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korbit-logo-slim Korbit has announced a $3m Series A funding round, led by Softbank’s VC arm Softbank Ventures Korea. The round included Pantera Capital and BAM Ventures, as well as investors and funds previously associated with the company; Barry Silbert’s Bitcoin Opportunity Corp, Tim Draper, Pietro Dova and Strong Ventures. The first bitcoin-to-Korean Won exchange, Korbit had previously received a seed funding round of $400,000 in January, which brought its funding total at the time to $600,000 in angel investing overall. Although it offers an English-language version of its website, Korbit’s services are targeted at the Korean domestic market. CEO Tony Lyu told CoinDesk how Korbit intends to use the extra funding, saying that it will be reinvested to improve the quality of the company’s products and services. Lyu added: “Our product line spans multiple areas – bitcoin wallet, exchange and merchant processor – and it takes considerable resources to deliver enterprise-grade performance and integration.” Korbit will also seek to acquire new talent with the capital. Venture capitalists praise bitcoin, Korea SoftBank Ventures Korea Partner Kangjoon Ryan Lee expressed optimism in his comments, speaking positively about both bitcoin and its advantages over current payment networks. Lee framed bitcoin as a solution to the high costs imposed by financial intermediaries, saying: “Bitcoin provides big advantages in terms of cost savings and ease of use compared to traditional currencies and credit cards. I expect bitcoin to create meaningful markets in payments and international remittance. Going forward, bitcoin can play a role in wider variety of industries, for example enabling machine-to-machine transactions or acting as a platform for smart contracts.” Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead expressed the reasons for his company’s interest in Korbit and Korea in a statement, citing the fact that South Korea has historically been an early adopter of digital goods. Morehead continued: “The government supports innovation and even the banking foundation is invested in Korbit. Pantera Capital is excited about the investment in Korbit and confident that bitcoin will thrive in Korea because of its early adoption of innovative technologies and abundance of technical talent.” Korbit gains traction in Korea Korbit offers a bitcoin wallet, merchant payment processing service and a bitcoin exchange. In March, it launched a cryptographic proof-of-reserves system called BitTrust, where users can register to verify their account balances are stored as claimed. The company says it has signed up 25,000 individual users to its consumer services, and more than 400 merchants to the business-oriented Korbit Pay. The company’s clients include offline merchants such as Nescafe (coffee) in Gangnam and Natuur (ice cream) in Pangyo, while its online merchants include Hanintel (lodging reservation) and News Peppermint (news translation). South Korea has a relatively small but growing bitcoin user community, driven mainly by online payment services that aim to satisfy the country’s large young population of online shoppers and gamers. The country’s two largest bitcoin companies, Korbit and Coinplug, are engaged in healthy competition to bring a number of sophisticated bitcoin services to market, including mobile apps, merchant software and an ATM. Images via Korbit AsiaKorbitSouth Korea
Original author: Jon Southurst

shutterstock_147954134 New York’s proposed bitcoin regulations have been the subject of increasing criticism in recent weeks, with a wide variety of industry leaders coming forward to criticize the laws for their lack of clarity and for putting up unnecessary obstacles to the ecosysem’s future growth. One element of the BitLicense proposal that has proved controversial is how it could be interpreted as applying to the developers of the more than 400 alternative digital currencies currently in circulation. For example, the draft rules published by the NYDFS stipulate that the regulations apply to all individuals and companies who engage in ‘virtual currency business activity’, a definition that includes the act of ‘controlling, administering or issuing a virtual currency’. While the proposal and its implications are still being evaluated in an extended comment period, the rapidly expanding altcoin ecosystem believes it could face future pressures should it be made to comply with the regulatory framework. With this in mind, CoinDesk reached out to a number of leading altcoin developers and communities for comment on how they view the proposal and how they believe they would be affected by the laws. Criticism widespread While many developers had their own insights into the scope of the regulatory framework, nearly all agreed on two points – that the cost pressures that could arise from the BitLicense would be magnified for alt projects, and that it will be nearly impossible for New York to regulate an open-source process. One developer, who wished to remain unnamed, explained to CoinDesk that developers by nature only have so much control of the coins they introduce, stating: “We could change the code tomorrow, but people may decide not to update and keep using the older code and their coins. We can ask, but people ultimately decide, and you don’t have any way to make them update. With the parts that are open source it is quite clear that we don’t own them, but even with closed source parts, we’ve already put them out there for people to download, so we can’t control who accesses them and for what purposes.” Notably, all the altcoin developers CoinDesk spoke with said that regulators would be unable to stop altcoin projects from operating within New York regardless of whether they applied for a BitLicense. Anonymous transaction technologies and projects that utilize solutions like the Tor network, many argued, would make it difficult for regulators to stop such activity. Application to alts unwise Altcoin developers suggested that if the BitLicense is applied to altcoin projects, it would reflect what feathercoin developer mnstrcck called “a misunderstanding of what the technology is at its roots, and what it means”. This argument has been expressed by industry leaders and professionals who have weighed in on the BitLicense debate, and as mnstrcck explained, is indicative of the broader flaws in the NYDFS proposal. Mnstrcck continued: “Coins are issued by the network, and ‘administrators’ are nothing more than contributors. No one has ownership of the underlying technology as it is open source, and licenses dictate that any alterations of the code must be released under similar licensing set-ups.” Adam from the vertcoin development team remarked that the process of interpreting the BitLicense in the context of the altcoin industry could be complicated from a regulatory perspective. He said that developers aren’t running a business – and like mnstrcck, Adam argued that developers are more technological managers than business owners in the traditional sense. Should this definition be applied to alts, he continued, the rules would impact both developers and the communities that establish themselves around a particular coin. He said: “If the interpretation were made such that developers would fall under the definition of a BitLicensee, complying with these regulations would place a cost burden on the development teams of every coin. The cost would ultimately need to be absorbed by the community.” Bryce Weiner, altcoin developer and director of cryptoeconomy engineering for Blockchain Technology Group, said that on a broader level, the BitLicense framework ignores the potential application of block chain technology to use cases beyond finance. As a result, he argued, altcoin developers who want to take the technology outside of finance could face significant challenges. Weiner added: “We do not simply make currencies or coin networks, we employ block chain technology in a variety of use cases and not just financial applications. Any legislation that ignores the uses of a block chain outside of finance is simply irresponsible.” Addressing consumer risk When asked if the altcoin market needs broader consumer protections – ostensibly the goal of any BitLicense or similar framework applied to that space, developers were split on the need for such rules. Dogecoin founder Jackson Palmer told CoinDesk that in recent months, the rise of scams involving pump-and-dumps and initial coin offerings (ICO)s has created anxiety that could be addressed by regulation. On the other hand, he argued that investors and traders have an obligation to do their own research before putting any money into a project they may not fully understand. Palmer continued: “It’s the Wild West and I think it’s important that consumers educate themselves before throwing their life savings into crypto vaporware, which is what a lot of people are doing right now. Educate yourself, you can’t expect the government to protect you from every scam artist out there.” Vertcoin’s Adam suggested that regulators should focus regulation on the bad actors in the space rather than developers who are trying to create legitimate block chain networks and build out services. Like Palmer, he noted the rise of altcoin scams and the risk to market participants, and agreed that those who decide to invest in altcoins need to do their homework. Viacoin developer BTCDrak disagreed with the idea that consumer protections for the altcoin world are needed. Arguing that federal-level regulators have already largely weighed in on bitcoin, he questioned the need for the BitLicense at all, saying: “FINCeN, the IRS and the FBI have all said there are already enough laws to cover bitcoin, they dont need any more. So, who is this (unelected) official to think the FBI, IRS and FINCeN are wrong?” Pursuing self regulation Many developers said that a more appropriate alternative to a centralized regulatory framework like the BitLicense would be for the community to come together to develop a series of standards by which project development could operate. Weiner said that a self-regulating organization (SRO) for coin developers could play a role in creating a more positive environment for investors, project leads and everyday users. He explained: “I believe that such an organization should be responsible for maintaining the ethical responsibility a developer has to the individuals that utilize their networks for the transferring of funds, and likewise those individuals that rely upon the set economics within a block chain for trading and thereby the pricing of goods. He added: “Such an organization could then issue exams which certify competence in not only blockchain mechanics, but in the long-term economic implications such economics have upon any given network.” Grassroots initiatives to self-regulate the alt development community have sprouted up, including a project called Proof of Developer. This initiative, while not without controversy, assigns a 1-to-5 rating scale for coin developers based on the amount of personal information they make public about themselves. Alt regulation still uncertain It remains to be seen how the BitLicense could be, if at all, applied to altcoin projects. As many developers told CoinDesk, the diverse nature of the altcoin ecosystem makes it difficult to apply what is largely a financial services framework. Palmer remarked that, in the end, many of the regulations put forth in the NYDFS proposal could be applied to more centralized currencies like those already deployed or soon to be launched by large e-commerce and payments platforms. He suggested: “My hunch is that these definitions are more focused on setting up the long-term ability to regulate folks who decide to start more centralized currencies. By that I mean the PayPals and Amazons of the world who are undoubtedly going to start their own currencies in the coming years to better facilitate online transactions.” New York skyline image via Shutterstock BitLicenseNYDFS
Original author: Stan Higgins

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The Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC) has revealed that it intends to form a political action committee (PAC) to help further the interests of the bitcoin industry in Washington, DC. The government affairs office, led by bitcoin advocate Perianne Boring, first filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) this month to create its committee. The PAC, as reported by The Hill, will enable the CDC to provide campaign donations to political candidates that support digital currency. Boring told the media outlet that the group is at the beginning of the PAC formation process, and that the broader goals of the group are still being established. She said: “We’re in the very earliest stages of setting up.” The announcement positions the CDC to influence a growing part of the US political process, as PACs have come to serve a prominent, and sometimes controversial, role in local, state and national US elections. Tools for bitcoin activism By establishing a PAC, the CDC will be able to put its money to work supporting candidates who are more active on the issue of digital currency. The PAC may donate funds to support bitcoin initiatives and events throughout the US, or even other similar PACs that could form in the future. Such groups are allowed to give thousands of dollars to individual candidates or other PACs each election cycle. Boring told The Hill that the operational scope of the PAC is still being determined, but she said that its agenda will fit into the broader goals of the CDC. Sights on 2015 The latest announcement from the CDC comes days after the group submitted comment to the New York Department of Financial Service on its proposed BitLicense framework. At the time, the group proposed that the NYDFS should put in place exemptions for small businesses and startups in the digital currency space or else risk stifling innovation. Still, Boring noted that the PAC is unlikely to influence any broader US policy in the short term, adding: “We’re just being prepared for next year, is really what we’re doing.” Image via Shutterstock Chamber of Digital CommercePerianne Boring
Original author: Stan Higgins

Screen Shot 2014-08-25 at 1.59.35 PM Cannabis Road is now offline after suffering from an attack that saw hackers abscond with 200 BTC or roughly $100,355 at press time. Users who attempt to access the online marketplace dedicated to cannabis products are now presented with a message from lead developer Crypto detailing the attack and the potential paths forward for the development team. Crypto writes that he discovered the theft at roughly 10:15 AM UTC, after logging into Cannabis Road’s bitcoin wallet and noticing the balance was near zero. He recalls: “At first I thought it was a mistake, until I double checked, and triple checked, only to find out, we had in fact been robbed not 15 minutes earlier!” The developer goes on to reveal the bitcoin address allegedly holding the stolen funds, before asserting that he does not yet know how the money is stolen. Crypto concludes his message by issuing an apology to site users while expressing his current uncertainty over whether the project will be able to continue, adding: “I am deeply sorry that I have failed you as a developer and a leader, and if I can figure out how this happened, maybe you will find it in your hearts to move past this and help us bring Cannabis Road back to life once again.” Multisig employed The success of the attack is particularly notable given that Cannabis Road had moved to integrate safeguards aimed at better protecting user funds through multi-signature technology, an evolution of the traditional wallet offering that introduces an arbitrator to the transaction process. In a May interview with DeepDotWeb, Crypto indicated that Cannabis Road was using a hybrid version of multisig, however, in part to make the technology easier for its customers to use. At the time, he indicated that Cannabis Road had added three levels of multisig in response to a rise in attacks against illicit websites, explaining: “All three levels start off the same, asking for public keys of the buyer, vendor and market to create the shared (multisignature) address. The buyer sends funds to the shared address. Once the buyer is happy, the buyer agrees to finalize the order, this is where the three levels are offered.” Two more advanced levels were added on top of this service, both of which put restrictions on the situations in which users would be asked to send their private keys. Transparency promised Crypto also promises Cannabis Road users that he will share information on the attack as it was discovered in order to provide more information to the broader deep web community. Further, he estimates the damage of the attack to be significant for the online marketplace’s brand, suggesting that whether it continues to exist will be up to the site’s community. Crypto wrote: “I don’t know if Cannabis Road will continue to exist or not at this point, because there may be no reasonable way for us to recover from this.” Notably, the site had suffered an early hack under the care of a previous developer in February. Though no funds were stolen in this attack, the incident did result in a leadership change, with Crypto taking the role of lead developer for the site. cannabis road Illicit markets targeted The setback is the latest for the deep web’s illicit online marketplaces, which have been the target of a number of attacks so far this year. Silk Road 2.0 suffered a significant hack in February during which it lost more than $2.6m in bitcoin in what was perhaps the community’s most high-profile attack. In his remarks, Crypto moved to separate his actions from those that were taken by Silk Road 2.0 at the time, noting that he would not blame “transaction malleability” for the issue and that he now sympathizes with the situation that the site’s lead developer Defcon faced at the time. Silk Road 2.0, however, has since been able to rebound from the event, revealing in late May that more than 80% of the customer funds stolen in the attack had been repaid. Hat tip to DeepDotWeb Cannabis image via Shutterstock CrimeDrugs
Original author: Pete Rizzo

Mt. Gox bitcoin protest Mark Karpeles
Mark Karpeles, the disgraced CEO of defunct bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, has launched a new web hosting service. The service has been dubbed Forever.net and is registered under both Karpeles’ name and that of Tibanne, the parent company of Mt Gox. The company profile says: “TIBANNE Co.Ltd. is a Tokyo, Japan-based corporation founded in 2009 by talented technopreneurs.
TIBANNE specializes in web hosting, IP transit, VoIP, software development and network administration. We are currently engaged in the reserch and development of new and existing services to produce innovative solutions for our clients.” Notably, bitcoin is not mentioned on the website’s pages. Forever.net page Free to talk Although Mark Karpeles has managed to keep a relatively low profile following the collapse of Mt Gox, he is willing to talk about other projects. “Unlike other subjects, I am able to discuss Forever.net,” he told NewsBTC’s Eric Calouro. In an email exchange with Calouro, Karpeles said Tibanne has been in the web hosting business for years. “We’ve been doing this since 2009, and even before founding Tibanne I help found a couple other hosting companies,” he said. Going into details on his new company’s offerings, Karpeles said Forever.net will offer cluster-backed VPS servers with RAID1 on top of RAID 5 physical storage with hot spare drives on standby. Karpeles considering BTC payments Karpeles explained that Tibanne experienced a substantial loss of revenue due to the collapse of Mt Gox, coupled with an increase in legal costs. Now Tibanne is focusing on controlling expenses and generating revenue in an effort to “do its part in the Mt Gox bankruptcy process”, he said “We are also considering accepting payments in BTC/LTC/etc.” said Karpeles. “Tibanne’s other hosting service KalyHost.com has been accepting BTC since Sept. 2010 and generated since then a total revenue of over 13,000 bitcoins.” Karpeles added that Tibanne will soon be releasing a new version of KalyHost.com as well. The collapse of Mt Gox was caused by the alleged theft of about 850,000 BTC, although 200,000 BTC was recovered from an outdated wallet following the collapse. Mark KarpelesMt. Gox
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic

bitcoin mining usb
Consolidation is not uncommon in new, emerging industries and bitcoin mining is no exception. However, like all things bitcoin, it is moving at a somewhat faster pace than consolidation in traditional industries. The sector of the industry is becoming increasingly diverse and competitive as it responds to new challenges, accommodates enterprise-level customers and seeks to improve its existing services for bitcoin’s frustrated hobby miners. For example, the relative stability of the price of bitcoin in recent months is prompting many companies to look for alternative ways of boosting their competitiveness and reducing costs. Likewise, systemic problems with pre-ordered mining hardware – from delays to damaged deliveries – have forced mining companies to develop their existing services. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the industry’s turbulence, mining companies have announced or finalized a number of high-profile acquisitions and investments in recent months, in part to move their businesses to new verticals that might position them for long-term success. Below, we examine some of the recent news events that highlight this trend. GAW’s shopping spree Earlier this month, mining hardware specialist GAW Miners bought a controlling stake in cloud mining provider ZenMiner for $8m. GAW CEO Josh Garza told CoinDesk that the purchase was made following a period of “close collaboration” between the two companies, but a closer analysis reveals its strategic relevance. ZenMiner will provide cloud hashing services as part of a broader partnership between the companies. At the same time, it will give GAW customers the opportunity to have their mining rigs shipped, or to start hashing using the company’s hosting service. GAW also recently bought premium domain BTC.com at a record-making price for the bitcoin industry. It is still unclear what the Connecticut-based company plans to use the domain for, but it is promising to deliver something “amazing”. Still, if Blockchain’s use of bitcoin.com is any indication, GAW could be well-positioned to use the site as a customer onboarding tool. PeerNova spawned by merger CloudHashing and HighBitcoin merged to create a new company called PeerNova in May, in an example of a deal that expands both companies into new verticals. PeerNova will now sell mining infrastructure at an enterprise level, using HighBitcoin ASICs, while CloudHashing lives on as a brand selling mining contracts. Effectively, the move allowed CloudHashing to take advantage of HighBitcoin’s expertise with ASIC hardware design for its consumer mining services, while freeing it from the added cost of addressing its hardware needs through an outside partner. DigitalBTC’s moves toward specialization DigitalBTC, the first publicly traded bitcoin company in Australia, has also seen its market strategy shift. The company was acquired by Macro Energy Limited earlier this year and inked a strategic partnership with CloudHashing.com in March. Under the terms of the agreement, practically all digitalBTC mining operations are managed by CloudHashing. In return digitalBTC handles the sale of CloudHashing’s bitcoin to the market through its trading desk. The move allows both services to specialize in specific needs, while leveraging their shared expertise so that both companies benefits. BitFury seeks market expansion Of course, not every bitcoin company is seeking to secure its future by expanding to another vertical within the mining space. For example, BitFury launched BitFury Capital in July, a VC fund and subsidiary of BitFury Group that will seek to support other segments of the bitcoin market. As a leader in the industrial mining space, BitFury makes millions each month by mining bitcoins, and expanding to this new service may help the company use this money to secure substantial returns. Notably, BitFury Capital recently completed its first investment, investing an unknown amount in an unnamed bitcoin wallet service. In the future, the firm said it would seek to invest in bitcoin startups, peer-to-peer projects and innovations in the field of renewable energy. CoinTerra’s software grab Rather than investing in the long-term growth of another company, some decide to make investments by acquiring a firm for key pieces of software or talent. Last month, CoinTerra scooped up software developer Bits of Proof (BOP), a Hungary-based firm whose protocol can be used for a number of different applications built on the block chain. Quite how this software may be employed is still unclear, but the move still illustrates how bitcoin’s mining firms are increasingly looking to diversify in new and novel ways in order to find a competitive advantage. Image via Shutterstock BitfuryCoinTerradigitalBTCGAW MinersMining
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic

bitgive-foundation
The BitGive Foundation announced today that it has become the first nonprofit bitcoin organization to achieve 501(c)(3) status, meaning the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officially recognizes it as a charitable organisation in the US. This means that any gains made by the foundation will not be taxed, thus directing more money to its supported causes. BitGive executive director Connie Gallippi told CoinDesk that it is about more than just money, however: “It does give us legitimacy with the US government, which has been a huge struggle for bitcoin as far as businesses are concerned.” BitGive is dedicated to improving the public health and environment worldwide by giving funds that it raises to various philanthropic organizations and projects. It accepts corporate and individual donations, and counts BitPay, Xapo, LibraTax and Roger Ver among its founding donors. New campaign and membership scheme Today the foundation also launches two new initiatives: the Founding Donors Campaign and a membership program for individuals. Each is open to donors worldwide. The new campaign is aimed at one-shot donations from larger groups or companies to help get the foundation’s activity rolling, whereas the membership program is being offered to individuals on an annual basis to support the underlying operations of the organization. Furthermore, in the following year, the foundation plans to offer an annual component to corporations and larger donors. Bitcoin trust Gallippi said that the organization’s long-term functionality is to have the equivalent of a multi-million-dollar investment trust, in bitcoin, from which it can give to causes and projects. “We have the resources, we’re evaluating organizations and providing essentially grants,” Gallippi said. “We want to be doing our mission-based work – that’s the whole point – but, until we have built the ‘endowment’, we have to sort of do it in a different way right now.” That way is by running fundraising campaigns for particular projects. However, having secured 501(c)(3) status, BitGive now has the green light to build that fund. In effect, though, the fund will function like an endowment, in that the incoming donations will rise in value over time and the foundation will be able to sustain itself and provide more charitable giving based on those gains. It won’t be an endowment in the technical sense, Gallippi said, explaining that the bulk of funds from endowments have to sit untouched for some time. “Because we’re so young,” she explained, “we’re testing different models out, but we’re constrained in what we can do because we’re still building up our financial resources.” Where do the donations go? Gallippi said that while the investment trust exists, it isn’t yet large enough yet to be funding projects, so BitGive is currently running individual campaigns too. The organization’s current campaign is for The Water Project, and has a fundraising goal of $10,000 in bitcoin. Gallippi said BitGive kicked the campaign off with 2BTC from the main fund and is encouraging the bitcoin community to contribute. Progress is currently beyond 75% of the target so far, she said, adding: “Now that we’re getting close to meeting our goal we’re finding a place to put the funding. They [The Water Project] basically build new wells for schools or for communities in Kenya and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.” In earlier efforts, BitGive helped raised $4,850 in one day for Save the Children‘s fund for the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan. The foundation has also donated 1 BTC to Team Rubicon for Tornado Relief across the Midwestern US. Team Rubicon is a nonprofit organization that deploys veterans for disaster relief. BitgiveCharity
Original author: Tanaya Macheel

gold silver bitcoin
People who knew about bitcoin prior to 2013 tend to fall into two categories: those who had the foresight to buy the currency when it was plentiful and cheap, and those wishing they could go back in time and do the same. Like many others, entrepreneur Joseph Castillo initially passed the industry over for other interests. Castillo first learned about bitcoin in 2009 during the digital currency’s infancy, but was initially unsure whether the concept would actually be successful. A longtime veteran of the precious metals and commodities sector, Castillo, like many people, initially thought bitcoin was silly. So, he chose instead to start a precious metals business, launching Wyoming-based Agora Commodities in 2012. Agora Commodities found success in the industry, accepting credit cards and cash/bank transfers for gold and silver. However, following a conversation with a friend and fellow gold investor, Castillo decided to add bitcoin payments at the end of 2012 to his then-new company. It’s a decision that radically changed its future. Revenue earner Between that date and the beginning of 2014, Castillo’s decision to accept bitcoin generated about $10m in revenue. “What we had to do to protect ourselves against card fraud, we no longer have to do with bitcoin.” This success later prompted Agora Commodities to move in a more radical direction, deciding to drop credit card payments entirely. Castillo told CoinDesk in an interview that, on the surface, choosing bitcoin over credit cards helped reduce payment costs and the risk of card fraud, the latter of which forms a key concern for gold dealers in the digital age of commerce. Castillo also noted the overall positive reaction by his customers, saying, “[The reaction] was generally supportive. Some customers had questions about bitcoin, but nothing negative. This business is built around trust, and once you have a customer, they’re willing to stay with you because they trust you.” Protecting the business Castillo said that, as a small business, the dangers of credit card acceptance, such as chargebacks and fraudulent card use – made it relatively easy to drop the payment method entirely. He explained: “What we had to do to protect ourselves against card fraud, we no longer have to do with bitcoin – and that saves us on costs.” Beyond the practical security advantages of shifting away from credit cards, Castillo noted another curious benefit: removing a somewhat ironic payment method. For Castillo, the purchase of gold with credit doesn’t make sense. By comparison, he sees digital currency’s underlying technical characteristics and the intrinsic value as a worthwhile investment that makes it a payment method worth accepting. Embracing new opportunities Castillo cited interest among his company’s customer base – and broader enthusiasm among the precious metals community – as the driving force behind his company’s move to go even a step beyond accepting bitcoin and removing credit cards. After seeing so much success with bitcoin, Castillo said Agora Commodities now has a digital currency exchange currently in development. While work still continues on the project, Castillo said that the company is collaborating with an existing exchange to build back-end support, with a portal expected to be integrated with Agora’s online store. He explained: “Bitcoin fits perfectly with gold and silver, right? So if people come to the site and want to buy gold and silver, why wouldn’t they want to buy bitcoin from us as well?” This would build on an existing service that Agora is affiliated with, Castillo said. By working with a third party, Agora will soon allow its customers to exchange precious metals for bitcoin. Castillo added that bitcoin fits well into the broader perspective held by precious metals investors, and he foresees broader involvement from gold investors as the digital currency continues to grow in prominence. Images via Agora Commodities  Agora Commodities
Original author: Stan Higgins
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