Original author: Pete Rizzo
Coin News
The interviews in this article are part of CoinDesk’s wider coverage of the Global Bitcoin Summit in Beijing, which took place 10th-11th May 2014.
As part of a clampdown on bitcoin in China, the nation’s bitcoin exchanges were forced by the authorities to pull out of any official involvement with Beijing’s Global Bitcoin Summit earlier this month.However, CoinDesk was still able to meet with the CEOs of two of the largest exchanges, OKCoin and Huobi, at an off-conference event where they discussed the regulatory climate, bitcoin in China, and their plans going forward.Both OKCoin’s Star Xu and Huobi’s Leon Li are optimistic about bitcoin’s future in China, they said, and see the current regulatory environment as a real, but temporary problem that can be overcome.The CEOs also addressed the Chinese central bank’s concerns regarding excessive price speculation and investor risk, hinting that this may be driving the government’s recent actions and agreeing that exchanges could do more to curb such activity.Star Xu, OKCoin 
Star Xu, CEO of OKCoinXu first got into bitcoin at the beginning of 2012, he said, after seeing the digital currency mentioned on an episode of TV drama series The Good Wife, he said. After falling in love with the concept and researching the topic further, he began trading on Mt. Gox and BTC China later that year. He founded OKCoin early in 2013.“I felt that they could do better,” he said. “So I wanted to found a new exchange.”OKCoin soon found investors, including the $10m it received in Series A funding from local VC firm Ceyuan, followed by investment from Mandra Capital and VenturesLab in January this year.Finding investors that also believed in digital currency was the key, he said:“The most important thing is, your investors should believe you, trust you, and support your business. My investors also believed in bitcoin, he bought a lot of bitcoin himself, and he thought I was the right person to run the business. We made the deal in 10 minutes.”Xu advises other startup owners to be prepared to run their business for two years as they looked for investors.“It’s really important to get the right investors for the right startup,” he said. “They should match beautifully.”Bitcoin startups need to move more slowly, he continued, because they needed to help their customers better understand bitcoin and the risks associated with its use.Banks and regulationDespite the recent regulatory environment in China, Xu said that he still thought his native country was less restrictive than others, which have also seen bank account closures and even arrests of bitcoin exchange operators:“Actually it’s easy to run a bitcoin exchange in China. There are only two exchanges in the US, but in China we have 10 or 20 bitcoin exchanges.”The People’s Bank of China’s policies would “bring a period of hardship”, but, in the long term, the situation would improve, he predicted, since the government has shown some interest in communicating with bitcoin companies.Overseas plansXu’s ultimate goal is to take OKCoin international in some form, either directly or by licensing the company’s technology to other companies:“From the beginning I thought bitcoin is international, this is the reason I love bitcoin. I think the Chinese bitcoin companies will cooperate with overseas startups. I think we need more cooperation than competition.”“We can make more and more customers love bitcoin, and use bitcoin,: he added. “The important thing for all of us, is that bitcoin has no nationality.”Mt. Gox revival?OKCoin’s name has recently been associated with an alternative plan to rescue the defunct Tokyo-based exchange Mt. Gox, challenging the SaveGox campaign launched by Sunlot Holdings Ltd.Under the plan, the exchange would not launch a direct takeover, but assemble a new team leveraging OKCoin’s technology and experience, and make an application to the Japanese bankruptcy court overseeing the case.Xu became interested in reviving Mt. Gox after one of his friends suggested OKCoin could help out with its technology and experience, he said. Trying to resurrect the business and return funds to its customers was important for the whole bitcoin community, he added.Only the court could decide in the end, he pointed out, so his team would have to apply to the Japanese bankruptcy court and await its reply:“It’s very complicated and hard work. It needs maybe one or two years.”Leon Li, Huobi 
Leon Li and Wendy Wang of HuobiLike Xu, Huobi CEO Leon Li is positive about the future of bitcoin in China, in several sectors. There is a lot of trading and mining activity in China, he told CoinDesk, but the surrounding services, like apps and APIs, need improvement.Speculation on bitcoin price had been “too hot” in the past year, and China’s exchanges needed to calm things down, he argued. Many investors were looking to make short-term gains, he said, and that kind of activity needed to be kept in check “for the good of the country”.Future plansAs for the near future in the wake of new central bank restrictions, Huobi said it had a two-stage plan to continue business.The first step will be to move away from direct interaction with the banks and instead interact with a “peer-to-peer network”, in which Huobi would function as a platform for users to trade fiat currency for bitcoins directly with each other.The second step will be to investigate opportunities overseas, although Li did not specify at this stage what those opportunities might be.Beijing skyscrapers image via ShutterstockAsiaChinaHuobiOKCoin
As part of a clampdown on bitcoin in China, the nation’s bitcoin exchanges were forced by the authorities to pull out of any official involvement with Beijing’s Global Bitcoin Summit earlier this month.However, CoinDesk was still able to meet with the CEOs of two of the largest exchanges, OKCoin and Huobi, at an off-conference event where they discussed the regulatory climate, bitcoin in China, and their plans going forward.Both OKCoin’s Star Xu and Huobi’s Leon Li are optimistic about bitcoin’s future in China, they said, and see the current regulatory environment as a real, but temporary problem that can be overcome.The CEOs also addressed the Chinese central bank’s concerns regarding excessive price speculation and investor risk, hinting that this may be driving the government’s recent actions and agreeing that exchanges could do more to curb such activity.Star Xu, OKCoin Star Xu, CEO of OKCoinXu first got into bitcoin at the beginning of 2012, he said, after seeing the digital currency mentioned on an episode of TV drama series The Good Wife, he said. After falling in love with the concept and researching the topic further, he began trading on Mt. Gox and BTC China later that year. He founded OKCoin early in 2013.“I felt that they could do better,” he said. “So I wanted to found a new exchange.”OKCoin soon found investors, including the $10m it received in Series A funding from local VC firm Ceyuan, followed by investment from Mandra Capital and VenturesLab in January this year.Finding investors that also believed in digital currency was the key, he said:“The most important thing is, your investors should believe you, trust you, and support your business. My investors also believed in bitcoin, he bought a lot of bitcoin himself, and he thought I was the right person to run the business. We made the deal in 10 minutes.”Xu advises other startup owners to be prepared to run their business for two years as they looked for investors.“It’s really important to get the right investors for the right startup,” he said. “They should match beautifully.”Bitcoin startups need to move more slowly, he continued, because they needed to help their customers better understand bitcoin and the risks associated with its use.Banks and regulationDespite the recent regulatory environment in China, Xu said that he still thought his native country was less restrictive than others, which have also seen bank account closures and even arrests of bitcoin exchange operators:“Actually it’s easy to run a bitcoin exchange in China. There are only two exchanges in the US, but in China we have 10 or 20 bitcoin exchanges.”The People’s Bank of China’s policies would “bring a period of hardship”, but, in the long term, the situation would improve, he predicted, since the government has shown some interest in communicating with bitcoin companies.Overseas plansXu’s ultimate goal is to take OKCoin international in some form, either directly or by licensing the company’s technology to other companies:“From the beginning I thought bitcoin is international, this is the reason I love bitcoin. I think the Chinese bitcoin companies will cooperate with overseas startups. I think we need more cooperation than competition.”“We can make more and more customers love bitcoin, and use bitcoin,: he added. “The important thing for all of us, is that bitcoin has no nationality.”Mt. Gox revival?OKCoin’s name has recently been associated with an alternative plan to rescue the defunct Tokyo-based exchange Mt. Gox, challenging the SaveGox campaign launched by Sunlot Holdings Ltd.Under the plan, the exchange would not launch a direct takeover, but assemble a new team leveraging OKCoin’s technology and experience, and make an application to the Japanese bankruptcy court overseeing the case.Xu became interested in reviving Mt. Gox after one of his friends suggested OKCoin could help out with its technology and experience, he said. Trying to resurrect the business and return funds to its customers was important for the whole bitcoin community, he added.Only the court could decide in the end, he pointed out, so his team would have to apply to the Japanese bankruptcy court and await its reply:“It’s very complicated and hard work. It needs maybe one or two years.”Leon Li, Huobi Leon Li and Wendy Wang of HuobiLike Xu, Huobi CEO Leon Li is positive about the future of bitcoin in China, in several sectors. There is a lot of trading and mining activity in China, he told CoinDesk, but the surrounding services, like apps and APIs, need improvement.Speculation on bitcoin price had been “too hot” in the past year, and China’s exchanges needed to calm things down, he argued. Many investors were looking to make short-term gains, he said, and that kind of activity needed to be kept in check “for the good of the country”.Future plansAs for the near future in the wake of new central bank restrictions, Huobi said it had a two-stage plan to continue business.The first step will be to move away from direct interaction with the banks and instead interact with a “peer-to-peer network”, in which Huobi would function as a platform for users to trade fiat currency for bitcoins directly with each other.The second step will be to investigate opportunities overseas, although Li did not specify at this stage what those opportunities might be.Beijing skyscrapers image via ShutterstockAsiaChinaHuobiOKCoinOriginal author: Jon Southurst
Original author: Pete Rizzo
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic
From full exchange machines to one-way dispensers, CoinDesk brings you the latest in bitcoin automated service news from around the world.So, it seems the community is settling on ‘BTM’ as the unofficial acronym for bitcoin ATMs – except for Robocoin, that is, which now describes its machines as ‘branches’.While supporting the new term, we’ll continue to use ‘bitcoin ATM’ here for the time being for consistency and Google-ability.The last week has provided another technological buffet of of ATM/BTM installations and news, further proving that bitcoin and the hardware supporting its economy are global and unstoppable.TaiwanTaiwan has had its ice-cream store-based ATM for a while and now its operators have added a multilingual interface for their international clientele.The Lamassu machine now serves customers in English, Italian, German and French. The notable exception is Chinese, which is still in development and planned for release in the near future.#Taiwan’s first #Bitcoin machine now offers multi-language support. pic.twitter.com/EJC2NFkZAE
– Bitcoin in Taiwan (@BitcoinFormosa) 13th May 2014In further news from the company, its second bitcoin ATM is to be launched soon.Glasgow, ScotlandThe country that gave the world liberal economics now is now furthering that cause with a Lamassu ATM, and charging a more than reasonable 0% fee on transactions.CeX, a tech retailer, is promoting its machine as a way to encourage the general public into using bitcoin via a simple way to buy the digital currency at its bricks-and-mortar location in Glasgow.ChinaLast weekend’s Global Bitcoin Summit in Beijing wasn’t just about central bank regulations and mining hardware. Startup BitOcean also demonstrated a pair of active ATMs it has developed in partnership with major exchange OKCoin.
Vancouver, CanadaVancouver has been the spiritual home of bitcoin ATMs since it installed the world’s first machine back in October last year. Now it has another, a Lamassu kiosk owned by Yuri Yerofeyev, a local bitcoin entrepreneur, trader and Director of The Bitcoin Co-op.
The new ATM can be found at 1195 Robson Street, Vancouver, and, going forwards, customers will be able to purchase their bitcoin at an exchange rate of Virtex +5%. For now, though, the rate is +3% as a promotional offer, so get round there pronto if you need some bitcoin.DIY vending machineIf you would prefer to spend a day or so building your own machine and saving some bucks in the process, the Open Bitcoin ATM project is now selling kits for its DIY one-way vending kiosks for $645 to US and Canadian customers.The machine’s clear acrylic case shows you and everyone else just how much fiat currency is being funnelled into bitcoin, although at this stage its note reader accepts US dollars only.
Bristol and London, UKUK company SatoshiPoint says it has a Robocoin waiting in customs to be installed at Superfoods (25-27 St Stephens Street, Bristol), which also accepts bitcoin and has plans for expansion across the country.SatoshiPoint has also been seen unloading other Robocoin machines in London and said it will be launching them officially after the Bitcoin2014 conference Amsterdam, which finished yesterday.London is now on track to rival Singapore as the city with most bitcoin ATM installations.
ATMATMsCanadaMoney Spinnersopen sourceTaiwanUK
– Bitcoin in Taiwan (@BitcoinFormosa) 13th May 2014In further news from the company, its second bitcoin ATM is to be launched soon.Glasgow, ScotlandThe country that gave the world liberal economics now is now furthering that cause with a Lamassu ATM, and charging a more than reasonable 0% fee on transactions.CeX, a tech retailer, is promoting its machine as a way to encourage the general public into using bitcoin via a simple way to buy the digital currency at its bricks-and-mortar location in Glasgow.ChinaLast weekend’s Global Bitcoin Summit in Beijing wasn’t just about central bank regulations and mining hardware. Startup BitOcean also demonstrated a pair of active ATMs it has developed in partnership with major exchange OKCoin.
Vancouver, CanadaVancouver has been the spiritual home of bitcoin ATMs since it installed the world’s first machine back in October last year. Now it has another, a Lamassu kiosk owned by Yuri Yerofeyev, a local bitcoin entrepreneur, trader and Director of The Bitcoin Co-op.The new ATM can be found at 1195 Robson Street, Vancouver, and, going forwards, customers will be able to purchase their bitcoin at an exchange rate of Virtex +5%. For now, though, the rate is +3% as a promotional offer, so get round there pronto if you need some bitcoin.DIY vending machineIf you would prefer to spend a day or so building your own machine and saving some bucks in the process, the Open Bitcoin ATM project is now selling kits for its DIY one-way vending kiosks for $645 to US and Canadian customers.The machine’s clear acrylic case shows you and everyone else just how much fiat currency is being funnelled into bitcoin, although at this stage its note reader accepts US dollars only.Bristol and London, UKUK company SatoshiPoint says it has a Robocoin waiting in customs to be installed at Superfoods (25-27 St Stephens Street, Bristol), which also accepts bitcoin and has plans for expansion across the country.SatoshiPoint has also been seen unloading other Robocoin machines in London and said it will be launching them officially after the Bitcoin2014 conference Amsterdam, which finished yesterday.London is now on track to rival Singapore as the city with most bitcoin ATM installations. ATMATMsCanadaMoney Spinnersopen sourceTaiwanUKOriginal author: Jon Southurst
Original author: Pete Rizzo
Original author: Victoria van Eyk