Securities Registration Requirements Holding Bitcoin Back

The commissioner of the Texas State Securities Board issued an emergency order last week barring a private energy exploration company from accepting investments in bitcoin from non-accredited investors. The company, Balanced Energy LLC, allegedly solicited investors at the Texas Bitcoin Conference on March 6th with the statements “we don’t do any verification” and “we’re not the paperwork police,” and informed interested parties that capital contributions...

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Mt. Gox Confirms Discovery of 200,000 BTC in ‘Old-Format’ Wallet

Embattled Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has released a new press release confirming that it found an old-format bitcoin wallet on 7th March containing 199,999.99 BTC ($113.9m at press time).Mt. Gox further confirmed it reported the finding to its bankruptcy counsels as required by its civil rehabilitation proceedings.The release states:“A hearing took place on March 8 where a detailed explanation of the situation was made to counsels. Immediately...

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Mt. Gox Confirms Discovery of 200,000 BTC in ‘Old-Format’ Wallet

Embattled Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has released a new press release confirming that it found an old-format bitcoin wallet on 7th March containing 199,999.99 BTC ($113.9m at press time).Mt. Gox further confirmed it reported the finding to its bankruptcy counsels as required by its civil rehabilitation proceedings.The release states:“A hearing took place on March 8 where a detailed explanation of the situation was made to counsels. Immediately...

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Sean’s Outpost is Under Attack

Sean’s Outpost is a Pensacola, Florida based charity for the homeless. It is well known as one of the first organisations to embrace Bitcoin for charitable giving. Jason King is its founder. He is a regular speaker at events and is highly respected for his work.The organisation has, to date, used Bitcoin donations to successfully supply 60,000 meals, secure nine acres of property and open a thrift store. So, Sean’s Outpost’s first birthday this week...

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Video: Roundup of This Week’s Bitcoin News 21st March 2014

Want a quick roundup of what’s been happening in the world of digital currencies? Here are our three biggest headlines from this past week:Unusual database error causes Blockchain outage: The bitcoin data and wallet service, Blockchain.info, was down for more than a day this week. Issues started when Blockchain suspended Shared Coin transactions. The company has since moved to reassure customers that their bitcoins are safe.KnCMiner announces first...

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Spondoolies-Tech Promises More Power-Efficient Mining

An Israeli company launched a bitcoin mining system this week that promises to eventually double existing power efficiencies. Spondoolies-Tech is touting mining rigs that will offer up to 2.1TH/sec per kilowatt of energy today by the summer.The company has designed an ASIC chip that it says can achieve a similar performance to the design currently used by ASIC mining manufacturers such as Cointerra. The difference, says Spondoolies-Tech cofounder...

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BitPay Opens New York and San Francisco Offices

In support of the continued growth of Bitcoin, BitPay has expanded its operations and opened offices in San Francisco and New York. The expansion means that the company will now have four locations throughout the world.Headquartered in Atlanta, the Bitcoin payment processor specializes in providing solutions to businesses looking to accept the virtual currency. The offices in San Francisco and New York will give BitPay the opportunity to spread knowledge...

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SecondMarket CEO Barry Silbert Talks Vision for Bitcoin Investment Trust

SecondMarket CEO Barry Silbert made news on 19th March when he revealed that Bitcoin Investment Trust, his private investment vehicle for high net-worth investors, would open its doors to the general public as soon as Q4 2014.The news surprised many, especially given the struggles reported by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, whose Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust has been waiting in regulatory limbo since July 2013 while it waits for SEC approval.In initial...

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Controversial New York Lawyer to Accept Bitcoins

In the 1970s and 1980s, E. F. Hutton was one of the best known brokerage houses in the United States. A Madison Avenue ad-maker came up with the tagline, “When E. F. Hutton talks, people listen.” The same could be said about successful people in general. When a successful man makes a decision, it’s a good idea to listen, if you want to be successful also.Hairdressers, sandwich shops, spas and even escort services have all jumped on the bandwagon...

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CoinTouch – Do Your Friends Buy and Sell Bitcoin?

Are you looking for a way to buy and sell Bitcoin? Many in the Bitcoin community have their routine of where they go to trade Bitcoin. Whether that is through an exchange, local sources, or selling goods and services, we want each source to be trusted. What if there was a place you could go that would search your friends and see who wants to buy or sell Bitcoin? A new platform called CoinTouch does just that.CoinTouch is a service that connects...

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When Will Bitcoin Be Truly Inclusive?

If bitcoin is the great leveller, then why is it still mostly driven by people who are young, white, tech-savvy, and with full access to banking services?This month, the Bitcoin Foundation has been quietly setting up a committee for Financial Inclusion. The aim, says committee head Andreas Antonopoulos, is to increase awareness and education about bitcoin’s potential role in that area.Around 2.5bn people in the world don’t use formal or semi-formal...

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Canadian Bitcoin Exchange Loses $100,000 in Unorthodox Attack

Ontario-based bitcoin buying and selling service Canadian Bitcoins has revealed that it was the victim of an unusual attack last October that resulted in the loss of 149.94 BTC ($100,000).The Ottawa Citizen reports that an unidentified scammer contacted a technical support agent at its now former web hosting service, Granite Networks, claiming to be owner James Grant. Using only the owner’s name, the thief was allegedly able to have the site reboot...

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Australia May Extradite Alleged Silk Road Moderator to US

An Australian man prosecutors allege was one of the moderators of now-defunct online black market Silk Road will likely be sent to the United States for trial soon.Peter Phillip Nash, a former prison employee in Wacol, Queensland, is said to have operated via nicknames that included “Batman73″ and “Samesamebutdifferent”, on the notorious illicit goods marketplace that boasted an estimated $22m in annual sales.If the charges are true, Nash was one...

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$500,000 Villa Sold in What May be Biggest Bitcoin Purchase on Record

Online bitcoin-only luxury marketplace BitPremier has completed the sale of a fully managed villa at the deLMango Villa Estate in Bali, Indonesia, in what may be the largest reported bitcoin transaction to date.Founder and CEO Alan Silbert indicates that the 3,000-square-foot villa sold for more than $500,000, though the exact price paid by the buyer was not revealed.Silbert, brother of SecondMarket CEO and BitPremier investor Barry Silbert, indicated...

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BitPay Opens Offices in San Francisco and New York

BitPay has expanded its operations by opening offices in San Francisco and New York.The bitcoin payment processor is headquartered in Atlanta, but the new offices will help the company to bring in new business and offer operational support to the merchants it currently works with.“BitPay has many merchants accepting bitcoin throughout Silicon Valley so we are thrilled to extend our exceptional sales and customer support by opening an office in San...

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Bitcoin Version 0.9.0 Brings Transaction Malleability Fixes, Branding Change

Bitcoin’s core developers have released the latest update to the Bitcoin protocol, version 0.9.0, which includes transaction malleability-related fixes, as well as updates to how transactions are relayed on the network.Version 0.9.0 notably features coin control features and a Windows 64-bit installer, among other updates, bug fixes and minor feature additions.Bitcoin core developer Gavin Andresen took to Twitter to publicize the news.Continue reading...

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Danish Central Bank Compares Bitcoins to ‘Glass Beads’

Danmarks Nationalbank, the Danish central bank, has issued a stern warning on bitcoin, saying that it is not money in the true sense of the word, as it is not backed by an issuing institution.Rather than functioning like money, bitcoins display the characteristics of commodities – that is, users attach value to them, not issuers or central banks.Yet, said the bank, bitcoins do not have intrinsic value like gold and silver, and they bear a closer...

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Litecoin Tops $20 As Traders Await Addition to China’s Huobi Exchange

The price of litecoin surged across major exchanges in anticipation of Huobi, one of the largest China-based digital currency exchanges, officially adding support for litecoin trading today.The exchange added to the anticipation after announcing the news last week and adding a ‘moon landing’ countdown clock to its site: Continue reading at CoinDesk March 19, 2014 at 07:4...

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Is Bitcoin a Digital Currency or a Virtual One?

Is bitcoin a virtual currency, a digital currency, or both? And why does it matter?In press reports, it’s often referred to as both. The Bangkok Post today refers to “virtual currencies including the bitcoin”, while the Toronto Star describes the collapse of a bitcoin exchange after hackers stole its “digital currency”. But digital and virtual currencies are two different things, with different behaviours.It’s more than a semantic distinction. It’s...

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Polish Bitcoin Exchange Bitcurex Relaunches Following Hacking Attack

After last week’s hacking attack forced the site to temporarily shut down, Polish bitcoin exchange Bitcurex resumed service on 18th March.The platform said the perpetrators did not manage to break its security measures and gain full access to its operational hot wallet.“Today, we launch trade in Polish zlotys, and on Thursday at 12:00 local time in euros to ensure our support team has sufficient capacity of handling bids in this important period,”...

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BTC China to Drop All Fees After Adding BTC–LTC Trading Option

BTC China is set to reduce the trading fees across its digital currency exchange to 0% and it has today added the option for users to trade bitcoin for litecoin and vice versa.At the beginning of the month, BTC China added litecoin support, enabling users to buy the popular altcoin using local currency CNY with 0% trading fees.CNY-BTC trades on the site currently come with a 0.1% fee, but from 21st March, this will be removed.Continue reading at...

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