Wednesday, April 22, 2015
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Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Kraken Accepting MtGox Bankruptcy Claims and Giving Free Trade Credit
So, I have spent the last few days at the Kraken headquarters in San Francisco with the legendary Jesse Powell, who I interviewed for the Bitcoin Knowledge Podcast, and the rest of the team and there is some very exciting news. We discussed some of the logistics during the interview but there is even more actionable stuff, as discussed in the trustee letter, you can do today to claim your money!
Kraken Now Accepts MtGox Creditor Claims Through Website, Offers Free Trades
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – APRIL 21, 2015 – Kraken, a San Francisco-based Bitcoin exchange, is now accepting MtGox creditor claims and offering up to $1 million in free trade volume per creditor as a bonus for claiming funds through Kraken. The claim and payout service through Kraken is available in all areas of operation, including all US states.
Kraken was selected by the MtGox trustee in November 2014 after extensive and objective review to assist MtGox creditors in investigating missing Bitcoin, filing claims, and distributing remaining assets.
“Thanks to Kraken, filing of claims can be done through their system,” said the MtGox trustee. “We expect this to enable smooth filing of bankruptcy claims and distributions.”
Creditors claiming funds with Kraken can expect the following benefits:
- 100,000 KFEE credits redeemable for up to $1 million in free trading volume at the lowest fee tier of 0.1%
- Creditor claim and payout support with live chat and email
- Option to receive funds in the form of Bitcoin
- An easier and more convenient process from claim to payout
MtGox creditors should file their claim as soon as possible in two steps:
- Go to http://ift.tt/1Fd1ooI create an account.
- Click the “MtGox Claim” tab in your account and follow the instructions.
“We see our involvement in this process as an opportunity to restore faith in the community by showing what we need more of in the Bitcoin space – trusted leadership,” said Kraken CEO Jesse Powell. “We’re dedicated to delivering an exceptional experience. What is that? It’s fast execution and reliable service – all done over a secure platform. Whether you’re a long-standing client or trying us for the first time, we’re committed to putting your best interests first. That’s our philosophy. It’s simple. Put people first.”
To learn more about the KFEE promotion restrictions and use: http://ift.tt/1HixOjr
About Kraken
Founded in 2011, San Francisco-based Kraken (www.kraken.com) is the largest Bitcoin exchange in euro volume and liquidity and also trading US dollars, British pounds and Japanese yen. Kraken is consistently rated the best and most secure Bitcoin exchange by independent news media and is trusted by hundreds of thousands of traders and institutions, including the Tokyo government and court-appointed trustee and BaFin regulated Fidor Bank. Kraken is the first Bitcoin exchange listed on Bloomberg terminals, the first to pass a cryptographically verifiable proof-of-reserves audit, and partnering to create the world’s first cryptocurrency bank.
Press contact:
Christina Yee
Chief Brand Officer
415-323-3402
press@kraken.com
http://www.kraken.com
Facebook: http://ift.tt/1DDOeMJ
Twitter: http://ift.tt/1zS5xwU
Australian Bitcoin Exchange DWVx Launches with Banking Support from Westpac
Australia-based Digital World Ventures exchange (DWVx) has launched a peer-to-peer Bitcoin brokerage through a partnership with the white-label currency exchange provider AlphaPoint.
The exchange, founded by Ian Davis and James Clarke, hopes to bring a trusted and personal brand, as well as provide a state-of-the-art exchange, to Australia’s Bitcoin scene.
“We’re very excited Digital World Ventures selected us as their technology partner”, said Vadim Telyatnikov, CEO of AlphaPoint. “James and Ian are well-known experts in the community. We believe they have the right technical and financial backgrounds to make DWVx a significant player in the region.”
Alphapoint has supplied the infrastructure that Bitfinex, MeXBT, FlowBTC, CoinTrader and many other exchanges run on. The software company claims to provide latest exchange technology, including multi-signature security, fast transactions and reliable uptime.
An Increasingly Crowded Market
Even with AlphaPoint’s exchange infrastructure, it might prove difficult for DWVx to stand out in the already mature Australian Bitcoin market.
Venture capital-backed Bitcoin exchanges Igot and Coinjar already have a sizeable portion of the market. And more recently, Independent Reserve entered the market with its own digital currency exchange, claiming to offer a more secure and reliable exchange.
Australia’s Bitcoin ecosystem offers a robust offering, including advanced Bitcoin services. BTC.sx offers advanced trading tools, data and numerous levels of leverage. DigitalBTC, a local Bitcoin company, is even trading on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Community With Cutting Edge Technology
DWVx co-founders Davis and Clarke have backgrounds in finance and IT support and experience working for Barclays, IBM, Nationwide and Westpac bank.
“We have been in active the local Bitcoin communities and tried many of the exchanges out,” Davis said. “Exchanges ran by financial people tend to focus on customer support, while neglecting the technology. Techie people tend to focus on technology and forget customer support; we come from both areas.”
The company hopes to stand out in the market with superb customer support and an active role in the western Australian Bitcoin community. DWVx will open an office in Perth, Australia.
“There is a large and active Bitcoin community, but all the exchanges are on the east coast of the country,” said Davis. “By really working on the customer support and experience, while also offering AlphaPoint’s technology, we think we can make a real difference in the market.”
“We are extremely excited to deliver a state-of-the-art Bitcoin exchange, capable of up to one million transactions per second, and offering leading-edge security and reliability, all while maintaining a simple and user-friendly customer interface,” added Clarke.
This personal approach is taken down even to their banking partners. DWVx’s banking partner is Westpac, the second-largest Australian bank by assets. According to Clarke, the bank “fully knows that we are a Bitcoin startup and what we do.” Davis, who previously worked for the bank and met Gail Kelly, who was CEO of Westpac at the time, said the bank was “surprisingly supportive and informed about cryptocurrency.”
Building The Brand
“As Bitcoin continues to become more mainstream in Australia, our mission is to become a trusted source of information and education, through our extensive communications and customer interactions,” said Davis. “Whilst we may be the most remote exchange in the world, we pride ourselves on our accessibility and personal approach.”
One of the main reasons the company decided to partner with AlphaPoint instead of building its own exchange is so it could focus on building its brand and customer experience. The duo plans on going to local startups and Bitcoin meetups to spread awareness and bring a face to the exchange.
They will also be putting the finishing touches on their local office, which will host regular Bitcoin presentations and even a co-working space. DWVx also has begun work on an in-person and online educational course about Bitcoin.
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Jeff Garzik Highlights Core Development Progress at the State of Digital Money Conference
The State of Digital Money conference held in Los Angeles on April 18 focused on a variety of issues involving digital currency.
The conference showcased financial technologies and hosted expert conversations on the future of currency and financial activities. It was organized by Cureativ and took place in Rhubard Studios, a spacious studio in downtown Los Angeles’ Financial District.
Rhubbarb Studios is a venture builder that has emerged to become the tech center of Downtown Los Angeles.
Some of the speakers included Connie Gallippi of BitGive, Steve Beauregard of GoCoin, Andew Lee of Purse.io, Paul Puey of Airbitz, Changetip’s Nick Sullivan and Bitcoin Core Developer Jeff Garzik.
The event lasted 12 hours with multiple “networking” breaks. It was a more personal experience than most Bitcoin conferences. During talks and panel discussions, conference attendees were able to network in the large space.
Topics covered included regulation, security, law, blockchain technology, investments in digital money, and merchant adoption of digital currency.
A panel discussion covered merchant and mass adoption of digital currency and was moderated by Steve Beauregard, CEO and founder of GoCoin.com. The panel included Connie Chung, senior payments product manager at Expedia; Andrew Lee, Purse.io CEO; Paul Puey, CEO and co-founder of Airbitz; Justin Newton, CEO of Netki; and Nick Sullivan, founder of Changetip/Changecoin.
The panel explored some of the challenges to mass Bitcoin adoption, the main one being the current price of bitcoin. This has caused a relatively small number of customers paying with bitcoin in comparison to other payment methods.
The panelists discussed each other’s contributions to the merchant space and presented how each group is working to spur Bitcoin adoption.
Garzik’s talk closed out the conference. He spoke to the audience about his initial skepticism of Bitcoin and his subsequent decision to work as a developer on the project, and communicated his vision for the future of Bitcoin.
He spoke of some “layer-two” type services to be released in Bitcoin’s near future. Among them, “smart transaction fees” that determine how little a miner’s fee you need to pay to get a transaction confirmed.
One of the newer features will allow bitcoin users to lock funds on the blockchain for specified periods of time. It’s called BIP65, otherwise known as Check Lock Time Verify (CLTV).
“From the game theory perspective,” said Garzik, “this reduces the risk of someone else cheating you.”
Some have proposed using it for anti-spam products where the user can commit any amount of value, such as a dollar, and get an anti-spam technology, he said.
For the longer term, he spoke of the possibility for improved real-time supply chain infrastructure on blockchain technology and a network of satellites that enable the blockchain to be broadcast in space and on most parts of Earth.
Bitcoin has been faster and more secure than BitTorrent since the new version was released earlier this year, Garzik said.
“We’re in the early stages of Bitcoin,” he said “The services built on top of Bitcoin are just now being constructed. It’s very early.”
The State of Digital Money conference outlined many topics and provided a clear idea of development of blockchain technology use cases. The conference organizers’ intention was to create a different type of conference.
“We started Cureativ to curate unique, great events,” Alan Tse, co-founder of Cureativ, told Bitcoin Magazine. “We want to focus on emerging trends with good discussion points in a unique environment. Bitcoin was a good topic because there is a large community around it. It’s also young and creating a lot of buzz. We saw an opportunity for this in Los Angeles because it is home to a rapidly growing tech scene and there hasn’t been a Bitcoin conference of this magnitude here yet.“
Cureativ plans to host more Bitcoin conferences.
Photos courtesy of Melissa Yee, Rob Mitchell, and Jason Okuma.
Rocker Brings Bitcoin to Mixed Martial Arts Campaign
An unusual Indiegogo campaign will launch on Tuesday, April 21 that brings together the worlds of music, Mixed Martial Arts and bitcoin.
OSS Mentality is the brainchild of Brian Byrne, lead singer of the Canadian rock band I Mother Earth and avid MMA practitioner, and Jon Foster, former fighter and current gym owner. The idea of OSS Mentality is to create a hub of resources for MMA practitioners – including trainers, nutritionists, sports psychologists, and instructors – allowing fighters to help other fighters while providing “a positive force in the world of combat sports.
Byrne was introduced to bitcoin by Anthony Di Iorio, founder of Decentral in Toronto and co-founder of Ethereum. Di Iorio worked with Byrne to set up bitcoin payments for the Indiegogo campaign.
“Decentral is pleased to be working with OSS Mentality on the integration of their bitcoin into the fundraising campaign,” said Di Iorio. “It’s very positive to see the growing trend of organizations implementing Bitcoin strategies into their business activities.”
The term “OSS” refers to the traditional greeting between fighters to both begin and end a match or training session. It means “to persevere when pushed, never give up, have determination and grit, and withstand the most arduous of training.”
Besides providing a valuable resource to fighters looking to connect with an industry professional, it also helps to support competitive fighters when they are between fights due to injury or other personal issues.
“Like musicians who are recording and touring, fighters can do really well making a living when they are out there fighting,” says Byrne. “But during the downtimes, like when they are recovering from an injury or when they get too old to fight, OSS Mentality gives them a way to still work in the industry.”
Fighters can offer services to other fighters including fight review, video analysis, personal instruction, and workout planning.
“When you do anything through OSSMENTALITY.COM you will be giving back to the fighters who drive this entire industry,” the campaign website says.
Byrne emphasized the grass-roots component to OSS Mentality.
“This is based on the idea of fighters helping fighters. We really listened to the community and made changes that reflected what the fighters said they really wanted – what was important to them. And we’ll keep on doing that.”
Byrne added that experts offering their services through OSS Mentality are free to set their own rates and schedules. “They know their own market,” he said.
The campaign will run for 30 days and aims to raise $30,000. The funds will be used to get the OSS Mentality website running, develop an online store and pay creative freelancers. The organization has already scored sponsorship ahead of the campaign from companies such as Hayabusa MMA Gear, Headrush apparel, Rockwell watches, and Vane Protective Gear.
“We added bitcoin to the campaign to help start the conversation,” said Byrne. “We’re hoping that having that knowledge and that conversation, it will lead it somewhere else – to a whole community of people who aren’t familiar with it. It shows that we are looking at the future and currency and where it will eventually be.”
Visit the OSS Mentality Indiegogo campaign page to watch the video and find out more about the organization.
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