Bitcoin

The biggest Bitcoin win in gambling history

"In just one weekend of furious gambling, a single Internet high roller has taken home close to 11,000 bitcoins—or about $1.3 million. The man, known online as Nakowa, has turned one of Bitcoin’s most popular and profitable casinos into a loser. What no one can figure out: Is he a cheater, a genius, or the luckiest man on earth? Just-Dice.com, a European-based cybercasino offering a set of dice games played for the highly valuable digital currency Bitcoin, has been on a roller coaster ride. Nakowa’s weekend started on a losing streak that made Just-Dice richer than it had ever been, causing the site to hit its highest single profit point of all time (7,000 bitcoins or $862,400 on hand)." Continue reading →

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Atlantis: Online Drug Black Market Shuts Its Doors

"One of the sites that was more or less a copy of The Silk Road and the second largest online black market, The Atlantis Market, was forced to shut their doors for good due to 'security' reasons. Atlantis offered black market, anonymous items, in exchange for Bitcoin and Litecoin. Users will have one week to withdraw any of their funds before the market shuts down permanently. Below is a statement from the Atlantis team." Continue reading →

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BitPagos Uses Merchant Processing To Bring Bitcoin To Argentina

"Argentina’s currency troubles have been well documented for years. With inflation between 10 and 11% per year for most of the past decade, Argentinians have actively looked to subvert the country’s strict capital controls and obtain alternative stores of value. Historically, that has meant underground dealing in USD and EUR, but more recently has led to interest in the largely-unregulated world of bitcoin. BitPagos, a Latin American payment processing company in the latest class of the Boost.vc Accelerator, is capitalizing on that interest by adding bitcoin to their processing options." Continue reading →

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Around the World with Bitcoin

"We are thrilled to announce a trip around the world on bitcoin as part of our documentary film! Trip dates: October 12th - November 3rd Week #1: We will drive across the United States from our home Provo, Utah to New York City with multiple cities in between. Week #2: We will fly to Europe and specifically visit the glorious cities of Stockholm, Sweden and Berlin, Germany. Week #3: We will fly from Berlin to Singapore and spend a week in Asia. November 3rd: We will arrive back in Salt Lake City having circled the globe and paying for the trip with the world's first decentralized, digital currency, bitcoin!" Continue reading →

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Monetary Authority of Singapore warns on ‘unregulated’ bitcoin

"The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is cautioning consumers against bitcoin trading even as a few merchants in Singapore have started accepting the digital currency as payment for physical goods. Invented in 2009, bitcoin is the world's most well-known digital currency. It is not issued or managed by a single company or monetary authority. Bitcoins can be bought through online exchanges that convert real money into the virtual currency. Due to its anonymous nature, bitcoin trading was declared illegal in Thailand in July over money laundering concerns. An MAS spokesman told The Straits Times that consumers should be wary of such trading." Continue reading →

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For Virtual Prospectors, Life in the Bitcoin Mines Gets Real

"Aubrey McIntosh has taken up mining in his spare time, and he's finding it hard and hot—even if it's prospecting for a virtual currency and a computer is doing all of the work. Mr. McIntosh, a semiretired chemistry professor in Morris, Minn., is among the growing ranks of enthusiasts who use powerful computers to 'mine,' in insider parlance, 'bitcoins,' an unregulated digital currency. Mr. McIntosh keeps his specialized computer, which he said cost about $1,500 and is custom-built to find bitcoins, near the chimney flue in his basement to try to get rid of all the heat it generates." Continue reading →

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Homeless, Unemployed, and Surviving on Bitcoins

"The internet provides the extra money he needs to buy a meal each and every day. Since setting up a bitcoin wallet about three or four months ago, he has earned somewhere between four or five bitcoins — about $500 to $630 today — through YouTube videos, Bitcoin Tapper, and the occasional donation. And when he does odd jobs for people around Pensacola — here in the physical world — he still gets paid in bitcoin, just because it’s easier and safer. He doesn’t have to worry as much about getting robbed. Jesse Angle isn’t your average homeless person. But he shows that bitcoin is changing the world in more ways than you might imagine." Continue reading →

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Swiss socialist politician asks government to create report on bitcoin

"Jean Cristophe Schwaab of the Swiss Socialist Party said he is concerned about the potential of bitcoin. 'At the moment, I have no idea, but a Swiss journalist recently bought drugs from Silk Road using bitcoins, so I think the state needs to make an intervention,' he added. The 34-year-old said bitcoin came to his attention because he has a strong interest in internet policy, data protection and new online trends. He has also come across bitcoin in his work as a unionist for bankers – he is on the executive board of the Swiss Bank Employees’ Association. He said the only people in Switzerland who know about bitcoin are 'geeks, criminals and special police units'." Continue reading →

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Canadian Mint ready to test its own digital money project

"MintChip is 'the future of money,' according to the Mint’s promotional video, which goes on to present it as a digital version that would be legal tender, just like physical dollars and cents. You would hold it on a smartphone or other electronic device, just like a wallet. And according to the Mint’s Mr. Brûlé, the money could be used just as easily whether you’re shopping at a conventional bricks-and-mortar retailer, on-line or at your neighbour’s garage sale, though your neighbour would of course need a properly equipped smartphone. Mr. Brûlé sees it as part of the leading edge of a tsunami in mobile technology that is now washing over our society." Continue reading →

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