attempts at virtual currencies in the past, but they all faced challenges. One of the biggest challenges of a crypto currency is the issue of double spending. If a virtual coin is just a token or a file it can be duplicated it can be spent twice, or even more. This is of course an untenable situation. Bitcoin's innovation was to mitigate this issue by use of the Block Chain. The block chain is a public ledger of transactions where each transaction is verified by an extensive, decentralized network of computers.
The user-end of Bitcoin is a digital wallet. This computer program provides the user with an ability to send and receive bitcoins. The simplicity of the wallet is a strongpoint, but behind the scenes the bitcoin network is ensuring the currency works by maintaining the blockchain ledger. This ledger contains every transaction ever processed, allowing a user's computer to verify the validity of each transaction. The authenticity of each transaction is protected by digital signatures corresponding to the sending addresses, allowing all users to have full control over sending bitcoins from their own bitcoin addresses. In addition, anyone can process transactions using the computing power of specialized hardware and earn a reward in bitcoins for this service. This is called bitcoin "mining."
More on Bitcoin Mining:
Mining is the process of spending computing power to process transactions, secure the network and keep everyone in the system synchronized together. It can be thought of as the bitcoin datacenter, but there is no datacenter. It is a fully distributed/decentralized system with miners operating in all countries and no individual having control over the network. The process is referred to as mining to make the analogy to gold mining, since it is also a way to issue new bitcoins.
Why would you want to use bitcoin?:
Users of bitcoin are provided with enhanced security and control. There have been many cases of fraud and loss of bitcoin, but in each of those cases we know about it is because users trusted others inappropriately. Bitcoin users are really in full control of their transactions. But if a user accidentally deletes their keys and have not made a hard copy backup they will be lost. And they can be stolen if left unguarded. This is similar to real cash. Protect your cash.  Fortunately, with bitcoin, you can learn sound security practices to protect the money. Additionally, it is impossible for merchants or others to force an unwanted transaction like can happen with other payment means. And bitcoin payments can be made without personal information tied to the transaction. This helps protect against identity theft. Bitcoins also offer more payment freedom. Payment can be sent and received anywhere in the world at any time.
But perhaps even more important than why you would use bitcoin is why you should know how it works. The blockchain is quite impressive, and new apps are being established to leverage this mechanism. We will be exploring the blockchain in more detail in coming posts.
Our next post will be on CoinBase, a great way to get started learning about Bitcoin. Coinbase is an online bitcoin wallet and platform that both merchants and consumers can use for transactions.  It is absolutely the easiest onramp to the bitcoin economy and creating an account is free, fast and secure


http://news.sys-con.com/node/3648147

One of the most disruptive technologies on the scene this decade has been Bitcoin. It has provoked an array of responses, caught the eye of the big banks and even featured in a Sci-Fi TV show - Almost Human. Despite all (or possibly thanks to) its publicity, it turns out that many users and non-users of the cryptocurrency hold misconceptions about it.

This information comes from the very first peer-reviewed study into Bitcoin which was carried out by researchers at Rutgers University. The paper is due for publication in May at the annual Association for Computing Machinery's Conference on Human Factors in Computer System (CHI) in San Jose, California. CHI is an important human-computer interaction conference.

Twenty participants were used in the study, they were all above 18 years old and based in the United States when the study was conducted in 2014. Among the twenty participants were ten users of Bitcoin and ten who were non-users. Bitcoin users were recruited from the forum - Bitcointalk - and Reddit while non-users were found on Rutgers' campus via flyers, and online via Craigslist.

Participants were interviewed in person, by phone, and through Skype to cater for the proximity between the university and where the participant in question lived. Each were asked questions on their preferences regarding payment methods, their knowledge and opinions on digital currencies, their awareness of Bitcoin, and whether they had any experience with Bitcoin transactions.

During the interviews users (but not non-users) were asked questions about the technical aspects of Bitcoin to probe their knowledge on topics such as Bitcoin mining, blocks, and the blockchain. It found that users had a low level of comprehension about the mechanics of the Bitcoin protocol. From the more general questions asked to the non-users, the study found that non-users thought Bitcoin was technically complicated, hard to grasp, and as something "on-the-outside and foreign".

The report summarises what it found during the study, findings include:

Non-users didn't need to have much knowledge to make a transaction.
Most users in the study believed Bitcoin has good security and privacy controls despite evidence saying otherwise.
Participants were negative toward government regulation but still wanted government to insure deposits.
Participants' opinions about attributes of an ideal payment system map directly to properties that Bitcoin has.
Bitcoin has barriers which make it difficult to be used for mainstream adoption.
People who had no experience with Bitcoin thought that it would be too hard or "too scary to use," according to Lindqvist.
Following recent controversy in the Bitcoin world, Janne Lindqvist - one of the researchers - said follow-up studies are being carried out to measure changes in perceptions about Bitcoin.


link http://www.neowin.net/news/rutgers-study-shows-people-have-many-misconceptions-about-bitcoin

The Bitcoin ATM, as a relatively new industry, has perhaps not been put to the test like Bitcoin exchanges. This has some criminals worrying if Bitcoin ATMs could be a good place to steal value.

Criminals all over the world already target regular ATMs, so, perhaps thinking that the amateur-nature of Bitcoin could make such ATMs susceptible, bugs and malware have been designed for a Bitcoin ATM.

Russian security firm malware researchers at a Russian security firm identified a new Trojan designed for Linux devices which takes screenshots and logs keystrokes.

Researchers at the security firm Dr Web suggests that the Linux spyware (labeled Linux.BackDoor.Xunpes.1) was designed to specifically target Bitcoin ATMs made by Spain-based Bitcoin startup Pay MaQ.

Dr Web researchers highlight a “dropper” or installed package of the malware, which activates upon a login page bearing Pay MaQ’s logo. Once the package is run, a backdoor is saved to the folder /tmp/.ltmp/.

The backdoor allows a remote server to connect with encryption and take screenshot and logging keystrokes and then retransmits the resulting data. The malware researchers could not say for certain if Pay MaQ is the only Bitcoin ATM software targeted.

Pay MaQ originally ran an Indiegogo campaign in 2014 to fund “low-cost” Bitcoin ATM’s, but did not meet a  €60,000 target. Why such a bug would be designed for a machine of essentially no consequence.

“The investigation is still ongoing,” Dr Web’s spokesman said. “The C&C server was hosted on some suspicious website which went 403 a few days ago. Maybe victims were downloading malware from there and it got shut down after getting attention from infosec specialists.”

Not only have Bitcoin ATM’s been targeted. Law enforcement authorities in Romania and the Moldova recently neutralized earlier this month a criminal network responsible for the theft of 200,000 euros from ATM’s in the European Union and Russia through a malware bug.

Researchers first documented the malware in October 2014, dubbing it Tyupkin, which can be installed on ATMs through a CD. Using the software, an ATM will dispense cash through commands entered on its PIN pad. The attackers targeted machines made in the US by manufacturer NCR.

The bug instructed the ATM software to delete itself after theft was completed. ATMs in Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Czech Republic,Spain and Russia were targeted. Researchers have also recently found another bug, called Padpin, used to infect ATMs.  But those are not the only ATMs recently compromised.

FireEye, in September, discovered another ATM malware program dubbed Suceful, which locked people’s credit and debit cards inside ATMs. Also in September, another malware program, called GreenDispenser, was found on ATMs in Mexico.


https://hacked.com/backdoors-affect-bitcoin-atms-atms-alike/

The Committee of Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) will engage in a public hearing to discuss virtual currencies in the European Parliament today.

The 90-minute session will include discussion among academics, prominent members of the European digital currency- and blockchain-space and representatives of the banking industry.

They include:

Representatives of institutions: Wiebe Ruttenberg, European Central Bank (ECB), Directorate-General for Research; Olivier Salles, European Commission, FISMA B3

Representative of Academia:  Primavera De Filippi, PhD, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and society,  COALA.global (Coalition of Automated Legal Applications)

Representatives of relevant market actors: Jeremy Millar, Magister Advisors LLP; Dr. Thaer Sabri, Chief executive Electronic Money Association; Siân Jones, Founder, European Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology Forum (EDCAB)

The draft programme for the session is as shown below:

15:00 – 15:05 Welcome by ECON Chair

15:05 – 15:10 Introduction by ECON rapporteur

15:15 – 16:00 Presentations by speakers (5 min each)

16:00 – 16:25 Discussion with ECON Members

16:25 – 16:30 Conclusions by ECON rapporteur

Time zone indicated is Brussels local time, GMT+1.

Read more https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/watch-the-european-parliaments-public-hearing-on-virtual-currencies/

It’s been a strange few days in the bitcoin price space. A number of fundamental developments seem to have reversed the negative general sentiment from the beginning of last week, and the bitcoin price looks to reflect this reversal.


It’s been a strange few days in the bitcoin price space. A number of fundamental developments seem to have reversed the negative general sentiment from the beginning of last week, and the bitcoin price looks to reflect this reversal. However, a look at the charts from a technical perspective suggests there could be some medium term weakness. We’ve detailed head and shoulders pattern before, but for our readers that haven’t come across these patterns in our analysis yet, they are a pretty common classical technical charting pattern used in more traditional financial asset trading. They come in two forms, with one being bullish and one bearish, depending upon the way they lie.

When a bearish head and shoulders pattern forms, we see a rise, peak, dip (left shoulder) followed by another rise, higher peak, dip (head) and finally, a repeat of the first part (right shoulder). The price action that underlies the pattern is supposed to represent a weakening of the current momentum, as defined by price failing to make fresh highs following a peak in an bullish pattern and fresh lows following a trough in a bearish pattern (the bearish form is the same as the bullish but upside down).

The way we trade the pattern is wait for completion, as defined by price breaking the neckline, which is the support that joins the troughs before and after the head peak. You can see some examples of this completion here and here.

Getting back to today’s action, we are currently mid way through the European afternoon session on Monday, and are heading into the region around which we would expect the bitcoin price to break the neckline. So, ahead of this breaking and a potential entry, let’s define our key levels, as well as take a look at the potential for a bullish entry if the pattern invalidates. As ever, get a quick look at the chart to get an idea of the numbers in question.


read more : http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/01/25/bitcoin-price-h-downside-on/

Space Kenya Networks Limited,  a Kenyan web development company, recently announced the launch of its blockchain incubator BitHub. CCN spoke with the director of Space Networks Kenya and founder of BitHub to discuss the crypto- and bitcoin-space in Kenya.

In a statement found on the  website, BitHub describes its mission as: “Solving problems using innovative Blockchain solutions that are currently under development across the World.” Furthermore, the company says:” We believe that blockchain solutions will make substantial contributions to rethinking existing structures in the following political, social and economic sectors.”  The company aims to “Bring together a consortium of individuals, organizations, and expertise to drive the development and adoption of blockchain technologies especially within the African continent,”

Space Networks Kenya Limited is based in Nairobi, Kenya. The company describes itself as an I.T. solutions company specializing in Internet Services and software solutions. Space Networks Kenya has been in business since 2010 and has managed several startups including:

Whive.com – A social media marketing company.
Crowdpesa.com – This provides M-Commerce services to businesses in Kenya.
Spacekenya.net – Provides domain and hosting services.

This is the company’s first Blockchain-based startup and, expectations are high for its startup BitHub. The organization will attempt to work with bitcoin startups in varying fields including Legal, Government, I.O.T., Finance, Security, Biotech, Software Security, and many other industries.

Read more https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-and-blockchain-will-help-africa-achieve-global-inclusiveness-says-kenyan-blockchain-incubator-founder/

January 25, 2016 – For the first time Ever, The bitcoin network has exceeded one Exa Hash/s, or approximately 10.8 ZettaFLOPS per second, according to bitcoinwatch.com’s aggregate metric. This makes the bitcoin network around three-hundred-thousand times more powerful than the world’s fastest supercomputer, the tianhe-2 — clocking in at ~34 PetaFLOPS, and over 43 thousand times faster than every supercomputer on the TOP500 list combined. In theory, the network could be repurposed to run a neural net AI about eleven times as powerful as a human brain.
This unprecedented amount of hashing power also makes Bitcoin the largest distributed computing effort by far, dwarfing altcoins, folding@home and BOINC in scale. The network seems to be modeling exponential growth since it’s inception,  in contrast to mainstream media coverage suggestion that “the death of bitcoin” is at hand.

The network metrics behind the blockchain are a much more important indicator of the health of a distributed currency than media coverage or value speculation because it represents real, physical investment. The number of people mining and using Bitcoin is increasing massively in the long term, regardless of any short-term issues with the specification or development that arise

Read more : http://bitcoinist.net/bitcoin-hash-rate-exceeds-1-ehs-for-the-first-time/

UniChange is a Bitcoin exchange platform that now offers instant Bitcoin debit cards, virtual and plastic. Since 2013, Unichange has offered key services to Bitcoin users, and continues to do so with high quality and low fees.

Unichange debit cards allow the users to spend their Bitcoin and Litecoin within a fiat payment system without first exchanging to fiat, then waiting for the balance to reflect on their debit cards. Instead, users will deposit Bitcoin into an account linked to the Unichange debit card, where the Bitcoin will be sold and exchange automatically whenever a charge is made to the card.

Unichange offers some of the highest limits, with $2,500 a month for unverified users and $500,000 a month for ones that are verified. Also, the cost of a physical card is $14 USD, which aligns with prices of similar competitors offerings. The virtual debit card is only $1, and delivery is instant as well, making it a great choice for online shoppers.


Withdrawal fees have also been reduced, the new fees are 3% for a Bitcoin withdrawal to a USD card, and 2% for a withdrawal of Bitcoin to an EUR card. Customers without cards are reminded that Unichange also allows users to withdraw their Bitcoin through Western Union as well.


read more http://bitcoinist.net/unichange-launches-bitcoin-debit-cards/

Sometime last year, we talked about Bitmari, a new Bitcoin-based money remittance startup for the African market which had shared its plans to introduce its service to Zimbabweans with some applications specific to the country.

In the past few months, it has carried out pre-launch sign-ups and the service is now in its beta-testing phase. Despite having laid most of the groundwork the startup is yet to launch the service locally, having encountered delays because of the necessary regulatory hoops that entities have to jump through to enter Zimbabwean financial services.

While all of that is still being finalised the Bitmari team is sharing as much information as possible on its service and how Bitcoin, its key driver actually works.

On Thursday the 28th of January 2016, there will be a Bitmari Meet-and-Greet at the Rainbow Towers in Harare. Starting at 5.30 pm the event(which is open to the public) is meant to offer interested parties an opportunity to learn more about BitMari and Bitcoin with an emphasis on exploring the opportunities that can come from using the service.


Read more http://www.techzim.co.zw/2016/01/bitcoin-startup-bitmari-organises-event-to-discuss-the-services-potential-in-zimbabwe/

While experts continue to debate the status of bitcoin – whether it is or not – a major sale involving Bitcoin has taken place in Finland. The Auto-outlet Helsinki Oy in Tampere and Vantaa sold a Tesla with the digital currency for a retail price of more than € 140,000, Bitcoin.com reported.

Helsinki Oy uses Bitcoinkaupat.com, a payment processor that connects merchants to bitcoin via BitPay. “Remove your transaction fees and accept bitcoin safely in euros”, Bitcoinkaupat website reads.

Bitcoinkaupat CEO Aleksi Vitakoski told Bitcoin.com that the Finland-based Auto-outlet is one of the company’s unique customers saying, “Auto-Outlet Helsinki Oy is definitely one of the most interesting customers of ours. It’s great to see how open-minded attitude towards innovations can produce growth in the traditional sectors.”

According to Auto-Outlet Helsinki Oy Director Miika Toivonen, any dealer can use the digital currency for sales whether luxury or lower cost vehicles.

“Even if the business is concentrated in the more expensive segment cars, bitcoins can be used to purchase cheaper premium cars”, Bitcoin.com quoted Toivonen.  He added that Auto-Outlet Helsinki Oy wants to lead the car sales market with this innovation.

“The world is changing rapidly, and we want to be ahead of the game, that’s why we started the sale of a Tesla and other electric cars years ago. In this frame of reference, it is natural that we wanted to be also the first BTC’s payments accepting car dealership here in Finland”, Toivonen added.

Read more : http://www.econotimes.com/Finland-Based-Auto-Outlet-Sells-Tesla-Accepting-Bitcoin-148796

SAN DIEGO, CA — Airbitz has announced they are broadening their presence globally by expanding outside the United States. The team has informed Bitcoin.com that they are adding an office in Zug, Switzerland, the unofficial “Silicon Valley” of Europe.

How Bitcoin Created Europe’s Own Silicon Valley



Airbitz, a trustless security platform, wanted to show in 2015 that they planned to be a top contender in the Bitcoin wallet space, and the company says they have a “stellar” 2016 ahead of them. Last year, the company presented its new buy and sell feature, available to the U.S. and Canada inside the Airbitz application. Then in December, the company integrated with Fold so users could easily buy discounted Target and Starbucks gift cards. Now Airbitz has announced its expansion to Europe by adding an office in Poststrasse, Zug, Switzerland.

The Canton of Zug has been deemed the Silicon Valley of Europe because of digital currency, blockchain, and fintech businesses flocking there in great numbers. What used to be a small lake shore region is now populated with technology startups and finance companies. The region is home to Monetas, Ethereum, Xapo, Shapeshift.io, Sapphire Innovation, and many more. Now Airbitz is joining the environment in Switzerland with its additional office in the region and looks forward to the resources provided there.

While expanding its services to the U.K. region, the company has also hired Lucas Betschart as a core developer to the Airbitz infrastructure. Betschart has worked with Monetas and will bring his C++ and Build/CI Systems skills to the company’s constant development. The new Airbitz developer spends his spare time organizing Bitcoin talks and community events in Switzerland while also donating to open source projects. Airbitz says Betschart has an extensive network in the region and plans to make the company brand even more prevalent in the area. Community Manager M.K. Lords said:




read more https://news.bitcoin.com/airbitz-expands-to-europe-silicon-valley/

Explaining how VPN encryption works is quite similar to how Bitcoin works at its core. The RSA key associated with the VPN connection encryption operates similarly to a lock.

Using the Internet in China has always been a bit of a struggle, simply because the government is very restrictive regarding which content can be accessed by residents. To counter this problem, many Chinese Internet users have signed up for VPN services to bypass the Great Firewall. But as it turns out, even those services are not free from government surveillance, as their lackluster encryption tools are relatively weak.

Chinese VPN Providers Use Weak Encryption

One of the main reasons people use VPN providers is because these services will encrypt all Internet traffic. Doing so will keep all of the information gathered during a browsing session safe from prying eyes. Furthermore, governments, such as the Chinese officials, are unable to block Internet pages from being accessed when using such a VPN service.

However, as it turns out, several Chinese VPN providers are not using proper encryption, resulting in government officials being able to access user data in the end. What makes things even worse is how the popular commercial VPN providers are using this weaker form of encryption. Needless to say, this is a great cause for concern, especially in China.

ExpressVPN and Astrill – both of whom are quite popular VPN providers in China – are using 1024-bit RSA key to encrypt all connections. While this may sound like a proper security measure to people who are not as tech-savvy, this form of encryption can be bypassed without much trouble. That is, as far as the Chinese government goes at least.

By using less-than-optimal encryption, both VPN providers are wide open to having government officials snoop around whenever data is collected. While there is no real evidence documenting this to be the case, hardly anyone would be surprised if the Chinese government was, in fact, accessing data collected by both ExpressVPN and Astrill.


read more http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/01/25/popular-chinese-vpn-providers-can-learn-from-bitcoins-encryption-methods/

A widely anticipated US dollar rally is caught between the proverbial Horns of the Bull, leaving the dollar in grid-lock. Meanwhile, the mainstream media turns up the volume of their cries of market woes – just as the decline pauses for a breather.


read more
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/global-economic-outlook-currency-positioning/

The technology behind the Bitcoin digital currency could usher in an era of ‘smart contracts’ and enable the creation of a tamper-proof Land Registry database, legal technology experts said this week in the wake of a landmark government report.

Mark Walport, the government’s chief scientific adviser, last week said that ‘distributed ledger technology’ offers the potential to reduce fraud, corruption and the cost of paper-intensive processes, including contracts.
A distributed ledger is a database of assets – usually financial or legal data – shared across a group of users and secured by cryptography.

All members of the network have an identical copy, with any updates communicated in seconds across multiple copies. It relies on a tamper-proof chain of encrypted data known as a block chain. This used to secure the virtual currency Bitcoin, which has been in use since 2009.

According to the Walport report, it can also be used to create a secure ‘smart’ online contract, ‘with cryptographic certainty that the agreement has been honoured in the ledgers, databases or accounts of all parties’.

Timothy Hill, technology policy adviser at the Law Society, said it is essential that lawyers are aware of distributed ledger technology. ‘As the report makes clear block chains – or distributed ledgers – are a powerful innovation that could have a profound impact on both the law and the provision of legal services.

‘They could be used to declare wills, transfer property or create self-executing contracts. They also raise profound questions about the future balance between technical code and legal code – something Walport suggests that lawyers and technologists will need to work together to get right.’

Rich Folsom, senior associate at specialist technology firm Kemp Little, said the report would demystify the technology and bring it onto boardroom agendas. He said that one potential application could be in securing Land Registry’s database as every transaction would need to be reconciled across the network and a cyberattack would need to attack all copies simultaneously to be successful.

However, he cautioned against any rush to regulate distributed ledger systems, as mooted in the Walport report: ‘It is quite easy to listen to the loudest people – those calling for further regulatory approval tend to be those who would benefit most.’

http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/bitcoin-technology-heralds-smart-contracts-era/5053220.fullarticle

Bitcoin – by far the most popular digital currency – has spawned misunderstanding, according to a first-of-its-kind study

People who have used Bitcoin, and those who don’t have any experience with it, have something in common: Both groups share misconceptions about how the controversial digital currency actually works.
People who have never used Bitcoin – an internet-based form of money – don’t think they ever could. Even Bitcoin users are not well-versed in how it works and overestimate, for example, the privacy of transactions, according to a study by Janne Lindqvist, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and member of Rutgers’ WINLAB (Wireless Information Network Laboratory), and two graduate students, Xianyi Gao and Gradeigh D. Clark.

Still, study participants overall viewed Bitcoin as an ideal payment system.

The peer-reviewed study – the first-of-its-kind – will be formally published in May at the annual Association for Computing Machinery’s Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, more commonly known as CHI 2016, in San Jose, California.  CHI is the premier international conference on human-computer interaction.

Bitcoin is a new type of money that relies on a decentralized peer-to-peer network with a public ledger that tracks transactions. Two people can make transactions, with degrees of anonymity, across continents, at any denomination, and without any transaction fees going to a third party, according to the Rutgers study. The study’s results illustrate Bitcoin’s tradeoffs, uses and barriers to entry.

According to coinmarketcap.com, the Bitcoin market totaled about $6 billion as of January 22, 2016.

On January 14, Mike Hearn, a high-profile Bitcoin developer who worked on it for more than five years, declared that Bitcoin had failed because it was controlled by a handful of people and was “on the brink of technical collapse.” In an internet post headlined “The resolution of the Bitcoin experiment,” Hearn wrote that he will no longer participate in its development and had sold all of his Bitcoin “coins.”

read more
http://news.rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-bitcoin-study-reveals-false-beliefs-ease-use-and-privacy/20160124#.VqXnfJp94y4

The financial services industry is dangerously complacent in its approach to digital money. Some of the major banks almost look like they fear technological change that promises greater transparency, efficiency and security at a lower cost.

Too many industry players and regulators have spent more time shutting down innovations than driving them. Barclays, Chase, Westpac and the Bank of Ireland are among the many global banks to have refused business or closed the accounts of cryptocurrency pioneers, when they should have been learning from them.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cannot be dismissed as the preserve of those engaged in suspicious transactions on the dark web. It’s not only radical libertarians and goldbug-like speculators who are taking cryptocurrencies seriously. Some banks, governments, startups and academics are beginning to pay attention, albeit sluggishly.

The blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies is simply a faster, cheaper, more reliable way to handle money electronically. Distributed ledgers – the open and networked basis for proving ownership and transfers of such currencies – dramatically shorten the time it takes to clear transactions, wherever they take place in the world.

If the banks don’t lead this digital disruption, someone else will.

A generation ago, Sony was peerless in the music industry. Its hi-fi, Walkman and record label divisions were churning out hit after hit. But when the online revolution came, Sony played it safe. It put up barriers, only seeing threats rather than opportunities from MP3 and related technologies. Apple ate Sony’s lunch.

Cryptocurrencies and fintech, like online music, will not go away. The successful financial services firms may be those that overcome the current culture of complacency and show the will to disrupt themselves. Apple did just this when it saw that mobile phones could integrate the same features as its wildly successful iPod range. It cannibalised its own market, before anyone else could. The iPhone ultimately killed the iPod, but became even more profitable.

read more http://www.cityam.com/232975/bitcoin-banks-are-worryingly-complacent-about-the-coming-digital-currency-storm

Australian Bitcoin miner Bitcoin Group has moved one step closer to its initial public offering on the ASX, with the share offer set to close at 5.00pm today (Monday, January 25, 2016).

In an announcement on its website, the company reminds investors that if they are considering buying shares in the IPO, their applications should be lodged by the above-mentioned deadline.

With applications closing today, the allotment of shares is scheduled for January 27, 2016 followed by the dispatch of holding statements on January 28, 2016. Listing on the Australian Securities Exchange is scheduled to take place on February 2, 2016. The company will be listed as BCG.

The company is planning an initial public offering of 100,000,000 new shares at a price of A$0.20 per new share.

The IPO has been rescheduled several times already mostly because of concerns expressed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The latest prospectus (Second Replacement Prospectus) was filed on December 24, 2015. It includes, amid other updates, an Independent Expert Report to support some statements that could potentially be considered ‘forward looking statements’, as well as updates to some financial information (revenues, profit, etc) which was outdated due to the effluxion of time between the First Replacement Prospectus and the latest Prospectus and to reflect the audited accounts of Bitcoin Group.

https://leaprate.com/2016/01/bitcoin-group-inches-closer-to-asx-ipo-offer-closes-today/

Nxt, the innovative digital currency, blockchain platform, and Bitcoin alternative, launches Version 1.7.4 on January 23rd. New features to be integrated into Nxt include Account Control, the NXT Data Cloud and CoinShuffling.

Amsterdam, Netherlands -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/25/2016 -- Over the last few months, the entire Nxt community has been working on what will be one of the most important Nxt updates to date. Nxt version 1.7.4 will bring a selection of important new features to the Nxt protocol and client, as well as a number of smaller improvements and enhancements, including more regular block times.

The new features will bring a range of new functionality to Nxt, allowing users to:

- Create multi-signature accounts for ultimate security, using Account Control. Account Control allows transactions from an account to only be executed after they have been approved by a voting process, using the Nxt Voting System for enhanced multi-signature transactions.
- Use the CoinShuffle system to anonymise Nxt funds. Nxt is the first cryptocurrency platform to natively incorporate a decentralised mixing/CoinShuffle service on its own blockchain, allowing users the option to completely anonymise funds held in NXT.
- Store, retrieve and publish files, documents, or arbitrary data on the Nxt blockchain using the NXT Data Cloud. NXT Data Cloud will allow decentralized, censorship-free and tamper-proof publication and retrieval of small files, documents, or arbitrary data to the blockchain, with low costs/fees and options including automatic removal and encryption.

read more http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/bitcoin-competitor-nxt-version-174-goes-live-decentralized-data-storage-coin-mixing-and-more-659302.htm

Those who have been attracted to bitcoin largely because it is perceived to be free of government control may be surprised to see the underlying technology enthusiastically promoted by government, but a new report 'Distributed Ledger Technology: Beyond block chain' from the United Kingdom government's chief scientific adviser Sir Mark Walport said that distributed ledger technologies have the potential to help governments. Many governments and banks have given a mixed response to the digital currency Bitcoin, but there is a wide consensus that the underlying blockchain is useful and is now being applied for various tasks. The dispersed nature of distributed ledgers, on the other hand, means that if one computer node goes down in the network the system of records remains functioning.

In his report, Sir Mark Walport explains how blockchain can help government collect taxes, issue passports, deliver benefits and "ensure the integrity of government records and services".

For those who do not know, the blockchain can act as a permanent record for all sorts of transactions, which allows for better data managing, and added security, as the system is thoroughly resistant to all sorts of attempted tampering.

"Ultimately the best way to develop a technology is to use it in practice", says the report, and it recommends that government establishes trials of distributed ledgers "to assess the technology's usability in the public sector".

Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, Ed Vaizey, said: "Government wants to make sure the United Kingdom is at the forefront of using emerging technology to improve public services".

This chain of record came to be known as the blockchain.

,
 the report said. However, with one successful test completed and more on the way, distributed ledger technology appears to be a valuable consideration in the future of globalized banking and finance.

read more http://leadercall.com/2016/01/distributed-ledgers-could-transform-public-services-says/

According to the president’s Facebook page, the president “was very interested in the talk as Branson, plus entrepreneur in areas related to new technologies, such as space flight and use bitcoin is entrepreneurial in humanitarian issues.”

Macri was elected in 2015. As a former civil engineer, his interest in space flight and bitcoin makes sense. He is Argentina’s first democratically-elected non-radical or Peronist President since 1916 and previously held position as Head of Government of the Buenos Aires from 2007 to 2015.

Macri comes from an upper-class background and gained recognition in 1995 after becoming President of Boca Juniors, among Argentina’s most popular soccer clubs. In 2005, he created the right-wing electoral party Republican Proposal  (Propuesta Republicana), known as PRO.

As one of numerous investors in BitPay, Branson has a history with Bitcoin. The Virgin Galactic founder also held his own digital currency summit on his private island and represents one of the first high-profile investors to enter into the Bitcoin space.

In September, Branson noted his belief that, despite debate over the Bitcoin block size, the technology was working, he told Bloomberg. Branson has been such a proponent of the digital currency, he wrote on the Virgin website:



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