Bitcoin

Bitcoin Companies and Entrepreneurs Can’t Get Bank Accounts

"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 →

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Savers boosting bitcoin demand in China, exchange says

"A co-founder of China’s biggest bitcoin exchange on Friday said there were 'boundless opportunities' for the digital currency in the country because of the Chinese saving ethic. 'The main reason why bitcoin has become big in China is because Chinese people are savers, and more people are seeing bitcoin as a way to store and invest their money,' Linke Yang, vice-president of BTC China, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Singapore. 'There are boundless opportunities for BTC China and bitcoin in the next five years, you never know with the way the internet develops,' Yang said through an interpreter." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Transcends Novelty Status

"We live in a world of fiat currencies subject to monetary adjustments or downright manipulations that many of us have no say in. Frequently, the decisions that are made for us negatively impact the very foundation that we've worked so hard to build. Bitcoin is a known quantity in a world full of unknowns. It travels globally without the processing fees of PayPal, Western Union or the banking industries. In fact, the current banking systems' loss of processing fees is both a boon to Bitcoin business as well as the reason for the most vocal arguments against it. After all, JP Morgan has to recoup the $8 billion they've received in regulatory fines over the last two years somehow, right?" Continue reading →

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A Propaganda War

"We’ve long imagined that only the state and its central bankers can issue money. The Bitcoin protocol directly challenges that notion. Most importantly, unlike similar inventions before it, Bitcoin can only be stifled. It can never be stopped. Its importance is unequivocal. As Bitcoin continues to spread globally, we, as a community, must grapple with a very challenging and unsettling question of principle: should Bitcoin actively engage the apparatus of state? Bitcoin is getting political. Parties are forming. unSystem, through its Dark Wallet, has ostensibly drawn a line in the sand. There is much at stake. A battle is now on for the protocol and the hearts and minds of we, the 99%." Continue reading →

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American Express Ex-Chief Privacy Officer On ‘The Last Days of Cash’

"Andy Roth, a partner in Dentons' Privacy and Security Group, and Victor Boyajian, a partner in Dentons' Venture Technology Group, explore the evolution of digital payments, virtual currencies and security. The video examines: Bitcoin and other virtual currencies; Regulatory issues in connection to digital payments; The balance between privacy and technological progress; Privacy as a product or feature; and The outlook for consumer payments." Continue reading →

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Here’s Why The Winklevoss Twins LOVE Bitcoin

"'This idea that people aren't betting when they hang on to a dollar is incorrect.' They also love the currency's transparency, explaining that 'there is nothing predictable or transparent about the US dollar. No one has any idea what the Federal Reserve's going to do, how they operate.' Bitcoin, on the other hand, is fixed at 21 million coins that will come out incrementally and predictably over time. 'Bitcoin brings the promise of email to the finance sector. Now it's instant and effectively free to send money anywhere,' the twins said." Continue reading →

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Virtual cash is no threat to the real thing, Bank of Canada paper says

"The case of Bitcoin – a fully convertible, pure digital currency – is more problematic. Earlier this year, the U.S. Treasury department started requiring that all virtual transactions worth more than $10,000 (U.S.) be reported to authorities to prevent virtual currencies being used for money laundering and other illegal purposes. The authors don’t reach a firm conclusion on whether governments should crack down on virtual currencies, pointing out that regulation might stifle innovation. At the same time, they warn that 'multiple competing platforms creates inefficiency' that will dissuade people from embracing them." Continue reading →

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Black Market Dollar Exchange Sparks Argentina Luxury Sales Crackdown

"Argentines who buy a car valued at more than 350,000 pesos ($58,600) will now be required to justify the transaction with the Financial Information Unit, the nation’s money-laundering watchdog, according to a Nov. 11 decree. Argentina is boosting its currency controls as consumers faced with 25 percent annual inflation turn to everything from luxury cars to gold and bitcoins as a store of savings. With the black market offering holders of undeclared U.S. currency 3.8 pesos more than the official exchange rate of 5.9764 pesos per dollar, demand for premium cars from Volkswagen AG’s Porsche and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is causing a 33 percent jump in imports this year." Continue reading →

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Jeffrey Tucker: Has the Fed Met Its Match?

"'It is hard to imagine a world,' says the unimaginative study, 'where the main currency is based on an extremely complex code understood only by a few and controlled by even fewer, without accountability, arbitration, or recourse.' Blink, blink. This is the Fed talking here. Talk about complex. When the Fed governor speaks in Congress, he (soon she) speaks in such a blithering array of econ-babble that no one dare respond, for fear of seeming ignorant. It’s like the first day of an Intro to Physics class. The professor asks if there are questions, and everyone sits in terror. In a half-century of this nonsense, only Ron Paul ever really dared to ask serious questions of the Fed." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin’s UK Future Looks Bleak

"It's depressing that firstly key government departments have not apparently to the best of my knowledge even discussed this potentially revolutionary technology. It's even more depressing that in a democratic society, discussion of policy regarding this technology is conducted in secrecy. HMRC's VAT legislation is already outdated in many areas especially regarding online trade. My confidence that they will appear from behind these doors with legislation based on a firm understanding of Bitcoin is low. These responses also indicate glaring misunderstandings of what Bitcoin is, hilariously the Bank of England wrote back to tell me 'There have been no meetings held at the BoE attended by Bitcoin'." Continue reading →

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