Bitcoin

Banks Get One Last Mulligan in Payments

"In true startup fashion, the bank-owned card brands of Visa and MasterCard eventually had successful IPOs. The inspiration is clearly there. But where are the visionaries in banking now? With the breakthrough development of cryptographic money, banks appear paralyzed about understanding and harnessing its transformative power. This does not bode well for the future of banks. Just as they block and freeze the accounts of competitive money transmitters in the U.S., banks routinely freeze the bank accounts of innocent bitcoin exchanges, hiding behind the rationale that they are being watchful of and adhering to regulator guidelines." Continue reading →

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Internet Drug Dealers Are Really Nice Guys

"The Silk Road is sometimes described as the eBay of illegal drugs. It’s actually more like Etsy, with its do-it-yourself philosophy and friendly community. Just like Etsy, you place your order with a stranger on the other side of the world, pay using electronic money, and in a couple of days, your package arrives. Except that instead of a dream catcher made of hair and toenail clippings, you get heroin! I talked to some of the good people of the Silk Road about Bitcoin and life selling drugs online. They were a little paranoid, understandably, but surprisingly accommodating too." Continue reading →

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SatoshiDice Sold for $12.4 Million

"Erik Voorhees has announced that SatoshiDice, by far the most popular gambling site in the Bitcoin community, is being sold in full for 126315 BTC, worth $12.4 million USD at the time of the announcement. SatoshiDice is now one of the largest businesses in the Bitcoin economy, beaten out by the mining company ASICMiner, worth roughly $150 million, and perhaps Bitcoin merchant and exchange juggernauts such as BitPay, BitInstant and Coinbase, all of which have received millions of dollars in investment. The company’s success can be attributed to its simple interface." Continue reading →

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Blueseed Entrepreneur Cruise Ship Continues Full Steam Ahead with Bitcoin Funding

"Blueseed is a live/work/play startup community for 1000 entrepreneurs, on a cruise ship to be stationed 30 minutes by ferry from the coast of Silicon Valley. The location is in international waters, outside U.S. jurisdiction, and allows entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world to start or scale their companies without needing U.S. work visas. Instead, easier-to-obtain B1/B2 business/travel visas will be used to arrive on Blueseed and to visit the mainland in order to connect with the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Blueseed creates a new class of real-estate – technology-enhanced and ocean-based." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Downloads Surge in Argentina

"Since early June, Argentina’s share of global bitcoin software downloads has more than doubled, as the country edges towards what Barclays called 'a balance-of-payments crisis, in slow motion.' With bitcoin, Argentines can transfer their wealth to anywhere in the world instantly, outside of the domain of local authorities. Also, although bitcoin transactions are stored on a public ledger, it’s extremely difficult to determine the identities of the parties involved in the transactions. That anonymity could help Argentines avoid the scrutiny of the national tax agency, which has aggressively used enforcement actions to contain the public’s dollar purchases." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin: A Bet Against the Stupid Horse

"George Mason economics professor Peter Boettke made his first FreedomFest appearance and presented some harrowing statistics pointing to the demise of the United States. However he made the analogy that the economy is like three horses. The Adam Smith horse drives prosperity through gains from trade. The Joseph Schumpeter horse provides constant innovation from technology. The third horse, what Boettke calls the stupid horse, is government. Both the Smith and Schumpeter horses created bitcoin and as much as the government tries to rein it in, those horses will stay ahead. The government horse is too slow and stupid." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin’s Open-Air Trading Floor

"People gather every Monday evening in New York’s Union Square to buy and sell the crypto-currency known as Bitcoin. Flashing cash and smartphones, men make trades worth thousands of dollars in a nook of the park they call Satoshi Square. The scene is like an open-air trading floor, and indeed, participants liken themselves to the men who hatched New York’s first stock exchange under a buttonwood tree in 1792. Similar gatherings have taken place in London, and an inaugural one will take place in Toronto next week. The vibe at Satoshi Square was a cross between a stock exchange, a religious revival, and buying weed in the park." Continue reading →

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The first Bitcoin based bank in Cyprus is coming!

"Welcome to the blog of LMB Holdings the parent company of both Ploutos (Bank) and the Pisti payment network. We are extremely proud to be in a position of providing a solution for the two biggest questions being asked currently here in Cyprus by depositors; 1. Is my money safe and will the government be taking my money? 2. Can I spend my money? With many Cypriots and international depositors losing more than 20% of their life savings to help prop up the failing banks, there has never been a more suitable time nor place to launch a genuine alternative to the mainstream banking systems." Continue reading →

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New trust wants to protect digital Bitcoins like physical gold: In vaults

"A U.S. regulatory filing for a Bitcoin investment trust from the Winklevoss twins said they will protect the virtual currency like gold bars—in vaults. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, famous for their early association with Facebook, are selling the trust as a way for institutional and retail investors to invest in bitcoins without dealing with the hassle of exchanges and the thorny security problems around storing bitcoins. In a 74-page document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, the twins write they will use a network of secure vaults around the U.S. to store their investors' bitcoins." Continue reading →

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Commodities Dealer Accepting Bitcoin for Gold

"Agora Commodities is the first gold, silver, platinum, and palladium dealer accepting Bitcoin for bullion. By taking Bitcoin as payment for a physical commodity, Agora is giving high-risk speculative traders one more way to play the market. And the added bonus is that the transaction can be 100% anonymous. But the company is going even deeper into anti-spying territory than that. They are offering their customers encrypted service for all their digital correspondence." Continue reading →

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