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As the number of bitcoin-friendly merchants grows, so does the number of items and services users can get for bitcoin. It can now buy you a pricey Alienware gaming laptop, some home furnishings at Overstock or lunch and a couple of drinks in a number of establishments around the world. Here we look at unconventional and cool gadgets that accept bitcoin. They are still few and far between, but they offer a glimpse into the future and demonstrate that digital currencies can augment or even replace cash in the vending machine industry and a few other niches. Smart vending machines have been around for a while, but only a handful of companies have decided to add bitcoin functionality to their designs. Upstate Networks pioneered the concept with its Bitcoin Vending Machine, which was showcased in early 2012.   1. Aeguana vending machine London-based Aeguana is marketing a new vending machine that supports a wide range of payment methods including bitcoin. The machine has a spec sheet that wouldn’t look out of place in the PC of yesteryear. It measures 1000 x 400 x 250mm and weighs 38kg, which is relatively compact for a vending machine. The device sports a 15.6-inch 1366×768 advertising display, stereo sound, optional WiFi and 3G/GPRS connectivity. aeguana-bitcoin-vending-machine So why is it so small? Aeguana insists coins belong in the past, so the machine is designed from the ground up to rely on contactless chip or swipe cards and, of course, bitcoin. Therefore, there aren’t that many mechanical components inside and the final product can be a lot smaller than traditional coin-operated vending machines. 2. American Green ZaZZZ marijuana vending machine American Green decided to integrate bitcoin support into its ZaZZZ vending machine. What sets it apart from the rest of the field is the fact that it dispenses marijuana rather than sodas and candy. zazzzPhoto via Liz Ferron, Montana’s SmokehouseThe ZaZZZ was designed for the US states with a liberal attitude towards marijuana. It was demonstrated in Colorado in April. 3. Bitcoin Kinetics BitWasher California-based Bitcoin Kinetics is developing a vending machine for cryptocurrency users. The company already offers a number of bitcoin machines, including the Bitcoin Kinetics BitWasher, its $1,950 washing machine. bitwasher The commercial grade washing machine is based on a Samsung washer-dryer. The brains of the operation come from Intel, in the form of an Intel Edison board. Bitcoin Kinetics also supplies vending machines, ticket machines, parking meters, ATMs, payment kiosks, personal payment devices and arcade payment devices. 4. Bitcoin Kinetics BitSwitch While we are on the subject of DIY, Bitcoin Kinetics offers a unique product that can transform many machines capable of accepting money into bitcoin machines. bitswitch BitSwitch is a self-installed bitcoin hardware payments system. It is available on Arduino, Raspberry Pi and Intel Edison hardware. GSM, Ethernet, Bluetooth, NFC, RF and WiFi connectivity is available, along with touchscreens and other add-ons. The basic kit, which includes an Arduino board, relay, wires and power supply, costs $55 plus shipping. 5. Liberty Games’ Pirates of the Caribbean pinball machine Liberty Games’ bitcoin pinball machine, inspired by gaming company Stern’s, is reconditioned by Liberty Games technicians with added bitcoin support. The machine is based on a Raspberry Pi board. bitcoin-pinball Liberty Games is not new to the world of bitcoin. Earlier this year the company announced a bitcoin-operated arcade machine and last year it developed a bitcoin pool table, complete with a QR code and LCD screen. 6. BitPumper automated filling station One potential application for bitcoin involves an industry that keeps the world running. Some gas stations have started accepting bitcoin this year, but there is still no dedicated hardware for this niche. This basically means you can fill up for bitcoin in Colorado or in Malaysia, but you have to pay for your gas at the counter elsewhere. Although a fully automated bitcoin filling station has not been deployed yet, Bitcoin Kinetics is developing one. bitpumper BitPumper is based on the company’s BitSwitch and it can be retrofitted to existing pumps by attaching a relay board and a controller board. When the customer makes a transaction and it is verified the hardware starts pumping the fuel. The system is not available commercially yet. vending machine
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic

Amidst bitcoin’s disruption of the online payments industry, heated debates over pending regulations and the slow and steady expansion of bitcoin ATM locations, it can be easy to lose sight of the widespread impact bitcoin, and more importantly, the technology behind it, is making beyond digital money. In yesterday’s roundup, we gave a broad-scale overview of Crypto 2.0 with insight from the emerging sector’s major players. Today, we’ll look at the recent news in the space to illustrate how this sector of industry is seeking to move bitcoin forward. Counterparty launches multisig functionality counterparty Peer-to-peer decentralized exchange Counterparty has introduced support for multi-signature (multisig) addresses, including 1-of-2, 2-of-2, 1-of-3, 2-of-3 and 3-of-3 multisig addresses. Beyond adding extra security to accounts and transactions, multisig allows any Counterparty transaction to be tied to multiple signers. Counterparty co-founder Robby Dermody explained: “In the real world, quite often, you don’t have one-party ownership. There are often intermediaries. This is where, up to this point with block chain technology, there’s been some isolation from real world interactions.” With the new feature, Counterparty users can include escrow agents, auditors or other third-party certifiers in transactions. Dermody provides a simple example of this implementation where a gold asset representing the physical ownership of a gold bar is traded between two parties on Counterparty. With multisig, a third party could serve as an escrow that will release, the gold asset to the buyer only when its confirmed the buyer has received the physical gold. Dermody added: “It takes us one step closer to the holy grail of smart property. I think people in the space oftentimes think we don’t need these archaic tie-overs. But even if you did have smart property, unless there is some sort of built-in intelligence, you are still going to need the intermediary frame, and multisig makes that possible.” Multisig is currently available on Counterpartyd (Counterparty’s command-line input interface) and on Counterparty’s Testnet. Dermody expects multisig will be available in Counterparty’s GUI interface Counterwallet in one or two months. Storj completes first round of crowdsale storj Storj, a decentralized data storage platform built on top of the bitcoin block chain, concluded the first round of a three-phase crowdsale on Tuesday, raising 910 BTC in exchange for 35m Storjcoin X. Following the announcement, CoinDesk spoke to Shawn Wilkinson, Storj’s founder, who illustrated how the money will be used, saying: “Mostly we’ve been focused on coding and now we are beginning to focus on documentation. Our primary concern at the moment is explaining to people how we are doing things. The crowdsale allows us to do that more easily now, and also hire more people to work on the specific [Storj] applications.” Those specific applications of the Storj platform are Metadisk, which allows people to buy computer storage space from a decentralized network, and DriveShare, which allows people to sell their free hardware space to the network. There is a prototype for Metadisk running now, which allows uploads of images, audio, and video to the network. Wilkinson says the team is currently working on getting payments integrated into the Metadisk platform. Wilkinson went on to say that there has been a lot of demand for them to release DriveShare. The company is planning a staggered release for DriveShare once it is ready for beta testing. He concluded: “Our idea is that you should build your network one step at a time instead of releasing the whole thing at once and seeing where it goes. Our process is gradual. Push something out, fix it, release it again. Push something out, fix it, release it again.” BTER hacker returns stolen NXT bter The hacker who stole 50m NXT from the China-based BTER exchange has returned approximately 85% of the stolen digital currency, according to the NXT blockchain. CoinDesk previously reported on 15th August that approximately $1.65m (at press time) worth of NXT had been stolen from BTER by a hacker, now revealed to operate under the handle “thesircom”. BTER did not respond to requests from CoinDesk to determine the price it paid for the returned coins. According to earlier reports, BTER initially agreed to pay thesircom’s ransom request, but thesircom became frustrated with how long BTER took and stopped responding to communication. Meanwhile, the NXT core developers gave the community the option to expunge the bad transaction. If 51% or more of the people running the NXT client decide to run the update released by the core developers, the bad transaction would be expunged from the NXT block chain. This did not happen, and BTER was forced to pay the hacker. NXT is a second-generation cryptocurrency built to handle large amounts of data that launched its Asset Exchange in May. Sergey Nazarov, the creator of the Secure Asset Exchange, which allows anyone to securely trade assets on NXT’s Asset Exchange, explained to CoinDesk that NXT is not intended to replace bitcoin, but exist alongside it. “NXT is really a complement to bitcoin,” Nazarov tells CoinDesk. “Allowing us to easily put valuable data like asset ownership into a block chain is what will lead to that data being transacted around in bitcoin.” MyPowers announces comedian coin mypowers CoinPowers announced its new name MyPowers in addition to introducing a new artist coin for comedian Aries Spears at last weekend’s Cryptolina Bitcoin Expo in Raleigh, North Carolina. MyPowers is a marketplace for premium access rights. It allows artists, organizations and brands to create digital coins, which fans in turn can purchase for access to an in-depth brand experience. For example, a musician could issue a coin that gives owners early access to new songs, backstage clearance at concerts and the ability to vote on things like what dress he or she should wear to an upcoming awards show. “MyPowers wants to take brand equity and turn it into an asset,” says co-founder Aaron Gatti. Unlike a traditional fan club, Gatti explains, this new kind of premium access is tradable. Coins can be bought and sold like any other digital token, meaning as a brand or artist becomes more popular and premium access to that brand becomes more desirable, a coin’s value could increase too. MyPowers’ first coin, musician Tatiana Moroz’s TatianaCoin, launched Counterparty through a 30-day crowdsale in May. Aries Spears Coin will be MyPowers’ second release. It will be followed by a brand coin for Canadian clothing maker Potential Apparel, a coin for the 2014 BitFilm Festival and more. Ether crowdsale nears completion ethereum Ethereum has raised more than 27,600 BTC since its pre-sale of its own digital currency ether began on 23rd July. At current bitcoin prices, that is equivalent to $13.2m. “This puts the total value of ether, including the two endowments, at slightly less than BitShares X, making us already sixth place among all coins,” Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, told CoinDesk, referencing CoinMarketCap.com for current digital currency markets. Buterin also points out that ether is the first coin selling with its exodus being a multisig address, which has driven up the number of coins in multisig by 80% since ether went on sale. Ether will be used in Ethereum’s upcoming distributed application software platform, which will allow developers to build distributed programs on top of Ethereum’s own block chain. On its website, Ethereum states its block chain’s Genesis Block will be released in winter 2014/2015. The crowd sale ends on 2nd September. Image via Shutterstock BTERCounterpartyNXTStorj
Original author: Pete Rizzo

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Given that the design of bitcoin’s peer-to-peer system was partly inspired by gold, it’s not a surprise that many bitcoin enthusiasts are also fans of the precious metal. Both gold and bitcoin are scarce commodities used as stores of value by those who might be distrustful of fiat currencies. The bitcoin community has long been interested in courting gold users – Ripple, for example, recently introduced gold trading to its platform. Even so, gold enthusiasts have not always been bitcoin champions. Some even go so far as to vocally oppose bitcoin as an investment vehicle. Schiff’s stance One notable gold enthusiast and bitcoin skeptic is Peter Schiff, whose precious metals company Euro Pacific Precious Metals accepts bitcoin payments for gold. Schiff has continued to speak out about what he feels is the lack of long-term potential for bitcoin. He told CoinDesk in May: “I still don’t feel that any of these digital currencies are likely to survive long term.” Schiff isn’t alone in his belief. And he doesn’t think his anti-bitcoin stance hurts his company’s chances finding customers in the market for converting BTC into gold market. Euro Pacific’s main selling point, according to Schiff, is that bitcoin investors can unload some of the digital currency for gold in case of a precipitous price drop. The radio host added: “What if it goes down to $100 or lower? Maybe it will. People can take some risk off the table by buying some gold or silver.” It remains to be seen whether Schiff will be right or wrong in the end. That’s why it is important to compare bitcoin and gold in terms of price stability and taxation in an attempt to showcase how bitcoin could surpass gold as a popular investment. Stability issues It’s important to establish why bitcoin users believe the digital currency could take the place of gold in the global market. One of the main reasons is because some see bitcoin as an investment without the common pain points associated with gold. In addition, significant investment capital pouring into the bitcoin market could make it more valuable than gold. The high-water mark for those who share this value belief took place on 29th November, when the price of bitcoin on then-operational Mt Gox exchange reached a high of $1,242, trading two cents above gold’s $1,241.98 at the time. Gold and BTC prices were at similar levels at the end of 2013. Source: George LeongGold and BTC prices were at similar levels at the end of 2013. Source: George LeongThat price similarity was short lived, however. Soon after the start of 2014, bitcoin’s price fell due to uncertainty in the Chinese market  – along with the collapse of Mt Gox. Despite a brief correlation in price, high volatility is the reason some still think that most gold bugs don’t believe in bitcoin as an investment. Bitcoin prices this year. Source: CoinDeskBitcoin prices this year. Source: CoinDeskGold prices fluctuate too, but not as much as bitcoin has this year. BTC has seen an over 62% drop in 2014 after hitting a high of $951.39 in early January down to $360.84 in April. Gold prices this year. Data from Quandl.Gold prices this year. Data from Quandl.Despite fears of instability, Timothy Coles, a gold investor who is selling his Canadian gold mine that generates $1m annually for BTC, told CoinDesk he thinks the decentralized currency is less susceptible to the whims of banking forces. Coles said: “People that have gold really have no control over the direction that [it] goes.” Gold, bitcoin and taxes Convincing gold enthusiasts that bitcoin could prevail long term requires rethinking of long-held beliefs. Many investors in scarce metals, for example, believe no matter what may happen in terms of the economic realities, the scarcity of gold will continue to hold its value. Michael Deblis, a tax attorney who specializes in gold investments, noted that investors to turn to gold given its history of security. He said: “Many taxpayers store gold in private accounts offshore in many different countries. There is proliferation [of that] in recent years because of uncertain global economy.” Bitcoin also has an advantage in that its US tax status is currently more favorable than holding gold in offshore accounts. In 2013, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) established a new form that taxpayers with financial accounts outside of the US must submit to the IRS. It’s called a report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or FBAR – with rules that require reporting gold holdings. This, along with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FACTA, overseas reporting requirements are one likely influencer for foreign-residing Americans to increasingly give up passports – and US citizenship.  Source: BloombergSource: BloombergThis makes bitcoin advantageous, at least for the time being. Deblis said a recent conference call held by the IRS confirmed there were no reporting requirements for bitcoin on 2013′s FBAR. However, the agency is reexamining virtual currencies, meaning there could be some changes to that in the future. In the end Anyone who has been watching the bitcoin markets since the demise of Mt. Gox has probably seen more stability than perhaps ever before. Yet relatively shallow bitcoin order books on various exchanges could still pose a problem if large buyers or sellers want to make waves in the market. Many large bitcoin investors, however, use more institutional-grade vehicles for the bitcoin, including companies like Vaurum and Second Market. There are also new tools coming out to help hedge against volatility – Coinapault’s Locks is an example of this – and there will likely be more complex instruments available to investors in the future. The tax issue for bitcoin is still evolving. The IRS has ruled it property for now, which has been applauded by investors and other experts in digital payments. The ruling as it stands can be interpreted as bitcoin being digital gold, and gold analog bitcoin. Based on tax attorney Deblis’ understanding, it’s still an iterative process for the IRS. But he believes that the IRS property designation for BTC should stand. He added: “I think a very compelling argument can be made that [bitcoin] is so distinct from any type of a typical banking situation that it is property and should not be treated analogous to money that is deposited in financial institutions.” Gold bars image via Shutterstock GoldVolatility
Original author: Daniel Cawrey

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Gold has been used as a store of value for eons, thanks to its beauty and almost magical ability to never tarnish. Furthermore, despite radical shifts in human values over the past 100 years, its worth still has not diminished – even soaring to over $1,000 an ounce in recent times. Now, though, there is a new, digital challenger on the scene that, when its price chart is compared with that of gold, bears some striking similarities It’s no wonder, then, that companies like Netagio now allow people to trade bitcoin for precious metals like gold – it is a sign that investors want the ability to trade BTC seamlessly with other investment vehicles. In a sense, bitcoin could be considered an upgrade from gold. Some even consider it as gold with transformational, information-like properties. Long-term runup of gold vs. the short-term runup of BTC. Source: MyBankTrackerLong-term run-up of gold versus the short-term run-up of BTC. Source: MyBankTrackerDigital gold with a twist George Gilder, author of the forthcoming book Bitcoin and Gold: The Information Theory of Money, is impressed with bitcoin and has developed a well-thought argument for bitcoin as a sort of ‘next-generation gold’. That’s because bitcoin builds upon the properties of gold and has spawned an information-based variation, he said. Gilder told CoinDesk: “Satoshi [Nakamoto] was right with bitcoin. That’s what amazes me. Satoshi arrived at a foundation for the value of bitcoin that’s valid.” Gilder sees economic uncertainty as advantageous to bitcoin, a fact evidenced by the increasing interest in bitcoin observed in Argentina and other countries hampered by volatile fiat currencies. The decline of the Argentine peso versus the US dollar. Source: exchange-rates.orgThe decline of the Argentine peso versus the US dollar from 2013 to 2014. Source: exchange-rates.orgAs an example, Gilder believes that increased government control of money, such as capital controls or quantitative easing, means more uneasiness in terms of economic sentiment. “The more money [governments] print, the more uncertain the people become,” said Gilder. “Bitcoin is based on the understanding that the money supply doesn’t really matter.” Adrian Ash, the head of research at BullionVault, a gold storage company, pointed out: “Digital gold currencies have been tried and failed many times in the last 20 years. They came to nothing thanks both to state resistance, but also to lack of adoption.” However, it’s safe to say that bitcoin has progressed further than its failed predecessors. That may be, though, because previous electronic money alternatives like E-gold were backed by gold, and not by cryptographic keys. As a result, bitcoin might be the first to offer a substantial alternative that would appeal to gold enthusiasts. Role as a currency Another characteristic of bitcoin that makes it seem like an upgrade over gold is its protocol that allows value to be moved quickly around the globe. Regardless of how supportive gold enthusiasts are of their favorite store of value, there’s no denying it has limited appeal to mainstream consumers. Bitcoin adoption by the average person remains a hurdle to overcome to ensure success, but the digital currency’s combination of novel innovations might allow it to complement existing methods of exchange. “[The] chicken-and-egg situation [of adoption] might be resolved by bitcoin’s most exciting aspect – zero-cost exchange of value,” said Ash. Along with adoption as a means of exchange, bitcoin could become a very useful currency, commodity and recording mechanism via its block chain. According to Gilder, the problem of velocity, or how much people spend a thing of value, is what will ultimately make bitcoin a success. Or a failure. Gilder said: “Velocity is what determines value. Not just printing money. Satoshi [Nakamoto] has an absolute 21 million bitcoin limit. Bitcoin is determined by velocity, by turnover rate governed by the people holding the coins.” Bitcoin might be an iteration of gold – a 2.0 version. People can hold stores of it, as well as spend it – a property that gold cannot compete with. “It’s important to note that gold isn’t used as currency anywhere today,” said Ash. Given that even Ash concedes this point, bitcoin’s long-term success may lie in adoption. In other words, whether bitcoin is able to triumph and replace gold will lie with its peer-to-peer network, and just how large this base of bitcoin believers becomes in the years ahead. Bitcoin believers It’s hard to tell how many bitcoin users there really are. New bitcoin products and services are seemingly announced every day, and Mary Meeker’s presentation of bitcoin’s growth via the use of a chart showing the number of wallets in use (see below) shows there is traction. While wallet use is growing, it’s not a one-to-one correlation – or even if many of the newly created wallets actually have bitcoin in them. It does show increased awareness overall, however. Source: CoinDeskSource: CoinDeskHowever, it can be argued that gold investors will have to see the promise of bitcoin over the precious metal not only as a store of value, but also as a spending and transactional innovation. The rise of consumer services continues, and energy focused on that particular sector of the bitcoin economy is notable. For instance, in Canada, there are a number of options for people to buy or sell bitcoin. Not only do residents of Canada have access to an established exchange for the Canadian dollar, there are storefronts and even bitcoin ATMs available in most major cities. Access to bitcoin for gold investors is the best way to prove the value of bitcoin to this subset of the market, and this is especially true in the US market. In a poll conducted by Harris Interactive in December 2013, when bitcoin prices were at their all-time pinnacle, the majority of people still didn’t even know what bitcoin was. And, likely because of this, they indicated that they would much rather invest in gold over bitcoin. Harris poll question: Would you rather invest in gold or bitcoin? Source: CoinDeskHarris poll question: Would you rather invest in gold or bitcoin? Source: CoinDeskThe key to bitcoin as a new form of gold is to improve upon the precious metal. And that means making the most of its transport and currency capabilities. For this to happen, an increase in awareness is needed  – and some proponents of gold already understand this fact. Companies like the UK’s GoldMoney have been offering bitcoin as a storage option along with gold for some time. Furthermore. investment broker and author Peter Schiff, while making waves about his insistence that bitcoin could become worthless, is still nevertheless accepting it at his company, Euro Pacific Precious Metals – a fact that should make gold investors take the digital currency a little more seriously. Gold information image via Shutterstock Gold
Original author: Daniel Cawrey

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What’s happening in the world of mining? As recent coverage suggests, the network is beginning to see a steadily rising hashrate as mines around the world get started and begin generating bitcoins. It’s not just the big companies – small operations using state-of-the-art chips in super-efficient data centers are also moving to mine their share of bitcoins. And between all that activity, the bitcoin mining community continues to develop, grow and discuss the issues of the day. Gavin Andresen talks bitcoin “backbone” project Gavin Andresen In a new post on the Bitcoin Foundation blog, chief scientist Gavin Andresen discussed the recent work of bitcoin core developer Matt Corallo. Corallo’s new project, which Andresen called a “bitcoin backbone project”, involves the construction of a global network of servers aimed at providing miners with a quick, low-latency means of connecting with one another. Andresen said that the initiative hopes to improve connection speeds for both solo miners and pool owners, writing in the blog post: “If you own a mining pool or are a solo miner, you should connect to Matt’s backbone network; your blocks will propagate faster to the rest so you are less likely to lose block races. And you are more likely to hear about new blocks sooner, so you waste less time building on an old block.” He added that network participants outside of those demographics have little to gain from syncing with Corallo’s network, saying that it would result in higher bandwidth consumption. Beyond the infrastructure build-out, Corallo has also developed a block relaying tool that, according to Andresen, helps streamline the amount of data sent for each transaction. The solution reduces the amount of old data sent in new blocks by 95%, which helps alleviate a key problem in the bitcoin network: information bloat. At the end of his article, Andresen addressed the criticism that approaches like Corallo’s encourage centralization. To that point he said: “Anybody can do what Matt has done, and I encourage anybody concerned about centralization to create an even higher-performance backbone network and software.” CoinTerra launches sub-$1 mining contracts Alydian-mining Competition among mining contract firms worldwide has resulted in what some may call a price war, with companies vying for market share in an increasingly crowded ecosystem. Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer CoinTerra, which began offering contracts worth up to 1 PH/s earlier this year, has hit the market with a new offer that is notable for its low cost: a $0.99-per-gigahash contract. In order to receive this deal, you have to sign up for a 12-month, 1 PH/s contract that clocks in at just under $1m. As costly as this may seem in the bigger picture, it reflects the growing bidding war for miner-customers who may be shifting away from home rigs to hosted solutions. In a statement, the company said that the new contract offers are tied to its next-generation mining products, which are set to hit the market in the next few months. With Q4 expected to be a busy time for bitcoin hardware manufacturer, CoinTerra’s new miners will be one of several entrants vying for market share. CoinTerra noted that the company has been seeking to push down internal prices in the past year, saying: “When we were developing the TerraMiner IV last year $3/GH was our target for standalone hardware. Now, just one year later we are able to offer fully hosted mining contracts at a fraction of that price.” Other companies in the space, including PeerNova, BitFury and Hashplex have been seeking to make inroads with cloud-based mining solutions. As the bitcoin network’s resource demands grow and more large-scale miners shift to data center spaces, contracts like these become attractive to some in the community. Cloud mining isn’t without controversy, however. In a recent Reddit post, Gavin Andresen said that many companies in that space could prove to be Ponzi schemes rather than legitimate businesses. Spondoolies Tech moving next-gen miner to market in October SP30-6 Like many other companies in the hardware space, Spondoolies Tech is looking to position itself as the go-to solution for data center-level mining equipment. The Israel-based company is moving aggressively to capture market share in this high-value space, leveraging its near-term success on the SP31 Yukon. Offering 5.5 TH/s in hashing capacity, the Yukon sports 30 ASIC chips in a slimline design. Power-wise, the Yukon draws approximately 1,500 watts at the wall, cementing this product’s status as equipment meant for the seasoned miner. Expected to ship in the second half of October, the self-style mining “beast” will no doubt be put to the test once deliveries begin. In a recent statement, Spondoolies CEO Guy Corem remarked that shipments of the company’s existing product line are on schedule. He noted on the company’s official blog: “For customers who have already placed orders and are awaiting delivery, our priority is to ensure on-time delivery of your machines so you can immediately start seeing ROI. I am therefore very pleased to report that we will meet our original delivery schedule and provide all customers with on-time delivery.” Heating your home… for bitcoins? Mining rig Given the fact that some miners in the community have been operating since digital currency’s infancy, there have been pieces of equipment that, along the way, have stopped being useful for the purpose of generating bitcoins. A recent thread on Bitcoin Talk posed the simple question: what else can your miner be used for? The answers ranged from the pessimistic to the humorous, sparking an interesting conversation about finding uses for then-expensive technology. The immediate reaction for some, as one can imagine, is to use old hardware as a doorstop. Yet others suggested that using a mining rig as a stand-in for a space heater is a great approach to keeping a warm room. While it may not be the most efficient way to provide heat, you can’t deny that generating some bitcoins at the same time isn’t a bad proposition. As one BTCTalk forum member noted: “If you normally have electric heating in your home, you might as well use bitcoin miners instead. All power used by these things ends up as heat, so in that sense they’re just as efficient as a regular heater that uses the same amount of power. Except you also get bitcoins.” Another user concurred on this particular utilization, saying that “I was in a sauna, making BTC and LTC.” Perhaps the most humorous response came from one forum member who plans to keep his or her miners intact for the long term, joking that they might become artifacts of study for future generations: “Maybe thousands of years from now some archaeologist will uncover them and wonder what the hell they were for.” 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. BitcoinTalkCoinTerraGavin AndresenMining RoundupSpondoolies
Original author: Stan Higgins

digital code, world Just when people were getting used to the idea that bitcoin might not be a boom-and-bust fad destined for failure, entirely new applications of the technology have joined digital currency on stage. Crypto 2.0 – also know as cryptography 2.0, decentralized applications, or, popularly, as bitcoin 2.0 – is the application of block chain or distributed ledger technology to things other than digital currency. The block chain offers the ability to facilitate decentralized ownership and store, transfer and process information in a decentralized, programmable way. Many consider that innovation to be the true value of this technology. In May, New York-based investment firm Ledra Capital took to Twitter to crowdsource a list of what kinds of information the block chain could be used for. Currency transactions, of course, topped the list. But, it was followed by things like stocks, bonds, mortgages, land titles, gun permits, contracts, votes, bets, trademarks, data storage, domain names, proof of authorship and much, much more. As Robby Dermody, co-founder of Counterparty, told CoinDesk: “Bitcoin can be used to pay for things like a cup of coffee, but that’s not bitcoin’s ‘killer app’. To the average customer it’s just as easy to pay with their credit card. A killer app would need to offer massive advantages in another area.” A community of developers and entrepreneurs recognize this notion and have been busy building out many crypto 2.0 concepts. Dominik Zynis, the former head of business development at Mastercoin, commented on the significance of this movement to CoinDesk, saying: “We ought to be paying very close attention to crypto 2.0 because bitcoin has redefined how we launch web services. ” Zynis believes crypto 2.0 companies are laying the foundation for a new generation of “secure and scalable Internet applications” that will be more resilient to hacking, fraud, scalability and privacy problems. Bitcoin’s role as a digital currency is still a work in progress, both at the code and implementation level, as well as on the consumer and institutional adoption side. Still, the wider impact of distributed ledger technology is beginning to rapidly take shape. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, illustrated the movement’s broader vision to CoinDesk, adding: “I think now might be the time when we have just enough cryptographic, crypto-economic building blocks to finally make a proper shot at advancing a radically different vision for Internet architecture and society.” Rise of the decentralized exchange A year ago it might have been hard to believe that in just 12 month’s time, a publicly traded company would be openly exploring the possibility of launching a cryptosecurity on a decentralized asset exchange. Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne has been outspoken in his support of digital currency, and he recently told CoinDesk that Overstock intends to figure out how to launch a cryptosecurity so other companies can use their system to raise funds. Overstock published a wiki on 29th July that currently details 12 organizations that have either launched decentralized exchanges or are building them. Among them, Counterparty, NXT and BitShares have exchanges that are operational right now. Counterparty has been live since January, NXT’s Asset Exchange since May, while BitShares platform is only a few weeks old. Each exchange’s implementation differs in various ways, but they all share common features, namely the ability to create and trade user-defined assets without the need for a centralized third party. Company shares are an obvious application of these platform. On NXT’s Asset Exchange, for instance, where more than 220 user-defined assets have already been created, digital currency exchange service Coinomat has issued a cryptoasset that offers shareholders a 1.5% dividend of the company’s weekly profits. This is really an example of a smart contract that is automatically confirmed and processed over a block chain. Other current examples of block chain implementations include the Digital Tangible Trust, which offers a tradable gold-backed cryptoasset. Non-traditional assets are also emerging, like those being created by Mypowers, whose digital tokens allow people to buy and trade brand equity in artists and organizations. Other projects are moving beyond assets, like Pavilion, which is planning to utilize block chain technology to sign and publicly publish contracts. Future goals for cryptoassets include smart property linked to physical assets; imagine a rental car whose key was tradable as a token on a decentralized exchange and downloadable to a fob that would unlock the vehicle. There are also plans to launch what are called decentralized autonomous companies (DACs) – namely by projects like BitShares – which operate autonomously on top of a block chain and earn profit for shareholders. Decentralized applications will hide the block chain Beyond assets, there have been efforts to utilize the block chain as a way to store data. Namecoin, an attempt to create a decentralized domain name registry outside the control of ICANN, was arguably the second implementation of block chain technology after digital cash transactions. More recently, efforts like MaidSafe and Storj have completed fundraising rounds. MaidSafe is attempting to use the bitcoin block chain to create a fully decentralized internet by sharing processing and memory power across a distributed network. Its April crypto-crowdsale notably raised $7m in five hours, although, due to the poor liquidity of the Mastercoin it received, it soon revised that number to $5.5m. Storj completed its crypto-crowdsale on 20th August, raising 910 BTC. The Storj platform offers online storage similar to Dropbox or Google Drive, but does so over a distributed network. Utilizing the bitcoin block chain, Storj allows users to buy available disk space on the network, and in addition, allows users with free storage space to sell it to those in need. Shawn Wilkinson, founder of Storj and a bitcoin developer, noted the value of expanded applications of the block chain, saying: “Essentially you can take the technology from bitcoin, which is a $5bn–$6bn industry, and apply it to an existing area like cloud storage, which is a $150bn dollar industry,” With applications like Storj, Wilkinson points out, you move past things like regulation, public perception, price volatility and the complexity of the underlying technology. Decentralized applications provide a user interface whose back-end could be a traditional network but happens to be a distributed one. Sidechains, treechains and a question of blockchains One important point of contention within the crytpo 2.0 space is what block chain this next generation of implementations should be built on top of. In one camp are the organizations like Ethereum and BitShares that are building their own, entirely new block chains on top of which their platforms will operate. In June, bitcoin core developer Gavin Andresen addressed the Ethereum project in a blog post and suggested that Ethereum’s intentions to create a new proof of work system and currency seemed extraneous at first blush. He wrote: “Bitcoin already provides a global currency and distributed ledger – there is no need to reinvent those wheels. Combining real-world information with bitcoin is where things start to get really interesting.” Alternatively, BitShares has created a distributed ledger using the proof-of-stake mechanism, where the amount of processing a miner performers is equivalent to the amount of stake he, she or they hold in the cryptocurrency. Proof-of-stake helps prevent known risks of proof-of-work, including risk of a 51% attack. Other crypto 2.0 initiative are seeking to adapt the Bitcoin block chain to scale more effectively, be less decentralized and allow for permissionless development. One such effort is through bitcoin core developer Peter Todd’s treechain concept, which Todd is developing while working at crypto 2.0 start-up Viacoin. Side chains are another potential implementation that will allow new features to be added to the existing bitcoin block chain through new block chains that interact with it. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Crypto 2.0 news round-up to learn about the most recent updates in the space. Globe visualization via Shutterstock BitSharesCounterpartyCrypto 2.0 RoundupEthereumNXT
Original author: Alex Brokaw

6 Things Bitcoin Has Made Possible It may be cliché, but perhaps no single word sums up bitcoin quite as well as “disruptive”. Computer scientists have been trying to create secure and sustainable digital cash since the earliest days of the Internet, and until Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper introducing bitcoin was published in 2008, their efforts were in vain. While the public may still be polarized by the digital currency, most people who take the time to learn about bitcoin and the block chain come to realize the significance of a decentralized, trustless network and the impacts it could potentially have in many areas of everyday life. The use cases of such a technology are only beginning to be explored, but the bitcoin protocol has already proven to be a game-changer, allowing its users to do things that had previously been thought impractical or even impossible. Here are six things bitcoin has made possible for the first time: 1. A currency that exists solely in digital space Yes, it’s obvious, but it’s also perhaps bitcoin’s killer app. Previous forays into online-based currencies have resulted in failures like e-Gold or centralized currencies often found in gaming communities, but bitcoin is the first digital-only currency that is completely decentralized to gain significant traction. There are many implications of this, but one key value of a decentralized digital currency is that anyone can create a bitcoin wallet to hold their money, without needing to rely on a bank’s approval or their government’s issued currency. money transfer 2. Rapid and cheap international money transfer It’s no secret that money transfer services like Western Union and Moneygram are flawed. These companies often take days to transfer money across the globe, and they charge a hefty service fee for their work. Bitcoin, on the other hand, allows anybody with Internet access to send any amount of money anywhere in the world, have their transaction complete in minutes, and be charged only a small fraction of the aforementioned companies’ cost in transaction fees. 3. Decentralized smart contracts The notion of smart contracts—contracts that can be digitally created and verified—has been around for years, but is now being approached in a whole new light in the face of bitcoin. Projects like Ripple Lab’s Codius and Ethereum have brought decentralized smart contracts to center stage in the digital currency industry, and the future looks promising for “smart” asset management using block chain technology. 4. Decentralized domain name registration A novel subset of smart contracts that is already providing value through the block chain is the ability to register domain names outside of the jurisdiction of the centralized group Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Namecoin has been the leader in this space, allowing users to register .bit domain names that are not subject to regulations and that centralized domain names may face. The major value in decentralized domain names, then, lies in their immunity to Internet censorship. decentralized domain name hosting 5. Online black markets Just as some of the Internet’s first uses were for taboo purposes, someone along the way realized that bitcoin could be used to anonymously (or, more accurately, pseudonymously) transfer money online. One result was a now-defunct robust marketplace called the Silk Road. When the FBI shut down the online black market, they seized (and subsequently auctioned) 27,000 BTC worth more than $14m at the time of writing. 6. Micropayments that make sense Of course micropayments existed before bitcoin, but the idea of sending amounts less than $1 over the Internet was never taken too seriously, as credit card companies and services like Paypal often charge transaction fees that make micropayments inefficient. While some of the kinks of transaction fees for bitcoin are still being worked out, there’s hope that a truly digital currency will allow people in the publishing industry and beyond to accept micropayments (or donations) for their services. The Chicago Sun Times recently experimented with a paywall that accepted bitcoin micropayments in exchange for access to their website’s content, which led to more than 700 donations in a 24-hour period. Society has seen many of our traditional institutions and operations move from analog to digital, and this shift shows no signs of slowing down. As more innovators continue to explore all of the use cases of the bitcoin protocol, there’s no doubt that we can expect the list of things made possible by the digital currency to expand. Money transfer, domain name images via Shutterstock DomainsmicropaymentsSmart Contracts
Original author: Tom Sharkey

bowl bitpay BitPay executive chairman Tony Gallippi announced today that his company paid for its upcoming college football bowl game sponsorship in bitcoin. The surprise news came at a press conference held by BitPay and the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce to promote the upcoming Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. There, Gallippi revealed that BitPay paid ESPN Events, a subsidiary of the popular US sports network ESPN, in bitcoin in order to secure the sponsorship, a company spokesperson confirmed with CoinDesk. Notably, Tampa Bay Business Journal has estimated that its full contract with the broadcaster is estimated at roughly $1.5m over the course of three years. The event was held at the St. Petersburg Museum, which has announced that it will accept bitcoin as part of BitPay’s wider promotion for December’s main event, joining a list of merchants that includes Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill, Green Bench Brewery Co and Hotel Zamora. In addition to Gallippi, BitPay CEO Stephen Pair and BitPay executive director of the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl Brett Dulaney were also in attendance. The Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl will be held on 26th December. The news is the latest update on BitPay and its work to promote bitcoin through the major televised sporting event. Announced on 18th June, the promotion was widely covered by the mainstream media, including The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated and the editorial arm of ESPN. BitPay further highlighted its plans for the game at The North American Bitcoin Conference (TNABC) in July, appearing at the event with an ESPN representative. The postseason sporting event takes place at the end of the NCAA college football regular season. In lieu of a traditional bracket-style playoff, teams are paired based on their performance in the regular season, before facing off in matches in individual bowl games. In total, 39 bowl games will be held at the end of this year. Disclaimer: CoinDesk founder Shakil Khan is an investor in BitPay. Image credit: Gil C / Shutterstock.com BitPayESPN
Original author: Pete Rizzo
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