{"id":144,"date":"2015-04-01T00:28:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T00:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.holytransaction.com\/bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015\/"},"modified":"2020-11-22T05:06:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-22T03:06:17","slug":"bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015.html","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin&#8217;s Monthly Recap of March 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Welcome to HolyTransaction\u2019s third monthly recap for the year 2015. This past month of March has been a real eye opener for the Bitcoin community; during that time, the bitcoin price fell from a high of $258.34 to a low of $244.24, according to Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp.<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Third US Marshals Service Silk Road Bitcoin Auction Completed<\/b><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/third-usms-bitcoin-auction-bidder-interest\/\">https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/third-usms-bitcoin-auction-bidder-interest\/<\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Compared with the previous two US Marshals Service auctions of Silk Road bitcoins, the number of participants was lower. However, at 14 bidders placing 34 bids during the auction, the participation is markedly higher than the second Silk Road Bitcoin auction which saw a low of 11 bidders. These USMS auctions have been ongoing since before Ross Ulbricht\u2019s trial because of a deal struck in January of 2014 between the courts and Ulbricht and Ulbricht\u2019s lawyer. At the time of the auction, the block of 50,000 BTC was worth roughly $13.4 million USD. The first auction was won by noted venture capitalist Tim Draper while the second auction was won by SecondMarket, the offerers of the new $GBTC Bitcoin investment fund. There remains one last auction of Ross Ulbricht\u2019s bitcoins, seized during the Silk Road trial, for a block of 44,000 bitcoins. The final auction date has not been set.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Bitcoin Investment Trust Bitcoin \u201cETF\u201d Shares Trading On OTC Market Before Winklevoss\u2019s<\/b><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/article\/the-first-bitcoin-etf-offers-easy-way-to-profit-from-virtual-currency-gbtc-cm450589#\/ixzz3VcocZkx0\">https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/article\/the-first-bitcoin-etf-offers-easy-way-to-profit-from-virtual-currency-gbtc-cm450589#\/ixzz3VcocZkx0<\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Bitcoin Investment Trust, created by SecondMarket, has received approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to launch a Bitcoin fund and sell shares on the OTC market. Though Silbert has since moved on to the Digital Currency Group, his influence is still felt. Notably, the GBTC Bitcoin fund isn\u2019t technically an ETF but it has launched ahead of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF, which was gunning to be the first but is still mired in the regulatory approval process. The current price of a GBTC share, however, is well, over the market price of bitcoin. For accredited investors, there is now a new safe way to bet on Bitcoin volatility.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>T-Mobile Accepts Bitcoin in Poland and Even Offers 20% Bonus<\/b><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/t-mobile-poland-discount-bitcoin-purchases\/\">https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/t-mobile-poland-discount-bitcoin-purchases\/<\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">T-Mobile in Poland has started to embrace Bitcoin like no other large telecom service provider before. Polish users of the T-Mobile cell network can now top off their accounts using bitcoin, which is accepted online, and receive a 20% bonus: Talk about incentive! In Poland, T-Mobile is one of the largest mobile phone operators with well over 15 million customers in the European country. The bonus and bitcoin acceptance comes from a partnership with Warsaw-based payments company, InPay. T-Mobile is currently testing out a 3 month trial. The Polish Bitcoin community is strong, as evidenced by this deal. Internationally, there have been Bitcoin for mobile minute credits and\/or code conversion websites for years; however, the acceptance of Bitcoin by a major provider in a major country is a major milestone.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Dark Net Marketplace Evolution Admins Disappear with $12 million USD in Bitcoin<\/b><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2015\/mar\/18\/bitcoin-deep-web-evolution-exit-scam-12-million-dollars\">https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2015\/mar\/18\/bitcoin-deep-web-evolution-exit-scam-12-million-dollars<\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following the arrest of Ross Ulbricht in October of 2013, Evolution was one of many underground marketplaces to spring up on the infamous darknet. In fact, another underground marketplace called Sheep Marketplace also saw its owner disappear with user funds. Users and law enforcement alike have started to look for the thieves that have perpetrated the latest \u201cBitcoin exit scam.\u201d The Bitcoin price fell on the news of the marketplace disappearing and hasn\u2019t recovered since.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Bitcoin Receives Support From United Kingdom Budget<\/b><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/small-business-network\/2015\/mar\/26\/osborne-gives-bitcoin-vote-confidence\">https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/small-business-network\/2015\/mar\/26\/osborne-gives-bitcoin-vote-confidence<\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the standard budget proceedings this year, Chancellor George Osborne released the government\u2019s research on digital currency to date. The United Kingdom has taken an admirable approach to regulating but not stifling Bitcoin and digital currency innovation within the historical world financial capital of London. Future legislation from the UK will include measures to protect and support digital currencies and their related business development. Many Bitcoin companies in the UK stepped up to teach the government about digital currency when the \u201ccall for information\u201d was released months ago.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Two Federal Agents Arrested, Charged With Stealing Bitcoins and Blackmailing During Silk Road Investigation<\/b><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/2015\/03\/30\/federal-agents-charged-with-stealing-bitcoin-from-silk-road-case\/70672058\/\">https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/2015\/03\/30\/federal-agents-charged-with-stealing-bitcoin-from-silk-road-case\/70672058\/<\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Two former federal agents, Carl Force of the DEA and Shaun Bridges of the Secret Service, have been charged with counts of money laundering, wire fraud, theft, and conflict of interest. Agent Force is charged with blackmailing nearly a million dollars worth of bitcoin from Ross Ulbricht, who was recently convicted of running the Silk Road underground marketplace that only used bitcoins. Force also worked at Bitcoin exchange CoinMKT as their supposed anti-money laundering and compliance officer. The evidence and charges against agents directly involved in the takedown of Silk Road did not appear in Ulbricht\u2019s trial because they were sealed at the time. Bridges, on the other hand, allegedly stole nearly $800,000 worth of bitcoins from the government after the bitcoins were seized from Silk Road servers. These newest revelations have undoubtedly shaken things up for those following the Silk Road Bitcoin story with interest.<\/div>\n<p>Open your free digital wallet <a href=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/app#!\/signup\">here<\/a> to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Welcome to HolyTransaction\u2019s third monthly recap for the year 2015. This past month of March has been a real eye opener for the Bitcoin community; during that time, the bitcoin price fell from a high of $258.34 to a low of $244.24, according to Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp. &nbsp; &nbsp; Third US Marshals Service Silk [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,76,83,469],"tags":[764,772,1127],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.6 (Yoast SEO v22.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bitcoin&#039;s Monthly Recap of March 2015 -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bitcoin&#039;s Monthly Recap of March 2015\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Welcome to HolyTransaction\u2019s third monthly recap for the year 2015. This past month of March has been a real eye opener for the Bitcoin community; during that time, the bitcoin price fell from a high of $258.34 to a low of $244.24, according to Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp. &nbsp; &nbsp; Third US Marshals Service Silk [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-01T00:28:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-22T03:06:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Satoshi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Satoshi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015.html\",\"name\":\"Bitcoin's Monthly Recap of March 2015 -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-01T00:28:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-22T03:06:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1643e2c0c2df67ae0d6eacff8a185e69\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"bitcoin\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/tag\/bitcoin\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Bitcoin&#8217;s Monthly Recap of March 2015\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"HolyTransaction&#039;s Blog - Your crypto blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1643e2c0c2df67ae0d6eacff8a185e69\",\"name\":\"Satoshi\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\",\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/holytransaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/holytransaction\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bitcoin's Monthly Recap of March 2015 -","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/bitcoins-monthly-recap-of-march-2015.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bitcoin's Monthly Recap of March 2015","og_description":"&nbsp; Welcome to HolyTransaction\u2019s third monthly recap for the year 2015. 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