BITCOIN NEWS EVRYDAY! From multiple sources.

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Japan may introduce Bitcoin regulations this week

 George Krasadakis  06/03/2014
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After the tragedy of Mt. Gox, once the highest volume Bitcoin exchange, Japanese authorities are most likely already working on a plan of action to regulate the virtual currency. New guidelines will be issued by the cabinet, possibly later this week. A decision will be made for how the currency should be treated under the already existing laws.

Additionally banks and security firms will not be able to handle Bitcoin as part of their main businesses since cryptocurrencies will be treated similarly to a commodity, like gold.

Problems with taxing

Japanese authorities are trying to figure out ways to tax Bitcoin transactions, however, the way this could be done hasn’t been figured out yet since one of the core advantages of using Bitcoin is the small fees and the part-anonymity.

“We haven’t yet thoroughly grasped the situation, but some regulation is needed from the perspective of consumer protection, and we will also discuss (bitcoin) from the perspective of imposing asset tax,” was what Takuya Hirai, a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party stated.

Services using the virtual currency have experienced a wave of cyber attacks lately. From hacking online platforms to theft of coins. Numerous people were affected by recent attacks.
The virtual currency has engendered a wave of a creative criminality – from hacking online platforms to steal Bitcoins to their potential in money laundering, bribery and buying illicit products. Even earlier this week Flexcoin, a Canada-based Bitcoin bank-like service announced that they were shutting down their services after a massive theft. Their total losses neared $600,000 worth of coins.

The panel had a hearing on Wednesday with consultants and officials from the Japanese authorities about the Mt. Gox collapse as Hirai said to reporters. The FSA and the Finance Ministry have stated that Bitcoin is not a currency and doesn’t fall under their jurisdiction according to them, while the Bank of Japan has said it was studying the Bitcoin phenomenon with interest. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the relevant Japanese ministries will be in close contact with each other on matters relating to bitcoin.

In the other hand, there are People like Hiroshi Mikitani (Japanese e-commerce billionaire and CEO of Rakuten Inc), who believe that Japanese authorities should be extra cautious with their actions when trying to regulate virtual currencies. “As for whether we need regulations, they should first examine the situation a bit more and discuss it in depth.” As he said to Kyodo News.

Does regulation have to be an International effort?

Japan sure doesn’t want to go alone when trying to tax cryptocurrencies. Any regulation should involve international cooperation to prevent tax loopholes, Vice Finance Minister Jiro Aichi said last week.
This would surely be something hard to achieve. There is almost no way Governments and financial authorities worldwide would agree on applying the same regulation rules. Even the US Senate had a hearing regarding Bitcoin in the past, their stance against Bitcoin was overall friendly; treating Bitcoin as innovation and agreeing on the fact that any regulation might drive this technology away from their country by making the market unattractive for it’s related services. An opinion opposed to the one the Japanese authorities have.

Japan is surely going to have a hard time finding “international cooperation” on regulations. And to be honest regulations might not be harmful for Bitcoin but nobody knows what’s going to follow if people with minimal on virtual currencies experience like those in the Japanese financial authorities try to regulate Bitcoin after a week long debates.

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[ponjava]

Bitcoin Price: Ready to Rally?

 Gordon Hall  06/03/2014


The Channel Low
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/weekly-1024x565.png
In my previous CryptoCoaster video, I forecast that an extreme negative case would see Bitcoin price reach the long-term channel low. The following weekly logarithmic chart shows that this scenario has played out with some precision, the channel low and previous double bottom were a likely point for reversal:

Weekly logarithmic chart showing Fibonacci channel and support. The Gox Bitcoin price is now history.
Weekly logarithmic chart showing Fibonacci channel and support. The Gox Bitcoin price is now history.
While I considered such a move unlikely, this was before the fatal nature of Mt. Gox’s situation came to light. I’d long considered Gox to be sketchy and tried to highlight this by broadcasting their disturbing divergence from the average Bitcoin price. In retrospect, I should have done more to warn people, in clearer terms.

At the time, it seemed that those with money in Gox were only too happy with their $200 premium bitcoins. Many got defensive when the situation was called into question, as Gox was still a respected institution despite its difficulties. What a difference a month makes.

In the interim, I haven’t been trading. I consider all Bitcoin exchanges to be slightly sketchy at this point. I’d rather skip the inherent risks of centralised exchanges, preferring to hold my coin or invest a portion in good projects. Hopefully I won’t have too long a wait before decentralised exchanges and / or higher standards make daytrading a worthwhile proposition again.

Awaiting a Breakout

Technical analysis remains a good tool to determine longer term entries and exits. From the following chart, I believe that anyone who got in at or below ~$560 is on the right side of risk:.

Bitstamp Daily, showing a flag pattern with decent volume on the flagpole, plus a rising MACD. The longterm downtrend-line looms overhead.
Bitstamp Daily, showing a bullish flag pattern with good volume, plus a rising MACD. A longterm down-line looms overhead as the 50% Fib is tested.
As the Gox wreckage is cleared from the runway, the market now has a clear path to takeoff. A breakout from that bull flag through the 50% Fib, then a push through the downtrend sketched from the all time highs – that’d be bullish indeed. Above the last major high around $1000 and we’ll really be off to the races.
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/daily-1024x565.png
Still, I think any such uptrend will take time to develop. Bitcoin ardour has cooled in the hearts of many, who’ll need some convincing before we get a fresh uptrend. This might take good, tangible news, it might take sustained higher prices or just time. Probably a combination of all three.

That said, exchanges are now under the magnifying glass and any cracks are likely to be noticed. Huobi’s volume, for instance, remains ridiculous compared to other exchanges. If they are indeed fudging it, that’s rather unethical but probably doesn’t signal deeper problems. Similarly, the Bitcoin Foundation (often confused by the media as the company behind Bitcoin) needs to shape up to withstand increased criticism and scrutiny.

As always, stay frosty and ready for anything. [Update: including the possible revelation of Satoshi's identity... Didn't see that one coming!]

http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/bitcoin-roller-coaster.gif

[ponjava]

Gabe Newell: Bitcoin on Steam is Unlikely and Here’s Why

 Neil Sardesai  06/03/2014

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On Tuesday, the 5th of March, Gabe Newell, Valve ‘s co-founder and managing director of video game development, participated with other video game developers in a reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). The post, titled “WeAreA videogame developer AUA!“, currently has 3,469 points with 34,503 upvotes (the downvotes are probably gamers upset over the absence of any news on Half-Life 3). The answered questions dealt with various things like new Valve hardware, Gabe’s favourite non-Valve game (Mario 64), etc.

Q: GabeN, what are your specs?

A: Well, I’m a handsome man with a charming personality.

-link to comment’s thread

Gabe Newell

However, one redditor, platonicplates, asked about the possibility Valve accepting Bitcoin on Steam.

Q: If there was enough community interest, would Valve accept crypto-currency such as dogecoin or bitcoin on Steam?

A: There are two related issues: one is treating a crypto-currency as another currency type that we support and the broader issue is monetary behaviors of game economies. The first issue is more about crypto-currencies stabilizing as mediums of account.

-link to comment’s thread

It looks like Newell, (GabeNewellBellevue on reddit), isn’t too eager to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment on Steam. The gaming platform and online store currently only accepts traditional forms of digital payment such as credit card and PayPal. Due to Gabe’s issues such as cryptocurrencies’ volatility, Steam is unlikely to add online currencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin as methods of payment.

Steam Payment
Steam currently only accepts traditional forms of digital payment such as credit card and PayPal.
Gabe Newell Knows What He’s Talking About

While it may seem easy to dismiss Valve as another company lagging behind Bitcoin adoption and not understanding how cryptocurrencies work, this may not be the case. First of all, Valve is a hugely successful corporation, worth about $3 billion. Furthermore, Newell and company know how to work in the gaming economy. Unlike other gaming corporations like EA, Valve often has huge sales, free DLC (downloadable in-game content), and more. And while it may seem like this would result in a decrease in profit, the exact opposite seems to be true.

“The sale is a highly promoted event… We do a 75 percent price reduction…what we saw was our gross revenue increased by a factor of 40. Not 40 percent, but a factor of 40. Which is completely not predicted by our previous experience with silent price variation.”

-Gabe Newell
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Screen-Shot-2014-03-05-at-5.44.45-PM.png
Valve actually makes more money by selling their games for less. Furthermore, a few years ago the company made Team Fortress 2 permanently free, a highly popular game that used to cost $20. Instead of seeing a decrease in annual profit, Valve once again saw an increase with new players spending hundreds of dollars on in-game items such as weapons and hats.

TF2 Hats
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/250px-Towering_Pillar_of_Hats.png
Valve earns millions of dollars in revenue from players purchasing…hats.
Additionally, Valve doesn’t pester users with anti-piracy technologies like DRM, and instead focuses on offering a great service.

“The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.”

-Gabe Newell

All things considered, it’s clear that Valve knows how to make a ton of money in novel, unique ways. As such, if Gabe Newell doesn’t think that supporting cryptocurrencies on Steam is such a good idea, perhaps it really isn’t.

 

“In the Meantime…”
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/G-man_heart_to_heart_headshot-300x297.jpg
G-man
“In the meantime…”
In the meantime, for gamers looking to use Bitcoin with Steam, there are still a couple of options. Websites such as SteamBits offer Steam games for sale in Bitcoin. Another site, Steam Loader, allows users to purchase Steam gift card codes in BTC. Furthermore, the Humble Indie Bundle often offers pay-what-you want indie game bundles, and Bitcoin payments are accepted. Humble Bundle also recently launched the Humble Store, which offers several indie games for sale (with Steam keys and Bitcoin payments, of course).

Bitcoin is still an incredibly volatile currency that most of the world doesn’t entirely understand. But while it seems unlikely that Steam will support Bitcoin payments in the near future, gamers still have several options.

[ponjava]

Newsweek Meets Satoshi Nakamoto – Community Reacts

 William Blackwell  06/03/2014
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Satoshi_Nakamoto_Bitcoin_Creator-300x225.jpg

Newsweek claims to have found and interviewed the Real Satoshi Nakamoto:

http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/bitcoin-satoshi-nakamoto.html

 

“Quiet, unassuming”

Newsweek reporter Leah McGrath Goodman claims to have tracked down Satoshi Nakamoto, 64 and the face behind Bitcoin to his unassuming family home in Los Angeles’s San Bernardino foothills. She writes:

 

He is someone with a penchant for collecting model trains and a career shrouded in secrecy, having done classified work for major corporations and the U.S. military.

 

However, there are others who don’t share her view of a reserved Japanese tech genius. Says his youngest brother, Arthur Nakamoto:

 

“My brother is an asshole. What you don’t know about him is that he’s worked on classified stuff. His life was a complete blank for a while. You’re not going to be able to get to him. He’ll deny everything. He’ll never admit to starting Bitcoin.”

 

When the reporter approaches the alleged Mr. Nakamoto at his home, he dismisses her with this admission:

 

“I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it,” he says, dismissing all further queries with a swat of his left hand. “It’s been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection.”

 

Mainstream Charades and Sensation

This mainstream article features various voices from the Bitcoin community and serves as a general introduction and overview of the Bitcoin world for the general public. The article is also published at Business Insider – so we have some consensus of credibility building.

Cryptocoinsnews is not yet convinced that this article has identified the person who created Bitcoin, nor that the subject of the article is whom he says he is. Perhaps he IS called Satoshi Nakamoto, but he will have to illustrate some protocol knowledge to satisfy questions about his claim to have created Bitcoin. Various other contenders for the identity have been fingered in the past, including this man and this man.

Plausible but not Certain.

Critical resource: Satoshi Nakamoto’s original un-dated Bitcoin Whitepaper

Model Train letters from a Mr. Dorian Nakamoto.

Amazon shaving paraphernalia reviews by Mr. Dorian S. Nakamoto.

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Ireland’s first Pint of ‘bitcoin’ Guinness

 PJ Delaney  06/03/2014

http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Guinness-Bitcoin-225x300.jpg
Ireland’s first pint of Guinness has been paid for with bitcoin! The Baggot Inn, a bar in Baggot Street in central Dublin sold its first pint of Guinness for bitcoin on March 4th, just 13 days before St. Patrick’s Day. The rumours are that this trendy bar intends to put in a Bitcoin ATM in the next few days and if it does it will prove to be Ireland’s second.  Hippety’s Cafe in the Temple Bar area of Dublin has announced that it will fit a Lamassu machine, provided by BitVendo, in the next two days.

Ireland’s attitude to Banks

Ireland has gone through a massive economic upheaval in the last few years and there is a palpable distrust of banks that are perceived to have caused this crisis. There is a story told of a small boy in school that was asked in class by his teacher what his parents did for a living, He said, ” My father is a drug dealer, he sells loads of drugs; my mother is a dancer in a bar and some times Daddy makes her work on the streets as a prostitute!” The teacher was horrified and went to the boy after class and asked him if what he’d said was true. The boy admitted it wasn’t. ” They are both investment bankers but I was too ashamed to admit it.”

Ireland was forced to borrow funds following the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank and the need to bail out other financial services providers. The terms imposed placed a great financial burden on many citizens and there is a high level of bad feeling towards banks on the foot of this. Many see banks in Ireland more as part of the the problem than as part of the solution. People here hate banks and are thus more positive to cryptocurrencies than most other economies. BitVendo was set up in 2013 to give the Irish faster and cheaper access to bitcoins.  They report that although they are having some success getting their business into the media it is always in articles with a comment included about ‘Silk Road’ or Mt Gox. Newspapers are working hard here to associate Bitcoin with fraud although the public seem a lot more positive. There is a sense that anything the banks are against can’t be all that bad. Giles Byrne, head of marketing at BitVendo states:

“Initially people think the banks are behind Bitcoin and are instantly turned off. There is a huge hatred of the banking system here, and some people want to support us just to spite the banks.”

Bitcoin groups have been growing in popularity in Ireland with Eircoin.net and The Irish Bitcoin Foundation, which called for the Irish Central Bank to regulate Bitcoin in January. Irish businesses currently accepting bitcoins include a pub, a bed and breakfast and a CCTV provider.  BitVendo has stated that it is their intention to put at least three more ATMs in ireland during the year. Looks like we can look forward to enjoying some good nights out from our bitcoins over here!

[MICRO]

Satoshi Nakamoto Denies Being Creator of Bitcoin Amid Media Frenzy
Jon Southurst (@southtopia) | Published on March 7, 2014 at 08:02 GMT | Bitcoin protocol, News

The man Newsweek named as bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto has denied any involvement with cryptocurrency.

Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, a Japanese-American resident of Los Angeles, found himself thrust into the the limelight just a day ago when Newsweek reporter Leah McGrath Goodman claimed the anonymous, or pseudonymous, man who released bitcoin on the world had been found at last.

Newsweek ran the story on the front cover of its newly-relaunched print edition, but after being pursued through the streets of LA by reporters for a day, Nakamoto said: “I got nothing to do with it”. Yesterday, Newsweek quoted Dorian Nakamoto as saying: “I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it … it’s been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection.”

This matches closely what the ‘real’ Satoshi Nakamoto posted on the Bitcoin Talk forum in April 2011, when he claimed not to be involved in the bitcoin project any more and had “moved on to other things”. However, when Dorian went to lunch yesterday with a reporter from the Associated Press, he claimed his comments had been taken out of context:

“I’m saying I’m no longer in engineering. That’s it. And even if I was, when we get hired, you have to sign this document, contract saying you will not reveal anything we divulge during and after employment. So that’s what I implied.”

“It sounded like I was involved before with bitcoin and looked like I’m not involved now. That’s not what I meant. I want to clarify that,” he added.

Has the ‘real’ Satoshi spoken?

Earlier this morning (GMT), the simple denial “I am not Dorian Nakamoto” was posted as a reply on a P2P Foundation discussion thread by user ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’. This user’s email address supposedly matches that of the original Satoshi Nakamoto.


Dorian’s free lunch

Dorian was plagued by reporters yesterday, and when he emerged from his house he selected one reporter to take him for a free lunch and an exclusive interview.



The two drove to a nearby sushi restaurant before driving to the Associated Press offices in downtown Los Angeles, all the time pursued by the media.

Does it even matter?

Whether or not Newsweek’s man is indeed bitcoin’s creator is unknown and will probably remain so, since he refuses to confess.

Many bitcoin users say the true identity of its creator is not even relevant. The concept of transmitting value via the internet has existed in theory since 1992 at least, when it was first mooted on the Cypherpunks mailing list.

Neal Stephenson wrote about cryptocurrency in detail in his 1999 novel Cryptonomicon. The issue remaining was how to solve what is sometimes called the “Byzantine Generals’ Problem“, or how to send a message over a link that cannot be trusted. Bitcoin’s public ledger, or block chain, solved this. Users cannot spend the same coin twice and all transactions exist in public view to be scrutinized and analyzed by anyone with the time and nerve to do so.

‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ released what has become known as the Bitcoin White Paper (PDF link) in November 2008, engaging in a conversation with veteran cryptographer Hal Finney who received the first bitcoin transaction from Nakamoto and then went on to promote its use.

Link: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
Article: http://www.coindesk.com/satoshi-nakamoto-denies-bitcoin-involvement/

[MICRO]

CoG Flies iOS Bitcoin Wallet Under Apple’s Radar
Danny Bradbury (@dannybradbury) | Published on March 7, 2014 at 07:59 GMT | News, Startups, Wallets

A Kentucky organization thinks that it has found a way to install fully-functional bitcoin wallets on Apple iOS devices, bypassing the infamously draconian vendor’s app store.

The Cycle of Goodness (CoG) co-operative launched its iOS wallet, Pheeva, at the Texas Bitcoin Conference this week. The wallet, built using Bitcoinjs, is installed via a link mailed to users by the organization.

Apple is notoriously anti-bitcoin, having wiped several wallets from its app store, but Lamar Wilson, founder of LoveWill, a new software development firm affiliated with CoG which wrote the app, is confident that the co-operative will escape its wrath.

Wilson is a bitcoin believer. He even takes payment in the coin via his software development firm, 212ths. Now, he thinks he’s found a way to install his bitcoin wallet without having to use the app store or jailbreak users’ phones.

CoG, named after the management philosophy of a Japanese zipper manufacturer, gets around the app store restrictions using an Apple Enterprise Developer License. This license lets a company distribute an app to members of its own organization without going through the app store, for a relatively cheap $299 per year.

“It’s the same thing as us getting a standard Apple developer’s license, but the enterprise developer’s license enables us to distribute apps to people inside our organization,” Wilson said. The app is installed using an enterprise certificate signed by CoG.

People have tried to distribute apps using the provisions of this agreement before. MacBuildServer used to compile apps on Github and let people install them, for example, which is how it got a Gameboy Emulator onto the iPhone. But then, Apple called it and said that it was violating the license. It pulled the certificate, and suddenly, there were a lot of dead Gameboy emulators out there.

Lamar hopes to avoid the same fate, because CoG is only distributing to members of its organization, he said, emphasizing that because members have to pay $10 per year to join the co-operative, the distribution is private.

“We have talked to Apple about distributing as a co-operative. They said it’s fine, it’s ok,” he said.

Did he tell Cupertino that the firm’s single application was going to be a bitcoin wallet? No, he admitted.

“If Apple reads it and then they change their terms of service, then they will have to change it for everyone,” he said.

Wilson didn’t provide a copy of the license’s terms and conditions, and CoinDesk couldn’t locate one online, although the description on Apple’s enterprise development license site specifies that the license is intended for employees.

Wilson describes the CoG wallet as a minimum viable product, without any flashy features such as hierarchical deterministic addresses. One innovation it does have is Coin!D, a CoG mechanism to easily access bitcoins without handing over a bitcoin address. Another idea it’s floating is redistribution of wealth.

Patronage points

Users of the wallet will earn ‘patronage points’ by spreading the wallet to their friends and family. They will then receive a dividend from revenues obtained by renting advertising slots in the wallet. CoG aims to distribute at least 50% of those funds to wallet users, based on their patronage points balance.

“If Apple reads it and then they change their terms of service, then they will have to change it for everyone.”

Apple has a history of draconian unilateral action, however, and seems to have a deep resentment for bitcoin. Most recently, it deleted the Blockchain wallet. It’s the money transfer part that it seems to have a problem with, having asked another vendor, Gliph, to delete that function from its own app.

Even the better-funded firms haven’t escaped Apple’s wrath. Coinbase’s app was unceremoniously yanked, too.

What happens if Cupertino stamps on CoG? The co-operative will provide an ‘exodus address’ via email, which will enable people to forward their coins so they they don’t lose them, Wilson said. And it has an Android app, a Chrome extension, and is mulling native apps for major desktop operating systems.

In any case, the app works as of today. CoG is providing free sign-ups, but the coins in your wallet will be sent to an exodus address if you don’t pay the $10 co-op fee by March 21.

Apple image via Shutterstock

Link: http://www.coindesk.com/coc-ios-bitcoin-wallet-apple/

[MICRO]

Japanese Government Says Bitcoin ‘Not a Currency’, Forms Investigation Committee
Jon Southurst (@southtopia) | Published on March 7, 2014 at 10:35 GMT | Asia, News, Regulation

Japan’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has launched an investigative committee into bitcoin, and issued a statement saying it is “not a currency, but taxable”.

In what has become a familiar refrain from authorities around the world in recent months, the government has also blocked related banks from “brokering bitcoin transactions or opening accounts holding the virtual unit”. Exactly what constitutes a ‘bitcoin account’ remains unknown, but it presumably refers to one with a known bitcoin service like Blockchain.info or Coinbase.

This is likely a reaction to the international attention Japan has received after the collapse of Mt. Gox, which had its headquarters in Tokyo.

Bitcoin “does not fall under the category of a currency” as defined by Japanese law, the government statement said.

“Generally speaking it is subject to taxation if it meets conditions laid out in income tax law, corporate tax law and sales tax law, among others.”

Adding that there were no Japanese laws defining bitcoin, the statement concluded that if bitcoin was used for money laundering, ”that would constitute a crime”.

“As a matter of common sense, if there are transactions and subsequent gains, it is natural… for the finance ministry to consider how it can impose taxes,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

Staying out of it

Prior to this, Japanese authorities and the nation’s central bank had been silent on bitcoin, steering clear of the kind of warnings heard from other countries.

The LDP promised it would make a further statement on bitcoin and how the government intended to tax it in the coming week.

Representatives of the recently-formed Japan Digital Money Association, an advocacy group founded by Japanese bitcoin users and cryptocurrency miners, also consulted with LDP members on Friday to present their case.

Bitcoin exchange Kraken also sent a message to the LDP’s Chairman of Special Mission Committee on IT Strategy, offering to share the company’s knowledge of bitcoin and the exchange business.

 Japanese bitcoin users will have to sit patiently and wait to see what happens next. The government has not specified a timeframe for release of conclusions but will probably mull over the details for some time.

[gpucoolingmethod]

You post like crazy for the last couple weeks news sometimes trivial ones, but don't even bother posting the biggest Bitcoin news of the year??? 

Satoshi Nakamoto just got revealed by Newsweek.

http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/bitcoin-satoshi-nakamoto.html

The site says Ive reached limit of 5 articles when Ive never ever visited them and expects me to pay 10usd for it.I guess you are some affiliate that failed to make the url link affiliated

Ive found the info on arsetechnica though and you cant be really sure if he isnt just a guy who wants to be famous claiming his the inventor

[MICRO]

You post like crazy for the last couple weeks news sometimes trivial ones, but don't even bother posting the biggest Bitcoin news of the year??? 

Satoshi Nakamoto just got revealed by Newsweek.

http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/bitcoin-satoshi-nakamoto.html

The site says Ive reached limit of 5 articles when Ive never ever visited them and expects me to pay 10usd for it.I guess you are some affiliate that failed to make the url link affiliated

Ive found the info on arsetechnica though and you cant be really sure if he isnt just a guy who wants to be famous claiming his the inventor

I was away for 24h . I posted that up there.

And as for Sathoshi. He would never use his real name when he wanted to stay anonymous. That guy is just in wrong place at wrong time , with WRONG name . He is not real Satoshi .

[MICRO]

One Does Not Simply Find Satoshi Nakamoto
Nermin Hajdarbegovic | Published on March 7, 2014 at 15:04 GMT | Analysis, Events, News, Technology

Newsweek’s decision to out Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto as the creator of bitcoin appears to be backfiring spectacularly.

Nakamoto was quick to deny that he was the ‘real’ Satoshi Nakamoto and he attributed the misunderstanding to his less than perfect command of the English language.

He told the Associated Press that he refused to discuss his employment with Newsweek reporter Leah McGrath Goodman because he had signed confidentiality agreements, not because he was involved in the development of bitcoin.

If unfounded, Newsweek’s scoop could very quickly turn into a PR nightmare, as the magazine ran the report in its re-launched print edition. Perhaps Newsweek was simply too eager to get a scoop for the big day?

Back to the stone age

Newsweek is not the first publication to try and reveal the identity of the mystery man. What was so different this time around?

First of all, bitcoin is bigger and better-known, used frequently as headline ’link bait’. Secondly, this was not the work of blogger or a niche website. Newsweek has quite a reputation, or at least it used to.

Six years ago Satoshi Nakamoto was just another anonymous member of the P2P Foundation, so 2008 would be a good place to start. Back then nobody knew bitcoin would become a global phenomenon, so anonymity wasn’t such a big deal.

Satoshi Nakamoto had a simple user profile and claimed to be a 37-year-old Japanese man. The community didn’t exactly buy it, as certain details did not add up. His English was good and sometimes he used British English. Judging by the time he made his posts, the mystery man probably resided in the Americas, not Japan.

On the other hand, bitcoin.org was registered using a Japanese anonymous registration service and it was hosted by a Japanese ISP.

Several developers were working on digital currencies and e-cash technology even before Nakamoto published his bitcoin whitepaper. Most of them were not anonymous and even today there are people in the bitcoin community who claim that these crypto pioneers are the real Satoshi.

Nick Szabo, Hal Finney, Wei Dai and several other developers were among those who were periodically named in media reports and online discussions.

They all insist they are not Nakamoto.

Media reports start to emerge

As bitcoin took off, the media started taking notice and another round of speculation ensued. In 2011 an investigative journalist identified three patent holders as Nakamoto. All three denied they were involved.

The same year, The New Yorker ran a story claiming that a few Dublin-based scholars including Dr Vili Lehdonvirta could be behind bitcoin, but once again the claim was followed by denials.

The list of potential Satoshis continued to expand. Eventually it started looking like the “who’s who” of bitcoin. Founder of Mt. Gox Jed McCaleb was eventually named, along with several scholars, core developers such as Finney, crypto specialists and just about everyone else who could remotely fit the profile.

Interestingly, all ‘suspects’ were men – we’re still waiting for the first female Satoshi.

Conspiracy theorists join the fun

Rampant speculation in a fact-free environment is an invitation to conspiracy theorists, thus a number of whacky and rather amusing theories have emerged over the years.

Some insist the DARPA is behind bitcoin, while others maintain it was created by the NSA, or any of a number of secretive government agencies that have the brains and resources to develop cutting-edge crypto technologies. One theory alleges the ‘real’ Satoshi is in fact NSA researcher Tasuaki Okamoto.

Since conspiracy theorists have a penchant for one-world governments and global domination, some claim bitcoin was in fact created by the IMF to serve as a global currency.

Others point to central banks, financial institutions or tech companies.

It doesn’t really matter, does it?

Satoshi Nakamoto left the world of bitcoin in 2010, saying he is moving on to new projects. He handed everything over to the bitcoin community, the source code repository, the domains – everything but his bitcoins. Nakamoto is still believed to hold about one million coins, which would have made him a billionaire when bitcoin peaked.

A few hours after Newsweek outed Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, the ‘real’ Nakamoto logged into his disused P2P Foundation account and left a simple message:

“I am not Dorian Nakamoto.”

Nicolas Mendoza from P2P Foundation took to reddit, saying the foundation is in the process of verifying whether Satoshi’s post is legitimate. He said an official statement will be issued in the coming hours.

But in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter? The real Satoshi clearly does not want the attention – if he dropped everything in 2010, when bitcoin was still a geekish curiosity, he surely does not want it now.

The community loves the bitcoin mystique and if he ever comes forward, much of the romantic mystery surrounding bitcoin will be gone for good. Other than a few headlines, the world of bitcoin wouldn’t gain much, yet Nakamoto would lose his privacy and peace of mind. In other words, it is not going to happen.

That said, he could make an appearance without revealing his true identity. After all, he seem to be pretty good at that sort of thing – and he wouldn’t have to develop a proof-of-identity protocol to make it happen.

[ponjava]

Security Regulation Within the Crypto Currency Business

 Neal Hook  07/03/2014


In recent weeks, the crypto currency sector has been getting much media attention concerning security. Several exchanges have announced they are undergoing security investigations into possible hacking, resulting in the loss of many bitcoins. This brings into question what security measures are in place.
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Information Security Fundamentals

Within the information security profession, high focus is placed on confidentiality, integrity and availability of information and their systems. Confidentiality is about who or what has access to information stored within the system and when. The information does not need to be personal, it could be configuration logs or source code that may be useful to another party. Integrity is about systems that information passing through, or is stored upon, do not accidentally change or misconstrue the information thereby misinforming the person or system and causing bad decisions. Lastly availability is about ensuring information is available on demand and systems are resilient enough to overcome any problems that may prevent access. So what does this all mean to ourselves as end users of crypto currency? We want to ensure our personal information; passwords and accounting transactions are kept confidential, this is one reason some end users use crypto currency. Secondly, we don’t want our accounts to become corrupt or some badly structured code to alter our balance sheets. Lastly, we don’t want to be denied access to our funds when we most want it.

What is Regulation and Why?

Within the fiscal finance sector there’s regulation governing how financial information must be gathered, processed and stored. Regulation includes frameworks such as Sarbanes Oxley that was implemented partially in response to the Enron Corporation, who filed for bankruptcy in 2001. This regulation is designed to protect Investors and Customers of services operating within financial markets. Using Sarbanes Oxley as an example, when integrated into an organization, it brings transparency enabling people to make a decision on the organizations financial standing and internal business processes. Regulatory reports enable people to decide whether they want to exchange business with an organization.  The issue within the crypto currency sector is there’s no specific specialist regulator present, leaving end users heavily reliant upon other laws and regulations local to countries where services are performed. These regulations may not be suitable for someone trading from overseas and could have no process for recall if a problem occurred. We as a sector need to agree on a common set of security standards that will minimize re-occurrences witnessed this year.

The Sectors First Step Towards Regulation

During this last week in response to the Mt.Gox closure, some major exchanges announced they would be publishing independent security reports providing assurance their systems were appropriately secured. This is a welcoming message that shows some exchanges are moving forward to ensure security best practices are implemented and functioning as intended. But for the exchanges which have not announced their intention to go through an independent review it could be crippling to their business as Customers move their accounts elsewhere.

What it Means to Us?

So what does it all mean to end users? We should be diligent in whom we select as our currency exchange and online wallet providers. We should place more focus upon systems our transactions pass through and data is stored upon has suitable security controls in place to safeguard our coins. By taking this time and insisting upon specific standards being abided by, user demand should dictate to the sector what we expect and, therefore, minimize the chances of another major catastrophe.

[ponjava]

Breaking – “Satoshi Nakomoto” Breaks Long Silence To Deny Being Dorian Nakomoto

 Gordon Hall  07/03/2014


Satoshi Nakomoto, the creator of Bitcoin apparently broke two years of silence to deny Newsweek’s claim to having discovered his real identity.

On the P2P Foundation forum on which he initially announced Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakomoto (or someone with access to his account) simply stated, “I am not Dorian Nakomoto.”
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/p2p-foundation.jpg
p2p-foundationThis denial, echoing Dorian Nakomoto’s recent denial to the Associated Press, serves to muddy the waters further as to Satoshi Nakomoto’s true identity.

profileIt seems the wider Bitcoin community remains skeptical of Newsweek’s story, requiring as proof either a message signed with Satoshi Nakomoto’s PGP key or some movement of Bitcoin from early addresses likely belonging to Satoshi.
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[ponjava]

Taxi Coin, a coin going places

 David Boveington-Fauran  07/03/2014

http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/taxicoin-logo-150x150.png

[/size]I requested information from the team behind Taxi coin, and the team was kind enough to answer my questions. However, when yours truly asked for a name to put in the article…I got “Chad B.”  very cloak and dagger!!

taxicoin-logo

Who is behind Taxi coin?


We are a group of like-minded people located in several countries around the world and have been growing the team and support since we launched. We are developers, producers, engineers, nerds, and citizens. We also all really love Crypto and Taxis!

Why did you create a coin specifically for taxis?


It seemed like a natural fit to begin a coin that could be focused on a market that has strong smartphone adoption in a lot of the world (i.e. apps like Hailo, Getacab, Uber). The idea of having a pay with Bitcoin button within those types of apps is very close (upon us it appears) and the extension of that is a specific coin which could be used in Taxi transportation.

Are you mostly targeting the US market? 


When it comes to Taxis, there are a few cities in the world that stand out and NYC is at the top of our list so we believe the coin will first begin to appear in NYC, London, possibly Seoul. Places where there is a thriving TAXI industry and high smartphone adoption. We are currently doing tests for POS system integration and app development to have TAXI COIN able to roll into other applications as easily as possible for the developers who want to use it. The wallet for Android and iOS is in beta, and we are excited to release it soon.

Why have 50% of the 56 million coins mined now and the rest over 12 years? 


We want the coins in circulation. Plain and simple. Miners who get in now will have a vested interest as we move forward with the apps and collaboration. We want the coins in circulation because our plans and hopes for the coin work best where there are lots of coins in use.Also, we felt that giving miners a chance to get this coin at such an accelerated pace would increase miner interest and hopefully help grow the community.

What exchanges do you plan to be on?

Coinedup, Cryptoaltex, Cryptsy eventually. We are really thrilled to get TAXI COIN onto an exchange soon. We were working with an exchange in beta, but it has yet to be stable enough to add TAXI. We are pursuing several leads and avenues to get TAXI listed, but we feel that before too long the exchanges will see that there is interest, potential, a serious dev team, and money to be made by listing the coin.

What would you answer to those saying it is a pump and dump coin?


We did not create the coin to pump and dump, which is why we aren’t paying to have it listed somewhere and forgotten about. We believe that people will see the potential of this coin especially once the first mobile wallet, app integration, driver payment integration, and TAXI COIN store (trade TAXI into gift cards and items beyond crypto). We have plans for this coin that go way beyond a few days or weeks. With all the coins coming out now, we want TAXI to be different and are trying to demonstrate our intent with our actions and efforts. The future of TAXI is bright and who knows where it will lead but we know that we are going to work very hard at the TAXI COIN foundation to build the community and belief in this coin.

Do you intend to have as Dogecoin a PR machine?

We love Doge and think it is a great coin, but we aren’t necessarily pushing to mirror their approach. Integrating the coin into mobile payment systems and mobile wallets is one of our biggest goals at the moment as is having the coin listed on a quality exchange to start. We are building a PR machine and right now twitter and forums are the best way to engage community.

[ponjava]

Trust Your Mining Service Providers

 Neal Hook  07/03/2014

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As more demands are placed upon us, human nature naturally takes the path of least resistance, maybe starting to cut corners and eventually something bad happens. When running mining rigs producing £80.00 / $120 a day each, any impact normally means a financial loss.

mining network
Diagram describing how a mining network inter operates with other networks
When you look at how a typical mining infrastructure fits together, you get a high level architectural picture similar to the one on the right.

Reviewing the diagram, the picture becomes clear out of five potentially joined networks a Miners’ transactions flow through, there is only one where the Miner has full control.  Beyond the Miner’s Local Area Network (LAN), the Miner has no control over any transactions and relies upon the trust of technology and others.

The question has to be asked, when you consider the integrity and availability of your mining empire, do you trust the systems and people you do business with beyond your own network?

Do we trust the Internet?

Naturally, no one should trust the internet. The crypto currency development teams have done a good job of ensuring transactions are resilient and can’t be tampered with. In terms of confidentiality, we know the traffic may be monitored and recorded. But because no directly identifiable personal information is contained, other than maybe a source IP address, you can be assured your identity is safe.

The mining pool

As difficulty rates increase, the mining pool becomes one of the key components to the mining infrastructure. The question is, how well do you know the owner of your mining pool? Are you aware of how secure the infrastructure is where the mining pool resides? For example, what would happen if a disk drive containing the central wallet were to fail? Does your mining pool include protection against a Distributed Denial of Service (DOS) attack? There are some controls we can put into place such as using balanced pool settings within our mining software and only use supplied DDOS protected pool addresses.

The key question with the mining pool is what security controls are beyond what the eye can see? My worse fear for any Miner is that they’re unknowingly using a mining pool that resides in someones lounge or garage where they experience severe weather, resulting in the equipment becoming wet. The consequence to the Miner is the central wallet containing thousands of their coins has been destroyed.

The crypto currency exchange

The one thing that upsets me is when you see a mining pool that says, “If you don’t have a wallet address, sign up to Cryptsy and use one of their addresses provided”. There’s two things wrong with this. First of all, online currency exchanges sometimes are incorrectly recognized as an online wallet which is not the purpose it’s intended. Secondly you have no control over your funds and totally rely upon the currency exchange solution architects getting the design right first time. In the cyber world, risks are continuously changing and what was a secure design yesterday could be compromised tomorrow. You should always keep your crypto coins stored on your own network, where you can rest assured they are safely backed up. (You perform backups, right?)

When using the currency exchange, the key thing to remember is only to deposit funds when you need to exchange and withdraw everything once completed.

The online wallet
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uk_bank_administration_crowds_flock
Back in 2009, several large UK banks and building societies went into administration without warning as a result of the global recession.
There’s a simple theory here. If you have a wallet with a thousand pounds contained, would you leave it with someone who has a shiny website claiming to be number one and has so much business they’ll still be there tomorrow ready for you to collect it. Plus, the website owner is on the other side of the ocean according to the address on their website. I remember back during the global banking crisis when it came on the news that banks in the UK who had been trusted for years were going into administration. Suddenly news reports came on screen showing hundreds of people queued outside waiting to withdraw their funds. These banks had been resident on the high street for so long, people naturally trusted they would be there tomorrow. What would happen if your online wallet provider turned off their website? Where would you start? People often out of convenience use online wallets as zero percent interest savings accounts without remembering what occurred back in 2009. I urge you not to use online wallets as savings accounts, simply store enough funds to get you through a normal day and keep everything else at home.

What is the one size fits all solution?

Quite simply there is no one size fits all, but I can offer you advice and guidance. When thinking about your network and miners, if you have only the one miner then can you put it somewhere safe like at the back of a cupboard. I used to keep mine in the attic until it leaked, so speaking from experience here! If you have many miners, would now be the time to consider using a datacentre? Many mining vendors are now providing hosted facilities that offer a fantastic support infrastructure.

When dealing with any service provider based on the internet; whether its a mining pool; currency exchange or; an online wallet, you must always obtain a second opinion from trusted source. You should always be able to speak to one of the service provider staff at the very least. These service providers should be as easy to communicate with as your own bank, because, at the end of the day, they are all custodians of your financial wealth.

Lastly, when you store coins at home ensure you regularly back it up, then copy the backup. Where I work is physically secure, so once I’ve backed up all of my wallets I then take a copy of the memory stick and lock it within my drawer at work. The original copy I keep in my safe. The worst case is someone has robbed the safe from my house, followed me to work, beaten the security guards up, got past my colleagues, found my desk with the keys accidentally left in and then must work out what unmarked memory stick contains my wallet. Then they need to interrogate me for the encryption password. The chances of this happening are nearly nil; therefore, I can sleep knowing my crypto currency is secure.

[MICRO]

Hiding in Plain View, Too Much Secrecy, and Where Next for Space-Bound Twins?
John Law (@scotonomist) | Published on March 7, 2014 at 16:30 GMT | Analysis, News

Welcome to the CoinDesk Weekly Review 7th March 2014 – a regular look at the hottest, most thought-provoking and most controversial events in the world of digital currency through the eyes of scepticism and wonder.

Your host … John Law.

There’s a clue in the name

Dorian Satoshi NakamotoEven in the Internet hall of mirrors that has replaced much journalism, the story seemed too bizarre to be taken seriously. After years of rumour, speculation and answerless questions – could it really be true? Could this mysterious entity, known only from historical documents, claim and counter-claim, finally have stumbled into the light?

Yes. It is true. Newsweek really does exist.

That’s all that can be said for sure at the moment. Although Newsweek itself has made an equally incredible claim, that it traced Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto by looking up people called Satoshi Nakamoto, actual evidence is thin.

That the paper had found someone by that name living in southern California is undeniable, and he has led the sort of life that someone who invented bitcoin could have led. A 60-something model train obsessive who lives with his mother in secluded retirement after a career in secretive technical engineering? If it wasn’t for the fact John Law knows many equally qualified eccentrics – the tech world has no shortage of the species –  it’d be a slam-dunk.

However, having made some initially ambiguous statements when doorstepped by the Newsweek reporter, Mr Nakamoto has most recently denied everything in exchange for sushi. Admirable man. It’s not really the action of someone sitting on a hoard of nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of early-mined bitcoin, which block chain analysis suggests belongs to the creator. But then, there are plenty of stories of threadbare recluses who die leaving enormous and unexpected wealth.

You can, in short, believe what you want to believe. And John Law believes that Newsweek’s mega-scoop falls some way short of sealing the deal it promises.

It would be entirely fitting if bitcoin, an anonymous system that works entirely in the open by hiding nothing, was created by an anonymous genius who lives the same way. But it doesn’t matter. Bitcoin as a once-in-a-lifetime invention stands apart, and it’s not as if there’s any reasonable expectation that its creator can come up with another; nor that, having invented it, the creator will have any particular insight into its subsequent career.

Like the admirable Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the web, the best that can be hoped for is a mild celebrity and a muted amount of influence in subsequent events.

Which means the converse is also true – there is no abdication of responsibility in choosing to exempt oneself, tick the ‘no-publicity’ box and vanish silently away. Privacy seems an awfully small price to ask in exchange for such a valuable gift, although fame rarely works that way.

If Satoshi Nakamoto really is Satoshi Nakamoto and not just Satoshi Nakamoto – or even if he isn’t – then he should be left alone unless he chooses otherwise.

Amid all this confusion, John Law trusts that this at least is clear enough.

That’s torn it

EavesdroppingFurther to privacy, there is news that a future version of bitcoin will use the Tor network for transactions. This will have the advantage, says the developer, that transactions will be not only encrypted but that their passage across the Internet will be untraceable and untappable – even by the NSA and GCHQ.

There’s a lot of truth in that: Edward Snowden’s copious notes from inside the heart of the NSA (themselves delivered to the Guardian and the New York Times via Tor) revealed that those organisations couldn’t crack Tor, didn’t expect to, and didn’t much like the fact. And Silk Road operated entirely inside the Tor network and proved untraceable – its demise came through poor security in the real world.

Although there have been various semi-successful attacks against elements of Tor, which works by shuffling messages between lots of nodes that only know about their immediate neighbours, it remains a very high quality guarantee of network privacy.

It may not, however, be a good fit for bitcoin. John Law has used Tor from time to time, not to evade detection or commit seditious acts, but by way of experiment. It’s not been a good experience. Despite much work by the Tor Project in building software that disguises the underlying complexity, it can be a frustrating business getting it going and quite slow in operation. You may have 120-Mbps broadband, but expect that to drop by 95%.

It’s also quite nerve-wracking. If you elect to become a node, which means your computer can be used by the network to relay packets, then you run the risk of being the point at which an anonymous, untraceable user’s requests finally decloak and hit the unprotected Internet. Which, if that user is transferring illegal images or other unmentionables, can lead the plod to your door with some awkward questions to answer. But without a lot of nodes, Tor doesn’t work well.

Bitcoin is already robustly secure, most certainly for the vast majority of users who aren’t up to anything interesting or dangerous and just want to use it in their everyday lives.

What it isn’t, yet, is particularly painless to use. It needs more simplicity before it gets more security: the two aspects must be in balance at each stage in bitcoin’s development to get the sort of widespread traction it needs to fulfil its potential.

Adding Tor right now, although John Law completely understands the reasoning, will not help the balance that’s needed right now.

In any case, if you want to use bitcoin via Tor, you can do so – just drop by the Tor Project and download some software. Give it a whirl. It will make your online life more private but – unless you’re a Chinese dissident or like annoying the NSA – not that much better.

As the Dead Kennedys said (ask your grandfather) – “Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death”. Human nature is as much a factor in network privacy as uncrackable encryption. It’s just much harder to engineer.

Space – not quite the final frontier

Space twinsAnd further to human nature – it’s not that hard to see why the Winklevii twins attract so much opprobrium. Privileged, handsome and prone to grandiose claims that never quite got tested in court, their rebirth as bitcoin entrepreneurs can be seen either as far-sighted techno-economic acumen or another monstrous ego trip. Feel free to choose.

“I hope it’s one-way”, grumbled one of John Law’s less generous colleagues on hearing that the Winklevii had not only bought two tickets on Richard Branson’s “this year, I promise” Virgin Galactic space tourism plane, but they’d done so with the world’s favourite cyber-cash. Although he hates to disappoint the disaffected, John Law had to point out that since the craft wasn’t going into orbit, the one thing that is guaranteed is that it and all aboard will return to Earth quite swiftly – although in what state remains to be seen.

It’s a bit worrying, however, that the number of things one cannot buy with bitcoin is dwindling rapidly, which could lead to a price crash as the free publicity available to anyone in commerce in exchange for setting up a bitcoin wallet disappears completely. If you can buy cars, cannabis, politicians, plots of land, space trips, wine, women and song – what on earth is left in life?

So far, the only major asset not yet exchanged for the demon digital dosh seems to be companies. John Law ardently recommends this to Cameron and Tyler, once they return safely to land, as it may be their last chance to be really, really annoying in an innovative way. It’s probably best to pick an organisation beloved by the liberal chatterati: the Guardian newspaper, perhaps, or a micro-finance company working in developing nations with an explicit social remit.

The finder’s fee will be modest by Winklevossian standards – a mere handful of million dollars.

Bitcoin, naturally, is entirely acceptable.

John Law is an 18th Century Scottish entrepreneur, financial engineer and gambler. Having reformed the French economy, invented paper currency, state banks, the Mississippi Bubble and other ideas essential to modern economics, he took 300 years off in a small cottage outside Bude. He has returned to write for CoinDesk on the foibles of digital currency.

[MICRO]

Butterfly Labs Delays Continue, 28nm Monarch Delivery Pushed Back to April
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 7, 2014 at 18:27 GMT | Butterfly Labs, Companies, Mining, News, Technology

Kansas-based bitcoin mining supply firm Butterfly Labs has announced that deployment of its 28nm Monarch mining ASIC will be delayed roughly four weeks.

The most recent setback means those who ordered units, some more than six months ago, will need to wait until April to receive their products.

Butterfly Labs informed the community of the news in a statement on 4th March, which explained that the delay is the result of an issue with the top metal layer of its chips.

Jeff Ownby, the company’s VP of marketing and corporate communications, elaborated on the problem in an interview, suggesting that this will be the last roadblock to delivery.

Said Ownby:

“The metal [layer] as designed for [our] 65nm [unit] doesn’t necessarily copyover to [the] 28nm [unit]. [...] Everything else that’s depending on us putting together a final product is in stock and ready to go, it’s just a matter of getting the chips back and putting them on the boards.”

Josh Zerlan, the company’s VP of product development, also moved to calm frustrated buyers, revealing they would ultimately receive a unit that boasts power consumption numbers that are “better than anticipated”, and that some customers would be eligible for full refunds and delay compensation.

Announced in August, the 28nm Monarch unit has been delayed since September when optimism was high that production issues would soon be ironed out. At the time, the company was already developing a reputation for delays and delivery issues, but said it expected the first run of shipments to begin in January or February.

The latest announcement will likely do little to quell concerns about further setbacks.

Performance upgrades

Though he acknowledged some consumers will be disappointed about the delay, Ownby moved to put the focus on the improved product Butterfly Labs’ buyers will receive.

Ownby said Butterfly Labs expects the Monarch unit to consume 0.45W/GH, down from the 0.6W/GH originally announced. According to Ownby, this means the end result will be a chip that is less power hungry and more economical than those offered by competitors.

Explaining the significance of the change, Zerlan said:

“To put this in perspective, this makes the Monarch chip nearly twice as power efficient as compared to our 28nm competition whose products operate between 0.9W/GH and 1.0W/GH at the wall.”

Delay compensation

In an attempt to assuage customers, buyers who ordered 600 GH Monarchs prior to a reduction in price on 28th November will be given the Imperial Monarch, a high-performance version of the card. The original asking price for the 600 GH Monarch was $4,680, but this retail cost has since been reduced to $2,196.

Individuals who have been waiting for less than six months for their order, but paid the full original amount will receive an Imperial Monarch, as well as a 50% off voucher for an additional standard Monarch unit to be delivered at the end of the current queue.

Those who have been waiting for their order for more than six months can elect to receive a full refund in US dollars or double the amount of hardware they ordered.

The post details:

“This latter option will come in the form of (a) first shipping you the new Imperial Monarch, giving you an expected 160-175% of your ordered hashrate, and then (b) an additional Standard 600 GH Monarch at the end of the queue, giving you another 100% hashrate boost, totaling an expected 250+% of your ordered hashrate once all products have shipped.”

Customers who ordered the 300 GH Monarch at full price are now eligible for additional offers, though the full details of available compensation plans are not yet available.

Changing industry to blame

The news of yet another delay angered some customers, though others were less surprised by the announcement given the company’s history of shipment setbacks.

However, Ownby suggested that these buyers should have patience with the company as it works through new issues. In his statements, Ownby evoked comparisons to Butterfly Labs’ performance, which he suggested is on par with its competitors.

“The only thing that you can do when you’re talking about chip development in an industry that’s unknown, is you give it the best case that you possibly can from experience. [...] I don’t think it works out for anybody. Everybody who’s tried to develop a chip has missed their target by some degree. You know it’s just the nature of the way things are.”

Ownby said that his company has been under the microscope, but that this is due in part to the “exaggerated timelines” it works under.

When asked whether delays will become less regular soon, Ownby once again indicated that this would need to be the result of an industry-wide change.

“The one thing that could come out of this at some point is if someone developed a chip and sold it off the shelf, but I don’t see it happening.”

[MICRO]

Bitcoin Payments Removed from Fancy’s iOS App at Apple’s Request
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 7, 2014 at 22:09 GMT | Merchants, News

New York-based social e-commerce website Fancy has removed bitcoin payments from its iOS app at the request of Apple.

The announcement was made in conjunction with its release of Version 3.3.0 of its iOS app on 5th March, and was visible under the “What’s new” portion of the App Store where app updates are displayed.

Fancy has been accepting bitcoin since 23rd January, when it revealed the news to customers via email, thereby becoming one of the largest and most well-funded merchants to accept bitcoin.

The company announced that it would add a bitcoin payment option for both its Android and iOS mobile apps at the time of the launch, and had been enabling customers to make purchases for some time before the shutoff.

Fancy iOS app users confirmed to CoinDesk that BTC buying did function effectively prior to the update. Though, there had been hopes previously that the initial launch might represent a softening in Apple’s stance toward bitcoin.

Wrote one interested bitcoin user in an email to CoinDesk on 4th March:

“Either Apple’s policy towards Bitcoin has changed [or] is changing, or they have made a special exception for Fancy.”

Fancy did respond to CoinDesk requests for comment, but did not elaborate on any interaction with Apple.

Apple’s latest bitcoin snub

The action is unsurprising given Apple’s notorious anti-bitcoin stance, one that was on display in February when it abruptly removed bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain’s wallet app from its App Store.

That decision inspired the bitcoin community to erupt in a somewhat violent display of solidarity against the company’s products, and led to accusations that Apple had abandoned its principles by turning its back on innovation.

Bitcoin wallet and merchant services provider Coinbase’s iOS app was similarly removed on 15h November.

Community angered but unsurprised

The revelation sparked outrage on reddit, though users certainly found the company’s decision consistent with its past actions.

[MICRO]

South Korea Launches its First Two-Way Bitcoin ATM
Jon Southurst (@southtopia) | Published on March 8, 2014 at 12:36 GMT | Bitcoin ATM, Companies, News

South Korea is the latest country to introduce its first bitcoin ATM. Not only is the machine produced locally by a home-grown company, it is also two-way, meaning users can also sell bitcoins and withdraw cash.

The machine, which officially began operating yesterday, sits in the Coffee Sedona cafe in one of Seoul’s largest shopping malls, the Coex Mall which is also close to the Coex Intercontinental Hotel and a casino in the city’s world famous Gangnam district. For those wanting to buy bitcoins, it accepts cash and credit cards.

It is the result of a joint venture between bitcoin exchange Coinplug and Nautilus Hyosung, the number one ‘regular’ ATM manufacturer in Korea and which also has the world’s fourth largest market share. Coinplug’s Richard Yun said the machine’s launch was well attended by the Korean media.

The machine also has one other key feature, or lack thereof: unlike other two-way bitcoin ATMs, such as the one produced by US company Robocoin, the Coinplug machine does not collect any identification or biometric information from users. Robocoin, as what it calls a security feature, requires photo ID and takes a palm vein scan of users, although the company says this information is not uploaded to a database anywhere and that palm vein scans function like a secondary PIN, representing the “most anonymous biometric on the market”.


South-Korea-ATM

Yun said the company was able to produce a two-way machine thanks mainly to the South Korean government’s light touch approach to bitcoin regulation so far. The government, like many others, has declared bitcoin is not a currency and will not regulate it, and has not made any attempts to restrict its use.



Coinplug has been busy in Korea this year, recently launching three separate Android bitcoin apps for merchants and traders, and a wallet app for everyday users. The company has also been funded so far 50% each in bitcoin and fiat currency by its Silicon Valley based partner, new venture capital firm Silverblue.

[MICRO]

Meet Roger Dickinson, The Man Behind California’s Bill to Legalize Bitcoin
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 8, 2014 at 12:49 GMT | News, Regulation, US & Canada

In the world of digital currency, misinformation spreads quickly, and there may be no greater recent example of this than California Assembly Bill 129, a piece of proposed legislation that has been heralded somewhat incorrectly as an already successful move by the state to “legalize cryptocurrencies“.

Though, the bill would recognize digital currencies as “lawful money”, it would also ensure the legal footing of additional forms of legal tender such as points and coupons, and is currently only halfway to becoming law.

Regardless, many in the digital currency community have high hopes that AB 129 and AB 786 (a bill passed in September that lowered capital requirements for money transmitters) signal that California will be among the more progressive US jurisdictions when it comes to digital currency.

With this in mind, CoinDesk set out to speak to California Assemblymember Roger Dickinson, the man who introduced both laws, to determine the extent to which the bills were crafted for the still-nascent industry.

However, if bitcoiners were hoping for a more progressive alternative to New York’s Benjamin Lawsky, Dickinson doesn’t exactly fit the mantle.

An advocate for a wide range of issues from job creation to climate change, Dickinson isn’t exactly a bitcoin expert, and he indicates that the laws were not made specifically for virtual currencies. Rather, he said they’re meant to address the sweeping changes that mobile and digital forms of payments are bringing in all their forms.

Dickinson explained:

“It wasn’t so much setting out to look at the issue of alternative currency, it was more evolutionary, leading into the breadth of the subject matter that suggested to us you couldn’t ignore alternative currencies.”

A neutral approach

Dickinson described his state’s approach to digital currency as “neutral”, stating that the bills don’t expressly advocate for the survival or demise of bitcoin.

Said Dickinson:

“We’re not trying to deter or advance the development of alternative currencies. We’re trying to say that to the extent that alternative currencies are developed and in use, we will consider that to be a legally acceptable activity in California.”

Most notable is another thing AB 129 doesn’t do, which is regulate alternative digital currencies. Dickinson indicated that any regulation would need to come from the California Department of Business Oversight and commissioner Jan Owen, who notably has worked for Apple and JPMorgan.

Dickinson did suggest that the issue may be further addressed by California, but stated that he believes digital currency regulation may need federal attention.

Personal exploration

A newcomer to the field, Dickinson said that he first learned of bitcoin when developing AB 786. At the time, the California Committee on Banking and Finance had begun looking broadly at digital payment systems, but he said that digital currencies stood out as “intriguing and unavoidable”.

The lawmaker revealed he was surprised by the research, stating:

“Even though there had been actually relatively recent regulation in 2009 establishing guidelines and requirements for money transmission, the practice of money transmission had evolved so rapidly over the course of three years that there was a need to revisit the subject.”

The result has been two bills attempting to bring guidelines up to speed. Yet, Dickinson doesn’t see his legislation as part of the larger digital currency movement, saying he hasn’t looked at how New York regulators are moving on the issue.

Further, he said he hasn’t spoken to any local bitcoin businesses, despite California being a hotbed for innovation in the field.

The future of AB 129

The assemblyman said that though digital currencies have become a lightning rod for controversy, events regarding the now-bankrupt Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, are unlikely to threaten the bill.

Though, Dickinson didn’t rule out that another event could potentially compound the situation and raise additional questions before the end of March or April, when it is expected to be heard in the Senate.

“I think in the end, people will see that what we’re doing is simply that alternative currencies are something we need to recognize out there in the world, and that we shouldn’t have some archaic prescription that applies.”

Even if bitcoin does collapse, Dickinson reasons, that’s not to say that other digital currencies won’t go on. For now, it seems, California is preparing for any and all conclusions.