Bitcoin used to buy $500,000 Kansas home
they knew it was pretty cool,” he said. “This seemed like a good test of
how far the currency has come.”
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| When Josh Zerlan went looking for a new home, he originally didn’t think about using a bitcoin to buy it. |
banks take their cut. They take a fee, you end up paying quite a bit of
money. With bitcoin, you don’t have to pay any of those fees, and it is
an instant transfer,” he said.
with his knowledge of it, so we took the plunge,” Tim Hoelting said.
bitcoins, although more than 30,000 businesses currently take them
online.
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Federal reserve advisory council sheds positive light on Bitcoin
In February, much of the community rejoiced when Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen insisted that the regulatory entity had no authority to when it came to the digital currency.
A recently obtained document from a Federal Reserve Advisory Committee meeting early this month has shed some light on this very topic, in return, revealing exactly how the Fed plans on reacting to the relatively new and emerging technology.
The Federal Advisory Council and Board of Governor’s record of meeting devoted a special section of the outline to bitcoin specifically. Among the key topics of concerns listed in respect to the digital currency were whether or not bitcoin has the potential to cause the “disruption of traditional channels of commerce with high potential for illicit use.” In respect to banking, the document also questions the possible “disintermediation of traditional payment networks, promoting shadow transacting.”
In the eyes of the Fed, indications point that the outlook is unanimous in that rather than posing as threat, bitcoin, with increased regulation, may hold promise:
Bitcoin does not present a threat to economic activity by disrupting traditional channels of commerce; rather, it could serve as a boon … Its global transmissibility opens new markets to merchants and service providers … Driving capital flows from the developed to the developing world should increase consumption.
The Federal Advisory Council (FAC) is comprised of twelve elite representatives of the banking industry. The committee meets four times a year, as required, to consult with and advise the Board on all matters within the Board’s jurisdiction. The overall rhetoric among the committee is that the board echoes the voice of Silbert in that the current financial institutions will play a key role in bitcoin’s future. The FAC ‘s conclusion was that, “should [bitcoin] adoption accelerate, banking could participate increasingly in bitcoin fund flows, especially as multicurrency accounts proliferate and reputational concerns subside.”
The FAC’s stance on bitcoin supports a reversal in the plethora of bad news encompassing the digital currency. Following easing tensions in China, the wildly successful Bitcoin2014 conference in Amsterdam, which delivered a surplus of positive news along with several major announcements, bitcoin has surged in value over that past several hours. Prices on Bitstamp rose from an opening of $448.34, while spiking as high as $500.00 mid-day as optimism surrounding the digital currency continues to influence bitcoin’s value.
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‘Cryptocurrency’ officially added to Oxford dictionary online
‘cryptocurrency’ to its database. The decision was made as part of a
quarterly update this May that also included the words ‘bikeable’,
‘snacky’ and ‘time suck’.
“A
digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate
the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds,
operating independently of a central bank.”
Usage examples
ODO further provided example sentences that, in part, aim to sum up the
values of those who are interested in the industry and community.
“Decentralized
cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin now provide an outlet for personal
wealth that is beyond restriction and confiscation.”
sentences describe how cryptocurrencies are valued based on supply and
demand, and highlight that the total value of the market is more than
$8bn.
Contemporary language
noted by Angus Stevenson, Head of Dictionary Projects at Oxford
University Press in a 2013 interview with CoinDesk, inclusion in the ODO
“doesn’t make any judgement on whether [the word] is good, bad,
worthwhile or anything else”.
Dictionary is more of a historical cannon that includes words and
definitions that have stood the test of time.
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Winklevoss twins betting Bitcoin will be bigger than Facebook
(NewsBTC) The duo — who infamously won a multimillion dollar settlement from
Facebook following claims Mark Zuckerberg had ripped off their idea —
says that bitcoin could very well become bigger than Facebook, says The Guardian.
|
| The Winklevoss twins are betting big on bitcoin. |
Facebook, of course, is the world’s largest social network — with a user base exceeding one billion.
The two came to learn about bitcoin whilst on holiday in Ibiza, saying they were “fascinated from day one.”
And while bitcoin’s $5.67 billion market cap doesn’t come close to
touching Facebook’s $150 billion cap, the Winklevosses put their faith
in the digital currency for the reason that it has more potential to be
more impactful than a social network.
“Bitcoin potentially could be more impactful because being able to
donate 50 cents to someone across the world has more impact than
potentially sharing a picture,” said Tyler Winklevoss.
“But they’re very different. Facebook is like the internet – a large
company and an application. Bitcoin is a protocol for decentralisation,
so you could build a decentralised company on top of it, a stock market.
It’s an internet of ownership, so it’s not quite a direct comparison.”
For critics who point to bitcoin’s volatility as a reason it can
never be widely successful, the twins say that’s basically a
non-statement.
“Unregulated assets with unclear regulatory landscapes are always
going to be volatile. That’s what unregulated assets do,” said Tyler,
who points to the early days of the Internet as an example of a
technology that can go from an enthusiast’s interest to a worldwide
phenomenon.
The twins, who are working on the own bitcoin ETF (and also recently launched a price index) predict that this is the year Wall Street becomes heavily involved in the bitcoin-o-sphere.
Already, we’re seeing incredibly amounts of investor interest,
especially in the wake of two major price spikes that eventually brought
the price of bitcoin above $1,000 late last year.
The Winklevosses are estimated to own one percent of bitcoins presently in circulation.
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NXT: Bitcoin rival or ally?
(BitScan) NXT is a relative newcomer to the cryptocurrency scene but in the six months since it was launched it has steadily risen in value and profile, now claiming the fifth spot on the Coin Market Cap table.
At the time of writing, NXT has just surpassed Dogecoin with a market cap comfortably over $30 million.
NXT’s Asset Exchange allows direct P2P trading of digital assets
an innovative new platform unveiled on Monday that enables direct P2P
trading of digital assets. The idea is simple but striking. The Asset
Exchange does for shares in companies and other digital assets what
bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies, including NXT) do for cash. It’s
not the first entrant to the market, for sure; bitshares.org,
for example, is the NXT Asset Exchange’s direct competitor and was
already up and running before the AE launched. But NXT’s client is an
elegantly simple, easy-to-use platform, and the Exchange functionality
is integrated into the cryptocurrency from the ground up. To look at it
another way, NXT was conceived as the foundations of a digital economy,
whereas bitcoin was originally conceived as, primarily and
predominantly, a currency. Their relative timing and positioning give
them each unique advantages and disadvantages.
NXT vs Bitcoin
‘the next bitcoin’, the rival that will unseat the father and
grandfather of all altcoins. All of these claims have to be taken with
at least a pinch of salt, and very often a truckload. The reality is
that bitcoin is armoured from any such attack by a very powerful force: the network effect.
Put simply, this means that the sheer number of people using and
invested in bitcoin alone makes it very difficult for any contender to
unseat it. The more people join a network – be that a telephone network,
a social network or a currency network such as bitcoin – the more
useful it becomes and so the more it cements its own position. Thus
whatever the pros and cons of bitcoin vs other cryptocurrencies,
whatever advantages they offer in theory, it is extremely unlikely that bitcoin will lose its top spot any time soon.
NXT is built along different lines to bitcoin, both ideologically andpractically. It uses a proof-of-stake system and ‘forging’ rather than
bitcoin’s proof-of-work mining system, for example – something that has
drawn both admiration and controversy. This has various implications for
anything from coin distribution to power consumption and the hardware
needed to participate in the network. Unsurprisingly, dyed-in-the-wool
bitcoin-lovers have expressed doubt about some of NXT’s flagship
features; unsurprisingly, some of NXT’s cheerleaders see these same
features as killer advantages.
bitcoin. In fact, NXT offers features that can and likely will boost
bitcoin’s adoption, as well leveraging bitcoin’s popularity to improve
its own reach.
Ultimately, the world is a big
place and cryptocurrency hasn’t yet been taken up by more than a
fraction of one percent of the population. Like any other area of life,
cryptocurrency enthusiasts have a tendency to be tribalistic. At this
point, though, the real competition isn’t between bitcoin and other
cryptocurrencies. It’s between cryptocurrency and fiat systems. If one
cryptocurrency offers another a leg up and thereby increases the
adoption of both, that’s good for everyone.
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Top 5 businesses that accept Litecoin payments
(CoinReport) Litecoin is the second most valued digital currency on the market, only being bested by bitcoin. However, litecoin is not just a knock-off to the world’s first digital coin. It was intended by its developers to improve on the structure set forth by bitcoin.
The main two differences that separates litecoin from bitcoin:
1) Litecoin processes a block every two and a half minutes, while bitcoin processes a block every 10 minutes.
2) Litecoin will total 84 million coins, unlike bitcoin’s cap of 21 million.
The digital currency continues to catch individuals and business owners by storm, as more businesses are accepting it as a form of payment. CoinReport has compiled a list of the Top 5 businesses that have begun implementing Litecoin into their finances.
Top 5 businesses that welcome Litecoin payments
5. Ellenet
“Crypto currencies are the future, it’s plainly obvious and people need to understand that Bitcoin and other coins are not going away. Without sounding terse, you can’t stop progress.”
digital payments, it hopes to grow even larger. In addition, Ellenet works with digital mining company Petabit Pty. Ltd,
who works on mining both litecoins and bitcoins. The partnership with Petabit will allow Ellenet to get into more digital currency-based ventures.
4. Sean’s Outpost
3. eGifter
2. KnCMiner
“You will find the Litecoin payment method option when you complete an order through the checkout on our website.”
1. Benz and Beamer
“GoCoin makes it extremely easy for us to accommodate new customers looking to
pay with bitcoin and other emerging digital currencies like litecoin.
Their platform secures the coin exchange for cash within minutes,
creating a real win/win for my dealership and my customers.”
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Give $250,000 in Bitcoin, get second citizenship
with a Las Vegas escort.
Bitcoin these days.
that sets clients up with citizenship to balmy Caribbean island-nation St.
Kitts and Nevis, payable in cryptocurrency. St. Kitts and Nevis has offered a
‘citizenship by investment’ program since 1984 that accepts investment into the
local economy in exchange for a spanking-new passport.
isn’t cheap. Wannabe citizens must either buy local real estate worth $400,000
or more, or donate at least $250,000 to the Sugar Industry Diversification
Foundation (SIDF) – on top of a nonrefundable application fee of about $60,000
per applicant plus an additional $30,000 for each one of his or her dependents.
holding a St. Kitts passport offers a number of benefits. Aside from the
stunning seas, sands, and climate offered by the Caribbean country, St. Kitts doesn’t
take any income, wealth, or inheritance taxes; citizens get visa-free travel to
140 countries and a 10-year multiple-entry visa to the United States.
countries or ones with invasive policies on individual privacy, the citizenship
process offers more abstract benefits: freedom and privacy.
stories from around the globe about upheaval, increased taxes, and governments
exerting more and more control over citizens’ freedoms and privacy,” the
Passports for Bitcoin website says. “Having a second citizenship and passport
in a stable country is now a must in order to hedge against governmental
intrusion and excessive taxation.”
home countries aren’t notified that their citizens have applied for or received
a second citizenship.
Kitts passport with Bitcoin isn’t clear. The website of the project’s parent company,
International Investments & Consulting, Ltd., says it has processed over
100 applications, though it does not specify how they were paid for.
popular amongst the rich and famous. Roger Ver, an American Bitcoin
entrepreneur and ‘angel investor’ in Bitcoin startups, has bought himself a
passport to St. Kitts, as has as the so-called “Most
Interesting Man on Instagram” millionaire/poker player/playboy Dan
Bilzerian.
ago as a hedge against possible world political turmoil which could negatively
affect the United States,” Bilzerian wrote in a testimonial
on the Passports for Bitcoin website. “I value freedom more than almost
anything else and a second or third passport provides me insurance just in case
the U.S. government decides to value security over freedom.”
St. Kitts citizenship last month after fleeing the country under pressure from
the government over data protection and privacy.
passport in Bitcoin.
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Bitcoin’s youngest entrepreneurs and educators
money in digital currency and skilfully using it for in-game purchases,
tipping buddies on reddit and other really cool things which have yet to
be invented.
there are a few enterprising youngsters here and there who have already
discovered the advantages of bitcoin, are using it, and are even making
generous amounts of pocket money from it.
A swarm of talent
 |
| Image via Bees Brothers |
Hailing
from Cache Valley, in northern Utah, three brothers between the ages of
11 and 15 have their own successful honey business at home in the Cache
Valley.
swarm of bees as an experiment. Little did they know it would lead to a
small business and an obsession with bitcoin.
says they had no intention of starting a business. “As we started
working with honey and beeswax we started making new things for
ourselves, and eventually got a small business licence, more honeybee
hives, and started selling our items at our local Farmer’s Market,” he
said.
attracted by the concept of a decentralised, non-inflationary
currency. The ideals behind bitcoin seem to align with those of the
Huntzinger family.
father admits they have a different view of education. “We don’t believe
that government has a monopoly on education, nor that the only way to
learn is being forced to sit at a desk all day and stare at a book […]
The whole purpose of getting that first hive, and later the business
licence, was all about education. What would happen if we did this…?”
answer is a flourishing business and three boys learning about finance
and investing before they’ve even finished high school. Business is
booming. From selling pots of their honey locally, their company, Bees Brothers now
produces several different flavours of honey caramels, honey roasted
almonds, beeswax lip balms and candles both at the markets and via their
website. And all can be had for bitcoin, of course.
The publishing moguls
you’ll find a host of online tutorials, as well as the chance to buy a
host of books (using bitcoin) that explain the subject.
not the best part. The site and books, as well as a host of other blogs
and publications are all written by a trio of young sisters, who
describe themselves thus on their blog:
“We’re three
tech tweenpreneurs, also known as The Sabra Sisters. We were born in
2000, 2001 and 2003. We’ve been blogging since 2008, started making
money online in 2010, [and] became bestselling kindle authors in 2013.”
that they were all successful juvenile nonfiction authors, he
challenged the sisters to write a ’25 Fun Facts of Bitcoin’ book, which
eventually evolved into the five-book ‘Bitcoin for Kids‘ series.
immediately started researching into bitcoin and, less than 24 hours
later, surprised him with the launch of their brand new blog dedicated
to learning about the digital currency – the first post being entitled, ‘Yes, we’re interested Uncle I.J.‘ The rest as they say, is history.
girls generally divide up the different tasks required for the
publications, depending on their skills and preferences, but said JuJu:
“My sisters and I split up the various tutorials so everyone had a share in spending bitcoin and having fun. ;-)”
the home-schooled girls justifiably boast they are “professional
bloggers and bestselling authors”, with some credit given to their
mother Ponn – also a blogging professional – for her guiding input too.
the Sabra sisters have over two-dozen kindle books published, with an
astonishing 55,000 plus downloads during the past year, JuJu told
CoinDesk, adding:
“We rarely look at each individual title, but two books are our bestsellers making up nearly 40,000 of those downloads: ’Science Projects for Kids’ and the ’My First Smoothie Recipe Book’.”
Cuteness and cookies
Image via DorkusPrime/redditReddit
user DorkusPrime came across young entrepreneurs Mia and Taylor in
California back in January in the Noe Valley neighbourhood of San
Francisco. He posted a photo of the two little girls at their cookies and lemonade booth and it quickly became something of a web sensation.
adorable little girls just sold me snickerdoodles for Bitcoin in San
Francisco. I asked them to say cheese for the Internet :),” DorkusPrime wrote at the time.
The youngest bitcoin author
writer, Jaden Shelton (A.K.A. the Bitcoin Kid) claims to be “the
youngest author ever who has published a book offered only in bitcoin”.
“It was something funny that happened in my childhood – I used to not eat certain foods and we would say ‘are you scared of a blank?
I would say ‘no’ and we would keep joking around with it. A few years
later, we started thinking about making a book about it.”
promising TV presenter, Jaden has posted a series of videos in which he
interviews key staff at prominent digital currency businesses, such as
ripple, Mycelum and BitInstant.
“Well, you can’t buy anything unless you have a job, so I might be an entrepreneur … or maybe sell toys to kids.”
The shrewd investor
Karam isn’t your average nine-year-old. While most kids his age ask for
the latest must-have toy for their birthdays, Andrew requested shares
in Apple.
price of the stock with interest, checking regularly whether his
investment had gone up or down in value.
was incredibly excited about it and asked if I could take his Apple
stock and cash it out for BTC, so I made him a paper wallet and […]
bought a bit at a time,” Steve wrote in a post on reddit.
later told his teacher about his investment, revealing he had made
about $50 since his dad bought him some bitcoins. He said he was
originally thinking of cashing out 25% of his investment, but the savvy
youngster decided to hold on to his cryptocurrency.
to do more than just a talk at school to get his peers involved in
digital currency. So he asked his father whether he could sell bitcoins
to his classmates, then get them back by accepting BTC as payment for
his Wonder Bracelets, which he makes from colourful elastic bands.
story and enthusiasm struck a chord within the bitcoin community, with
some members of reddit making donations to the 4th grader.
said his son is “super excited” by all the support he is getting and
even commented that he wants to be a “professional millionaire” when he
grows up.
The chancer
Credit: ImgurAnd
finally, let us not forget the enterprising college kid who, in early
December 2013, made it onto TV holding up a sign with a bitcoin logo and
wallet QR code at ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ game.
and caught the attention of the bitcoin community, who promptly sent
him a flurry of donations amounting to over $24,000 in bitcoin, some of
which he allegedly donated to Sean’s Outpost – a bitcoin-funded homeless outreach centre in Pensacola, Florida.
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Spreading Peercoin on Pi: get 10 PPC for setting up a node!
 |
| User river333 from PeercoinTalk is ready to start giving out tips for spreading Peercoin on Pi! |
Here’s how to get the 10 PPC tip!
1. Follow Tea42’s guide on how to set up Peercoin on your Raspberry Pi. A full node is required to receive the tip, so be sure to complete the part of the guide entitled “Contribute to the Peercoin network” in part 2, which shows you how to allow port forwarding.
2. Post in this thread with a photo of your Pi, and also a photo of your Pi screen.
The following should be visible in the photo of your Pi’s screen:
A: A window showing your Raspberry Pi serial number.
B: The Peercoin Qt wallet with the green checkmark in the lower right hand corner indicating that the RPi is now a currently synced Peercoin node.
The “Receive coins” tab should be clicked so your wallet address to receive coins is visible.
C: The Peercoin Qt debug window open showing the command “getconnectioncount” having been typed in at the bottom and the window showing a number greater than 8.
3. Paste your PPC address into your forum post. This should match the one visible in the photo of your Pi’s screen.
If you follow the above instructions correctly, you will receive your tip!
A big thank you to NewMoneyEra for donating the PPC that will be used for tipping.
FAQsWhat is a Raspberry Pi?A Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that can be plugged into a monitor/tv, and a standard keyboard and mouse (https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/what-is-a-raspberry-pi/). It is used in programming education and also has a wide variety of other uses. Its low energy consumption makes it perfect for running a Peercoin node.
What model of Raspberry Pi should I buy?
Model B is the most used at the moment. I’ve read that the new model has the same hardware, and only the form is different, but I have no experience
with it. As for an SD card, it’s best to buy a class 10 or better, that is 10MB/s minimum write speed. Don’t get fooled by the read speed they mention on the packaging, that is always much higher. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital#Speed_class_rating
A case is not necessary but recommended because it protects against stuff falling on your pi, small coffee spills etc
I have a pi I ordered for playing round with and remember you will need a power supply to for it, that and the SD card u need to buy, its a micro usb charger same as many android phones or tablets so u can use one of those if it gives a high enough voltage. I just remember when I ordered mine the wait on charges was 3 weeks longer than the 5 weeks for the pi, but I hope they more readily available now.
What is the purpose of this project? The purpose of this project is to encourage the use of Peercoin on Raspberry Pi, while also increasing the number of full nodes on the network. A connection count of more than 8 indicates that port forwarding is enabled and that you are running a full node. Minting is beyond the scope of this project. Can I mint on my Raspberry Pi too?
Yes, you can. However, for the moment it is advisable not to mint on a full node (i.e. with port forwarding) until more research has been done. You can find out more about this here and here if you are interested.
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George Soros sells out of J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Citigroup …. time for Bitcoin?
to several news sources billionaire George Soros recently sold nearly
all of his bank stocks, including shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup,
and Goldman Sachs. Between the three banks, Soros sold more than a
million shares. Billionaire John Paulson dumped 14 million shares of
JPMorgan Chase (appr. 750 million dollars). Other billionaires are pulling out of US stocks too.
surely there is a growing discomfort about the all time high levels of
stock market prices. Some are expecting a massive correction. Even if
there is no good reason for it, fear could make such predictions a
reality.At BitcoinOwl we of course speculate that the growing success of
crypto currencies and their promise to revolutionize the financial and
other systems could be a factor as well. Just like email threatened the
business model of the postal services and file sharing scared the music
labels, crypto currencies without a doubt cause some anxiety to
financial institutions who see Bitcoin as a competitor instead of an
opportunity to reinvent themselves.
It may take years before Bitcoin makes any noticeable dent in
Citigroup’s profits, but Bitcoin’s existence alone raises some
uncertainty about the future of such financial institutions and their
profit margins. Some players like Western Union have already been forced
to drop their fees drastically in response to Bitcoin’s extremely low
transaction fees.
The question is where does all that money pulled out of the stock
market will go? Many investors like Kevin O’Leary publicly said that
they’ve put a few percents of their money into Bitcoin already. His
Bitcoins were without a doubt his best performing asset in 2013. It’s
likely that most billionaires pulling out of the stock market will put a
small part of their wealth into crypto currencies as it’s highly
independent from other assets which is important for healthy
diversification.
Let’s just see how much money are we talking about. Let’s assume only
a fraction of those stock dollars will be funnelled into cryptos. Half
percent of NYSE’s total market cap is 83 billion dollars.
If 70% of that 0.5% would flow into Bitcoin it would increase BTC’s
market capital 7 fold raising the price of Bitcoin to over $5,000. If
10% of it went to Litecoin it would increase LTC’s market capital by 13
times raising the price to $325. And we’re talking about just 0.5% of
one stock exchange in the world.
Potentially it is also possible that the crash of stock market prices
will scare crypto currency investors too. Although, it’s hard for me to
find a plausible reason why this would happen.
It will be interesting to see how the predicted decline in the stock
market will influence the valuation of the popular crypto currencies.
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