21 June 2014
Bitcoin Soon Accepted at Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store
MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jun 21, 2014) - Thanks to Apple's policy shift last week, Bitcoin wallets are now available for download in the iOS App store again. Previous iPhone wallet apps such as Coinbase or Blockchain are now replaced by the brand-new 'Coinpocket', which offers the same features as its predecessors, such as sending and receiving Bitcoin on iOS, exporting encrypted paper wallets as well as multiple sources for US dollar to BTC conversion. In addition to that, the new Coinpocket app also allows for full access to the camera hardware, thus enabling QR code scanning within the app and is able to generate a BIP38 encrypted version of the private key. Now that Apple's policy is approving Bitcoin wallets, customers can expect a plethora of new apps to be developed soon, than will make use of the Bitcoin system.
Bitcoin is a payment system that was first introduced in 2009 as open-source software by Satoshi Nakamoto. Payments made through the system are recorded in a public ledger, which uses its own currency, called Bitcoin. Bitcoins can be earned through payment processing work, called mining, whereas companies and individuals record payments into the public ledger in exchange for newly created Bitcoins. Other ways to obtain Bitcoins are exchanging flat money, products or services for the virtual currency. Given the anticipated increase in Bitcoin-friendly apps that can be used for transactions on personal computers, mobile devices or web applications, Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store decided to get ready for Bitcoins as well -- the company is currently working on plans to implement the system with the goal to accept Bitcoins as a method of payment within the next three months.
For Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store's customers this will mean easy payments without the need of a credit card that can be made from any country in the world. Thanks to the military-grade cryptography, customers are protected against unauthorized charges. The introduction of Bitcoins is only one of many steps that Niwali has been taking since the beginning of the year in order to optimize the shopping experience for its customers both, with regards to state-of-the-art software that has been implemented to streamline processes and with regards to the expansion and improvement of its product portfolio. Most noteworthy amongst those technical innovations are the launch of SugarCRM, a renowned customer relationship management system, and Gazelles, a rhythm coaching software.
Meanwhile Niwali's product portfolio will soon be completed by a new Multivitamin Green Blend, a superfood blend based on whole foods such as organic fruits and vegetables, tonic herbs and probiotics that ensures that the body's daily vitamin needs are met. Products will soon be procured from a NSF-certified laboratory, to guarantee the highest manufacturing standards possible. And just recently Niwali switched from animal-based gelatin capsules to vegetable caps that are not only healthier, but also suitable for vegans. Niwali uses natural remedies for all its supplements, based on extensive scientific studies and century-old knowledge from Chinese, Ayurvedic and Shamanic medicine. In the online store customers can select from a wide array of weight management, detox and cleansing, disease fighting, immune boosters & personal care products as well as vitamins and other supplements.
Niwali Test-O-Boost News: http://ift.tt/SvwzXs
Twitter: http://ift.tt/1p1SnZc
Facebook: http://ift.tt/1uNpPQr
- Technology & Electronics
- Software
June 21, 2014 at 01:01AM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
These Bitcoin Stock Winners Will Ride the Digital Currency to Profits By mhughes
Just because Bitcoin is a disruptive technology doesn't mean we won't see some Bitcoin stock winners - companies that will exploit the digital currency for the benefit of their own businesses.
We can find Bitcoin stock winners in several industries. Some are reaping a benefit now, while others will need to wait a few years until Bitcoin "goes mainstream," and average people start using it.
One industry that falls into the latter category is retailers, and online retailers in particular. Right now offering Bitcoin as a payment option is not going to be a major part of anyone's business, but it figures to grow as the Bitcoin ecosystem matures.
Bitcoin appeals to merchants because the 1% fees that processing companies like Coinbase and BitPay charge are much lower than the 2% to 3% fees they pay to credit card companies like Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). Plus, because the transactions include no personal data, Bitcoin is more secure than credit cards or debit cards.
But the first movers in this area - Overstock.com Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK) and Tiger Direct (a subsidiary of Systemax Inc. [NYSE: SYX]) - have reported some very promising early results.
Taking Bitcoin Pays Off for These Bitcoin Stock Winners
Overstock says Bitcoin has accounted for about $1.4 million in sales since it started accepting the digital currency in January. That's only about 0.4% of the online retailer's total sales, but the company has reason for optimism.
That's because customers paying with Bitcoin have spent 34% more than other customers. Better still, 58% of those using Bitcoin were new customers.
And that's been typical of the retail experience with Bitcoin.
Tiger Direct says it has also noticed that Bitcoin users spend more than other customers and is thrilled that 80% of them are new to Tiger Direct.
BloomNation, a startup that enables local florists to reach customers directly, started accepting Bitcoin just before Valentine's Day. BloomNation says customers using Bitcoin have spent about 50% more than other customers.
What would really shake up the retail world would be if one of the giants - Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) or eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) - started accepting Bitcoin.
Amazon has shown little interest so far, but eBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe has spoken favorably about Bitcoin in recent weeks and has strongly hinted that Bitcoin will soon be accepted at eBay and its subsidiary, PayPal.
"Digital currency is going to play an important role going forward," Donahoe said in a recent CNBC appearance. "At PayPal we're going to have to integrate digital currencies in our wallet."
But while the benefit to retailers so far has been incremental, one group of Bitcoin stock winners is profiting now...
Some Bitcoin Stock Winners Are Not So Obvious
The group that is profiting the most from the Bitcoin phenomenon right now are the chipmakers.
If that seems odd, consider that the Bitcoin network is maintained by very powerful computers that confirm each transaction as part of their "mining" activities of trying to solve a difficult math problem. The miner that solves a block currently is rewarded with 25 bitcoins.
However, as the Bitcoin price rose from $14 to past $1,000 last year, Bitcoin mining became an arms race.
Theoretically, more powerful machines will yield more solved blocks (and more bitcoins), but the network protocol is designed to release new bitcoins at a steady pace. It does that by raising the difficulty, which in turn requires even more powerful computers with more powerful chips.
"Due to the growth of the Bitcoin network, mining machines now require powerful application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that are designed specifically to mine Bitcoins," analyst Gil Luria of Wedbush Securities wrote in a report earlier this year.
Luria said he believes more than $200 million has been spent on Bitcoin mining rigs this year, specifically citing Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (NYSE ADR: TSM) and privately held GlobalFoundries.
In addition, Luria said Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is benefiting from the mining of digital currencies such as Dogecoin and Litecoin, "as AMD chips are preferred by Litecoin miners over other competitor GPU chips."
Finally, there's a group of possible Bitcoin stock winners - the tech titans - that could use the digital currency to as a weapon in the battle to dominate mobile payments.
Bitcoin Will Disrupt the Mobile Payments Landscape
For the past few years there's has been much talk about mobile payments - people using their smartphones instead of cash, checks, or credit and debit cards to pay for things when on the go.
Any company that could dominate this space could profit not only by inserting a small processing fee, but by having the ability to collect vast amounts of data on the shopping habits of its customers. That's the sort of data advertisers fantasize about.
And while in theory any electronic payment system would do, Bitcoin's security advantages over credit and debit cards make it an ideal fit for a smartphone-based mobile wallet.
In this arena we have three main contenders - Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), and Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).
Google already has a mobile wallet and is suspected to be considering adding Bitcoin as an option. Google's biggest advantage is that its Android software runs about 80% of the smartphones being sold now.
Apple's long-rumored mobile wallet is expected to appear this year. It will incorporate its Touch ID technology, which will make payment literally as easy as one touch of a button. It isn't known whether Apple is looking at including Bitcoin in its wallet, but it recently lifted a ban on Bitcoin wallet apps in the iTunes App Store.
And Facebook is also reported to be working on an e-wallet. Not much is known about the project, but in the past Facebook itself has dabbled in virtual currencies, so it would probably be open to supporting Bitcoin. Facebook also has about 1.3 billion active users, although it's not clear how many of those would trust a social network as a payment vehicle.
It's more likely that the Bitcoin stock winner here will be either Apple or Google, with the edge going to whoever adopts Bitcoin first and can make the experience the most seamless.
Which stocks do you think will benefit from the Bitcoin economy? Talk about it on Twitter @moneymorning or Facebook .
Editor's Note: Investors should keep an eye on these Bitcoin stock winners, but they also need to beware of the Bitcoin stock losers . These companies could have their business models severely disrupted, if not wiped out by the digital currency - and yet the CEOs all have their heads in the sand. This isn't going to end well...
Related Articles:
- Internet Retailer: The Bitcoin Bet
- StreetInsider.com: Bitcoin Winners and Losers (AMD) (TSM) (WU) (MGI) (V) (MA)
- CNBC: Bitcoin Key to Future of Online Payments: EBay CEO
June 20, 2014 at 09:10PM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
Bitcoin Soon Accepted at Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store
MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jun 21, 2014) - Thanks to Apple's policy shift last week, Bitcoin wallets are now available for download in the iOS App store again. Previous iPhone wallet apps such as Coinbase or Blockchain are now replaced by the brand-new 'Coinpocket', which offers the same features as its predecessors, such as sending and receiving Bitcoin on iOS, exporting encrypted paper wallets as well as multiple sources for US dollar to BTC conversion. In addition to that, the new Coinpocket app also allows for full access to the camera hardware, thus enabling QR code scanning within the app and is able to generate a BIP38 encrypted version of the private key. Now that Apple's policy is approving Bitcoin wallets, customers can expect a plethora of new apps to be developed soon, than will make use of the Bitcoin system.
Bitcoin is a payment system that was first introduced in 2009 as open-source software by Satoshi Nakamoto. Payments made through the system are recorded in a public ledger, which uses its own currency, called Bitcoin. Bitcoins can be earned through payment processing work, called mining, whereas companies and individuals record payments into the public ledger in exchange for newly created Bitcoins. Other ways to obtain Bitcoins are exchanging flat money, products or services for the virtual currency. Given the anticipated increase in Bitcoin-friendly apps that can be used for transactions on personal computers, mobile devices or web applications, Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store decided to get ready for Bitcoins as well -- the company is currently working on plans to implement the system with the goal to accept Bitcoins as a method of payment within the next three months.
For Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store's customers this will mean easy payments without the need of a credit card that can be made from any country in the world. Thanks to the military-grade cryptography, customers are protected against unauthorized charges. The introduction of Bitcoins is only one of many steps that Niwali has been taking since the beginning of the year in order to optimize the shopping experience for its customers both, with regards to state-of-the-art software that has been implemented to streamline processes and with regards to the expansion and improvement of its product portfolio. Most noteworthy amongst those technical innovations are the launch of SugarCRM, a renowned customer relationship management system, and Gazelles, a rhythm coaching software.
Meanwhile Niwali's product portfolio will soon be completed by a new Multivitamin Green Blend, a superfood blend based on whole foods such as organic fruits and vegetables, tonic herbs and probiotics that ensures that the body's daily vitamin needs are met. Products will soon be procured from a NSF-certified laboratory, to guarantee the highest manufacturing standards possible. And just recently Niwali switched from animal-based gelatin capsules to vegetable caps that are not only healthier, but also suitable for vegans. Niwali uses natural remedies for all its supplements, based on extensive scientific studies and century-old knowledge from Chinese, Ayurvedic and Shamanic medicine. In the online store customers can select from a wide array of weight management, detox and cleansing, disease fighting, immune boosters & personal care products as well as vitamins and other supplements.
Niwali Test-O-Boost News: http://ift.tt/SvwzXs
Twitter: http://ift.tt/1p1SnZc
Facebook: http://ift.tt/1uNpPQr
- Technology & Electronics
- Software
June 21, 2014 at 01:01AM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
These Bitcoin Stock Winners Will Ride the Digital Currency to Profits By mhughes
Just because Bitcoin is a disruptive technology doesn't mean we won't see some Bitcoin stock winners - companies that will exploit the digital currency for the benefit of their own businesses.
We can find Bitcoin stock winners in several industries. Some are reaping a benefit now, while others will need to wait a few years until Bitcoin "goes mainstream," and average people start using it.
One industry that falls into the latter category is retailers, and online retailers in particular. Right now offering Bitcoin as a payment option is not going to be a major part of anyone's business, but it figures to grow as the Bitcoin ecosystem matures.
Bitcoin appeals to merchants because the 1% fees that processing companies like Coinbase and BitPay charge are much lower than the 2% to 3% fees they pay to credit card companies like Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). Plus, because the transactions include no personal data, Bitcoin is more secure than credit cards or debit cards.
But the first movers in this area - Overstock.com Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK) and Tiger Direct (a subsidiary of Systemax Inc. [NYSE: SYX]) - have reported some very promising early results.
Taking Bitcoin Pays Off for These Bitcoin Stock Winners
Overstock says Bitcoin has accounted for about $1.4 million in sales since it started accepting the digital currency in January. That's only about 0.4% of the online retailer's total sales, but the company has reason for optimism.
That's because customers paying with Bitcoin have spent 34% more than other customers. Better still, 58% of those using Bitcoin were new customers.
And that's been typical of the retail experience with Bitcoin.
Tiger Direct says it has also noticed that Bitcoin users spend more than other customers and is thrilled that 80% of them are new to Tiger Direct.
BloomNation, a startup that enables local florists to reach customers directly, started accepting Bitcoin just before Valentine's Day. BloomNation says customers using Bitcoin have spent about 50% more than other customers.
What would really shake up the retail world would be if one of the giants - Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) or eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) - started accepting Bitcoin.
Amazon has shown little interest so far, but eBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe has spoken favorably about Bitcoin in recent weeks and has strongly hinted that Bitcoin will soon be accepted at eBay and its subsidiary, PayPal.
"Digital currency is going to play an important role going forward," Donahoe said in a recent CNBC appearance. "At PayPal we're going to have to integrate digital currencies in our wallet."
But while the benefit to retailers so far has been incremental, one group of Bitcoin stock winners is profiting now...
Some Bitcoin Stock Winners Are Not So Obvious
The group that is profiting the most from the Bitcoin phenomenon right now are the chipmakers.
If that seems odd, consider that the Bitcoin network is maintained by very powerful computers that confirm each transaction as part of their "mining" activities of trying to solve a difficult math problem. The miner that solves a block currently is rewarded with 25 bitcoins.
However, as the Bitcoin price rose from $14 to past $1,000 last year, Bitcoin mining became an arms race.
Theoretically, more powerful machines will yield more solved blocks (and more bitcoins), but the network protocol is designed to release new bitcoins at a steady pace. It does that by raising the difficulty, which in turn requires even more powerful computers with more powerful chips.
"Due to the growth of the Bitcoin network, mining machines now require powerful application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that are designed specifically to mine Bitcoins," analyst Gil Luria of Wedbush Securities wrote in a report earlier this year.
Luria said he believes more than $200 million has been spent on Bitcoin mining rigs this year, specifically citing Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (NYSE ADR: TSM) and privately held GlobalFoundries.
In addition, Luria said Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is benefiting from the mining of digital currencies such as Dogecoin and Litecoin, "as AMD chips are preferred by Litecoin miners over other competitor GPU chips."
Finally, there's a group of possible Bitcoin stock winners - the tech titans - that could use the digital currency to as a weapon in the battle to dominate mobile payments.
Bitcoin Will Disrupt the Mobile Payments Landscape
For the past few years there's has been much talk about mobile payments - people using their smartphones instead of cash, checks, or credit and debit cards to pay for things when on the go.
Any company that could dominate this space could profit not only by inserting a small processing fee, but by having the ability to collect vast amounts of data on the shopping habits of its customers. That's the sort of data advertisers fantasize about.
And while in theory any electronic payment system would do, Bitcoin's security advantages over credit and debit cards make it an ideal fit for a smartphone-based mobile wallet.
In this arena we have three main contenders - Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), and Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).
Google already has a mobile wallet and is suspected to be considering adding Bitcoin as an option. Google's biggest advantage is that its Android software runs about 80% of the smartphones being sold now.
Apple's long-rumored mobile wallet is expected to appear this year. It will incorporate its Touch ID technology, which will make payment literally as easy as one touch of a button. It isn't known whether Apple is looking at including Bitcoin in its wallet, but it recently lifted a ban on Bitcoin wallet apps in the iTunes App Store.
And Facebook is also reported to be working on an e-wallet. Not much is known about the project, but in the past Facebook itself has dabbled in virtual currencies, so it would probably be open to supporting Bitcoin. Facebook also has about 1.3 billion active users, although it's not clear how many of those would trust a social network as a payment vehicle.
It's more likely that the Bitcoin stock winner here will be either Apple or Google, with the edge going to whoever adopts Bitcoin first and can make the experience the most seamless.
Which stocks do you think will benefit from the Bitcoin economy? Talk about it on Twitter @moneymorning or Facebook .
Editor's Note: Investors should keep an eye on these Bitcoin stock winners, but they also need to beware of the Bitcoin stock losers . These companies could have their business models severely disrupted, if not wiped out by the digital currency - and yet the CEOs all have their heads in the sand. This isn't going to end well...
Related Articles:
- Internet Retailer: The Bitcoin Bet
- StreetInsider.com: Bitcoin Winners and Losers (AMD) (TSM) (WU) (MGI) (V) (MA)
- CNBC: Bitcoin Key to Future of Online Payments: EBay CEO
June 20, 2014 at 09:10PM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
Bitcoin Soon Accepted at Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store
MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jun 21, 2014) - Thanks to Apple's policy shift last week, Bitcoin wallets are now available for download in the iOS App store again. Previous iPhone wallet apps such as Coinbase or Blockchain are now replaced by the brand-new 'Coinpocket', which offers the same features as its predecessors, such as sending and receiving Bitcoin on iOS, exporting encrypted paper wallets as well as multiple sources for US dollar to BTC conversion. In addition to that, the new Coinpocket app also allows for full access to the camera hardware, thus enabling QR code scanning within the app and is able to generate a BIP38 encrypted version of the private key. Now that Apple's policy is approving Bitcoin wallets, customers can expect a plethora of new apps to be developed soon, than will make use of the Bitcoin system.
Bitcoin is a payment system that was first introduced in 2009 as open-source software by Satoshi Nakamoto. Payments made through the system are recorded in a public ledger, which uses its own currency, called Bitcoin. Bitcoins can be earned through payment processing work, called mining, whereas companies and individuals record payments into the public ledger in exchange for newly created Bitcoins. Other ways to obtain Bitcoins are exchanging flat money, products or services for the virtual currency. Given the anticipated increase in Bitcoin-friendly apps that can be used for transactions on personal computers, mobile devices or web applications, Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store decided to get ready for Bitcoins as well -- the company is currently working on plans to implement the system with the goal to accept Bitcoins as a method of payment within the next three months.
For Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store's customers this will mean easy payments without the need of a credit card that can be made from any country in the world. Thanks to the military-grade cryptography, customers are protected against unauthorized charges. The introduction of Bitcoins is only one of many steps that Niwali has been taking since the beginning of the year in order to optimize the shopping experience for its customers both, with regards to state-of-the-art software that has been implemented to streamline processes and with regards to the expansion and improvement of its product portfolio. Most noteworthy amongst those technical innovations are the launch of SugarCRM, a renowned customer relationship management system, and Gazelles, a rhythm coaching software.
Meanwhile Niwali's product portfolio will soon be completed by a new Multivitamin Green Blend, a superfood blend based on whole foods such as organic fruits and vegetables, tonic herbs and probiotics that ensures that the body's daily vitamin needs are met. Products will soon be procured from a NSF-certified laboratory, to guarantee the highest manufacturing standards possible. And just recently Niwali switched from animal-based gelatin capsules to vegetable caps that are not only healthier, but also suitable for vegans. Niwali uses natural remedies for all its supplements, based on extensive scientific studies and century-old knowledge from Chinese, Ayurvedic and Shamanic medicine. In the online store customers can select from a wide array of weight management, detox and cleansing, disease fighting, immune boosters & personal care products as well as vitamins and other supplements.
Niwali Test-O-Boost News: http://ift.tt/SvwzXs
Twitter: http://ift.tt/1p1SnZc
Facebook: http://ift.tt/1uNpPQr
- Technology & Electronics
- Software
June 21, 2014 at 01:01AM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
These Bitcoin Stock Winners Will Ride the Digital Currency to Profits By mhughes
Just because Bitcoin is a disruptive technology doesn't mean we won't see some Bitcoin stock winners - companies that will exploit the digital currency for the benefit of their own businesses.
We can find Bitcoin stock winners in several industries. Some are reaping a benefit now, while others will need to wait a few years until Bitcoin "goes mainstream," and average people start using it.
One industry that falls into the latter category is retailers, and online retailers in particular. Right now offering Bitcoin as a payment option is not going to be a major part of anyone's business, but it figures to grow as the Bitcoin ecosystem matures.
Bitcoin appeals to merchants because the 1% fees that processing companies like Coinbase and BitPay charge are much lower than the 2% to 3% fees they pay to credit card companies like Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). Plus, because the transactions include no personal data, Bitcoin is more secure than credit cards or debit cards.
But the first movers in this area - Overstock.com Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK) and Tiger Direct (a subsidiary of Systemax Inc. [NYSE: SYX]) - have reported some very promising early results.
Taking Bitcoin Pays Off for These Bitcoin Stock Winners
Overstock says Bitcoin has accounted for about $1.4 million in sales since it started accepting the digital currency in January. That's only about 0.4% of the online retailer's total sales, but the company has reason for optimism.
That's because customers paying with Bitcoin have spent 34% more than other customers. Better still, 58% of those using Bitcoin were new customers.
And that's been typical of the retail experience with Bitcoin.
Tiger Direct says it has also noticed that Bitcoin users spend more than other customers and is thrilled that 80% of them are new to Tiger Direct.
BloomNation, a startup that enables local florists to reach customers directly, started accepting Bitcoin just before Valentine's Day. BloomNation says customers using Bitcoin have spent about 50% more than other customers.
What would really shake up the retail world would be if one of the giants - Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) or eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) - started accepting Bitcoin.
Amazon has shown little interest so far, but eBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe has spoken favorably about Bitcoin in recent weeks and has strongly hinted that Bitcoin will soon be accepted at eBay and its subsidiary, PayPal.
"Digital currency is going to play an important role going forward," Donahoe said in a recent CNBC appearance. "At PayPal we're going to have to integrate digital currencies in our wallet."
But while the benefit to retailers so far has been incremental, one group of Bitcoin stock winners is profiting now...
Some Bitcoin Stock Winners Are Not So Obvious
The group that is profiting the most from the Bitcoin phenomenon right now are the chipmakers.
If that seems odd, consider that the Bitcoin network is maintained by very powerful computers that confirm each transaction as part of their "mining" activities of trying to solve a difficult math problem. The miner that solves a block currently is rewarded with 25 bitcoins.
However, as the Bitcoin price rose from $14 to past $1,000 last year, Bitcoin mining became an arms race.
Theoretically, more powerful machines will yield more solved blocks (and more bitcoins), but the network protocol is designed to release new bitcoins at a steady pace. It does that by raising the difficulty, which in turn requires even more powerful computers with more powerful chips.
"Due to the growth of the Bitcoin network, mining machines now require powerful application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that are designed specifically to mine Bitcoins," analyst Gil Luria of Wedbush Securities wrote in a report earlier this year.
Luria said he believes more than $200 million has been spent on Bitcoin mining rigs this year, specifically citing Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (NYSE ADR: TSM) and privately held GlobalFoundries.
In addition, Luria said Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is benefiting from the mining of digital currencies such as Dogecoin and Litecoin, "as AMD chips are preferred by Litecoin miners over other competitor GPU chips."
Finally, there's a group of possible Bitcoin stock winners - the tech titans - that could use the digital currency to as a weapon in the battle to dominate mobile payments.
Bitcoin Will Disrupt the Mobile Payments Landscape
For the past few years there's has been much talk about mobile payments - people using their smartphones instead of cash, checks, or credit and debit cards to pay for things when on the go.
Any company that could dominate this space could profit not only by inserting a small processing fee, but by having the ability to collect vast amounts of data on the shopping habits of its customers. That's the sort of data advertisers fantasize about.
And while in theory any electronic payment system would do, Bitcoin's security advantages over credit and debit cards make it an ideal fit for a smartphone-based mobile wallet.
In this arena we have three main contenders - Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), and Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).
Google already has a mobile wallet and is suspected to be considering adding Bitcoin as an option. Google's biggest advantage is that its Android software runs about 80% of the smartphones being sold now.
Apple's long-rumored mobile wallet is expected to appear this year. It will incorporate its Touch ID technology, which will make payment literally as easy as one touch of a button. It isn't known whether Apple is looking at including Bitcoin in its wallet, but it recently lifted a ban on Bitcoin wallet apps in the iTunes App Store.
And Facebook is also reported to be working on an e-wallet. Not much is known about the project, but in the past Facebook itself has dabbled in virtual currencies, so it would probably be open to supporting Bitcoin. Facebook also has about 1.3 billion active users, although it's not clear how many of those would trust a social network as a payment vehicle.
It's more likely that the Bitcoin stock winner here will be either Apple or Google, with the edge going to whoever adopts Bitcoin first and can make the experience the most seamless.
Which stocks do you think will benefit from the Bitcoin economy? Talk about it on Twitter @moneymorning or Facebook .
Editor's Note: Investors should keep an eye on these Bitcoin stock winners, but they also need to beware of the Bitcoin stock losers . These companies could have their business models severely disrupted, if not wiped out by the digital currency - and yet the CEOs all have their heads in the sand. This isn't going to end well...
Related Articles:
- Internet Retailer: The Bitcoin Bet
- StreetInsider.com: Bitcoin Winners and Losers (AMD) (TSM) (WU) (MGI) (V) (MA)
- CNBC: Bitcoin Key to Future of Online Payments: EBay CEO
June 20, 2014 at 09:10PM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
Bitcoin Soon Accepted at Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store
MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jun 21, 2014) - Thanks to Apple's policy shift last week, Bitcoin wallets are now available for download in the iOS App store again. Previous iPhone wallet apps such as Coinbase or Blockchain are now replaced by the brand-new 'Coinpocket', which offers the same features as its predecessors, such as sending and receiving Bitcoin on iOS, exporting encrypted paper wallets as well as multiple sources for US dollar to BTC conversion. In addition to that, the new Coinpocket app also allows for full access to the camera hardware, thus enabling QR code scanning within the app and is able to generate a BIP38 encrypted version of the private key. Now that Apple's policy is approving Bitcoin wallets, customers can expect a plethora of new apps to be developed soon, than will make use of the Bitcoin system.
Bitcoin is a payment system that was first introduced in 2009 as open-source software by Satoshi Nakamoto. Payments made through the system are recorded in a public ledger, which uses its own currency, called Bitcoin. Bitcoins can be earned through payment processing work, called mining, whereas companies and individuals record payments into the public ledger in exchange for newly created Bitcoins. Other ways to obtain Bitcoins are exchanging flat money, products or services for the virtual currency. Given the anticipated increase in Bitcoin-friendly apps that can be used for transactions on personal computers, mobile devices or web applications, Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store decided to get ready for Bitcoins as well -- the company is currently working on plans to implement the system with the goal to accept Bitcoins as a method of payment within the next three months.
For Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store's customers this will mean easy payments without the need of a credit card that can be made from any country in the world. Thanks to the military-grade cryptography, customers are protected against unauthorized charges. The introduction of Bitcoins is only one of many steps that Niwali has been taking since the beginning of the year in order to optimize the shopping experience for its customers both, with regards to state-of-the-art software that has been implemented to streamline processes and with regards to the expansion and improvement of its product portfolio. Most noteworthy amongst those technical innovations are the launch of SugarCRM, a renowned customer relationship management system, and Gazelles, a rhythm coaching software.
Meanwhile Niwali's product portfolio will soon be completed by a new Multivitamin Green Blend, a superfood blend based on whole foods such as organic fruits and vegetables, tonic herbs and probiotics that ensures that the body's daily vitamin needs are met. Products will soon be procured from a NSF-certified laboratory, to guarantee the highest manufacturing standards possible. And just recently Niwali switched from animal-based gelatin capsules to vegetable caps that are not only healthier, but also suitable for vegans. Niwali uses natural remedies for all its supplements, based on extensive scientific studies and century-old knowledge from Chinese, Ayurvedic and Shamanic medicine. In the online store customers can select from a wide array of weight management, detox and cleansing, disease fighting, immune boosters & personal care products as well as vitamins and other supplements.
Niwali Test-O-Boost News: http://ift.tt/SvwzXs
Twitter: http://ift.tt/1p1SnZc
Facebook: http://ift.tt/1uNpPQr
- Technology & Electronics
- Software
June 21, 2014 at 01:01AM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
These Bitcoin Stock Winners Will Ride the Digital Currency to Profits By mhughes
Just because Bitcoin is a disruptive technology doesn't mean we won't see some Bitcoin stock winners - companies that will exploit the digital currency for the benefit of their own businesses.
We can find Bitcoin stock winners in several industries. Some are reaping a benefit now, while others will need to wait a few years until Bitcoin "goes mainstream," and average people start using it.
One industry that falls into the latter category is retailers, and online retailers in particular. Right now offering Bitcoin as a payment option is not going to be a major part of anyone's business, but it figures to grow as the Bitcoin ecosystem matures.
Bitcoin appeals to merchants because the 1% fees that processing companies like Coinbase and BitPay charge are much lower than the 2% to 3% fees they pay to credit card companies like Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). Plus, because the transactions include no personal data, Bitcoin is more secure than credit cards or debit cards.
But the first movers in this area - Overstock.com Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK) and Tiger Direct (a subsidiary of Systemax Inc. [NYSE: SYX]) - have reported some very promising early results.
Taking Bitcoin Pays Off for These Bitcoin Stock Winners
Overstock says Bitcoin has accounted for about $1.4 million in sales since it started accepting the digital currency in January. That's only about 0.4% of the online retailer's total sales, but the company has reason for optimism.
That's because customers paying with Bitcoin have spent 34% more than other customers. Better still, 58% of those using Bitcoin were new customers.
And that's been typical of the retail experience with Bitcoin.
Tiger Direct says it has also noticed that Bitcoin users spend more than other customers and is thrilled that 80% of them are new to Tiger Direct.
BloomNation, a startup that enables local florists to reach customers directly, started accepting Bitcoin just before Valentine's Day. BloomNation says customers using Bitcoin have spent about 50% more than other customers.
What would really shake up the retail world would be if one of the giants - Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) or eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) - started accepting Bitcoin.
Amazon has shown little interest so far, but eBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe has spoken favorably about Bitcoin in recent weeks and has strongly hinted that Bitcoin will soon be accepted at eBay and its subsidiary, PayPal.
"Digital currency is going to play an important role going forward," Donahoe said in a recent CNBC appearance. "At PayPal we're going to have to integrate digital currencies in our wallet."
But while the benefit to retailers so far has been incremental, one group of Bitcoin stock winners is profiting now...
Some Bitcoin Stock Winners Are Not So Obvious
The group that is profiting the most from the Bitcoin phenomenon right now are the chipmakers.
If that seems odd, consider that the Bitcoin network is maintained by very powerful computers that confirm each transaction as part of their "mining" activities of trying to solve a difficult math problem. The miner that solves a block currently is rewarded with 25 bitcoins.
However, as the Bitcoin price rose from $14 to past $1,000 last year, Bitcoin mining became an arms race.
Theoretically, more powerful machines will yield more solved blocks (and more bitcoins), but the network protocol is designed to release new bitcoins at a steady pace. It does that by raising the difficulty, which in turn requires even more powerful computers with more powerful chips.
"Due to the growth of the Bitcoin network, mining machines now require powerful application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that are designed specifically to mine Bitcoins," analyst Gil Luria of Wedbush Securities wrote in a report earlier this year.
Luria said he believes more than $200 million has been spent on Bitcoin mining rigs this year, specifically citing Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (NYSE ADR: TSM) and privately held GlobalFoundries.
In addition, Luria said Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is benefiting from the mining of digital currencies such as Dogecoin and Litecoin, "as AMD chips are preferred by Litecoin miners over other competitor GPU chips."
Finally, there's a group of possible Bitcoin stock winners - the tech titans - that could use the digital currency to as a weapon in the battle to dominate mobile payments.
Bitcoin Will Disrupt the Mobile Payments Landscape
For the past few years there's has been much talk about mobile payments - people using their smartphones instead of cash, checks, or credit and debit cards to pay for things when on the go.
Any company that could dominate this space could profit not only by inserting a small processing fee, but by having the ability to collect vast amounts of data on the shopping habits of its customers. That's the sort of data advertisers fantasize about.
And while in theory any electronic payment system would do, Bitcoin's security advantages over credit and debit cards make it an ideal fit for a smartphone-based mobile wallet.
In this arena we have three main contenders - Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), and Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).
Google already has a mobile wallet and is suspected to be considering adding Bitcoin as an option. Google's biggest advantage is that its Android software runs about 80% of the smartphones being sold now.
Apple's long-rumored mobile wallet is expected to appear this year. It will incorporate its Touch ID technology, which will make payment literally as easy as one touch of a button. It isn't known whether Apple is looking at including Bitcoin in its wallet, but it recently lifted a ban on Bitcoin wallet apps in the iTunes App Store.
And Facebook is also reported to be working on an e-wallet. Not much is known about the project, but in the past Facebook itself has dabbled in virtual currencies, so it would probably be open to supporting Bitcoin. Facebook also has about 1.3 billion active users, although it's not clear how many of those would trust a social network as a payment vehicle.
It's more likely that the Bitcoin stock winner here will be either Apple or Google, with the edge going to whoever adopts Bitcoin first and can make the experience the most seamless.
Which stocks do you think will benefit from the Bitcoin economy? Talk about it on Twitter @moneymorning or Facebook .
Editor's Note: Investors should keep an eye on these Bitcoin stock winners, but they also need to beware of the Bitcoin stock losers . These companies could have their business models severely disrupted, if not wiped out by the digital currency - and yet the CEOs all have their heads in the sand. This isn't going to end well...
Related Articles:
- Internet Retailer: The Bitcoin Bet
- StreetInsider.com: Bitcoin Winners and Losers (AMD) (TSM) (WU) (MGI) (V) (MA)
- CNBC: Bitcoin Key to Future of Online Payments: EBay CEO
June 20, 2014 at 09:10PM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
Bitcoin Soon Accepted at Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store
MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jun 21, 2014) - Thanks to Apple's policy shift last week, Bitcoin wallets are now available for download in the iOS App store again. Previous iPhone wallet apps such as Coinbase or Blockchain are now replaced by the brand-new 'Coinpocket', which offers the same features as its predecessors, such as sending and receiving Bitcoin on iOS, exporting encrypted paper wallets as well as multiple sources for US dollar to BTC conversion. In addition to that, the new Coinpocket app also allows for full access to the camera hardware, thus enabling QR code scanning within the app and is able to generate a BIP38 encrypted version of the private key. Now that Apple's policy is approving Bitcoin wallets, customers can expect a plethora of new apps to be developed soon, than will make use of the Bitcoin system.
Bitcoin is a payment system that was first introduced in 2009 as open-source software by Satoshi Nakamoto. Payments made through the system are recorded in a public ledger, which uses its own currency, called Bitcoin. Bitcoins can be earned through payment processing work, called mining, whereas companies and individuals record payments into the public ledger in exchange for newly created Bitcoins. Other ways to obtain Bitcoins are exchanging flat money, products or services for the virtual currency. Given the anticipated increase in Bitcoin-friendly apps that can be used for transactions on personal computers, mobile devices or web applications, Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store decided to get ready for Bitcoins as well -- the company is currently working on plans to implement the system with the goal to accept Bitcoins as a method of payment within the next three months.
For Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store's customers this will mean easy payments without the need of a credit card that can be made from any country in the world. Thanks to the military-grade cryptography, customers are protected against unauthorized charges. The introduction of Bitcoins is only one of many steps that Niwali has been taking since the beginning of the year in order to optimize the shopping experience for its customers both, with regards to state-of-the-art software that has been implemented to streamline processes and with regards to the expansion and improvement of its product portfolio. Most noteworthy amongst those technical innovations are the launch of SugarCRM, a renowned customer relationship management system, and Gazelles, a rhythm coaching software.
Meanwhile Niwali's product portfolio will soon be completed by a new Multivitamin Green Blend, a superfood blend based on whole foods such as organic fruits and vegetables, tonic herbs and probiotics that ensures that the body's daily vitamin needs are met. Products will soon be procured from a NSF-certified laboratory, to guarantee the highest manufacturing standards possible. And just recently Niwali switched from animal-based gelatin capsules to vegetable caps that are not only healthier, but also suitable for vegans. Niwali uses natural remedies for all its supplements, based on extensive scientific studies and century-old knowledge from Chinese, Ayurvedic and Shamanic medicine. In the online store customers can select from a wide array of weight management, detox and cleansing, disease fighting, immune boosters & personal care products as well as vitamins and other supplements.
Niwali Test-O-Boost News: http://ift.tt/SvwzXs
Twitter: http://ift.tt/1p1SnZc
Facebook: http://ift.tt/1uNpPQr
- Technology & Electronics
- Software
June 21, 2014 at 01:01AM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
These Bitcoin Stock Winners Will Ride the Digital Currency to Profits By mhughes
Just because Bitcoin is a disruptive technology doesn't mean we won't see some Bitcoin stock winners - companies that will exploit the digital currency for the benefit of their own businesses.
We can find Bitcoin stock winners in several industries. Some are reaping a benefit now, while others will need to wait a few years until Bitcoin "goes mainstream," and average people start using it.
One industry that falls into the latter category is retailers, and online retailers in particular. Right now offering Bitcoin as a payment option is not going to be a major part of anyone's business, but it figures to grow as the Bitcoin ecosystem matures.
Bitcoin appeals to merchants because the 1% fees that processing companies like Coinbase and BitPay charge are much lower than the 2% to 3% fees they pay to credit card companies like Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). Plus, because the transactions include no personal data, Bitcoin is more secure than credit cards or debit cards.
But the first movers in this area - Overstock.com Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK) and Tiger Direct (a subsidiary of Systemax Inc. [NYSE: SYX]) - have reported some very promising early results.
Taking Bitcoin Pays Off for These Bitcoin Stock Winners
Overstock says Bitcoin has accounted for about $1.4 million in sales since it started accepting the digital currency in January. That's only about 0.4% of the online retailer's total sales, but the company has reason for optimism.
That's because customers paying with Bitcoin have spent 34% more than other customers. Better still, 58% of those using Bitcoin were new customers.
And that's been typical of the retail experience with Bitcoin.
Tiger Direct says it has also noticed that Bitcoin users spend more than other customers and is thrilled that 80% of them are new to Tiger Direct.
BloomNation, a startup that enables local florists to reach customers directly, started accepting Bitcoin just before Valentine's Day. BloomNation says customers using Bitcoin have spent about 50% more than other customers.
What would really shake up the retail world would be if one of the giants - Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) or eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) - started accepting Bitcoin.
Amazon has shown little interest so far, but eBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe has spoken favorably about Bitcoin in recent weeks and has strongly hinted that Bitcoin will soon be accepted at eBay and its subsidiary, PayPal.
"Digital currency is going to play an important role going forward," Donahoe said in a recent CNBC appearance. "At PayPal we're going to have to integrate digital currencies in our wallet."
But while the benefit to retailers so far has been incremental, one group of Bitcoin stock winners is profiting now...
Some Bitcoin Stock Winners Are Not So Obvious
The group that is profiting the most from the Bitcoin phenomenon right now are the chipmakers.
If that seems odd, consider that the Bitcoin network is maintained by very powerful computers that confirm each transaction as part of their "mining" activities of trying to solve a difficult math problem. The miner that solves a block currently is rewarded with 25 bitcoins.
However, as the Bitcoin price rose from $14 to past $1,000 last year, Bitcoin mining became an arms race.
Theoretically, more powerful machines will yield more solved blocks (and more bitcoins), but the network protocol is designed to release new bitcoins at a steady pace. It does that by raising the difficulty, which in turn requires even more powerful computers with more powerful chips.
"Due to the growth of the Bitcoin network, mining machines now require powerful application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that are designed specifically to mine Bitcoins," analyst Gil Luria of Wedbush Securities wrote in a report earlier this year.
Luria said he believes more than $200 million has been spent on Bitcoin mining rigs this year, specifically citing Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (NYSE ADR: TSM) and privately held GlobalFoundries.
In addition, Luria said Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is benefiting from the mining of digital currencies such as Dogecoin and Litecoin, "as AMD chips are preferred by Litecoin miners over other competitor GPU chips."
Finally, there's a group of possible Bitcoin stock winners - the tech titans - that could use the digital currency to as a weapon in the battle to dominate mobile payments.
Bitcoin Will Disrupt the Mobile Payments Landscape
For the past few years there's has been much talk about mobile payments - people using their smartphones instead of cash, checks, or credit and debit cards to pay for things when on the go.
Any company that could dominate this space could profit not only by inserting a small processing fee, but by having the ability to collect vast amounts of data on the shopping habits of its customers. That's the sort of data advertisers fantasize about.
And while in theory any electronic payment system would do, Bitcoin's security advantages over credit and debit cards make it an ideal fit for a smartphone-based mobile wallet.
In this arena we have three main contenders - Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), and Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).
Google already has a mobile wallet and is suspected to be considering adding Bitcoin as an option. Google's biggest advantage is that its Android software runs about 80% of the smartphones being sold now.
Apple's long-rumored mobile wallet is expected to appear this year. It will incorporate its Touch ID technology, which will make payment literally as easy as one touch of a button. It isn't known whether Apple is looking at including Bitcoin in its wallet, but it recently lifted a ban on Bitcoin wallet apps in the iTunes App Store.
And Facebook is also reported to be working on an e-wallet. Not much is known about the project, but in the past Facebook itself has dabbled in virtual currencies, so it would probably be open to supporting Bitcoin. Facebook also has about 1.3 billion active users, although it's not clear how many of those would trust a social network as a payment vehicle.
It's more likely that the Bitcoin stock winner here will be either Apple or Google, with the edge going to whoever adopts Bitcoin first and can make the experience the most seamless.
Which stocks do you think will benefit from the Bitcoin economy? Talk about it on Twitter @moneymorning or Facebook .
Editor's Note: Investors should keep an eye on these Bitcoin stock winners, but they also need to beware of the Bitcoin stock losers . These companies could have their business models severely disrupted, if not wiped out by the digital currency - and yet the CEOs all have their heads in the sand. This isn't going to end well...
Related Articles:
- Internet Retailer: The Bitcoin Bet
- StreetInsider.com: Bitcoin Winners and Losers (AMD) (TSM) (WU) (MGI) (V) (MA)
- CNBC: Bitcoin Key to Future of Online Payments: EBay CEO
June 20, 2014 at 09:10PM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
Bitcoin Soon Accepted at Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store
MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jun 21, 2014) - Thanks to Apple's policy shift last week, Bitcoin wallets are now available for download in the iOS App store again. Previous iPhone wallet apps such as Coinbase or Blockchain are now replaced by the brand-new 'Coinpocket', which offers the same features as its predecessors, such as sending and receiving Bitcoin on iOS, exporting encrypted paper wallets as well as multiple sources for US dollar to BTC conversion. In addition to that, the new Coinpocket app also allows for full access to the camera hardware, thus enabling QR code scanning within the app and is able to generate a BIP38 encrypted version of the private key. Now that Apple's policy is approving Bitcoin wallets, customers can expect a plethora of new apps to be developed soon, than will make use of the Bitcoin system.
Bitcoin is a payment system that was first introduced in 2009 as open-source software by Satoshi Nakamoto. Payments made through the system are recorded in a public ledger, which uses its own currency, called Bitcoin. Bitcoins can be earned through payment processing work, called mining, whereas companies and individuals record payments into the public ledger in exchange for newly created Bitcoins. Other ways to obtain Bitcoins are exchanging flat money, products or services for the virtual currency. Given the anticipated increase in Bitcoin-friendly apps that can be used for transactions on personal computers, mobile devices or web applications, Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store decided to get ready for Bitcoins as well -- the company is currently working on plans to implement the system with the goal to accept Bitcoins as a method of payment within the next three months.
For Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store's customers this will mean easy payments without the need of a credit card that can be made from any country in the world. Thanks to the military-grade cryptography, customers are protected against unauthorized charges. The introduction of Bitcoins is only one of many steps that Niwali has been taking since the beginning of the year in order to optimize the shopping experience for its customers both, with regards to state-of-the-art software that has been implemented to streamline processes and with regards to the expansion and improvement of its product portfolio. Most noteworthy amongst those technical innovations are the launch of SugarCRM, a renowned customer relationship management system, and Gazelles, a rhythm coaching software.
Meanwhile Niwali's product portfolio will soon be completed by a new Multivitamin Green Blend, a superfood blend based on whole foods such as organic fruits and vegetables, tonic herbs and probiotics that ensures that the body's daily vitamin needs are met. Products will soon be procured from a NSF-certified laboratory, to guarantee the highest manufacturing standards possible. And just recently Niwali switched from animal-based gelatin capsules to vegetable caps that are not only healthier, but also suitable for vegans. Niwali uses natural remedies for all its supplements, based on extensive scientific studies and century-old knowledge from Chinese, Ayurvedic and Shamanic medicine. In the online store customers can select from a wide array of weight management, detox and cleansing, disease fighting, immune boosters & personal care products as well as vitamins and other supplements.
Niwali Test-O-Boost News: http://ift.tt/SvwzXs
Twitter: http://ift.tt/1p1SnZc
Facebook: http://ift.tt/1uNpPQr
- Technology & Electronics
- Software
June 21, 2014 at 01:01AM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
These Bitcoin Stock Winners Will Ride the Digital Currency to Profits By mhughes
Just because Bitcoin is a disruptive technology doesn't mean we won't see some Bitcoin stock winners - companies that will exploit the digital currency for the benefit of their own businesses.
We can find Bitcoin stock winners in several industries. Some are reaping a benefit now, while others will need to wait a few years until Bitcoin "goes mainstream," and average people start using it.
One industry that falls into the latter category is retailers, and online retailers in particular. Right now offering Bitcoin as a payment option is not going to be a major part of anyone's business, but it figures to grow as the Bitcoin ecosystem matures.
Bitcoin appeals to merchants because the 1% fees that processing companies like Coinbase and BitPay charge are much lower than the 2% to 3% fees they pay to credit card companies like Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). Plus, because the transactions include no personal data, Bitcoin is more secure than credit cards or debit cards.
But the first movers in this area - Overstock.com Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK) and Tiger Direct (a subsidiary of Systemax Inc. [NYSE: SYX]) - have reported some very promising early results.
Taking Bitcoin Pays Off for These Bitcoin Stock Winners
Overstock says Bitcoin has accounted for about $1.4 million in sales since it started accepting the digital currency in January. That's only about 0.4% of the online retailer's total sales, but the company has reason for optimism.
That's because customers paying with Bitcoin have spent 34% more than other customers. Better still, 58% of those using Bitcoin were new customers.
And that's been typical of the retail experience with Bitcoin.
Tiger Direct says it has also noticed that Bitcoin users spend more than other customers and is thrilled that 80% of them are new to Tiger Direct.
BloomNation, a startup that enables local florists to reach customers directly, started accepting Bitcoin just before Valentine's Day. BloomNation says customers using Bitcoin have spent about 50% more than other customers.
What would really shake up the retail world would be if one of the giants - Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) or eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) - started accepting Bitcoin.
Amazon has shown little interest so far, but eBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe has spoken favorably about Bitcoin in recent weeks and has strongly hinted that Bitcoin will soon be accepted at eBay and its subsidiary, PayPal.
"Digital currency is going to play an important role going forward," Donahoe said in a recent CNBC appearance. "At PayPal we're going to have to integrate digital currencies in our wallet."
But while the benefit to retailers so far has been incremental, one group of Bitcoin stock winners is profiting now...
Some Bitcoin Stock Winners Are Not So Obvious
The group that is profiting the most from the Bitcoin phenomenon right now are the chipmakers.
If that seems odd, consider that the Bitcoin network is maintained by very powerful computers that confirm each transaction as part of their "mining" activities of trying to solve a difficult math problem. The miner that solves a block currently is rewarded with 25 bitcoins.
However, as the Bitcoin price rose from $14 to past $1,000 last year, Bitcoin mining became an arms race.
Theoretically, more powerful machines will yield more solved blocks (and more bitcoins), but the network protocol is designed to release new bitcoins at a steady pace. It does that by raising the difficulty, which in turn requires even more powerful computers with more powerful chips.
"Due to the growth of the Bitcoin network, mining machines now require powerful application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that are designed specifically to mine Bitcoins," analyst Gil Luria of Wedbush Securities wrote in a report earlier this year.
Luria said he believes more than $200 million has been spent on Bitcoin mining rigs this year, specifically citing Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (NYSE ADR: TSM) and privately held GlobalFoundries.
In addition, Luria said Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is benefiting from the mining of digital currencies such as Dogecoin and Litecoin, "as AMD chips are preferred by Litecoin miners over other competitor GPU chips."
Finally, there's a group of possible Bitcoin stock winners - the tech titans - that could use the digital currency to as a weapon in the battle to dominate mobile payments.
Bitcoin Will Disrupt the Mobile Payments Landscape
For the past few years there's has been much talk about mobile payments - people using their smartphones instead of cash, checks, or credit and debit cards to pay for things when on the go.
Any company that could dominate this space could profit not only by inserting a small processing fee, but by having the ability to collect vast amounts of data on the shopping habits of its customers. That's the sort of data advertisers fantasize about.
And while in theory any electronic payment system would do, Bitcoin's security advantages over credit and debit cards make it an ideal fit for a smartphone-based mobile wallet.
In this arena we have three main contenders - Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), and Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).
Google already has a mobile wallet and is suspected to be considering adding Bitcoin as an option. Google's biggest advantage is that its Android software runs about 80% of the smartphones being sold now.
Apple's long-rumored mobile wallet is expected to appear this year. It will incorporate its Touch ID technology, which will make payment literally as easy as one touch of a button. It isn't known whether Apple is looking at including Bitcoin in its wallet, but it recently lifted a ban on Bitcoin wallet apps in the iTunes App Store.
And Facebook is also reported to be working on an e-wallet. Not much is known about the project, but in the past Facebook itself has dabbled in virtual currencies, so it would probably be open to supporting Bitcoin. Facebook also has about 1.3 billion active users, although it's not clear how many of those would trust a social network as a payment vehicle.
It's more likely that the Bitcoin stock winner here will be either Apple or Google, with the edge going to whoever adopts Bitcoin first and can make the experience the most seamless.
Which stocks do you think will benefit from the Bitcoin economy? Talk about it on Twitter @moneymorning or Facebook .
Editor's Note: Investors should keep an eye on these Bitcoin stock winners, but they also need to beware of the Bitcoin stock losers . These companies could have their business models severely disrupted, if not wiped out by the digital currency - and yet the CEOs all have their heads in the sand. This isn't going to end well...
Related Articles:
- Internet Retailer: The Bitcoin Bet
- StreetInsider.com: Bitcoin Winners and Losers (AMD) (TSM) (WU) (MGI) (V) (MA)
- CNBC: Bitcoin Key to Future of Online Payments: EBay CEO
June 20, 2014 at 09:10PM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
Bitcoin Soon Accepted at Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store
MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jun 21, 2014) - Thanks to Apple's policy shift last week, Bitcoin wallets are now available for download in the iOS App store again. Previous iPhone wallet apps such as Coinbase or Blockchain are now replaced by the brand-new 'Coinpocket', which offers the same features as its predecessors, such as sending and receiving Bitcoin on iOS, exporting encrypted paper wallets as well as multiple sources for US dollar to BTC conversion. In addition to that, the new Coinpocket app also allows for full access to the camera hardware, thus enabling QR code scanning within the app and is able to generate a BIP38 encrypted version of the private key. Now that Apple's policy is approving Bitcoin wallets, customers can expect a plethora of new apps to be developed soon, than will make use of the Bitcoin system.
Bitcoin is a payment system that was first introduced in 2009 as open-source software by Satoshi Nakamoto. Payments made through the system are recorded in a public ledger, which uses its own currency, called Bitcoin. Bitcoins can be earned through payment processing work, called mining, whereas companies and individuals record payments into the public ledger in exchange for newly created Bitcoins. Other ways to obtain Bitcoins are exchanging flat money, products or services for the virtual currency. Given the anticipated increase in Bitcoin-friendly apps that can be used for transactions on personal computers, mobile devices or web applications, Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store decided to get ready for Bitcoins as well -- the company is currently working on plans to implement the system with the goal to accept Bitcoins as a method of payment within the next three months.
For Niwali Test-O-Boost Health Store's customers this will mean easy payments without the need of a credit card that can be made from any country in the world. Thanks to the military-grade cryptography, customers are protected against unauthorized charges. The introduction of Bitcoins is only one of many steps that Niwali has been taking since the beginning of the year in order to optimize the shopping experience for its customers both, with regards to state-of-the-art software that has been implemented to streamline processes and with regards to the expansion and improvement of its product portfolio. Most noteworthy amongst those technical innovations are the launch of SugarCRM, a renowned customer relationship management system, and Gazelles, a rhythm coaching software.
Meanwhile Niwali's product portfolio will soon be completed by a new Multivitamin Green Blend, a superfood blend based on whole foods such as organic fruits and vegetables, tonic herbs and probiotics that ensures that the body's daily vitamin needs are met. Products will soon be procured from a NSF-certified laboratory, to guarantee the highest manufacturing standards possible. And just recently Niwali switched from animal-based gelatin capsules to vegetable caps that are not only healthier, but also suitable for vegans. Niwali uses natural remedies for all its supplements, based on extensive scientific studies and century-old knowledge from Chinese, Ayurvedic and Shamanic medicine. In the online store customers can select from a wide array of weight management, detox and cleansing, disease fighting, immune boosters & personal care products as well as vitamins and other supplements.
Niwali Test-O-Boost News: http://ift.tt/SvwzXs
Twitter: http://ift.tt/1p1SnZc
Facebook: http://ift.tt/1uNpPQr
- Technology & Electronics
- Software
June 21, 2014 at 01:01AM
Latest Bitcoin News | BTC/LTC Robot | Mining ASICS | BTC Debit Card
These Bitcoin Stock Winners Will Ride the Digital Currency to Profits By mhughes
Just because Bitcoin is a disruptive technology doesn't mean we won't see some Bitcoin stock winners - companies that will exploit the digital currency for the benefit of their own businesses.
We can find Bitcoin stock winners in several industries. Some are reaping a benefit now, while others will need to wait a few years until Bitcoin "goes mainstream," and average people start using it.
One industry that falls into the latter category is retailers, and online retailers in particular. Right now offering Bitcoin as a payment option is not going to be a major part of anyone's business, but it figures to grow as the Bitcoin ecosystem matures.
Bitcoin appeals to merchants because the 1% fees that processing companies like Coinbase and BitPay charge are much lower than the 2% to 3% fees they pay to credit card companies like Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). Plus, because the transactions include no personal data, Bitcoin is more secure than credit cards or debit cards.
But the first movers in this area - Overstock.com Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK) and Tiger Direct (a subsidiary of Systemax Inc. [NYSE: SYX]) - have reported some very promising early results.
Taking Bitcoin Pays Off for These Bitcoin Stock Winners
Overstock says Bitcoin has accounted for about $1.4 million in sales since it started accepting the digital currency in January. That's only about 0.4% of the online retailer's total sales, but the company has reason for optimism.
That's because customers paying with Bitcoin have spent 34% more than other customers. Better still, 58% of those using Bitcoin were new customers.
And that's been typical of the retail experience with Bitcoin.
Tiger Direct says it has also noticed that Bitcoin users spend more than other customers and is thrilled that 80% of them are new to Tiger Direct.
BloomNation, a startup that enables local florists to reach customers directly, started accepting Bitcoin just before Valentine's Day. BloomNation says customers using Bitcoin have spent about 50% more than other customers.
What would really shake up the retail world would be if one of the giants - Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) or eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) - started accepting Bitcoin.
Amazon has shown little interest so far, but eBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe has spoken favorably about Bitcoin in recent weeks and has strongly hinted that Bitcoin will soon be accepted at eBay and its subsidiary, PayPal.
"Digital currency is going to play an important role going forward," Donahoe said in a recent CNBC appearance. "At PayPal we're going to have to integrate digital currencies in our wallet."
But while the benefit to retailers so far has been incremental, one group of Bitcoin stock winners is profiting now...
Some Bitcoin Stock Winners Are Not So Obvious
The group that is profiting the most from the Bitcoin phenomenon right now are the chipmakers.
If that seems odd, consider that the Bitcoin network is maintained by very powerful computers that confirm each transaction as part of their "mining" activities of trying to solve a difficult math problem. The miner that solves a block currently is rewarded with 25 bitcoins.
However, as the Bitcoin price rose from $14 to past $1,000 last year, Bitcoin mining became an arms race.
Theoretically, more powerful machines will yield more solved blocks (and more bitcoins), but the network protocol is designed to release new bitcoins at a steady pace. It does that by raising the difficulty, which in turn requires even more powerful computers with more powerful chips.
"Due to the growth of the Bitcoin network, mining machines now require powerful application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that are designed specifically to mine Bitcoins," analyst Gil Luria of Wedbush Securities wrote in a report earlier this year.
Luria said he believes more than $200 million has been spent on Bitcoin mining rigs this year, specifically citing Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (NYSE ADR: TSM) and privately held GlobalFoundries.
In addition, Luria said Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is benefiting from the mining of digital currencies such as Dogecoin and Litecoin, "as AMD chips are preferred by Litecoin miners over other competitor GPU chips."
Finally, there's a group of possible Bitcoin stock winners - the tech titans - that could use the digital currency to as a weapon in the battle to dominate mobile payments.
Bitcoin Will Disrupt the Mobile Payments Landscape
For the past few years there's has been much talk about mobile payments - people using their smartphones instead of cash, checks, or credit and debit cards to pay for things when on the go.
Any company that could dominate this space could profit not only by inserting a small processing fee, but by having the ability to collect vast amounts of data on the shopping habits of its customers. That's the sort of data advertisers fantasize about.
And while in theory any electronic payment system would do, Bitcoin's security advantages over credit and debit cards make it an ideal fit for a smartphone-based mobile wallet.
In this arena we have three main contenders - Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), and Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).
Google already has a mobile wallet and is suspected to be considering adding Bitcoin as an option. Google's biggest advantage is that its Android software runs about 80% of the smartphones being sold now.
Apple's long-rumored mobile wallet is expected to appear this year. It will incorporate its Touch ID technology, which will make payment literally as easy as one touch of a button. It isn't known whether Apple is looking at including Bitcoin in its wallet, but it recently lifted a ban on Bitcoin wallet apps in the iTunes App Store.
And Facebook is also reported to be working on an e-wallet. Not much is known about the project, but in the past Facebook itself has dabbled in virtual currencies, so it would probably be open to supporting Bitcoin. Facebook also has about 1.3 billion active users, although it's not clear how many of those would trust a social network as a payment vehicle.
It's more likely that the Bitcoin stock winner here will be either Apple or Google, with the edge going to whoever adopts Bitcoin first and can make the experience the most seamless.
Which stocks do you think will benefit from the Bitcoin economy? Talk about it on Twitter @moneymorning or Facebook .
Editor's Note: Investors should keep an eye on these Bitcoin stock winners, but they also need to beware of the Bitcoin stock losers . These companies could have their business models severely disrupted, if not wiped out by the digital currency - and yet the CEOs all have their heads in the sand. This isn't going to end well...
Related Articles:
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- StreetInsider.com: Bitcoin Winners and Losers (AMD) (TSM) (WU) (MGI) (V) (MA)
- CNBC: Bitcoin Key to Future of Online Payments: EBay CEO
June 20, 2014 at 09:10PM
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