Bitcoin News

Excerpts from a post on Bitcoin Money blog:

“Crowdpark, the maker of the Bet Tycoon game on Facebook may be considering adding Bitcoin as a virtual currency used by the game’s half million users. Louis Bedigian (@LouisBedigian), on staff at Benzinga, writes that the startup’s Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer “would love to [implement bets made with bitcoins]”.
“The report follows Crowdpark’s announcement that it had received $6 million in new funding.” 

The article further addresses other services in the same space but which already accept bitcoins.

- http://www.bitcoinmoney.com/post/11670058837
- http://bit.ly/qFNRnu (Article on Benzinga)

All News

Rick Falkvinge (@Falkvinge) is interviewed by Max Keiser on PressTV’s On The Edge show.  Excerpts:

“Max: Bitcoin sounds like gold and silver in a lot of ways, but the people in the gold and silver crowd don’t like Bitcoin.  What are they missing?”
“Rick: What sets Bitcoin apart from gold and silver are primarily three things: Bitcoin is divisible, it is remote — it can be traded at a distance, and it is portable”.
“Max: Have you looked at Facebook Credits?”
“Rick: I believe Facebook created [Credits] for two reasons.  First of all it is a legal circumvention device against gambling laws.  Second, this is an attempt to capture not just users’s attention but their economy [and stay locked] within Facebook’s walled garden.  I might buy a bit of in-game credit [as prepayment] but I would not be comfortable with [storing money with Facebook]”.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBN9p1qemMA (Length: 23 minutes)

All News

Simek Patel gets it.  Following are some excerpts from a post on virtual currency on Seeking Alpha that he wrote:

“Virtual currency is shaping up to be the cornerstone of the next networking technology platform”.
“Virtual currency is ‘the new search,’ the means of monetizing web activity, specifically social networking, in a way that unleashes a whole new economic ecosystem”.
”These currencies are essential to re-wiring our organizations and our economies, and thus are essential to the networking revolution”.

- http://seekingalpha.com/article/281501-i-want-my-virtual-currency

All News

Consumer Watchdog filed an anti-trust complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday requesting that the agency investigate Facebook and force the company to stop what it believes are anticompetitive and unfair business practices.  Some of the statements from the complaint:

“Gamers using the Facebook platform now must exclusively utilize Facebook Credits in the operation of their games; such developers must agree not to charge lower prices to consumers outside of Facebook; and game developers must pay a 30% service fee for all Facebook Credits purchases”.
“Though Facebook has not formally announced that Facebook Credits can be applied towards other online media products, or non-gaming digital goods, such as pay-per-view movies, TV, music, and news articles, in March, 2011, Facebook users were permitted to purchase and apply Facebook Credits to rent a movie as a test Warner Brothers’ application streaming movies through Facebook”.
“Analysts predict that Facebook Credits will eventually become a payment method outside of Facebook, usable for purchase of virtual goods on other platforms which Facebook forms partnerships with, or even for purchases of tangible goods from external websites integrated with Facebook through social plug-ins orFacebook login functions”.
“The terms explicitly refer to transactions of “goods and services,” making no distinction between tangible or virtual goods”.
“Because Facebook is the predominant distribution channel in the market for virtual goods purchased in social games, software developers wishing to enter the market, or existing developers currently offering games on Facebook, must accept Facebook’s Credits terms in order to participate in the market”.

- http://bit.ly/l6P745
- http://bit.ly/mLem8N Complaint (PDF)

All News

Jotham Sederstrom writes on virtual currencies, virtual goods and virtual companies.

“Millions of consumers are growing more comfortable spending real money on virtual goods”.

“Some experts are taking a cue from China, which has set limits on the widespread trade of virtual currency, which in 2008 reached $2 billion in that country.”
“From rules governing gift certificates—perhaps the closest thing to virtual currency—to state money transmitter laws and federal banking and money laundering laws, federal regulators in the U.S. are now wrapping their heads around an industry that only a decade ago hardly existed.”

- http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/not-so-funny-money-132076

All News