Saturday, April 25, 2015
‘Piracy’ 2.0: vTorrent Combines Bittorrent with Cryptocurrency
Blocked Bitcoin Websites Fight Government Censorship in Russian Court
On the Road with the Bitcoin Bus #2: The Bit Mom’s Journal (Part 2)
White Male Crypto-Peddler is Fed Up with White Male Crypto-Peddlers (Op-Ed)
World’s First Mining Pool ‘Slushpool’ Targets Chinese Market
Friday, April 24, 2015
NeuCoin Implements ‘Anti-Whale’ Measures in Reaction to Presale Popularity
Bitcoin Exchange CoinHako Gets Insured, Uses BitGo Wallet Protection
Isle of Man Official: Country Will Offer “Freedom to Flourish” to Bitcoin Companies
In March, Bitcoin Magazine reported that the Isle of Man wants to become a leading Bitcoin hub. The government of the tiny island is pushing forward a new regulatory framework to create a true paradise for digital currencies.
Bitcoin Magazine spoke with Brian Donegan, Head of Operations for Digital Development and eBusiness at the Isle of Man Department of Economic Development. Donegan confirmed that the island, a self-governing British Crown dependency located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland, is gearing up to become the ideal environment for digital financial technology businesses, entrepreneurs and developers.
“The Isle of Man is investment-grade and has the perfect business environment to maximize value,” said Donegan. “The Isle of Man has a superior technology proposition, excellent bandwidth, Tier 3 Data Centers and self-sufficient local electricity power supplies.”
Donegan confirmed that, besides the advantages of political stability and a world-class computing and telecom infrastructure, the Isle of Man government intends to offer to digital fintech businesses a clear, rock-solid regulatory environment to foster good business models – and keep dubious ones out.
“We will keep crime out and protect the consumer,” he said.
Two relevant pieces of legislation, the “Designated Businesses (Registration and Oversight) Bill 2014” and the “Proceeds of Crime (Business in the Regulated Sector) Order 2015,” are advancing through the approval process and should enter in force in a few weeks.
A decade ago the Isle of Man government recognized e-gaming as a potential strategic growth sector, and established a suitable legal and fiscal framework to attract online gambling and sports betting businesses. As a result, leading operators such as PokerStars flocked to the island and today are an important part of the thriving e-business sector, which accounts for around 19 percent of the Isle of Man economy.
According to Donegan, the government now wants to re-use the same “Freedom to Flourish” approach for Bitcoin and digital fintech, and will make efforts to attract and welcome not only Bitcoin 1.0 businesses focused on blockchain-based financial transactions, but also new Bitcoin 2.0 companies that leverage the technology of the blockchain to address other business opportunities.
Donegan edits an e-business blog on the aptly titled “Where You Can” Isle of Man government website. In the latest post, he notes that a powerful blockchain cluster has emerged with some dynamic start-ups in the Isle of Man.
“The recent surge in crypto 2.0 businesses is clear evidence that an Isle of Man blockchain cluster is also on its way,” he says. “This cluster effect creates a formidable peer group of experts that can share their combined knowledge, expertise and resources to the overall economic benefit of the Isle of Man.” Donegan adds that he has been working with various companies in this highly innovative sector to ensure that they have the support and assistance needed to get started on the Isle of Man.
Blockchain entrepreneurs can move to the Isle of Man and take advantage of interesting financial and fiscal incentives. Alternatively, they can stay where they are and set up a virtual Isle of Man corporation through local registered agents and non-executive directors. The Department of Economic Development can assist in the process, and may also be able to provide introductions to local investors and venture capital companies for funding.
BitcoinFax: a Simple and Efficient Use Case for Bitcoin Micropayments
While Internet citizens find it strange that fax machines still exist, everyone still needs to send faxes at times – often to large legacy organizations, banks and public administrations that still live in the 20th century. Sending faxes is difficult because almost nobody has a fax machine at home anymore, and going to a post office seems a waste of time to those accustomed to living at Internet speed.
There are, of course, Internet fax services that allow using a PC connected to the Internet to send and receive faxes. But Internet fax services require a subscription, which can be expensive. For example eFax.com, probably the best-known Internet fax service, charges $17 a month for a basic subscription, plus 10 centers per page after the first 150 pages. That seems far too expensive, since most people don’t need to send more than one or two faxes per year.
Reasonably priced pay-as-you-go plans without subscriptions would be ideal for sending faxes when the need arises, but the overhead costs of traditional payment systems make that difficult to implement. The problem is that paying costs money – bank wires, credit card payments, and even PayPal have fixed transaction costs. If sending a fax over the Internet costs, say, half-a-dollar, it doesn’t make sense to pay one dollar to cover transaction costs. Therefore, most Internet fax service providers use subscription-based pricing, but buying a subscription doesn’t make sense to casual users.
BitcoinFax has now entered the market as a new Internet fax service that allows sending faxes anywhere in the world with no sign-up required. German developer Simon Males announced the service on Reddit saying, “Thought I would support the Bitcoin economy by helping those who still need to send faxes from time to time.” Many posts to the Reddit discussion are enthusiastic.
The user interface is very simple: The user needs only to enter a fax number anywhere in the world, upload a PDF document, and send. Payment is in bitcoin, with fees that range from 11 cents USD to send faxes to Japan to $7.58 to send faxes to places such as Afghanistan. Most countries in Europe and the Americas are priced at 17 cents per fax.
According to user feedback on Reddit, the service works well, and sends faxes a few minutes after the payment has been sent.
BitcoinFax seems a very good Bitcoin business model. The developer has identified a simple need and a market – the casual users who still need to send faxes every now and then – and provided a solution based on a unique advantage of bitcoin payments – fast and cheap micropayments.
In a recent blog post, Coinbase offered ideas for Bitcoin micropayments applications and business models.
Internet pioneers such as Ted Nelson, Marc Andreessen and Tim Berners-Lee thought that the Internet should have a built-in framework for micropayments. Berners-Lee tried to include micropayments in Web protocols, but the idea was never implemented. Now Bitcoin provides an ideal framework for Internet micropayments, which enables new, simple and efficient business models.
Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Huobi Partners with Tsinghua University in Research Initiative
Mike Hearn talks Hourglass Project and Avoiding Miner Fees
Is Bitcoin's Future Already in Your Pocket?
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