Finnish Firm Transforms Web Kiosks into Bitcoin ATMs
Kadhim Shubber (@kadhimshubber) | Published on March 12, 2014 at 11:53 GMT | Bitcoin ATM, Companies, News, Technology
Bitcoin ATMs are on the march across the globe, with machines recently being launched in Dublin and London.
In addition to the well-known manufacturers like Robocoin and Lamassu, however, other companies are trying to hop on the ATM bandwagon, including one Finnish company that’s taking a slightly different approach.
Deltacom Finland Oy, founded in 2001, is a family business based in Helsinki. The small company was started by father and son team Timo and Mika Reinikainen in 2001 and operates web kiosks around Finland.
Now, though, they’re converting them to enable bitcoin purchases under a new company, Hotbutler.com, part-owned by Mika and backed by American capital from unnamed investors.
Following the money
So far, four kiosks in Helsinki are running a beta version of Hotbutler.com’s web app, which streamlines the bitcoin-buying process.
The kiosks (Mika rejects the term ‘ATM’) are of the sort you find in airports all over the world – they were originally places to surf the web, make VoIP calls and send emails. That business model changed when Mika realised the potential for profit in bitcoin:
“When we saw figures from Robocoin ATMs in Vancouver, the one million dollar turnover in one month, we decided to concentrate on bitcoin.”
At the moment the duo are experimenting. Depending on how the first month’s trading pans out, they plan on launching the app on at least 10 more kiosks. The plan is to stick to bitcoin for at least six months, but after that other cryptocurrencies may be added, starting with litecoin.
Ideally, said Mika, they want to install the app on the 16 kiosks they operate in Helsinki’s international airport, but airport officials have so far been reluctant:
“The problem is that the officials in charge don’t really understand bitcoin. So far they have been saying ‘no’ just to be on the safe side. It is a lot of work to educate and persuade people.”
Reluctant spokesman
It’s a battle that bitcoiners all over the world have been fighting. Like in other countries, the Finnish central bank has warned consumers of the perceived risks with using bitcoin: “they just keep saying the same thing over and over again,” said Mika.
The coverage of bitcoin in the popular press has been on a par with that in the UK and US, he said. And as the company behind Finland’s first bitcoin ATMs, he finds himself having to account for all of bitcoin’s sins:
“It is funny how I have to defend bitcoin itself, instead of defending our business. [...] if you get involved with bitcoin you automatically become a spokesman for bitcoin whether you like it or not.”
Growing pains
The company is a joint venture between “Finnish and American associates”, whom Mika declined to name just yet. Hotbutler.com might acquire Deltacom, he said, and he is waiting until all of the details are ironed out.
Mika is a part-owner of Hotbutler.com, but said that his American partners are the “people with the capital”.
Mika said he is unconcerned by the recent turbulence in the bitcoin world, comparing the current situation with the “growing pains” of the web in the ’90s, culminating in the bursting of the dotcom bubble:
“People actually thought that the internet would no long exist tomorrow because so many internet-related companies went belly up. Now I can see the same paranoia with bitcoin.”
Topic: BITCOIN NEWS EVRYDAY! From multiple sources. - page 14. (Read 51244 times)
Chicago Court Freezes Assets of Mark Karpeles in the US
Nermin Hajdarbegovic | Published on March 12, 2014 at 10:30 GMT | Crime, Exchanges, Law, Mt. Gox
A Chicago judge has reportedly frozen all US-based assets controlled by Mark Karpeles, the CEO of the now defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.
US District Judge Gary Feinerman made the decision to freeze Karpeles’ assets, along with assets belonging to companies tied to both Mt. Gox and Karpeles, according to the Wall Street Journal. The order is temporary, but the assets will remain frozen for at least two weeks.
This move doesn’t appear to be directly related to the exchange’s Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceedings. It is, in fact, the result of a prior lawsuit filed against Karpeles by Mt. Gox customers seeking compensation. It is not yet a class action, but it might soon become one.
As reported yesterday, Chapter 15 bankruptcy will not stop the case from moving forward and the asset freeze proves it is going ahead.
Will the asset freeze help customers?
Courts impose asset freezes in situations like this to secure plaintiffs and make sure the defendants don’t funnel money elsewhere. However, in this particular case it probably won’t go a long way toward reassuring customers, as Karpeles’ holdings in the US appear to be limited.
In court, lawyers for exchange customers alleged that Karpeles is moving funds which are claimed lost by Mt. Gox. One of the attorneys involved in the case, Jay Edelson, argued that every day the customers wait there will be “less and less money”. Christopher Dore, another Edelson attorney, said:
“The main thing we hope to achieve is to finally see what the web of things that Karpeles has put together over the last few years and to start unwinding it as to where things are and what happened.”
The asset freeze targets bank accounts used by Mt. Gox and Karpeles, as well as servers located in the US. However, even the judge admitted there might be no assets to freeze. “It may turn out there are no such assets,” Feinerman said.
More questions than answers
Judge Feinerman has scheduled a status conference for 20th March. Lead plantiff’s lawyer Jay Edelson said he is looking to question Karpeles under oath immediately, Bloomberg reports.
“We can finally get some real answers,” Edelson said.
Attorney Steven Woodrow believes the court order could freeze between $2.1m and $5m in assets controlled by Karpeles. In its Chapter 15 filing Mt. Gox claimed to have approximately $63.9m in liabilities and $37.7m in assets.
Nermin Hajdarbegovic | Published on March 12, 2014 at 10:30 GMT | Crime, Exchanges, Law, Mt. Gox
A Chicago judge has reportedly frozen all US-based assets controlled by Mark Karpeles, the CEO of the now defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.
US District Judge Gary Feinerman made the decision to freeze Karpeles’ assets, along with assets belonging to companies tied to both Mt. Gox and Karpeles, according to the Wall Street Journal. The order is temporary, but the assets will remain frozen for at least two weeks.
This move doesn’t appear to be directly related to the exchange’s Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceedings. It is, in fact, the result of a prior lawsuit filed against Karpeles by Mt. Gox customers seeking compensation. It is not yet a class action, but it might soon become one.
As reported yesterday, Chapter 15 bankruptcy will not stop the case from moving forward and the asset freeze proves it is going ahead.
Will the asset freeze help customers?
Courts impose asset freezes in situations like this to secure plaintiffs and make sure the defendants don’t funnel money elsewhere. However, in this particular case it probably won’t go a long way toward reassuring customers, as Karpeles’ holdings in the US appear to be limited.
In court, lawyers for exchange customers alleged that Karpeles is moving funds which are claimed lost by Mt. Gox. One of the attorneys involved in the case, Jay Edelson, argued that every day the customers wait there will be “less and less money”. Christopher Dore, another Edelson attorney, said:
“The main thing we hope to achieve is to finally see what the web of things that Karpeles has put together over the last few years and to start unwinding it as to where things are and what happened.”
The asset freeze targets bank accounts used by Mt. Gox and Karpeles, as well as servers located in the US. However, even the judge admitted there might be no assets to freeze. “It may turn out there are no such assets,” Feinerman said.
More questions than answers
Judge Feinerman has scheduled a status conference for 20th March. Lead plantiff’s lawyer Jay Edelson said he is looking to question Karpeles under oath immediately, Bloomberg reports.
“We can finally get some real answers,” Edelson said.
Attorney Steven Woodrow believes the court order could freeze between $2.1m and $5m in assets controlled by Karpeles. In its Chapter 15 filing Mt. Gox claimed to have approximately $63.9m in liabilities and $37.7m in assets.
FanDistro Takes Bitcoin for Indie Music
Danny Bradbury (@dannybradbury) | Published on March 12, 2014 at 05:37 GMT | Companies, Lifestyle, News
Fresh from a $700,000 angel round, indie music sales site FanDistro has started taking bitcoin for downloadable online music sales.
FanDistro, a site that helps bands sell their music while also rewarding their fans with merchandise, previously only took PayPal payments, but is now working with Coinbase as a merchant, said CEO Michael Penfield.
“We’re encouraging people to use bitcoin, and philosophically we love bitcoin. We think it’s something fantastic for the music industry,” said Penfield, who turned on the function a couple of weeks ago.
The biggest benefit for musicians are the low transaction fees, he said. “There are a few things from a musician’s perspective that make the coin attractive, but probably the most important thing is the lack of transaction expenses. We’re working through Coinbase and with the typical size of our transactions there is no fee.”
Two phases
Penfield is introducing bitcoin support in two phases. The first and current phase will see bitcoins exchanged immediately for fiat currency, meaning that Coinbase takes all of the currency risk. This is a common way for the payment processor to work, and forms the basis of its arrangement with some large customers, such as Overstock.
In the future, though, Penfield hopes to open up the option for musicians to hold a balance in bitcoin, furthering his commitment to the crypto currency.
For now, bitcoin support at FanDistro focuses almost entirely on music sales (although there is also a tool for converting photographs into silkscreen templates, and fans can pay for those in bitcoins, too.
Over time, however, bitcoin could work its way into other areas of the business.
“The next phase for us is to bring brands into the equation, and they can be very local when you’re dealing with a local band,” he said. “We’re in negotiations with several brands to start sponsoring bands. Those transactions are dollar-based at this point, but at some point we’d make those bitcoin-optional too.”
Most if not all of the sites selling independent music to date seem to have been built around the currency first. But these bitcoin-centric sites are looking at it the wrong way, Penfield suggests.
“When an artist has fans in Eastern Europe and they have bitcoin that they want to use, the artist isn't going to lose that sale.”
Instead, he is using bitcoin as a “defensive move” to help shore up revenues for bands who may have fans in other countries, where sending money can be prohibitively expensive.
Local bands often have surprising pockets of followings in different parts of the world. For example, his band, Chasing Day, tours the East Coast, but that isn’t where the biggest concentration of listeners comes from. Instead, he has concentrations of fans in Greece, Italy, and – highest of all – England. “I have no explanation for why. I have never been to any of those places,” he said.
Typically, bands can catch on in unpredictable places because of a single taste maker, who may happen to hear its music and tell their friends locally. Whatever the reason, he says, “when an artist has fans in Eastern Europe and they have bitcoin that they want to use, the artist isn’t going to lose that sale.”
Cryptocurrency seems to be a big interest for many musicians, who Penfield suggests an “independent-minded”. Such is the case for Josh Maitland, an engineer in Ontario, who is trying to raise four bitcoins to finish recording an album with his band, Willow Smoke. The self-described “swamp rock” artist is a working producer with his own recording studio.
All five members of Willow Smoke are engineers, who converted a remote cabin to off-grid electricity to record part of their album.
“With bitcoin, there are no fees,” Maitland said. “There is no middleman. That’s the reason that I decided to take this route.”
FanDistro’s $700,000 funding round is unrelated to the bitcoin announcement, insists Penfield. It was the result of two years of effort, and the entire amount came from a single angel investment group. Penfield wouldn’t reveal its name.
He was also tight-lipped on the amount of bitcoin taken in the first couple of weeks, although he said that band sign-ups to the site had increased.
Danny Bradbury (@dannybradbury) | Published on March 12, 2014 at 05:37 GMT | Companies, Lifestyle, News
Fresh from a $700,000 angel round, indie music sales site FanDistro has started taking bitcoin for downloadable online music sales.
FanDistro, a site that helps bands sell their music while also rewarding their fans with merchandise, previously only took PayPal payments, but is now working with Coinbase as a merchant, said CEO Michael Penfield.
“We’re encouraging people to use bitcoin, and philosophically we love bitcoin. We think it’s something fantastic for the music industry,” said Penfield, who turned on the function a couple of weeks ago.
The biggest benefit for musicians are the low transaction fees, he said. “There are a few things from a musician’s perspective that make the coin attractive, but probably the most important thing is the lack of transaction expenses. We’re working through Coinbase and with the typical size of our transactions there is no fee.”
Two phases
Penfield is introducing bitcoin support in two phases. The first and current phase will see bitcoins exchanged immediately for fiat currency, meaning that Coinbase takes all of the currency risk. This is a common way for the payment processor to work, and forms the basis of its arrangement with some large customers, such as Overstock.
In the future, though, Penfield hopes to open up the option for musicians to hold a balance in bitcoin, furthering his commitment to the crypto currency.
For now, bitcoin support at FanDistro focuses almost entirely on music sales (although there is also a tool for converting photographs into silkscreen templates, and fans can pay for those in bitcoins, too.
Over time, however, bitcoin could work its way into other areas of the business.
“The next phase for us is to bring brands into the equation, and they can be very local when you’re dealing with a local band,” he said. “We’re in negotiations with several brands to start sponsoring bands. Those transactions are dollar-based at this point, but at some point we’d make those bitcoin-optional too.”
Most if not all of the sites selling independent music to date seem to have been built around the currency first. But these bitcoin-centric sites are looking at it the wrong way, Penfield suggests.
“When an artist has fans in Eastern Europe and they have bitcoin that they want to use, the artist isn't going to lose that sale.”
Instead, he is using bitcoin as a “defensive move” to help shore up revenues for bands who may have fans in other countries, where sending money can be prohibitively expensive.
Local bands often have surprising pockets of followings in different parts of the world. For example, his band, Chasing Day, tours the East Coast, but that isn’t where the biggest concentration of listeners comes from. Instead, he has concentrations of fans in Greece, Italy, and – highest of all – England. “I have no explanation for why. I have never been to any of those places,” he said.
Typically, bands can catch on in unpredictable places because of a single taste maker, who may happen to hear its music and tell their friends locally. Whatever the reason, he says, “when an artist has fans in Eastern Europe and they have bitcoin that they want to use, the artist isn’t going to lose that sale.”
Cryptocurrency seems to be a big interest for many musicians, who Penfield suggests an “independent-minded”. Such is the case for Josh Maitland, an engineer in Ontario, who is trying to raise four bitcoins to finish recording an album with his band, Willow Smoke. The self-described “swamp rock” artist is a working producer with his own recording studio.
All five members of Willow Smoke are engineers, who converted a remote cabin to off-grid electricity to record part of their album.
“With bitcoin, there are no fees,” Maitland said. “There is no middleman. That’s the reason that I decided to take this route.”
FanDistro’s $700,000 funding round is unrelated to the bitcoin announcement, insists Penfield. It was the result of two years of effort, and the entire amount came from a single angel investment group. Penfield wouldn’t reveal its name.
He was also tight-lipped on the amount of bitcoin taken in the first couple of weeks, although he said that band sign-ups to the site had increased.
Singapore Bitcoin ATM Producer Tembusu Gets $300,000 Seed Funding
Jon Southurst (@southtopia) | Published on March 12, 2014 at 01:03 GMT | Bitcoin ATM, Companies, News, Startups, Technology
Singapore bitcoin ATM producer Tembusu announced today it has closed its seed funding round and raised over S$300,000 (US$236,600), just one and a half weeks after launching its first machine and after the company itself was valued at S$5.1m (US$4.02m).
Company spokesman Jarrod Luo said the extra capital would form the bulk of the working capital the startup requires to “fulfil its outstanding machine orders in a timely fashion”, including stockpiling raw materials and expanding its team.
Tembusu was the first company to open a bitcoin ATM in Singapore, and it is also the first to design and manufacture its machines there. It is also Asia’s first home-grown bitcoin ATM producer, having just beaten South Korea’s Coinplug to launch by a couple of days.
At press time Singapore has six active bitcoin ATMs, with several companies racing to increase that number. Another Singapore company, Bitcoin Exchange, launched a Lamassu ATM in a busy Singapore shopping mall right after Tembusu’s release.
Numoni, another local company that specializes in micro-transaction processing and prepaid mobile phone payments, launched four bitcoin-dispensing machines in the same week.
Features
The Tembusu machines feature advanced physical Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-theft measures such as ID and thumbprint scanning, and the company says it offers a variety of additional anti-money laundering (AML) features in its machines depending on the jurisdiction where each is located.
The ATMs are one-way only, meaning customers may only exchange cash for bitcoins, but apparently can be adapted to dispense cash. They also have the capacity to dispense other cryptocurrencies if the demand is there.
Tembusu1
The company says customizability and flexibility are two of its key selling points, allowing machines to be shipped anywhere in the world.
Tembusu also offers flexibility with its pricing and financing options, saying it is even possible, under certain conditions, to deploy a machine for no down payment at all.
Regulation and tax
Bitcoin startups and bitcoin ATMs have been allowed to flourish in Singapore thanks to the city-state government’s liberal attitude towards cryptocurrency so far. An announcement on 21st February by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said bitcoins are not viewed as legal tender by his ministry or regulators the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
He also warned this hands-off approach extended to consumer protection, of which there is none, and that the government would continue to investigate any need for regulation.
MAS regards bitcoin ATMs as ‘vending machines‘ as long as they are cash-to-bitcoin only.
Singapore’s Tax Authority, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, has also issued its own guidelines on how it intends to tax bitcoin business and transactions, basically saying it regards cryptocurrencies not as money but as goods for sale like any other. ‘Sales’ of bitcoin and bitcoin transactions for other goods and services will be subject to GST, and Singapore does not have a capital gains tax for any investment class.
About Tembusu
Tembusu Terminals Pte Ltd. is a joint-venture between cryptocurrency consultancy firm Estates General and software/hardware development firm Red Steed Studios, who together are looking for technological solutions to known bitcoin challenges, and new ways to introduce cryptocurrency use to the general public.
Jon Southurst (@southtopia) | Published on March 12, 2014 at 01:03 GMT | Bitcoin ATM, Companies, News, Startups, Technology
Singapore bitcoin ATM producer Tembusu announced today it has closed its seed funding round and raised over S$300,000 (US$236,600), just one and a half weeks after launching its first machine and after the company itself was valued at S$5.1m (US$4.02m).
Company spokesman Jarrod Luo said the extra capital would form the bulk of the working capital the startup requires to “fulfil its outstanding machine orders in a timely fashion”, including stockpiling raw materials and expanding its team.
Tembusu was the first company to open a bitcoin ATM in Singapore, and it is also the first to design and manufacture its machines there. It is also Asia’s first home-grown bitcoin ATM producer, having just beaten South Korea’s Coinplug to launch by a couple of days.
At press time Singapore has six active bitcoin ATMs, with several companies racing to increase that number. Another Singapore company, Bitcoin Exchange, launched a Lamassu ATM in a busy Singapore shopping mall right after Tembusu’s release.
Numoni, another local company that specializes in micro-transaction processing and prepaid mobile phone payments, launched four bitcoin-dispensing machines in the same week.
Features
The Tembusu machines feature advanced physical Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-theft measures such as ID and thumbprint scanning, and the company says it offers a variety of additional anti-money laundering (AML) features in its machines depending on the jurisdiction where each is located.
The ATMs are one-way only, meaning customers may only exchange cash for bitcoins, but apparently can be adapted to dispense cash. They also have the capacity to dispense other cryptocurrencies if the demand is there.
Tembusu1
The company says customizability and flexibility are two of its key selling points, allowing machines to be shipped anywhere in the world.
Tembusu also offers flexibility with its pricing and financing options, saying it is even possible, under certain conditions, to deploy a machine for no down payment at all.
Regulation and tax
Bitcoin startups and bitcoin ATMs have been allowed to flourish in Singapore thanks to the city-state government’s liberal attitude towards cryptocurrency so far. An announcement on 21st February by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said bitcoins are not viewed as legal tender by his ministry or regulators the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
He also warned this hands-off approach extended to consumer protection, of which there is none, and that the government would continue to investigate any need for regulation.
MAS regards bitcoin ATMs as ‘vending machines‘ as long as they are cash-to-bitcoin only.
Singapore’s Tax Authority, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, has also issued its own guidelines on how it intends to tax bitcoin business and transactions, basically saying it regards cryptocurrencies not as money but as goods for sale like any other. ‘Sales’ of bitcoin and bitcoin transactions for other goods and services will be subject to GST, and Singapore does not have a capital gains tax for any investment class.
About Tembusu
Tembusu Terminals Pte Ltd. is a joint-venture between cryptocurrency consultancy firm Estates General and software/hardware development firm Red Steed Studios, who together are looking for technological solutions to known bitcoin challenges, and new ways to introduce cryptocurrency use to the general public.
The Bitcoin Foundation: Some Questions
PJ Delaney 11/03/2014 Bitcoin, Bitcoin Regulation, News, Security 7 Comments
Posted 13 hours ago
bitcoin foundationI’ve just spend a pleasant evening, nursing a cold beer, looking over The Bitcoin Foundation’s posts and educating myself as to who exactly these people are and what they are bringing, or at least claiming to bring, to the table. Now, I’ve never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the proverbial drawer and for that particular reason I’ve decided that I will take this task slowly and stop to ask a few questions whenever I happen to find myself starting to feel confused. Clearly, the foundation has been put there for our betterment and for that reason I hope you will bear with me on this short journey of discovery.
The foundation’s website states the three primary objectives for fulfilling Bitcoin’s mission to achieve its potential.
Bearing in mind the three stated objectives of: Standardising Bitcoin, Protecting Bitcoin and Promoting Bitcoin and accepting that “Cryptography is the key to Bitcoins success. It’s the reason that no one can double spend, counterfeit or steal Bitcoins. If bitcoin is to be a viable money for both current users and future adopters, we need to maintain, improve and legally protect the integrity of the protocol.” Here is the first question:
The problem of Transaction Malleability has been known about since 2011, so why did the foundation not move to address this issue before the criminals began to exploit it during 2013?
Under the title of “What I hope the Foundation will accomplish“, Jon Matonis states: ” There’s a huge amount of support for the Foundation from many of the people who matter to Bitcoin’s future: Charlie Shrem, Mark Karpeles, Gavin Andersen and Jon Matonis are all starting out on the Board of Directors”. Unfortunately, Mark Karpeles resigned in 2014 as a result of the spectacular collapse of Mt Gox and his far from glorious role in that collapse and that Charlie Shrem resigned following an alleged link to illegal drugs trading. I am pleased to state that the two other directors, Jon Matonis and Gavin Andersen are people of the highest moral character, but:
Bearing in mind the importance of the foundation, (self stated!), how carefully did the Foundation select it’s directors and did anyone check the history of the newly appointed directors, Karpeles in particular?
It has been alleged that in 2011, Mt gox made an appeal to the community that 400,000 bitcoins had gone missing and asked for help. It was decided to provide that help. 150,000 of the missing bitcoins were recovered in 2012 and the plan was to continue this support in 2013 but the sudden, and somewhat unexpected, increase in Bitcoin price during 2013 raised the cost of fixing the problem from a somewhat manageable $3M to a completely unmanageable $15M. A blogger posting on Reddit, disclosed in November that he, could deposit coins with Mt Gox and then withdraw more than he had deposited. Question number 3:
Had the Foundation been bailing Mt gox out since 2011, if so, how much in total was spent? Who was told, who made the decision and was that decision influenced by Karpeles status within the Foundation and how much in total was lost?
During the collapse of Mt Gox and accepting the volume of the losses:
Did the foundation have access to make withdrawals on a priority basis when other investors were being denied this right?
Finally, as we have gone through a period of monumental losse, and poor publicity, a period affecting ordinary investors:
What actions will the Foundation undertake, going forward, to ensure a future for not only the Foundation, but also Bitcoin; what have we learned from the Mt gox debacle?
I would be grateful to have these small points addressed to ensure that confidence is restored and knowledge gained.
PJ Delaney 11/03/2014 Bitcoin, Bitcoin Regulation, News, Security 7 Comments
Posted 13 hours ago
bitcoin foundationI’ve just spend a pleasant evening, nursing a cold beer, looking over The Bitcoin Foundation’s posts and educating myself as to who exactly these people are and what they are bringing, or at least claiming to bring, to the table. Now, I’ve never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the proverbial drawer and for that particular reason I’ve decided that I will take this task slowly and stop to ask a few questions whenever I happen to find myself starting to feel confused. Clearly, the foundation has been put there for our betterment and for that reason I hope you will bear with me on this short journey of discovery.
The foundation’s website states the three primary objectives for fulfilling Bitcoin’s mission to achieve its potential.
Bearing in mind the three stated objectives of: Standardising Bitcoin, Protecting Bitcoin and Promoting Bitcoin and accepting that “Cryptography is the key to Bitcoins success. It’s the reason that no one can double spend, counterfeit or steal Bitcoins. If bitcoin is to be a viable money for both current users and future adopters, we need to maintain, improve and legally protect the integrity of the protocol.” Here is the first question:
The problem of Transaction Malleability has been known about since 2011, so why did the foundation not move to address this issue before the criminals began to exploit it during 2013?
Under the title of “What I hope the Foundation will accomplish“, Jon Matonis states: ” There’s a huge amount of support for the Foundation from many of the people who matter to Bitcoin’s future: Charlie Shrem, Mark Karpeles, Gavin Andersen and Jon Matonis are all starting out on the Board of Directors”. Unfortunately, Mark Karpeles resigned in 2014 as a result of the spectacular collapse of Mt Gox and his far from glorious role in that collapse and that Charlie Shrem resigned following an alleged link to illegal drugs trading. I am pleased to state that the two other directors, Jon Matonis and Gavin Andersen are people of the highest moral character, but:
Bearing in mind the importance of the foundation, (self stated!), how carefully did the Foundation select it’s directors and did anyone check the history of the newly appointed directors, Karpeles in particular?
It has been alleged that in 2011, Mt gox made an appeal to the community that 400,000 bitcoins had gone missing and asked for help. It was decided to provide that help. 150,000 of the missing bitcoins were recovered in 2012 and the plan was to continue this support in 2013 but the sudden, and somewhat unexpected, increase in Bitcoin price during 2013 raised the cost of fixing the problem from a somewhat manageable $3M to a completely unmanageable $15M. A blogger posting on Reddit, disclosed in November that he, could deposit coins with Mt Gox and then withdraw more than he had deposited. Question number 3:
Had the Foundation been bailing Mt gox out since 2011, if so, how much in total was spent? Who was told, who made the decision and was that decision influenced by Karpeles status within the Foundation and how much in total was lost?
During the collapse of Mt Gox and accepting the volume of the losses:
Did the foundation have access to make withdrawals on a priority basis when other investors were being denied this right?
Finally, as we have gone through a period of monumental losse, and poor publicity, a period affecting ordinary investors:
What actions will the Foundation undertake, going forward, to ensure a future for not only the Foundation, but also Bitcoin; what have we learned from the Mt gox debacle?
I would be grateful to have these small points addressed to ensure that confidence is restored and knowledge gained.
ponsored Article: Execoin – Scrypt ASIC Resistant
William Blackwell 11/03/2014 Altcoins, Mining, News, Reviews, Sponsored Stories
Posted 1 hour ago
Execoin is a new altcoin is a new altcoin with a promising future. To appreciate the role and value of Execoin, we need to understand the significant changes that are about to sweep the scrypt altcoin domain.
Execoin represents a move away from the generic scrypt altcoin formula – and for good reason. The developers have taken care to analyze existing trends in scrypt mining and, in response, have implemented a progressive variation of the scrypt algorithm to ensure Execoin’s longevity and value. Their work is a significant departure from the standard scrypt implementation and distinguishes this coin from its peers.
Takeaway
Execoin is scrypt ASIC resistant and has built-in multipool resistance. These features secure Execoin’s network and protect its value. It is expected that Execoin’s value will increase as a wave of generic scrypt ASICs sweeps the altcoin market and forces GPU miners to migrate to a few ASIC resistant cryptocoins. Execoin has a clean altcoin design with several innovative features and is ideally positioned for the coming changes in the altcoin market.
Generic Scrypt
The scrypt algorithm, introduced to the altcoin domain by Litecoin, was intended to protect Litecoin from the hashing onslaught of ASICs.
The rise of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) was inevitable as special purpose devices were developed to progress FGPU and GPU hashing to the logical next step. This, especially, made sense for Bitcoin, which had by then, achieved a hash rate of 160 TH/s and a massive difficulty target, necessitating entire datacentres dedicated to it’s mining.
Hence, a major design objective of Litecoin was to cater to those GPU miners, whom, despite their significant investment in hardware, were left high-and-dry by the hashing leap imposed by ASICs. By introducing scrypt, Litecoin was able to give GPU mining rigs a new lease on life. The proliferation of Litecoin clones – scrypt altcoins – could be directly attributed to that historical dynamic.
How many GPU rigs are mining Bitcoin? It’s an ASIC-only zone now. – Execoin developer
Scrypt ASICs
A year later, it’s apparent that a new breed of scrypt-capable ASIC is rising and that it threatens scrypt mining in the same way that ASIC had changed Bitcoin mining in 2013. The Execoin team have smartly anticipated the coming scrypt ASIC boom and their design implementation of Execoin can both take advantage of the coming scrypt hashing leap, as well as make Execoin resistant to the new breed of ASICs.
Progressive-N Scrypt
By basing Execoin on a scrypt innovation, called Progressive-N Scrypt, the coin developers effectively cause Execoin to set its scrypt memory requirement higher than the current ASIC operational level. This means that when more powerful scrypt ASICs are released they will be unable to mine Execoin.
Additional ASIC resistance is implemented via customized binaries of the most popular mining applications, such as cgminer and CUDAminer. These combined innovations ensure that Execoin can only ever be mined via GPU devices and with compatible GPU mining software. The ASIC resistance is total and pervasive.
Bigger, Better?
In the case of Bitcoin, once ASICs came on the scene, their adoption increased the network hash rate and ramped up difficulty as the Bitcoin protocol adapted to the higher rate at which blocks were being found. Most GPU miners found themselves unable to compete at the higher hash rate imposed by ASICs and hence their mining was either unprofitable or pointless. As we saw, Litecoin came to fill the gap by introducing the scrypt algorithm which, at the time, was resistant to that generation of ASICs.
Litecoin’s sourcecode is the basis of most altcoins out in the wild. This includes Dogecoin, Auroracoin, Worldcoin, and so forth. The generic scrypt algorithm is, therefore, what has protected the most popular altcoins from first generation ASIC mining. However, when the new generation of scrypt ASICs is made commercially available, the uptake of these devices can be expected to skyrocket. Manufacturers will drive down prices in an effort to compete for their share of the sizeable scrypt mining market. We say “sizeable”, because the purchasing power of this market is evident from the fact that it stripped the retail sector of AMD R9 series GPUs in 2013, and almost derailed AMD’s Gaming card marketing strategy, thereby temporarily giving Nvidia a lead in the gaming GPU race.
As happened with Bitcoin before, the ASIC ramp-up will once again leave GPU miners in a void, as their ASIC’ed fellow miners take most of today’s popular altcoins to new dizzy hash rates and levels of difficulty. It is in this scenario that Execoin is positioning itself by implementing the newer generation ASIC resistance early and ensuring that it will present a value proposition to GPU miners, going forward. I asked the Execoin team for their thoughts about developments in the GPU domain:
CCN: What does the Execoin team think about developments in High Bandwidth Memory and what are your expectations for Nvidia and AMD’s GPU race?
Execoin: AMD and Nvidia… both players are interested in the growing cryptocoin market and especially in GPU mining to stay profitable. So the ASIC threat is a problem for them too. High Bandwidth Memory is a significant technological improvement that will impact mining speeds. Technologies will go forward and the race will keep going to give us more powerful and sophisticated GPUs. However, even the most powerful, sophisticated and advanced GPUs won’t threaten the decentralized nature of crypto currencies’ networks as much as ASICs do, so GPU mining will stay our safe zone in the future.
Multipool Mining
Execoin’s designers also made provision for the “multipool mining” phenomenon, whereby groups of powerful miners focus their efforts on a few, select altcoin pools, mine large volumes of coins; and then dump these in the market. The result for the target coin is often a drastic reduction in market value as well as detrimental effects on the hash rate and difficulty, often rendering the mining pool useless. From the Execoin communique:
In addition, when a powerful multipool switches to another coin it leaves the previous coin’s network with higher difficulty and lower actual hash rate and this negatively impacts reliability and security of the network.
When a large and powerful multipool cartel of miners moves in, there is also the major risk of a 51% attack on the specific altcoin’s network. Execoin has implicit protocol protection which resists multipool attacks, and this renders the coin more secure and better able to sustain its market value. I asked the Execoin developers about their specific strategies to deal with multipool mining.
CCN: Multipool mining has been an unpleasant, yet, unavoidable part of scrypt-based altcoins since their inception. Can you talk some more about the multipool resistance you have
implemented in Execoin… do you, for example, use Kimoto Gravity Well?
Devs: In fact, we understand the importance of KGW, espeсially for a coin which is not backed by huge mining power yet. That’s why we are already in the final stage of its testing and KGW will be implemented in Execoin in the next few days. Benefits of KGW go far beyond the multipool resistance and KGW does not provide absolute immunity to multipools, since any ordinary scrypt coin with KGW still can be multipool-mined. For example, in standard KGW implementations, the minimum number of last blocks which contribute to the evaluation of the new per-block difficulty is 144 blocks, so a standard scrypt coin with KGW is suitable for very short cycles of mining on a not-so-large multipool.
The whole idea of multipool implies that the same miner, with the same parameters on the miner’s side, can mine any scrypt-based coin. Multipool switches currencies and this process is completely transparent and requires no interaction on the miner’s side. However, Execoin requires custom miners with custom parameters and those miners are not compatible with multipools. Therefore, unlike other coins with KGW, Execoin’s approach is not to mitigate consequences of multipooling, but to make multipool mining impossible with Execoin at all.
Good Prospects
Execoin will be coming into its own during the rest of 2014. The stronger the ASIC onslaught, the better for Execoin. This makes it a strategic coin for both mining and investment. The Execoin team discussed this in some detail:
CCN: Execoin is one of a new breed of coins that are positioning for the coming scrypt ASIC invasion. The Execoin team have clearly analyzed current market trends and what you see has led you to make a value proposition for the event horizon when many keen and dedicated GPU-based rigs will be pushed out of their comfort zone. Do you see it this way? And which other coins do you see as your competitors (so to speak) in this new market reality?
Execoin: Well, it’s obvious that the newer ASICs for scrypt coins will significantly change the cryptocoin market and this process has already begun. How many GPU rigs are now mining Bitcoin? It’s an ASIC-only zone now. We’re constantly seeing new announcements of more and more powerful scrypt ASICs and we expect a massive invasion starting by this fall. En Masse migration of GPU mining operators to Execoin and other ASIC-proof coins will start this summer/fall and will keep going with each new release of ASICs. This process cannot be stopped since millions of dollars have already been invested into scrypt ASICs, so scrypt coin mining will be completely occupied by them – it’s just a matter of time. Regarding other coins that could share the new market we can name Vertcoin, of course!
CCN: Given your market positioning, your defensive strategy of resistance, and the high probability that the market will play into your hand in the coming months and years,
can you summarize why you believe Execoin will thrive?
Execoin: Execoin is one of the very few ASIC-resistant coins, it’s fast, reliable, solid-coded, has dedicated development team and we’re doing our best to let people know about it and about the future of the crypto market ahead of the new ASIC invasion. Execoin is likely to be successful as one of the first coins offering an alternative to the all-ASIC world. We would like to focus our further development on real-world applications for Execoin, so that it would be accepted in many places as a method of payment.
Summary
Execoin has a clean altcoin design with several innovative features and is ideally positioned for the coming changes in the altcoin market. Execoin is a recommended Buy-and-Hold for altcoin investors and we advise miners to download custom binaries for their favourite miner from the project website and to point their rig at p2pool here or configure their own p2pool node with Execoin configuration settings
William Blackwell 11/03/2014 Altcoins, Mining, News, Reviews, Sponsored Stories
Posted 1 hour ago
Execoin is a new altcoin is a new altcoin with a promising future. To appreciate the role and value of Execoin, we need to understand the significant changes that are about to sweep the scrypt altcoin domain.
Execoin represents a move away from the generic scrypt altcoin formula – and for good reason. The developers have taken care to analyze existing trends in scrypt mining and, in response, have implemented a progressive variation of the scrypt algorithm to ensure Execoin’s longevity and value. Their work is a significant departure from the standard scrypt implementation and distinguishes this coin from its peers.
Takeaway
Execoin is scrypt ASIC resistant and has built-in multipool resistance. These features secure Execoin’s network and protect its value. It is expected that Execoin’s value will increase as a wave of generic scrypt ASICs sweeps the altcoin market and forces GPU miners to migrate to a few ASIC resistant cryptocoins. Execoin has a clean altcoin design with several innovative features and is ideally positioned for the coming changes in the altcoin market.
Generic Scrypt
The scrypt algorithm, introduced to the altcoin domain by Litecoin, was intended to protect Litecoin from the hashing onslaught of ASICs.
The rise of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) was inevitable as special purpose devices were developed to progress FGPU and GPU hashing to the logical next step. This, especially, made sense for Bitcoin, which had by then, achieved a hash rate of 160 TH/s and a massive difficulty target, necessitating entire datacentres dedicated to it’s mining.
Hence, a major design objective of Litecoin was to cater to those GPU miners, whom, despite their significant investment in hardware, were left high-and-dry by the hashing leap imposed by ASICs. By introducing scrypt, Litecoin was able to give GPU mining rigs a new lease on life. The proliferation of Litecoin clones – scrypt altcoins – could be directly attributed to that historical dynamic.
How many GPU rigs are mining Bitcoin? It’s an ASIC-only zone now. – Execoin developer
Scrypt ASICs
A year later, it’s apparent that a new breed of scrypt-capable ASIC is rising and that it threatens scrypt mining in the same way that ASIC had changed Bitcoin mining in 2013. The Execoin team have smartly anticipated the coming scrypt ASIC boom and their design implementation of Execoin can both take advantage of the coming scrypt hashing leap, as well as make Execoin resistant to the new breed of ASICs.
Progressive-N Scrypt
By basing Execoin on a scrypt innovation, called Progressive-N Scrypt, the coin developers effectively cause Execoin to set its scrypt memory requirement higher than the current ASIC operational level. This means that when more powerful scrypt ASICs are released they will be unable to mine Execoin.
Additional ASIC resistance is implemented via customized binaries of the most popular mining applications, such as cgminer and CUDAminer. These combined innovations ensure that Execoin can only ever be mined via GPU devices and with compatible GPU mining software. The ASIC resistance is total and pervasive.
Bigger, Better?
In the case of Bitcoin, once ASICs came on the scene, their adoption increased the network hash rate and ramped up difficulty as the Bitcoin protocol adapted to the higher rate at which blocks were being found. Most GPU miners found themselves unable to compete at the higher hash rate imposed by ASICs and hence their mining was either unprofitable or pointless. As we saw, Litecoin came to fill the gap by introducing the scrypt algorithm which, at the time, was resistant to that generation of ASICs.
Litecoin’s sourcecode is the basis of most altcoins out in the wild. This includes Dogecoin, Auroracoin, Worldcoin, and so forth. The generic scrypt algorithm is, therefore, what has protected the most popular altcoins from first generation ASIC mining. However, when the new generation of scrypt ASICs is made commercially available, the uptake of these devices can be expected to skyrocket. Manufacturers will drive down prices in an effort to compete for their share of the sizeable scrypt mining market. We say “sizeable”, because the purchasing power of this market is evident from the fact that it stripped the retail sector of AMD R9 series GPUs in 2013, and almost derailed AMD’s Gaming card marketing strategy, thereby temporarily giving Nvidia a lead in the gaming GPU race.
As happened with Bitcoin before, the ASIC ramp-up will once again leave GPU miners in a void, as their ASIC’ed fellow miners take most of today’s popular altcoins to new dizzy hash rates and levels of difficulty. It is in this scenario that Execoin is positioning itself by implementing the newer generation ASIC resistance early and ensuring that it will present a value proposition to GPU miners, going forward. I asked the Execoin team for their thoughts about developments in the GPU domain:
CCN: What does the Execoin team think about developments in High Bandwidth Memory and what are your expectations for Nvidia and AMD’s GPU race?
Execoin: AMD and Nvidia… both players are interested in the growing cryptocoin market and especially in GPU mining to stay profitable. So the ASIC threat is a problem for them too. High Bandwidth Memory is a significant technological improvement that will impact mining speeds. Technologies will go forward and the race will keep going to give us more powerful and sophisticated GPUs. However, even the most powerful, sophisticated and advanced GPUs won’t threaten the decentralized nature of crypto currencies’ networks as much as ASICs do, so GPU mining will stay our safe zone in the future.
Multipool Mining
Execoin’s designers also made provision for the “multipool mining” phenomenon, whereby groups of powerful miners focus their efforts on a few, select altcoin pools, mine large volumes of coins; and then dump these in the market. The result for the target coin is often a drastic reduction in market value as well as detrimental effects on the hash rate and difficulty, often rendering the mining pool useless. From the Execoin communique:
In addition, when a powerful multipool switches to another coin it leaves the previous coin’s network with higher difficulty and lower actual hash rate and this negatively impacts reliability and security of the network.
When a large and powerful multipool cartel of miners moves in, there is also the major risk of a 51% attack on the specific altcoin’s network. Execoin has implicit protocol protection which resists multipool attacks, and this renders the coin more secure and better able to sustain its market value. I asked the Execoin developers about their specific strategies to deal with multipool mining.
CCN: Multipool mining has been an unpleasant, yet, unavoidable part of scrypt-based altcoins since their inception. Can you talk some more about the multipool resistance you have
implemented in Execoin… do you, for example, use Kimoto Gravity Well?
Devs: In fact, we understand the importance of KGW, espeсially for a coin which is not backed by huge mining power yet. That’s why we are already in the final stage of its testing and KGW will be implemented in Execoin in the next few days. Benefits of KGW go far beyond the multipool resistance and KGW does not provide absolute immunity to multipools, since any ordinary scrypt coin with KGW still can be multipool-mined. For example, in standard KGW implementations, the minimum number of last blocks which contribute to the evaluation of the new per-block difficulty is 144 blocks, so a standard scrypt coin with KGW is suitable for very short cycles of mining on a not-so-large multipool.
The whole idea of multipool implies that the same miner, with the same parameters on the miner’s side, can mine any scrypt-based coin. Multipool switches currencies and this process is completely transparent and requires no interaction on the miner’s side. However, Execoin requires custom miners with custom parameters and those miners are not compatible with multipools. Therefore, unlike other coins with KGW, Execoin’s approach is not to mitigate consequences of multipooling, but to make multipool mining impossible with Execoin at all.
Good Prospects
Execoin will be coming into its own during the rest of 2014. The stronger the ASIC onslaught, the better for Execoin. This makes it a strategic coin for both mining and investment. The Execoin team discussed this in some detail:
CCN: Execoin is one of a new breed of coins that are positioning for the coming scrypt ASIC invasion. The Execoin team have clearly analyzed current market trends and what you see has led you to make a value proposition for the event horizon when many keen and dedicated GPU-based rigs will be pushed out of their comfort zone. Do you see it this way? And which other coins do you see as your competitors (so to speak) in this new market reality?
Execoin: Well, it’s obvious that the newer ASICs for scrypt coins will significantly change the cryptocoin market and this process has already begun. How many GPU rigs are now mining Bitcoin? It’s an ASIC-only zone now. We’re constantly seeing new announcements of more and more powerful scrypt ASICs and we expect a massive invasion starting by this fall. En Masse migration of GPU mining operators to Execoin and other ASIC-proof coins will start this summer/fall and will keep going with each new release of ASICs. This process cannot be stopped since millions of dollars have already been invested into scrypt ASICs, so scrypt coin mining will be completely occupied by them – it’s just a matter of time. Regarding other coins that could share the new market we can name Vertcoin, of course!
CCN: Given your market positioning, your defensive strategy of resistance, and the high probability that the market will play into your hand in the coming months and years,
can you summarize why you believe Execoin will thrive?
Execoin: Execoin is one of the very few ASIC-resistant coins, it’s fast, reliable, solid-coded, has dedicated development team and we’re doing our best to let people know about it and about the future of the crypto market ahead of the new ASIC invasion. Execoin is likely to be successful as one of the first coins offering an alternative to the all-ASIC world. We would like to focus our further development on real-world applications for Execoin, so that it would be accepted in many places as a method of payment.
Summary
Execoin has a clean altcoin design with several innovative features and is ideally positioned for the coming changes in the altcoin market. Execoin is a recommended Buy-and-Hold for altcoin investors and we advise miners to download custom binaries for their favourite miner from the project website and to point their rig at p2pool here or configure their own p2pool node with Execoin configuration settings
Now , just to see if u guys are with me , and reading this 
.
First one, who post here number of the first news i posted, and his btc address, will get 0.001 BTC
So u only need to post number of the first news post.
You can find number here:
Also who is willing to donate , so we can have this random giveaways more often, here is giveaway donation address:
1GmfPNzNvsxmKy3Y9DAXyZBuTKpuQX99w9
. First one, who post here number of the first news i posted, and his btc address, will get 0.001 BTC
So u only need to post number of the first news post.
You can find number here:
Also who is willing to donate , so we can have this random giveaways more often, here is giveaway donation address:
1GmfPNzNvsxmKy3Y9DAXyZBuTKpuQX99w9
Luxembourg Opens Dialogue with Bitcoin Businesses in New Statement
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 22:20 GMT | Europe, Regulation
The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), the government body responsible for financial regulation in Luxembourg, has issued a release detailing its treatment of digital currencies as well as its expectations for bitcoin businesses.
Issued on 14 February, the communique included familiar consumer protection warnings, but also featured a unique invitation for interested entrepreneurs.
The CSSF encouraged these individuals to contact its officials about facilitating digital currency-related commerce in the country as a first step toward entering the market, and suggested Luxembourg will operate on a case-by-case basis with its decisions.
Read the statement:
“Interested persons who would like to establish themselves in Luxembourg in order to carry out an activity of the financial sector [...] shall define their business purpose and their activity in a sufficiently concrete and precise manner to allow the CSSF to determine for which status they need to receive the ministerial authorisation.”
Michael Jackson, partner at Luxembourg-based Mangrove Capital Partners, spoke to CoinDesk about his conversations with Luxembourg’s regulators, who he characterized as fundamentally different from others around the globe due to their positive first response to regulation.
Said Jackson:
“[They're saying] we’re open, we’re very to people coming here and explaining their businesses. We don’t have any problem with a bitcoin business, as long as it does what it’s supposed to do and behaves properly.”
Research from the Law Library of Congress, corroborated by BitLegal, suggests this is the first time Luxembourg has issued any statements regarding the treatment of digital currencies.
CSSF says bitcoin is money
Coming in at just one page, the communique nonetheless provided a broad overview of the CSSF’s thinking on digital currencies.
The CSSF noted it does consider digital currencies to be money, as they are accepted as a means of payment by “a sufficiently large group of people”. However, the CSSF did not define digital currency as legal tender.
The release went on to explain how digital currencies like bitcoin are different from other forms of electronic money, and reiterated concerns raised by the European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) about their use. Though, notably it did not call for unique laws for bitcoin businesses.
Bitcoin in Luxembourg
Though not a native of the country himself, Jackson indicated that Luxembourg’s bitcoin community has been in open dialogue with domestic regulators for some time.
Despite the positive statements, Jackson said regulators in Luxembourg have their concerns, even if they’re open to dialogue. He stressed that the bitcoin community suffers a communication gap with regulators that has held back discussions, though he sees this latest announcement as a step forward.
“There are many different models, some people are running exchanges, some people are doing transaction processing, all sorts of things, and all of these different business models have different licensing regimes. So, the first thing that you’re going to have to do is sit down.”
Influence
Gary Cornelius, an admin for the Bitcoin Luxembourg Facebook group, suggested that the statements may not have much domestic impact, as the bitcoin business scene remains small. Coinmap indicates the local business community amounts to only a few bitcoin-accepting merchants.
Still, Jackson expressed optimism that Luxembourg’s decision would carry weight in the broader European and global communities. He noted that Luxembourg’s willingness to discuss the matter may resonate given that it is a financial center of Europe.
The statements come at a time when some in the EU, like France’s Minister of Economy and Finance, are calling for broader cooperation on digital currency regulation.
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 22:20 GMT | Europe, Regulation
The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), the government body responsible for financial regulation in Luxembourg, has issued a release detailing its treatment of digital currencies as well as its expectations for bitcoin businesses.
Issued on 14 February, the communique included familiar consumer protection warnings, but also featured a unique invitation for interested entrepreneurs.
The CSSF encouraged these individuals to contact its officials about facilitating digital currency-related commerce in the country as a first step toward entering the market, and suggested Luxembourg will operate on a case-by-case basis with its decisions.
Read the statement:
“Interested persons who would like to establish themselves in Luxembourg in order to carry out an activity of the financial sector [...] shall define their business purpose and their activity in a sufficiently concrete and precise manner to allow the CSSF to determine for which status they need to receive the ministerial authorisation.”
Michael Jackson, partner at Luxembourg-based Mangrove Capital Partners, spoke to CoinDesk about his conversations with Luxembourg’s regulators, who he characterized as fundamentally different from others around the globe due to their positive first response to regulation.
Said Jackson:
“[They're saying] we’re open, we’re very to people coming here and explaining their businesses. We don’t have any problem with a bitcoin business, as long as it does what it’s supposed to do and behaves properly.”
Research from the Law Library of Congress, corroborated by BitLegal, suggests this is the first time Luxembourg has issued any statements regarding the treatment of digital currencies.
CSSF says bitcoin is money
Coming in at just one page, the communique nonetheless provided a broad overview of the CSSF’s thinking on digital currencies.
The CSSF noted it does consider digital currencies to be money, as they are accepted as a means of payment by “a sufficiently large group of people”. However, the CSSF did not define digital currency as legal tender.
The release went on to explain how digital currencies like bitcoin are different from other forms of electronic money, and reiterated concerns raised by the European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) about their use. Though, notably it did not call for unique laws for bitcoin businesses.
Bitcoin in Luxembourg
Though not a native of the country himself, Jackson indicated that Luxembourg’s bitcoin community has been in open dialogue with domestic regulators for some time.
Despite the positive statements, Jackson said regulators in Luxembourg have their concerns, even if they’re open to dialogue. He stressed that the bitcoin community suffers a communication gap with regulators that has held back discussions, though he sees this latest announcement as a step forward.
“There are many different models, some people are running exchanges, some people are doing transaction processing, all sorts of things, and all of these different business models have different licensing regimes. So, the first thing that you’re going to have to do is sit down.”
Influence
Gary Cornelius, an admin for the Bitcoin Luxembourg Facebook group, suggested that the statements may not have much domestic impact, as the bitcoin business scene remains small. Coinmap indicates the local business community amounts to only a few bitcoin-accepting merchants.
Still, Jackson expressed optimism that Luxembourg’s decision would carry weight in the broader European and global communities. He noted that Luxembourg’s willingness to discuss the matter may resonate given that it is a financial center of Europe.
The statements come at a time when some in the EU, like France’s Minister of Economy and Finance, are calling for broader cooperation on digital currency regulation.
Dutch Streets Adopt Cryptocurrency, Become ‘Bitcoin Boulevard’
Jona Kallgren (@Jonakallgren) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 20:23 GMT | Events, Merchants, News
It is the home of the Dutch royals, a number of international war criminals and, seasonally, to masses of photo-taking tourists, but the Hague in the Netherlands will soon be a hotspot for bitcoin enthusiasts, too.
At 17:57 on 20th March – the precise start of spring in the Netherlands – all of the businesses along two canal-side streets in the city centre will start to accept bitcoin.
In all, nine restaurants and one art gallery will take part in the scheme.
Unofficially the two streets running along the canal – Bierkade and Groenewegje – will also change their name to ‘Bitcoin Boulevard’.
Bitcoin Boulevard
The streets along the canal will soon be known as “Bitcoin Boulevard”
Hard sell
The city of the Hague has been quick to jump on the project with the tourism office promoting the event and the city’s ‘Night Mayor’ – the official who looks after the city’s nighttime activities – due to make the first bitcoin purchase at one of the restaurants.
Hendrik Jan Hilbolling, one of the three organisers behind the project, says he had the idea for Bitcoin Boulevard after convincing his friend, who runs a restaurant on the street, to accept bitcoin for payments.
He discussed the idea with two other bitcoin enthusiasts, Peter Klasen and Henk van Tijen, at a bitcoin meetup. The three then set out to convince all the remaining restaurants to throw away their preconceived ideas, ignore the bad news spinning out of the Mt. Gox implosion and start accepting a cryptocurrency that some of them had not even heard of.
With some it was a hard sell, but one after the other the restaurant owners started seeing the advantages of bitcoin – such as the low transaction costs, the ease of payment for international guests and the promotional value.
As Hilbolling pointed out:
“In the end, who doesn’t want to be a part of a Bitcoin Boulevard?”
The canal may soon be thronged with bitcoiners
Bitcoin happy hour
Bitcoin enthusiasts won’t find it hard to spend their digital coins on the streets: there is a Michelin-star restaurant, a beer hall with more than 160 beers on offer, a café and a vegetarian restaurant.
The M Restaurant will also be holding a daily bitcoin ‘ happy hour’, when all guests paying with the digital currency will receive a discount.
People with a bit of extra bitcoin in their wallets can also buy photography, paintings and sculptures from internationally known contemporary artists at the art gallery West.
At this stage, the restaurants and the gallery will not be using a merchant service. Rather they will display the QR code of their wallet on the bar and do simple bitcoin transactions from wallet to wallet. Hilbolling said, however, that this might change as the project develops.
Initially the idea was to conduct a two-month trial, but the businesses have said that if things go well they continue with the Bitcoin Boulevard concept indefinitely.
‘Not just for nerds’
The three organisers, who all have day jobs in the software sector, said that they will themselves not make any profits from the project. Instead, it has been a way for them to spread the word about bitcoin, get to know other bitcoin enthusiasts, and introduce the digital currency to the general public.
Henk van Tijen explained:
“This event is is not just for nerds like ourselves, but for the regular moms and pops, kids and students. The purpose is to make it for a more broad audience.”
To boost bitcoin spending there will be a competition held for the person that spends the most crypto-coin on the street and for the restaurant that has taken the most bitcoin payments. Both winners will be displayed on the Netherlands’ largest advertising screen, which sits over a highway near the city.
So, if you want to have your mugshot on display to Dutch commuters, load up your digital wallet and book a trip to the Hague. Michelin-starred food and international beer await you.
Jona Kallgren (@Jonakallgren) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 20:23 GMT | Events, Merchants, News
It is the home of the Dutch royals, a number of international war criminals and, seasonally, to masses of photo-taking tourists, but the Hague in the Netherlands will soon be a hotspot for bitcoin enthusiasts, too.
At 17:57 on 20th March – the precise start of spring in the Netherlands – all of the businesses along two canal-side streets in the city centre will start to accept bitcoin.
In all, nine restaurants and one art gallery will take part in the scheme.
Unofficially the two streets running along the canal – Bierkade and Groenewegje – will also change their name to ‘Bitcoin Boulevard’.
Bitcoin Boulevard
The streets along the canal will soon be known as “Bitcoin Boulevard”
Hard sell
The city of the Hague has been quick to jump on the project with the tourism office promoting the event and the city’s ‘Night Mayor’ – the official who looks after the city’s nighttime activities – due to make the first bitcoin purchase at one of the restaurants.
Hendrik Jan Hilbolling, one of the three organisers behind the project, says he had the idea for Bitcoin Boulevard after convincing his friend, who runs a restaurant on the street, to accept bitcoin for payments.
He discussed the idea with two other bitcoin enthusiasts, Peter Klasen and Henk van Tijen, at a bitcoin meetup. The three then set out to convince all the remaining restaurants to throw away their preconceived ideas, ignore the bad news spinning out of the Mt. Gox implosion and start accepting a cryptocurrency that some of them had not even heard of.
With some it was a hard sell, but one after the other the restaurant owners started seeing the advantages of bitcoin – such as the low transaction costs, the ease of payment for international guests and the promotional value.
As Hilbolling pointed out:
“In the end, who doesn’t want to be a part of a Bitcoin Boulevard?”
The canal may soon be thronged with bitcoiners
Bitcoin happy hour
Bitcoin enthusiasts won’t find it hard to spend their digital coins on the streets: there is a Michelin-star restaurant, a beer hall with more than 160 beers on offer, a café and a vegetarian restaurant.
The M Restaurant will also be holding a daily bitcoin ‘ happy hour’, when all guests paying with the digital currency will receive a discount.
People with a bit of extra bitcoin in their wallets can also buy photography, paintings and sculptures from internationally known contemporary artists at the art gallery West.
At this stage, the restaurants and the gallery will not be using a merchant service. Rather they will display the QR code of their wallet on the bar and do simple bitcoin transactions from wallet to wallet. Hilbolling said, however, that this might change as the project develops.
Initially the idea was to conduct a two-month trial, but the businesses have said that if things go well they continue with the Bitcoin Boulevard concept indefinitely.
‘Not just for nerds’
The three organisers, who all have day jobs in the software sector, said that they will themselves not make any profits from the project. Instead, it has been a way for them to spread the word about bitcoin, get to know other bitcoin enthusiasts, and introduce the digital currency to the general public.
Henk van Tijen explained:
“This event is is not just for nerds like ourselves, but for the regular moms and pops, kids and students. The purpose is to make it for a more broad audience.”
To boost bitcoin spending there will be a competition held for the person that spends the most crypto-coin on the street and for the restaurant that has taken the most bitcoin payments. Both winners will be displayed on the Netherlands’ largest advertising screen, which sits over a highway near the city.
So, if you want to have your mugshot on display to Dutch commuters, load up your digital wallet and book a trip to the Hague. Michelin-starred food and international beer await you.
Is mcxNOW turning into a wasteland of altcoins?
David Parker 11/03/2014
mcxNOW used to be one of the hottest cryptocurrency exchange around until RealSolid, whose real name is a “hidden secret”, shut it down late fall of 2013 because he experienced too many customer problems. He decided that he would improve the exchange making sure it would not cause problems for his customers again when withdrawing or depositing different cryptocurrencies.
The Re-Launch of mcxNOW
When mcxNOW got back up after a long time left out in the cold, it immediately started to pick up where it had left with a total trade amount of above 1000 bitcoins. The fuel continued to burn when RealSolid decided to add MaxCoin to the exchange.
MaxCoin failure
MaxCoin, like most of the other coins that are launched with big endorsements, initially peaked then to have what’s called a slow death. Some altcoins manage to revamp their expectations by doing some major changes, but unless there is an economy built around the cryptocurrencies themselves, they won’t survive.
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Maxcoin-bitcoin-mcxnow-.png
Maxcoin bitcoin mcxnow
The Slowly Death of MaxCoin
The Failure of not adding Dogecoin
RealSolid has time after time told his users of mcxNOW that he would add Dogecoin soon. We even got confirmation after confirmation that “this week is it”. It is now clear to see that RealSolid has a major problem with following up on his promises, including running what we would call a business.
By not adding Dogecoin, one of the most traded altcoins out there, he shows a lack of understanding of basic market economics. It seems like he has given up on mcxNOW and what he wanted to make “the world’s greatest digital exchange”.
When he also sold 5000 of his remaining 10 000 mcxFEEs to sell, he told us that he would not sell his remaining 5000 mcxFEEs for a long time. However after a short period, his last batch was sold. RealSolid is either two or more people, or, well you get the math.
Will mcxNOW come to a halt?
After RealSolid cashed in many thousands of bitcoins on mcxFEEs, he could be suffering from greed and megalomania. This makes the small amount he now makes on his remaining mcxFEEs irrelevant and, therefore, mcxNOW irrelevant.
I would go so far to say that if you have any mcxFEE at mcxNOW now, I would seriously consider selling it for a loss just to get some value out of it and transfer the bitcoins out of the exchange.
If RealSolid doesn’t change his business ethics and methods, mcxNOW will not survive.
What do you think? Write in the comment field below.
David Parker 11/03/2014
mcxNOW used to be one of the hottest cryptocurrency exchange around until RealSolid, whose real name is a “hidden secret”, shut it down late fall of 2013 because he experienced too many customer problems. He decided that he would improve the exchange making sure it would not cause problems for his customers again when withdrawing or depositing different cryptocurrencies.
The Re-Launch of mcxNOW
When mcxNOW got back up after a long time left out in the cold, it immediately started to pick up where it had left with a total trade amount of above 1000 bitcoins. The fuel continued to burn when RealSolid decided to add MaxCoin to the exchange.
MaxCoin failure
MaxCoin, like most of the other coins that are launched with big endorsements, initially peaked then to have what’s called a slow death. Some altcoins manage to revamp their expectations by doing some major changes, but unless there is an economy built around the cryptocurrencies themselves, they won’t survive.
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Maxcoin-bitcoin-mcxnow-.png
Maxcoin bitcoin mcxnow
The Slowly Death of MaxCoin
The Failure of not adding Dogecoin
RealSolid has time after time told his users of mcxNOW that he would add Dogecoin soon. We even got confirmation after confirmation that “this week is it”. It is now clear to see that RealSolid has a major problem with following up on his promises, including running what we would call a business.
By not adding Dogecoin, one of the most traded altcoins out there, he shows a lack of understanding of basic market economics. It seems like he has given up on mcxNOW and what he wanted to make “the world’s greatest digital exchange”.
When he also sold 5000 of his remaining 10 000 mcxFEEs to sell, he told us that he would not sell his remaining 5000 mcxFEEs for a long time. However after a short period, his last batch was sold. RealSolid is either two or more people, or, well you get the math.
Will mcxNOW come to a halt?
After RealSolid cashed in many thousands of bitcoins on mcxFEEs, he could be suffering from greed and megalomania. This makes the small amount he now makes on his remaining mcxFEEs irrelevant and, therefore, mcxNOW irrelevant.
I would go so far to say that if you have any mcxFEE at mcxNOW now, I would seriously consider selling it for a loss just to get some value out of it and transfer the bitcoins out of the exchange.
If RealSolid doesn’t change his business ethics and methods, mcxNOW will not survive.
What do you think? Write in the comment field below.
Bitcoin may soon arrive at Ebay
Diana Ngo 10/03/2014
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/bitcoin-ebay.jpg
The giant online sale recently completed an application for a patent called "System and Method for Management of Transactions in a Digital Environment Marchand , " consider leaving as eBay have created a Bitcoin transaction system .
A new ad that takes over several positive signals to digital currencies from eBay and its subsidiary PayPal as its CEO John Donahoe .
Bitcoin and eBay
eBay - bitcoini.com
eBay had mentioned in April 2013
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in April 2013, the CEO of eBay, John Donahoe, had admitted that the company was working on the integration of Bitcoin in his system. Also CEO of Paypal, it said it wanted to integrate its digital currency payment system :
This is a disruptive technology , then yes, we seriously consider Bitcoin . It should be possible ways to integrate with Paypal.
The integration of Bitcoin in the Paypal network would be an undeniable springboard for digital currency. This recognition would provide the necessary visibility and legitimacy in the acceptance of digital currency by the public process.
Gradual integration
A few months after the announcement of his interest in Bitcoin , eBay changed its regulations to meet the many demands of its customers, and allow consumers to buy and sell virtual currency on the merchant site.
First applied in the United Kingdom and the United States February 10, 2014 , eBay now allows its consumers to acquire crypto -currency , under some simple and clear terms :
Virtual currencies must be listed in the format of Parts Classifieds in coins and paper> Virtual Currency . These requirements apply to the physical delivery , such as digital delivery . Examples of goods subject to this rule are Bitcoins , Litecoins and similar crypto- currencies.
Although eBay has always been pragmatic on the issue of Bitcoin , it now seems clear that teaches adopted a progressive approach to integrating digital currencies in its payment system .
First for auction listings
According to an article AmongTech.com , the form of the application for patent filled by eBay, mentions that the system would apply first to the auction listings . Without saying more , the data on the form stipulated anyway:
The currency unit is configured to manage the exchange of digital currencies . Consequently, the currency module allows a user to exchange one form of currency into another form .
Digital currency can be used to address [ real ] (eg invoices) financial obligations as well as obligations of the [ virtual world ] . The payment system allows users to accumulate value (eg a supranational currency such as the U.S. dollar , or a [ currency lucrative profit ] , such as loyalty points , Miles , and other forms of currency distributed by a private entity ) in their account for later purchase goods with the accumulated value [...] elsewhere on the network .
Integrate digital currency payment system Paypal online could encourage merchants Bitcoin as traders using Paypal, offer an additional means of payment, and allow them opportunities for significant growth.
Diana Ngo 10/03/2014
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/bitcoin-ebay.jpg
The giant online sale recently completed an application for a patent called "System and Method for Management of Transactions in a Digital Environment Marchand , " consider leaving as eBay have created a Bitcoin transaction system .
A new ad that takes over several positive signals to digital currencies from eBay and its subsidiary PayPal as its CEO John Donahoe .
Bitcoin and eBay
eBay - bitcoini.com
eBay had mentioned in April 2013
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in April 2013, the CEO of eBay, John Donahoe, had admitted that the company was working on the integration of Bitcoin in his system. Also CEO of Paypal, it said it wanted to integrate its digital currency payment system :
This is a disruptive technology , then yes, we seriously consider Bitcoin . It should be possible ways to integrate with Paypal.
The integration of Bitcoin in the Paypal network would be an undeniable springboard for digital currency. This recognition would provide the necessary visibility and legitimacy in the acceptance of digital currency by the public process.
Gradual integration
A few months after the announcement of his interest in Bitcoin , eBay changed its regulations to meet the many demands of its customers, and allow consumers to buy and sell virtual currency on the merchant site.
First applied in the United Kingdom and the United States February 10, 2014 , eBay now allows its consumers to acquire crypto -currency , under some simple and clear terms :
Virtual currencies must be listed in the format of Parts Classifieds in coins and paper> Virtual Currency . These requirements apply to the physical delivery , such as digital delivery . Examples of goods subject to this rule are Bitcoins , Litecoins and similar crypto- currencies.
Although eBay has always been pragmatic on the issue of Bitcoin , it now seems clear that teaches adopted a progressive approach to integrating digital currencies in its payment system .
First for auction listings
According to an article AmongTech.com , the form of the application for patent filled by eBay, mentions that the system would apply first to the auction listings . Without saying more , the data on the form stipulated anyway:
The currency unit is configured to manage the exchange of digital currencies . Consequently, the currency module allows a user to exchange one form of currency into another form .
Digital currency can be used to address [ real ] (eg invoices) financial obligations as well as obligations of the [ virtual world ] . The payment system allows users to accumulate value (eg a supranational currency such as the U.S. dollar , or a [ currency lucrative profit ] , such as loyalty points , Miles , and other forms of currency distributed by a private entity ) in their account for later purchase goods with the accumulated value [...] elsewhere on the network .
Integrate digital currency payment system Paypal online could encourage merchants Bitcoin as traders using Paypal, offer an additional means of payment, and allow them opportunities for significant growth.
Apple VS Bitcoin
Sara Navarro Medina 10/03/2014
Jobs was a control freak . Already at the time fought against Amazon and any other company that tried to implement their own payment systems. So , you know the story of Steve Jobs, Apple was expected to put an obstacles to cryptocurrency trendy, Bitcoin .
A few days ago came news sites in different alarms blowing up why Apple did not accept Bitcoins , speculated thousand reasons why Apple may be against .
Apple has removed all applications for Bitcoin Wallets of its iOS App Store. Therefore, all options for a transaction using Bitcoins have been removed from the apps for iPhone .
However, we must stress that applications related to Bitcoin transactions not involving itself through still appear in the App Store. Moreover, now number 242 and are mostly price indicators .
Normally Apple rejects any application that provides a payment mechanism that prevents the commission of Apple, although the reason is unclear .
Apple may not want to deal with legal problems involving a fairly opaque and controversial legal framework in many countries today.
Several arguments have been echoed by the networks:
It has been said that Apple wants to create its own currency , which is already up with possible name , iMoney , thereby eliminating any competition against other cryptocurrencies .
Or not interested in this alternative payment system because Apple can not make money through Bitcoin transactions . It is true that Apple takes 30% of in- app purchases , however , there are other applications such as Amazon and Square payments online credit card through manual data entry , which Apple does not take nothing .
The origin of all this speculation arises from the app Fancy , who has unleashed all these questions and possible reasons for the rejection of Bitcoin .
In January , Fancy began accepting payments Bitcoins in their catalogs.
bitcoin_apple_app_store_sara_navarro_medina
Fancy is not an app like Amazon , with millions of products to choose from.
However , it has a smaller selection of interesting products for your community .
Fancy wearing little more than a month accepting Bitcoins , the Android and iOS apps had been updated with Bitcoin payments , made through Coinbase .
But after only a week after this update , Apple requested Fancy eliminate this payment system , by failing to comply with its regulations.
Apple is famous for the prohibition of certain things and follow a centralized system, it is not surprising not to support a decentralized technology like Bitcoin . Perhaps the criteria to centralize all their technology can take its toll in the future.
Well, at least Android seems to trouble accepting the possibility of transacting with Bitcoins and thanks to this operating system can continue to evolve watching these new payment methods .
Sara Navarro Medina 10/03/2014
Jobs was a control freak . Already at the time fought against Amazon and any other company that tried to implement their own payment systems. So , you know the story of Steve Jobs, Apple was expected to put an obstacles to cryptocurrency trendy, Bitcoin .
A few days ago came news sites in different alarms blowing up why Apple did not accept Bitcoins , speculated thousand reasons why Apple may be against .
Apple has removed all applications for Bitcoin Wallets of its iOS App Store. Therefore, all options for a transaction using Bitcoins have been removed from the apps for iPhone .
However, we must stress that applications related to Bitcoin transactions not involving itself through still appear in the App Store. Moreover, now number 242 and are mostly price indicators .
Normally Apple rejects any application that provides a payment mechanism that prevents the commission of Apple, although the reason is unclear .
Apple may not want to deal with legal problems involving a fairly opaque and controversial legal framework in many countries today.
Several arguments have been echoed by the networks:
It has been said that Apple wants to create its own currency , which is already up with possible name , iMoney , thereby eliminating any competition against other cryptocurrencies .
Or not interested in this alternative payment system because Apple can not make money through Bitcoin transactions . It is true that Apple takes 30% of in- app purchases , however , there are other applications such as Amazon and Square payments online credit card through manual data entry , which Apple does not take nothing .
The origin of all this speculation arises from the app Fancy , who has unleashed all these questions and possible reasons for the rejection of Bitcoin .
In January , Fancy began accepting payments Bitcoins in their catalogs.
bitcoin_apple_app_store_sara_navarro_medina
Fancy is not an app like Amazon , with millions of products to choose from.
However , it has a smaller selection of interesting products for your community .
Fancy wearing little more than a month accepting Bitcoins , the Android and iOS apps had been updated with Bitcoin payments , made through Coinbase .
But after only a week after this update , Apple requested Fancy eliminate this payment system , by failing to comply with its regulations.
Apple is famous for the prohibition of certain things and follow a centralized system, it is not surprising not to support a decentralized technology like Bitcoin . Perhaps the criteria to centralize all their technology can take its toll in the future.
Well, at least Android seems to trouble accepting the possibility of transacting with Bitcoins and thanks to this operating system can continue to evolve watching these new payment methods .
New York Now Accepting Applications for Digital Currency Exchanges
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 18:26 GMT | Regulation, US & Canada
New York’s Superintendent of Financial Services, Benjamin M. Lawsky, has issued a public order that confirms the state is now accepting applications for digital currency exchanges.
Perhaps most notably, however, was that Lawsky indicated that these new businesses will be regulated under new New York regulation, which he committed to having in place by the end of the second quarter of 2014.
In his remarks, Lawsky struck his usual balance of at once recognizing the promise of digital currencies and stressing that related business activities need to be conducted in a responsible and lawful manner.
Wrote Lawsky in the release:
“The recent problems at Mt. Gox and other firms further demonstrate the urgent need for stronger oversight of virtual currency exchanges, including robust standards for consumer protection, cyber security, and anti-money laundering compliance.
Proposal guidelines
Lawsky also disclosed new information for those seeking to apply for a New York-based exchange, indicating that interested firms can now immediately submit proposals and applications. However, he noted that such submissions represent a formal commitment to the regulatory process.
Further, Lawsky suggested that New York will not be bound by commitments that prevent it from taking what he considered appropriate action to safeguard consumers during this process. Lawsky noted that its policies for digital currency exchanges could be later modified to enhance consumer protection, cybersecurity or anti-money laundering initiatives.
Said Lawsky:
“Turning a blind eye and failing to put in place guardrails for virtual currency firms while consumers use that product is simply not a tenable strategy for regulators.”
Approved applications will need to adhere to the regulatory framework New York plans to introduce later this year.
A long-awaited move
The move puts in motion an idea that first arose during the NYDFS bitcoin hearings in January. There, major digital currency investors made the case that New York should consider hosting such a business, both for its job creation benefits and because the industry was in need of more oversight, though this suggestion has not been without criticism.
The news also confirms what New York-based bitcoin business leaders had previously indicated, that they had been in talks with representatives of the state on the matter on efforts to work toward regulated exchanges.
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 18:26 GMT | Regulation, US & Canada
New York’s Superintendent of Financial Services, Benjamin M. Lawsky, has issued a public order that confirms the state is now accepting applications for digital currency exchanges.
Perhaps most notably, however, was that Lawsky indicated that these new businesses will be regulated under new New York regulation, which he committed to having in place by the end of the second quarter of 2014.
In his remarks, Lawsky struck his usual balance of at once recognizing the promise of digital currencies and stressing that related business activities need to be conducted in a responsible and lawful manner.
Wrote Lawsky in the release:
“The recent problems at Mt. Gox and other firms further demonstrate the urgent need for stronger oversight of virtual currency exchanges, including robust standards for consumer protection, cyber security, and anti-money laundering compliance.
Proposal guidelines
Lawsky also disclosed new information for those seeking to apply for a New York-based exchange, indicating that interested firms can now immediately submit proposals and applications. However, he noted that such submissions represent a formal commitment to the regulatory process.
Further, Lawsky suggested that New York will not be bound by commitments that prevent it from taking what he considered appropriate action to safeguard consumers during this process. Lawsky noted that its policies for digital currency exchanges could be later modified to enhance consumer protection, cybersecurity or anti-money laundering initiatives.
Said Lawsky:
“Turning a blind eye and failing to put in place guardrails for virtual currency firms while consumers use that product is simply not a tenable strategy for regulators.”
Approved applications will need to adhere to the regulatory framework New York plans to introduce later this year.
A long-awaited move
The move puts in motion an idea that first arose during the NYDFS bitcoin hearings in January. There, major digital currency investors made the case that New York should consider hosting such a business, both for its job creation benefits and because the industry was in need of more oversight, though this suggestion has not been without criticism.
The news also confirms what New York-based bitcoin business leaders had previously indicated, that they had been in talks with representatives of the state on the matter on efforts to work toward regulated exchanges.
Has Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff Adopted a Pro-Bitcoin Stance?
Roop Gill (@roopgill) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 17:42 GMT | Companies, Investors, News
Spencer Rascoff, CEO of online real estate database Zillow, has announced to his 20,290 Twitter followers that he is coming round to the idea of bitcoin.
The entrepreneur indicated yesterday that he was gearing up to embrace digital currencies.
A tweet today from the Harvard graduate confirmed he had taken the plunge and invested in some bitcoins:
Rascoff joins the growing league of executives who have implied their support of bitcoin, including Virgin Galactic’s Sir Richard Branson, ex-Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya, and most recently, Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales.
Just yesterday, Wales tweeted about bitcoin and indicated that he would discuss bitcoin acceptance with board members.
While Rascoff may seem pro-bitcoin now, he appeared on Bloomberg TV last November openly criticising the cryptocurrecy. He said:
“I am sceptical of bitcoin. I just think there’s too much shadiness associated with the currency that’s not maintained by some sort of government or central bank. And I think it will blow up at some point, with some big scandal where someone loses 50, a 100 million dollars, and I don’t think it [bitcoin] is going to be here in five years.”
Jill Simmons, spokesperson for Zillow, told CoinDesk that while Rascoff may be expressing interest in bitcoin, this doesn’t necessarily mean his company is exploring bitcoin acceptance.
“Spencer’s decision to buy bitcoin was a personal one and doesn’t reflect any upcoming policies within Zillow,” she said.
Zillow’s growth
Zillow is a real estate marketplace helping homeowners, buyers and agents to find and share vital information about homes, real estate and mortgages. Founded in 2005, the Zillow website is one of the most-visited real-estate brands in the US.
Between 2005 and 2011, the company raised funding totalling $92.5m with investors including Technology Crossover Ventures and PAR Capital Management. Zillow began trading on NASDAQ Stock Market in July 2011, raising $4.13m in post IPO funding.
Rascoff was named one of America’s most powerful CEOs 40 and Under by Forbes magazine for the last two years. Before taking up his role at Zillow, he co-founded Hotwire.com, a discount travel website.
Roop Gill (@roopgill) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 17:42 GMT | Companies, Investors, News
Spencer Rascoff, CEO of online real estate database Zillow, has announced to his 20,290 Twitter followers that he is coming round to the idea of bitcoin.
The entrepreneur indicated yesterday that he was gearing up to embrace digital currencies.
A tweet today from the Harvard graduate confirmed he had taken the plunge and invested in some bitcoins:
Rascoff joins the growing league of executives who have implied their support of bitcoin, including Virgin Galactic’s Sir Richard Branson, ex-Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya, and most recently, Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales.
Just yesterday, Wales tweeted about bitcoin and indicated that he would discuss bitcoin acceptance with board members.
While Rascoff may seem pro-bitcoin now, he appeared on Bloomberg TV last November openly criticising the cryptocurrecy. He said:
“I am sceptical of bitcoin. I just think there’s too much shadiness associated with the currency that’s not maintained by some sort of government or central bank. And I think it will blow up at some point, with some big scandal where someone loses 50, a 100 million dollars, and I don’t think it [bitcoin] is going to be here in five years.”
Jill Simmons, spokesperson for Zillow, told CoinDesk that while Rascoff may be expressing interest in bitcoin, this doesn’t necessarily mean his company is exploring bitcoin acceptance.
“Spencer’s decision to buy bitcoin was a personal one and doesn’t reflect any upcoming policies within Zillow,” she said.
Zillow’s growth
Zillow is a real estate marketplace helping homeowners, buyers and agents to find and share vital information about homes, real estate and mortgages. Founded in 2005, the Zillow website is one of the most-visited real-estate brands in the US.
Between 2005 and 2011, the company raised funding totalling $92.5m with investors including Technology Crossover Ventures and PAR Capital Management. Zillow began trading on NASDAQ Stock Market in July 2011, raising $4.13m in post IPO funding.
Rascoff was named one of America’s most powerful CEOs 40 and Under by Forbes magazine for the last two years. Before taking up his role at Zillow, he co-founded Hotwire.com, a discount travel website.
US Securities Regulator FINRA Warns of Bitcoin’s Investment Risks
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 16:57 GMT | Investors, News, Regulation, US & Canada
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the largest independent regulator in the US, issued an investor alert about bitcoin on 11th March, calling the digital currency “more than a bit risky” as part of a new warning to consumers and investors.
FINRA said the alert aims to raise awareness about the downsides of bitcoin investments in light of the recent high-profile struggles of bitcoin business.
Read the release:
“FINRA is issuing this alert to caution investors that buying and using digital currency such as bitcoin carry risks. Speculative trading in bitcoins carries significant risk. There is also the risk of fraud related to companies claiming to offer bitcoin payment platforms and other bitcoin-related products and services.”
In particular, the released noted the recent troubles of Japan-based exchange Mt. Gox and Imogo Mobile Technologies, which was suspended by the SEC following its introduction of a bitcoin payment platform in January.
Hacking, volatility top FINRA’s listed risks
FINRA detailed what it referred to as the “numerous risks” associated with buying, selling and using bitcoin, including that bitcoin is not legal tender in the US.
The agency further emphasized how bitcoin is susceptible to fraud, saying:
“Platforms that buy and sell bitcoins can be hacked, and some have failed. In addition, like the platforms themselves, digital wallets can be hacked. As a result, consumers can – and have – lost money.”
Additional comments covered how bitcoin exchanges are volatile and could close at any time, and that bitcoin transactions, by nature of their design, are not reversible like other popular forms of payment.
FINRA solicits tips and information
The announcements follows other notable statements from US policymakers, who have been increasingly outspoken about digital currencies, including US Senator Joe Manchin, top Alabama securities regulator Joe Borg and Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, as well as their intent to follow their progress.
FINRA, likewise, suggested it will be monitoring events in the digital currency space.
The regulatory body ended the release by encouraging those who have been defrauded by a securities professional or firm to file a complaint with its representatives or to contact its support lines with tips and information
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 16:57 GMT | Investors, News, Regulation, US & Canada
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the largest independent regulator in the US, issued an investor alert about bitcoin on 11th March, calling the digital currency “more than a bit risky” as part of a new warning to consumers and investors.
FINRA said the alert aims to raise awareness about the downsides of bitcoin investments in light of the recent high-profile struggles of bitcoin business.
Read the release:
“FINRA is issuing this alert to caution investors that buying and using digital currency such as bitcoin carry risks. Speculative trading in bitcoins carries significant risk. There is also the risk of fraud related to companies claiming to offer bitcoin payment platforms and other bitcoin-related products and services.”
In particular, the released noted the recent troubles of Japan-based exchange Mt. Gox and Imogo Mobile Technologies, which was suspended by the SEC following its introduction of a bitcoin payment platform in January.
Hacking, volatility top FINRA’s listed risks
FINRA detailed what it referred to as the “numerous risks” associated with buying, selling and using bitcoin, including that bitcoin is not legal tender in the US.
The agency further emphasized how bitcoin is susceptible to fraud, saying:
“Platforms that buy and sell bitcoins can be hacked, and some have failed. In addition, like the platforms themselves, digital wallets can be hacked. As a result, consumers can – and have – lost money.”
Additional comments covered how bitcoin exchanges are volatile and could close at any time, and that bitcoin transactions, by nature of their design, are not reversible like other popular forms of payment.
FINRA solicits tips and information
The announcements follows other notable statements from US policymakers, who have been increasingly outspoken about digital currencies, including US Senator Joe Manchin, top Alabama securities regulator Joe Borg and Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, as well as their intent to follow their progress.
FINRA, likewise, suggested it will be monitoring events in the digital currency space.
The regulatory body ended the release by encouraging those who have been defrauded by a securities professional or firm to file a complaint with its representatives or to contact its support lines with tips and information
MtGoxRecovery.com Seeks Reparation From Fallen Exchange
Tom Sharkey | Published on March 11, 2014 at 16:39 GMT | Law, Mt. Gox, News
The backlash from Mt. Gox’s recent bankruptcy filings is now at full throttle, and a new website is building a case against the Japanese exchange with the goal of ultimately filing a lawsuit to recover damages.
MtGoxRecovery.com has gathered information from over 1,600 customers who have lost funds in the aftermath of Mt. Gox filing for bankruptcy in both Japan and more recently in the US.
The website suggests that Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles’ “completely irresponsible actions” have left many of the exchange’s customers with considerable losses, and MtGoxRecovery.com hopes to recover these funds with the help of a Japanese law firm.
Widespread losses
In addition to the 850,000 bitcoins that have gone missing from Mt. Gox, Karpeles revealed the company has more than $60m in outstanding debt owed to creditors and customers.
At one time the industry’s most popular exchange, Mt. Gox undoubtedly held a considerable number of bitcoins, and when the exchange halted withdrawals back in February, many worried that their funds would be forever tied up on Mt. Gox.
Message boards across the Internet have served as unofficial support groups for victims of Mt. Gox’s apparent insolvency. On reddit, an entire subreddit (r/mtgoxinsolvency) dedicated to following the downfall of Mt. Gox has garnered over 200 subscribers, many of whom have reported significant bitcoin losses on the exchange.
One thread dedicated to sharing “horror stories” from Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy was filled with anecdotes of loss:
Mt Gox losses insolvency bankruptcy
Seeking justice
MtGoxRecovery.com was created by tech entrepreneur and Bitcoin Foundation lifetime member Olivier Janssens, who claims to have personally lost more than $5m as a result of Mt. Gox’s questionable operations.
Janssens said he spoke directly with Karpeles in the months before Mt. Gox halted transactions and filed for bankruptcy, and stated in no uncertain terms that he believes Karpeles has acted criminally:
“Mark knew I was a major stakeholder in the bitcoin community, and we discussed solutions for three hours to try to resolve this. At that time he kept telling me he could only send me a very limited amount per month, due to anti-money laundering issues. Obviously, this was a lie.”
One of the major concerns that Mt. Gox customers have consistently voiced is about the exchange’s lack of transparency in its operations, particularly in recent weeks when Mt. Gox halted transactions and eventually filed for bankruptcy.
Janssen pointed to the recent speculation surrounding the movement of $113m around the block chain and how many believe this money is linked with or even owned by Mt. Gox as evidence of Karpeles’ unethical obfuscation of information.
Speaking to CoinDesk, Janssen said:
“It’s very concerning to see assets moving [throughout the block chain] during civil rehabilitation. The legality of it is questionable to say the least, and it should not be done without clear communication to the creditors. Being completely transparent at this point is essential, and this is something that has been lacking at Mt. Gox since the beginning. People should not be given any false hope, nor should extra uncertainty be added.”
Building a case
Together with its lawyers in Japan, MtGoxRecovery.com claims it will file a lawsuit that will “try to recover as much as possible, and additionally press criminal charges against Mark Karpeles personally.”
Janssen says that the website has gathered a substantial amount of information from users that have signed up as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and in cases where the information is critically important, they plan to pass their case along to the police as well.
One area of focus for MtGoxRecovery.com and its users is Japanese bankruptcy law. Janssens plans to offer a public information session on the subject this week for users who have signed up on the website.
The time and date of this session is yet to be announced, but considering the large number of people who have lost bitcoin on Mt. Gox, the demand for more information is clearly substantial.
Disclaimer: It has not been ascertained that any fraudulent activity was involved in the Mt. Gox collapse. CEO Mark Karpeles has admitted only to losing bitcoins stored at the company via theft.
Tom Sharkey | Published on March 11, 2014 at 16:39 GMT | Law, Mt. Gox, News
The backlash from Mt. Gox’s recent bankruptcy filings is now at full throttle, and a new website is building a case against the Japanese exchange with the goal of ultimately filing a lawsuit to recover damages.
MtGoxRecovery.com has gathered information from over 1,600 customers who have lost funds in the aftermath of Mt. Gox filing for bankruptcy in both Japan and more recently in the US.
The website suggests that Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles’ “completely irresponsible actions” have left many of the exchange’s customers with considerable losses, and MtGoxRecovery.com hopes to recover these funds with the help of a Japanese law firm.
Widespread losses
In addition to the 850,000 bitcoins that have gone missing from Mt. Gox, Karpeles revealed the company has more than $60m in outstanding debt owed to creditors and customers.
At one time the industry’s most popular exchange, Mt. Gox undoubtedly held a considerable number of bitcoins, and when the exchange halted withdrawals back in February, many worried that their funds would be forever tied up on Mt. Gox.
Message boards across the Internet have served as unofficial support groups for victims of Mt. Gox’s apparent insolvency. On reddit, an entire subreddit (r/mtgoxinsolvency) dedicated to following the downfall of Mt. Gox has garnered over 200 subscribers, many of whom have reported significant bitcoin losses on the exchange.
One thread dedicated to sharing “horror stories” from Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy was filled with anecdotes of loss:
Mt Gox losses insolvency bankruptcy
Seeking justice
MtGoxRecovery.com was created by tech entrepreneur and Bitcoin Foundation lifetime member Olivier Janssens, who claims to have personally lost more than $5m as a result of Mt. Gox’s questionable operations.
Janssens said he spoke directly with Karpeles in the months before Mt. Gox halted transactions and filed for bankruptcy, and stated in no uncertain terms that he believes Karpeles has acted criminally:
“Mark knew I was a major stakeholder in the bitcoin community, and we discussed solutions for three hours to try to resolve this. At that time he kept telling me he could only send me a very limited amount per month, due to anti-money laundering issues. Obviously, this was a lie.”
One of the major concerns that Mt. Gox customers have consistently voiced is about the exchange’s lack of transparency in its operations, particularly in recent weeks when Mt. Gox halted transactions and eventually filed for bankruptcy.
Janssen pointed to the recent speculation surrounding the movement of $113m around the block chain and how many believe this money is linked with or even owned by Mt. Gox as evidence of Karpeles’ unethical obfuscation of information.
Speaking to CoinDesk, Janssen said:
“It’s very concerning to see assets moving [throughout the block chain] during civil rehabilitation. The legality of it is questionable to say the least, and it should not be done without clear communication to the creditors. Being completely transparent at this point is essential, and this is something that has been lacking at Mt. Gox since the beginning. People should not be given any false hope, nor should extra uncertainty be added.”
Building a case
Together with its lawyers in Japan, MtGoxRecovery.com claims it will file a lawsuit that will “try to recover as much as possible, and additionally press criminal charges against Mark Karpeles personally.”
Janssen says that the website has gathered a substantial amount of information from users that have signed up as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and in cases where the information is critically important, they plan to pass their case along to the police as well.
One area of focus for MtGoxRecovery.com and its users is Japanese bankruptcy law. Janssens plans to offer a public information session on the subject this week for users who have signed up on the website.
The time and date of this session is yet to be announced, but considering the large number of people who have lost bitcoin on Mt. Gox, the demand for more information is clearly substantial.
Disclaimer: It has not been ascertained that any fraudulent activity was involved in the Mt. Gox collapse. CEO Mark Karpeles has admitted only to losing bitcoins stored at the company via theft.
Mt. Gox’s Chapter 15 Bankruptcy Won’t Stop US Class Action, Lawyer Says
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 15:50 GMT | Exchanges, Law, Mt. Gox, News, Regulation
A US bankruptcy judge in Dallas, Texas, granted Mt. Gox’s request for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection on 10th March, a move that will partly shield the troubled Japan-based bitcoin exchange’s assets from creditors and block at least two lawsuits against the business.
While this may seem like a setback for those hoping to recoup lost funds from the exchange, Edelson law firm partner Chris Dore has suggested that the ruling only protects Mt. Gox KK, its Japan-based entity, from further action, not all of its associated legal entities.
Dore, whose firm is representing the US class action case against Mt. Gox, told CoinDesk the move does not cover other Mt. Gox entities such as Tibanne, its parent company; MtGox, Inc., its US entity; and CEO Mark Karpeles.
Dore said he will seek to move litigation forward against these defendants on behalf of his clients.
Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in Japan on 28th February, citing outstanding debt of ¥6.5bn ($63.6m). The most recent US filing listed $37.7m in assets and $63.9m in liabilities.
Baker & McKenzie, the law firm representing Mt. Gox in the US, did not offer comment on the developments.
Mt. Gox mounts a defense
In sworn statements at the courthouse on Monday, Karpeles maintained that issues with the Bitcoin protocol contributed to the demise of his company. The comment is similar to past claims made by the CEO, ones which were roundly denounced by notable members of the bitcoin community.
Said Karpeles:
“The facts known to date indicate that it was caused or related to a flaw in the software algorithm that underlies Bitcoin, and ‘hacking’ attacks of one or more persons.”
The statement suggests that bitcoin’s transaction malleability could be a continued line of defense for Mt. Gox as it looks to ward off criminal accusations.
Federal probe
Bloomberg reports that Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are allegedly currently investigating whether Mt. Gox and its associated legal entities may have committed any wrongdoing during the shutdown of the company.
The media outlet indicated that a representative for Bharara would not comment on the investigation.
A temporary restraining order hearing against Tibanne, Mt. Gox Inc. and Karpeles will be held today, according to Dore.
The next hearing in the developing case is set to take place on 1st April, when Mt. Gox will seek to extend its protection until its bankruptcy in Japan is resolved.
Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) | Published on March 11, 2014 at 15:50 GMT | Exchanges, Law, Mt. Gox, News, Regulation
A US bankruptcy judge in Dallas, Texas, granted Mt. Gox’s request for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection on 10th March, a move that will partly shield the troubled Japan-based bitcoin exchange’s assets from creditors and block at least two lawsuits against the business.
While this may seem like a setback for those hoping to recoup lost funds from the exchange, Edelson law firm partner Chris Dore has suggested that the ruling only protects Mt. Gox KK, its Japan-based entity, from further action, not all of its associated legal entities.
Dore, whose firm is representing the US class action case against Mt. Gox, told CoinDesk the move does not cover other Mt. Gox entities such as Tibanne, its parent company; MtGox, Inc., its US entity; and CEO Mark Karpeles.
Dore said he will seek to move litigation forward against these defendants on behalf of his clients.
Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in Japan on 28th February, citing outstanding debt of ¥6.5bn ($63.6m). The most recent US filing listed $37.7m in assets and $63.9m in liabilities.
Baker & McKenzie, the law firm representing Mt. Gox in the US, did not offer comment on the developments.
Mt. Gox mounts a defense
In sworn statements at the courthouse on Monday, Karpeles maintained that issues with the Bitcoin protocol contributed to the demise of his company. The comment is similar to past claims made by the CEO, ones which were roundly denounced by notable members of the bitcoin community.
Said Karpeles:
“The facts known to date indicate that it was caused or related to a flaw in the software algorithm that underlies Bitcoin, and ‘hacking’ attacks of one or more persons.”
The statement suggests that bitcoin’s transaction malleability could be a continued line of defense for Mt. Gox as it looks to ward off criminal accusations.
Federal probe
Bloomberg reports that Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are allegedly currently investigating whether Mt. Gox and its associated legal entities may have committed any wrongdoing during the shutdown of the company.
The media outlet indicated that a representative for Bharara would not comment on the investigation.
A temporary restraining order hearing against Tibanne, Mt. Gox Inc. and Karpeles will be held today, according to Dore.
The next hearing in the developing case is set to take place on 1st April, when Mt. Gox will seek to extend its protection until its bankruptcy in Japan is resolved.
MultiBit Bitcoin Wallet Leapfrogs Coinbase to Reach 1.5 Million Downloads
Nermin Hajdarbegovic | Published on March 11, 2014 at 15:21 GMT | News, Wallets
Bitcoin wallet provider MultiBit has passed an important milestone – its one millionth download.
In fact, since nobody was actually keeping track, their one-million milestone came and went without anyone noticing and the current figure is much higher.
When the MultiBit team was recently asked how many downloads had occurred since launch, they crunched a few numbers to reveal that the wallet had in fact been downloaded a total of 1,517,000 times since April 2011.
“The figures have been adjusted down to take into account various DoS attacks and are based on the overall bandwidth attributed to the various installers rather than an arbitrary hit count, which is quite misleading,” the team pointed out.
MultiBit also said that it does not have records from the early days when it was only used by the bitcoinj mailing list. However, the team believes that the download figures for this period were below 100 per month.
Version 2.0
The MultiBit development team is currently working hard on the next version of the wallet app, dubbed MultiBit HD.
MultiBit HD is designed for mainstream bitcoin users across the world, but there is still no word on the launch date, or which new features are to be integrated.
MultiBit is one of the few bitcoin wallets to feature support for multiple languages and, in its latest release, it supports more than 35.
The wallet is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and is free to use – although it is ‘donation ware’, with the team suggesting a donation of 0.01 BTC from those who find it useful.
Ahead of the competition
Oddly enough, with 1.5m downloads, MultiBit seems to have shifted significantly more wallets than Blockchain.info and Coinbase, which both recently announced the passing of their one-million wallet milestones.
Both MultiBit and Blockchain.info saw a massive spike in the number of downloads in the second half of 2013.
Blockchain started the year with fewer than 100,000 wallets and ended it with about a million. MultiBit’s monthly download chart speaks for itself.
Nermin Hajdarbegovic | Published on March 11, 2014 at 15:21 GMT | News, Wallets
Bitcoin wallet provider MultiBit has passed an important milestone – its one millionth download.
In fact, since nobody was actually keeping track, their one-million milestone came and went without anyone noticing and the current figure is much higher.
When the MultiBit team was recently asked how many downloads had occurred since launch, they crunched a few numbers to reveal that the wallet had in fact been downloaded a total of 1,517,000 times since April 2011.
“The figures have been adjusted down to take into account various DoS attacks and are based on the overall bandwidth attributed to the various installers rather than an arbitrary hit count, which is quite misleading,” the team pointed out.
MultiBit also said that it does not have records from the early days when it was only used by the bitcoinj mailing list. However, the team believes that the download figures for this period were below 100 per month.
Version 2.0
The MultiBit development team is currently working hard on the next version of the wallet app, dubbed MultiBit HD.
MultiBit HD is designed for mainstream bitcoin users across the world, but there is still no word on the launch date, or which new features are to be integrated.
MultiBit is one of the few bitcoin wallets to feature support for multiple languages and, in its latest release, it supports more than 35.
The wallet is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and is free to use – although it is ‘donation ware’, with the team suggesting a donation of 0.01 BTC from those who find it useful.
Ahead of the competition
Oddly enough, with 1.5m downloads, MultiBit seems to have shifted significantly more wallets than Blockchain.info and Coinbase, which both recently announced the passing of their one-million wallet milestones.
Both MultiBit and Blockchain.info saw a massive spike in the number of downloads in the second half of 2013.
Blockchain started the year with fewer than 100,000 wallets and ended it with about a million. MultiBit’s monthly download chart speaks for itself.
DC Veterans Jim Harper and Amy Weiss Join Bitcoin Foundation
Nermin Hajdarbegovic | Published on March 11, 2014 at 13:00 GMT | Bitcoin Foundation, Companies, Events, News
The Bitcoin Foundation has added two new high-profile members and experienced political operators to its team: Jim Harper and Amy Weiss.
Harper has been director of information policy studies for the libertarian Cato Institute for almost a decade, while Weiss is a former White House Deputy Press Secretary. She currently runs strategic communications firm Weiss Public Affairs.
Jim Harper will be the foundation’s new Global Policy Counsel and he will work to identify political impediments to bitcoin adoption. Harper has plenty of experience in the field, as he served as counsel to various committees in the US House of Representatives and the Senate.
During his time in Washington DC, he provided counsel on PayPal, VeriSign and other companies in the payments space. Jon Matonis, Bitcoin Foundation’s executive director said:
“Bitcoin is rapidly maturing and we are actively building out a world-class team of highly experienced professionals. Jim’s experience with Cato and past experience with PayPal in addition to Amy’s experience with the United Nations Foundation and the White House are invaluable to our efforts around the world and in DC.”
Building a voice
Harper said the Bitcoin Foundation is already a credible voice in Washington DC. He believes he can build on the foundation’s success and improve global financial inclusion and strengthen financial privacy for law-abiding consumers.
“The consensus policy that the foundation has produced – maximizing the benefits of Bitcoin while managing the risks – is something we’ll work to see governments around the world adopt,” he added.
Amy Weiss will join the foundation’s public affairs team and assist global communications and media efforts. In addition to her White House job under the Clinton administration, Weiss also worked for the Recording Industry Association of America, the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Campaign. “Bitcoin will soon be recognized as one of the most important economic and social innovations of our times,” said Weiss, adding:
“The Bitcoin protocol is poised to do for international commerce and financial services what the World Wide Web did for communications. Working with the Bitcoin Foundation during this exciting and formative time is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Weiss also served as the communications director at the Democratic National Committee and a press secretary for the Clinton/Gore campaign in 1992.
Interestingly, the Clinton administration was instrumental in the popularisation of another ground-breaking technology two decades ago. The administration worked to enact no-nonsense legislation which paved the way for the internet boom in the late nineties.
Bill Clinton was the first US President to send an email, while Al Gore became the subject of many a joke for his statements regarding internet legislation, which were used to imply that Gore claimed credit for creating the internet.
Gore is no longer active in politics, and it remains to be seen which US politicians will champion bitcoin’s cause on the road ahead.
Nermin Hajdarbegovic | Published on March 11, 2014 at 13:00 GMT | Bitcoin Foundation, Companies, Events, News
The Bitcoin Foundation has added two new high-profile members and experienced political operators to its team: Jim Harper and Amy Weiss.
Harper has been director of information policy studies for the libertarian Cato Institute for almost a decade, while Weiss is a former White House Deputy Press Secretary. She currently runs strategic communications firm Weiss Public Affairs.
Jim Harper will be the foundation’s new Global Policy Counsel and he will work to identify political impediments to bitcoin adoption. Harper has plenty of experience in the field, as he served as counsel to various committees in the US House of Representatives and the Senate.
During his time in Washington DC, he provided counsel on PayPal, VeriSign and other companies in the payments space. Jon Matonis, Bitcoin Foundation’s executive director said:
“Bitcoin is rapidly maturing and we are actively building out a world-class team of highly experienced professionals. Jim’s experience with Cato and past experience with PayPal in addition to Amy’s experience with the United Nations Foundation and the White House are invaluable to our efforts around the world and in DC.”
Building a voice
Harper said the Bitcoin Foundation is already a credible voice in Washington DC. He believes he can build on the foundation’s success and improve global financial inclusion and strengthen financial privacy for law-abiding consumers.
“The consensus policy that the foundation has produced – maximizing the benefits of Bitcoin while managing the risks – is something we’ll work to see governments around the world adopt,” he added.
Amy Weiss will join the foundation’s public affairs team and assist global communications and media efforts. In addition to her White House job under the Clinton administration, Weiss also worked for the Recording Industry Association of America, the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Campaign. “Bitcoin will soon be recognized as one of the most important economic and social innovations of our times,” said Weiss, adding:
“The Bitcoin protocol is poised to do for international commerce and financial services what the World Wide Web did for communications. Working with the Bitcoin Foundation during this exciting and formative time is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Weiss also served as the communications director at the Democratic National Committee and a press secretary for the Clinton/Gore campaign in 1992.
Interestingly, the Clinton administration was instrumental in the popularisation of another ground-breaking technology two decades ago. The administration worked to enact no-nonsense legislation which paved the way for the internet boom in the late nineties.
Bill Clinton was the first US President to send an email, while Al Gore became the subject of many a joke for his statements regarding internet legislation, which were used to imply that Gore claimed credit for creating the internet.
Gore is no longer active in politics, and it remains to be seen which US politicians will champion bitcoin’s cause on the road ahead.
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