http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2015/01/29/why-apple-pay-and-dollars-are-killing-bitcoin/The irony of Bitcoin’s fall is that some of the attributes that initially made it so attractive to its backers like no centralized banking control, lax regulation and no transaction fees, are the very same things that are actually causing its demise. These types of decentralized monetary systems never work, since valuations are allowed to fluctuate wildly and there is a lack of trust in the system. It’s simply not safe to hold Bitcoin. Look no further than the major exchanges, which have either gone bankrupt (Mt. Gox) or suffered major security lapses (Bitstamp). Both of which cost investors millions of dollars in unrecoverable losses.
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https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/federal-reserve-bitcoin-strategy/A U.S. payment system that is safe, efficient and broadly accessible is vital to the U.S. economy… the Federal Reserve plays an important role in promoting these qualities as a leader, catalyst for change and provider of payment services. In its preface, “Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System”, a white paper released Monday morning, 15/27/01, by The Federal Reserve re-affirms that commitment. The document is a follow-up to the Fed’s 2013 “Payment System Improvement – Public Consultation Paper.” At the time of the 2013 report, digital currency was “not considered a sufficiently mature technology.” But, today, we are an “emergent payment infrastructure” and the Fed sees value for some Bitcoin technology within its current system.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-27/venture-capitalist-draper-bets-400-000-more-on-bitcoin-revivalBitcoin’s price dipped by more than 30 percent in two days this month to below $200. Skeptics were already questioning the currency’s future amid increasing regulatory oversight and after bitcoin’s slide had made it one of the biggest money-losing investments of 2014, worse than oil or the ruble. Bitcoin was valued at about $272 on Monday, compared with more than $1,100 in late 2013, according to CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index. Draper bought about 32,000 bitcoins at government auctions last year. He’s been investing them in various startups building on bitcoin technology, which can be used to facilitate cheap international money transfers or buy assets like gold. While he didn’t specify the price paid in either auction, bitcoin was valued on the market at more than $600 at the time of the June auction.
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http://gizmodo.com/65-of-americans-have-no-idea-what-bitcoin-is-what-are-1682049930This may seem low, considering all the media attention the cryptocurrency has. But there's no incentive here to downplay how well-known it is. Such a profound lack of familiarity is particularly alarming," Coin Center wrote. Respondents were also divided about whether the government should "ban Bitcoin or leave it alone." 12.9% were down with banning something that probably at least some of them had never heard of, while 16.1% hoped the government would not interfere.
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http://www.coindesk.com/volatility-deflation-manipulation-response-bitcoins-critics/Bitcoin has its share of critics and skeptics, and opposition to the emerging technology – especially among the intelligentsia – shows no sign of abating. Notable commentators on the topic range from author Jeffrey Robinson to finance blogger Karl Denninger, Boston University professor Mark Williams, rabid Keynesian Paul Krugman, Austrian economist Gary North and FT Alphaville's Izabella Kaminska. Typically, the arguments put forth by an elite group of critics like this could be easily attributed to a lack of economic credentials or real-world experience in sophisticated financial markets. But that is simply not the case here – which makes it all the more puzzling to comprehend. Since the various critiques fall short on any convincing economic analysis, I suppose one could put it down to mere philosophical differences on the origin and nature of money.
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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/winklevoss-twins-pitch-their-bitcoin-etf-to-gold-bugs-2015-01-26The twins went even further in praising bitcoin, saying it’s an improvement on gold. They said its advantages include being more durable and more portable, plus the brothers emphasized that a fixed supply of bitcoin is built into the rules for the digital currency. The comments came as the Winklevoss twins headlined a session Monday at ETF.com’s Inside ETFs conference in Hollywood, Fla. The brothers, who are still best known for their legal fight with Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook’s FB, -0.43% origins, have turned into significant players in the world of bitcoin.
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http://mashable.com/2015/01/26/coinbase-bitcoin-exchange/The price decline was part of a longer-term slump that had dragged bitcoin down from its frothy $1,000-plus highs after the implosion of Mt. Gox, once the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, and more recently a security issue at Bitstamp, another exchange. Some Bitcoin mining services, which make money by unlocking new bitcoins, were forced to suspend operations due to the declining prices presumably cutting into profit margins, raising further concerns about whether there would be a snowball effect for Bitcoin. Yet, investors continue to pump money into the space, with Coinbase recently raising a $75 million round and Ripple, an open payments network similar to bitcoin, is reportedly raising $30 million.
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http://time.com/money/3682313/coinbase-bitcoin-exchange/Coinbase has previously found success as one of the more consumer friendly bitcoin wallets and payment platforms. Consumers could buy and sell bitcoins from Coinbase, which would in turn purchase the coins from other exchanges and store them on the customer’s behalf. The company has also partnered with companies like Dell (and MONEY’s parent company, Time Inc.) to facilitate bitcoin purchases by acting as a middleman and converting bitcoins to cash.
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https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-value-reclaims-lost-ground/BTC-China has reached the top of the channel formed by the advancing wave. This price level also corresponds to a 1.618 extension of wave A which is a characteristic Bitcoin price target in corrective wave structures. Price may exceed the upper channel trendline in some charts – and sometimes undershoots it in others. We have no evidence that indicates what price may do as it tops out across exchange charts. For now we hold out for our target $260 and manually adjust our stop loss to a recommended $2 (trader discretion) below the 15-minute 20-period moving average until target is hit or correction stops out the trade for a profit.
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http://www.coindesk.com/anonymous-bitcoin-backgrounder-policymakers/Cash or barter are the most intrinsically private and anonymous means of transacting. In the opposite corner are transactions which are neither anonymous nor private. This includes, say, campaign contributions over a certain amount. We may also include in this quadrant credit card transactions: although not public knowledge like a campaign contribution, your identity is nevertheless connected to every purchase you make, and this information is available to the merchant, credit card network, issuing bank, and — if subpoenaed — law enforcement. Certain financial transactions are private but not anonymous; for example, the donor wall at the local art museum, which identifies the names of donors but not the amounts donated.
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/first-u-s-bitcoin-exchange-set-to-open-1422221641The virtual currency bitcoin is getting a very real boost on Monday with the opening of the first licensed U.S. exchange. Coinbase Inc., a startup backed by $106 million from the New York Stock Exchange, banks and venture-capital firms, said its exchange will offer greater security for individuals and institutions to trade bitcoin and monitor real-time pricing of the cryptocurrency. The exchange could bring needed legitimacy to the currency, which isn’t backed by a central government and is traded over virtual exchanges, primarily overseas. Coinbase said it has insurance, offering traders some assurance that their money won’t disappear.
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https://bitcoinmagazine.com/19133/bitcoin-truly-decentralized-yes-important/Bitcoin has no central control: no central repository of information, no central management, and, crucially, no central point of failure. And yet, most of the actual services and businesses built within the Bitcoin ecosystem are centralized. They are run by specific people, in specific locations, with specific computer systems, and they are susceptible to specific legal entanglements. This situation creates tension and certainly a little irony—we have a decentralized technology, yet most things existing upon it are centralized.
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https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/market-trading-back-bitcoin-value/Regular divergence can be seen setting in on the MACD indicator (bottom pane). This is to be expected from a strong trend, yet alerts us to be on the lookout for a wave ending and the correction that will set up the final wave for this leg of advance. Bitcoin price is climbing toward $260 (Bitfinex, BTCe) and $277 (Bitstamp) and 1,550 CNY (BTC-China) in wave action that is typical of this price chart’s advancing mode. Once the target is hit, we can reassess the next move. An intermediate correction is expected in the meantime – either near the $260 price level or else near $240 prior to the final wave to target. Watch your 15-minute RSI indicator for divergence to anticipate approaching wave tops.
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http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/01/22/winklevoss-twins-aim-to-take-bitcoin-mainstream-with-a-regulated-exchange/?_r=0Bitcoin, the virtual currency that was once the talk of the financial world, has been taking a beating over the last year with the price tumbling downward. Now two of the biggest boosters of the virtual currency, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, are trying to firm up support by creating the first regulated Bitcoin exchange for American customers — what they are calling the Nasdaq of Bitcoin. The brothers, who received $65 million in Facebook shares and cash in 2008 after jousting with its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, have hired engineers from top hedge funds, enlisted a bank and engaged regulators with the aim of opening their exchange — named Gemini, Latin for twins — in the coming months.
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelbobelian/2015/01/20/bitcoins-leading-advocacy-group-changes-direction/For a technology crowned as the biggest thing since the emergence of the Internet two decades ago, Bitcoin got off to an ominous start. As the preferred cryptocurrency of choice for Silk Road, the web site that served as an online black market, Bitcoin became a target of law enforcement. Officials from the FBI to Manhattan’s District Attorney’s warned of a “digital Wild West” should the currency go unregulated. The Securities and Exchange Commission warned investors to remain vigilant for scams. Mt. Gox, once one of the leading Bitcoin exchanges in the world, collapsed into bankruptcy last year, costing users hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoins. Leading voices of the financial community like former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and JPMorgan Chase JPM -0.39% chairman Jamie Dimon also cast doubt on the currency’s potential.
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http://recode.net/2015/01/20/bitcoin-firm-coinbase-raises-75-million-from-dfj-the-nyse-and-two-banks/Coinbase, a software company that allows people to buy bitcoin and enables businesses to accept it as payment, has closed a giant $75 million investment. In real U.S. dollars. The round is by far the biggest investment in a bitcoin company to date. Beyond its size, the funding is sure to make waves in financial services thanks to the participation of three industry investors: the New York Stock Exchange, USAA Bank, and BBVA, a multinational bank with a large presence in Spain and Mexico. Former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit also personally invested in the company.
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http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-powered-crowdfunding-app-lighthouse-launches-open-beta/The beta version of the app, which developer Mike Hearn described as a specialized wallet for decentralized crowdfunding, is now publicly available for download. The release follows months of development, which included an investment from noted bitcoin entrepreneur Olivier Janssens. The app is designed to function as a streamlined tool for using smart contracts to commit pledges to particular projects, which can range from bitcoin development initiatives to charity drives. Currently, the only project available for Lighthouse is a 3.5 BTC fundraiser for Medic Mobile.
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http://www.coindesk.com/tnabc-day-1-bitcoin-industry-undeterred-despite-price-decline/Taking place over eight hours at Miami Beach’s famed Fillmore Theater on Saturday, The North American Bitcoin Conference (TNABC) covered a range of topics dominating industry discussion, from security and commerce to development and regulation – notably rare in the discussion, however, was bitcoin’s turbulent price. The topic was absent in most of the event's panel sessions, despite its prominent status in the most recent news cycle. In contrast to last year’s TNABC Miami, which was held when the price was over $800, bitcoin was trading at sub-$200 levels at press time, having fallen from near-$300 at the start of 2015.
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