May 2013
9 posts
8 tags
Adrianne Jeffries - Why won’t Bitcoin die? →
Adrianne Jeffries (@ADRJeffries)’s reports from the trenches of Bitcoin 2013 conference in her latest article on Bitcoin in The Verge. Excerpts:
“CNN, Russia Today, Vice, and Thomson Reuters were among the media in attendance.” - “As of Tuesday morning, the price of a Bitcoin was steady around $120. That’s still astonishingly high for a currency that relies on a stack of...
6 tags
Bitcoin Magazine - Bitcoin 2013: Day 2 →
Bitcoin Magazine’s Vitalik Buterin shares developments from Bitcoin 2013 conference, Day 2.
- http://bitcoinmagazine.com/day-two-at-bitcoin-2013-live-coverage
All News - Daily E-mail Subscription - Twitter: @BitcoinNews
6 tags
Bitcoin Magazine - Bitcoin 2013: Day 1 →
Bitcoin Magazine’s Vitalik Buterin shares developments from Bitcoin 2013 conference, Day 1.
- http://bitcoinmagazine.com/bitcoin-2013-day-1/
All News - Daily E-mail Subscription - Twiter: @BItcoinNews
13 tags
Mt. Gox Gets Goxed - Dwolla Account Seized By U.S.... →
In a post on BetaBeat by editor Jessica Roy (@JessicaKRoy) includes confirmation from Dwolla that funds held by Mt. Gox in the U.S. had been seized by the U.S. authorities. Excerpts:
“‘The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a ‘’Seizure Warrant’’ for the funds associated with Mutum Sigillium’s Dwolla account (a.k.a....
9 tags
Video: Kashmir Hill's Week Of Bitcoin →
Forbes writer, Kashmir Hill (@KashHill), invited Bitcoiners to join her for a dinner at Sake Zone in San Francisco to celebrate the conclusion of her Week Of Bitcoin series of posts. In her video she interviews some of those who joined her.
- http://bit.ly/16mUiNA Video - Length: ~4 minutes - http://onforb.es/199d9Zo (Week Of Bitcoin Series Of Posts)...
13 tags
Reminder: Hard Fork Coming May 15th, Backports Of... →
A post on Bitcoin Money (@BitcoinMoney) blog describes the upcoming May 15th 2013 hard fork:
“Released following the Bitcoin blockchain fork on March 11th 2013 was an updated v0.8 client (v0.8.1) that temporarily respects an undocumented limit found in all prior versions of the Bitcoin-Qt/bitcoind clients.” - “That temporary grace period ends and on May 15th 2013 (12:00 am UTC)...
10 tags
Phil Archer - U.S. Regulators Confused On Bitcoin →
Phil Archer’s post on TheGenesisBlock.com describes how regulators are having a difficult time figuring out what where Bitcoin fits. Excerpts:
“[CFTC’s Bart Chilton] stated on bloomberg.tv: ‘In essence, we’re talking about a type of shadow currency, and there is more than a colorable argument to be made that derivative products relating to Bitcoin falls squarely in our...
15 tags
Kashmir Hill - Living On Bitcoin For A Week: Day 4 →
Through daily posts by Forbes writer Kashmir Hill (@KashHill) we learn how far Bitcoin as a payment system has come along. Her assignment ais to live on bitcoin for a week — without spending any dollars. Excerpts from Day 4:
“[Bakery owner] Jennifer Longson is there, wearing a cupcake apron, filling cupcake tins with fresh batter along with two employees. She says I’m the second...
13 tags
Dan Kaminsky - Bitcoin "Not Going Away Anytime... →
Wired contributor Dan Kaminsky (@DaKami), the security researcher who “broke the internet” some years back, opines on Bitcoin. Excerpts:
“The internet has proven to be a pretty big deal for global society, and Bitcoin could basically be thought of as the Internet, applied to Money.” - “Bitcoin is about as friendly to [regulation] as the rest of the internet is — not...
April 2013
14 posts
13 tags
Jon Matonis on The Elephant in the Payments Room →
The latest article by columnist and Bitcoin Foundation board member Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis) is on how Bitcoin is the only real disruptive technology in the payments space but is disruptive in a way that others might be missing. Excerpts:
“We are witnessing something unique in money and payments. For those that do invest and successfully navigate the potential traps, the reward is a...
8 tags
Guardian - Bitcoin Migrates Off The Internet... →
Guardian’ s Kate Connolly (@ConnollyBerlin) and Guy Grandjean (@guygrandjean) cover the story happening in Kreuzberg, which is becoming a the world’s largest Bitcoin local economy. Excerpts:
”’[Bitcoin is] an easier way of digital payment than credit cards, which cost me a lot of money as a business and to which I’m forced to sign up for years,’...
15 tags
Jon Matonis - Must-see Presentations At Next... →
Bitcoin Foundation board member Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis) describes upcoming presentations at the Bitcoin 2013 Conference (May 17-19) in San Jose, CA. Excerpts:
“The conference is attracting technologists, venture capitalists, bankers, traders, payments specialists, and financial regulators.” - “The agenda will be particularly interesting to those in the banking and payments...
17 tags
Gwynn Guilford - Why Chinese People Will Drive... →
Reporter Gwynn Guilford (@sinoceros) writes on Quartz.com reasons why China could drive a further bit-boom. Excerpts:
“They’ve already done the whole virtual currency thing—with Q Coin.” - “Property, stocks, art, tea—speculation dominates in every major asset market you can think of in China. The Chinese are a people used to high risk-reward investments.” - “As the...
19 tags
Jon Matonis - Bitcoin and the Rebirth of Financial... →
E-money researcher and Bitcoin Foundation board member Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis) describes how financial privacy of individuals is being trampled upon. Excerpts:
“‘Private individuals should have more privacy [than politicians would be afforded], as they have not placed themselves into the political arena. They have not agreed to give up their privacy,’ [says Attorney Jenice...
10 tags
Rick Falkvinge - What We Learn From This Bitcoin... →
Rick Falkvinge (@Falkvinge) describes some lessons re-learned with Bitcoin’s recent exchange rate correct. Excerpts:
“An exchange [Mt. Gox] that has a ten-minute lag in trading orders at best, and is completely unreachable at worst, can barely be taken seriously as a hobby project – and certainly not as the main hub of a next-generation billion-dollar trading system. MtGox shutting...
12 tags
Dealbook - Bitcoin Gets Ready for its Close-Up →
Reporters Nathaniel Popper (@nathanielpopper) and Peter Lattman (@peterlattman) share some new investments made both in Bitcoin and Bitcoin startups. Excerpts of their NY Times Dealbook article:
“Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have been many things in a short time: Olympic rowers. Nemeses of Mark Zuckerberg. Characters on ‘The Simpsons.’ Now they can add a new label: bitcoin...
11 tags
Jeffrey Tucker - What Bitcoin Is Teaching Us →
Jeffrey Tucker (@JeffreyATucker), editor of Lassez-Faire Books and past editorial vice president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, posts how deflationary currency brings a change to what we know about money. Excerpts:
“None of us in living memory has had experience with a currency that rises in value. The emergence of Bitcoin — a digital currency that has grown in purchasing power over...
5 tags
Timothy B. Lee - Four Reasons Bitcoin Is Worth... →
Forbes contributor Timothy B. Lee (@BinaryBits) writes again on Bitcoin. Excerpts:
“Even if you think the current value of of more than $140 is a bubble, it’s clear that Bitcoin has some genuine applications. The number of daily Bitcoin transactions has soared from around 1000 at the beginning of 2011 to about 50,000 today. Figuring out the “fundamentals” that drive the currency’s long-term...
8 tags
Gigaom's David Meyer - Yes, You Should Care About... →
David Meyer (@superglaze)’s post on Gigaom offers a current introduction to Bitcoin for any of its readers who haven’t yet brought themselves up to speed. Excerpts:
“No one’s really sure where [Bitcoin] will end up, because no one has really done this distributed, borderless digital currency thing for real before – yes, there are Facebook Credits and Linden dollars, but these...
9 tags
Video: FBN's Melissa Francis Interviews Trace... →
Trace Mayer (@RunToGold) helps Fox Business News’ Melissa Francis understand Bitcoin.
Duration: 5 minutes
- http://bit.ly/ZbyDiJ - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=167267.0 (Further discussion of the interview)
All News - Daily E-mail Subscription - Twitter: @BitcoinNews
10 tags
Rick Falvinge - Bitcoin Poised To Change Society →
Rick Falkvinge (@RickFalkvinge) posts his view that Bitcoin can change society even more than the Internet has. Excerpts:
“We essentially have four different types of players that keep the economy going, and by extension, the government funded and operational. One, there is the government itself, which issues money and regulates banks. Two, there are commercial banks which are in complete...
13 tags
New Yorker's Maria Bustillos - The Bitcoin Boom →
In one of her first contributions to NewYorker.com, Maria Bustillos (@MariaBustillos) excels with her introduction of Bitcoin for that site’s audience. Excerpts:
“[The fearmongering typical for most media coverage of Bitcoin] is a red herring, and has so far prevented the rational evaluation of the potential benefits and shortcomings of crypto-currency.” - “Cash is also...
13 tags
Latest On Instawallet/Bitcoin-Central Security... →
The sites operated by Paymium, including Instawallet, Bitcoin-Central.net and Paytunia show, at the time of this post, the message:
“Down for Maintenance We have detected a security breach. Services are temporarily suspended until we have thoroughly investigated the situation.”
There is the recommendation that no further deposits to a Bitcoin address for any Instawallet,...
March 2013
14 posts
7 tags
SiliconANGLE - Bitcoin [Exchanges] Under Attack? →
Tech journalist Mike Wheatley (@Mike_Wheatley) describes the one-two DDoS punch impacting Bitcoin exchanges yesterday. Excerpts:
“Alternative online payments provider Dwolla [saw] its website taken offline [due to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack] for a brief period of time.” - “One recurring theme among posters is that the situation has to do with Bitcoin....
8 tags
Businessweek - Bitcoin as Global Economy's Last... →
Paul Ford (@ftrain) describes what he sees as the reasons Bitcoin keeps on gaining. Excerpts:
“When you compound utopian wishfulness with the anxiety of being left behind, you’ll have a bubble. Then again, we may be at the forefront of the coming Bitcoin revolution. There’s no way to be sure.” - “I expected Bitcoins to remain in the background with all of the other anarchist...
9 tags
Motherboard.Vice.com - Interview with Yifu Guo /... →
Motherboard’s Alec Liu (@sfnuop) interviews Yifu Guo, creator of the Avalon ASIC — one of two reasons Bitcoin mining capacity has been coming online at a faster pace than ever. Excerpts:
“And quietly in the background, a company called Avalon shipped the first ASIC-based bitcoin miners, custom-built rigs with specially-designed chips for efficiently printing the market’s hottest...
8 tags
Jon Matonis - Cyprus Goes Cashless The Hard Way →
Forbes contributor and Bitcoin Foundation board member Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis) posts on the latest developments in Cyprus and how Bitcoin has a role. Excerpts:
“‘Only put money in the banking system that you can afford to lose,’ advises financial commentator Max Keiser. This is no more true than last weekend in Cyprus when bank depositors had electronic transfers blocked and...
12 tags
Brian Lehrer Interviews Erik Voorhees and Marc... →
Segment 4 of BrianLehrer.tv (@BrianLehrer) aired on March 18, 2013 and is titled Cloudy Cash. Interviewed is Marc Hochstein (@MarcHochstein), executive editor of American Banker magazine, and Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees), marketing and communications director at payment processor BitInstant.com.
Begins at 00:37:06, duration 17 minutes.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI3TIglNJ7Y&t=37m6s...
11 tags
Bloomberg TV's Sara Eisen - Bitcoin Fever →
Bloomberg TV’s correspondent and foreign exchange expert Sara Eisen (@SaraEisenFX) provides an update on Bitcoin for the Market Makers global audience.
- http://bloom.bg/11nEQiA - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155993.0 (Further discussion of the segment) - http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/1aqgs6 (Reddit weighs in)
All News - Daily E-mail Subscription - Twitter: @BitcoinNews
7 tags
News Roundup - FinCEN's Guidance Re: Virtual... →
A post on Bitcoin Money (@BitcoinMoney) blog contains a collection of news articles and blog posts regarding FinCEN’s Application of Regulations to Persons Administering, Exchanging, or Using Virtual Currencies.
- http://www.bitcoinmoney.com/post/45771686409 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=154672.0 (Further discussion on the topic)
All News - Daily E-mail Subscription - Twitter:...
23 tags
Bitcoin Foundation General Counsel Patrick Murck... →
Patrick Murck (@VirtuallyLaw), General counsel and board member of Bitcoin Fondation posted on FinCEN’s recent guidance regarding using and exchanging virtual currencies. Excerpts:
“Upon an initial reading two things struck me: FinCEN firmly believes that virtual currency in general, and bitcoin in particular, does not fall under the pre-paid access rules. FinCEN seems intent on...
10 tags
Aljazeera - Bitcoin Rises, by Nicolas Mendoza →
Nicolas Mendoza (@NicolasMendo) follows up to his May 2012 article in Al Jazeera with the more recent developments. Excerpts:
“What we have here is radically different from the current system where money creation is based on debt, politically motivated, surrounded by secrecy, inflationary, unilateralist, colonialist, and exploitative of powerless nations, etc. The flaws in the design of...
7 tags
Core Developer Sipa On Today's Blockchain Fork →
Bitcoin-Qt/bitcoind core developer Sipa (Pieter Wuille) shares the details about today’s blockhain fork with a post on the BitcoinTalk forum.
Excerpts:
“If you are not a merchant or a miner, don’t worry.” - “If you’re a merchant: please stop processing transactions until the chains converge.” - “v0.7 or older, the client will likely tell you that...
8 tags
ALERT: Serious Bug in Bitcoin Client, Details To...
There is a developing situation in which a bug in the Bitcoin client software is causing a blockchain fork. Those using Bitcoin-Qt v0.8 should not trust the transactions as being non-reversible even if the client shows the transaction having received six or more confirmations.
This latest on the situation may be monitored on the #bitcoin-dev IRC channel.
[The tl:dr on the bug … the v0.8...
16 tags
Audio - Erik Voorhees on the Peter Schiff Show →
BitInstant’s Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) was a guest on the Peter Schiff show, hosted by Thomas E. Woods (@ThomasEWoods).
The interview gives a general overview of Bitcoin, from a libertarian perspective, and concludes with Q&A from listener callers.
Runtime: 31 minutes.
- https://dl.dropbox.com/u/696520/schiff-woods-voorhees.mp3 (MP3)...
17 tags
Jon Matonis - First Bitcoin Hedge Fund Launched →
Forbes contributor and Bitcoin Foundation board member Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis) writes an update on BitcoinFund (from Malta), the first Bitcoin Hedge Fund. Excerpts:
“Institutional investors and hedge fund managers have secretly sought a regulated investment vehicle for bitcoin placements. Malta-based Exante Ltd. has the solution with their new Bitcoin Fund.” - “Authorized and...
15 tags
Gavin Andresen - Core Development Update #3 →
Excerpts from the latest update from Bitcoin.org project lead Gavin Andresen (@GavinAndresen):
“If you are using bitcoind or Bitcoin-Qt and you haven’t upgraded yet, you should: the new release [v0.8] is much faster and is more gentle on your disk drives.” - “[Foundation member Saivann Carignan is] redesigning the bitcoin.org website. He has also been doing the hard work of...
February 2013
8 posts
8 tags
Survey - The Demographics of Bitcoin (Part 1) →
Anthropologist Lui Smyth (@yablochko) has collected survey results from about 100 participants of the Bitcoin community and provided a report on the demographics.
Some highlights…
- The average user is a 31.7 year old libertarian male. - Top motivators for new users are curiosity, profit, and politics. - Bitcointalk.org is the dominant community platform. - Far more people have used Bitcoin to...
9 tags
Video: Bitcoin Symposium at NH Liberty Forum →
A discussion on Bitcoin at the 2013 New Hampshire LIberty Forum, an annual gathering of voluntaryists and Libertarians, included panelists Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees), Roger Ver (@RogerKVer) and Charlie Shrem (@CharlieShrem).
http://www.bitcoinmoney.com/post/44049245548 (Post with links to each of the videos)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkgc00ANETc (Part 1)
...
12 tags
CNET - Buy Bitcoins Anonymously Using Bitcoin ATM →
Declan McCullagh (@DeclanM), writer for CNET, covers the reveal of a new Bitcoin ATM/vending system at this past weekend’s Liberty Forum event in New Hampshire. Excerpts:
“[This ATM is] the opposite of a traditional automated teller that dispenses currency. Instead, these Bitcoin ATMs will accept dollar bills — using the same validation mechanism as vending machines — and...
23 tags
Bitcoin version 0.8.0 released →
A significant new release of the Bitcoin-Qt and Bitcoind clients from Bitcoin.org, v0.8.0, is now available for download.
This v0.8 release includes a number of new features, performance improvements and bug fixes and is the first major feature release since the v0.7 release about five months ago. This release was designed to improve performance and handle the increasing volume of transactions...
16 tags
Jon Matonis - The Cashless Utopia Mirage →
Forbes contributor and Bitcoin Foundation board member Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis)’s latest blog post makes an argument defending the need for cash to remain as a way to pay. Excerpts:
“Let’s not kid ourselves, because the end of money, as we know it, really means the beginning of the transactional surveillance State, which makes this a serious debate about the boundaries of State...
8 tags
TechCrunch - Buy Reddit Gold With Bitcoins →
TechCrunch’s Drew Olanoff (@Drew) had the scoop on Reddit’s announcement that they were accepting bitcoins as payment when its users purchase Reddit Gold. Excerpts:
“Social discovery and discussion site Reddit has just launched an integration that allows its users to pay for ‘Reddit Gold’ using bitcoin with Coinbase’s system.” - “By buying Reddit Gold,...
10 tags
Audio: NPR Morning Edition - Is Online Gambling... →
NPR aired a Morning Edition segment with host Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) in which Jerry Brito (@JerryBrito) was interviewed about online gambling and Bitcoin. Excerpt:
“The U.S. Justice Department has made it very clear you can’t just open an offshore casino online and start taking bets using actual money from the United States. But last year a couple of entrepreneurs asked themselves...
11 tags
Summary - Bitcoin Ends January Up 51%, Largest... →
Bitcoin Money blog (@BitcoinMoney) gives a monthly wrapup on Bitcoin for the month of January, 2013. Excerpts:
“The closing price of $20.41 USD was up nearly seven dollars from the 2012 year-end close resulting in more than a 51% increase for the month — Bitcoin’s largest monthly gain since December 2011. The one-year gain, calculated from the January 2012 close of $5.48 is whopping...
January 2013
11 posts
10 tags
Bitcoin Magazine - First Consumer ASIC Mining Rig... →
The latest from Vitalik Buterin of Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) covers this significant day for Bitcoin — the day the first ASIC mining rig has been powered up by a consumer. Excerpts:
“Now the Bitcoin community can finally rest easy knowing that the long-awaited ASICs are indeed real.” - “[Recipient of the first unit, Bitcoin developer Jeff Garzik] followed up...
17 tags
Jon Matonis - Government Ban On Bitcoin Would Fail... →
Forbes contributor and Bitcoin Foundation (@BTCFoundation) board member Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis) considers the impact a government ban on Bitcoin would have on the fledgling currency. Excerpts:
“The demand for an item, in this case digital cash with user-defined levels of privacy, does not simply evaporate in the face of a jurisdictional ban.” - “Ironically, the ban would...
11 tags
Bloomberg CHART OF THE DAY - Bitcoin →
Today’s CHART OF THE DAY covers Bitcoin’s increase in the exchange rate. Excerpts from a corresponding article by Max Raskin (@MaxRaskin) on Bloomberg:
“Bitcoin has more than doubled in the past 12 months, strengthening to $16.37 from $5.88.” - “Greater demand for virtual currencies could have a negative impact on the reputation of central banks, according to a...
18 tags
Jon Matonis - Bitcoin Casinos Release 2012... →
Forbes contributor and Bitcoin Foundation (@BTCFoundation) board member Jon Matonis (@JonMatonis) shares some details from leading online gaming services where bitcoins are used as the currency. Excerpts:
“SatoshiDice reported first year earnings from wagering at an impressive ฿33,310. During the year, players bet a total of ฿1,787,470 in 2,349,882 individual bets at an average monthly...
10 tags
Bitcoin Magazine - Bitcoin Price Breaks 2012 High →
Vitalik Buterin, writer for Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine), describes today’s rally that has taken the Bitcoin BTC/USD exchange rate above its high water mark from 2012. Excerpts:
“Today’s maximum of $15.68 at the time of this writing [is] the highest that the Bitcoin price has been since July 6, 2011.” - “The [network data] figures, which attempt to measure Bitcoin’s...
