Friday, July 10, 2015
JUL 10 DIGEST: Visa Exec Says Bitcoin Has a Future in Payments; BitFury Raises $20 Million in New VC Round
Mint Exchange Service for Newly Mined Coins Rebuffs Bitcoin’s Fungibility
China’s Stock Market Freefall a Boon for Bitcoin
Columnist Leaves WSJ for MIT's Digital Currency Initiative
Verisart to Use the Blockchain to Verify Artwork; Signs Bitcoin Core Dev Peter Todd
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Bitcoin Wallets Changing Fee Structures to Speed Transactions Through Network Delays
Due to the continued spam attack on the blockchain network that Bitcoin Magazine has previously reported on, multiple bitcoin wallets have implemented either increased fees or the ability for individuals to increase the fees paid for a given transaction. Based on the nature of the software, miners prioritize which transaction to process first based on the fees associated with it, among other factors. The standard bitcoin fee is 0.0001 BTC per kilobyte. However, with so many spam transactions occurring, the standard transaction fee is not sufficient to ensure quick confirmations.
BitGo announced what it is calling its surge pricing —named after Uber’s surge pricing—which stipulates that the fees will vary depending on how congested the network is. In times of low congestion, the fees will remain low; whereas, in times of high congestion, the fees will be boosted. The company’s goal is to see transactions verified in roughly 2 blocks.
Ledger, the hardware wallet, deployed its 1.3.12 version of the Chrome application, which includes dynamic fees. Based on the speed in which users want the transaction to be confirmed, the software will calculate how much in fees they should pay. By allowing users to decide, they can dictate whether speed is more important or an overall decreased cost.
BTCJam, a peer-to-peer lending platform, announced today that it would be waiving any late fees & late payment penalties for payments that come within 48 hours of the payment’s due date.
Litecoin Trading Volume Is on the Verge of Overtaking Bitcoin
Mining Titan BitFury Raises $20 Million to Continue Rapid Market Share Grab
In a statement released today by BitFury Group, the company announced that it had raised an additional $20 million from investors including DRW Venture Capital, iTech Capital, and Georgian Co-Investment Fund. The company expects to use the money to accelerate growth and continue develop next-generation chips beyond the recently launched energy-efficient 28 nanometer chip.
There has been a significant amount of venture money moving into mining and infrastructure companies. With this $20 million, BitFury remains the most financed company, having raised two other $20 million rounds over the past three years. This funding brings total funds to $60 million, which is $31 million more than KncMiner. This brings total infrastructure investment to $116.5 million.
“By supporting BitFury’s efforts in this regard, and by providing liquidity in bitcoin via its wholly owned subsidiary, Cumberland, DRW aims to facilitate the widespread adoption of the distributed ledger technology,” Don Wilson, founder of DRW Venture, said in a prepared statement.
BitFury is also expected to use this money to support the build-out of a 100-megawatt data center in the Republic of Georgia that the company will deploy its 28 nanometer chip. In the next 6-12 months, it is also expected to roll out its 16 nanometer ASIC chip, which the company suggests will use only 0.06 joules-per-gigahash.
Popular Japanese Q&A Site OKWave to Integrate Bitcoin Tipping Across Platform
OKWave, the largest Q&A site in Japan with more than 40 million monthly visitors, has announced that the company will integrate bitcoin to allow its users to either tip each other or incentivize its users using bitcoin.
OKWave’s blogpost read, “Until now, you could only leave thanks in the comments under your favourite answers, now you can send your gratitude with bitcoin.”
The company uploaded a screenshot of the tipping program that has implemented a voting system like Reddit, in which users can up-vote and down-vote content and get paid in bitcoin for highly rated content.
The tipping system itself is very similar to the recently launched Taringa! Creadores, a tipping initiative developed by Argentina’s largest social media platform Taringa!, which started to enable its users to receive incentive via bitcoin. Since June, Taringa! Has seen a more than 40 percent spike in content creation, which may have influenced the Japanese Q&A site to introduce bitcoin to its users.
The bitcoin integration of OKWave’s new tipping system marks the second major bitcoin deal since Rakuten, the largest Japanese e-commerce store, began to accept bitcoin earlier this year. Although the company has not announced its partner payment processing platform, it is highly likely that the company will be advised by Bitcoin angel investor Roger Ver, who was one of the first to mention the news on the July 7.
As Grexit Looms, Greek Island Begins Testing Blockchain-Based Parallel Currency
Perhaps a blockchain-based parallel currency could provide a solution to the Greek crisis and be an alternative for Greece, Forbes reports. Lee Gibson-Grant, founder of U.K.-based digital currency consultancy Coinstructors, recently met with the Mayor of Agistri, an island in Saronic Gulf with a population of around a thousand people. The Mayor has agreed to start testing blockchain technology solutions in the island.
The single ATM on Agistri ran out money last week.
The project is related to the Drachmae project covered by Bitcon Magazine in May. Proposed by CNBC contributor Brian Kelly, the author of “The Bitcoin Big Bang: How Alternative Currencies Are About to Change the World,” Drachmae is intended as a quick and simple bitcoin-like solution for Greece’s troubled economy.
Kelly provides more detail in a CNBC post titled “Greek island agrees to test digital currency.” He is persuaded that the technology behind bitcoin can be used to create a store of value that is independent of the traditional banking system.
“The digital currency I created last year, Nautiluscoin, was designed to tackle this specific task,” says Kelly.“ We can now offer Greece a digital currency that is backed by gold and is integrated into a mobile-banking platform.
The Mayor of Agistri has agreed to allow the island to be a pilot program for a new monetary ecosystem, which will use Nautiluscoin. Over the coming weeks, the infrastructure for this project will be rolled out and the citizens of Agistri will receive Nautiluscoin to begin transacting.
Nautiluscoin will be backed by gold, which, according to Kelly, is still the most trusted independent form of money. Coinstructors, a partner in the project, developed drachmae.money and Dracmae Connect to create a transaction system. The system will charge a fee for each Nautiluscoin transaction, and the fees will be used to purchase gold for a “Nautiluscoin Stability Fund.”
That may sound a bit circular and chaotic, but probably the project developers haven’t had the time to fully detail the mechanism of the proposed monetary system. At the time of writing, the drachmae.money website still has a “Lorem ipsum…” placeholder for yet-to-be-written text.
“Using gold to back Nautiluscoin should give both tourists and merchants assurance that a digital currency is more than just lines of computer code,” says Kelly. “A digital currency like Nautiluscoin can be quickly deployed to kick-start the tourism industry. We have already begun to implement this plan and estimate that it will take 60 to 90 days to fully execute.”
Local businesses can create a loyalty program via Drachmae Connect, which enables tourists to book hotels and other services at a discount. While Agistri is a test case, the initiative could be applied throughout Greece, and Gibson-Grant is persuaded that a parallel digital currency would be an ideal solution for the nation. “A digital currency over the blockchain would be ideal right now for Greece and tourists,” he said.
Kelly notes that the project is inspired by the highly successful WIR Bank that manages and issues the private currency WIR franc in Switzerland. The WIR Bank was established by two Swiss businessmen in 1934 in response to a failing economy and currency shortages.
HotelGo24.com Pays Users 5% Cashback with Bitcoin
HotelGo24.com, a newly launched online hotel booking platform, is beginning to offer a 5 percent bitcoin cashback service starting this summer.
On the hotel booking portal, users can book hotel rooms with credit cards including Visa and Mastercard at more than 130,000 hotels across 198 countries. The twist however, is that the company has decided to match the needs of cryptocurrency and bitcoin enthusiasts by offering 5 percent cashback per booking using bitcoin.
A user can simply complete a reservation, confirm and receive 5 percent of his or her fees in bitcoin seven days after checking out from the booked hotel. HotelGo24.com’s official announcement read, “Bitcoin cash back is send within 7 days of user check-out from the booked hotel. The amount of Bitcoin cash back that client will receive depends on the reservation value and BTC exchange rate on the day of booking.”
With the new bitcoin incentive initiative, the new hotel booking portal aims to shift its target to bitcoin enthusiasts. Like most other platforms that allow users to earn bitcoin by using its service, HotelGo24 is trying to reward its users with bitcoin both as an appreciation to its users and because it is much faster and easier to send cashback through bitcoin than with credit cards or bank wiring.
Image cia HotelGo24.com
Backpage.com Adult Section Goes 100% Crypto
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