"In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss bitcoin barbarians at the gate as U.S. cedes dominance to China and as nations and people around the world reject U.S. made technology due to NSA spying. In the second half, Max interviews Karl Gray and Austin Craig about the documentary film, Life On Bitcoin, and about the latest in crypto-currencies, including Litecoin." Continue reading →
"The euro dropped against the dollar Wednesday on yet another signal that the European Central Bank is considering more unconventional policies at the same time that the Federal Reserve has shown a willingness to slow its bond purchases. Such central-bank inspired moves are absent from bitcoin by design; the virtual currency has no central bank and is created through a process called mining. So without monetary policy as a driver, what’s behind the big moves? Surging demand in China, growing legitimacy in the U.S. as demonstrated byhearings in the Senate, the closure of the bitcoin-only drug market Silk Road, and an open-ended bitcoin trust run by SecondMarket." Continue reading →
"BitPay CEO Tony Gallippi also presented, and argued against regulation. He recommended that Congress take the same approach to bitcoin as they did to the commercial Internet in the early nineties: wait and see. 'If America is the leader in Bitcoin technology, America will create more jobs and more exports,' he said. 'If the United States doesn’t allow our businesses to accept bitcoin and create more jobs and exports, then countries like Germany and China certainly will.' He understood why banks might be nervous about virtual currencies, though, as it is a disruptive technology, which threatens to undermine their business models." Continue reading →
"In this video Luke Rudkowski interviews Jeff Berwick of the dollar vigilante about the future of the U.S economy and the rise of bitcoin. Jeff is a Canadian entrepreneur, economics, finance, investment writer, libertarian and anarcho-capitalist activist." Continue reading →
"The beautiful thing about Bitcoin, digital currency enthusiasts will tell you, is that it doesn't have a central bank. So with eyes on today's Bitcoin Senate hearing, where does the world's most powerful central banker stand on the elusive cryptocurrency? Now we know. Ahead of the meeting, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has released a letter to help guide the senate. Quartz's Zachary Seward called it a 'cautious blessing,' with Bernanke acknowledging the Fed doesn't have the authority to supervise virtual currencies, but that they 'may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.'" Continue reading →
"The Bitcoin virtual currency is up 24.5 percent in 24 hours, touching a new record of $619. The surge is 'the beginning of something spectacular,' with it potentially displacing the dollar, Jeffrey Tucker of the Foundation for Economic Education told RT. 'I think, that’s not a bubble, it represents a substantial paradigm shift,' Tucker said, commenting on the latest boom of the anonymous crypto currency. 'In fact $600 per bitcoin might be a thing of history, we might get it much –much higher,' the expert added. 'The bottom line is that the government currencies are broken at the moment, they don’t meet the modern needs of an internet age and Bitcoin does,' Jeffrey Tucker explained." Continue reading →
"Even the title of Monday’s Senate Committee hearing on bitcoin reflects the overriding concern. 'Beyond Silk Road – Potential Threats, Risks, and Promises of Virtual Currency' brings together several speakers from the government, industry, and non-profit sectors to give their opinions to the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about the potential security risks of the cryptocurrency. Here is a roundup of what to expect from testimony given at the event." Continue reading →
"The US Senate committee due to begin hearings into ‘virtual currencies’ on 18 November has released the responses it received to its August 2013 requests for information on the topic from a number of federal agencies. Until the actual hearings begin, the letters provide one of the most detailed insights so far into how various US government authorities view bitcoin and its contemporaries. The crime-heavy spotlight of the responses might be an indication of the US government’s overall approach to digital currencies such as bitcoin, with only the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department commenting that such payment systems could provide benefit and increase efficiency."
"Currently, the top four bitcoin exchanges by volume are located outside of the US, with the world’s leading exchange based in China. Less than 2% of worldwide bitcoin trading and real-time market making occurs within the US jurisdiction. All four of the world’s leading exchanges have demonstrated a capacity for serious, engaged banking relationships that would have been unobtainable in the United States. We have arrived at the point where the US jurisdiction must strategically evaluate a path going forward. Either they enable a climate that appeals to bitcoin exchanges and businesses or they maintain barriers that silently drive innovation in the space overseas." Continue reading →
"The Bitcoin banking casualty list is a long one: popular Bitcoin – USD exchanges Bitfloor and BitInstant, in New York; Tradehill, in California; and Bitbox, in Michigan, have been out of commission for months. All had registered as money exchangers with the Department of Treasury’s FinCen. Mobile Bitcoin payment company Coinapult moved from Colorado to Panama to avoid the 'murky, unpredictable, and onerous' regulatory environment in the U.S.. Capital One even shut down the merchant account for Mulligan Mint, a commemorative coin maker, when it started making physical Bitcoin silver coins; the business was not in fact dealing with Bitcoins, just making fake models of them." Continue reading →