money

CoinLab: new brands will be built around Bitcoin technology

"One thing humans don't know how to do is shut down peer to peer networks. We don't have the technology. Generally it's the case governments are understanding, but if you start crushing all the good [Bitcoin businesses] you'll push this underground. I see a world in which governments can set the price.You could stop good exchanges, but it would be hard to stop secret ones. It's so fast and so easy to use, the right thing to do is to build a good ecosystem. There may be a country that doesn't want to deal with it, but citizens will keep using it." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin: how I made a virtual fortune

"I think I probably got the IPO price a bit wrong since the 20,000 shares I listed sold out in a matter of hours. We raised a total of 15,667 Litecoins in exchange for 20% of CipherMine's shares; about £27,700 at current prices. We are in the process of investing that money into more mining hardware, but in the meantime, our share price has continued to rise. As I write this, under a week later, the shares are being actively traded at about 1.6 Litecoins each; double the IPO value. CipherMine's market capitalisation currently stands at roughly 150,000 Litecoins, or about £250,000, of which 64% was mine at IPO." Continue reading →

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Paid via Payroll Cards, Workers Feel Sting of Fees

"For these largely hourly workers, paper paychecks and even direct deposit have been replaced by prepaid cards issued by their employers. Employees can use these cards, which work like debit cards, at an A.T.M. to withdraw their pay. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, using the card involves a fee. And those fees can quickly add up: one provider, for example, charges $1.75 to make a withdrawal from most A.T.M.’s, $2.95 for a paper statement and $6 to replace a card. In 2012, $34 billion was loaded onto 4.6 million active payroll cards, according to the research firm Aite Group; it expected that to reach $68.9 billion and 10.8 million cards by 2017." Continue reading →

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Why Did Chinese ATMs Stop Working Last Week?

"On Sunday morning, while China was taking a weekend breather from the financial fireworks caused by the government’s weeklong self-inflicted cash and credit crunch, customers of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank, woke to an unpleasant surprise: Their deposits were not available for withdrawal by ATM or teller (online or in-person). Sunday’s outage appears to have started at about 10:30 a.m., and by 11 a.m. there were photos on Sina Weibo of stymied bank customers left mulling in shut-down bank lobbies." Continue reading →

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International Bank Transfers: Banks’ Ugly Secret and Why Bitcoin Really Matters

"Working for the largest Bitcoin exchange with customers around the world gives us an insight that few, other than banks, may have on how international wire transfers work. The first misconception that many of us may have was that everyone could create a bank account in whatever currency he/she wanted in the country of their choosing and have control over it. Unfortunately, a currency does not really exist outside of its country, meaning that if you ever open a USD bank account in a European bank or Japanese one, any USD available in this account would, in fact, be held in the United States and not in your local/federal or national bank vault." Continue reading →

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How a total n00b mined $700 in bitcoins

"There is a whirring, whining presence in my dining room. I notice it every time I walk through. Every day, it sucks down about one full kilowatt-hour of electricity. In a year, it will consume almost $100 worth of juice—and that's on top of the $274 it costs to buy the box in the first place. Oh, and it's hot, too. If I moved it into my office and could stand the noise, I could keep a cup of coffee comfortably warm on top of the thing. Why on earth would anyone want such a disagreeable little machine in their home? The short answer: every day, that machine magically generates something like $20 in bitcoins." Continue reading →

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QE Won’t End—It Will Increase

"Bernanke and the Fed are going to reconsider the end of QE, and then decide against it. And eventually, if yields continue to rise (that is, if bond prices continue to fall), Benny and the Fed will up the dosage on the QE. Whatever it takes to keep yields down and interest rates low. Remember, Bernanke and the Fed are convinced that higher interest rates will kill any sustained recovery. Nothing will shake them from that idée fixe. Therefore they will do anything to prevent high interest rates—including walking back this talk of ending QE, and upping the dosage as need be to achieve their goal of sustained, consistent zero-percent interest." Continue reading →

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“Banish Fractional Reserve Banking for Real Reform”

". . . says Thomas Mayer, a former IMF economist and former Chief Economist of Deutsche Bank Group and Head of DB Research, and now a Deutcshe Bank Senior Advisor. Mayer goes on to cite Austrian monetary and business-cycle theorist Jesus Huerta de Soto on the causal connection between fractional reserves and banking crises throughout history. He points out: 'Since there is no single state in the eurozone able to bail out banks in a systemic crisis, a banking regime without state backing is needed.' He concludes his letter with a four-step plan for 'comprehensive' banking reform that would implement just such a regime." Continue reading →

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British central bank softens rules for banks to give economy £70bn boost

"The UK’s big four lenders will be able to reduce their cash and cash-like assets by 20pc under the recommendation, made by the Bank’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC). The excess 'liquidity' could then be used 'to support lending to the real economy', it said. The FPC estimated the impact of the rule change on the big four to be 'around £70bn'. Interest rates have been at a record low of 0.5pc for more than four years and households have become increasingly reliant on such cheap credit. The proportion of borrowers on variable rate mortgages linked to the 0.5pc rate is close to a historical high, the Bank said." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Exchange Makes Apparent Move to Play by U.S. Money-Laundering Rules

"FinCen in March started applying traditional money-laundering rules to 'virtual currencies' amid growing concern that new forms of digital cash are being used for illicit activities. Those rules mandate that exchanges register with FinCen, follow stricter bookkeeping requirements and report transactions of more than $10,000. About a month after the edict, the Department of Homeland Security seized an account tied to Mt. Gox, alleging the company and a subsidiary were conducting transactions 'as part of an unlicensed money service business.' According to FinCen's website, the agency received Mt. Gox's registration on Thursday." Continue reading →

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