Original author: Tanaya Macheel
Coin News
- Josh Zerlan, operations manager, Butterfly Labs
- Christian Ander, CEO, Goobit.se
- Elizabeth T. Ploshay, member of Bitcoin Foundation and account manager, BitPay
- Radoslav Albrecht, founder, Bitbond.net
- Abdul Haseeb Awan, co-founder, BitAccess Canada
- Alexis Roussel, vice president, The Pirate Party
- Stanislav Wolf, VP product development, Yacuna AG
- Hans Henrik H. Heming, CEO, coinify.com
- Jean-Louis Schiltz, legal adviser, professor at University of Luxembourg, ex minister of the Luxembourg government
- Matija Mazi, software developer
- Deborah Thoden-Peden, partner, Pillsbury Law
- Matjaž Pajk, barrister, Dušan Korošec and Barristers Law Firm
- Luka Pušić, president, Bitcoin Association of Slovenia
- Jeremy Bonney, product manager, CoinDesk The schedule The first day will start with a keynote speech on the importance of bitcoin payments as a checkout method, and will then have sessions on: Bitcoin and financial inclusion and innovation The future of bitcoin mining The history of the bitcoin exchange space (featuring Mt Gox, Ripple and others) Network effects, exchanges and pump and dump schemes The opportunities offered by bitcoin two-way ATM machines The issues of bitcoin regulation Business with bitcoin in Slovenia (with an emphasis on tax and criminal law) The second day will focus on investment opportunities in cryptocurrencies, virtual currency regulations and anti-money laundering practice, how to explain bitcoin to clients, and the future of bitcoin. An ambitious project in a new location The Bitcoin Central and Eastern European conference is the first of its kind in the area, and GreCom hopes that it will become “a yearly event with regional impact”, which will create a bitcoin hub in Slovenia. The country benefits from a “good reputation within the technical and business communities of bitcoin”, and is close to many other European cities, including Vienna, Milan, Munich and Zagreb. Gregor Knafelc added : “[It] will be the first opportunity to host and mingle with really successful people from bitcoin eco-system in Slovenia.” The conference will take place at the Best Western Premier Hotel in Ljubljana. Early bird registration has now ended, but one and two-day passes can be purchased on the website, for €250 and €300 respectively. To find out about other bitcoin events taking place across the world over the coming months, visit our events page. Ljubljana image via Shutterstock Bitcoin Central and Eastern Europe ConferenceEurope
Original author: Marie Le Conte
Mexican bitcoin exchange Bitso has exited beta with a number of initiatives aiming to attract new users in the country.
The company first went live in April as the first exchange aimed at Mexico’s burgeoning bitcoin ecosystem, with features designed specifically for locals.
“As we are not a ‘cookie cutter’ exchange, we’re really able to offer services tailored to the particular needs of the Mexican market,” Bitso chief technology officer Ben Peters told CoinDesk.
For instance, the exchange is fully integrated with Compropago, a local payments service that allows Bitso users to fund their account with cash at over 130,000 terminals across Mexico, including some 7-Elevens and Walmarts.
As for its exit points, Bitso will charge 1% commission on all trades – previously free in beta. Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals, Mexican peso withdrawals by SPEI transfer and use of the platform’s Ripple gateway will remain free.
Most exciting to the team is Bitso’s new referral program, which pays users 10% of the trade commission generated by each new customer they bring to the platform.
Peters said:
“The market in Mexico is still very nascent, and so we’re doing everything we can do encourage participation. The referral scheme is a terrific way to directly involve our regular users in promoting this new economy in an inclusive way.”
The first Ripple gateway in Latin America
Peters said the company aims to boost Mexican interest in the fundamental benefits that cryptocurrency systems – not just bitcoin – can bring to the country.
“Our vision is to help Mexicans harness these technologies in ways that can make a profound difference to their lives,” he explained.
The platform claims to be the first Ripple gateway in Mexico and the Latin American region.
According to chief executive Pablo Gonzalez, Bitso’s partners see a symbiotic relationship between its Ripple Gateway and its bitcoin exchange, focusing on the value proposition the Ripple network offers outside its native currency, ripple (XRP).
He told CoinDesk:
“This is something we’ve found extremely helpful for bringing bitcoin liquidity to the Mexican market as it allows our market makers to quickly move in and out of Bitso.”
Playing for the same team
As the first Mexican bitcoin exchange, Gonzalez said he and his team have benefitted greatly from their first-mover advantage over the last four months.
Upon mentioning the progress of bitcoin exchanges MexBT and Unisend, alongside brokers Volabit and CoinBatch, he added that Bitso doesn’t view the other players in Mexico’s bitcoin economy as opponents:
“We are very glad to see these companies in Mexico as they cater to first-time bitcoin users, which helps grow bitcoin adoption in Mexico. We are looking forward to working with these companies in future.”
Gonzalez reiterated the company’s intent to educate people on cryptocurrencies and help them access the relevant tools that can help grow the crypto-economy.
Furthermore, Gonzalez is a key participant in Mexico’s digital peso project, currently working to demonstrate the abilities of block chain technology by digitizing the fiat peso.
BitsoMexico
Original author: Tanaya Macheel
Less than a month after it first began accepting bitcoin, Dell has received 85 BTC (over $50,000) for a PowerEdge server order.
NewsBTC first reported the story after Dell CEO Michael Dell tweeted the following:
Recieved PowerEdge server order @ http://dell.com for more than 85 #bitcoin (~$50K USD) http://dell.com/bitcoin #Dellbitcoin
– Michael Dell (@michaeldell) 10 Aug 2014 It’s not known exactly who placed the order, but since Dell’s off-the-shelf Poweredge servers range from $299 into the thousands, someone likely now has a whole farm acquired with bitcoin. One Twitter user pointed out how much Dell had saved by sealing the deal this way: @MichaelDell congratulations! You just made an extra 1,000$ instead of giving it to visa! I’m so proud.
– Justin (@justinghendrix) 10 Aug 2014 While Overstock’s bitcoin customers have bought mainly sheets, cell phone accessories and audio-visual equipment, the nature of Dell’s core business meant some serious hardware purchases were more likely. Dell is by far the largest enterprise accepting bitcoin in the world at this point, with $57bn in annual revenue. The previous record holder was DISH Network, with roughly 25% of Dell’s income. The Texas-based computer hardware giant also marked its digital currency debut with a 10% discount for anyone purchasing its gaming-oriented Alienware machines with bitcoin. The company accepts bitcoin payments for US customers on any item on its Dell.com store site. Dell’s CIO Paul Walsh hinted last month that Dell may pursue more extensive involvement in the bitcoin space, adding that accepting bitcoin was part of the company’s overall plan to align itself with technological innovation. He continued that he expected many other merchants to join in soon, indicating a growing legitimacy for bitcoin among companies in the mainstream economy. Image via 360b / Shutterstock DellOverstock.com
– Michael Dell (@michaeldell) 10 Aug 2014 It’s not known exactly who placed the order, but since Dell’s off-the-shelf Poweredge servers range from $299 into the thousands, someone likely now has a whole farm acquired with bitcoin. One Twitter user pointed out how much Dell had saved by sealing the deal this way: @MichaelDell congratulations! You just made an extra 1,000$ instead of giving it to visa! I’m so proud.
– Justin (@justinghendrix) 10 Aug 2014 While Overstock’s bitcoin customers have bought mainly sheets, cell phone accessories and audio-visual equipment, the nature of Dell’s core business meant some serious hardware purchases were more likely. Dell is by far the largest enterprise accepting bitcoin in the world at this point, with $57bn in annual revenue. The previous record holder was DISH Network, with roughly 25% of Dell’s income. The Texas-based computer hardware giant also marked its digital currency debut with a 10% discount for anyone purchasing its gaming-oriented Alienware machines with bitcoin. The company accepts bitcoin payments for US customers on any item on its Dell.com store site. Dell’s CIO Paul Walsh hinted last month that Dell may pursue more extensive involvement in the bitcoin space, adding that accepting bitcoin was part of the company’s overall plan to align itself with technological innovation. He continued that he expected many other merchants to join in soon, indicating a growing legitimacy for bitcoin among companies in the mainstream economy. Image via 360b / Shutterstock DellOverstock.com
Original author: Jon Southurst
The recent publication of ‘BitLicenses’ proposals by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and its superintendent Benjamin Lawsky may be the most controversial talking point to hit bitcoin in its history.
Only a few weeks have passed since the proposals were released, but the response has been strong from New York businesses to those far away.
The NYDFS initially opened a 45-day window for those in the digital currency industry to respond and provide recommendations based on the proposal. The time was noticeably short, given the diversity of affected participants in all geographic locations and the lack of immediate access to legal counsel many would have.
As a result, a petition signed by nearly 500 organizations and individuals has requested that the NYDFS provide more time for the digital currency industry to prepare submissions and opinions. Additionally, some of the biggest companies in the ecosystem, including Coinbase and Circle, are expected to publish their own detailed responses to the proposals imminently.
How Lawsky views the proposals
Interviewed on WCNY’s Capitol Pressroom podcast on 7th August, Lawsky gave strong hints that prevention of money laundering is “one of the most important things” NYDFS addresses.
He also admitted several times that digital currency technology is “powerful”, and expressed a desire to ensure innovation would be “hubbed in New York”.
Admitting that money laundering is widespread even in the ‘traditional’ financial industry, he said the NYDFS should be “an aggressive, but fair, careful, on-top-of-it regulator who’s trying to allow the businesses to thrive”.
The CoinDesk survey
CoinDesk published an article with industry responses to the BitLicenses proposal immediately after its publication.
We have since approached the following representatives from various facets of the bitcoin ecosystem for more detailed thoughts, now that the proposals have had some time to sink in. Those who participated in the interviews include:
Jacob Farber, Perkins Coie, legal expert
Patrick Murck, General Counsel, Bitcoin Foundation
Jordan Kelley, CEO, Robocoin
Haseeb Awan, BitAccess
Michael Terpin, BitAngels
Eric Voorhees, Investor
Tim Byun, Chief Compliance Officer, BitPay
Jim Harper, General Counsel, Bitcoin Foundation
Perianne Boring, Chamber Of Digital Commerce
Christopher David, Coinvox
Roger Ver, Investor
Will O’Brien, CEO and Co-Founder, BitGo, Inc
Adam Draper, Boost VC
Halsey Minor, Bitreserve
While a majority are in favor of some kind of regulation, there is a unanimous opinion that the proposals presented by Lawsky and NYDFS are overly broad and restrictive, and could have a deleterious effect on both financial innovation and New York State’s prestige as a leading financial center.
Others said bitcoin businesses could self-regulate, or that enough ‘regulation’ is already built into the technology itself.
General responses
Patrick Murck, general counsel at the Bitcoin Foundation, said it was too early:
“I think it’s unfortunate, it’s not timely. The industry is very, very young and trying to regulate it now is entirely premature. Like the Internet, you need to give these things time to develop and see where the problem areas are.”
Jacob Farber of legal firm Perkins Coie said he had originally not intended to speak out against the BitLicense proposal, but is now glad he has.
“I think that if the rules proposed in New York are adopted as is, it’s really, really bad, at least for the startups doing the innovation that we care about, the community we all live and work in.”
CoinDesk asked the following questions:
Do the NYDFS proposals create high barriers to entry for new or financially unsupported players?
The respondents were unanimous here in their opinion that regulation definitely raised the bar for entry level by increasing costs for startup proprietors who probably could not afford the legal fees required.
Perianne Boring pointed to specific clauses in the proposals concerning money laundering, saying they were only appropriate for a small fraction of bitcoin companies, such as larger exchanges.
Haseeb Awan said banks only have a low rate of fraud because of their immense scale, with Michael Terpin adding that the hurdles companies would have to jump through are mostly “unnecessary”, and not even required for transmitting cash. Adam Draper agreed, saying fingerprinting requirements are definitely beyond most startups’ capabilities.
Tracking transmissions and keeping ten years of records are also beyond the capabilities of most small businesses, Tim Byun said, adding that even well-funded startups are not entirely immune to the high costs of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance.
Christopher David said the proposed rules would “punish small entrepreneurs and stifle innovation” and called for BitLicenses to be optional.
Roger Ver, a fervent opponent of the proposals, said BitLicenses are “just a guise to protect the banks and other established industries” from competition that bitcoin would bring.
Erik Voorhees suggested NYDFS is raising the bar deliberately to remove smaller players. He said:
“This will eliminate the college dorm room startup. It will eliminate the young entrepreneur who is willing to put in 100 hours per week, but who doesn’t have $100,000 for his first two months of legal bills. It will make innovation the purview of large companies, which is to say, it will diminish innovation.”
Boring went on to say BitLicenses would “inhibit innovation and crush startups”, pointing out that the proposals would restrict bitcoin companies from acting like banks (eg: by prohibiting lending) while regulating them the same way they do banks.
Jim Harper was more neutral on the topic, but agreed any regulation by nature raises barriers to entry. He said:
“The question is whether the proposed regulations have benefits that justify these costs. It’s certainly possible that they do.”
The NYDFS needed to publicly release the research it conducted in constructing the proposals, in order for the community itself to decide if those costs and burdens on startups are justified.
Is the NYDFS definition of ‘virtual currency’ and ‘virtual currency business activity’ too broad?
“Likely,” said Will O’Brien.
Yes, not all digital tokens are the same, added Michael Terpin. Those used for transactions and as stores of value are different to the kind that aim to validate contractual rights on a block chain. Tim Byun agreed, pointing out that the NYDFS defines ‘virtual currency’ as a digital unit in a similar way to the IRS’ ‘property’ definition, but still requires Currency Transaction Reports (CTR), which now apply only to money.
Broad definitions are probably deliberate, said Haseeb Awan, with Christopher David agreeing that regulators are rarely specific when drafting laws for new technologies. Specific categories of companies and optional regulations, he added, are better.
Awan said:
“The goal here is to catch bad actors and right now those people don’t have to jump through hoops. I think that’s the point of being broad.”
“Bitcoin is real, not virtual,” said Jim Harper, which is the reason NYDFS felt it necessary to draft the proposal in the first place. Insufficient consideration of the bitcoin protocol and technology likely caused the broad definitions which can hopefully be fixed by the notice-and-comment period.
Adam Draper pointed out that there are many different types of bitcoin businesses, saying:
“An exchange shouldn’t be regulated the same as a wallet and a wallet shouldn’t be regulated the same as a payment processor. They are all different businesses.”
Erik Voorhees said the government has no right to dictate how people use this new distributed technology, as they are “the same people who preside over and bless the morally repugnant legacy financial system, and turn a blind eye to the biggest financial scam in history (central banking)”.
Releasing a new digital currency at all without a licence and compliance would now be illegal, Voorhees said, adding that businesses would only get approval after becoming tools of surveillance.
Is user anonymity/privacy something the bitcoin community should safeguard?
Reactions to this question were mixed and qualified, showing the largest diversity of opinion. Most were of the view that a balance is required.
“No,” said Adam Draper, without elaborating.
“Yes and no,” said Tim Byun. Yes because existing norms surrounding consumer privacy, physical security and protection from fraud and identity theft demand it; but no because bitcoin should comply with the existing risk-based know your customer (KYC) and other reporting rules that the fiat currency world already has to comply with.
Jim Harper said surveillance of transactions is at odds with both bitcoin users’ and consumers’ privacy demands, and the level of privacy they could expect is similar to that dictacted by deals between corporations and governments in the fiat currency realm.
He added:
“Many see an opportunity in bitcoin to restore user-defined privacy without giving up the benefits of financial services and commerce.”
Governments should be able to examine transactions in narrow instances where it truly feels it is stopping terrorism or other crimes, said Michael Terpin. But thousands of cash transactions happen every second without an ID requirement, and police are not legally allowed to force themselves into homes at night randomly to ensure no crimes occur. There needs to be just cause for adding these conditions to digital currency.
Christopher David pointed out that the theft of millions of customers’ personal data from Target is one reason to fear the centralization of personal data, and that users should be free to decide what information they provide.
Will O’Brien argued in a similar vein, saying the public ledger of bitcoin holdings and transactions could also be examined by a nefarious party. BitGo‘s BIP32 ‘Hierarchical Deterministic’ (HD) wallets could address this, he said.
Not surprisingly, voluntary society proponents Voorhees and Ver came out most fervently in privacy’s defense Ver said:
“Financial privacy is a fundamental human right.”
Bitcoin doesn’t provide anonymity anyway, said Voorhees, but added that anyone not accused of a crime has a right to privacy in finance just as they have the right to lock their doors and put shades on their windows.
“Creeping surveillance of innocent people is wrong. It’s wrong when North Korea does it. It’s wrong when Saudi Arabia or China does it. It’s wrong when Benjamin Lawsky and NYDFS does it.”
Perianne Boring also reminded everyone that bitcoin is only pseudonymous, comparing it to the ‘numbered’ accounts of Swiss banks that hold detailed client information on which customers rely for their secrecy for protection (often for political and human rights reasons). Transactional secrecy is also necessary for some business purposes, she added.
Will startups now exclude New York customers and otherwise avoid the jurisdiction of New York whilst they get off the ground?
“Bitcoin is not local. The NYDFS is trying to make it local, which is impossible,” said Awan.
Opinions here range from “that would be a tragedy” to “we’re already seeing it”. Draper said he hopes another state, perhaps Texas or Colorado, might seek to attract business away from New York with more favorable regulatory conditions. This competitive governance could then see New York change its rules if it sees job losses.
Halsey Minor, of BitReserve, seconded Texas as a potential future financial center, saying “the world is a very competitive place for companies and jurisdictions”. He expressed hope that few other states or countries would ever follow New York’s lead after seeing the results.
Several respondents said they are already aware of businesses either preparing to move out of New York or (for those outside the state) planning to block any customers whose IP addresses are located there.
Boring said the current proposals risk cutting New Yorkers out of a crucial aspect of the digial economy, creating what she called a kind of “Cyberia” which could even injure New York’s standing as the world’s financial capital.
The Chamber of Digital Commerce‘s official statement on the matter reads:
“These regulations do not even highlight the distinction between digital assets and digital currencies. Without representing the difference between the two, the NYDFS is issuing indiscriminate guidelines that threaten to destroy bitcoin. Numerous businesses have told me they are ready to block out all New York IPs from their servers, and will not do business in this jurisdiction if these proposed regulations are enacted.”
Ver and David also claimed to know several examples of bitcoin businesses planning to move out of New York or even the US altogether. Ver pointed out that US residents are already blocked from acquiring the Xapo bitcoin debit card.
David added:
“The consensus among bitcoin entrepreneurs at our recent conferences in Chicago and San Francisco has been to block New York customers rather than comply with the regulations.”
Terpin and Byun said it is “quite likely” or “quite possible”, and could get worse if businesses simply decided to shut down or block US customers altogether and that it is natural for businesses to choose the most favorable conditions if given a choice.
Voorhees went a step further, vowing to “block New York entirely if the BitLicense passes in its current form,” and added that most other bitcoin entrepreneurs he knows feel the same. “Prudence and principle” dictated the blocking of jurisdictions where one was legally forced to spy on innocent people, he said.
Harper questioned whether businesses would follow through, saying:
“The threat to exit a jurisdiction is often made in haste, and most businesses will want to serve New York customers. But bitcoin businesses see themselves as serving a worldwide clientele, so losing the New York market is not as big a concern is it might be for US-only companies.”
Do the promised business benefits of increased regulatory certainty (eg: banking relationships) outweigh the costs of compliance?
Some respondents debated whether regulatory certainty actually produces benefits. Voorhees said the question is “somewhat misguided”, adding that tenuous relationships between bitcoin businesses and banks are due to risks associated with existing KYC/AML regulations.
It isn’t bitcoin’s unregulated status that makes bitcoin businesses risky to existing financial institutions, he claimed. The industry is so heavily regulated today, and in danger from unanticipated interpretations or retroactive rules, that it makes any financial innovation seem perilous.
O’Brien added that comparing regulatory benefits to costs was “too simple a trade-off”, pointing to Texas as an example of bitcoin companies complying with existing laws instead of being burdened with new ones. Draper also cited Texas’ example, repeating that it, like Colorado and California, offers more attractive alternatives.
Terpin suggested bitcoin has regulation built into its very structure, saying:
“The original reason for most financial regulation is to stop fraud and theft. The block chain has mathematical methods to prevent most of the crimes that happen routinely on Wall Street, so it should require less regulation, not more.”
Boring and Draper agreed that sensible and proportionate regulation is necessary. Draper said that BitLicenses are the result of “everyone in the state adding a rule to the list”, while Boring’s opinion is that a lack of understanding of the technology and concepts involved in bitcoin could lead to overbearing rules that could eliminate economic benefits.
Traffic lights are a good example of effective, unintrusive regulation, Boring added.
Byun said time would tell, but the current proposal “as-is” could be too heavy and outweigh the benefits, with David adding it would “force everyone into the same one-size-fits-all scheme”. Water it down and make it optional, he maintained. Awan said it “may be too early for this sort of licensing”.
The trade-off is irrelevant anyway if regulation is illegitimate, continued Ver. He said:
“At the end of the day, human beings have a fundamental right to engage in whatever sort of peaceful financial transactions they want, and don’t require the permission of other human beings who they have never met.”
Is there a specific area of the proposal that you strongly disagree or agree with?
“Too many to list,” said CoinVox’s David.
He, Byun and Terpin all agreed that the rules put early-stage startups and entrepreneurs at a disadvantage with its burdensome compliance and security costs, thereby killing innovation.
The breadth of the requirements and amount of data collecting are also primary concerns, with bitcoin businesses appearing to suffer greater regulation than other payment methods.
“The United States Postal Service sells money orders up to $3,000 without any ID,” said Byun, and various reloadable prepaid cards required no KYC compliance for up to $1,000 in the US and €2,500 in the European Union. BitLicenses’ Virtual Currency Transaction Reports (VCTR) should be eliminated since virtual currencies are just ‘digital units/assets’, and only required when exchanging for fiat currencies in amounts over $10,000.”
“Would Mt. Gox still have happened [with these regulations]?” asked BitAccess’ Awan, saying only proof-of-solvency would have protected user deposits there.
The Bitcoin Foundation may raise the issue of BitLicenses being too technology-specific, said Harper, sweeping in software companies that never handled actual funds. Keeping detailed records of every transaction also had “privacy consequences”, he added.
Terpin also included among his concerns the provision that businesses cannot deal with any company without a physical address, and said the rule banning bitcoin businesses from keeping any profits in bitcoin are “ridiculous and likely unlawful.”
Ver again maintained that regulations by their very nature are illegitimate, while Voorhees said he believes in strong regulation, but only if that regulation is market-based.
He added:
“However, if I were to choose what is most problematic about the proposal, it is the unabashed spying upon users of bitcoin. Forcing every bitcoin company to spy on users, and feed this surveillance to the State, is horrendous.”
The authors of the proposals showed “Orwellian tendencies” and “should be ashamed”, he continued. “The bitcoin industry should fight this on every front.”
David also disagreed with the centralizing of user data with the government, especially since bitcoin’s very power comes from its decentralization. Lawsky employs the traditional negotiating tactic of tricking stakeholders into debating extreme ‘throwaway’ provisions in order to pass the others, which are just as restrictive.
He singled out Lawsky personally for criticism, saying:
“This is a political, careerist power grab on Ben Lawsky’s part and he needs to be held accountable for distracting the bitcoin community from productive efforts. Every minute spent arguing about government regulations is a minute not spent innovating and pushing the world forward.”
“Ben Lawsky thinks he has a right to interfere with the natural evolution of block chain technology. He and everyone like him need to be shown the error of their ways, and held accountable for slowing our progress.”
Will the BitLicense prove to be a boon or a burden for the industry?
Given their previous answers, it is unsurprising that most respondents chose “burden”, with Byun, Terpin, David and O’Brien all declaring that only a significant modification of the current proposals would mitigate this.
They maintained the theme that business would avoid New York, with Awan saying:
“Here is something to think about: If there are no bitcoin startups, the NYDFS can’t regulate anything.”
David added:
“The alleged benefits are nothing we as a community could not have earned ourselves through self-regulation and a continued maturation process. The NYDFS proposal as written will criminalize thousands of entrepreneurs who refuse to comply, forcing otherwise legitimate businesses into the black market.”
“Like all business licensure laws, it will be a boon for the established players, and a burden for the rest of humankind,” said Ver.
Voorhees added that New Yorkers would find themselves “ring-fenced out of the most important wave of financial innovation in America’s history”.
“But hey,” he concluded, satirically alluding to one of bitcoin’s negative associations, “at least they’ll be protected from terrorists”.
Wall Street image via Shutterstock
BitLicensefinancial regulationNew YorkNew York Department of Financial Services
Original author: Jon Southurst
Blockchain now has over two million bitcoin wallets in the wild, having added roughly one million over the last six months alone.
The company tweeted the latest milestone late Sunday night, cementing its position as the world’s most popular bitcoin wallet provider.
Here’s to Two Million #Blockchain wallets, millions more, & putting #bitcoin in everyone’s hands! https://t.co/ZxHfIuom8u
— Blockchain.info (@blockchain) August 10, 2014
Peter Smith, Blockchain’s COO, said:
“Being the first bitcoin company to reach two million wallets is an exceptional honour [...] The endorsement of the now millions of bitcoiners who have chosen to use our wallet is a distinction that truly humbles us as a team.”
Smith added that strong growth coupled with price stability is an indicator that the industry is moving towards a “transactions paradigm.”
Indeed, the company has witnessed rapid expansion in recent months.
Back in January 2013, Blockchain boasted more than 100,000 wallet users. The 500,000th wallet was created in late October and the company rewarded the lucky user of its 500,000th wallet with 10 BTC.
Blockchain passed the one million mark in January 2014 and by April it had about 1.5 million wallets. In other words, the organisation has doubled its wallet downloads in roughly six months.
Smith pointed out that downloads “exploded” in July, after its iOS wallet was re-launched and made available on the Apple App Store. Earlier this summer, the company also updated its Android wallet with a number of merchant-friendly features.
Blockchain is not the only bitcoin company to boast such figures. Back in February, San Francisco-based wallet provider and payments processor Coinbase entered six-digit territory and announced that it had more than a million wallets. The company had started with just 13,000 wallets in early 2013.
Bitcoin wallet provider MultiBit also passed the one million mark in March 2014. However, MultiBit cautioned that the statistics were not complete, as data on early adopter downloads dating back to 2011 was lost.
There is, however, an important caveat. A significant number of downloaded and installed wallets does not necessarily translate into active bitcoin users.
Wallets are frequently downloaded by people with a casual interest in bitcoin, which means a large number are inactive or abandoned. Blockchain.info charts shed more light on bitcoin user statistics, but it is still difficult to say how many truly active wallets are out there and how many have been abandoned.
Blockchain told CoinDesk that it is currently handling tens of thousands of transactions every day. An estimated $22bn in bitcoin transactions were made using Blockchain software so far.
BlockchainCoinbaseMultiBit
Back in January 2013, Blockchain boasted more than 100,000 wallet users. The 500,000th wallet was created in late October and the company rewarded the lucky user of its 500,000th wallet with 10 BTC.
Blockchain passed the one million mark in January 2014 and by April it had about 1.5 million wallets. In other words, the organisation has doubled its wallet downloads in roughly six months.
Smith pointed out that downloads “exploded” in July, after its iOS wallet was re-launched and made available on the Apple App Store. Earlier this summer, the company also updated its Android wallet with a number of merchant-friendly features.
Blockchain is not the only bitcoin company to boast such figures. Back in February, San Francisco-based wallet provider and payments processor Coinbase entered six-digit territory and announced that it had more than a million wallets. The company had started with just 13,000 wallets in early 2013.
Bitcoin wallet provider MultiBit also passed the one million mark in March 2014. However, MultiBit cautioned that the statistics were not complete, as data on early adopter downloads dating back to 2011 was lost.
There is, however, an important caveat. A significant number of downloaded and installed wallets does not necessarily translate into active bitcoin users.
Wallets are frequently downloaded by people with a casual interest in bitcoin, which means a large number are inactive or abandoned. Blockchain.info charts shed more light on bitcoin user statistics, but it is still difficult to say how many truly active wallets are out there and how many have been abandoned.
Blockchain told CoinDesk that it is currently handling tens of thousands of transactions every day. An estimated $22bn in bitcoin transactions were made using Blockchain software so far.
BlockchainCoinbaseMultiBit
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic
A noteworthy step in the bitcoin network is almost here: a difficulty level of 20 billion.
While only a projected four percent increase, according to mining data service Bitcoin Wisdom, the change shows the every-climbing increase in mining power and reminds us that growth in the mining network shows few signs of slowing down.
In this week’s roundup, we’ll look at a new announcement from BitFury’s leadership, a financial audit from ROCKMINER and a one-of-a-kind hobby miner from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
A look inside the Mine’ellium Falcon
While it might not make the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs, the aptly dubbed Mine’ellium Falcon, created by hobby miner and Star Wars enthusiast Stephen Molyneux, is certainly one of the most unique approaches to mining on this side of the galaxy.
The official website includes a very appropriate quote from beloved Star Wars smuggler Han Solo, who declared in Episode IV: “I’ve made a few modifications myself.”
Sporting a single Gridseed 5-chip dual miner, Molyneux uses it primarily for scrypt mining. At maximum output, the Falcon delivers between 250 KH/s and 500 KH/s in power during operation.
Molyneux told CoinDesk that the inspiration for the project came from seeing other homebrew computers built using Star Wars toys, saying:
“I’d seen various Millennium Falcon custom computers that have been put together and thought to turn my totally delapidated toy from when I was a kid (also have a mint boxed version at home). The toy was in pieces because when I was a kid I wanted to modify it because I’d exhausted all the play out of it. This was kind of finally managing to do that and tie it in with bitcoin.”
Looking ahead, Molyneux sees a future in Star Wars-themed hobby miner making. The projects grassroots fans have reportedly been calling for an adaption of fictional bounty hunter Boba Fetts’ famed starship, Slave I, and Molyneux said he is strongly considering the option.
BitFury grows its board of directors
On 5th August, bitcoin hardware maker and cloud hosting company BitFury announced that it has added two new members to its board of directors. Bil Tai and Varun Gupta will both serve, with Gupta also acting as chief legal and compliance officer.
The addition of Tai and Gupta brings a wealth of legal and technology expertise to BitFury’s senior leadership. Tai’s background includes time on a number of startup boards in the technology space, and Gupta served for decades in corporate law. Notably, Gupta’s experience includes work in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and initial public offering (IPO) coordination.
BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov hailed the new members as critical additions to the team in a press statement, saying:
“These hires will give us tremendous experience, contacts and insight as we work to establish BitFury as the cryptocurrency infrastructure leader and I’m thrilled that they’ve joined us. Their combined understanding of both international markets and technology will be invaluable as we grow and mature.”
The inclusion of Gupta and Tai respresents yet another significant announcement from the company in recent months. In May, BitFury secured $20 million in new funding, netting support from investors like Binary Financial and Crypto Currency Partners.
The company has also begun pushing past its original business model, establishing a cloud hosting service late last month and moving to invest in the broader space through its newly created investment vehicle, BitFury Capital.
ROCKMINER releases financial audit report
China-based bitcoin mining hardware maker ROCKMINER took a significant step forward in the name of transparency by releasing an operational audit on 28th July detailing the company’s assets, liabilities and business trajectory.
The audit provided financial information over a four-month period, starting with the company’s March IPO. As detailed in the report, ROCKMINER raised 1,875 BTC, worth roughly $900,000 when sold at the time for an average price of $480 per bitcoin.
Since then, the company has made almost $300,000 in cash and about 820 BTC from hardware sales. Of the latter, ROCKMINER has approximately 200 on-hand remaining.
ROCKMINER detailed a litany of expenses, including hardware development, facility maintenance and personnel costs. The company spent more than $1m on BE200 chips numbering more than 147,000. It paid out $35,000 in salary costs and $160,000 in R&D expenses during the four-month period.
In a statement posted on its official Bitcoin Talk forum post, ROCKMINER elaborated on a wide range of topics related to the company’s past, present and future. It addressed community concerns about the costs incurred during the past four months, saying:
“The main reason that our financial report doesn’t look good is our input for prophase R&D was too much. We paid a lot of tuition. However, we have basically grown now, still need to pay tuition inevitably, but it’s going to be less and less. I firmly believe that we have already gone through the toughest period. Please also give us a little more time. We did not slack off, did not take your money to splurge. We are doing the work.”
BitCrane announces new miner
A new bitcoin ASIC has hit the market as hardware maker BitCrane, based in China, has announced its new flagship mining product, the T-110.
As reported by Bitell, the T-110 is hitting the market as a product pitched to both hobby and larger-scale miners. According to the company’s website, the miner offers an estimated 1.1 TH/s in hashing power, combining two 28nm chips that provide 550 GH/s each. The unit’s power consumption is advertised as about 1100W.
On the software end, the T-110’s controller board supports Linux and provides a CGMiner-based user environment for product management. Cooling-wise, the T-110 sports two internal fans and a liquid cooling system built into the unit. BitCrane says that the T-110 has an ambient operating maximum temperature of 35C.
In a statement, the company said that the product line had been “rigorously tested and tuned”.
Images via Shutterstock, BitCrane, BitFury, ROCKMINER, Stephen Molyneux
Got a cryptocurrency mining tip for future roundups? Contact us.
Disclaimer: This article should not be viewed as an endorsement of any of the companies mentioned. Please do your own extensive research before considering investing any funds in these products.
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The official website includes a very appropriate quote from beloved Star Wars smuggler Han Solo, who declared in Episode IV: “I’ve made a few modifications myself.”
Sporting a single Gridseed 5-chip dual miner, Molyneux uses it primarily for scrypt mining. At maximum output, the Falcon delivers between 250 KH/s and 500 KH/s in power during operation.
Molyneux told CoinDesk that the inspiration for the project came from seeing other homebrew computers built using Star Wars toys, saying:
“I’d seen various Millennium Falcon custom computers that have been put together and thought to turn my totally delapidated toy from when I was a kid (also have a mint boxed version at home). The toy was in pieces because when I was a kid I wanted to modify it because I’d exhausted all the play out of it. This was kind of finally managing to do that and tie it in with bitcoin.”
Looking ahead, Molyneux sees a future in Star Wars-themed hobby miner making. The projects grassroots fans have reportedly been calling for an adaption of fictional bounty hunter Boba Fetts’ famed starship, Slave I, and Molyneux said he is strongly considering the option.
BitFury grows its board of directors
On 5th August, bitcoin hardware maker and cloud hosting company BitFury announced that it has added two new members to its board of directors. Bil Tai and Varun Gupta will both serve, with Gupta also acting as chief legal and compliance officer.
The addition of Tai and Gupta brings a wealth of legal and technology expertise to BitFury’s senior leadership. Tai’s background includes time on a number of startup boards in the technology space, and Gupta served for decades in corporate law. Notably, Gupta’s experience includes work in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and initial public offering (IPO) coordination.
BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov hailed the new members as critical additions to the team in a press statement, saying:
“These hires will give us tremendous experience, contacts and insight as we work to establish BitFury as the cryptocurrency infrastructure leader and I’m thrilled that they’ve joined us. Their combined understanding of both international markets and technology will be invaluable as we grow and mature.”
The inclusion of Gupta and Tai respresents yet another significant announcement from the company in recent months. In May, BitFury secured $20 million in new funding, netting support from investors like Binary Financial and Crypto Currency Partners.
The company has also begun pushing past its original business model, establishing a cloud hosting service late last month and moving to invest in the broader space through its newly created investment vehicle, BitFury Capital.
ROCKMINER releases financial audit report
China-based bitcoin mining hardware maker ROCKMINER took a significant step forward in the name of transparency by releasing an operational audit on 28th July detailing the company’s assets, liabilities and business trajectory.
The audit provided financial information over a four-month period, starting with the company’s March IPO. As detailed in the report, ROCKMINER raised 1,875 BTC, worth roughly $900,000 when sold at the time for an average price of $480 per bitcoin.
Since then, the company has made almost $300,000 in cash and about 820 BTC from hardware sales. Of the latter, ROCKMINER has approximately 200 on-hand remaining.
ROCKMINER detailed a litany of expenses, including hardware development, facility maintenance and personnel costs. The company spent more than $1m on BE200 chips numbering more than 147,000. It paid out $35,000 in salary costs and $160,000 in R&D expenses during the four-month period.
In a statement posted on its official Bitcoin Talk forum post, ROCKMINER elaborated on a wide range of topics related to the company’s past, present and future. It addressed community concerns about the costs incurred during the past four months, saying:
“The main reason that our financial report doesn’t look good is our input for prophase R&D was too much. We paid a lot of tuition. However, we have basically grown now, still need to pay tuition inevitably, but it’s going to be less and less. I firmly believe that we have already gone through the toughest period. Please also give us a little more time. We did not slack off, did not take your money to splurge. We are doing the work.”
BitCrane announces new miner
A new bitcoin ASIC has hit the market as hardware maker BitCrane, based in China, has announced its new flagship mining product, the T-110.
As reported by Bitell, the T-110 is hitting the market as a product pitched to both hobby and larger-scale miners. According to the company’s website, the miner offers an estimated 1.1 TH/s in hashing power, combining two 28nm chips that provide 550 GH/s each. The unit’s power consumption is advertised as about 1100W.
On the software end, the T-110’s controller board supports Linux and provides a CGMiner-based user environment for product management. Cooling-wise, the T-110 sports two internal fans and a liquid cooling system built into the unit. BitCrane says that the T-110 has an ambient operating maximum temperature of 35C.
In a statement, the company said that the product line had been “rigorously tested and tuned”.
Images via Shutterstock, BitCrane, BitFury, ROCKMINER, Stephen Molyneux
Got a cryptocurrency mining tip for future roundups? Contact us.
Disclaimer: This article should not be viewed as an endorsement of any of the companies mentioned. Please do your own extensive research before considering investing any funds in these products.
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Original author: Stan Higgins
The emergence of bitcoin is just one more signal that society has fully moved into the digital age.
Technology has changed the way that we do just about everything in our lives, including the ways we consume data and information.
The days of pencil-pushing to gather and analyse data are numbered if not vanished, and new tools have made gathering, sorting, analysing and visualising enormous amounts of data easier than ever.
Bitcoin, of course, lends itself perfectly to these quantitatively-focused metric tools.
Few things about the digital currency are subjective, and even though nobody knows for certain what drives bitcoin’s price changes, plenty of people have tried their hand at using technical analysis to predict price trends.
Luckily for us, there’s no shortage of companies working with data to paint a picture of the ever-changing bitcoin ecosystem.
These websites provide information on pricing, trading, market capitalisations, blockchain statistics and more.
Here are the nine most helpful bitcoin data resources:
1. Coinometrics
Coinometrics prides itself on its “institutional-level bitcoin data and research”, and the company’s analyses of volatility, price dispersion and currency flows have a refreshingly proprietary feel.
2. Coinmap
For bitcoiners eager to spend their BTC at brick-and-mortar businesses, Coinmap is a godsend. The site has a minimalist design, but is well populated with information on hundreds of retailers that accept bitcoin at their physical store locations.
3. Blockchain.info
Perhaps the most well known resource for analysing the block chain, Blockchain.info has basic information on a number of metrics like market capitalisation, transaction volume, hash rate and more.
In addition to these stats, users can look up every bitcoin transaction on the block chain by searching a bitcoin address to trace where the coins came from and how much BTC is stored at any particular wallet address.
4. Bitcoincharts.com
A user favorite for pricing information, bitcoincharts.com offers a comprehensive look at the digital currency network, with a focus on technical analysis of price trends. The site offers a number of customisations for viewing price charts, and the long term view offers a nice perspective on the currency’s price history.
5. CoinMarketCap
Bitcoin isn’t the only player in the digital currency space. There are a number of altcoins gathering momentum in the industry, and while none rival bitcoin’s $7.7bn market cap, CoinMarketCap keeps an up-to-date record of the market capitalisation of some 462 digital currencies.
6. Bitnodes
Bitnodes is in development for a very specific pupose: to estimate and visualise the size of the bitcoin network. Powered by the Bitcoin Foundation, the site’s tools gather data on all the nodes running the bitcoin protocol version 70001.
7. Wizbit
For those yearning for a more visually focused analysis of bitcoin transactions, Wizbit fits the bill perfectly. The site shows all transactions and newly mined blocks in realtime on an eye-catching spinning globe.
8. Blockr.io
Blockr.io is another block chain-focused site that offers data on the block chains of currencies like bitcoin, litecoin, peercoin and more. The site’s “block explorer” has plenty of data on recent blocks, block difficulty, and estimates of future block difficulty, among other things.
9. CoinDesk
Of course we’re inclined to point out that CoinDesk is not only the world leader in bitcoin news, but also an industry-leading source for data and information on topics like price, venture capital investments and a number of bitcoin network statistics.
Our bitcoin ATM map recently launched as a tool to visualize the ever-growing number of bitcoin ATMs around the world and to provide information for those looking to find a bitcoin ATM nearby.
Data analysis image via Shutterstock
bitcoin dataBlockchainCoinmapData analysislist
The days of pencil-pushing to gather and analyse data are numbered if not vanished, and new tools have made gathering, sorting, analysing and visualising enormous amounts of data easier than ever.
Bitcoin, of course, lends itself perfectly to these quantitatively-focused metric tools.
Few things about the digital currency are subjective, and even though nobody knows for certain what drives bitcoin’s price changes, plenty of people have tried their hand at using technical analysis to predict price trends.
Luckily for us, there’s no shortage of companies working with data to paint a picture of the ever-changing bitcoin ecosystem.
These websites provide information on pricing, trading, market capitalisations, blockchain statistics and more.
Here are the nine most helpful bitcoin data resources:
1. Coinometrics
Coinometrics prides itself on its “institutional-level bitcoin data and research”, and the company’s analyses of volatility, price dispersion and currency flows have a refreshingly proprietary feel.
2. Coinmap
For bitcoiners eager to spend their BTC at brick-and-mortar businesses, Coinmap is a godsend. The site has a minimalist design, but is well populated with information on hundreds of retailers that accept bitcoin at their physical store locations.
3. Blockchain.info
Perhaps the most well known resource for analysing the block chain, Blockchain.info has basic information on a number of metrics like market capitalisation, transaction volume, hash rate and more.
In addition to these stats, users can look up every bitcoin transaction on the block chain by searching a bitcoin address to trace where the coins came from and how much BTC is stored at any particular wallet address.
4. Bitcoincharts.com
A user favorite for pricing information, bitcoincharts.com offers a comprehensive look at the digital currency network, with a focus on technical analysis of price trends. The site offers a number of customisations for viewing price charts, and the long term view offers a nice perspective on the currency’s price history.
5. CoinMarketCap
Bitcoin isn’t the only player in the digital currency space. There are a number of altcoins gathering momentum in the industry, and while none rival bitcoin’s $7.7bn market cap, CoinMarketCap keeps an up-to-date record of the market capitalisation of some 462 digital currencies.
6. Bitnodes
Bitnodes is in development for a very specific pupose: to estimate and visualise the size of the bitcoin network. Powered by the Bitcoin Foundation, the site’s tools gather data on all the nodes running the bitcoin protocol version 70001.
7. Wizbit
For those yearning for a more visually focused analysis of bitcoin transactions, Wizbit fits the bill perfectly. The site shows all transactions and newly mined blocks in realtime on an eye-catching spinning globe.
8. Blockr.io
Blockr.io is another block chain-focused site that offers data on the block chains of currencies like bitcoin, litecoin, peercoin and more. The site’s “block explorer” has plenty of data on recent blocks, block difficulty, and estimates of future block difficulty, among other things.
9. CoinDesk
Of course we’re inclined to point out that CoinDesk is not only the world leader in bitcoin news, but also an industry-leading source for data and information on topics like price, venture capital investments and a number of bitcoin network statistics.
Our bitcoin ATM map recently launched as a tool to visualize the ever-growing number of bitcoin ATMs around the world and to provide information for those looking to find a bitcoin ATM nearby.
Data analysis image via Shutterstock
bitcoin dataBlockchainCoinmapData analysislist
Original author: Tom Sharkey