Brazillian Bitcoiner will attempt to place the BTC flag at the Everest summit; the 50th Bitcoin obituary has been recorded in the press; Koinify teams up with Clef for a new form of secure 2FA and oth
Monday, March 23, 2015
MAR 23 DIGEST: Bitcoin Set to Conquer Everest, 50th BTC Obituary Recorded
Brazillian Bitcoiner will attempt to place the BTC flag at the Everest summit; the 50th Bitcoin obituary has been recorded in the press; Koinify teams up with Clef for a new form of secure 2FA and oth
Antiwar.com Dropped by Google Adsense for Abu Ghraib and Ukraine War Images, Counts on Bitcoin Support (Op-Ed)
Antiwar.com, an alternative media organization that has been covering war crimes and American interventionism for over a decade, was recently dropped by Google adsense. The context advertising service
Bitcoin Exchange Bitt to Bring Digital Currencies to the Caribbean
Bitt, the Caribbean's first bitcoin exchange company, is looking to provide more efficient and cost-effective payment solutions to the region's locals.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Weekend Roundup: UK Gvt Announces £10M Research Funding, Rakuten Embraces Bitcoin
Weekend Roundup from CoinTelegraph
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Start-up Zebpay launches at “The Future of Money” in Ahmedabad
Fresh Bitcoin start-up Zebpay recently held their launch event called “The Future of Money” in Ahmedabad on March 19, 2015.
Bitcoin in India ‘On the Rise’ says Sunny Ray, Unocoin Co-founder
Bitcoin and the Indian market being a rare combination, especially after early central bank dis-approval makes Sunny Ray and Sathvik Vishwanath, the co-founders of Unocoin, amongst the few in the leag
MasterCard Names Cryptocurrency as Major Competitor in New Report
Even the contact information listed for MasterCard in their annual SEC report seems old-fashioned.
20 BTC First Global Credit trading competition imminent
First Global Credit launches international market trading competition with prize fund worth 20BTC.
Friday, March 20, 2015
South Korea: Bitcoin Growth Fueled by Startups and Community
South Korea’s development during the last half century has been nothing short of spectacular. The country is known for its home grown, highly visual K-pop, which is popular with millions around the gl
Credit Suisse Publishes Paper on Bitcoin: Explores Integration with Traditional Financial System
Mainstream banks and financial institutions are warming up to Bitcoin and digital blockchain-based fintech, often with a surprisingly positive and open-minded attitude.
In a recent research paper titled “One Bank Research Agenda,” the Bank of England said that Bitcoin could reshape the financial industry and called for further research to devise a system that could use distributed ledger technology without compromising a central bank’s ability to control its currency.
A recent Goldman Sachs report titled “The Future of Finance: Redefining the Way We Pay in the Next Decade” states that Bitcoin is a megatrend that could shape the future of finance. “Innovations in network technology and cryptography could change the speed and mechanics of moving money,” the report says.
A Wall Street Bitcoin Alliance has formed to cater for the growing interest in digital fintech shown by Wall Street operators, and innovative financial institutions such as German Fidor Bank are openly embracing Bitcoin as part of their operations.
Credit Suisse, the large Switzerland-based multinational financial services holding company that operates the Credit Suisse Bank and other financial services investments, has published an article titled “Bitcoins – Money Without Physical Form.” The article takes a lukewarm position on Bitcoin, which, according to the company, should be combined with the traditional financial system.
After providing a short and simplified introduction to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, the article analyzes the advantages and shortcomings of Bitcoin as both a security and a currency. The low transaction costs and easy transfer around the globe indicate that Bitcoin should be considered a legitimate currency, as does the fact that many online providers accept bitcoin. The Credit Suisse analyst wonders whether Bitcoin has the potential to become commonplace and to dislodge the money monopoly from the central banks.
But the author thinks the advantage of Bitcoin over traditional currencies – decentralization – is also its biggest drawback, because there is no authority that guarantees the value of the currency.
“A currency is only worth what you believe you will be able to purchase with it tomorrow,” notes the analyst, who considers the huge fluctuations in the exchange value of bitcoin a result of the absence of a central bank able to stabilize the currency and provide confidence.
“If this confidence is removed, the value of the currency can decline rapidly, which is what happened with bitcoins at the beginning of 2014. The opposite is also harmful: The increase in value bitcoins experienced in 2013 would have corresponded to an economically crippling deflation if they had been the general means of payment. These fluctuations in value are what is stopping bitcoins from becoming more widespread as a means of payment.”
These considerations seem to point to the desirability of new implementations of digital currencies controlled by governments and central banks, similar to the FedCoin proposal by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the digital currency framework that IBM is rumored to be developing for use by central authorities.
Such a centrally controlled cryptocurrency would combine the advantages of Bitcoin – cheaper and faster transactions, permanently recorded in a tamper-proof ledger – with the value stabilization and user monitoring that a central bank can provide.
“Who do you trust more, your own central bank or an anonymous online network?” asks the author.
“Nevertheless, bitcoins have a future in certain areas and countries,” states the Credit Suisse article. “When combined with the traditional financial system, bitcoins could have cost advantages over credit cards or providers such as Western Union when used as a transaction system.”
Echoing opinions expressed by Finance Minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis, the article concludes that “In countries such as Argentina and Zimbabwe, where confidence in the country’s own currency retaining its value is very low, bitcoins are an alternative that is being used with increasing success.”
Bitcoin Companies Join Payment Giants At Transact 15
The Transact conference is a yearly trade show that brings together the latest in payments and technology. Payments giants including American Express, PayPal, Visa, Bank of America, Chase, and many others gather at this yearly event to learn about new technologies and form partnerships. In its very essence, this is a traditional payments conference. And now Bitcoin gets to be part of the conversation.
BitPay, a member of the Electronic Transactions Association, is going to be a big part of the March 31-April 2 event, which is billed as “the place to come to get business done.” Bitcoin API company Gem will also be a sponsor of the event.
Tony Gallippi, the co-founder of BitPay is one of the primary speakers on an 11:30 a.m. panel titled, “Digital Currency – Changing the Payments Ecosystem.” Others on the panel are Adam White from Coinbase, Sean Neville, and the panel is moderated by David Bailey from BTC Media. (Full disclosure: BTC Media is the parent company of Bitcoin Magazine.)
“This is the first major traditional payments conference where we are seeing a lot of involvement from Bitcoin companies,” said Emily Vaughn, marketing manager at BitPay. “Having a presence and presenting thought leadership at events like Transact 15 is critical for the growth of the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
The growth of the Bitcoin ecosystem is going to happen whether traditional payment processing companies want it or not. According to BitPay, there’s much excitement about the possibilities of bitcoin.
“Businesses working in the traditional payments industry are usually excited about getting involved with Bitcoin once all of their skepticism has been addressed,” Julia Patterson, communications manager at BitPay, said. “No large payments company is going to adopt Bitcoin on a whim, nor should they.”
BitPay recently partnered with Heartland Payments Systems, one of the largest payment processors in the United States. Heartland has more than 300,000 businesses and educational locations that rely on their technology. Through this partnership, Heartland will be able to recommend which of their merchants would be best suited to use bitcoin.
However, not all merchants have found success with bitcoin. WordPress, a recent client of BitPay’s, decided that it was not worth the support costs to keep accepting bitcoin. They were seeing only a few transactions using bitcoin as the payment method.
“WordPress is currently updating their checkout process, and we expect to see bitcoin capability added back in,” Patterson said. “After talking to WordPress, we think the lapse in bitcoin payments has little to do with bitcoin or our service.
With some serious heavy hitters such as Square, Stripe, TD Bank, and others attending Transact 15, this could be a good way for more companies to learn about the potential of bitcoin and potentially integrate it into their workflow.
“The Bitcoin technology stands on its own two legs,” Patterson said. “It’s our job to be the best ambassadors for the technology as possible.”
Transact 15 is starts on March 31st and goes until April 2nd. It’s being held at the Monscone Center in San Francisco.
MAR 20 DIGEST: Intel Joins the Blockchain Technology Race, Ukraine Vows to Block Separatists’ Bitcoin ‘Accounts’
Intel has posted a job announcement for a new researcher to join its special innovation projects group to investigate decentralized ledgers, Ukraine will block the Bitcoin accounts of separatists in t
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)