Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion

[Asrael999]

By TAKASHI MOCHIZUKI
March 16, 2015 9:32 p.m. ET
0 COMMENTS

http://www.wsj.com/articles/rakuten-starts-accepting-bitcoin-1426555942

Rakuten Starts Accepting Bitcoin

TOKYO—Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. has started accepting bitcoin for purchases in the U.S., adding momentum to the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.

Customers using the company’s virtual shopping mall in the U.S. site can already buy items using the Internet-based currency, a Rakuten spokesperson in Japan said Tuesday.

Rakuten executives have previously said the company’s Germany and Austria units will allow payment by bitcoin starting in the second quarter of this year.

Many major U.S. companies have already embraced bitcoin, but Rakuten is one of the first major Japanese companies to accept the virtual currency for payment.

While many Japanese companies agree that bitcoin is a convenient payment method for both customers and merchants because it significantly reduces handling fees, most of them are reluctant to adopt it due to concerns over possible fraud and authorities’ unclear stance on the regulation of bitcoin.

In Japan, Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, collapsed last year and lost customers’ assets worth half a billion dollars, dealing a major blow to the currency’s public image.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, meanwhile, has decided that the government won’t regulate bitcoin and won’t assign any regulatory bodies to oversee the virtual currency ecosystem. While venture companies welcomed the news, executives at larger companies said the move made it difficult for them to start accepting bitcoin because they want a government agency as a watchdog. Otherwise they would face trouble should unfavorable incidents occur.

Rakuten has been open and passionate about bitcoin’s potential use, hosting several panel talks dedicated to the subject at a recent financial conference hosted by the company. It has also invested in Bitnet Technologies, a bitcoin startup based in San Francisco.

Rakuten’s biggest moneyspinner is its Japanese site, but that isn’t open to bitcoin yet. Rakuten’s chief executive Hiroshi Mikitani said last month he plans to roll out the bitcoin function to the Japanese market as well, although when it would do so is “a trade secret.”

adoption bad for bitcoin right?

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[Afrikoin]

By TAKASHI MOCHIZUKI
March 16, 2015 9:32 p.m. ET
0 COMMENTS

http://www.wsj.com/articles/rakuten-starts-accepting-bitcoin-1426555942

Rakuten Starts Accepting Bitcoin

TOKYO—Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. has started accepting bitcoin for purchases in the U.S., adding momentum to the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.

Customers using the company’s virtual shopping mall in the U.S. site can already buy items using the Internet-based currency, a Rakuten spokesperson in Japan said Tuesday.

Rakuten executives have previously said the company’s Germany and Austria units will allow payment by bitcoin starting in the second quarter of this year.

Many major U.S. companies have already embraced bitcoin, but Rakuten is one of the first major Japanese companies to accept the virtual currency for payment.

While many Japanese companies agree that bitcoin is a convenient payment method for both customers and merchants because it significantly reduces handling fees, most of them are reluctant to adopt it due to concerns over possible fraud and authorities’ unclear stance on the regulation of bitcoin.

In Japan, Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, collapsed last year and lost customers’ assets worth half a billion dollars, dealing a major blow to the currency’s public image.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, meanwhile, has decided that the government won’t regulate bitcoin and won’t assign any regulatory bodies to oversee the virtual currency ecosystem. While venture companies welcomed the news, executives at larger companies said the move made it difficult for them to start accepting bitcoin because they want a government agency as a watchdog. Otherwise they would face trouble should unfavorable incidents occur.

Rakuten has been open and passionate about bitcoin’s potential use, hosting several panel talks dedicated to the subject at a recent financial conference hosted by the company. It has also invested in Bitnet Technologies, a bitcoin startup based in San Francisco.

Rakuten’s biggest moneyspinner is its Japanese site, but that isn’t open to bitcoin yet. Rakuten’s chief executive Hiroshi Mikitani said last month he plans to roll out the bitcoin function to the Japanese market as well, although when it would do so is “a trade secret.”

adoption bad for bitcoin right?

I think this is a good thing. Rakuten is no. 8 on List of largest Internet companies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_Internet_companies

Merchants first, then consumer adoption. Can't really complain.

Plus, mightput pressure on no. 1 - 7 ie Amazon, ebay, google, facebook, alibaba etc

[shmadz]

Surprised noone is mentioning Rakuten..

I know right! Like the news is sleeping.

otoh, didnt we hear comments from rakuten CEO a few weeks ago indicating future support for bitcoin?

p.s. I didnt realise this but in the US it's buy.com, redirects to rakuten.com.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/japanese-e-commerce-giant-rakuten-begins-accepting-bitcoin-1492235

From the article:

Rakuten is looking to expand overseas and Tuesday's (17 March) move will see the firm join a growing number of online retail leaders, like Amazon.com and travel agency Expedia, in accepting the digital currency.

Apparently I missed the Amazon news

[ChartBuddy]

Coin
Explanation

[KryptoFoo]

The Rakuten news is spreading, I think market has yet to absorb this. Now on WSJ, Marketwatch, many more. Still waiting for Barry Silbert to tweet about it 

[uhoh]

The Rakuten news is spreading, I think market has yet to absorb this. Now on WSJ, Marketwatch, many more. Still waiting for Barry Silbert to tweet about it 

Lol, good timing, he just has

[HarmonLi]

Price tried to break down at least 2 times over the last 24 hours or so. Really impressive that we're not experiencing any major corrections as of now. Looking promising so far!

[twn]

everybody waiting 300$ i believe when we reach and pass 300. Dump will be start cause generally people thinks when we pass 300 it gonna go directly up. when everybody thinks the same always the opposite happens

[HarmonLi]

everybody waiting 300$ i believe when we reach and pass 300. Dump will be start cause generally people thinks when we pass 300 it gonna go directly up. when everybody thinks the same always the opposite happens

Nah, don't think so. It's merely a small psychological border. The 'real' resistance is at about $350 or so. If we manage to break $300, we won't really stop until $320. And form then re-fuel the rocket!!!

[Biro Bob]

A slow gentle increase is better than pump and dump

[KryptoFoo]

Way to go gyft:

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/17/gyft-bitcoin/?ncid=rss_truncated

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.

[gotmilk_]

Price tried to break down at least 2 times over the last 24 hours or so. Really impressive that we're not experiencing any major corrections as of now. Looking promising so far!

This. Traders who took long positions on Bitfinex are bullish and they don't feel to close their position right now.

http://bitcoinist.net/bit-first-publicly-traded-bitcoin-fund/

[mladen00]

I believe that real pump will start when we break 300

[ChartBuddy]

Coin
Explanation

[gkv9]

I believe that real pump will start when we break 300

I have created charts that show that the resistance that needs to be broken and to become a support in order for a pump is $326 and not $300, it's only a barrier between the current price and expected resistance...

[Erdogan]

Is it only me, or have we had extreme non-volatility the last ca 24 hours?

[DeboraMeeks]

Is it only me, or have we had extreme non-volatility the last ca 24 hours?

Non-volatility or we should call it as "Stability"?
While knowing there won't be any much movements in the markets, it feels great to not watch the charts all day long just for the sake of price.

[octaft]

btw. next time you want to show a screenshot without your taskbar... you should just press f11 before taking the screenshot... haha

Or at least learn to crop photos.

[macsga]

By TAKASHI MOCHIZUKI
March 16, 2015 9:32 p.m. ET
0 COMMENTS

http://www.wsj.com/articles/rakuten-starts-accepting-bitcoin-1426555942

Rakuten Starts Accepting Bitcoin

TOKYO—Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. has started accepting bitcoin for purchases in the U.S., adding momentum to the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.

Customers using the company’s virtual shopping mall in the U.S. site can already buy items using the Internet-based currency, a Rakuten spokesperson in Japan said Tuesday.

Rakuten executives have previously said the company’s Germany and Austria units will allow payment by bitcoin starting in the second quarter of this year.

Many major U.S. companies have already embraced bitcoin, but Rakuten is one of the first major Japanese companies to accept the virtual currency for payment.

While many Japanese companies agree that bitcoin is a convenient payment method for both customers and merchants because it significantly reduces handling fees, most of them are reluctant to adopt it due to concerns over possible fraud and authorities’ unclear stance on the regulation of bitcoin.

In Japan, Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, collapsed last year and lost customers’ assets worth half a billion dollars, dealing a major blow to the currency’s public image.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, meanwhile, has decided that the government won’t regulate bitcoin and won’t assign any regulatory bodies to oversee the virtual currency ecosystem. While venture companies welcomed the news, executives at larger companies said the move made it difficult for them to start accepting bitcoin because they want a government agency as a watchdog. Otherwise they would face trouble should unfavorable incidents occur.

Rakuten has been open and passionate about bitcoin’s potential use, hosting several panel talks dedicated to the subject at a recent financial conference hosted by the company. It has also invested in Bitnet Technologies, a bitcoin startup based in San Francisco.

Rakuten’s biggest moneyspinner is its Japanese site, but that isn’t open to bitcoin yet. Rakuten’s chief executive Hiroshi Mikitani said last month he plans to roll out the bitcoin function to the Japanese market as well, although when it would do so is “a trade secret.”

adoption bad for bitcoin right?

This thing truly puzzles me. Whatever news we have they seem to have no effect to the price. It's just like someone (or many) want to keep things down. I can think a reason or two (for instance the auction coins are not all sold, AU,Victoria has about 24,500 too) but still... I mean it's a giant company! FGS, RAKUTEN!

After that I expect Google to announce integration and nothing happens. Sigh. 

[dreamspark]

Yeah but everyone knows these companies just sell the coins straight away...