Bitcoin Plaza

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

APR 8 DIGEST: Bitcoin Regulation ‘Not Worth the Cost,’ US Presidential Candidate Accepts BTC

Australia's Central Bank says digital currency regulation is “not worth the cost” at this stage, presidential candidate Rand Paul accepts donations in bitcoin, Shapeshift adds Counterparty's XCP, and

Facing Bankruptcy, Bitcoin Foundation Discloses Controversial Restructuring Proposal

According to a month-old internal document originally drafted by the management team of the Bitcoin Foundation and which has now been openly published, the foundation is considering splitting into two

Rand Paul Becomes First Major US Presidential Candidate to Accept Bitcoin Donations

Libertarian darling Rand Paul (R-KY) has become the first Presidential candidate to accept bitcoin donations, partially in an attempt to appeal to the tech community.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Cloudmining: The Bane or Blessing of Bitcoin? (Op-Ed)

With the promise of the moon for its users without the need to purchase expensive mining equipment, the cloudmining industry has been experiencing its ups, and recently, its downs.

Former Nike CIO Joins Bitreserve

Former Nike CIO and member of the exclusive Fortune 40 Under 40 list Anthony Watson has joined the Bitcoin bank Bitreserve as President and Chief Operating Officer.

“I am thrilled to join Bitreserve at such a pivotal moment in the evolution of cloud money and financial technology,” says Watson. “Money is a common language around the world, and Bitreserve democratizes how people access, hold and move value. We have the unique opportunity to craft a lasting legacy of delivering transparency, massive innovation and positive social impact to financial services and in peoples’ everyday lives.”

“Anthony will drive Bitreserve’s efforts to inform industry leaders and work with members of the global financial services community to deliver transparency, portability and independence to current and future customers around the world,” says Bitreserve founder and CEO Halsey Minor. “His knowledge and deep insight into financial systems is invaluable as we continue to grow and make strides towards a future that enables anyone to access and participate in the digital economy.”

“I was itching to make an impact,” Watson told Fortune. “I wanted to do something that is valuable for people broadly, not just in one industry. And what Bitreserve is looking to achieve really democratizes finance. It’s going to help people all over the world. The financial system is inherently unfair – it’s always the richest who have access, and the poorest don’t have access, or when they do, they have to pay astronomical rates.”

Bitreserve solves bitcoin’s volatility problem by enabling users to hold bitcoin as stable, real-world currencies. Bitreserve currently offers eight options: U.S. dollar, euro, U.K. pound, yen, yuan and the latest two additions – Indian rupee and Mexican peso.

Bitreserve, which also offers commodities – for now, the metals gold, silver, platinum and palladium – recently expanded to Mexico in partnership with its largest investor, Grupo Salinas CEO Ricardo Salinas-Pliego.

With this expansion, Bitreserve wants to grab a slice of the large market for remittances sent from migrant Mexican workers in the United States back to their families in Mexico. It is working in partnership with a major financial services company and community bank.

The plan combines the faster and cheaper remittances permitted by Bitcoin with the convenience of using the national currency.

Minor told Fortune that “the great magical beauty of bitcoin” is that it allows for the creation of financial institutions without having to go through the traditional financial system.

“We’ve taken the idea of Bitcoin and applied it to the world consumers already live in, rather than trying to force consumers into a new world that has high risk,” he said.

Minor’s thoughts about the future of Bitcoin are especially interesting: “I’ll be surprised if Bitcoin is here in five years,” he said. “It’s a means to an end. The value of Bitcoin isn’t the currency, but the technology. I think once the world becomes more accustomed and attuned to the platform of Bitcoin, the noise will go away, and the currency will go away, too.”

Watson is a high-profile spokesman for a growing number of workers who value work-life balance and refuse to sacrifice personal life for their career. As such, the Fortune article notes, he values the modern, distributed workplace at Bitreserve.

“Millennials don’t want to or need to work in one big concrete building in one location,” he said. “That’s not how the world works anymore,” he said. “Some people want to work remotely from home, some want to work from a coffee shop, some want to work at an office.”

Bitcoin Violates the Principle of Fungibility

In light of recent events within the bitcoin industry, namely the Evolution Marketplace going up in a burst of flames with customer money, it has become clear that cryptocurrency deviates from traditi

APR 7 DIGEST: Bitcoin Foundation’s Survival Plan Leaked, Igot Launches Payment Processing Service in 40 Countries

The Bitcoin Foundation considers splitting into two separate organizations, Igot rolls out its payment processing service to 40 countries and more top stories for April 7.

Wall Street Veteran, Former Nike CIO Join Bitcoin Startups

Factom, an open source platform providing a data layer for the Bitcoin blockchain, has hired former Morgan Stanley investment manager Jacob Dienelt as its head treasurer, the company announced on Mond

German Central Bank Survey: 41% Know ‘Niche Phenomenon’ of Bitcoin

While Germany has become a hostile environment for Bitcoin in the EU, its central bank has revealed its engagement with cryptocurrency in 2014 in a consumer survey.

‘The Bitcoin Protocol Does Not Exist’

Recently someone going by the name “patio11” on the Hacker News forums summarized a chat among Bitcoin developers.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Silk Road is a Blessing in Disguise (Op-Ed)

Within the shadowly depths of the darkweb lurks characters of questionable motives. However, there also exist services which have hidden benefits unbeknownst to the average user.

APR 6 DIGEST: Google Ventures-Backed Buttercoin Shuts Down, Pay Your Mortgage in Bitcoin

Digital currency exchange Buttercoin has announced it is shutting down its operations; CoinShark.io seeks to disrupt the mortgage industry with a bitcoin mortgage payment service and more news.