Bitcoin Plaza

Friday, March 20, 2015

Finally, ChangeTip is Coming to Twitch.TV

ChangeTip, the crypto-coin micropayment service that allows users to send tips across the internet is coming to Twitch.tv, the San Francisco-based company announced in a press release.

What Wall Street Journal Readers Think of Bitcoin

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently surveyed its readers on what they thought of Bitcoin. The survey came after a WSJ MoneyBeat poll revealed that 83 % of respondents believed “there is a future fo

Ukraine To Shut Down Separatists’ Bitcoin ‘Accounts’

Ukraine will block the Bitcoin accounts of “separatists” in the country’s east. Such was the statement of the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Valentyn Nalyvaychenko.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

An Estimated $12 Million in Bitcoin Disappears in Dark Market Scam

The rise of online drug markets have led to a new form of drug dealing. Rather than gravitating to dark alleyways, dealing can now be done sitting in bed in one’s underwear. That doesn't mean drug dea

The Revolutionary Roots of Bitcoin (OP-ED)

Ledgers of information shower us with examples from the past. The Bitcoin blockchain is no different. Indeed, it shares many parallels with both the printing press and the Babylonian cuneiform. When w

Intel Joins the Blockchain Technology Race, Forms Special Research Group

Last week Bitcoin Magazine reported that IBM is considering adopting the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin to create a digital cash and payment system for government and central banks. Now another technology giant is joining the digital fintech technology race: Intel is planning to investigate the potential of blockchain technology.

Intel has posted a job announcement for a new researcher to join its special innovation projects group to “investigate hardware and software capabilities that advance the performance, robustness, and scalability of open, decentralized ledgers.”

Working with a team of distributed systems, operating systems, and security technologists, the selected applicant will focus on the development of cutting-edge, cryptographic algorithms for improving the robustness and assurance of transaction verification within an open, decentralized ledger, according to Intel.

Applicants must be qualified in the areas of crypto algorithms, access control models and security/privacy protocols, proficient in the development of system and application software and familiar with relevant security and cryptographic standards.

“These two tech giants [IBM and Intel], whose technology powers many of today’s most loved products want to get in on the technology behind bitcoin,” notes Upstart Business Journal.

“The jury may remain out on the value of bitcoin as a currency, but the underlying blockchain technology has attracted interest from central banks, the financial services establishment and tech titans,” reports Finextra, commenting on possible blockchain fintech developments at IBM and Intel. “Chip giant Intel is also dipping its toes.”

“Digital currencies like Bitcoin have captured the imagination of the press,” notes the Intel post. “Related startups are generating a great deal of VC [venture capitalist] interest and investment because of the potential significance of any disruption of the financial payment industry. Its fundamental technical innovation is the decentralized transaction ledger called the ‘block-chain.’ It allows bitcoin to prevent double-spending of currency by recording all transactions in an open ledger without the need for a central authority. Such a distributed, public, secure, peer-to-peer transaction record enables not just the exchange of bitcoins but many secondary uses that the research and startup community are exploring such as digital marketplaces.”

Reading between the lines of the Intel job announcement and speculating on the possible future involvement of Intel in blockchain-based fintech products, it appears that the chipmaker intends to focus on the security-related aspects of blockchain algorithms, possibly in view of the implementation of appropriate security frameworks in future Intel chips. The possibility of secure “Intel Inside” hardware wallets comes to mind, as well as noncurrency applications such as authentication and voting systems.

The cryptographic researcher will be based at Hillsboro, Oregon. The site hosts a Research and Pathfinding Laboratory where employees develop silicon technologies that are two to three generations ahead of Intel’s current manufacturing processes, and develop new ways to make digital technologies faster and easier to use.

The site also is home to Logic Technology Development, Components Research, and Design and Technology Solutions groups, responsible for developing advanced integrated circuit technologies and designing key components of microprocessor products.

UK Government to Fund Research in Digital Currencies and Explore Regulation

UK Government Funds Research in Digital Fintech and Promotes Firm Regulations

In November, the U.K. government launched a call for information on digital currencies, with a focus on their function as a payment method rather than as a speculative investment.

After receiving more than 120 responses, the government released a Treasury document titled “Digital Currencies: Response to the Call for Information,” which summarizes the submissions received and outlines the government’s views and proposed next steps:

The government intends to apply anti-money laundering regulation to digital currency exchanges in the United Kingdom, to support innovation and prevent criminal use. The government will formally consult on the proposed regulatory approach early in the next Parliament.

The government will work with BSI (British Standards Institution) and the digital currency industry to develop voluntary standards for consumer protection.

The government is launching a new research initiative that will bring together the Research Councils, Alan Turing Institute and Digital Catapult with industry in order to address the research opportunities and challenges for digital currency technology, and will increase research funding in this area by £10 million (U.S. $14.6 million) to support this.

The Digital Catapult is a national center whose mission is to rapidly accelerate the United Kingdom’s best digital ideas to market to create new products, services, jobs and value for the U.K. economy. Their focus is on data and metadata – on the data value chain.

The Alan Turing Institute will promote the development and use of advanced mathematics, computer science, algorithms and big data for human benefit. The Institute will encompass a wide range of scientific disciplines and be relevant to a wide range of business sectors.

Allocating the grant to these organizations indicates that the U.K. government is interested in supporting and understanding the underlying technology – the blockchain – and understands the potential benefits it could bring to society.

The first two points indicate that, similar to progressive jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man, the U.K. government intends to offer a friendly and agile regulatory environment to digital fintech firms while providing strong consumer protection and strictly applying money-laundering regulations. This approach, agile but firm, suggests that cryptocurrencies are poised to be integrated with the regulated framework of mainstream fintech.

The Treasury document recognizes that, in addition to reducing the costs involved in moving money around the economy, digital currencies can speed up transaction processing times, the cost and time advantages of digital currencies being most notable in the context of cross-border transactions.

While digital currencies offer greater privacy in some respects, they also create greater transparency, because all transactions are published on the public blockchain. This consideration shows that, similar to other governments, the United Kingdom is now persuaded that digital fintech based on cryptocurrencies can provide more – not less – transparency and control.

Elliptic, a secure Bitcoin vault based in London, stated that the U.K. government action plan represents encouraging progress in several key areas: anti-money laundering (AML), consumer protection and technical standardization.

“Prioritizing AML will bring much-needed legitimacy and clarity to the industry and hopefully encourage banks to engage more with digital currency businesses,” reads Elliptic’s statement.

“Furthermore, allowing the industry to develop its own consumer protection and technical standards will promote collaboration and innovation much more efficiently than top-down regulation. This response is important for cryptocurrency companies in the U.K. because it demonstrates a pragmatic, collaborative and priority-driven approach to regulation,” the statement reads. “The Treasury’s willingness to work alongside entrepreneurs to promote financial innovation while working tirelessly to protect consumers is a main reason the U.K. holds its place at the forefront of fintech innovation globally.”