1 Mar
0
Bitcoin’s Monthly Recap of February 2015
Welcome to HolyTransaction’s February monthly recap for the year 2015. During this past month of February, the bitcoin price fell from a low of $226.93 to a high of $258.34, according to Bitstamp.
Payment Processor Stripe Lets Its Businesses Accept Bitcoin Simply
Starting a few weeks ago, the popular online payment processor Stripe ended its Bitcoin beta and rolled out the ability to accept bitcoin to any of its business customers. International businesses that use Stripe include Facebook, Lyft, and Kickstarter. Any of these companies could now start accepting Bitcoin with just a few lines of code. Stripe processes Bitcoin payments for a cost of .5% and uses Coinbase to facilitate the fiat settlement. Bitcoin’s reach expands by thousands of merchants and Stripe, which has also backed other cryptocurrencies in the budding industry, shows just how serious it is about Bitcoin and the power of the blockchain.
Dread Pirate Roberts Unmasked: Ross Ulbricht Convicted On All Charges
After hearing days of testimony from both sides, the jury in the historic Silk Road trial found Ross Ulbricht guilty on all charges. The jury found the government’s evidence that Ross Ulbricht was operating Silk Road under the pseudonym ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ since day one. Ulbricht’s defense, led by lawyer Joshua Dratel, rested his entire defense on suggesting that Ross Ulbricht may have founded Silk Road but he had long ago left it to a successor, who then came back around to frame Ulbricht. The chat logs from the laptop that was taken from Ulbricht’s hands at a public library where he was using it may have been forged, the defense alleged. The jury was not convinced, and Ulbricht is now behind bars pending sentencing later this year.
CNN’s Morgan Spurlock Of Super Size Me Finds The Inside Scoop On Bitcoin
Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size me fame, has done it again with an episode in his CNN show Inside Man. He spearheads an entire episode dedicated to the new e-currency known as Bitcoin. The episode follows Spurlock as he survived on only Bitcoin for a week. That means that he only lived on things that he could spend bitcoins on, and learned a lot about it in the process. He lived his week in New York where he was able to talk bitcoin with Bitcoiners from the New York Bitcoin Center. The episode went a long way in introducing Bitcoin to a largely uneducated populace and a different demographic.
Dell Starts Accepting Bitcoin In United Kingdom and Canada
Ousting Newegg and TigerDirect, Dell is now the largest electronic retailer that accepts bitcoin internationally. Earlier in February, Dell announced that it was happy with its US bitcoin pilot and was not extending bitcoin acceptance to Canada and the United Kingdom. The international company emphasized that businesses and customers are using bitcoin to purchase just about everything that Dell has to offer. Dell has even processed as much as $50,000 worth of bitcoin for a single item purchase, a large server system. Dell uses Coinbase as a third party payment processor to accept bitcoin. In Dell’s words: “This form of payment is clearly resonating with consumer, small and medium businesses.”
Ledger Hardware Bitcoin Wallet Startup Raises 1.3 Million Euro Seed Round
French hardware Bitcoin wallet maker Ledger recently announced the closing of a 1.3 million euro seed round led by French VC fund XAnge Private Equity. Other investors such as Hi-Pay and Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Bitcoin stealth startup Challenger Deep. Ledger’s first hardware wallet offering, the Nano Wallet, was released at the end of 2014 and was quite popular. Ledger was created by a fortuitous meeting of minds at the French la Maison du Bitcoin, the first “Bitcoin embassy” in Europe. To date, Ledger has already sold thousands of Nano wallets in several dozen countries. Future plans for the bitcoin wallet include NFC and Bluetooth LE capabilities. The startup has also announced plans to move to America with the new funding and participate in some accelerators.
Privacy Centric Cryptocurrency Dash Unveils InstantX Transactions
The new version of the Dash Core wallet, v.0.11.1, will include InstantX. InstantX adds on top of existing Dashsend and MasterNode anonymity features that will have the industry standard 6 confirmations in an average of 1.25 minutes. Dash is different from Bitcoin because it uses the X11 hashing algorithm instead of the SHA-256 algorithm, which makes it much more ASIC resistant. Upon the successful implementation of the InstantX feature, the Dash price experienced a notable rise in value at the exchanges. The Dash development team has promised future updates and new features, some that have been seen on Bitcoin’s wish list and some that have not.
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1 Feb
0
Bitcoin’s Monthly Recap of January 2015
Welcome to HolyTransaction’s first monthly recap for the year 2015. This past month of January has been a great opener for the Bitcoin community; during that time, the bitcoin price fell from a high of $321 to a low of $226.93, according to Bitstamp.
Bitcoin Exchange Bitstamp Loses 12% of Bitcoins in Security Breach
Early in January, the world was again shocked by another high-profile Bitcoin theft from a high-volume Bitcoin exchange. Bitstamp, the exchange in question, halted trading on 1/4/15 after telling customers “we have reason to believe that one of Bitstamp’s operational wallets was compromised on January 4th, 2015.” The Bitcoin exchange avoided their booth at the Bitcoin World at CES 2015 and worked to fix and migrate their exchange while trading, withdrawals, and deposits were halted for several days. Bitstamp has since returned and offered zero trading fees for a limited time as a form of apology. Many attribute the fallen Bitcoin price to the high-profile Bitcoin exchange theft.
Coinbase Raises $75 Million USD in Series C Funding Round
Coinbase recently announced the closing of its $75 million USD Series C funding round that Bitcoin users around the world have been expecting since late last year. The Bitcoin service has currently raised $106 million USD to date. Round participants included DFJ Growth, USAA, the NYSE, and more. In a good sign for the company’s investor confidence, previous investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and Ribbit Capital also joined in the round. Besides Coinbase, other Bitcoin companies have started off the year strong with millions of dollars in funding for Bitcoin 1.0 and Bitcoin 2.0 applications and technologies thus far in the year.
Coinbase Launches Lunar: Supposedly the First Regulated American Bitcoin Exchange
Coinbase has just announced its Bitcoin exchange, called Lunar, which industry experts have been suspecting to be in the works for months now. Coinbase seems to have been drawn out to release its Bitcoin exchange by the announcement of the Gemini Bitcoin exchange by the Winklevoss twins. Lunar currently only supports roughly half of American states; additionally, Coinbase has taken some criticism for claiming to the “first” and “regulated” in this space. The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has told Bitcoin media sources: “The California Department of Business Oversight has not decided whether to regulate virtual currency transactions, or the businesses that arrange such transactions, under the state’s Money Transmission Act. California consumers should be aware Coinbase Exchange is not regulated or licensed by the state.”
Reddit Decides to Ditch RedditNotes and Cryptocurrency Engineer
Former BitPay employee Ryan Charles has been recently let go by Reddit amid internal company strife and change of direction. The former-CEO of Reddit, Yishan, was apparently the one that was pushing for a Reddit cryptocurrency, popularly dubbed Redditnotes. Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing anything from Reddit anytime soon, and Ryan Charles won’t be involved. Charles has already started planning his next move in the Bitcoin sphere, where he believes that Bitcoin 1.0 opportunities are still widely available and largely unexplored.
Ross Ulbricht Stands Trial for Alleged Role as Dread Pirate Roberts on Deep Web Market Silk Road
Ross Ulbricht and the Silk Road trial started this past month in a monumental case for both privacy and Bitcoin. The government is presenting evidence that Ross Ulbricht is none other than the Dread Pirate Robert (DPR) that ran the Silk Road for the entirety of its existence. Ulbricht’s defense lawyer, Dratel, tried to make it clear to jurors that digital evidence could be planted, fabricated, distorted, moved, or “manipulated.” Even has Silk Road 1.0’s trial is just finishing, Silk Road 2.0’s legal consequences are also unfolding. Meanwhile, Silk Road 3.0 and over a dozen copycat Deep web marketplaces continue to thrive.
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25 Jul
0
European Central Bank hacked, personal data stolen
(RT) Hackers have stolen personal information from the European Central Bank (ECB) in what seems to be a blackmail scheme. The stolen data includes email addresses and contact information taken from the organization’s database.
“There had been a breach of the security protecting a database serving its public website,” ECB said in a statement on Thursday. “This led to the theft of email addresses and other contact data left by people registering for events at the ECB.”
Around 20,000 email addresses were stolen, according to media reports.
The hacked database serves the public website and gathers registrations for conferences and other visits. It is “physically separate from any internal ECB systems.”
The bank was not aware of the theft, and only found out about the stolen data after the perpetrator sent an anonymous email, demanding a reward in exchange for the information.
The ECB refused to go along with the scheme and did not reveal how much money was requested.
The majority of the stolen information was encrypted, such as data on downloads from the ECB website. But personal information, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and home addresses were not protected by an encryption.
The bank will contact people whose data might have been stolen. Meanwhile, “all passwords have been changed on the system as a precaution” and “security experts have addressed the vulnerability.”
The cyber attack did not compromise internal systems or market sensitive data, according to the statement.
German police have opened an investigation into the matter.
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12 Jul
0
Analysts: Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF to pass SEC approval
As the Winklevoss twin’s highly-anticipated, not to mention first of its kind bitcoin exchange traded fund, inches its way towards becoming a reality, ETF analysts are weighing on the likeliness of the fund securing the SEC’s approval.
“I don’t see very much in the way of impediments to it at this point, “everything I see in the Bitcoin filing is by the book so it would be a surprise if they officially deny it. If they pocket veto it and kind of ignore it for a while… that’s a possibility.”
The Winklevoss twins, who have claimed to own as many as 1% of all bitcoins in circulation, recently revealed in their fourth filing since the ETF’s initial proposal that the fund will trade on the NASDAQ under the ‘COIN’ symbol.
The twins’ bitcoin ETF seeks to appeal to investors who want to get in on the digital currency under regulated conditions, which further opens the door to large institutional investors who cannot yet hold bitcoin directly on brokerage statements. Furthermore, the fund hopes to mitigate the risk often associated with storing the digital currency while providing a template for tax reporting.
ETFtrends web editor, Todd Shriber explains:
“If the Bitcoin ETF is classified as a commodity ETF, the rate of tax they’ll be paying will much higher than if they bought a currency ETF.”
ETFtrends.com editor and president of Global Trends Investments, Tom Lydon says that given the twins’ openness about the status of the ETF, which can only go so far due to SEC laws and procedures, the likeness of it securing approval is highly likely:
“I would feel strongly it’s going to happen it may not be as soon as people would hope, I wouldn’t imagine they would continue talking about it and making progress if in fact it would not come to fruition.”
Lydon tells IBT that the largest impediment in terms of acquiring investors will lie in the education of those interested parties. However, thankfully, he adds, “they’re pretty good at explaining what Bitcoin is.”
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27 Jun
0
Major Italian newspaper il Giornale accepting Bitcoin for digital subscriptions
(NEWSBTC) A major Italian newspaper outlet is apparently now accepting bitcoin
for digital subscriptions, we’re learning from a reader email this
morning. The bitcoin logo is boldly visible on il Giornale‘s digital subscriptions page [link], where nearby it says, “The Journal is the first newspaper in Italy and in Europe who accepts payments in Bitcoin.”
for digital subscriptions, we’re learning from a reader email this
morning. The bitcoin logo is boldly visible on il Giornale‘s digital subscriptions page [link], where nearby it says, “The Journal is the first newspaper in Italy and in Europe who accepts payments in Bitcoin.”
The outlet is one of the top 20 daily papers in Italy, with a last reported circulation number of 678,000 readers in 2012.
il Giornale‘s digital subscriptions allow readers to view
all news categories and articles in PDF files optimized for Android
smartphones, iPads, and other tablet devices.
all news categories and articles in PDF files optimized for Android
smartphones, iPads, and other tablet devices.
The cost? 0.42 cents per day with an annual subscription.
Despite the fact that il Giornale may be the first major newspaper in Italy and Europe to accept bitcoin, they aren’t the first in the world.
Here in the United States, the Chicago Sun-Times announced they would be accepting bitcoin payments for subscriptions at the start of April of this year in a move designed “to keep the Sun-Times current and evolving with changing technology.”
Despite the news, many in the community weren’t exactly surprised,
given the paper’s previous interest in the digital currency. In early
February, the paper put up a bitcoin paywall as a test of how users
would interact with using bitcoin (users had the option of donating to a
non-profit). The results were overwhelmingly positive, with 713 donors.
given the paper’s previous interest in the digital currency. In early
February, the paper put up a bitcoin paywall as a test of how users
would interact with using bitcoin (users had the option of donating to a
non-profit). The results were overwhelmingly positive, with 713 donors.
While we haven’t exactly seen widespread adoption of bitcoin for
digital news subscriptions, it’s nice to see it getting a start in Italy.
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19 Jun
0
Swedish central bank acknowledges benefits of cryptocurrencies
(CoinDesk) Sveriges Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank, has published a brief economic commentary on the impact of digital currencies on the retail payments market.The document outlines the basics behind digital currencies and focuses on bitcoin, but it also mentions some altcoins such as litecoin and dogecoin. Aside from a relatively basic introduction to digital currencies and background information for novices, the document also sheds light on the state of bitcoin in Sweden and the bank’s attitude towards bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Take-up remains limited
The Sveriges Riksbank report found that the use of digital currencies in Sweden remains very limited. The authors point out that it is particularly difficult to obtain accurate information on the use of digital currencies in different countries, hence most analyses are usually limited to the total issue value and global usage. The report tries to isolate Sweden and examine transactions limited to Swedish krona (SEK) exchanges. Even so, the data may not be complete, as it only deals with transactions involving SEK.
“On average, around 212 bitcoins per day were converted to or from SEK during the period December 2012 to May 2014 at an average value of just over SEK 266,000. However, the daily value varied substantially, between SEK 2,500 and SEK 2.5 million, depending on the exchange rate and the number of bitcoins exchanged,” the report notes.
The authors caution that the statistics are incomplete, as there is no data on transactions between private persons and other movements of funds that could be relevant. Therefore, they concede, the exchange statistics may underestimate the use of bitcoin in Sweden. However, the report concludes that the values involved in cryptocurrency transactions pale in comparison to traditional transactions. This is how bitcoin stacks up:
“Households make daily payments using cards and cash totalling 8 million in volume and to a total value of over SEK 3 billion. Even if the use of bitcoin in Sweden were to be much larger than the average exchange value of just over SEK 266,000, this is a relatively low value in relation to other types of payment. At present, there only seem to be around 25 swedish companies accepting Bitcoin.”
Risky but innovative
Although the report contains the usual set of caveats found in most central bank statements involving digital currencies, it also includes some relatively positive commentary. The report states that digital currencies are one of many innovations in the Swedish payments market and like other innovations, digital currency is essentially positive:
“It can contribute to meeting new payment needs and to making payments cheaper and more secure. Those who choose to use a particular payment service can be expected to do so because it gives them an added value in relation to other payment services. This also applies to virtual currencies, which can for instance make some cross-border payments simpler, faster and cheaper. Another advantage is if the payer does not need to share sensitive information, such as card number or bank account number, with the payee.”
Cryptocurrencies may also be better suited for micropayments made via websites, the report further notes. Disadvantages associated with digital currency platforms include lack of clear regulation, lack of consumer protection regulation, volatility, security risks and the risk of using digital currencies for illicit transactions. The report concludes that the impact of any innovation depends on how much it is used. The use of digital currencies is “very limited” both in terms of the number of users, the number of transactions and the value involved in said transactions. Therefore both the positive and negative effects of digital currencies on the payment market in Sweden are currently negligible.
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10 Jun
0
First Bitcoin hearings at the Italian Parliament tomorrow
Tomorrow, in the Aldo Moro meeting room of the Italian Parliament there will be a consultation on the open source Bitcoin protocol. The technical aspects will be introduced by:
- Sebastiano Scrofina – CEO and Co-Founder at Dropis
- Guido Baroncini Turricchia – CoinCapital’s Partner
- Francesco Vatalaro – Università Di Tor Vergata
- Massimo Bernaschi – CNR
- Ferdinando Ametrano – Banca IMI – Università Bicocca
- Roberto Tudini – Studio Tudini&Tudini
In the second part there will be a round table that will allow for the comparison of ideas and the points of view of different stakeholder. The event is organized by the On. Quintarelli and CoinCapital, bringing the Bitcoin inside the walls of the Italian Parliament allowing to highlight the risks and the opportunities.Offering to the parliament a first overview and a neutral basis to start an aware and balanced discussion.
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8 Jun
0
Which celebrities are getting into Bitcoin?
(TheCoinFront) Here in the Bitcoin world, we’ve built up our own celebrities. Figures like Andreas Antonopolous, Erik Voorhees, Stefan Molyneux, Brock Pierce, Charlie Shrem, and Gavin Andressen should, for better or worse, be familiar names to all Bitcoin aficionados.
But
there are many celebrities in the outside world as well who have begun
embracing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Here are just a few of them:
there are many celebrities in the outside world as well who have begun
embracing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Here are just a few of them:
Ashton Kutcher
Kutcher may be best known for playing
simple-minded characters like Kelso from That 70’s Show or Jesse from
Dude Where’s My Car, but in reality he’s anything but.Through his fund, A-Grade Investments, he’s invested in companies like
BitPay, which allows merchants to accept Bitcoin payments. He’s also
invested in Skype, Airbnb, and Foursquare, among others.
simple-minded characters like Kelso from That 70’s Show or Jesse from
Dude Where’s My Car, but in reality he’s anything but.Through his fund, A-Grade Investments, he’s invested in companies like
BitPay, which allows merchants to accept Bitcoin payments. He’s also
invested in Skype, Airbnb, and Foursquare, among others.
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg is an active internet user, with a
presence on Twitter with tens of thousands of tweets, and a Reddit
account with hundreds of thousands of karma points. In fact, on Reddit
he has even been made the moderator of the subreddit /r/trees, devoted
to, what else, pot.Last December, Snoop posted a tweet saying his new album
would be “available in bitcoin and delivered in a drone”. Coinbase
noticed the tweet and responded that “we could make the Bitcoin part a
reality for you.” While Snoop said he wanted “to make it happen,” it
never materialized.
presence on Twitter with tens of thousands of tweets, and a Reddit
account with hundreds of thousands of karma points. In fact, on Reddit
he has even been made the moderator of the subreddit /r/trees, devoted
to, what else, pot.Last December, Snoop posted a tweet saying his new album
would be “available in bitcoin and delivered in a drone”. Coinbase
noticed the tweet and responded that “we could make the Bitcoin part a
reality for you.” While Snoop said he wanted “to make it happen,” it
never materialized.
Richard Sherman
Sherman, the cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks
football team, has an online store on his website. At the beginning of
January, he posted the following on his Facebook page:”For all you techies out there, I’m now accepting Bitcoins at my online
store http://store.richardsherman25.com. I hear it’s the currency of the
future.”
football team, has an online store on his website. At the beginning of
January, he posted the following on his Facebook page:”For all you techies out there, I’m now accepting Bitcoins at my online
store http://store.richardsherman25.com. I hear it’s the currency of the
future.”
Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel might not be a celebrity in the same light as the above people, but he’s a major player in the world nonetheless.The cofounder of Paypal has been a believer in the decentralization of
money for much longer than Bitcoin has been around, and has openly
admitted he thinks Bitcoin has the power to change the world.
money for much longer than Bitcoin has been around, and has openly
admitted he thinks Bitcoin has the power to change the world.
Richard Branson
The well-known billionaire head of Virgin Inc
began accepting Bitcoin as payment for his Virgin Galactic service, a
space tourism company.He has also invested a significant amount of his personal wealth in
Bitcoin, which makes him one of the more high profile Bitcoin holders.
began accepting Bitcoin as payment for his Virgin Galactic service, a
space tourism company.He has also invested a significant amount of his personal wealth in
Bitcoin, which makes him one of the more high profile Bitcoin holders.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
7 Jun
2
Seller seeks $2 Million in Bitcoin for real Yukon gold mine
(CoinDesk) The unnamed parent company of a Yukon, Canada, gold mine is now for
sale on high-end bitcoin-only marketplace BitPremier for an asking price
of $2 million in BTC.
The listing indicates that the more than 3,000 BTC
price tag includes the gold mine itself and all its associated assets,
including $1 million worth of actual mining equipment, the rights to one
mining property and the lease agreement to another mining lot.
price tag includes the gold mine itself and all its associated assets,
including $1 million worth of actual mining equipment, the rights to one
mining property and the lease agreement to another mining lot.
The ad suggests that the purchase could be a profitable one for the buyer as well, stating:
“Any new buyer could recoup their initial investment in as little as two mining seasons.”
The
listing indicates that the company earns $1m annually in sales and has
the potential to produce 3,000 to 4,000 ounces of gold per year.
listing indicates that the company earns $1m annually in sales and has
the potential to produce 3,000 to 4,000 ounces of gold per year.
In
a bid to encourage more novice bidders, the current owner further said
he is willing to stay on to manage the property for up to five years to
ensure the operation runs smoothly.
a bid to encourage more novice bidders, the current owner further said
he is willing to stay on to manage the property for up to five years to
ensure the operation runs smoothly.
Record-setting sale
The listing is just one of the many high-end items that have been listed on BitPremier’s website since it launched in May 2013, but if completed, it would be the largest facilitated by the e-commerce company to date.
The most expensive purchase on the platform was completed in March, when a villa in Bali, Indonesia sold for $500,000 in what was believed to be the single largest bitcoin purchase ever.
If completed, the $2m gold mine sale would surpass this figure, potentially setting two new records in the process.
Bitcoin meets gold
Notable
for its size, the gold mine listing is also indicative of how bitcoin
has become more widely accepted in the precious metals community.
for its size, the gold mine listing is also indicative of how bitcoin
has become more widely accepted in the precious metals community.
Earlier this year, Bitcoin Bullion launched a gold-to-BTC exchange, while financial personality Peter Schiff announced in May that his gold and silver outlet Euro Pacific Precious Metals would begin accepting bitcoin due to market demand.
For more on how bitcoin bullion dealers are looking to expand their services into new and potentially lucrative markets, read our most recent report.
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6 Jun
0
Josh Wise will suit up in the Dogecar two more times this year!
(NewsBTC) Shibes: get ready to start your engines. That’s right, Josh Wise will suit up in the Dogecar two more times this year, it’s being reported. One of those times will be in Sonoma, California, Wise’s home state. That race will take place Sunday, June 22.
For all of the people who make fun of NASCAR for only having left turns, Sonoma will be sporting right turns in addition to some left ones. That means things might get a little crazy so you should watch.
Josh then announced it.
The race god (dogecar backwards) has raced twice in the dogecar this year. Once was at Talladega and the other time was in North Carolina for the Sprint All-Star race, which Wise was voted in as the Sprint Fan Vote winner. Wise finished 20th and 15th in those respective races.
Wise will also race in the dogecar at Talladega for the last known time this year on October 19.
The reasons are obvious. Since Josh’s announcement of the dogecoin partnership his fan base has grown tremendously. Wise’s twitter followers have grown by about 20% in the last three months and the partnership has also helped dogecoin get noticed since the news was featured on several major media outlets.
Dogecoin supporters can only hope this will boost the coins price since another halving day is coming up in 31 days. Usually a lot of miners leave as the rewards lessen, but this comes at a time when scrypt asics are hitting the market. One thing for sure is that the community is on dogecoins side. The community is on their side and CoinGecko ranks dogecoin #2 by its metrics which include community.
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