16 Jul
0
Google update now supports Bitcoin price in search results!
Following suit of Microsoft’s Bing, Google, the world’s most popular search engine, has now added live bitcoin prices into its search results for the digital currency.
The update, which was confirmed just hours ago by a member of the Google team, also provides functionality to mobile users on their smart phones and tablets as well:
The Google spokesperson told CoinDesk:
“You can also ask Google to do conversions – if you have the Google Search app on your smartphone, for example, ask it, ‘How many bitcoin are in 500 U.S. dollars?’ and you’ll get the answer in a handy conversion tool.”
Google’s decision to add a live bitcoin price to its general search results for the digital currency comes just several weeks after both Yahoo Finance and Bing decided to add the price into their results. Though Bing was the first to do so, adding the result into its query back in mid-February.
FEATURES
Now, with the simple query of the keyword “bitcoin price,” you can quickly catch up to the minute results on the digital currency’s latest value.
The feature takes it one step further, allowing users to punch in different amounts of the digital currency, working as a bitcoin calculator so to speak. Google’s bitcoin price results also include a price chart, going as far back as to 2011 in displaying the digital currency’s progression throughout the years.
Google’s latest upgrade does; however, come with a disclaimer as does many of its price charts, disclosing that in terms of real-time results, investors should not solely rely on the indicator and should always seek outside advice or guidance before making investment decisions.
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15 Jul
0
LinkedIn co-founder: Bitcoin is in my five-year Investment plan
LinkedIn co-founder, early Facebook investor and Greylock Partners partner Reid Hoffman has declared his enthusiasm for bitcoin in a new interview with CNBC’s ‘Squawk Alley’.
The interview aimed to assess Hoffman’s current opinion of opportunities in the market given his experience and success in early social media.
Notably, despite the suggestions by show hosts that such industries as wearable technology, healthcare and home automation were areas that investors should be considering for investment over the next three-to-five years, Hoffman suggested he is increasingly focused on bitcoin.
Indicating that the ecosystem has piqued his interest in the last six to 12 months, Hoffman lauded bitcoin, saying:
“I think it’s an incredible system that’s created a ledger that is across – a distributed ledger across the whole world for it can be money but it can also be other things.”
Hoffman recently joined the board of directors at secure bitcoin wallet startup Xapo, an announcement that was made when the company reported $20m in new financing from firms including Greylock Parnters.
Bitcoin ownership.
In the interview, Hoffman discussed his personal experience with bitcoin, confirming that he has purchased “a few bitcoins” to date in addition to his investment in Xapo.
Hoffman also dismissed suggestions that he may be worried about the price of bitcoin given the volatility that this indicator has experienced so far in 2014.
He added:
“I don’t check [the price] every day. It’s more a question of a three- to five-year horizon, not a daily horizon.”
Despite this, Hoffman cautioned investors, echoing the familiar refrain that investors shouldn’t put any money into bitcoin directly unless they are “willing to lose the money”.
Platform for innovation
Hoffman further stressed that bitcoin’s true innovation will be its platform, which he called its “most interesting layer”.
Citing smart contracts as one such example of the innovation bitcoin entrepreneurs have yet to fully unlock, Hoffman said:
“You can have bitcoin stand for something that isn’t just a bitcoin. […] It could mean your car. So then your car could be accounted for on a general ledger that is then – you know, can let you do electronic contracts. you could put liens against it, moving it all into the electronic age.”
For more on bitcoin and its potential applications in the field of smart property, read coindesk report here.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
15 Jul
0
The great unknown Bitcoin killer app
It’s cliched at this point to say that bitcoin now is the internet in 1995 or cell phones in 1998 or the television in 1950. Many people have made the prediction that the exponential growth of bitcoin is about to come and I happen to agree. What’s interesting about the current state of bitcoin isn’t merely that there is huge growth ahead, it’s that we have no idea what the growth is going to look like.
Take, for instance, the internet. Around 1994, the people that did anything on the internet at all were using it mostly for email. Some more savvy users maybe participated in newsgroups. A few very bleeding-edge people made web pages. You could have foreseen that there would be better versions of those things. What you couldn’t foresee was stuff like VOIP, Bittorrent, video on demand or social networks. These are all technologies built on top of the internet and currently take up a large part of the traffic that goes through it.
Email for most people in the 90′s was the first great killer app. It allowed people to communicate with each other without sending letters or making phone calls. Most people that knew about the internet in the early 90′s pointed to the post office as the first industry to get disrupted by the internet and to some degree they were right. What most people didn’t see back then was that the internet would also disrupt the music store, the video rental store and to some degree, even the book store. In the same way, for most people bitcoin is a way to send money easily, so they point to Western Union and other money transmission businesses as the ones that will get disrupted. To a large degree they’re right, but it’s not the only one that’ll get disrupted.
Think about the cell phone. It was fairly obvious that it would disrupt the corner telephone booth. But it’s also disrupted the low end camera/camcorder industry, the watch industry, the mobile gaming industry, the audio book industry, etc. Cell phones are so much more than a phone these days.
In the same way, bitcoin is much more than a convenient method to transfer money. There will be applications that nobody has thought of yet that will make bitcoin incredibly useful. Furthermore, these new applications will cause further adoption.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
12 Jul
0
Kryptoradio: Connect to the bitcoin network from anywhere – even without the Internet!
What is Kryptoradio?
Kryptoradio is a bitcoin data transmission system that
- transmits bitcoin transactions, blocks, and currency exchange data,
- does all this in real-time,
- uses terrestrial television (DVB-T) transmitters around the world.
- Bitcoins in the air, literally speaking.
Any unidirectional digital transmission path with a sufficient error correction is suitable for this project. In addition to DVB-T there are many other possible ways to transmit Bitcoin stream like subcarriers of FM radio transmission, amateur radio, and DAB. They chose DVB-T for our pilot project because of its flexibility and wide support in most parts of the world, shown in blue in the map below (source: Wikipedia).
Why?
The primary motivators are
- creating unprecedented devices and applications,
- making the bitcoin network more resistant to attacks,
- promoting bitcoin as a viable payment platform, and of course
- because they can!
There has been many attempts to make bitcoin less dependent of the public Internet. For example Bitcoin core developer Greg Maxwell has advocated that. One approach is to use Tor network to hide bitcoin traffic from the public Internet. Unfortunately this does not make bitcoin more accessible to new users. The better approach is to go beyond Internet and use public infrastructure for broadcasting transactions of the bitcoin network.
“Alternative blockchain transports are critical to the success and survivability of the Bitcoin system.”
Bitcoin core developer – Greg Maxwell
This scheme makes it easy to construct affordable receivers that do not need mobile data connections in order to follow bitcoin traffic and to react to the received bitcoin payments. This would make it possible to build bitcoin counterpart for cash payment terminals, anything from a cash register to a coin operated self-service laundry. If the receiver application follows only transactions relevant to itself, it will be possible to build it using even an ARM microcontroller.
Also, it allows an alternative way to access the bitcoin network in cases where only a very low speed Internet connection is available. And, for all the tin foil hat wearers out there, this is a way to connect to bitcoin network without a trace! You only need online access when you want to make transactions yourself.
The data stream can contain other information, such as exchange rates between bitcoins and traditional currencies.
What happens next?
They have found a partner who is able to cover costs for the pilot stage. The pilot stage will start in 1st of September,
2014 and last for 2 months. The broadcast area covers 95% of Finnish population, approximately 5 million
people. More information in the press release.
2014 and last for 2 months. The broadcast area covers 95% of Finnish population, approximately 5 million
people. More information in the press release.
There is plan to start regular broadcasting soon after the pilot stage. A single month of broadcasting on current distribution area
including maintenance costs is about € 2000 per month (VAT included). They are currently looking for partners to that stage.
including maintenance costs is about € 2000 per month (VAT included). They are currently looking for partners to that stage.
They have had a quick look at bitcoin crowdfunding. Our first impression is that the available platforms are not very good either
technologically or by the number of users. If someone has ideas how to collect funds for this project, please contact us!
technologically or by the number of users. If someone has ideas how to collect funds for this project, please contact us!
How to contribute
In Finland they have this thing called Money Collection Act which means that it is not legal to ask money
without compensation. However, in this case the compensation is the radio broadcast.
without compensation. However, in this case the compensation is the radio broadcast.
All funds sent to the project’s bitcoin address will be used for covering regular broadcasting costs. If the project gets cancelled, all extra funds will be returned to their sending addresses. In addition to financial support you are welcome to join the team if you are capable of helping me with the software, to improve web pages, or anything else. Please contact them by e-mail.
You are also welcome to join #bitcoinradio IRC channel at FreeNode.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
12 Jul
0
Cryptocurrency: Fundraising Evolved
(BitcoinMagazine) If you read my previous articles about energy companies in the crypto space and a bank-free investment company, you might have noticed a growing trend. Most of the energy companies were using cryptocurrency to enhance fundraising efforts, and I also talked about crowdfunding. Although Bitcoin was inarguably designed to revolutionize currency, its initial appeal was largely as an investment, and cryptocurrency developers continue to focus on new fundraising applications.
The ability to raise money on a massive scale was actually one of mankind’s most important inventions. Before the development of financial systems, the most efficient way to finish monumental projects was by forced labor, either as the result of capture or misdeed, or regular service required by many or all members of society. While ancient wonders have been built this way, it was at great expense, and humans didn’t undertake large projects regularly until the invention of financial systems. Paid work forces are better motivated and trained, but the money was stolen, either as conquests of war, or as taxes from their own people. Seldom was it allocated appropriately.
Ethical musings aside, the main problem was that they couldn’t get as much money as they needed: whether levied at a flat rate or as a percentage of a subject’s wealth, taxation leaves massive amounts of potential funding untouched. Peasants and members of the lower class would starve if their remaining income were taken, and skilled craftsmen or merchants might hide it or flee. Those with money to spare needed to be convinced to part with it willingly, in return for something other than religious reward or nationalism.
Investment itself is at least as old as Hammurabi of Babylon, invented when the first farmer accepted seeds with the promise to repay in crops. It wasn’t until around the time of the Renaissance that merchants started doing this in a large and organized fashion. Eventually, competing monarchs began to encourage these enterprises as sources of tax revenue, and in 1602, the first stock exchange was born. The first public companies sailed the high seas, exploring and colonizing the globe for profit, and then paved the way for the Industrial Revolution.
Stock markets still rule the investment world, and were necessary for all of the technology and infrastructure we have, today. They’ve come a long way from men shouting on the exchange floor, but while automated trading is now a reality, it still has its limitations. Due to the continued reliance on human traders and bureaucrats, we often can’t trade on weekends, and fees are unnecessarily high. Moving funding onto and off of an exchange should be an equally trivial affair. The stock market was revolutionary because it made investment more fluid, inclusive and open, but at the cost of the centralization of the investment business.
Cryptocurrency will bring about the next evolution of fundraising. Bitcoin is already alleviating many of the aforementioned problems, by promoting 24/7 exchanges with speedy and nearly free deposit and withdrawal. Notable exchanges like CAVirtEx have been lowering their fiat trading fees as competition rises, and trading Bitcoin for another cryptocurrency is negligibly cheap, with less inherent restrictions. Better still, Bitcoin has been eroding the monopoly on large-scale charitable projects, previously held by governments and international organizations. Crowdfunding on platforms like Indiegogo has already begun to change this, but Bitcoin will make that easier with low transaction fees, as well as instantaneous donations that can be made on a whim. Pseudo-anonymity also makes it easier to support causes without suffering political repercussions, and Bitcoin-centric crowdfunding websites have emerged left and right.
The upcoming Satoshi Vote is a demonstrable example of such a platform. It has all the bonuses of any other Bitcoin crowdfunding site, with relative anonymity, negligible payment fees and overhead, and the ease of clicking a button. Extreme utilization of Bitcoin’s low transaction fees has enabled a new way to support projects: rather than making a one-time donation, it relies on small ongoing donations over time. Charities that do this already rely on a few donors willing to contribute a significant amount per month, but phrase it as a daily donation. Due to Bitcoin’s revolution of microtransactions, however, it is now possible to send pennies a day, or pennies a month if a large enough crowd of people are ready to contribute. As a bonus, you can cease contributing if and when the charity or project becomes undesirable.
Despite all of these improvements, Bitcoin alone doesn’t solve the larger issue, which is that the fundraising platforms are still centralized. Even if we trust a Bitcoin-based investment vehicle or exchange, they are still in control. Some emerging cryptocurrencies like NoirShares hope to cut out the middleman by going straight to the consumer: NRS is redeemable for equity in the decentralized autonomous projects they’re working on, in addition to being transferable as a normal cryptocurrency. It’s notable for it’s hybrid PW/PoS mining system, in which proof of work is gradually phased out as the network gains strength to conserve energy. As NoirGroup develops more and more profitable decentralized autonomous software, NoirShares becomes more useful.
Developers have also designed coins for non-profit fundraising. CharityCoin gives 10% of all mined coins to democratically-selected charities, which benefit more as the coins increase in value. SwarmCoin lies somewhere in-between, being intended for decentralized crowdfunding in general–holders of swarm coins vote upon which projects to launch on the SwarmCoin network, and Swarm enables those project managers or organizations to launch a coin of their own with no programming knowledge. SwarmCoin holders receive the transaction fees applied to these coins in the form of more SWARM, and can directly exchange those coins for project-specific coins. This would cause a project’s coin to go up in value, making them analogous to stocks or equity, and SwarmCoin not unlike a stock exchange communally owned by those with swarm coins.
These coins effectively represent equity in their associated projects–if more people want them than the issuer and others are selling, the price goes up, along with the value of the issuer’s remaining stash. This leaves one final problem: where do we buy NoirShares or SWARM, or any of the aforementioned cryptocurrency? What if we want to exchange between them? Swarm itself is hosted by another protocol called Counterparty, a next-generation addition to the Bitcoin blockchain that allows a variety of new functions. In addition to the ability to create new coins on the Bitcoin network, Counterparty allows the virtual representation of any currency, asset or equity, and a decentralized way to exchange them with no central authority involved, all on the blockchain. Traditional stock and currency exchanges are now obsolete.
Counterparty’s intermediary currency, XCP, can be directly acquired with Bitcoin, using a process known as “proof of burn.” One might think this could lead to a Bitcoin/XCP monopoly, but Counterparty is only one of many next-generation blockchain applications. Mastercoin (Omni Layer) is also built on top of the Bitcoin protocol, and also allows for decentralized exchange in addition to virtual property. Ethereum is based on its own blockchain, and promises an even wider variety of features, but it’s hard to know which ones will last in the myriad of emerging platforms. Rest assured that Bitcoin 2.0 is coming, and fundraising will never be the same.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
12 Jul
0
Someone is giving away Bitcoin in San Francisco
The Hidden Cash treasure hunt phenomenon has gone digital.
 |
| Image: CoinDesk |
(BusinessInsider) In May, someone started hiding envelopes of cash all over San Francisco, and now someone is leaving bitcoin wallets around the city, sending people on a digital scavenger hunt.
The hunt is appropriately called @SFHiddenBitcoin.
The wallets are aluminum cards, with a bitcoin address and corresponding private key that can be imported to the wallet of the person who finds the card. Each card is worth around $20, according to Coinbrief. But there’s no telling whether the prizes will remain consistent.
The hunt will continue around the city at least for the entire month of July.
Just like the original, Hidden Bitcoin leaves clues through its Twitter account. Once a wallet is found, it’s announced on Twitter and people have to wait till another clue is given.
And the bitcoin wallets are hidden all over the city — including, it appears, at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s house:
You don’t pay $10m for a house without making a few enemies #Bitcoinpic.twitter.com/WSN2snj3XQ
— SF Hidden Bitcoin (@sfhiddenbitcoin) July 3, 2014
1KeKnYh4hX6LR12AHetbQVjknXdti8TusZ #bitcoin right here – you can virtually poke it.#hiddenbitcoin #hiddencash pic.twitter.com/WqcukMmcmm
— SF Hidden Bitcoin (@sfhiddenbitcoin) July 4, 2014
This isn’t the only scavenger hunt going on in the Bay Area right now, either. This weekend people with a valid medical marijuana card can participate in Quest Hunt, a cannabis scavenger hunt where the prize is, you guessed it, marijuana.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
5 Jul
0
Nick Szabo (Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto?) Breaks his Silence with a Tweet
Nick Szabo, the author of bitgold, the most complete conceptualization of a decentralized currency prior
to bitcoin, the person who coined the term smart contracts in 1993, and
believed by many to be Satoshi himself, published a one line blog post
today which simply contained a link to his twitter account.
to bitcoin, the person who coined the term smart contracts in 1993, and
believed by many to be Satoshi himself, published a one line blog post
today which simply contained a link to his twitter account.
The last known public communication from Nick Szabo was in November
2013, almost seven months ago, leaving many to wonder whether he would
ever post again. The seven months silence seems to have followed
increasing attention on Nick Szabo after numerous suggestions that he might be Satoshi.
In April 2014, researches from Aston University’s Centre for Forensic
Linguistics claimed that forensic analysis of Bitcoin’s White Paper
suggests that Nick Szabo was the author of the paper.
2013, almost seven months ago, leaving many to wonder whether he would
ever post again. The seven months silence seems to have followed
increasing attention on Nick Szabo after numerous suggestions that he might be Satoshi.
In April 2014, researches from Aston University’s Centre for Forensic
Linguistics claimed that forensic analysis of Bitcoin’s White Paper
suggests that Nick Szabo was the author of the paper.
Nick however has categorically denied
that he is Satoshi and many argue that it is highly unlikely that he is
the author of the white paper. Nick seems to have been focused on
bitgold, writing a blog post about bitgold two months after Satoshi
announced bitcoin.
that he is Satoshi and many argue that it is highly unlikely that he is
the author of the white paper. Nick seems to have been focused on
bitgold, writing a blog post about bitgold two months after Satoshi
announced bitcoin.
Furthermore, there are unconfirmed reports that he attended Princeton Bitcoin conference with Gavin Andresen in March 2014 as well as an unconfirmed job post stating that Nick was working with Vaurum on smart contracts. Neither Vaurum, nor Nick, have yet replied to requests for comments.
Little is currently known about Nick Szabo. There are no known
pictures of him, no verifiable details of his age, location, profession
or education. Previously, in a Wikipedia article, it was claimed that he
was a law professor at George Washington University, but reporters claim
that after contacting the University they found no record of a person
named Nick Szabo ever being a professor at that university, although
there was one record of a person having studied at that university under
that name. The name therefore might be a pseudonym, a pen name.
pictures of him, no verifiable details of his age, location, profession
or education. Previously, in a Wikipedia article, it was claimed that he
was a law professor at George Washington University, but reporters claim
that after contacting the University they found no record of a person
named Nick Szabo ever being a professor at that university, although
there was one record of a person having studied at that university under
that name. The name therefore might be a pseudonym, a pen name.
Nick Szabo Highlights the Dangers of Centralized Currencies
Nick’s latest tweet is a
retweet of a statement by Proton Mail complaining that their PayPal
account had been frozen, blocking access to $275,000 of funds. In a
statement in their blog Proton Mail details what happened:
retweet of a statement by Proton Mail complaining that their PayPal
account had been frozen, blocking access to $275,000 of funds. In a
statement in their blog Proton Mail details what happened:
“When we pressed the PayPal representative on the phone for further
details, he questioned whether ProtonMail is legal and if we have government approval to encrypt emails.”
details, he questioned whether ProtonMail is legal and if we have government approval to encrypt emails.”
Paypal froze $215K in encrypted email startup, @ProtonMail‘s account over “government approval to encrypt emails”? https://t.co/VoqpHSTrEE
— lilia (@liliakai) July 1, 2014
This highlights the problem with centralized currencies and
intermediaries as emphasized by both Nick Szabo in his blog post and
Satoshi in his announcement on bitcointalk. We need to trust that our
accounts will not be blocked, our funds will not be tampered, our
government will not arbitrarily take funds, or that our banks will not
bankrupt our country as they did in Greece and Cyprus.
intermediaries as emphasized by both Nick Szabo in his blog post and
Satoshi in his announcement on bitcointalk. We need to trust that our
accounts will not be blocked, our funds will not be tampered, our
government will not arbitrarily take funds, or that our banks will not
bankrupt our country as they did in Greece and Cyprus.
With bitcoin, we
need no such trust. There is no authority that can block our private
keys to interact with our public keys, so accessing our wealth and using
it in whatever way we alone see fit.
need no such trust. There is no authority that can block our private
keys to interact with our public keys, so accessing our wealth and using
it in whatever way we alone see fit.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
3 Jul
0
Shakil Khan: cryptocurrencies are here, embrace them
Whether it’s Bitcoin, or another name, cryptocurrencies are
already disrupting payments and won’t be stopped, serial investor
Shakil Khan told the audience at Wired Money 2014. So get on board
with change.
already disrupting payments and won’t be stopped, serial investor
Shakil Khan told the audience at Wired Money 2014. So get on board
with change.
(Wired) Khan explained how he has seen the growth of Bitcoin from a
much-misunderstood, unstable currency, to a more mature offering
that is finding its place in ecommerce and investor portfolios. So
rather than focus on regulation, which will only delay the
inevitable, the financial sector needs to focus on supervision and
take on the opportunities cryptocurrencies provide.
much-misunderstood, unstable currency, to a more mature offering
that is finding its place in ecommerce and investor portfolios. So
rather than focus on regulation, which will only delay the
inevitable, the financial sector needs to focus on supervision and
take on the opportunities cryptocurrencies provide.
Khan, interviewed on stage at the Wired conference by editor
David Rowan, has invested in Spotify and YPlan, and advised teen
founder of Summly Nick D’Aloisio. But it was in 2012, when he first
heard about a payment company attempting to tackle the Bitcoin
ecosystem, that the cryptocurrency crossed his path. In the
following years, he found himself becoming a point-of-contact for
investors, suddenly intrigued by a currency that went from $10-25
per Bitcoin in 2012 to $260 in 2013.
David Rowan, has invested in Spotify and YPlan, and advised teen
founder of Summly Nick D’Aloisio. But it was in 2012, when he first
heard about a payment company attempting to tackle the Bitcoin
ecosystem, that the cryptocurrency crossed his path. In the
following years, he found himself becoming a point-of-contact for
investors, suddenly intrigued by a currency that went from $10-25
per Bitcoin in 2012 to $260 in 2013.
“At that stage I got a lot of inbound emails from VCs and
entrepreneurs asking who is this company Mt Gox? Not because I was
the smartest person, but because there was a different wave of
people who weren’t publicly talking about Bitcoin. Morgan Stanley
was phoning me not because we had a relationship, but because
people were calling them and asking advice, and they were coming to
me.”
entrepreneurs asking who is this company Mt Gox? Not because I was
the smartest person, but because there was a different wave of
people who weren’t publicly talking about Bitcoin. Morgan Stanley
was phoning me not because we had a relationship, but because
people were calling them and asking advice, and they were coming to
me.”
Most recently, Khan was part of a $510k investment round into peer-to-peer payment solution
BitPay. That’s a lot of hard cash for a currency that dips and
peaks dramatically according to government opinion — for instance
when the FBI referred to it as a currency, Bitcoin became stronger;
when China restricted exchanges and warned it would keep an eye on
the currency, its value tumbled.
BitPay. That’s a lot of hard cash for a currency that dips and
peaks dramatically according to government opinion — for instance
when the FBI referred to it as a currency, Bitcoin became stronger;
when China restricted exchanges and warned it would keep an eye on
the currency, its value tumbled.
“I don’t have the answer to this but no one is asking the
average consumer to participate in this — it’s the same as
stocks,” said Khan. We in the tech industry are more than familiar
with Bitcoin, beyond the Silk Road headlines, and those in the
financial sector have followed suit. But it is not yet something
that is impacting the average banking customer. “Right now, it’s
something that’s not for the faint hearted, just like stock trading
where people make 3 percent gains one day, and 25 percent losses
the day after.”
average consumer to participate in this — it’s the same as
stocks,” said Khan. We in the tech industry are more than familiar
with Bitcoin, beyond the Silk Road headlines, and those in the
financial sector have followed suit. But it is not yet something
that is impacting the average banking customer. “Right now, it’s
something that’s not for the faint hearted, just like stock trading
where people make 3 percent gains one day, and 25 percent losses
the day after.”
This kind of threat, is not enough to stall the progress being
made in the cryptocurrency ecosystem — and this is because, as
Khan reiterated onstage, there is a “fundamental problem with
payments”.
made in the cryptocurrency ecosystem — and this is because, as
Khan reiterated onstage, there is a “fundamental problem with
payments”.
“I can sit here and make and send an audio or video message in
three seconds. But if I want to pay someone 200 kroner online it’ll
cost be $32 and might take four days for the payment to arrive.
That makes zero sense, and cryptocurrencies solve this
problem.”
three seconds. But if I want to pay someone 200 kroner online it’ll
cost be $32 and might take four days for the payment to arrive.
That makes zero sense, and cryptocurrencies solve this
problem.”
We are seeing the cryptocurrency ecosystem rapidly evolve as a
result of this, says Khan.
result of this, says Khan.
“Two years ago the conversation was very much Silk Road and pizza. Now VCs are investing in risk — we have
Andreessen Horowitz, Fred Wilson and Redpoint. This is a sector
everyone knows is going to get disrupted, and they need to be part
of that journey. Companies like Bit Pay were very early, now we
have ecommerce companies starting accepting Bitocin. Amazon has its
own plans on virtual currency.
Andreessen Horowitz, Fred Wilson and Redpoint. This is a sector
everyone knows is going to get disrupted, and they need to be part
of that journey. Companies like Bit Pay were very early, now we
have ecommerce companies starting accepting Bitocin. Amazon has its
own plans on virtual currency.
“People once said the fax machine would never get disrupted,
then we had email. We’ve seen this over and over, and if you have
passion and an appetite for risk, why wouldn’t you? I don’t want to
turn around and five years say why wasn’t I part of this.”
then we had email. We’ve seen this over and over, and if you have
passion and an appetite for risk, why wouldn’t you? I don’t want to
turn around and five years say why wasn’t I part of this.”
We are seeing this interest in the ecosystem spread, as
evidenced by the stories being published by Khan’s own site
Coindesk, which are picked up by the likes of the Wall Street
Journal and Dow Jones. “Over the last 12 months it’s
much less of Silk Road, and more of Visa setting up a group looking
into cryptocurrencies and Western Union or Ebay looking into
Bitcoin.”
evidenced by the stories being published by Khan’s own site
Coindesk, which are picked up by the likes of the Wall Street
Journal and Dow Jones. “Over the last 12 months it’s
much less of Silk Road, and more of Visa setting up a group looking
into cryptocurrencies and Western Union or Ebay looking into
Bitcoin.”
On the question of the legality, or government discomfort with
Bitcoin, Khan points out that the US $100 note is the chosen
currency of the criminal world — it’s what they’ll find in raids,
and its what the CIA drops in bales of cash into Afghanistan.
“They’re not sending smartphones, they were sending US dollars.”
Recently, the US government sold off the 30,000 Bitcoin it seized
during the Silk Road shutdown. Khan points, “I don’t remember the
US government selling cocaine seized from raids, so you can’t say
it’s illegal and shouldn’t be allowed.”
Bitcoin, Khan points out that the US $100 note is the chosen
currency of the criminal world — it’s what they’ll find in raids,
and its what the CIA drops in bales of cash into Afghanistan.
“They’re not sending smartphones, they were sending US dollars.”
Recently, the US government sold off the 30,000 Bitcoin it seized
during the Silk Road shutdown. Khan points, “I don’t remember the
US government selling cocaine seized from raids, so you can’t say
it’s illegal and shouldn’t be allowed.”
The government is always going to have some issues because when
you don’t understand something, you get fearful of it.”
you don’t understand something, you get fearful of it.”
The cost those 30,000 bitcoins sold for, is evidence enough that
there is something attractive here for investors — Khan says the
coins, currently priced at $650 each, went for above that
value.
there is something attractive here for investors — Khan says the
coins, currently priced at $650 each, went for above that
value.
We need to stop holding on to traditional money as though it is
not broken. “I’m guessing there are laser printers out there
devaluing that money quicker than the paper can be printed,” Khan
said.
not broken. “I’m guessing there are laser printers out there
devaluing that money quicker than the paper can be printed,” Khan
said.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
2 Jul
0
Tim Draper, venture capitalist, wins government Bitcoin auction
(OnBitcoin) Tim Draper,
a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, was the sole winner of the US
Marshal Bitcoin auction. Mr. Draper purchased all 30,000 BTC, outbidding
many other participants in the auction such as Barry Silbert’s
SecondMarket.
Draper is an investor in Vaurum, an exchange platform for financial institutions.
In a statement,
Vaurum founder Avish Bhama said that Draper’s new bitcoins will be used
to provide liquidity to emerging markets through Vaurum.
“Bitcoin frees people from trying to operate in a modern market
economy with weak currencies. With the help of Vaurum and this newly
purchased bitcoin, we expect to be able to create new services that can
provide liquidity and confidence to markets that have been hamstrung by
weak currencies,” said Draper. “Of course, no one is totally secure in
holding their own country’s currency. We want to enable people to hold
and trade bitcoin to secure themselves against weakening currencies.”
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
23 Jun
0
Education to consider for the Bitcoin user
(CoinTelegraph) This month, the number of educational institutions welcoming students who wish to pay using digital currency has increased substantially. This comes as no surprise, however, since the current academic year just ended, registration is opening up for the fall semester.
The King’s College, NYC, US
One of the leading institutions in the United States – The King’s College announced that it will be welcoming students who want to pay using Bitcoin.
The King’s College is a Christian liberal arts college founded in 1938 by Percy Crawford, located in Lower Manhattan, New York.
Now with help of New York’s Coin.co it becomes the first accredited
college in the US to accept digital currency. Dr. Gregory Alan
Thornbury, President of The King’s College stated:
“The King’s College seeks to transform society by preparing students
for careers in which they help to shape and eventually to lead strategic
public and private institutions. Allowing Bitcoin to be used to pay for
a King’s education decreases our costs while simultaneously allowing
our students to be a part of this exciting new technology.”
Team Treehouse
On Thursday June 12, a famous US-based online education provider – Team Treehouse – officially announced that it will be accepting Bitcoin via Coinbase as one of a payment options. The company’s press release stated:
“As one of the fastest growing payment methods, Bitcoin will give
more people across the world the opportunity to learn with Treehouse.”
Treehouse is a place for people who want to learn how to coup with HTML or CSS, make iPhone apps, start their own business.
University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Once again we mention the University of Nicosia,
which was the first to accept Bitcoin for payment of tuition and other
fees. Dr. Christos Vlachos, Chief Financial Officer for University of Nicosia stated:
“Digital currency will create more efficient services and will serve
as a mechanism for spreading financial services to under-banked regions
of the world. In this light, we consider it appropriate that we
implement digital currency as a method of payment across all our
institutions in all cities and countries of our operations.”
Anyone who wants to advance their education here will probably find a
an area of interest they’re looking for – University of Nicosia offer
schools of business, education, humanity, social science, law,
engineering and arts.
A big advantage of the University of Nicosia is that it is accepting
Bitcoin throughout their whole University network, including affiliated
institutions in London, Cyprus, Greece, Romania and others.
University of Cumbria, UK
In the beginning of the year, the University of Cumbria in the United Kingdom also announced that it will accept Bitcoin for the payment of fees. The founder and director of IFLAS, Professor Jem Bendell, stated:
“We believe in learning by doing, and so to help inform our courses
on complementary currencies, we are trialling the acceptance of them.
The internal discussions about currency and payment innovation and the
practical implications for different departments have been insightful.”
The acceptance of Bitcoin is limited to the two programs only – Certificate of Achievement in Sustainable Exchange and Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership. Both courses are already in progress as a trial though it shouldn’t be the last one as “the university will learn from this trial and develop its awareness of innovations in complementary currencies and payment technology.”
Language centers
Additionally, there are also various private languages studios all over the world happy to accept digital currency.
A2Z School of English could be the first English as a Second Language (ESL) school in the world to accept digital currency. The announcement that it will adopt Bitcoin as a payment method was published back on November 5, 2013. A2Z School of English was founded in 2006 by James and Luciene Taylor and today has locations in Manchester, London and Dublin, offering various English language classes. BairesClases accept Bitcoin for Spanish classes. You can have face to face lessons in Buenos Aires Argentina or classes over the Internet for students anywhere in the World for anyone from beginner to advanced. Ru-SprachStudio.ch offer Russian courses in Zürich or Zug, Switzerland for Bitcoin. Customers may choose one-on-one private lessons or lessons in groups of 3-4 people. Their teaching approach also uses modern methods to develop your ability to communicate in the Russian language. Cinta Bahasa in Bali, Indonesia, offers Indonesian Language courses to foreigners and they also accept Bitcoin. They have schools in Ubud, Sanur, Kuta, and Canggu, Bali to teach students the language they will need to feel comfortable travelling around in Indonesia. Educational institutions are a major driver in the world’s progress. By embracing cryptocurrencies, these schools and universities are demonstrating their willingness to prepare students for a world with cryptocurrencies and a better future.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.