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kick-boxing-fighting
A number of kickboxers will go head-to-head in London’s iconic O2 venue on Saturday (5th April), fighting for a prize of £5,000 in bitcoin.Some 18 fighters from across Europe are taking part in the Bitcoin Fight Night, which is being held in the indigO2, within The O2 venue.A rather familiar face will also be taking to the ring – broadcaster and bitcoin enthusiast Max Keiser. He’s competing in a celebrity bout against a professionally trained fighter who is a big supporter of Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan Chase.Organiser Patrick Carroll explained:“We originally came up with the idea of a Bitcoin Fight Night while attending a bitcoin meet up group run by CoinScrum in central London.”He said over 700 tickets for the event have been sold so far, but he expects over 1,000 people to show up on the day.“We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone this Saturday and expect it to be the biggest UK-based bitcoin gathering to date,” Carroll concluded.indigo2Free meetupA free bitcoin meetup is taking place at the indigO2 before the fight night, featuring a panel debate titled ‘How Bitcoin Can Fight Back Against the Hackers’.The panel discussing the issues faced by digital currency will be chaired by bitcoin fan and co-founder of feathercoin Chris Ellis and will comprise of:Ben Dyson – bitcoin sceptic and founder of Positive MoneyGreg Davies – head of behavioural finance at Barclays PLCGautam Dhillon – founder of the Treasury Outsourcing Company and former employee of Lloyds Bank & JP Morgan ChaseMichele Seven – freedom advocateKristov Atlas – philosopher, computer scientist researching bitcoin security and author of Anonymous Bitcoin.Josh Walker ­­– bitcoin and maths enthusiastThe panel discussion will begin at around 15:00 (BST), with the fight night starting at 19:00 followed by a VIP after-party at 22:30.Tickets are priced from £29.75 – £45.75, but those who attend the CoinScrum event are entitled to half-price tickets (£15) and entrance to the VIP party if they RSVP before the event.SponsorshipThe event is being sponsored by Firestartr.co, which provides seed-stage capital and aids startups in their early stages.Firestartr.co is increasing its activity in the digital currency space and recently led the Bitstamp audit, which required the creation of the largest single bitcoin wallet and transaction in history.Cécile Baird, head of operations and portfolio at Firestartr.co, said: “In order for bitcoin to grow stronger, it’s weaknesses needs to be tackled. The CoinScrum panel event will confront the tough issues that need to be solved.”“Thanks to the location and support we can reach out to a wider audience beyond the bitcoin community and include sports fans too,” she added.Kickboxing image via Pius Lee / Shutterstock.comCoinScrumSport
Original author: Emily Spaven

bitcoincode
Crowdsourced IT security startup CrowdCurity has created a new bug bounty programme with a unique twist.Titled Capture the Coin, the programme is inspired by the well-known capture the flag game, and aims to reward security researchers for locating private bitcoin keys hidden within the front-end of web platforms.CrowdCurity is testing the idea on its own website to start with, and is kicking it off as a competition with bitcoin for prizes.Jacob Hanson, CEO of CrowdCurity, told CoinDesk:“We find it an interesting approach to basically test the security of our own platform.”How it worksFor the contest, CrowdCurity created three paper wallets that store the bitcoin offline. Each is in different amounts, based on the perceived value of the possible security intrusion that the vulnerability represents.The private keys to those wallets, however, are hidden within their website’s code awaiting discovery – for those with sufficient skills.There are three different rewards: the 1.5 BTC Nakamoto Reward, the 1BTC Dorian Reward and the 0.5 BTC Scytale reward. furthermore, each has its own clues to aid the researchers, which are detailed on the company’s blog.Each reward is for a very specific vulnerability, making this a rather different bug bounty programme than normal. For example, Google’s bug reward scheme has a chart it uses to calculate rewards.CrowdCurity wants to experiment with a more competitive reward style with Capture the Coin.Said Hansen:“[With bitcoin] you can put a monetary value on vulnerabilities. Most companies give away prizes based on levels, but Capture the Coin offers better granularity and adjustments for rewards programs.”Monetizing vulnerabilitiesIn the differing bitcoin amounts, CrowdCurity has set a specific a value for vulnerabilities of differing hardness levels. For example, the first place 1.5 BTC Nakamoto Reward should be one that’s a significantly tougher nut to crack, since only CrowdCurity should already know about it.Hansen believes that creating a marketplace for vulnerabilities by using private keys for bitcoin wallets could change the way that security researchers compete in bug bounty programmes:“We have different amounts in each of these different private keys. The different amounts correspond to the criticality of the bugs that the company actually sees in the system.”And if someone finds the private key, possession of the wallet is instant. There’s no waiting for someone to decide on a reward like in regular bug bounty schemes.Security transparencyThe block chain’s ability to publicly display all transactions means that, in theory, future security systems using Capture the Coin-style cryptocurrency rewards could offer more transparency.Hansen says the block chain is, “an intrusion detection system where we can monitor bitcoin addresses and see if private keys are being used”.Most intrusion detection systems in IT security are passive in nature – designed to wait for a certain threshold to be violated, and then a warning notification is issued.With block chain-based transaction monitoring, a more reactive system might be possible to quickly mitigate an intrusion.Explained Hansen:“Being able to monitor movements on [a bitcoin] account is actually a very reactive system. You can build a certain chain of reactions once you see a certain movement take place [on the block chain].”Never 100% secureCrowdCurity’s main business strategy has been crowdsourcing IT security rewards to get results, instead of paying expensive consultants for time, which it views as a disruptive industry approach.The latter is a model that the company says many bitcoin companies are using, which make up around a half of CrowdCurity’s current customer base.No business is ever completely protected against security threats, and because thefts and security breaches are on the rise, innovative methods to help thwart intruders are necessary. 53% of mid-size and larger businesses spent more on security in 2013. Source: TechTarget53% of mid-size and larger businesses spent more on security in 2013. Source: TechTargetCapture the Coin is CrowdCurity’s test to see how bitcoin can help harden front-end web security as part of its business.“Hopefully in the future we will be able to provide this as a service to customers,” said Hansen.Cryptocurrency-based securityUsing cryptocurrency to incentivize and make security issues more transparent seems like a logical extension of CrowdCurity’s crowdsourcing business model.Private keys for bitcoin wallets embedded in websites could end up being used as ‘honey pots’ – an IT security tactic designed to entice possible thieves in order to track down them and catch them in the act.And the tracking method for this honey pot could use the power of the block chain’s ledger, something that has not been possible before.Said Hansen:“Now we have programmable money. And you can do this kind of stuff in security that could not be done earlier.”“You can’t do this with PayPal. You can’t do this with regular money. It’s very, very interesting,” he added.Bitcoin code image via ShutterstockbountyCapture the CoinCrowdcurityhackinghoney potIT security
Original author: Daniel Cawrey

soccer
In a ground-breaking move, Californian soccer team, the San Jose Earthquakes, will start accepting bitcoin payments in the upcoming US season.The Earthquakes’ president Dave Kaval told SiliconANGLE that fans will be able to use bitcoin to pay for items from the team’s merchandise store and to buy tickets. However, hotdogs and popcorn don’t appear to be on the list just yet.Winning titlesThe ‘Quakes’ are a major soccer team, having already won two Major League Soccer Cup titles back in 2001 and 2003. However, they aren’t the first major US sports team to accept bitcoin. The NBA took that honour in January, when the Sacramento Kings became the first major sports team in the US to accept bitcoin.“In May, we are actually taking bitcoin in our stadium for merchandise, hopefully for concessions as well, but definitely for merchandise,” Kaval told SiliconANGLE.Kaval pointed out that the ultimate goal is to produce a seamless commerce experience using mobile platforms. Concessions will be a bit trickier, as mobile POS systems will be necessary, but sooner or later Quakes fans could be smearing mustard from their bitcoin hotdog on their bitcoin season ticket.Teething problemsSan Jose EarthquakesThe team was apparently forced to push back bitcoin adoption after it ran into problems with two payment processors that went out of business. The Quakes then tapped BitPay.Kaval said his team did a bit of research and decided to use BitPay due to its professionalism and robust payment solutions.Interestingly, the Earthquakes are planning to move to a new stadium next year, which seems to have been a factor in the team’s decision to try out bitcoin payments. The team hope to employ a number of new technologies in the new facility.And, of course, technology sells: it’s good for your image, it garners great publicity and the kids love it. The Quakes were quick to recognise this, along with the Sacramento Kings.Disclaimer: CoinDesk founder Shakil Khan is an investor in BitPay.Soccer Image via ShutterstockBitPaysacramento kingsSan Jose EarthquakessoccerSport
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic

Swedish bitcoin exchange Safello introduced European wide instant payment
Swedish bitcoin exchange Safello is making the push to establish itself as Europe’s leading bitcoin exchange with direct payments now available from 86 European banks in 11 countries.Safello is using the instant SOFORT payment system, meaning there will be no need to wait for an international bank transfer to be cleared into the company’s accounts.“The only way many people were able to buy bitcoin before was via an international bank transfer. But now they can simply do an immediate payment,” Ludvig Öberg, Vice President of Product Development told CoinDesk.“As soon as we get your money, whether it is euro, Swedish krona or pounds, we send you bitcoin. If you send us bitcoin we will send you fiat straight away.”Safello hopes that the speed and ease of a SOFORT payment will open up the market around Europe and introduce bitcoin trading to new customers.Strong backingThe move comes only two months after the company secured $600,000 in investment – much of it from major bitcoin players such as the Erik Voorhees of Coinapult, serial bitcoin investor Roger Ver and Nicolas Cary from Blockchain.info.With such backing, in both finance and in expertise,Safello can be forgiven for talking big. Said Öberg:“We are aiming to be the Coinbase for Europe.”The Safello website will be available in nine local languages and the company hopes to set up local representatives to deal with customer service around Europe in the future.Meeting a needAccording to Öberg there has been a clear gap in the market for a pan-European exchange for some time, and Safello intends to fill that gap as soon as possible.“Currently there is no easy bitcoin reseller that is available for everyone. Rather there are a lot of local players but no one is making it easy to buy and sell local for the whole of Europe,” he said.Safello mapThe 11 countries which will be available for direct payment via the SOFORT direct payment system are: Belgium, Poland, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Austria.Safello already supports the Dutch payment system iDEAL, as well as SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) payments, and will continue to support international wire transfers.Opportunity amid crisisIt might seem like a strange time to make a major bitcoin push, since the cryptocurrency has been battered in the eyes of the general public following the much-publicized Mt. Gox bankruptcy.According to Öberg, however, the Mt. Gox collapse has opened up opportunities for new exchanges like Safello, which transfers the bitcoin to the customers’ wallets without holding any of the BTC themselves. Safello team ATMThe bitcoin ATM bought to market by Safello.Safello was founded in Stockholm in August 2013 and quickly grew to become Sweden’s leading bitcoin exchange.In October 2013, it expanded to trade in the Netherlands, the home country of CEO Frank Schuil, and in December 2013 it made news as it unveiled Sweden’s first bitcoin ATM.Swedish entrepreneurs are already behind such Internet success stories as Spotify, Skype and SoundCloud. It remains to be seen if Safello can join this club of Scandinavian trailblazers.For Öberg the European launch is just the first step. He says he believes Safello is marching towards a “global introduction”.bitcoin exchangesEuropeSafelloSweden
Original author: Jona Kallgren

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The US House of Representatives committee on small business held a hearing on 2nd April to discuss the growing use of bitcoin by the country’s small business owners (SMBs), and the pros and cons that using this technology as a payment option offers the demographic.Entitled ‘Bitcoin: Examining the Benefits and Risks for Small Business’, a panel of experts spoke about the benefits and costs of the use of bitcoin by SMBs, while also touching on hot topics like Silk Road and the recent IRS decision on the tax treatment of digital currencies.Committee Chairman Sam Graves noted in his opening remarks that a great deal of uncertainty remains for small businesses thinking about accepting bitcoin as a form of payment, but that the hearing was meant to increase information about the topic.Explained Graves:“We hope that by providing information about bitcoin, small businesses will be in a better position to know whether adopting bitcoin as a payment system might be a way for small businesses to gain more customers. This hearing will also inform [Congress] Members as we consider implications of policies affecting the use of virtual currency.”In addition, he cited the collapse of Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox and the prevalence of digital black markets which accept bitcoin as barriers for widespread adoption.Overall, Graves struck a cautious tone for the hearing that was echoed by its panel of experts.Bitcoin’s benefitsJerry Brito, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, suggested that the use of bitcoins can help SMBs avoid certain types of payment fraud that can result in significant repercussions, including the loss of access to card networks.Further, he said that businesses can tap into potential new markets simply because they can accept transactions from regions that are not included in current global payment networks.Still, Brito noted that volatility remains a key barrier to adoption, but that he believes the technical aspects of bitcoin do not lend themselves to the currency’s now-infamous price swings.Said Brito:“There is nothing inherent in bitcoin’s design that makes it naturally volatile. Its volatility is likely attributable to the fact that it is a new currency, still in the process of discovering its stable price. Additionally, as a nascent currency, it is very thinly traded and as a result a single large-enough trade can affect the exchange price substantially.”Bitcoin’s risksCapital markets and risk management expert Mark T. Williams of Boston University’s Finance Department pointed out that bitcoin’s position as a payment system – as well as its price – is determined largely by current users.Should these parties decide to move away from accepting virtual currency, “bitcoin [would] become worthless,” Williams said.He also said that, compared to other risky investments worldwide, bitcoin poses a much bigger threat to SMBs who lack the capital or infrastructure to withstand potential losses. Williams said:“It could be argued that small businesses that blindly accept bitcoin are not actually in commerce but are in the high-risk speculative trading business.”Williams, known for his often inflammatory critiques of bitcoin, went on to say that bitcoin is perhaps better used by Wall Street trading firms that have experienced staffs that can handle the associated risk.IRS rulingLater in the hearing, both Williams and Brito voiced support for the IRS decision to designate virtual currencies as a type of property for tax treatment.Brito noted that the IRS looked at the characteristics of bitcoin and judged it as more of a commodity compared to a currency. Looking ahead, he suggested that Congress and federal regulators could create a special tax category for virtual currencies that takes into consideration the extraordinary aspects of bitcoin.Adam White, Director of Business Development and sales at Coinbase, and L. Michael Couvillion, Associate Professor of Economics at Plymouth State University’s College of Business Administration, also addressed the committee.For more information, watch the full hearings below.Part 1:Part 2:bitcoin hearingsCongressmark t. williamsmerchantssmall businessUSA
Original author: Stan Higgins

Coinplug
South Korean bitcoin services startup Coinplug announced this week that it has secured another $400,000 in funding from venture capital firm DFJ (Draper Fisher Jurvetson) Partners’ Tim Draper and his affiliates.Chol Hwan Kim from Key Initiatives Technical Entrepreneur also participated in the investment.This funding is in addition to the $400,000 Coinplug has already received from Silicon Valley investor SilverBlue in November last year.Bitcoin ATM, Gangnam styleAs well as its bitcoin exchange, Coinplug also develops wallet and merchant payment software. Last month it even launched its own two-way bitcoin ATM in Gangnam, Seoul, in partnership with the largest ATM hardware manufacturer outside the US, Nautilus Hyosung.Coinplug’s Richard Yun said the company would use the money to hire more engineers to expedite development of its bitcoin payment solutions. The company is also planning to release English versions of its software around the end of April.Yun added:“Also, the ATM is doing good. Many people are happy to visit, purchase and sell bitcoin. Because of our bitcoin ATM, people changed their bitcoin point of view, they can convert [digital currency] to fiat money instantly.”He promised that Coinplug would reveal more about how much revenue the ATM was generating at a later date, and was interested in selling the technology to buyers overseas.People in Korea were generally becoming more aware of bitcoin and curious about using it, he said, but some had been put off by negative reports in the media about high profile bitcoin company failures like Mt. Gox. The overall mood towards bitcoin in the country “may be neutral”, he explained.Aiming at gamingAs for Coinplug’s future directions, Yun said that Korea’s reputation as a mobile and online gaming haven represented a huge potential market for bitcoin.The company is targeting this market, including massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and K-Pop and K-Drama online payment solutions, as well as general social and e-commerce.Furthermore, the company is developing a secure and user-friendly point of sale (POS) system for both commercial (integrated into the current system) and personal use, which would be aimed at customers both in Korea and overseas.AsiaATMsfundinginvestmentSouth Korea
Original author: Jon Southurst

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Remember when we wondered whether someone would develop a service to help you keep track of the capital gains on bitcoins? Well, now it turns out that someone has – or, at least, wants to. Libra is a new venture that claims it can help you to keep the IRS happy.Launched by Jake Benson, a former SAP HCM Consultant for Cap Gemini specialising in US and Canadian payroll, the service wants to enable individuals, small businesses and large enterprises alike to comply with the new IRS regulations.The IRS notice, announced March 25th, carries significant implications for people using bitcoin, even if they are regular users, rather than investors.Under the guidance, people spending bitcoin are liable to declare capital gains on any increase in value on those coins. That means if you purchased one bitcoin in early October at $100 and spent it today at $440, then you’d be realising a capital gain of $340.To add insult to injury, because you hadn’t held onto those bitcoins for more than a year and a day, that capital gains tax would be short term, making it equivalent to ordinary income tax. Investor holding onto their coins for longer than that period, however, will pay the long-term rate of 15%.‘Critical issue’Of course, people don’t always spend one whole bitcoin at a time. Instead, they’ll acquire and spend portions of a bitcoin over time. That means that technically, they have to keep track of lots of bitcoins that gained different amounts of value over different time periods.Members of the bitcoin community are unhappy enough about the guidance to have filed a petition about the new guidance.“Arguably, this is one of the most critical issues surrounding digital currencies,” Benson told CoinDesk. He added:“When I noticed several months ago there was no comprehensive solution to address taxes, I knew it was an opportunity. Tax software might not be the sexiest business in the industry, but it is the most essential right now.”Benson, who graduated from the University of Texas with a business degree in 2011, wants to cut through the whole tangled mess. Libra will start by obtaining transaction history for an individual, which he says can be done through automatic and manual means.Simple solutionThen, the service will calculate the cost basis on a per-transaction level, before distinguishing between transactions subject to short-term or long-term capital gains.Benson explained:“Then, we output the calculated totals, and direct the user to which box to fill in on which tax form – we may even provide automatic form output for ultimate convenience.”He is hoping to do the whole thing in a minimum of four to five clicks for tax novices, and longer term, wants to integrate with other tax software, including the big consumer titles, but also enterprise ERP systems.The service will be able to handle book keeping retrospectively, so that people can refile for previous tax years if their bitcoin transactions extend back that far.Extension ‘advisable’The problem for bitcoin users today is that the tax filing deadline for the IRS is next Tuesday, and LibreTax won’t be launching its service until the third quarter.Theoretically, this means that bitcoin users would have to do a lot of their paperwork themselves in the next few days, if they wanted to stay within the law by following the tax guidance. But Benson has an alternative, he said:“Libra for individuals will be ready in the September timeframe. That will be right in time for the extended tax deadline, so we advise everyone to file for an extension this year.”Future plansIn the meantime, Benson will be working with an initial round of seed capital from CrossCoin Ventures; his being the first company to be accepted by the Ripple Labs-funded accelerator program.In time, he expects Libra to become a broader tax reporting tool, as many different stores of value from fiat through to cryptocurrencies become digitized.Explained Benson:“Imagine being able to automatically populate your income, itemized deductions, business expenses, etc, straight from the ledger – no matter what kind of currency was used! I see a tremendous amount of potential here.”The service is purely for tax purposes and doesn’t include its own wallet yet, Benson concluded – although it would be a logical next step, he added.IRSLibraTaxation
Original author: Danny Bradbury

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The Bank of Montreal, one of Canada’s ‘Big Five’ banks and the fourth largest in the country, issued new statements on 1st April suggesting that it may be open to working with bitcoin businesses again, provided it receives regulatory clarity from the nation’s lawmakers.The comments were made by CEO Bill Downe as part of an interview at Bank of Montreal’s annual general meeting in Toronto this week.Speaking to his company, Downe said:“If you wanted a Swiss franc transaction or a Japanese yen transaction or a US dollar transaction, we can do that for you. If bitcoin [can be] a reliable medium of exchange, then at that point in the future, we would be able to [conduct business] with bitcoin.”The comments are particularly noteworthy, however, given that Bank of Montreal abruptly cut ties with Vancouver-based bitcoin exchange Cointrader in February.This decision, according to Cointrader, was part of a larger move by Bank of Montreal to end relations with all of the bitcoin businesses it served. At the time, Bank of Montreal did not comment publicly as to whether it had plans to freeze all of its bitcoin customer accounts.Past bitcoin relationshipsWhile the news has been positioned as if Bank of Montreal is looking to perhaps enter the bitcoin market, talks with major Canadian bitcoin businesses reveal it already has a history of working in the sector, one that changed earlier this year amid increasingly harsh government rhetoric.A spokesperson for Toronto-based bitcoin exchange Vault of Satoshi told CoinDesk that it is no longer working with Bank of Montreal, though it said the bank was “nothing short of fantastic” while they were in business together.Said the representative:“While we were working with the Bank of Montreal, they changed their stance on bitcoin related-business recently and decided to halt their operations in that field until there is further regulation; not much unlike our decision to temporarily withdraw our US operations.”A representative from Cointrader indicated that the recent statements from the Bank of Montreal CEO were consistent with responses it received from the banking provider:“They wanted to wait for clarification on regulation. But, the problem is, how long does that take? It could take years.”He added that he believes Bank of Montreal is no longer working with bitcoin businesses, but that at one point, it was the go-to bank for such services.Regulation in CanadaNotably, the news follows a report last week from The Ottawa Citizen, which stated that the latest version of Canada’s 2014 Federal Budget Implementation Act included new directives regarding digital currencies.The budget act, if passed would require “dealers of virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin, to report suspicious transactions, or those over $10,000, to a government watchdog”.Canada has been rumoured to be working on regulating digital currencies, however, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, the official who was perhaps most active publicly on this front, resigned on 18th March.Promising signsDespite the tough talk on the regulatory front, Canada’s digital currency community has seen some encouraging signs recently that may signal less aggressive regulation will be forthcoming. For example, on 26th March, Vault of Satoshi received its full money services license.Furthermore, the local industry is showing it has been able to innovate even in the face of challenges.Vault of Satoshi announced its coin-to-coin trading system on 2nd April, which allows users to trade altcoins directly without first converting to litecoin or bitcoin, while PocketPOS launched a new merchant-friendly point-of-sale tool meant to increase merchant adoption of bitcoin.Montreal at dusk image via Shutterstock
Original author: Pete Rizzo
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  4. Fitch: Regulation Could Rob Bitcoin of its Low-Cost Appeal

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