Datasets:

EdaZ

/

bitcoin_news

like 3

2014-01-06 22:53:49+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [41, 1020, 1476, 1578, 1731, 2375, 2413, 2536, 2785, 3091, 3345, 3712, 3974, 4119, 4242, 4396, 4640, 4979, 5032], "BTC": [309, 3192, 3847]}

{"Bitcoin": [34]}

Okay, Seriously: What The Heck Is Bitcoin, And Why Do So Many People Prefer It To Dollars And Cents?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/what-is-bitcoin-and-why-do-so-many-people-prefer-it-to-72481405559.html

Yahoo Tech

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/

LAS VEGAS—It’s easy, oh so easy, to hate Bitcoin. Some of the virtual currency’s more public uses have been to buy drugs or procure hit men . The Winklevoss twins, having graduated from claiming to have invented Facebook, love the virtual currency so much that as of November they bought up 1 percent of all “BTC” in circulation . It’s spawned a host of other made-up currencies, some a lot loopier (“ Dogecoin ” and “Coinye West,” anyone?) than others. And yet: Paying for goods and services is not one of those practices that we humans can claim to have perfected. And it’s not as if we’ve never trafficked in alternative currencies before. Microsoft Points and Facebook Credits didn’t take off, but Amazon gift cards function as an alternative currency , albeit with a fixed 1:1 exchange rate with dollars. Frequent-flyer miles—redeemable not just for air travel but a variety of gifts — represent yet another way besides dollars through which you can pay and be paid . So set aside the libertarian utopianism around Bitcoin. Why is this “crypto currency”—“mined” by solving complex equations on increasingly specialized computers, with transactions confirmed through peer-to-peer math—good for you, the customer? And why should you be wary? More efficient transactions—with a catch. Your credit card may look free to you, but merchants pay a small fee to accept it , historically around 2 to 4 percent, that invisibly pads out your bill. That’s much less of a factor with Bitcoin transactions: One small retailer I talked to at an event last night (Silver Spring, Md.-based BitcoinShop.US ) pays a $30/month flat fee to have BitPay process those purchases. Why? There’s no short-term interest-fee loan involved. On this level, Bitcoins operate like cash—the money goes directly from you to the merchant. That, in turn, means that the transaction doesn’t come with a credit card’s traditional guarantees of security. You can ask nicely for your money back, but by default there’s no third party to step in on your behalf and reverse the transaction. Story continues Credit-card payments have changed a lot in recent years, however—think of how phone- and tablet-based card readers like Square’s have broadened the outdoors utility of plastic. Traditional processing services are getting a lot more competition, which could steadily narrow the gap between credit cards and Bitcoin. And the inexperience of some Bitcoin processors can inflict different costs. At the tech-policy site Techdirt.com, founder Mike Masnick elected to take Bitcoin as payment starting in November , using Bitpay to handle those transactions. “Bitpay’s customer service was dreadful,” he wrote, citing issues getting transactions over $100 to go through. An easier way to send money across borders. Because Bitcoin isn’t run by a central bank, it can cross international boundaries much more easily and quickly . That’s an easy thing to overlook in the U.S., where you could bring suitcases full of cash through customs as long as you fill out a form for sums over $10,000. Central banks aren’t the only obstacle Bitcoin can route around. WordPress.com ( disclosure : my own blog host) began accepting payments in BTC in late 2012 because of all the countries where traditional processing services won’t take locals’ money. But if you want to finish an international Bitcoin transaction by converting those funds back to your own country’s currency, you can hit some usual and unusual roadblocks. It may take longer to complete that triangular transaction than traditional foreign-exchange methods would require. And the very governments that don’t appreciate their citizens moving money out of the country can clamp down on domestic Bitcoin transactions. In December, the Chinese government took that route, forcing major domestic payment processors to stop accepting BTC —which then caused the currency to tumble in value worldwide. A dicey investment. There’s the rub: If you can’t conclude a Bitcoin transaction by moving the proceeds to your own, dollar-denominated bank account, it’s not like forgetting to withdraw money from PayPal. Bitcoin’s exchange rate has soared and swooned to a vomit-inducing degree . For people who timed things right, that’s made Bitcoin a great investment. But in a functioning market, currencies shouldn’t look like investments. Their value is supposed to be boring. “I don’t think Bitcoin is a good store of value, at least not yet,” wrote Jerry Brito, senior research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center in Arlington, Va.— and one of the more bullish people about the currency. “What will get us there is if Bitcoin delivers on its promise as If it does, it doesn’t matter that many today are speculating that it will. Once it does deliver on the promise, the market won’t see any more huge upside and the price will be what it will be.” I now have a tiny personal stake in that. Over the span of all of three minutes Sunday night, I downloaded a Bitcoin wallet app to my phone, put a $5 bill into a Bitcoin ATM set up at an exhibit here, held the phone up to the ATM so it could scan the QR code generated by the app—and moments later, saw the app report my receipt of the funds. Maybe I just gambled $5 away. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened here.

2014-01-07 03:25:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [17, 66, 86, 325, 433, 834, 980, 1132, 1329, 1608, 1617, 2082, 2132, 2152, 2217, 2340, 2558]}

{"Bitcoin": [14, 69]}

Revolutionary Bitcoin Gaming App Has Been Released as Open Source by Bitcoin Video Casino

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/revolutionary-bitcoin-gaming-app-released-032500757.html

ACCESSWIRE

https://www.accesswire.com/

In a world first Bitcoin Video Casino has released an open source Bitcoin gaming app. Bitcoin Video Casino is proud to announce that its Android gaming app has now been released as open source, enabling the player to inspect and modify the code in any way. The android app is the only open source gaming app available to the Bitcoin casino market. It will be released January 6th 2014. The release of the app as open source furthers Bitcoin Video Casino’s strong support of provably fair gaming. Players can verify that the source code creates games that are completely fair. Players can also contribute new features and fix bugs. All source code is licensed under the GNU General Public License. Developers can also modify and redistribute the app in order to earn a 25% referral bonus on all games played with the app. The app uses Bitcoin Video Casino’s freely available developer’s API, which lets developers quickly develop provably fair casino apps and websites that accept Bitcoins. The native Android App currently supports four casino games, instant deposits and withdrawals, and integrates directly with a player’s mobile Bitcoin wallet. Users can also scan a QR code to import their web-based account into the Android app. This allows the user to play with the same account online that they play with the Android app. Bitcoin Video Casino is an online gaming platform that was released in December 2012. The flagship website supports Video Poker, Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Keno, Dice and Slots. Over 11 million games have been played on the site by users. Utilizing the unprecedented aspects of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Video Casino requires no registration, nor does it collect any data on player identities. All games are provably fair, meaning that it is mathematically impossible for the site to manipulate the shuffle of any games. All games feature an expected return of at least 99.5% and have large progressive jackpots. The app and web site have been designed in the fashion of old school Las Vegas video poker machines – Classic Fun for Serious Players. As the first Bitcoin gaming platform to release an open source Bitcoin gaming app, Bitcoin Video Casino has proven its innovation and commitment to Bitcoin gaming at its finest once again. Story continues To learn more please go to: http://bitcoinvideocasino.com/ To see Bitcoin Video Casino’s open source app please go to: https://bitbucket.org/tbak/bitcoinvideocasino_android . Visit https://bitcoinvideocasino.com/ for more information. Contact Info Name: Nickie Greenlee Organization: Bitcoin Video Casino Email: [email protected]

2014-01-07 13:36:40+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1664, 2102]}

{}

Overstock CEO: Why we're accepting bitcoins

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/overstock-ceo-why-were-accepting-133640241.html

CNBC

http://www.cnbc.com/

George Frey | Bloomberg | Getty Images Overstock.com ( OSTK ) has become the first major online shopping retailer to accept the digital currency bitcoin as payment in exchange for any of our million products. We are doing this for both business and philosophical reasons. First, the business reasons: There are large numbers of holders of bitcoin who are eager to patronize firms that will accept this form of payment, but so far, their options have been limited. I believe that by being the first major online retailer to accept bitcoin, we will tap into a significant group of loyal consumers, and as a result our share of the overall market will grow. In addition, the cost of carrying out credit-card transactions is roughly 2 percent. Given that our net margin is also approaching 2 percent, the avoidance of such fees will make bitcoin sales that much more profitable. ( Read more : Buzzfeed COO: How I mined for bitcoins ) And, while it's true that the value of bitcoin has proven more volatile than that of gold, this will not be a risk to Overstock.com; we will either immediately convert bitcoin to dollars or hedge our bitcoin risk through bitcoin-dollar derivatives (should such a market develop). Now, the philosophical reasons: I believe limited government is a better business model for our nation than is unlimited government (and limited government has the additional benefit of being consistent with our Constitution). Among the many vices of authoritarianism is that it can sustain itself only by offering more things to more people than it can actually deliver, and one way it makes up the difference is by debasing its currency. ( Read more : Bitcoin breaks $1,000 after Zynga opts in ) People who share my belief in limited government often favor gold-back money, because for millennia, mankind's stock of gold has increased at a rate of 2-3 percent per year, and no government mandarin has the power to will additional gold into existence. As a digital currency, bitcoin is, of course, suited to online transactions. In addition, however, it possesses those key virtues of gold: Bitcoin is mathematically constrained such that there can be no more than 21 million (infinitely divisible) units, and the supply will grow in a predictable manner. Story continues ( Read more : Here's what should bolster bitcoin in 2014 ) I am agnostic regarding the future value of bitcoin. I merely feel bitcoin is a viable medium of exchange that Overstock.com should embrace to better serve our customers, and that the U.S. should embrace to create a robust, viable alternative to our current monetary institutions. - By Patrick M. Byrne - Patrick M. Byrne is chairman and CEO of online retailer Overstock.com. Follow him on Twitter @overstockceo . More From CNBC The most stressful jobs for 2014 US failed over Syria: Saudi prince Colorado pot prices double as demand soars

2014-01-08 09:50:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [50, 244, 341, 725, 794, 1146, 1284, 1388]}

{"Bitcoin": [45]}

China's E-Commerce Giant Alibaba Just Banned Bitcoin

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-e-commerce-giant-alibaba-095039071.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Alibaba Tour 33 Nicholas Carlson Another blow for Bitcoin in China. Alibaba — the e-commerce giant — will no longer allow bitcoin use on its site. From the FT : Alibaba said that as of January 14 it would stop its users from doing any deals in Bitcoins or other virtual currencies such as Litecoins, and would bar merchants from selling any Bitcoin mining software or offering any related products. The decision was taken to “promote the healthy development of Taobao Marketplace and to more effectively protect the interests of Taobao members,” Alibaba said in a statement. It added that the ban stemmed from the central bank’s ruling in December that prohibits any payment companies or financial institutions from handling Bitcoins. The whole press release is here (in Chinese). The price of Bitcoin dropped precipitously late last year after the first signs that China would crack down. But it hasn't really mattered. The price has proved resilient, and as the FT noted yesterday , trading is springing back to life, as people find a way around the government ban. Given that circumventing government regulations is one of the main appeals of Bitcoin, it was probably naive to think that China's crackdown would have major ramifications. More From Business Insider Zynga Is Giving Bitcoin A Test Drive In Its Social Games 40 MILLION PHONES: China's Xiaomi Has Lofty Goals For 2014 Why Bitcoin Has Value, According To One Of Its Biggest Supporters

2014-01-08 10:12:47+00:00

{"BTC": [2409, 2587, 3166]}

{}

Alibaba division bans bitcoin after China crackdown as IPO looms

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alibaba-division-bans-bitcoin-china-101247063.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's biggest online marketplace, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Taobao, will ban the sale of bitcoins on the heels of a government crackdown against the virtual currency to plug a potential gap in its tight controls on capital flows. The move comes as Alibaba, China's biggest e-commerce company, seeks the smoothest of rides toward a giant initial public offering of stock expected later this year. In a statement posted on its website late on Tuesday, Taobao said the ban is effective from January 14. Taobao's move to fall in line with the government's wishes also comes as Alibaba presses on with efforts to stamp out the sale of fake goods on the online marketplace ahead of the IPO. Alibaba has been conservatively estimated to be worth over $100 billion. "The central bank clearly has required third-party payment services to close bitcoin...trading channels," Taobao said in its statement, without disclosing any details on bitcoin sales through its platform up to now. Backed by neither a government nor a bank, bitcoin has attracted currency speculators in recent months. Alibaba spokeswoman Florence Shih said, "In the interest of consumer protection, Taobao has banned the sale of bitcoins on the platform." Taobao uses Alibaba's online payment affiliate Alipay to process transactions across the world's second-biggest economy, handling over 1 trillion yuan ($165 billion) in annual sales volume together with its sister shopping portal T-Mall. The Taobao ban, which covers other virtual currencies, also includes the sale of any guides, computer hardware or software related to bitcoin "mining". In the mining process users can mint new bitcoins of their own by having a computer solve complex mathematical problems. Most bitcoin sales take place on specialized electronic platforms, rather than online marketplaces like Taobao, that are designed to trade the virtual currency for various physical currencies. In December, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) banned financial institutions from trading in bitcoins, saying the government would act to prevent money laundering risks from bitcoin, which is not backed by a government or central bank. It did not ban individual trading. Story continues Later the same month, the Chinese Business News reported that the government had asked third-party payment services to stop handling bitcoin transactions, forcing Shanghai-based BTC China, the world's largest bitcoin exchange platform by volume, to stop taking Chinese yuan deposits. "I think it's overreaching," said Bobby Lee, Chief Executive Officer of BTC China, referring to Taobao's ban on bitcoin-related accessories. "I think they're trying to just win favors from the government." The PBOC stance reflects the fact that the bitcoin trade represents a potential hole in the country's capital controls. They are minted anonymously, untraceable, and can be carried on memory sticks or transmitted electronically. However, analysts say that given the total value of bitcoins in circulation remains tiny relative to other currencies, the trade is unlikely to have much impact on the wider economy for now. The price of bitcoins on BTC China fell 15 percent on Tuesday to 4718.51 yuan, but had bounced back 4.5 percent by late afternoon on Wednesday. ($1 = 6.0512 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Adam Rose; Additional reporting by Paul Carstens in BEIJING; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

2014-01-08 12:28:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [4095]}

{}

10 Things You Need To Know This Morning

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-things-know-opening-bell-122800396.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

spiderman REUTERS/Eric Miller Patrick O'Brien jogs around Lake Harriet in south Minneapolis in a Spiderman wind suit, January 6, 2014. Good morning! Here's what you need to know. — The Eurozone may be backsliding. Italian unemployment has now hit a 37-year high of 12.7%, while youth unemployment climbed 20 bps to 41.6%. Eurozone-wide unemployment has been at 12.1% literally since April . We're also seeing signs of deflation, as price growth has now slowed for the past six months . It's not all bad — retail sales have picked up a bit , and Ireland has just rejoined the bond market — but if you want to be concerned there's plenty of evidence for you to be so. — Ford CEO Alan Mulally is now vehemently denying he will become Microsoft's next head, as the software giant says it is now close to announcing Steve Ballmer's successor. Reuters: "Sources familiar with the process have told Reuters that Microsoft is down to a "handful" of candidates, including one or more outsiders from the tech industry, former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and insiders Satya Nadella and Tony Bates." — Netflix, shares of which fell more than 5.5% yesterday after a Morgan Stanley downgrade , is banking on the success of the latest season House of Cards to erase doubters. Marketwatch : "...no network may have more riding on a show in terms of its prestige or how its reception could affect its programming efforts than Netflix. 'There is some risk that if it doesn’t live up to the quality of season one, people will perceive more risk in Netflix’s original content effort,' said Andy Hargreaves, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. 'That doesn’t necessarily put more pressure on the other shows. It’s just a reflection of the high bar they’ve set and the reality that sub-par shows or seasons are inevitable.'" — Yahoo is making a huge bet on digital magazines focused on food and tech. " We found our inspiration in magazines," CEO Marissa Mayer said at CES yesterday. "They are elegant, beautiful and have a distinctive voice." The tech mag, simply called Yahoo Tech, will be run by former New York Times columnist David Pogue. — Twitter announced it would hold its first-ever earnings call Feb. 5. It got another downgrade this morning from Cantor Fitzgerald . "While historically we've reserved our "SELL" rating to business models with structural challenges, we find TWTR's valuation to be excessive and currently see materially more downside than upside," analyst Youssef Squali said. — Markets in Asia mostly surged on Wednesday, while European markets were falling. U.S. futures were pointing lower. Silver is down more than 1%. Story continues — Fifteen Turkish police chiefs were relieved of their duties in the latest chapter of that country's corruption probe. The Borsa Istanbul erased yesterday's gains, falling 1%. Reuters reports Fitch is now warning "strains on institutional integrity" caused by tensions between the government and judiciary could eventually lead to a downgrade. "In the latest move by the ruling AK Party, it sent plans seeking more say over the appointment of judges and prosecutors to parliament late on Tuesday. 'This is the latest sign that things are not about to calm down ahead of March local elections,' a research note from Commerzbank said,'" according to Reuters. — December ADP payrolls beat expectations, coming in at 238,000 versus 200,000 expected and 215,000 in November. At 3 p.m. we get November consumer credit, with an increase of $14.2 billion expected. — At 2 p.m. we'll get the latest FOMC minutes. "Economists have many questions," Marketwatch's Greg Robb writes . "They want to know if the taper pace is on auto-pilot, continuing at $10 billion per meeting, and therefore ending by the fourth quarter. Another question is why did the Fed choose not to lower its rate-hike threshold from 6.5% ... ? And on inflation, they’re looking for whether the Fed will change its story that inflation will pick up over the next several months, despite all evidence to the contrary." — Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce website, announced it had banned Bitcoin payments . The price on the Mt. Gox exchange is now back down to $952 after breaching $1,000 over the weekend. More From Business Insider 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning View comments

2014-01-08 14:04:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [251, 686]}

{"Bitcoin": [15]}

BLDW to Accept Bitcoins and Manufacture Cryptocurrency Mining Products

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bldw-accept-bitcoins-manufacture-cryptocurrency-140400213.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - Jan 8, 2014) - Building Turbines, Inc. ( PINKSHEETS : BLDW ), through its wholly owned subsidiary, Green City Planet, is pleased to announce that it is entering the cryptocurrency arena, and will immediately begin accepting Bitcoin and potentially other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, as a form of payment for all products and services. "We are pleased to be one of the first Green Energy companies to support, and accept cryptocurrency as a form of digital payment. We have a system in place to accept cryptocurrency for payment and to convert to USD ," stated John Graham Sr., CEO of Building Turbines. Mr. Graham added, "Mining for cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Litecoin is done 24 hours a day, on specialized computers, running specialized software. We have designed and built our own cryptocurrency mining rigs, which are currently in operation. We will be offering our systems for sale in the near future. Our Rooftop Wind Turbines, Solar, LED and other Green Energy Products, are a perfect complement to these devices." About Building Turbines , Inc.: www.BuildingTurbines.com Based in Austin, Texas, Building Turbines, Inc. is focused on the design and manufacture of patented rooftop wind turbines; as well as, vertically integrating into other renewable energy solutions to complete a total Green Energy Solution for any urban environment. Building Turbines, Inc. is a publicly traded company, ( PINKSHEETS : BLDW ). About Green City Planet : www.GreenCityPlanet.com Green City Planet, a wholly owned subsidiary of Building Turbines, Inc., is a premier provider of LED lighting, Solar and comprehensive commercial energy efficient solutions. The foregoing press announcement contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by such terminology such as "believes," "expects," "potential," "plans," "suggests," "may," "should," "could," "intends," or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. In particular, management's expectations could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties relating to our success in completing acquisitions, financing our operations, entering into strategic partnerships, engaging management and other matters disclosed by us in our public filings from time to time. Forward-looking statements speak only as to the date they are made. The Company does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made.

2014-01-08 19:48:44+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [110, 310, 390, 592, 880, 987, 1565, 1799, 1972]}

{"Bitcoin": [15]}

North American Bitcoin Conference Coming to Miami

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/north-american-bitcoin-conference-coming-194844108.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jan 8, 2014) - Triple Zero Media today announced that the first-ever North American Bitcoin Conference ( http://btcmiami.com/ ) will be occurring in Miami, Jan. 24 through 26, 2014. The event will be held at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The NABC follows the successful European Bitcoin Conference in Amsterdam in September 2013. More than 500 members of the Bitcoin international community will be attending to discuss and make plans involving this radically new digital currency that operates without governments or banks. As part of its mission to encourage Bitcoin use and growth, merchants will be admitted for free on Saturday, Jan. 25, and be able to take part in full-day educational workshops. A pre-conference networking party will take place at 8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 24, at the Clevelander South Beach Hotel & Bar, which will be accepting Bitcoins for payment throughout the property via BitPay. (If out-of-town attendees wish, they may also use Bitcoin to pay for their flights via BTCTrip.com.) Five panels will address issues of interest to startups, venture capitalists and angel investors, and businesses, and there will be two dozen speakers, including: Charles Shrem, BitInstant Michael Terpin, BitAngels Marc van der Chijs, CrossPacific Capital Carol van Cleef, Patton Boggs Matthew Roszak, SilkRoad Equity Jeffrey Tucker, Liberty.me Jacob S. Farber, Perkins Coie Jason King, Sean's Outpost Gabriel Caballero, Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart Tony Gallippi, Bitpay Roger Ver, Memorydealers/bitcoinstore Elizabeth Ploshay, Bitcoin Magazine Chris Odom, OpenTransactions Alan Safahi, ZipZap Charlie Lee, Litecoin Charles Evans, Bitcountant George Papageorgiou, Neo & Bee, Neo Easycoin David Aylor, Silk Road lawyer Ryan Charleston, Bitcorati Vitalik Buterin, Bitcoin Magazine Eric Spano, Bylls Kennth Metral, CoinGig Wendell Davis, Hive Joseph Vaughnperling, New Liberty Dollar For more information and ticket pricing, please visit Bitcoin Miami's website, http://btcmiami.com/ .

2014-01-08 21:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1341]}

{}

The Hottest Ecommerce Businesses to Start in 2014 (Infographic)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/hottest-ecommerce-businesses-start-2014-213000423.html

Entrepreneur

http://www.entrepreneur.com/

Being the big guy has its moments. Football, for example, tends to favor the larger fellows. But on the digital playing field, being little - as long as you're fast and nimble - can be a win. If you are looking for blockbuster ecommerce business ideas that favor the small, check out this infographic (below) from Austin, Texas-based ecommerce platform-making company Bigcommerce . Analyzing data provided by 50,000 of its own clients for the past year, Bigcommerce determined that auto, jewelry, toys and games and pet care are fast-growing areas where one-of-a-kind merchants are outperforming their big-box or chain store peers. For example, auto e-tailers are beating the pants off the likes of AutoZone, independent sporting goods e-tailers are growing faster than REI and Cabela and ecommerce craft stores are hopscotching over big names like Jo-Ann and Hobby Lobby. By the same token, Toys-R-US and American Girl web stores are not growing as quickly as their smaller toy ecommerce counterparts, Bigcommerce data shows. Here is the infographic with more granular data breaking down growth of revenue per store, size of order and number of stores in various online industries. Click to Enlarge+ The Hottest Ecommerce Businesses to Start in 2014 (Infographic) More From Entrepreneur 8 Ways Retailers Should Target Smartphone Users This Bitcoin Wallet Service Just Added 3 Major Players to its Roster Pizza Hut Offers Big Discount to Celebrate 20th Anniversary of the World's First Online Purchase

2014-01-08 21:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1341]}

{}

The Hottest Ecommerce Businesses to Start in 2014 (Infographic)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hottest-ecommerce-businesses-start-2014-213000423.html

Entrepreneur

http://www.entrepreneur.com/

Being the big guy has its moments. Football, for example, tends to favor the larger fellows. But on the digital playing field, being little - as long as you're fast and nimble - can be a win. If you are looking for blockbuster ecommerce business ideas that favor the small, check out this infographic (below) from Austin, Texas-based ecommerce platform-making company Bigcommerce . Analyzing data provided by 50,000 of its own clients for the past year, Bigcommerce determined that auto, jewelry, toys and games and pet care are fast-growing areas where one-of-a-kind merchants are outperforming their big-box or chain store peers. For example, auto e-tailers are beating the pants off the likes of AutoZone, independent sporting goods e-tailers are growing faster than REI and Cabela and ecommerce craft stores are hopscotching over big names like Jo-Ann and Hobby Lobby. By the same token, Toys-R-US and American Girl web stores are not growing as quickly as their smaller toy ecommerce counterparts, Bigcommerce data shows. Here is the infographic with more granular data breaking down growth of revenue per store, size of order and number of stores in various online industries. Click to Enlarge+ The Hottest Ecommerce Businesses to Start in 2014 (Infographic) More From Entrepreneur 8 Ways Retailers Should Target Smartphone Users This Bitcoin Wallet Service Just Added 3 Major Players to its Roster Pizza Hut Offers Big Discount to Celebrate 20th Anniversary of the World's First Online Purchase

2014-01-08 21:50:07+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [274, 926]}

{"Bitcoin": [12]}

Zynga Tests Bitcoin

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zynga-tests-bitcoin-215007090.html

Zacks

http://www.zacks.com/

Gaming company Zynga Inc. (NASD:ZNGA) has taken an innovative approach by testing bitcoin for facilitating in-game payments. The gaming company recently made an official statement that it is working with BitPay to facilitate acceptance of the currency in some of its games. Bitcoin is a digital currency platform, which has a decentralized payment system. This means that there is no central regulating authority involved in the transactions. In this particular type of electronic currency, transactions are carried out directly between the involved parties. It is also called crypto currency because it utilizes military-grade cryptography to protect against fraud. Since bitcoin is a widely accepted electronic currency platform, so the usage of bitcoin will use the gaming enthusiast into an impulsive buyer. Moreover, the acceptability of the bitcoin platform will help the end users to accept the safety of the platform. Bitcoin payments can be conducted easily using different apps on a smartphone, with the help of software or through its online version. There is no need for a credit card or a PIN or for any documents to be signed. This is generally required for transferring funds electronically. Zynga has been trying to boost its competitive position in the mobile gaming segment through the launch of mobile games for Apple ’s (NASD:AAPL) iOS platform. This kind of payment facility will help the company to facilitate the whole process of online payment for subscription of games. Zynga posted mediocre third quarter results, with revenues falling considerably compared to the year-ago period. Although Zynga is expected to grow in the near term based on its innovative product pipeline and its dominant position in the social and mobile gaming sector, sales of the company’s online games have taken a major hit due to increased competition from other players such as International Game Technology (NYSE:IGT) and Electronic Arts (NASD:EA). Moreover, we note that barriers to entry are low in the social gaming market and this will attract new entrants, thereby increasing competition for Zynga over the long term. Currently, Zynga has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Read the Full Research Report on ZNGA Read the Full Research Report on EA Read the Full Research Report on IGT Read the Full Research Report on AAPL Zacks Investment Research

2014-01-09 16:48:57+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1285]}

{"Bitcoin": [8]}

Gold or Bitcoins: Which Will Perform Better in 2014?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/gold-bitcoins-perform-better-2014-164857665.html

Zacks

http://www.zacks.com/

Gold prices experienced a pretty rough 2013, with the yellow metal plunging more than 25% on the year. This marked the first time in more than a decade that gold produced a calendar year loss, and it has led some to think that the glory days of the precious metal are over. Yet, while gold struggled, a newcomer to the ‘safe haven’ market stole the show in 2013, bitcoins. This new type of currency—which is ‘mined’ by supercomputers—has attracted a huge following. The currency is out-of-reach from inflating-prone central banks, and since there are only a finite number of bitcoins available, worries over devaluations are non-existent. Thanks to these features, bitcoins became extremely popular last year, while the performance of bitcoins didn’t hurt its popularity either. After all, bitcoins started the year trading around $14 for each bitcoin, and soon spiked to over $238 by the start of the second quarter. And following a big drop in April and May, bitcoins took off, finishing the year around the $800 mark, representing a huge gain for investors. 2014 Outlook So far in 2014, gold, as represented by ETFs like GLD and AMEX:IAU, has been pretty much flat. Meanwhile, gold miners, represented by AMEX:GDX, have faced some turbulence too, losing about 2% to start the year. Bitcoins on the other hand, have already added more than 10% in the year, soaring past the $1,000 level before falling back a bit lately. So already this year bitcoins are off to a good start once again. And with some concerns over production amounts for gold, we might see further losses in the precious metal market, especially if the economy continues to chug along and investors remain in stock investments instead. However, after such a horrendous year in 2013, I think the metal is due for a bit of a bounce back, especially if gold bugs look to get in a better price for the long haul, or for miners that can hold on in this difficult time. Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) is actually at a 9.5 forward PE, while the gold mining industry, although still depressed, has moved out of the bottom bracket from a Zacks Industry Rank perspective , suggesting it is may be due for a rebound soon. Meanwhile, after bitcoin’s incredible run and huge amount of press last year, it is bound to attract some attention from governments around the world. Legal issues seem likely to creep up this year, and that could drag down bitcoin’s value, or at least increase volatility. We have already seen a preview of this thanks to a crackdown in what is thought to be a key market for bitcoins, China. In fact, just this week, China’s biggest e-commerce company, Alibaba, banned the sale of bitcoins on its Taobao marketplace. If others follow suit or if more legal worries hit bitcoins in key markets, it might prompt some to cash in their huge winnings, and stay on the sidelines for the near term. Given this, I think that the much-hyped crypto-currency takes a step back this year, and that gold finds a way to rebound. But what about you? Are you betting on gold or bitcoins in 2014? Let us know in the comments section below! Want more insights from Zacks? See our latest free report 5 Stocks to Double . Click here to receive this free report now >>> Read the analyst report on GLD Read the analyst report on IAU Read the analyst report on GDX Read the analyst report on ABX Zacks Investment Research

2014-01-10 00:43:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [18, 55, 255, 473]}

{"Bitcoin": [31]}

One step closer to legitimacy: Bitcoin payment live on Overstock

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2014-01-09-overstock-accepts-bitcoin.html

Engadget

https://www.engadget.com/

Overstock accepts Bitcoin While it's legal to pay with Bitcoin in the US, the digital currency hasn't been very useful for mainstream shoppers. However, that's changing today -- Overstock has just become the first major American online retailer to accept Bitcoin. You'll still see prices listed in old-fashioned dollars, but you can choose the newer payment method at checkout. CEO Patrick Byrne tells Wired that he made the move for both pragmatic and idealistic reasons: Bitcoin doesn't cost as much to accept compared to credit cards or PayPal, and its nationless nature reduces the chances that a failed bank or country will create problems. It's tough to tell whether other big e-retailers will follow suit, but we can't imagine that competing shops will want to leave that much virtual money on the table.

2014-01-10 14:11:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [23, 221, 573, 967, 1058, 1302, 1606, 2255, 2671, 2865, 3456, 4485, 4553, 4686, 4730, 4806, 4814], "BTC": [3689, 3813, 4130]}

{"Bitcoin": [37]}

A Group Of Miners Has Exposed One Of Bitcoin's Fatal Flaws

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/group-miners-exposed-one-bitcoins-141147899.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Lots of people believe Bitcoin is impregnable. Yesterday showed it may not be. GHash.io, the world's largest collective of bitcoin miners, gained control of more than 42% of all of the computer processing that powers the Bitcoin network. (Because of the expense now involved for a single miner to create bitcoin, lots of people now pool their computing power.) It's the first time they came close controlling more than 50% of the entire network. Were that 50% threshold ever crossed, a host of problems have the potential to occur. We'll get to what those are in a moment. Bitcoin miners exist to make a buck. But the price they pay to do so is to confirm other people's transactions. This makes sure the same bitcoins, which of course don't physically exist, aren't spent twice. When they perform such a confirmation, by unscrambling an encrypted string of letters and numbers, they're rewarded with bitcoins. This is what the "Confirmations" button you see in your Bitcoin wallet after you've made a transaction refers to. Here is one of the larger ones : Bitcoin Transaction Blockchain.info Below the 50% threshold, there are enough independent miners who can separately confirm whether your transaction is legit. But a collective that breaks the 50% threshold would have the ability to confirm all Bitcoin transactions on their own — and thus the capacity to start messing with the transactions' reliability. For instance, they could send out false confirmations, reverse the direction of transactions, or block them from occurring entirely. And you wouldn't even know it was happening. As soon as the Bitcoin community realized what was happening at GHash, "independent" miners who'd subscribed to the collective removed their computers from the pool. Plus GHash, despite its opaque management (its equipment is rumored to be sited in Ukraine, but no one knows much about its leadership), later released a statement saying they would " take all necessary precautions to prevent reaching 51% of all hashing power, in order to maintain stability of the B itcoin network." Quartz' Chris Mims was the first to report the story. Indeed, getting to more than 50% without anyone noticing is quite difficult. Blockchain.info, the principal site tracking the Bitcoin network, keeps a running tally of which groups have what share of the system. GHash's share has come back down to 40%. But it jibes with a chart we recently published showing control of bitcoin wealth is heavily concentrated. Here's what the network control chart looks like now: GHash still enjoys the plurality of all hashing power: Story continues bitcoin blockchain hashing network share Blockchain.info Bitcoin observers agree that there wouldn't be more than a temporary disruption to the network once 50% was breached. A s soon as anyone realized this had occurred, most people would stop using Bitcoin, sending prices crashing and making it unprofitable for the "bully pool" to maintain majority control. But there are even more extreme scenarios. Benjamin Gorlick, the COO of Cloud Hashing, a collective recently profiled in The New York Times , did not rule out the possibility that some unknown group could one day take control of the entire network with a giant leap in processing power. "If someone was developing the technology behind the scenes, then launched it all at once, it would be bad," he told us by phone recently. That remains a remote possibility, he said, since the Bitcoin community remains small enough that someone would eventually take notice. This is not the first time a mining collective has approached the 51% threshold. Last spring, the Reddit community went ballistic after a group called BTC Guild, which at the time controlled many of the most powerful miners in existence, called ASICs, nearly hit the figure. BTC Guild owner Michael Marsee told us in a note today that the problem has not become any less acute since then. While many pools consist of a large majority of "independent miners" not directly affiliated with the pools' founder, GHash was heavily weighted toward its own proprietary miners. "It almost happened to BTC Guild in the early days of ASIC mining, where almost all existing ASICs were on my pool because it was the only one that worked for them," he said. "GHash.io's problem is different in that half of their speed is owned by themselves. It's self-inflicted, and without that private speed they would not even be the largest pool, let alone near 51%." The Bitcoin community remains convinced that anyone who participates in Bitcoin automatically has its best interests at heart. But this kind of power concentration would seem to strike at the heart of the Bitcoin mission. More From Business Insider Bitcoin Is On A Gigantic Tear Zynga Has Begun Testing Accepting Payments In Bitcoin Bitcoin Is On A Huge Tear Again View comments

2014-01-10 14:11:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [23, 221, 573, 967, 1058, 1302, 1606, 2271, 2671, 2865, 3456, 4485, 4553, 4686, 4730, 4806, 4814], "BTC": [3689, 3813, 4130]}

{"Bitcoin": [37]}

A Group Of Miners Has Exposed One Of Bitcoin's Fatal Flaws

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/group-miners-exposed-one-bitcoins-141147899.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Lots of people believe Bitcoin is impregnable. Yesterday showed it may not be. GHash.io, the world's largest collective of bitcoin miners, gained control of more than 42% of all of the computer processing that powers the Bitcoin network. (Because of the expense now involved for a single miner to create bitcoin, lots of people now pool their computing power.) It's the first time they came close controlling more than 50% of the entire network. Were that 50% threshold ever crossed, a host of problems have the potential to occur. We'll get to what those are in a moment. Bitcoin miners exist to make a buck. But the price they pay to do so is to confirm other people's transactions. This makes sure the same bitcoins, which of course don't physically exist, aren't spent twice. When they perform such a confirmation, by unscrambling an encrypted string of letters and numbers, they're rewarded with bitcoins. This is what the "Confirmations" button you see in your Bitcoin wallet after you've made a transaction refers to. Here is one of the larger ones : Bitcoin Transaction Blockchain.info Below the 50% threshold, there are enough independent miners who can separately confirm whether your transaction is legit. But a collective that breaks the 50% threshold would have the ability to confirm all Bitcoin transactions on their own — and thus the capacity to start messing with the transactions' reliability. For instance, they could send out false confirmations, reverse the direction of transactions, or block them from occurring entirely. And you wouldn't even know it was happening. As soon as the Bitcoin community realized what was happening at GHash, "independent" miners who'd subscribed to the collective removed their computers from the pool. Plus GHash, despite its opaque management (its equipment is rumored to be sited in Ukraine, but no one knows much about its leadership), later released a statement saying they would " take all necessary precautions to prevent reaching 51% of all hashing power, in order to maintain stability of the B itcoin network." Quartz' Chris Mims was the first to report the story. Story continues Indeed, getting to more than 50% without anyone noticing is quite difficult. Blockchain.info, the principal site tracking the Bitcoin network, keeps a running tally of which groups have what share of the system. GHash's share has come back down to 40%. But it jibes with a chart we recently published showing control of bitcoin wealth is heavily concentrated. Here's what the network control chart looks like now: GHash still enjoys the plurality of all hashing power: bitcoin blockchain hashing network share Blockchain.info Bitcoin observers agree that there wouldn't be more than a temporary disruption to the network once 50% was breached. A s soon as anyone realized this had occurred, most people would stop using Bitcoin, sending prices crashing and making it unprofitable for the "bully pool" to maintain majority control. But there are even more extreme scenarios. Benjamin Gorlick, the COO of Cloud Hashing, a collective recently profiled in The New York Times , did not rule out the possibility that some unknown group could one day take control of the entire network with a giant leap in processing power. "If someone was developing the technology behind the scenes, then launched it all at once, it would be bad," he told us by phone recently. That remains a remote possibility, he said, since the Bitcoin community remains small enough that someone would eventually take notice. This is not the first time a mining collective has approached the 51% threshold. Last spring, the Reddit community went ballistic after a group called BTC Guild, which at the time controlled many of the most powerful miners in existence, called ASICs, nearly hit the figure. BTC Guild owner Michael Marsee told us in a note today that the problem has not become any less acute since then. While many pools consist of a large majority of "independent miners" not directly affiliated with the pools' founder, GHash was heavily weighted toward its own proprietary miners. "It almost happened to BTC Guild in the early days of ASIC mining, where almost all existing ASICs were on my pool because it was the only one that worked for them," he said. "GHash.io's problem is different in that half of their speed is owned by themselves. It's self-inflicted, and without that private speed they would not even be the largest pool, let alone near 51%." The Bitcoin community remains convinced that anyone who participates in Bitcoin automatically has its best interests at heart. But this kind of power concentration would seem to strike at the heart of the Bitcoin mission. More From Business Insider Bitcoin Is On A Gigantic Tear Zynga Has Begun Testing Accepting Payments In Bitcoin Bitcoin Is On A Huge Tear Again

2014-01-10 15:15:19+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [205, 682, 1196, 1253, 1861]}

{"Bitcoin": [36]}

SmartMetric to Launch World's First Bitcoin Card With Biometric Fingerprint Protection

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/smartmetric-launch-worlds-first-bitcoin-151519662.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jan 10, 2014) - SmartMetric, Inc. ( OTCQB : SMME ), a developer of patented biometric products, announced today it has developed and will soon launch the SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card, the world's first biometric, fingerprint secured, off-line storage platform for bitcoins. "SmartMetric's bitcoin card can significantly accelerate the growth and rate of adoption for bitcoins as the new global currency. By applying our patented biometric technologies to a bitcoin payment card, we offer the world's first fingerprint-secured method to safely store and use bitcoins," stated SmartMetric President and CEO Chaya Hendrick. The SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card uses the Company's patented biometric fingerprint technology, the world's smallest fingerprint reader. The card offers the benefits of bitcoins such as peer-to-peer transactions and card-to-card direct bitcoin sending anywhere in the world, while enabling real-time, in-person standard payment transactions at merchants and compatibility with standard ATMs around the world. Advanced patented fingerprint technology uses the cardholder's unique biometrics to lock and unlock the SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card, providing safety and discrete portability. Bitcoins are becoming more widely used around the world, driven by government non-intervention and merchant and consumer demand. In the U.S., Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently sent a letter to the Senate noting that bitcoin may "hold long-term promise... if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system." Japan, Germany, and Singapore have also recently taken an open stance on bitcoin, choosing to keep the digital currency unregulated for the time being. According to www.blockchain.info there are an estimated 12 million bitcoins in circulation today. With Bitcoins trading at approximately $925 per bitcoin on January 6, 2013, there is an estimated $11 billion worth of bitcoins in circulation. Story continues About SmartMetric SmartMetric, Inc. ( OTCQB : SMME ) develops patented biometric technologies used for security and identification, including the world's smallest fingerprint reader. The Company's proprietary advanced miniature electronics technology uses sub-micro computers to create fingerprint and security applications that were not previously possible. The world's smallest fingerprint reader is designed to fit inside standard payments cards as well as ID cards. Because of the miniature size of the electronics it is ideal for use in a broad array of products requiring an enhanced identification system. SmartMetric's products include biometric credit card and biometric debit card technologies, a medical emergency biometric card, and a MedicalKeyring™. For information on SmartMetric and its technology please go to www.smartmetric.com . Safe Harbor Statement Certain of the above statements contained in this press release are forward looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Readers are cautioned that any such forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

2014-01-10 16:12:25+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [37, 586, 855, 1207, 1276]}

{}

5 Intriguing Things: Friday, 1/10

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-intriguing-things-friday-1-161225117.html

The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/

1. Perhaps the strangest thing about Bitcoin is that it's made chip development more exciting than it's been since Bob Noyce was still at Intel . " At the heart of the computers made by HashFast and similar startups such as KnCMiner and Butterfly Labs is a chip known as an ASIC, or an application specific integrated circuit. Unlike the general purpose Intel ( INTC ) chip powering a PC or an ARM ( ARMH ) processor in a smartphone, an ASIC typically performs a single function extremely well. A security company might make an ASIC to speed up the encryption of data, for example. For Bitcoin-mining toolmakers like HashFast, the goal is to make an ASIC that is precisely tuned to crunch Nakamoto’s algorithms. 'It would take 70,000 of Intel’s fastest chips to match one of ours,' de Castro says... In August, Austin (Tex.)-based CoinTerra announced two Bitcoin computer designs, which it dubbed GoldStrike and TerraMiner. So far the company has $20 million in presales. Ravi Iyengar, a veteran chip designer, runs the startup. Iyengar has worked at Intel, Nvidia , Qualcomm , and, most recently, Samsung , where he led a team that developed chips for the company’s phones and tablets. After hearing about Bitcoin, Iyengar quit his job to use his experience to outrace other Bitcoin-mining startups. Iyengar has watched Intel, IBM , Apple , Samsung, and other heavyweights slug it out in the chip business for years. 'No arms race in the history of the chip industry even comes close to this,' he says." 2. Define prosopography . "In historical studies , prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a historical group, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable, by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line analysis. Prosopographical research has the aim of learning about patterns of relationships and activities through the study of collective biography, and proceeds by collecting and analysing statistically relevant quantities of biographical data about a well-defined group of individuals. This makes it a valuable technique for studying many pre-modern societies." Story continues A boy with wings (FoundIn) 3. There are a bunch of tiny figurines sitting on the streets of Singapore right now. 144 have been found; 264 are still waiting . " Bringing art from exhibition spaces to urban streets, the figurines disrupt one's preoccupation in the metropolis and ask city dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings and notice the small details. All figurines in Foundin are individuals seeking to be found in one way or another, just like every one of us. By shrinking human figures to miniature plastic models, the project places a miniature city within a city and explores how we, the higher and larger beings, interact with much smaller counterparts." 4. Massive, colorful isometric drawings of the world's nuclear plants . Fulton Nuclear Power Plant Wall Chart (University of New Mexico) 5. The lawyer who has singlehandedly kept the most ethically questionable telemarketing firms calling on behalf of duped or duplicitous charities . "Copilevitz was on hand again in 2001, when Florida lawmakers made their own attempt to crack down in high-cost fundraising. They passed a law forcing charities to declare on mailers and fliers how much they spend on solicitors. Copilevitz filed suit on behalf of two charities, including the Committee for Missing Children, No. 13 on the Times/CIR list... He won yet again. Copilevitz convinced a federal judge that spending 86 percent of donations on professional solicitors – as the Committee for Missing Children had done that year – does not make a charity unworthy of support." Today's 1957 Language Tip: -AL NOUNS . There is a tendency to invent or revive unnecessary verbal nouns of this form. The many that have passed into common use (as trial, arrival, refusal, acquittal, proposal ) have thereby established their right to exist. But when words of some age (as revisal, refutal, appraisal [q.v.], accusal ) have failed to become really familiar & remained in the stage in which the average man cannot say with confidence offhand that they exist, the natural conclusion is that there is no work for them that cannot be adequately done by the more ordinary verbal nouns in - ion ( revision) , -ation ( refutation) , & -ment (appraisement). When there is need on an isolated occasion for a verbal noun that shall have a different shade of meaning from those that are current (e.g. accusal may suggest itself as fitter to be followed by an objective genitive than accusation ; cf. the accusal of a murder, the accusation of a murder ), or that shall serve when none already exists (there is e.g. no noun beheadment ), it is better to make shift with the gerund (the accusing, the beheading ) than to revive an unfamiliar accusal or invent beheadal . The use of new - al nouns, however, is due only in part to a legitimate desire for the exactly appropriate form. To some writers the out-of-the-way word is dear for its own sake, or rather is welcome as giving an air of originality to a sentence that if ordinarily expressed would be detected as commonplace. They are capable of writing bequeathal for bequest , or allowal for allowance . Except for this dislike of the normal word, we should have had account instead of recountal in Of more dramatic interest is the recountal of the mission imposed upon Sir James Lacaita. Surprisal, supposal, decrial may be among the hundreds of needless - al words that have been actually used. Observe that appraisal has now established its right to exist. Subscribe to 5 Intriguing Things Seeking to Be Found in One Way or Another More From The Atlantic The Long-Haired, Wild-Eyed, Trash-Talking CEO Radical Who Saved T-Mobile Can Uncle Sam Sell Americans on Marriage? 5 Reasons to Not Freak Out About an Obamacare Death Spiral

2014-01-10 16:12:25+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [37, 586, 855, 1207, 1276]}

{}

5 Intriguing Things: Friday, 1/10

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/5-intriguing-things-friday-1-161225117.html

The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/

1. Perhaps the strangest thing about Bitcoin is that it's made chip development more exciting than it's been since Bob Noyce was still at Intel . " At the heart of the computers made by HashFast and similar startups such as KnCMiner and Butterfly Labs is a chip known as an ASIC, or an application specific integrated circuit. Unlike the general purpose Intel ( INTC ) chip powering a PC or an ARM ( ARMH ) processor in a smartphone, an ASIC typically performs a single function extremely well. A security company might make an ASIC to speed up the encryption of data, for example. For Bitcoin-mining toolmakers like HashFast, the goal is to make an ASIC that is precisely tuned to crunch Nakamoto’s algorithms. 'It would take 70,000 of Intel’s fastest chips to match one of ours,' de Castro says... In August, Austin (Tex.)-based CoinTerra announced two Bitcoin computer designs, which it dubbed GoldStrike and TerraMiner. So far the company has $20 million in presales. Ravi Iyengar, a veteran chip designer, runs the startup. Iyengar has worked at Intel, Nvidia , Qualcomm , and, most recently, Samsung , where he led a team that developed chips for the company’s phones and tablets. After hearing about Bitcoin, Iyengar quit his job to use his experience to outrace other Bitcoin-mining startups. Iyengar has watched Intel, IBM , Apple , Samsung, and other heavyweights slug it out in the chip business for years. 'No arms race in the history of the chip industry even comes close to this,' he says." 2. Define prosopography . "In historical studies , prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a historical group, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable, by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line analysis. Prosopographical research has the aim of learning about patterns of relationships and activities through the study of collective biography, and proceeds by collecting and analysing statistically relevant quantities of biographical data about a well-defined group of individuals. This makes it a valuable technique for studying many pre-modern societies." Story continues A boy with wings (FoundIn) 3. There are a bunch of tiny figurines sitting on the streets of Singapore right now. 144 have been found; 264 are still waiting . " Bringing art from exhibition spaces to urban streets, the figurines disrupt one's preoccupation in the metropolis and ask city dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings and notice the small details. All figurines in Foundin are individuals seeking to be found in one way or another, just like every one of us. By shrinking human figures to miniature plastic models, the project places a miniature city within a city and explores how we, the higher and larger beings, interact with much smaller counterparts." 4. Massive, colorful isometric drawings of the world's nuclear plants . Fulton Nuclear Power Plant Wall Chart (University of New Mexico) 5. The lawyer who has singlehandedly kept the most ethically questionable telemarketing firms calling on behalf of duped or duplicitous charities . "Copilevitz was on hand again in 2001, when Florida lawmakers made their own attempt to crack down in high-cost fundraising. They passed a law forcing charities to declare on mailers and fliers how much they spend on solicitors. Copilevitz filed suit on behalf of two charities, including the Committee for Missing Children, No. 13 on the Times/CIR list... He won yet again. Copilevitz convinced a federal judge that spending 86 percent of donations on professional solicitors – as the Committee for Missing Children had done that year – does not make a charity unworthy of support." Today's 1957 Language Tip: -AL NOUNS . There is a tendency to invent or revive unnecessary verbal nouns of this form. The many that have passed into common use (as trial, arrival, refusal, acquittal, proposal ) have thereby established their right to exist. But when words of some age (as revisal, refutal, appraisal [q.v.], accusal ) have failed to become really familiar & remained in the stage in which the average man cannot say with confidence offhand that they exist, the natural conclusion is that there is no work for them that cannot be adequately done by the more ordinary verbal nouns in - ion ( revision) , -ation ( refutation) , & -ment (appraisement). When there is need on an isolated occasion for a verbal noun that shall have a different shade of meaning from those that are current (e.g. accusal may suggest itself as fitter to be followed by an objective genitive than accusation ; cf. the accusal of a murder, the accusation of a murder ), or that shall serve when none already exists (there is e.g. no noun beheadment ), it is better to make shift with the gerund (the accusing, the beheading ) than to revive an unfamiliar accusal or invent beheadal . The use of new - al nouns, however, is due only in part to a legitimate desire for the exactly appropriate form. To some writers the out-of-the-way word is dear for its own sake, or rather is welcome as giving an air of originality to a sentence that if ordinarily expressed would be detected as commonplace. They are capable of writing bequeathal for bequest , or allowal for allowance . Except for this dislike of the normal word, we should have had account instead of recountal in Of more dramatic interest is the recountal of the mission imposed upon Sir James Lacaita. Surprisal, supposal, decrial may be among the hundreds of needless - al words that have been actually used. Observe that appraisal has now established its right to exist. Subscribe to 5 Intriguing Things Seeking to Be Found in One Way or Another More From The Atlantic The Long-Haired, Wild-Eyed, Trash-Talking CEO Radical Who Saved T-Mobile Can Uncle Sam Sell Americans on Marriage? 5 Reasons to Not Freak Out About an Obamacare Death Spiral

2014-01-11 04:29:33+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [236, 413, 486, 1168, 1343, 1688, 1880, 2306, 2636, 2723]}

{}

GoCoin First to Enable Merchants to Accept Litecoin on the International Alt-Currency Payment Platform

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/gocoin-first-enable-merchants-accept-042933567.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

SINGAPORE--(Marketwired - Jan 10, 2014) - GoCoin, a leading digital currency payment platform, announced today its ability to accept the alternative digital currency Litecoin. GoCoin clients will now have the flexibility to accept both Bitcoin and Litecoin payments all through one succinct platform. GoCoin is the first payment platform to incorporate the growing alternative currency market. In earlier days of Bitcoin, many found themselves wondering, "Where can I actually spend my Bitcoins?" With this new feature, merchants can prevent Litecoin holders from facing that same dilemma by giving them a place to spend their Litecoins. "GoCoin's platform was specifically designed from the beginning to easily accommodate emerging digital currencies, such as Litecoin, because we saw the massive potential of the digital currency market," said GoCoin's Founder & CEO, Steve Beauregard. "Our goal is to create a one-stop payments solution for merchants to streamline checkout and expand sales with digital currency payments." "In the past we had to turn away customers requesting to purchase KnCMiner computers with Litecoin," said Sam Cole, President of the leading Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer and a client of Gocoin. "Through this new alliance with GoCoin, for the first time, our worldwide customers will be able to pay with both Bitcoin and Litecoin." The GoCoin platform has been built by top-tier eCommerce experts to allow merchants to claim an advantage in the quickly adapting digital currency arena. With the ability to penetrate this untapped market, merchants who use GoCoin can be among the first to easily accept Litecoin, the leading alternative currency, behind Bitcoin. For more information, please visit http://www.gocoin.com/ . ABOUT GOCOIN The GoCoin international payment platform makes it easier than ever for online and retail merchants to accept Bitcoin and Litecoin as payment methods. While payments infrastructure over the last half-century was designed to hold funds for as long as possible, while extracting maximum fees from consumers and merchants, GoCoin enables merchants to reap the benefits of accepting digital currency. GoCoin takes all of the perceived risk of accepting the digital currency on behalf of merchants. Founded in July 2013, GoCoin will process Bitcoin and Litecoin payments for online and brick and mortar retailers, bypassing the often cumbersome and insecure options of virtual exchanges and other third parties. For more information, please visit http://www.gocoin.com . Official Website | Facebook | @GOCOIN ABOUT KnCMiner KnCMiner AB are the market leading producer of Bitcoin mining hardware. Based Stockholm, Sweden, they design, develop and manufacture Bitcoin Mining devices based on 28 and 20nm silicon production processes. Today over half of all bitcoin transactions worldwide are secured using equipment from KnCMiner. For more information, please visit https://www.kncminer.com/ .

2014-01-12 16:04:45+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [296, 374, 599, 978, 1206, 1322, 1790, 1874, 2167, 2206, 2277, 2355, 2447, 2713, 2829, 2928, 3096, 3161, 3250, 3293, 3694, 3770, 3778]}

{"Bitcoin": [4]}

How Bitcoin Is Like North Korea

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-north-korea-160445742.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

north korea couple kim jong-un ri sol-ju North Korea's Korean Central News Agency/AP Citigroup currency analyst Steven Englander is out with a long Sunday note talking about everyone's favorite topic: digital currency. In it, he makes an important observation about the extreme inequality in the Bitcoin world: Best estimates are that there are about one million holders of Bitcoin; 47 individuals hold about 30 percent, another 900 hold a further 20 percent, the next 10,000 about 25% and another million about 20%, with 5% being lost. So 1/10th of one percent represent about half the holdings of Bitcoin and 1 percent close to 80 percent ( http://www.businessinsider.com/927-people-own-half-of-the-bitcoins-2013-12 ). The concentration of Litecoin ownership is similar ( http://litecoin-rich-list.blogspot.com ). Most of the big wallets have been in place from early on, so sitting back and watching your capital grow has been a very successful strategy. The distribution of Bitcoin holdings looks much like the distribution of wealth in North Korea and makes the China’s and even the US’ wealth distribution look like that of a workers’ paradise . There are estimates of a Gini coefficient of 0.88 for Bitcoin, but if anything the estimates are low if big holders own multiple wallets and the overall concentration of Bitcoin wealth is greater than in the sample used to estimate the coefficients ( http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/86/is-it-possible-to-estimate-the-gini-coefficient-for-bitcoins-and-if-the-trend-is ). The most recent estimate of Gini coefficients of wealth concentration does not show any country above 0.85 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_distribution_of_wealth ), but this sample did not include North Korea. The uneven distribution of Bitcoin wealth may be the price to be paid for getting a rapid dissemination of the Bitcoin payments and store of value technology. If you build a better mousetrap, everyone expects you to profit from your invention, but users benefit as well, so there are social benefits even if the innovator grabs a big share. Story continues How problematic is the unequal distribution of Bitcoin? If you harbor the notion that Bitcoin is an alternative to the US Dollar/Fed system (as many diehard Bitcoin true believers do) then this seems very problematic, as a world where Bitcoin became the primary unit of exchange would be a severely unequal one. But if you see Bitcoin as just a payment system that augments the US Dollar — but doesn't replace it – then it's not clear how bad it is. Severe inequality in any given country has social problems because there's no easy escape from that world. Nobody is forced to live within the Bitcoin system, so it's not going to create the same kinds of social problems. This is a bit like the concerns that Bitcoin is deflationary, because the supply is fixed. This would be a problem if a country adopted Bitcoin and everyone were forced to use it... then that would create an incentive for everyone to horde, and commerce would grind to a halt. But since participation in Bitcoin is a fluid things (you can quickly enter into and out of Bitcoin participation) the deflationary aspect is there. As we've argued before, holding Bitcoin is in some sense holding equity in Bitcoin (even though it's not exactly a company). Thus talking about the Gini coefficient might make as much sense as talking about the Gini coefficient of, a public company, which has a combination of ultra-large individual and institutional shareholders and then a series of irrelevantly tiny minnow shareholders. Does that unequal distribution matter? Eh, not that much. More From Business Insider Bitcoin Is On A Gigantic Tear Zynga Has Begun Testing Accepting Payments In Bitcoin Bitcoin Is On A Huge Tear Again

2014-01-12 16:04:45+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [296, 374, 599, 978, 1206, 1322, 1790, 1874, 2167, 2206, 2277, 2355, 2447, 2713, 2829, 2928, 3096, 3161, 3250, 3293, 3694, 3770, 3778]}

{"Bitcoin": [4]}

How Bitcoin Is Like North Korea

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-north-korea-160445742.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

north korea couple kim jong-un ri sol-ju North Korea's Korean Central News Agency/AP Citigroup currency analyst Steven Englander is out with a long Sunday note talking about everyone's favorite topic: digital currency. In it, he makes an important observation about the extreme inequality in the Bitcoin world: Best estimates are that there are about one million holders of Bitcoin; 47 individuals hold about 30 percent, another 900 hold a further 20 percent, the next 10,000 about 25% and another million about 20%, with 5% being lost. So 1/10th of one percent represent about half the holdings of Bitcoin and 1 percent close to 80 percent ( http://www.businessinsider.com/927-people-own-half-of-the-bitcoins-2013-12 ). The concentration of Litecoin ownership is similar ( http://litecoin-rich-list.blogspot.com ). Most of the big wallets have been in place from early on, so sitting back and watching your capital grow has been a very successful strategy. The distribution of Bitcoin holdings looks much like the distribution of wealth in North Korea and makes the China’s and even the US’ wealth distribution look like that of a workers’ paradise . There are estimates of a Gini coefficient of 0.88 for Bitcoin, but if anything the estimates are low if big holders own multiple wallets and the overall concentration of Bitcoin wealth is greater than in the sample used to estimate the coefficients ( http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/86/is-it-possible-to-estimate-the-gini-coefficient-for-bitcoins-and-if-the-trend-is ). The most recent estimate of Gini coefficients of wealth concentration does not show any country above 0.85 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_distribution_of_wealth ), but this sample did not include North Korea. The uneven distribution of Bitcoin wealth may be the price to be paid for getting a rapid dissemination of the Bitcoin payments and store of value technology. If you build a better mousetrap, everyone expects you to profit from your invention, but users benefit as well, so there are social benefits even if the innovator grabs a big share. Story continues How problematic is the unequal distribution of Bitcoin? If you harbor the notion that Bitcoin is an alternative to the US Dollar/Fed system (as many diehard Bitcoin true believers do) then this seems very problematic, as a world where Bitcoin became the primary unit of exchange would be a severely unequal one. But if you see Bitcoin as just a payment system that augments the US Dollar — but doesn't replace it – then it's not clear how bad it is. Severe inequality in any given country has social problems because there's no easy escape from that world. Nobody is forced to live within the Bitcoin system, so it's not going to create the same kinds of social problems. This is a bit like the concerns that Bitcoin is deflationary, because the supply is fixed. This would be a problem if a country adopted Bitcoin and everyone were forced to use it... then that would create an incentive for everyone to horde, and commerce would grind to a halt. But since participation in Bitcoin is a fluid things (you can quickly enter into and out of Bitcoin participation) the deflationary aspect is there. As we've argued before, holding Bitcoin is in some sense holding equity in Bitcoin (even though it's not exactly a company). Thus talking about the Gini coefficient might make as much sense as talking about the Gini coefficient of, a public company, which has a combination of ultra-large individual and institutional shareholders and then a series of irrelevantly tiny minnow shareholders. Does that unequal distribution matter? Eh, not that much. More From Business Insider Bitcoin Is On A Gigantic Tear Zynga Has Begun Testing Accepting Payments In Bitcoin Bitcoin Is On A Huge Tear Again

2014-01-13 05:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [37, 250, 853, 1650]}

{"Bitcoin": [4]}

New Bitcoin Alternative UFO is Out of This World- Designed For Interplanetary Transactions

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-alternative-ufo-world-designed-053000229.html

ACCESSWIRE

https://www.accesswire.com/

New digital currency UFO is based on Bitcoin but has some key differences; such as a focus on interplanetary transactions. January 13th, 2014 / On the 5th January 2014 UFO was launched; a blockchain based, decentralized digital currency based on the Bitcoin protocol with a very fast blocktime of just 1.5 minutes. The mission behind the currency is simple: “UFO is a new type of decentralized currency. Not minted or endorsed by any nation, but by users across the globe. Anywhere there is internet, you can send or receive UFO. Even in outer space”. The new digital currency is designed to be fast, with increased security and cost efficient mining – and is designed to be used for future “interplanetary transactions”. The new digital currency has received widespread support on the forums, with over 100 fans voting to see UFO traded on Cryptsy for Bitcoin. A number of famous UFO publications have already contacted the UFO dev team; expressing an interest in writing articles about the coin. There are also plans for a community website similar to abovetopsecret.com, which will pay users in UFO for contributing stories, news, sightings and videos. UFO is the first serious sci-fi digital currency and is receiving widespread exposure in China, due to many Chinese supporters aiding the growth of the community. UFO is available on Windows, Linux and Mac; UFO clients are available for download from the UFO official website at ufocoin.cc. UFO has seen rapid adoption by cryptocurrency miners, perhaps due to the fact that the dev team has not “told aliens we are launching the coin, so start mining before they setup their own rigs.”. Unlike Bitcoin, UFO mining is accessible to anyone worldwide: UFO can be minted with consumer grade hardware. Like Litecoin, UFO uses Scrypt as a proof-of-work algorithm. Security is also a prime concern of the UFO dev team; as the UFO website states “We don’t know how advanced aliens are technologically, but we surely don’t want our wallets to be compromised.”. Story continues While the dev team certainly has a sense of humour, they are also serious about the security, longevity and professionalism of UFO. With its unique sci-fi vision and branding, its early widespread support from the community and its innovative plans for collaborating with the UFO community worldwide – UFO may be the first coin that really does go to the Moon. As the unique coin is still in its infancy, early adopters may be well positioned to potentially reap great rewards. To learn more please go to: http://ufocoin.cc/ UFO Coin on bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=399937.0 UFO Coin Protocol Details: PoW algorithm: Scrypt Block reward: 5000 UFO Block time: 1.5 minutes Starting difficulty: 0.00024414 Diff retarget: each 960 blocks Max supply: 4 billion Source code: https://github.com/ufocoin/ufo This press release is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. Visit http://ufocoin.cc/ for more information. Contact Info Name: Gabriel Organization: UFO

2014-01-13 05:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [37, 250, 853, 1650]}

{"Bitcoin": [4]}

New Bitcoin Alternative UFO is Out of This World- Designed For Interplanetary Transactions

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-alternative-ufo-world-designed-053000229.html

ACCESSWIRE

https://www.accesswire.com/

New digital currency UFO is based on Bitcoin but has some key differences; such as a focus on interplanetary transactions. January 13th, 2014 / On the 5th January 2014 UFO was launched; a blockchain based, decentralized digital currency based on the Bitcoin protocol with a very fast blocktime of just 1.5 minutes. The mission behind the currency is simple: “UFO is a new type of decentralized currency. Not minted or endorsed by any nation, but by users across the globe. Anywhere there is internet, you can send or receive UFO. Even in outer space”. The new digital currency is designed to be fast, with increased security and cost efficient mining – and is designed to be used for future “interplanetary transactions”. The new digital currency has received widespread support on the forums, with over 100 fans voting to see UFO traded on Cryptsy for Bitcoin. A number of famous UFO publications have already contacted the UFO dev team; expressing an interest in writing articles about the coin. There are also plans for a community website similar to abovetopsecret.com, which will pay users in UFO for contributing stories, news, sightings and videos. UFO is the first serious sci-fi digital currency and is receiving widespread exposure in China, due to many Chinese supporters aiding the growth of the community. UFO is available on Windows, Linux and Mac; UFO clients are available for download from the UFO official website at ufocoin.cc. UFO has seen rapid adoption by cryptocurrency miners, perhaps due to the fact that the dev team has not “told aliens we are launching the coin, so start mining before they setup their own rigs.”. Unlike Bitcoin, UFO mining is accessible to anyone worldwide: UFO can be minted with consumer grade hardware. Like Litecoin, UFO uses Scrypt as a proof-of-work algorithm. Security is also a prime concern of the UFO dev team; as the UFO website states “We don’t know how advanced aliens are technologically, but we surely don’t want our wallets to be compromised.”. Story continues While the dev team certainly has a sense of humour, they are also serious about the security, longevity and professionalism of UFO. With its unique sci-fi vision and branding, its early widespread support from the community and its innovative plans for collaborating with the UFO community worldwide – UFO may be the first coin that really does go to the Moon. As the unique coin is still in its infancy, early adopters may be well positioned to potentially reap great rewards. To learn more please go to: http://ufocoin.cc/ UFO Coin on bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=399937.0 UFO Coin Protocol Details: PoW algorithm: Scrypt Block reward: 5000 UFO Block time: 1.5 minutes Starting difficulty: 0.00024414 Diff retarget: each 960 blocks Max supply: 4 billion Source code: https://github.com/ufocoin/ufo This press release is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. Visit http://ufocoin.cc/ for more information. Contact Info Name: Gabriel Organization: UFO

2014-01-13 11:34:11+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [45]}

{"Bitcoin": [38]}

Overstock CEO says saw $130K worth of Bitcoin orders on first day

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/overstock-ceo-says-saw-130k-113411469.html

theflyonthewall.com

http://beta.theflyonthewall.com/?referrer=yahoo

In a tweet, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne said Bitcoin's first full day on overstock.com saw 840 orders and $130,000 in sales.

2014-01-13 11:45:23+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1671, 1961]}

{}

Yahoo ad malware attack far greater than anticipated

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yahoo-ad-malware-attack-far-greater-anticipated-114523608.html

BGR News

http://www.bgr.com/

The malware attack that took advantage of Yahoo’s Java-based ad network around Christmas Eve was far greater than anticipated, the company confirmed in a post (via CNET ) on its help web pages. Initially believed to have affected only European users on January 3, 2014, the malware ad attacks were then said to have occurred during December 31, 2013 – January 3, 2014. But Yahoo on Friday revealed the attack actually took place between December 27, 2013 – January 3, 2014, and affected users outside of the European Union as well. It’s not clear how many users may have been affected by the hack, although initial estimates from security companies said that up to 2 million machines might have been compromised during a four-day attack. Yahoo says that the attack happened after an account was compromised, without revealing more details about said account. However, the company says the account has been shut down, and it’s currently investigating the incident with help from law enforcement. Yahoo isn’t offering specific help resources to users that “think” they may have been affected by the hack. Instead, it’s offering standard tips to Windows users, advising them to make sure that the latest Windows patches are installed, update to the latest version of Java and Adobe, and use an antivirus program that’s updated regularly. Apparently, only Windows users have been targeted by the ad hack. According to previous reports, users that visited Yahoo sites including Yahoo Mail and Yahoo IM may have been served with malware ads that could have installed malicious code on their PCs for different purposes. Some of the programs installed turned those machines into Bitcoin miners , while others could have been used to steal personal information. More from BGR: Google just made it so strangers can email your Gmail account – here’s how to stop them This article was originally published on BGR.com Related stories Yahoo ad malware hijacked computers for Bitcoin mining Mayer on mail issues: Yahoo 'really let you down this week' Yahoo struggles to properly acknowledge, fix ongoing Yahoo Mail service issues

2014-01-13 12:29:07+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [76]}

{}

Overstock CEO sees Amazon pushed to take bitcoin in future, BI says

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/overstock-ceo-sees-amazon-pushed-122907945.html

theflyonthewall.com

http://beta.theflyonthewall.com/?referrer=yahoo

Overstock.com (OSTK) CEO Patrick Byrne said the company took $130K worth of Bitcoin orders on the first day it began accepting them and also said he thinks Amazon.com (AMZN) will be forced to accept the fast-growing alternative currency at some point, reported Business Insider, citing an interview with Byrne.

2014-01-13 13:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [148, 583]}

{}

Grand Pacaraima Gold Corp to Change Name and Ticker Symbol

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/grand-pacaraima-gold-corp-change-130000659.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - Jan 13, 2014) - Grand Pacaraima Gold Corp ( PINKSHEETS : BITC ) today announced that it is changing its name to First Bitcoin Capital Corp as it prepares to enter booming BITCOIN markets. In preparation for moving into this new field of endeavor to consolidate these industries, the company changed its symbol to BITC. Company began trading under new symbol on December 27, 2013. "We decided to make this change to better reflect the activities of our company. Also, we believe the Company is now positioned to aggressively pursue crypto-currencies and Bitcoin opportunities, and think it is appropriate that the Company do so under this new name. We expect to have confirmation today of the reserved name change to First BITCoin Capital Corp. Between this new name and symbol we expect to be the first public company to enter this space exclusively," said Chairman S. Rubin. The prior name change to Embassy Oil was first reversed as a past acquisition was not consummated. Rubin continued, "We have acquired intellectual properties including a number of URLs that we intend to capitalize on, such as: www.coinqx.com to serve as a unique, universal exchange, www.otccoin.com to serve as a new dual crypto currency for which we are filing a provisional patent, www.icin.cc which will serve as the international coin identifier numbering system for all crypto and e-currencies." The company's accountant is in the process of preparing year-end financial statements covering 2012 and 2013 which will bring the company into compliance with OTC Markets and expects to have these published within the coming week. These statements should substantially be similar to the 2010 financials, however, we intend to write off our oil and gas assets and write down our gold mining claims with nominal expenses during the past 3 years and no change in shares outstanding. The company denounces the rumors spreading about its executives owning over 500,000 bitcoins and wishes to make it clear that there is no association between BITC and the Winklevoss twins. Story continues About the company. Grand Pacaraima Gold Corp. is a developing Canada based mining company currently holding concessions of Gold in Venezuela. SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release includes various "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which represent the Company's expectations or beliefs concerning future events. Statements containing expressions such as "believes," "anticipates," "intends," or "expects," used in the Company's press releases and in Disclosure Statements and Reports filed with the Over the Counter Markets through the OTC Disclosure and News Service are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes its expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions within the bounds of its knowledge of its business and operations, there can be no assurances that actual results will not differ materially from expected results. The Company cautions that these and similar statements included in this report are further qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof.

2014-01-13 13:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [148, 583]}

{}

Grand Pacaraima Gold Corp to Change Name and Ticker Symbol

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/grand-pacaraima-gold-corp-change-130000659.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - Jan 13, 2014) - Grand Pacaraima Gold Corp ( PINKSHEETS : BITC ) today announced that it is changing its name to First Bitcoin Capital Corp as it prepares to enter booming BITCOIN markets. In preparation for moving into this new field of endeavor to consolidate these industries, the company changed its symbol to BITC. Company began trading under new symbol on December 27, 2013. "We decided to make this change to better reflect the activities of our company. Also, we believe the Company is now positioned to aggressively pursue crypto-currencies and Bitcoin opportunities, and think it is appropriate that the Company do so under this new name. We expect to have confirmation today of the reserved name change to First BITCoin Capital Corp. Between this new name and symbol we expect to be the first public company to enter this space exclusively," said Chairman S. Rubin. The prior name change to Embassy Oil was first reversed as a past acquisition was not consummated. Rubin continued, "We have acquired intellectual properties including a number of URLs that we intend to capitalize on, such as: www.coinqx.com to serve as a unique, universal exchange, www.otccoin.com to serve as a new dual crypto currency for which we are filing a provisional patent, www.icin.cc which will serve as the international coin identifier numbering system for all crypto and e-currencies." The company's accountant is in the process of preparing year-end financial statements covering 2012 and 2013 which will bring the company into compliance with OTC Markets and expects to have these published within the coming week. These statements should substantially be similar to the 2010 financials, however, we intend to write off our oil and gas assets and write down our gold mining claims with nominal expenses during the past 3 years and no change in shares outstanding. The company denounces the rumors spreading about its executives owning over 500,000 bitcoins and wishes to make it clear that there is no association between BITC and the Winklevoss twins. Story continues About the company. Grand Pacaraima Gold Corp. is a developing Canada based mining company currently holding concessions of Gold in Venezuela. SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release includes various "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which represent the Company's expectations or beliefs concerning future events. Statements containing expressions such as "believes," "anticipates," "intends," or "expects," used in the Company's press releases and in Disclosure Statements and Reports filed with the Over the Counter Markets through the OTC Disclosure and News Service are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes its expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions within the bounds of its knowledge of its business and operations, there can be no assurances that actual results will not differ materially from expected results. The Company cautions that these and similar statements included in this report are further qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof.

2014-01-13 14:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1672, 1734]}

{}

Reddit Is Now A Much Less Important Source Of Traffic Than It Used To Be

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/reddit-become-much-less-important-143009321.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Reddit saw an 83% increase in traffic , to 731 million unique visitors in 2013 , the company said, but "the front page of the internet" has become a much less crucial source of traffic over the same period, according to data from Shareaholic , which measures social media sharing traffic. Reddit's share of outgoing traffic to publishers dropped 36% year-over-year, Shareaholic says: Reddit Referrals Report (chart) Jan 2014 Shareaholic The data measures traffic coming from Reddit (and other sites) to other web sites. Shareaholic's data covers 200,000 sites and 250 million-plus unique visitors per month. Although that red line doesn't look like it has gone down by much, the proportional decline is big: Reddit went from providing 0.33% of the web's traffic in December 2012 to 0.21% in December 2013 — a 36% drop. What is jarring here is that Reddit — a site dedicated to sharing stuff — only got bigger in terms of total traffic in 2013, but appears to have become less important in terms of shared traffic over the same period. Reddit may be hoarding more of its own traffic, in other words. A few things changed on Reddit in 2013, Shareaholic's Danny Wong tells us. More of Reddit's top posts are discussions that feature few links, such as its "ask me anything" series in which famous people like Bill Gates or President Obama take questions from the public. And one of Reddit's more infamous 2013 posts was this thread on the Boston Marathon bombing , which contained a bunch of incorrect information. Plus, news organizations — Business Insider included — now more frequently use Reddit as a source of news rather than a source of traffic. One example was this Bitcoin theft , which was described mostly on Reddit by other Bitcoin users — very few outgoing links were involved. So other publishers are linking in to stuff that is already on Reddit; previously, Reddit users linked out to things they found elsewhere. Reddit also got greater social sharing competition in 2013. Sites like Upworthy and Viral Nova became huge alternatives to Reddit in 2013 for people who like weird or heartwarming stories. Story continues And Facebook also tweaked its algorithm to feature more useful news and fewer meme (think funny pictures of cats). More From Business Insider Apple Has A New, Super Serious Ad For The iPad That Premiered During NFL Games And The Golden Globes Doctors And Nurses Are Sharing Embarrassing Photos Of Patients On Social Media Here's The Investment Advice Citi Is Giving To Its Super-Rich Clients

2014-01-13 22:02:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [30, 419, 711, 2713, 2777, 2837]}

{"Bitcoin": [50]}

This Map Shows The States Where Buying Stuff With Bitcoin Is The Most Popular

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/map-shows-states-where-buying-220258597.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Overstock.com began accepting Bitcoin last Thursday. We'd previously reported they weren't going to start taking the digital currency as payment for another few months, so the announcement surprised a bunch of people. But reaction was swift: $130,000 worth of merchandise flew off the retailer's e-shelves on the first day. Now, Overstock shares with us some data about the purchases. Most popular items purchased with Bitcoin: Sheets Mobile phone cases USB flash drives Bath towels Overstock also provided us with data for all 50 states. We threw it into a spreadsheet and re-calculated to adjust by population stats (transactions per million residents). Then we created a map. Here's the states with the most Bitcoin transactions (on Overstock) per capita: New Hampshire Utah (where Overstock.com is based) Oregon Vermont Washington Of course, this is just the beginning so there aren't tons of transactions yet, and it's just on one site (albeit a mass market one). But it's not surprising that the state whose motto is Live Free Or Die is t he most into the currency. overstock bitcoin map Rob Wile, data via Overstock.com and U.S. Census State #transactions Transactions per million residents New Hampshire 19 14.3563193117429 Utah 29 9.99699400731918 Oregon 39 9.92349999300266 Vermont 6 9.57502832612546 Washington 66 9.4672437668958 Massachusetts 55 8.21775680938271 Alaska 6 8.16179951355675 New Mexico 15 7.1932544537035 Virginia 57 6.90038805603357 Montana 7 6.89543079203873 Idaho 11 6.82324568150578 California 228 5.94795213182039 Connecticut 20 5.56161153255767 Nevada 15 5.37608202610912 Wisconsin 29 5.04987799320635 Minnesota 27 4.98120058003313 Colorado 26 4.93511556806882 Kansas 14 4.83766690382753 South Dakota 4 4.73441696246909 Maryland 28 4.72269833393323 Arizona 31 4.6780985310167 Maine 6 4.51704506957002 Pennsylvania 57 4.46225833641842 Florida 87 4.44947695631227 Georgia 43 4.30337083037143 New York 84 4.27456399828875 Illinois 54 4.19185173886161 North Carolina 41 4.16325651955817 North Dakota 3 4.14712334788974 Texas 105 3.97002547584253 Missouri 23 3.80531920754724 Rhode Island 4 3.80404960100275 Nebraska 7 3.74628849846616 Indiana 23 3.50028047899664 New Jersey 31 3.48340477871446 Michigan 33 3.33480805956412 West Virginia 5 2.69642949591868 Ohio 31 2.6791560278245 Oklahoma 10 2.59701945271451 South Carolina 12 2.51317374261205 Iowa 7 2.2650672271953 Delaware 2 2.16041281168006 Hawaii 3 2.1366699571384 Alabama 10 2.06879915725398 Kentucky 9 2.0476441285511 Tennessee 12 1.84729689663358 Wyoming 1 1.71627266767126 Louisiana 7 1.51335972344432 Mississippi 4 1.33725282135272 Arkansas 2 0.675818830542821 More From Business Insider A Group Of Miners Has Exposed One Of Bitcoin's Fatal Flaws The New Bloomberg Businessweek Cover Does Bitcoin, And It's Literally Fantastic The First North Korea Bitcoin Transaction Is A Joke

2014-01-14 09:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [203, 353, 373, 808]}

{"Bitcoin": [57]}

Rostock Continues Investigating Opportunities Within the Bitcoin Industry

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rostock-continues-investigating-opportunities-within-090000643.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA--(Marketwired - Jan 14, 2014) - Rostock Ventures Corp. ( ROSV ) wishes to report that the company has continued to engaged in discussions to look into the opportunities within the Bitcoin Industry from different aspects within this exciting area ranging from the possibilities of creating or participating in an exchange to trade Bitcoins to various Bitcoin mining opportunities. The company's board at this time has not secured a deal and may not find a viable opportunity going forward. Management will update shareholders as any progress is made on this front. President and CEO, Greg Rotelli, stated, "We continue to look for opportunities that will add value for our shareholders. Therefore we will investigate any and all opportunities that we feel could add value including the Bitcoin industry." Recently the company's Board of Directors has voted to initiate a 5-for-1 forward split of the Company's common shares payable to our shareholders of record. At this time the Board has not selected the record a firm date to implement the forward stock split, but once a final record date is established, it will be announced. The Company anticipates that the forward stock split will occur early in 2014. Once we have implemented the 5-for-1 forward stock split, the Company's common stock will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis and the shareholders of record as of the selected record date will then own five shares for every one share previously owned. For example, if you owned 50,000 shares at the close of the record date you will be entitled to 250,000 shares after the split occurs. Presently the Company has approximately 41,000,000 shares of its common stock issued and outstanding giving the company a market cap of just over $1 million currently. The Board and management feel that forward splitting the shares will increase liquidity in the Company which will give our shareholders added value and thus enable the Company to seek potential new projects. Forward-looking Statements: Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements, including the risks and uncertainties related to the progress, timing, cost, and results of exploration programs; competition from other exploration or mining companies; and the company's ability to obtain additional funding required to conduct its exploration activities. Please refer to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a comprehensive list of risk factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

2014-01-14 09:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [203, 353, 373, 808]}

{"Bitcoin": [57]}

Rostock Continues Investigating Opportunities Within the Bitcoin Industry

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rostock-continues-investigating-opportunities-within-090000078.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 14, 2014) - Rostock Ventures Corp. ( ROSV ) wishes to report that the company has continued to engaged in discussions to look into the opportunities within the Bitcoin Industry from different aspects within this exciting area ranging from the possibilities of creating or participating in an exchange to trade Bitcoins to various Bitcoin mining opportunities. The company's board at this time has not secured a deal and may not find a viable opportunity going forward. Management will update shareholders as any progress is made on this front. President and CEO, Greg Rotelli, stated, "We continue to look for opportunities that will add value for our shareholders. Therefore we will investigate any and all opportunities that we feel could add value including the Bitcoin industry." Recently the company's Board of Directors has voted to initiate a 5-for-1 forward split of the Company's common shares payable to our shareholders of record. At this time the Board has not selected the record a firm date to implement the forward stock split, but once a final record date is established, it will be announced. The Company anticipates that the forward stock split will occur early in 2014. Once we have implemented the 5-for-1 forward stock split, the Company's common stock will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis and the shareholders of record as of the selected record date will then own five shares for every one share previously owned. For example, if you owned 50,000 shares at the close of the record date you will be entitled to 250,000 shares after the split occurs. Presently the Company has approximately 41,000,000 shares of its common stock issued and outstanding giving the company a market cap of just over $1 million currently. The Board and management feel that forward splitting the shares will increase liquidity in the Company which will give our shareholders added value and thus enable the Company to seek potential new projects. Forward-looking Statements: Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements, including the risks and uncertainties related to the progress, timing, cost, and results of exploration programs; competition from other exploration or mining companies; and the company's ability to obtain additional funding required to conduct its exploration activities. Please refer to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a comprehensive list of risk factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

2014-01-14 14:11:00+00:00

{}

{"Bitcoin": [55]}

Dogecoin Accounts For More Cryptocurrency Trading Than Bitcoin, Litecoin, And All Others Combined

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/dogecoin-accounts-more-cryptocurrency-trading-141130966.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency that started as a joke but has since gone on to play a far more important role than anyone could've predicted, is on a total tear in transaction volume. There are more Dogecoins in existence than there are all other cryptocoins combined. According to this chart from BitinfoCharts , the next-most-plentiful currency is Quarkcoin, with almost 250 million coins in circulation. But this doesn't stack up against Dogecoin for a minute — it boasts almost 28 billion coins. Screen_Shot_2014 01 14_at_8_59_20_AM 3 Screenshot More From Business Insider BEACONS: What They Are, How They Work, And Why Apple's iBeacon Technology Is Ahead Of The Pack GOOGLE BUYING NEST FOR $3.2 BILLION CONFIRMED: The DEA Struck A Deal With Mexico's Most Notorious Drug Cartel

2014-01-14 15:38:34+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [223, 664, 1021, 2027, 2351, 2447, 2486, 3049]}

{"Bitcoin": [26]}

In-Person P2P Transfer of Bitcoins via Payment Card Now Possible With SmartMetric's Invention

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/person-p2p-transfer-bitcoins-via-153834708.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jan 14, 2014) - SmartMetric, Inc. ( OTCQB : SMME ), a developer of patented payment card technology and in-card biometric products, announced today that its soon-to-launch SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card, the world's first biometric, fingerprint secured, off-line storage platform for bitcoins, will enable in-person Peer-to-Peer (P2P) transfer of bitcoins through its payment card. "We believe our card will be the world's first to enable in-person, P2P transfer of bitcoins through a payment card. This is made possible by our patented nano-computing technology that puts the power of PC's computing capacity onto a payment card. Bitcoins can be stored and transferred, all on the card, and with a level biometric fingerprint security never before possible. We're very excited about the possibilities for bitcoin use and adoption powered by SmartMetric's nano-computing and biometric security capabilities," stated SmartMetric President and CEO Chaya Hendrick. The SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card has taken a quantum leap beyond smartcards. This is an intelligent card that combines patented nano-computing technology, an internal ARM 9 processor, processing power equal that of a PC, and up to 128 gigabytes of memory, matching the maximum memory capacity of current iPads. The card comes equipped with a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, which is the key to enabling the in-person P2P transaction. NFC chips are used in smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into proximity. Cards are able to be connected to a computers USB or following the fingerprint scan and subsequent activation of the NFC (Near Field Communication) chip following the match of the card holders fingerprint, the SmartMetric bitcoin card can communicate directly with NFC smartphones and tablets. In order to protect the card owners privacy their fingerprint is stored inside the card and never leaves the card. Story continues Bitcoins have grown to a global circulation of $11 billion driven by the digital currency's appeal as a P2P currency without a central bank, financial institution, or central server at its core. SmartMetric takes bitcoin one step further by enabling in-person P2P transfers through a payment card. The SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card is slated for launch during the first quarter of 2014. About SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card The SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card is the world's first biometric, fingerprint secured, off-line storage platform for bitcoins. The card offers the benefits of bitcoins such as peer-to-peer transactions and card-to-card direct bitcoin sending anywhere in the world, while enabling real-time, in-person standard payment transactions at merchants and compatibility with standard ATMs around the world. Advanced patented payments card technology combines with the world's first fingerprint technology to use the cardholder's unique biometrics to lock and unlock the SmartMetric Biometric Bitcoin Card, providing safety and discrete portability. About SmartMetric SmartMetric, Inc. ( OTCQB : SMME ) develops patented biometric technologies used for security and identification, including the world's smallest fingerprint reader. The Company's proprietary advanced miniature electronics technology uses sub-micro computers to create fingerprint and security applications that were not previously possible. The world's smallest fingerprint reader is designed to fit inside standard payments cards as well as ID cards. Because of the miniature size of the electronics it is ideal for use in a broad array of products requiring an enhanced identification system. SmartMetric's products include biometric credit card and biometric debit card technologies, a medical emergency biometric card, and a MedicalKeyring™. For information on SmartMetric and its technology please go to www.smartmetric.com . Safe Harbor Statement Certain of the above statements contained in this press release are forward looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Readers are cautioned that any such forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

2014-01-14 23:12:50+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [159, 367, 635, 783, 1108]}

{"Bitcoin": [38]}

Wells Fargo organizes meet to discuss Bitcoin rules: FT

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/wells-fargo-organizes-meet-discuss-231250984.html

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co has called finance executives, virtual currency experts and U.S. government representatives to discuss "rules of engagement" with Bitcoin amid concern about the money laundering risk of the currency, the Financial Times reported. The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday in San Francisco, focuses on the security issues surrounding banking and Bitcoin as financial regulators warn consumers on the risks of using unregulated online currencies, the London-based financial daily reported. ( http://link.reuters.com/jen95v ) The fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets has shown interest in dealing with a potential new Bitcoin economy, but regulatory uncertainty has deterred banks from offering services to virtual currency start-ups, the newspaper said on Tuesday. Bitcoin, which unlike conventional money is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of any central authority, has grown popular among users who lack faith in the established banking system. Wells Fargo's anti-money laundering chief, Jim Richards, has launched a group to examine how the bank might safely offer Bitcoin-related services or banking arrangements to virtual currency entrepreneurs, the Financial Times said, quoting people familiar with the matter. The bank aims to draw up a new set of anti-money laundering rules for financial institutions to follow when dealing with virtual currency start-ups, the paper said, citing a person familiar with the matter. (Reporting by Avik Das in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)

2014-01-14 23:12:50+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [159, 367, 635, 783, 1108]}

{"Bitcoin": [38]}

Wells Fargo organizes meet to discuss Bitcoin rules: FT

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wells-fargo-organizes-meet-discuss-231250644.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co has called finance executives, virtual currency experts and U.S. government representatives to discuss "rules of engagement" with Bitcoin amid concern about the money laundering risk of the currency, the Financial Times reported. The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday in San Francisco, focuses on the security issues surrounding banking and Bitcoin as financial regulators warn consumers on the risks of using unregulated online currencies, the London-based financial daily reported. ( http://link.reuters.com/jen95v ) The fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets has shown interest in dealing with a potential new Bitcoin economy, but regulatory uncertainty has deterred banks from offering services to virtual currency start-ups, the newspaper said on Tuesday. Bitcoin, which unlike conventional money is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of any central authority, has grown popular among users who lack faith in the established banking system. Wells Fargo's anti-money laundering chief, Jim Richards, has launched a group to examine how the bank might safely offer Bitcoin-related services or banking arrangements to virtual currency entrepreneurs, the Financial Times said, quoting people familiar with the matter. The bank aims to draw up a new set of anti-money laundering rules for financial institutions to follow when dealing with virtual currency start-ups, the paper said, citing a person familiar with the matter. (Reporting by Avik Das in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)

2014-01-15 13:00:58+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [144, 223, 1081, 1157]}

{"Bitcoin": [82]}

The Focused Stock Trader Becomes One of the First Financial Newsletters to Accept Bitcoin

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/focused-stock-trader-becomes-one-130058024.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jan 15, 2014) - The Focused Stock Trader ( www.thefocusedstocktrader.com ) announced today it will start accepting Bitcoin via BitPay. For a limited time, The Focused Stock Trader will accept 1 Bitcoin for an annual subscription representing a 50% discount. The Focused Stock Trader's Editor, Harris Shapiro, has over 50 years' experience in the securities industry and started providing investment ideas to friends and business contacts in 2010. In 2013 TFST Publishing was formed and created a subscription newsletter, The Focused Stock Trader. Shapiro and his team were correct 79 out of 84 recommendations with an average return of 24% per trade with several trades generating returns in excess of 100%. The average holding period for the recommended trades was 23 days. THE FOCUS STOCK TRADER WAS CORRECT 94% OF THE TIME GENERATING 24% EVERY 23 DAYS OR AN ANNUALIZED RETURN OF 266%. The complete track record is available on the site www.thefocusedstocktrader.com . Commenting on the announcement Mr. Shapiro stated, "Given that the acceptance of Bitcoin is growing by the day, I felt it was appropriate to begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for subscribers." The Focused Stock Trader offers a monthly subscription for $150. A free 2 week trial is available to test the service. Please visit The Focused Stock Trader at www.thefocusedstocktrader.com or contact them by email at [email protected] . Past results are not indicative of future performance. For more details on our track record, please see the Results page of our website. Also, please carefully read the disclaimer on our website.

2014-01-15 19:15:53+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [421, 506, 1992, 3013], "BTC": [2025]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin Fundraiser for Oakland Mayoral Candidate, Bryan Parker

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-fundraiser-oakland-mayoral-candidate-191553645.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

SANTA MONICA, CA and OAKLAND, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 15, 2014) - Wednesday, January 22nd, 6:30 PM - 9 PM, Brock Pierce and GoCoin are proudly hosting a fundraiser at the exclusive Santa Monica Social House, 41 Ocean Club, supporting Bryan Parker , a 2014 mayoral candidate for Oakland, CA. This Meet & Greet introducing Parker to the Los Angeles and bitcoin communities is slated to include an illuminating "Insight Into Bitcoin" talk by Brock Pierce and gourmet delights prepared by Chef Jimmy Martinez. "Bitcoin is a tool we can use to dissolve inequality, be it social or economic, and facilitate change for whole communities," said Mayoral Candidate, Bryan Parker. "I see the role of technology as solving real world problems, like job creation, in lasting ways, such as providing merchants cost-effective gateways into e-commerce and online markets." "It's exciting to see a candidate for government office support the powerful technology of bitcoin," said host, Brock Pierce. "His sense of urgency when it comes to uplifting the community is refreshing and inspiring." If you are interested in participating in this event, tickets start at $50 and may even be purchased with bitcoin through integration with GoCoin , a leading digital currency payment processor. If you would like to make a donation to Bryan Parker's campaign, please visit: https://forms.gocoin.com/forms/bryan_parker_2014 for bitcoin donations and https://bryanparker.nationbuilder.com/donate for traditional donations. ABOUT BROCK PIERCE Brock Pierce is a 15-time entrepreneur best known for pioneering the market for digital currency. He has raised more than $200 million on behalf of his companies and led more than 30 acquisitions. Pierce is currently a Managing Director of the Clearstone Global Gaming Fund and sits on the boards of IMI Exchange, GoCoin, ExpressCoin, KnCMiner.cn, Robocoin Asia, Mastercoin Foundation, and others. He is also BitAngels' Los Angeles City Leader and an angel investor in numerous Bitcoin related startups such as BTC China. ABOUT BRYAN PARKER Bryan Parker is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and a former member of the Hilton Group, a designation for the top executives at Davita Healthcare where he grew a division from $400 million to $700 million in four years. He's led operations and development in the private sector, managing and growing multi-million dollar budgets and creating local jobs. Parker holds a BA in Political Science and Economics from University of California at Berkeley where he was a student senator. He also holds a JD from the NYU School of Law, where he was president of his class. ABOUT GOCOIN The GoCoin international payment platform enables merchants to reap the benefits of accepting digital currency eliminating credit card fraud and identity theft. GoCoin removes all of the perceived risk by accepting the digital currency on behalf of merchants and clearing the payments instantly via their sophisticated proprietary back end systems. GoCoin processes Bitcoin and Litecoin payments for online and brick and mortar retailers.

2014-01-16 15:25:19+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [31, 198, 393, 1153]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin Moves to Pro Sports — Sacrament Kings in the NBA

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-moves-pro-sports-sacrament-152519748.html

24/7 Wall St.

http://247wallst.com

The moves to adopt and destroy Bitcoin are a work in progress on both sides of the equation. It seems that each time a very negative story development comes out, then a new adoption mechanism saves Bitcoin from the trash heap. Now we have a news release that the NBA's Sacramento Kings will be the first major professional sports franchise to accept bitcoins. The press release shows that the Bitcoin purchases will be processed through BitPay. Worth noting is that the Kings have a very new owner, Vivek Ranadivé. He is said to be directing a business philosophy coined "NBA 3.0" with a focus on technology, globalization and deep community partnerships. What is interesting here is not just the Ranadivé is an Indian businessman, but that he founded TIBCO Software. ALSO READ: J.C. Penney Store Closures — Likely Just a Starting Point The Kings have begun to accept bitcoins in the Kings Team Store. The store will allow fans to pay online with bitcoins for team merchandise and tickets by March 1. If one NBA team is doing it, others are likely to follow. If the NBA is going to accept it, why not the NFL, MLB and other professional sports leagues? Bitcoin was trading between $920 and $930 on Thursday. Related Articles Seven Sneaky Taxes for 2014 Best Tech Stocks to Buy Under $10 With Big 2014 Potential Upside

2014-01-17 00:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [182, 811, 1100, 1795]}

{"Bitcoin": [34]}

First Meta Switches to GoCoin for Bitcoin and Litecoin Payments

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/first-meta-switches-gocoin-bitcoin-000000768.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

SINGAPORE--(Marketwired - Jan 16, 2014) - Leading international payment platform, GoCoin, announced today that First Meta of Singapore has switched to GoCoin in order to accept both Bitcoin and Litecoin payments via their service. First Meta facilitates the trade of a variety of virtual assets from popular online game credits and tracking of reward points. "This is a symbiotic, strategic alliance for GoCoin," said Founder and CEO, Steve Beauregard, "First Meta has deep gaming domain expertise and they understand gamers expect many options at checkout. Where GoCoin is pioneering multi-digital currency checkout, we can learn important lessons from First Meta's virtual asset exchange experience." "It's our job to provide as many payment options for our customers as possible and GoCoin's model to accept Bitcoin, Litecoin, and others as they come out aligns with our ethos," said Autumn Radtke, the CEO of First Meta Exchange. "The more GoCoin payment methods we add the faster we can eliminate credit card fraud, chargebacks, and the potential for identity theft." First Meta began accepting Bitcoins in 2012, but came onboard with GoCoin to ease the pressure of volatility while accessing deeper levels of the digital currency market. GoCoin offers a low 1% per transaction processing fee and the ability to attract net new customers that are enthusiastic about the benefits of emerging digital currencies. ABOUT GOCOIN The GoCoin international payment platform enables merchants to reap the benefits of accepting digital currency eliminating credit card fraud and identity theft. GoCoin removes all of the perceived risk by accepting the digital currency on behalf of merchants and clearing the payments instantly via their sophisticated proprietary back end systems. GoCoin processes Bitcoin and Litecoin payments for online and brick and mortar retailers, bypassing the often cumbersome and insecure options of outdated payment systems like credit cards and stored value systems. Story continues Official Website | Facebook | @GoCoin ABOUT FIRST META EXCHANGE First Meta Exchange provides a safe and sanctioned place to bring all virtual assets online or on mobile devices, enabling individuals to organize, manage, and easily cash out virtual assets. First Meta Exchange pioneered virtual banking, and launched a multi-world virtual currency exchange in 2009. Official Website | Facebook | @FirstMeta http://www.gocoin.com/ https://www.facebook.com/GoCoiner https://twitter.com/gocoin http://firstmetaexchange.com/home http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Meta-Exchange/175644765808689 https://twitter.com/FirstMeta

2014-01-17 13:52:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [343], "BTC": [545]}

{"Bitcoin": [47]}

US Government now owns Silk Road's $25 million Bitcoin hoard

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2014-01-17-us-government-owns-silk-road-bitcoin-hoard.html

Engadget

https://www.engadget.com/

If we're honest, asset seizures are inherently hilarious. After all, for every sports car that's flogged to boost the public purse, there must be an unsaleable giant mechanical heron just gathering dust in a federal warehouse. After shutting down Silk Road , the US has now gained a slightly more useful treasure for its collection: 29,665 in Bitcoin , currently worth around $25 million. The celebrations won't begin just yet, however, since Ross "Dread Pirate Roberts" Ulbricht, Silk Road's alleged founder, is claiming that a further 144,336 BTC (around $120 million) found on his personal computers are not the proceeds of crime, and therefore cannot be seized. What happens to the cash now? It'll go into the pockets of the US Marshals, with some of the cash probably going to pay off the storage costs for that giant mechanical heron.

2014-01-17 14:27:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [78, 2894, 3239]}

{}

6 Sideline Trends Poised to Change the Entrepreneurship Game

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/6-sideline-trends-poised-change-142700321.html

Entrepreneur

http://www.entrepreneur.com/

If you want to be perfectly on trend in 2014 , you might consider launching a Bitcoin-related startup in Austin. If you do, make sure you bring on plenty of executive-lady power, don't even think about taking your startup public, and be sure you have an aggressive, multi-channel social media strategy. Oh, and one more thing: Your company had best be working to save the world in some way. At least that's what Dell's Entrepreneur in Residence Ingrid Vanderveldt thinks. Vanderveldt put together a handful of predictions on entrepreneurship for 2014. While some are newer than others, she believes all of them are poised to take off in a big way. Related: 100 Things You Should Be Talking About in 2014 Vanderveldt lives and breathes entrepreneurship. In addition to her role at Dell, she is the founding organizer of the Global Leadership & Sustainable Success Forum and the CEO of both VH2 Energy Investments and Green Girl Energy. Vanderveldt also serves on the UN Foundation Global Entrepreneurs Council and has worked with members of Congress crafting entrepreneurship-related legislation. In her spare time, she's a professional skydiver. Here's a quick rundown of Vanderveldt's pick of the six top trends for the coming year. 1. "Social media" means more than just Facebook. There was a time not too long ago when people who talked about social media were really just talking about Facebook. But with mobile phones having become almost genetically attached to our fingertips, the social-media world has grown to encompass Pinterest, Twitter, Snapchat, Google Plus and half a dozen other social media platforms. A recent survey from the Pew Research Center found that more than 7 in 10 internet users older than 18 use at least one social media site and 42 percent of online adults actually use multiple social media sites. If your company is only leveraging Facebook, you are missing out. Related: 10 Trends for 2014: We Seek Imperfect, Human Moments. With Our Smartphones at the Ready. 2. Companies are looking beyond profit. To bring and keep the best talent and customers, you are going to need to be about more than your own bottom line. Companies like Warby Parker and TOMS Shoes are obvious "do good" companies, but even bigger corporations are served by having a bigger mission beyond their bottom line. As Vanderveldt points out, Telsa's founder and CEO Elon Musk has said that his overarching goal is "to help expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy." Story continues 3. The startup world is bigger than San Francisco and New York. Don't discount the middle of the country. Austin, New Orleans, Denver and even Detroit all have burgeoning startup scenes. And the benefit of launching in some of these lesser known entrepreneurship hubs? Startup costs are generally cheaper and there's less competition. 4. Better get used to Bitcoin. Cash money is so 1990s. With every other part of our life moving onto a screen in one form or another, our wallets are also becoming a series of 0s and 1s. Digital currencies were once the chatter of tech-heads, but they are increasingly becoming the purview of mainstream retailers. The online platform that allows merchants to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment, BitPay, processed more than $100 million worth of transactions in 2013. 5. Venture carefully into "IPO Land." While investors may be pushing companies to go public, the mystical allure of having an IPO is becoming increasingly less popular. Answering to stockholders requires you to, well, you know, answer to somebody. That means that your startup immediately becomes less agile and short-term gains become more of a focus. 6. Bring in more ladies. While women have been pushing up against that glass ceiling for years, the pace with which they'll be taking leadership roles is about to explode. As Vanderveldt highlights, a law firm made up exclusively of lady lawyers just opened in Saudi Arabia . Related: Why You Might (Still) Want to Consider Launching in Detroit More From Entrepreneur Forget $4M Ads, Your Business Can Still Capitalize on the Super Bowl 7 Ways Social Media Will Be More Expensive This Year Why You Should Let Customers Help Mold Your Company

2014-01-17 15:15:34+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [3024]}

{}

Text messages are ‘a goldmine to exploit’ for the NSA

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/text-messages-goldmine-exploit-nsa-151534815.html

BGR News

http://www.bgr.com/

The National Security Agency ( NSA ) has the ability of collecting SMS text messages and related data in bulk from around the world, a new The Guardian report shows, based on documentation obtained from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. According to an internal NSA presentation from April 2011, the company was able to gather almost 200 million text messages a day from across the world that month. In addition to actual SMS messages, the Dishfire program collected “pretty much everything it can,” according to documents from British spy agency GCHQ. A presentation subtitled “SMS Text Messages: A Goldmine to Exploit,” describes the scope of Dishfire and reveals a “Prefer” program that can conduct an automated analysis of the obtained communications in search for relevant data. In addition to the almost 200 million text messages collected per day, the NSA was able to collect each day more than 5 million missed-call alerts that can be used to map someone’s social network and contact habits, over 1.6 million border crossing from roaming alerts, over 110,000 names from electronic business cards including images, over 800,000 financial transactions including text-to-text payments and credit cards, over 76,000 geolocation data including route requests and meetings set ups, and travel data including cancellations and airplane delays. The presentation reveals that “such gems are not in current metadata stores and would enhance current analytics.” The NSA has apparently collected only data from international users, discarding data related to U.S. citizens. “As we have previously stated, the implication that NSA’s collection is arbitrary and unconstrained is false,” a spokeswoman commenting on the matter said. “NSA’s activities are focused and specifically deployed against – and only against – valid foreign intelligence targets in response to intelligence requirements.” GCHQ has been able to use the NSA’s Dishfire database, although the agency says it didn’t access the actual SMS content for people living in the U.K. and instead it only accessed “events” related to UK numbers such as “who is contacting who, and when.” Story continues Vodafone, one of the largest carriers in Europe which also operates in the region was “shocked” to find out the scope of the NSA’s and GCHQ’s spying powers. The company will be challenging the U.K. government over this matter. “From our perspective, the law is there to protect our customers and it doesn’t sound as if that is what is necessarily happening,” Vodafone’s privacy officer and head of legal for privacy, security and content standards told Channel 4 News. Meanwhile, in the U.S., President Barack Obama is expected to announced NSA reforms on Friday. Slides from the “SMS Text Messages: A Goldmine to Exploit” follow below, as provided by The Guardian. More from BGR: How to disappear online This article was originally published on BGR.com Related stories Here's the horrifying new way the NSA spies on offline computers New Twitter for paranoids uses Bitcoin and BitTorrent to hide from NSA Phone companies may have to change the way they help the NSA spy on you

2014-01-17 21:23:43+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [303, 1391, 1800, 2148, 2420, 2584, 3056, 3215, 3244, 3728, 4742]}

{}

The U.S. government's bitcoin bonanza: How, where and when to sell?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-government-39-bitcoin-bonanza-where-sell-210910518--finance.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan are sitting on a multimillion-dollar bitcoin gold mine. And it could get much bigger. Federal authorities hauled in 29,655 units of the digital currency - worth $27 million at current exchange rates - through an official forfeiture by Bitcoin this week. The bitcoins had belonged to Silk Road, an anonymous online black market that authorities say was a conduit for purchases of drugs and computer hacking services - even a place where assassins may have advertised. It was shuttered after an FBI raid in September, when agents took control of its server and arrested the man they say was its founder in San Francisco. No one stepped forward to claim these bitcoins, which were found in electronic "wallets" used to store the digital currency. An additional 144,336 bitcoins, worth more than $128 million today, were also discovered, but the government's claim on them is being disputed by Ross William Ulbricht, 29, who U.S. authorities say was the founder and main operator of Silk Road. They had been stashed on his laptop. It all puts authorities in an unusual position, given their concerns about the way in which bitcoins and other digital currencies are used by criminals to circumvent regulations intended to prevent money laundering. By trading in bitcoins, the government could give the currency some legitimacy. Bitcoin is essentially software code that defines units of value, which users can move back and forth among themselves. Unlike other virtual money transmitters, its value isn't pegged to a hard currency like the dollar or the euro; it is determined by the demand for bitcoins. The U.S. Marshals Service, which is in charge of liquidating such seized assets, will have to decide whether to sell the units on a Bitcoin exchange or find a private buyer, perhaps through an auction. A spokeswoman for Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District, said Friday that the government is still trying to decide what to do with the forfeited bitcoins. The timing of any sale could make a big difference in the amount the government could realize. Bitcoin's value has fluctuated wildly over the past six months. When Silk Road was seized, the bitcoins found on the server were worth $3.6 million, far below their current $27 million value. Friday's exchange rate was about $900 per bitcoin, according to the Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange MtGox. It is unclear whether a large sale of bitcoins by the government could drive down the price. Friday's volume on MtGox, which is the largest Bitcoin exchange, was 8,656 units. "If it's worth $27 million now, is that a high part of the market? A low part of the market? That's one of the decisions they're going to have to make," said Louis Rulli, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. "It would seem to me that they would probably convert those bitcoins into cash relatively quickly." Barry Silbert, the founder of one of the first investment funds that lets retail investors gain exposure to Bitcoin, declined to offer an opinion on what the government should do with its stash or how a sale would affect the market. Marco Santori, a lobbyist for the Bitcoin Foundation, which is Bitcoin's official trade group, said the group did not have an official position on the matter. 'THIS WON'T BE DIFFICULT' Most goods seized by U.S. authorities end up in the hands of the U.S. Marshals, where they are auctioned or, at times, repurposed for government use. But the Marshals aren't just practiced at unloading forfeited SUVs or houses; they also deal with complex financial instruments, foreign companies and other kinds of obscure assets forfeited by criminals. "While Bitcoin is a somewhat new form of asset, it's not unusual for them to have to find out how to liquidate a new asset," said Jeffrey Alberts, a partner at Pryor Cashman and a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan. "This won't be difficult for them, whether they do it through an exchange or find a buyer who wants to buy it directly from them." Ulbricht was arrested October 1 in a San Francisco public library and charged by prosecutors in New York with one count each of money laundering, computer hacking and drug trafficking. He is being held at a federal detention center in New York without bail. He has not entered a formal plea but has maintained his innocence through statements by his lawyer. Prosecutors last week asked a judge to grant them a default judgment in the civil forfeiture case they filed after the raid on Silk Road and Ulbricht's arrest claiming Silk Road's assets. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken signed an order to that effect on Wednesday, giving the government control of the 29,655 Bitcoins from Silk Road's server but not of the bitcoins - the larger sum - discovered on Ulbricht's computer. Those are still in dispute. The proceeds from any sale would be turned over to an asset forfeiture fund from which the U.S. Justice Department can draw for law enforcement activities. If any money were to come back to prosecutors' budgets, it would be distributed evenly among U.S. attorneys' offices, a policy meant to prevent individual offices from unduly seizing assets to pad their budgets. (Reporting By Emily Flitter; Editing by Martin Howell and Douglas Royalty)

2014-01-18 00:39:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [11, 942, 2769], "BTC": [1019]}

{}

DataCoin (DTC) Features in-Blockchain Data Storage And Web Apps Embedded in Blockchain

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/datacoin-dtc-features-blockchain-data-003900184.html

ACCESSWIRE

https://www.accesswire.com/

Innovative Bitcoin Alternative DataCoin (DTC) Features in-Blockchain Secure Data Storage And Revolutionary Web Applications Embedded in DataCoin Blockchain. January 18th, 2014 / ACCESSWIRE / Disruptive digital currency DataCoin features perpetual, secure and uncensorable data storage in its blockchain, eliminates transaction confirmation wait times, uses CPU mining with the same hashing algorithm as Primecoin, provides revolutionary web apps embedded in the DataCoin blockchain, and serves as its own decentralized autonomous corporation with a built-in business model. Ian Boix, CEO of BlockchainCapital.com, considers Datacoin to be one of only four cryptocurrencies which “stand out for giving more value than a simple currency.” Datacoin’s intrinsic value and key innovations are its decentralized data storage feature and the newly announced web applications embedded inside the DataCoin blockchain. Datacoin is currently traded for Bitcoin on digital currency exchange platforms Bter, Coins-e, OpenEX.pw, and BTC-8. DataCoin provides the necessary replication needed for truly delete-proof data storage. Datacoin miners maintain a copy of the entire DTC blockchain on their personal computer. As files uploaded to the Datacoin network are embedded in the blockchain, they are stored on thousands of individual personal computers around the world; that number is projected to grow with Datacoin’s increased adoption. This data cannot be censored as it would be impossible to delete it from every individual participating computer. Furthermore, once data is uploaded to the blockchain, it is impossible to delete it. DataCoin will soon roll out the ability for users to upload and store their own personally encrypted data which only they can access, but which will have all the benefits of replicated storage the Datacoin blockchain offers. Storage on the DataCoin blockchain is paid for with Datacoins. While current file size is limited, Datacoin will soon be upgraded to allow a file of any size to be uploaded. Whenever a user pays for file storage using Datacoins, those coins then go to reward the miners who both maintain the network and keep an updated copy of the entire DTC blockchain on their own computers. Story continues Datacoin’s block generation time of only one minute allows for instant transactions, making Datacoin convenient to use for conventional merchant purposes. Datacoin transactions have the added benefit of being anonymous, which cryptocoin users have now come to expect. DataCoin uses the same hashing algorithm of PrimeCoin, making it suitable for CPU mining. This means that anyone worldwide with a personal computer can participate in mining DataCoin. No one needs to purchase specialized hardware as is the case with mining Bitcoin. Just like with PrimeCoin, DataCoin mining is involved in a process which finds very long prime numbers or Cunningham chains. These numbers in and of themselves are useful for data encryption. The DataCoin dev team has also recently announced the launch of web applications inside the DataCoin blockchain; meaning that anyone can build applications which exist in the DTC blockchain instead of the worldwide web. Essentially, websites, and many other online services can be copied to the blockchain in their entirety, and accessed by querying the locally stored DTC blockchain – even when access to the internet itself may be unavailable. This is highly disruptive; as the DataCoin blockchain itself can, in simple terms, contain another internet embedded inside it. DataCoin provides both secure data storage and a way to pay for it. The DataCoin blockchain securely stores the data and DataCoins themselves are the means to pay for this storage. This not only makes DataCoin intrinsically valuable, but also positions DataCoin as a decentralized autonomous corporation with a built in sustainable business model. Many other DTC features are under development by the hard working DTC dev team. With its revolutionary secure data storage capability, blockchain embedded web apps, fast transaction confirmation times, CPU mining and built in business model, DataCoin could very well become one of the most disruptive digital currencies of 2014. To trade DataCoin please go to: Bter , Coins-e.com, OpenEX.pw, and btc-8.com. DataCoin web applications in blockchain thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=405992.0 This Press Release is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. Visit http://datacoin.info/index.php?id=index for more information. Contact Info Name: DataCoin Organization: DataCoin Email: [email protected]

2014-01-18 17:08:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1372]}

{}

Amazon Is Working On 'Anticipatory Shipping' To Mail Items Before Customers Actually Buy Them

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-working-anticipatory-shipping-mail-170834056.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

amazon prime air drone Amazon Amazon recently received a patent for "anticipatory shipping." "A nticipatory Shipping" means Amazon will predict which items a customer is likely to buy and mail packages before the check-out process is complete. Amazon already knows a great deal about its customers. It will also use a number of signals to predict buying behavior, such order history, search history, shopping cart items and length of time spent on its pages. From The Wall Street Journal's Greg Bensinger: In the patent document, Amazon says delays between ordering and receiving purchases “may dissuade customers from buying items from online merchants.” So Amazon says it may box and ship products it expects customers in a specific area will want – based on previous orders and other factors — but haven’t yet ordered. According to the patent, the packages could wait at the shippers’ hubs or on trucks until an order arrives. This isn't Amazon's first innovative way to speed up the delivery process. Late last year, its CEO Jeff Bezos said Amazon was experimenting with drone delivery services to get items to customers 30 minutes. More From Business Insider Apple's Latest Settlement Has Big Implications For The Design Of Digital Checkouts Our 10 Boldest Predictions For The Digital Payments Industry In 2014 OVERSTOCK CEO: Amazon Will Be Forced To Start Accepting Bitcoin View comments

2014-01-19 03:26:45+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [303, 1391, 1800, 2164, 2436, 2600, 3072, 3265, 3294, 3778, 4808]}

{}

The U.S. government's bitcoin bonanza: How, where and when to sell?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/u-governments-bitcoin-bonanza-where-032645173.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan are sitting on a multimillion-dollar bitcoin gold mine. And it could get much bigger. Federal authorities hauled in 29,655 units of the digital currency - worth $27 million at current exchange rates - through an official forfeiture by Bitcoin this week. The bitcoins had belonged to Silk Road, an anonymous online black market that authorities say was a conduit for purchases of drugs and computer hacking services - even a place where assassins may have advertised. It was shuttered after an FBI raid in September, when agents took control of its server and arrested the man they say was its founder in San Francisco. No one stepped forward to claim these bitcoins, which were found in electronic "wallets" used to store the digital currency. An additional 144,336 bitcoins, worth more than $128 million today, were also discovered, but the government's claim on them is being disputed by Ross William Ulbricht, 29, who U.S. authorities say was the founder and main operator of Silk Road. They had been stashed on his laptop. It all puts authorities in an unusual position, given their concerns about the way in which bitcoins and other digital currencies are used by criminals to circumvent regulations intended to prevent money laundering. By trading in bitcoins, the government could give the currency some legitimacy. Bitcoin is essentially software code that defines units of value, which users can move back and forth among themselves. Unlike other virtual money transmitters, its value isn't pegged to a hard currency like the dollar or the euro; it is determined by the demand for bitcoins. The U.S. Marshals Service, which is in charge of liquidating such seized assets, will have to decide whether to sell the units on a Bitcoin exchange or find a private buyer, perhaps through an auction. A spokeswoman for Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District, said Friday that the government is still trying to decide what to do with the forfeited bitcoins. Story continues The timing of any sale could make a big difference in the amount the government could realize. Bitcoin's value has fluctuated wildly over the past six months. When Silk Road was seized, the bitcoins found on the server were worth $3.6 million, far below their current $27 million value. Friday's exchange rate was about $900 per bitcoin, according to the Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange MtGox. It is unclear whether a large sale of bitcoins by the government could drive down the price. Friday's volume on MtGox, which is the largest Bitcoin exchange, was 8,656 units. "If it's worth $27 million now, is that a high part of the market? A low part of the market? That's one of the decisions they're going to have to make," said Louis Rulli, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. "It would seem to me that they would probably convert those bitcoins into cash relatively quickly." Barry Silbert, the founder of one of the first investment funds that lets retail investors gain exposure to Bitcoin, declined to offer an opinion on what the government should do with its stash or how a sale would affect the market. Marco Santori, chairman of the regulatory affairs committee for the Bitcoin Foundation, which is Bitcoin's official trade group, said the group did not have an official position on the matter. 'THIS WON'T BE DIFFICULT' Most goods seized by U.S. authorities end up in the hands of the U.S. Marshals, where they are auctioned or, at times, repurposed for government use. But the Marshals aren't just practiced at unloading forfeited SUVs or houses; they also deal with complex financial instruments, foreign companies and other kinds of obscure assets forfeited by criminals. "While Bitcoin is a somewhat new form of asset, it's not unusual for them to have to find out how to liquidate a new asset," said Jeffrey Alberts, a partner at Pryor Cashman and a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan. "This won't be difficult for them, whether they do it through an exchange or find a buyer who wants to buy it directly from them." Ulbricht was arrested October 1 in a San Francisco public library and charged by prosecutors in New York with one count each of money laundering, computer hacking and drug trafficking. He is being held at a federal detention center in New York without bail. [ID:nL2N0J61M1] He has not entered a formal plea but has maintained his innocence through statements by his lawyer. Prosecutors last week asked a judge to grant them a default judgment in the civil forfeiture case they filed after the raid on Silk Road and Ulbricht's arrest claiming Silk Road's assets. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken signed an order to that effect on Wednesday, giving the government control of the 29,655 Bitcoins from Silk Road's server but not of the bitcoins - the larger sum - discovered on Ulbricht's computer. Those are still in dispute. The proceeds from any sale would be turned over to an asset forfeiture fund from which the U.S. Justice Department can draw for law enforcement activities. If any money were to come back to prosecutors' budgets, it would be distributed evenly among U.S. attorneys' offices, a policy meant to prevent individual offices from unduly seizing assets to pad their budgets. (Reporting By Emily Flitter; Editing by Martin Howell and Douglas Royalty)

2014-01-19 03:26:45+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [303, 1391, 1800, 2164, 2436, 2600, 3072, 3265, 3294, 3778, 4808]}

{}

The U.S. government's bitcoin bonanza: How, where and when to sell?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-governments-bitcoin-bonanza-where-032645173.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan are sitting on a multimillion-dollar bitcoin gold mine. And it could get much bigger. Federal authorities hauled in 29,655 units of the digital currency - worth $27 million at current exchange rates - through an official forfeiture by Bitcoin this week. The bitcoins had belonged to Silk Road, an anonymous online black market that authorities say was a conduit for purchases of drugs and computer hacking services - even a place where assassins may have advertised. It was shuttered after an FBI raid in September, when agents took control of its server and arrested the man they say was its founder in San Francisco. No one stepped forward to claim these bitcoins, which were found in electronic "wallets" used to store the digital currency. An additional 144,336 bitcoins, worth more than $128 million today, were also discovered, but the government's claim on them is being disputed by Ross William Ulbricht, 29, who U.S. authorities say was the founder and main operator of Silk Road. They had been stashed on his laptop. It all puts authorities in an unusual position, given their concerns about the way in which bitcoins and other digital currencies are used by criminals to circumvent regulations intended to prevent money laundering. By trading in bitcoins, the government could give the currency some legitimacy. Bitcoin is essentially software code that defines units of value, which users can move back and forth among themselves. Unlike other virtual money transmitters, its value isn't pegged to a hard currency like the dollar or the euro; it is determined by the demand for bitcoins. The U.S. Marshals Service, which is in charge of liquidating such seized assets, will have to decide whether to sell the units on a Bitcoin exchange or find a private buyer, perhaps through an auction. A spokeswoman for Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District, said Friday that the government is still trying to decide what to do with the forfeited bitcoins. Story continues The timing of any sale could make a big difference in the amount the government could realize. Bitcoin's value has fluctuated wildly over the past six months. When Silk Road was seized, the bitcoins found on the server were worth $3.6 million, far below their current $27 million value. Friday's exchange rate was about $900 per bitcoin, according to the Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange MtGox. It is unclear whether a large sale of bitcoins by the government could drive down the price. Friday's volume on MtGox, which is the largest Bitcoin exchange, was 8,656 units. "If it's worth $27 million now, is that a high part of the market? A low part of the market? That's one of the decisions they're going to have to make," said Louis Rulli, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. "It would seem to me that they would probably convert those bitcoins into cash relatively quickly." Barry Silbert, the founder of one of the first investment funds that lets retail investors gain exposure to Bitcoin, declined to offer an opinion on what the government should do with its stash or how a sale would affect the market. Marco Santori, chairman of the regulatory affairs committee for the Bitcoin Foundation, which is Bitcoin's official trade group, said the group did not have an official position on the matter. 'THIS WON'T BE DIFFICULT' Most goods seized by U.S. authorities end up in the hands of the U.S. Marshals, where they are auctioned or, at times, repurposed for government use. But the Marshals aren't just practiced at unloading forfeited SUVs or houses; they also deal with complex financial instruments, foreign companies and other kinds of obscure assets forfeited by criminals. "While Bitcoin is a somewhat new form of asset, it's not unusual for them to have to find out how to liquidate a new asset," said Jeffrey Alberts, a partner at Pryor Cashman and a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan. "This won't be difficult for them, whether they do it through an exchange or find a buyer who wants to buy it directly from them." Ulbricht was arrested October 1 in a San Francisco public library and charged by prosecutors in New York with one count each of money laundering, computer hacking and drug trafficking. He is being held at a federal detention center in New York without bail. [ID:nL2N0J61M1] He has not entered a formal plea but has maintained his innocence through statements by his lawyer. Prosecutors last week asked a judge to grant them a default judgment in the civil forfeiture case they filed after the raid on Silk Road and Ulbricht's arrest claiming Silk Road's assets. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken signed an order to that effect on Wednesday, giving the government control of the 29,655 Bitcoins from Silk Road's server but not of the bitcoins - the larger sum - discovered on Ulbricht's computer. Those are still in dispute. The proceeds from any sale would be turned over to an asset forfeiture fund from which the U.S. Justice Department can draw for law enforcement activities. If any money were to come back to prosecutors' budgets, it would be distributed evenly among U.S. attorneys' offices, a policy meant to prevent individual offices from unduly seizing assets to pad their budgets. (Reporting By Emily Flitter; Editing by Martin Howell and Douglas Royalty)

2014-01-19 13:00:29+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [292, 558, 596, 1078, 1334, 1937, 2202]}

{"Bitcoin": [11]}

Winkelvoss Bitcoin ETF Concept Inches Along

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/winkelvoss-bitcoin-etf-concept-inches-130029034.html

ETF Trends

http://www.etftrends.com/

With all the controversy and hoopla surrounding bitcoin, the volatile digital currency, investors looking to access the currency via an exchange traded product are looking to stay abreast of developments on the bitcoin ETF front. That means monitoring the approval process for the Winkelvoss Bitcoin Trust, an ETF sponsored by twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss. Although ETF has yet to debut following a third-quarter filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the process is moving along and it appears that, at some point, the Winkelvoss Bitcoin Trust will become a reality. [Bitcoin ETF may Soon be a Reality] “The SEC has generally been receptive,” the trust’s lawyer, Evan Greebel, told Michael Casey of the Wall Street Journal . “We are working through common procedures and working through the registration process and we have not gotten any show stoppers. We think the SEC understands the nature of the project and understands that it does bring stability to bitcoin.” The trust’s sponsor is Math-Based Asset Services LLC, which was formed in mid-2013.Bitcoin is a type of decentralized digital currency based on a peer-to-peer network and can be exchanged through computers internationally without a financial intermediary. The system was first introduced by developer Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. [Study Says Bitcoin is Speculative] Although more businesses are accepting bitcoin, the currency’s reputation for volatility could hinder broader acceptance. Additionally, some experts have argued bitcoin has no correlation to major currencies such as the U.S. dollar, therefore rendering it ineffective as a hedging tool. Greebel said “the ETF should help the development of a large, institutional exchange for bitcoin to complement the offerings that currently exist from retail-focused platforms,” according to the Journal. He did tell the Journal when the ETF could be approved or debut for public consumption. Bitcoin and the ETF concept got something of a lift in November when representatives from the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission told the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security that the currency is indeed a legitimate financial tool. [Bitcoin Moves to Legitimacy; ETF to Follow] ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post. The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.

2014-01-20 13:07:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [0, 260, 700]}

{"Bitcoin": [30]}

How Milton Friedman Predicted Bitcoin In 1999

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/milton-friedman-predicted-bitcoin-1999-130700533.html

Entrepreneur

http://www.entrepreneur.com/

Bitcoin is widely embraced by the libertarian community, mostly because the digital currency isn't tied to any single government, nor is it that heavily regulated. (Well, at least not yet. Give it time.) So it shouldn't come as a surprise that the idea behind Bitcoin was endorsed years ago by Milton Friedman, the shaman of modern free-market economics. In a 1999 interview suddenly making the rounds on YouTube, Friedman talks about the then-nascent internet, saying he thinks it will be one of "the major forces reducing the role of government." That remains to be seen, but he then mused over the idea of a web currency that sounds awfully familiar to today's beloved, misunderstood and evolving Bitcoin... More From Entrepreneur 6 Sideline Trends Poised to Change the Entrepreneurship Game How Much Blame Do the Jobless Bear for Joblessness? Why Our Job Market Is Dying Before Our Eyes

2014-01-20 21:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1118]}

{}

Jamaican Bobsled Team Could Go to Olympics in 2014…Thanks to Crowdfunding

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jamaican-bobsled-team-could-olympics-213300080.html

The Fiscal Times

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it’s bobsled time…Cool Runnings…2? After a 12-year hiatus, the Jamaican bobsled team announced Saturday that it has qualified to compete in the Olympic games. Unfortunately, the team, which was famously portrayed in the 1993 Disney classic Cool Runnings, has run into a bit of a money problem again. This time they need to raise $80,000 in the next week in order to get to Sochi. As sled driver Winston Watt told the Associated Press on Saturday, “Right now, we’re at zero.” Related: Crowdfunding Promoted to Help Small Businesses Not to worry, guys. the Internet is on it. So far, in less than three days, Crowdfunding, Reddit and virtual currency have combined to raise approximately $56,300, according to Mashable. Indiegogo and Crowdtilt, two major crowdfunding platforms, have raised a combined $26,458. The rest of the donations have primarily been drummed up on Reddit. As an example, one post on the dogecoin subreddit titled, “Let’s send the Jamaican bobsled team to the Winter Olympics!” encouraged viewers to donate using dogecoins, a virtual currency similar to Bitcoin. The bobsled team’s twitter account has also been helping drive traffic to the crowdfunding websites in order to meet their goal. This isn’t the first time the team struggled for funding, when they competed in the 1988 games in Calgary, as depicted in the movie, the team had to scrounge for funding from U.S. businessmen and the president of the Jamaica Olympic Association. Technology has transformed fundraising in the past few years. Now crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have become major resources for everything from startups to science research and more. Some individuals have even used the fundraising sites as tools to bankroll their own personal expenses like college tuition. If the team meets its goal, this will be the first time an Olympic team (and a potential movie sequel) has been funded through Internet donations. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times 3 Foods You Should Never Eat in 2014 CES 2014: High-Tech Tracking Devices You Could Soon Be Wearing The Worst Cars at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show

2014-01-20 22:44:18+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [116, 324, 438, 570, 764, 828, 1025, 1236, 1537, 1935, 2220]}

{"Bitcoin": [33]}

Overstock.com sees new market in Bitcoins

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/overstock-com-sees-market-bitcoins-203542155.html

Associated Press

https://apnews.com/

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Salt Lake City-based Overstock.com Inc. says it's the first major retailer to accept digital Bitcoins as payment for goods. The $1 billion company is tapping into a new market of buyers who use the online currency, and other major retailers will lose market share if they don't follow suit and accept Bitcoins, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne said. "I've been hearing from people all over the world — cult followers of Bitcoin — who say they are going to shift all of their shopping to Overstock.com," Byrne told CBS affiliate KUTV in Salt Lake City. Bitcoin users buy digital money and load it onto a virtual wallet. They can buy things online without having to enter their credit card information. Unlike government-issued money, the value of Bitcoin fluctuates rapidly. To protect itself, Overstock uses a Bitcoin broker that immediately exchanges the digital coins into dollars. Overstock started accepting the virtual currency Jan. 9, and Byrne said the company almost immediately grossed $100,000 in Bitcoin orders. "You'll see Amazon jump on board. You'll see other large companies — they have to because they cannot concede this whole section of the market to us," Byrne said. Amazon.com Inc. does not accept Bitcoins and has no plans to do so, company spokeswoman Julie Law said Monday. The cybercurrency has existed for years as a kind of Internet oddity, counting supporters among tech-savvy libertarians, currency geeks and online speculators. Yet increasing acceptance is bringing it into mainstream use. Bitcoins are created, distributed, and authenticated independently of any bank or government. The currency's cryptographic features make it virtually immune from counterfeiting, and its relative anonymity holds out the promise of being able to spend money across the Internet without fear of governments. The linchpin of the system is a network of "miners" — high-end computer users who supply the Bitcoin network with the processing power needed to maintain a transparent, running tally of all transactions. The tally is one of the most important ways in which the system prevents fraud, and the miners are rewarded for supporting the system with an occasional helping of brand new Bitcoins. ___ Information from: KUTV-TV, http://www.kutv.com/

2014-01-21 02:27:31+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [124, 432, 4568], "BTC": [743]}

{"Bitcoin": [14]}

It's Not Just Bitcoin: A Beginner's Guide to the OTHER New Cryptocurrencies

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/a-beginners-guide-to-new-cryptocurrencies-like-74016517813.html

Yahoo Tech

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/

If you’re wondering what the hell cryptocurrency is: join the club. While Twitter, and the internet, pretends to understand Bitcoins or “altcoins” or whatever damn coins exist on the computer but not in my wallet, the truth is that millions of us are totally clueless about these market mavericks purporting to revolutionize economic life as we know it. READ MORE Lawsuit: Facebook Sold Messages Crypto-bod Ben Doernberg explains: “Bitcoin was started by hardcore computer experts as a deadly-serious attempt to change the economic and political landscape, and it quickly attracted a core group of libertarians and cryptography enthusiasts.” Indeed, the digi-currency has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence since its 2009 inception, with 1 BTC now worth nearly $1k. But, as with all great success stories, one inspired idea paves the way for an onslaught of wildly inferior ones, and the daddy of altcoins has spawned hundreds of copycats. Simply being a decentralized, peer-to-peer currency was soon no longer enough, and lo and behold—a wave of digital money meme-ry was born. Yep, the fiscal potential of altcoins now plays second fiddle to the kitsch factor, spearheaded by the introduction of Dogecoin last year. So here’s a guide to some of the key players in the cryptocoin market (plus some others that deserve a spot for being sufficiently weird): READ MORE Facebook’s Robot King Dogecoin It’s only right to begin this list with Dogecoin, the currency based on 2013’s Meme of the Year (no really that’s a thing now), Doge. A Shiba Inu pooch with a poor grasp of spelling may seem like a peculiar choice for a meme, but self-confessed “shibes” all over the globe have taken the little fuzzmeister into their hearts—and now their bank accounts—with the introduction of Dogecoin. The currency’s co-creator Jackson Palmer muses: “I think the real reason for Dogecoin’s success is that it’s added a friendly face to the notion of a global, digital currency—in turn, we’ve built a large passionate community of users, for many of whom Dogecoin is their first experience with cryptocurrency.” READ MORE Ditch the Lazy Lady-Tech The canine-faced coin functions less as a means of turning a profit, but rather as a way of ‘tipping’ fellow internet users in online games or social networks. Billy Markus —Palmer’s partner in coin crime—estimates that their creation has triggered a steep rise in new cryptocurrencies making their way to market, with anything from five to 15 being launched every day. Compare this to the fact that less than one per week were circulating before Dogecoin came out, and it’s clear that this cutely packaged computer cash packs a serious punch. Story continues While some might question why we need to brand these digital dollars with memes, Brett Scott, author of The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance , believes that they are crucial to a cryptocurrency’s success by provoking an emotional response from its users: “Any belief in currency—whether it be a paper note, or a piece of metal, or digital bytes, is essentially irrational and requires some emotional leap of faith.” Scott’s belief in Dogecoin is so solid that he accepts it as payment for his book, adding: “I believe the symbol has enough emotional power to form the basis for a future cultural system of value.” READ MORE What You Talked About in 2013 Coinye West And when it comes to cultural value, we really need look no further than Kanye West, the inspiration behind 2014’s first major cryptocurrency, Coinye West. ‘I don’t know what’s better, gettin’ laid or gettin’ paid,’ rapped the self-proclaimed “nucleus” in This Way , and it seems the currency’s creators are trying to experience at least one of those things for the first time by gathering some Coinye capital. READ MORE Hack Your Facebook The altcoin launched in a blaze of legal fury last week after KW’s lawyers tried to shut it down, irate that the sole product in the world West doesn’t already have his own line of would go to market with his name on it. “It remains to be seen if Coinye will be much more than another PR black eye on the cryptocurrency community at large,” says Rackspace developer Jesse Noller. “It may be a good idea, but they launched it as a pure marketing jump after seeing the success of Dogecoin. It was a classic pump and dump: hype, pre-mine the coin, launch, cash out.” While Coinye’s mascot has now inexplicably morphed into a blinged up ‘n’ bloated Kanye fish face, the entire messy enterprise has given cryptocurrency naysayers extra ammo in denouncing digital dollars. “Bitcoin [and its variants] has become synonymous with everything wrong with Silicon Valley: a marriage of dubious technology and questionable economics wrapped up in a crypto-libertarian political agenda that smacks of nerds-do-it-better paternalism,” blasts former Twitter engineer Alex Payne . Moral of the story: bitcoins bad, cute coins good. READ MORE Subreddit on Navy Yard Shooting Banned Catcoin And so explains the birth of Catcoin, the latest creation hell-bent on knocking its canine counterpart off its perch. Relying on the fluffiness factor to give them a popularity boost, the burgeoning currency is already attempting to scoop up Dogecoin defectors on reddit and increase its market value. Most of these bitcoin wannabes fall apart soon enough, though, and it remains to be seen whether Catcoin will really make its mark. “It’s completely impossible to say whether there is room for multiple cryptocurrencies to stick around,” Doernberg elaborates, “but if there is, Dogecoin or another coin like it has strong potential as a family friendly coin used in online games and to tip on social networks.” READ MORE iPhone 5s: The ‘S’ Stands for ‘Same While cryptocoin defenders are keen to extol the virtues of their online community, it does raise (even more) questions about what the actual point of all this pretend computer cash is. Is it intended as an economic game-changer that people can make real money from, or just a way of dishing out likes or recommends with a furry mascot attached? And, if it’s the latter, why name the currencies something so closely aligned to the libertarian ideology of bitcoin? Such questions, very confuse, etc. RonPaulcoin READ MORE Apple With a Side of Koch Let’s move back from the deep and meaningful to the sheer ridiculous, which has helpfully been bestowed unto us by the creators of RonPaulcoin. Yes, that’s correct, a digital currency dedicated to the “intellectual godfather” of the Tea Party. The senior political Paul has been outspoken in his praise of bitcoin, telling CNN that it could “destroy the dollar” and cause a serious fiscal shake-up, so it seems like a logical step for him to be the face of one of its newest revamps. With a current market value of more than $28 per RPC and a ranking as the 47th most valuable of the 71 cryptocurrencies, this coin is climbing the ladder pretty quickly. But if RonPaulCoin is the start, where does this all end? With Obama bucks? De Blasio dollars? Joe Biden Gs? You get the picture, and it’s not a pretty one. (Well, it will be if Joe B’s Gs takes off. Here’s hoping). READ MORE Bracelet Unlocks Devices with Heartbeat Sexcoin There’s only one logical move to make after RonPaulcoin: Sexcoin. This one seems to have a shred more purpose than its bitcoin-esque bedfellows as it promises a more private means of online transaction between performers, producers and consumers of adult material. It can be a little hard to take a cryptocurrency whose tagline is ‘Super Sexy and Delicious’ seriously, but with a current market capitalization ranking of 30, its performance isn’t too shabby. READ MORE Are They or Aren’t They? So where do we go with all of this screen money, and is it really likely to overthrow our economic infrastructures anytime soon? If anything, the deluge of heavily orchestrated ‘quirkiness’ these groups are trying to inject into the market is something of a turn off, and the regular risk these currencies seem to be at from hacking doesn’t do much to restore my faith that altcoins are just a bunch of computery nothingness. “I agree with the naysayers—in fact, I pretty much am a naysayer,” concludes Noller. “But somewhere in between thinking cryptocurrencies are the future and cryptocurrencies are neckbeard monopoly money is the truth. Just don’t invest real money. Please.” Related from The Daily Beast Microsoft Buying Nokia Handset Biz How to Hide From Your Phone I Want an iWatch! Like us on Facebook - <href=”#!/thedailybeast%20” data-rapid_p=”25” id=”yui_3_9_1_1_1390270686288_1251” >Follow us on Twitter - Sign up for The Cheat Sheet Newsletter View comments

2014-01-21 12:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [180, 572, 670, 2583, 2870]}

{"Bitcoin": [13]}

WPCS Updates Bitcoin Platform Rollout Plan

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wpcs-updates-bitcoin-platform-rollout-120000484.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

EXTON, PA--(Marketwired - Jan 21, 2014) - WPCS International Incorporated ( NASDAQ : WPCS ) today reported continued progress with its rollout strategy for its BTX Trader ("BTX") Bitcoin trading platform ( www.btxtrader.com ). According to Interim CEO Sebastian Giordano, "Though the acquisition was only recently completed on December 17, 2013, we are formalizing our plans and undertaking several initiatives to launch and begin monetizing this exciting opportunity." Divya Thakur, BTX Chief Technology Officer stated that, "BTX is the first trading platform to enable Bitcoin traders and investors to access market data as well as execute orders for the top six (6) Bitcoin exchanges in a single application. What further differentiates BTX from any other product in the market is the opportunity to be the premier algorithmic trading platform for digital currencies, allowing traders to execute orders and trading strategies not available on other exchanges, such as 'stop limit'; which BTX already offers." Ilya Subkhankulov, BTX Chief Operating Officer, provided additional clarification on BTX's rollout plan, indicating that, "In addition to our core trading functionality, the current free beta version of our Windows-based desktop application provides users with the unique ability to: i. Trade with an institutional-grade user experience; ii. Access reliable and curated market data; and, iii. Utilize sophisticated market data visualization tools, such as tick charts. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be announcing a continuing stream of functionality enhancements for our beta users, including: i. Broader platform accessibility via web and mobile applications; ii. Integration with other exchanges and digital currencies; and, iii. Features, such as commission estimates and P&L tracking. While we will disclose our BTX revenue model at a future date, we are still projecting an official launch of the BTX platform in the 2nd Quarter of calendar 2014," Subkhankulov concluded. In other BTX developments, Giordano continued that, "While the BTX development team works diligently to prepare for launch, we are taking other measures to plant the seeds for future potential growth of this segment of our business. We have recently engaged the services of the New York City-based law firm of Merle, Brown & Nakamura, P.C., which has represented numerous money transmitters, check cashers and foreign exchange companies. We are very excited about forging this relationship to help guide us through the domestic and international regulatory requirements related to Bitcoin." Story continues About WPCS International Incorporated WPCS operates in two business segments including: (1) providing communications infrastructure contracting services to the public services, healthcare, energy and corporate enterprise markets worldwide; and (2) developing a Bitcoin trading platform. For more information, please visit www.wpcs.com and www.btxtrader.com . Statements about the company's future expectations, including future revenue and earnings and all other statements in this press release, other than historical facts, are "forward-looking" statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time. The company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. In reflecting subsequent events or circumstances, the company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements. View comments

2014-01-21 12:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [286]}

{"Bitcoin": [53]}

Myriad Interactive Media 75% Complete CryptoCafe.com Bitcoin Project

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/myriad-interactive-media-75-complete-120000360.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

TORONTO, ON and LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Jan 21, 2014) - Myriad Interactive Media Inc. ( OTCQB : MYRY ) ( BERLIN : XNG ), a global interactive media & development company, is pleased to announce that we have reached a significant milestone in the development of our CryptoCafe.com Bitcoin project. "We are pleased to announce that we are on pace to beat our initial deadline of 3 months as we have been working around the clock to launch our first crypto currency platform. Followers of our story are welcome to sign up to the website at www.cryptocafe.com where we will be announcing our website launch. I am excited to announce this additional milestone shortly so soon after our toxic debt has been removed, our team is very energized and focused on purely the technology-development side of our business and I am working diligently on further cleaning up our balance sheet," said Myriad CEO Derek Ivany. "I mentioned that it is our ultimate goal to re-shape the entire balance sheet as we move forward with 3 very exciting projects early into 2014, and if things continue to move forward this won't be the only crypto project that our highly skilled development team will be building," continued Ivany. MyMobiPoints Update "I am also pleased to announce that we have developed a completely new version of our MyMobiPoints mobile application for IOS which is even more feature rich with the ability for a business to create coupons, blogs and podcast functions all available for sharing where users earn points," said Myriad CEO Derek Ivany. "Our MyMobiPoints mobile application is an amazing solution for any sized business where they can drive significant traffic to both their social pages and to their business by having their users share content that is uploaded to the business's MyMobiPoints mobile application. This is a way to make social media work for a business. Instead of the old model of posting content to your page, your users are posting your content to their page. It is a 360 degree shift from what was considered the norm and once again another way at looking at social media from a different perspective. That's the Myriad way," continued Ivany. The company would also like to announce that we are re-building our development studio business model and will be making a further announcement about our plans with our mobile development and web development businesses in the next couple of weeks. About Myriad Interactive Media, Inc.: Myriad Interactive Media is an interactive marketing and development firm based in Toronto, Canada. Myriad designs and develops customized marketing plans, social media marketing campaigns, pay per click, and search engine marketing. Our company also develops in house web & mobile applications. Story continues Myriad Interactive Media Inc. is a public company quoted on the OTCQB under the symbol MYRY. For more information, please visit us in the USA at www.myriadim.com Forward-Looking Statements In addition to historical information, this press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current expectations and projections about future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to be materially different from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Except as required by federal securities law, the Company assumes no obligation to update publicly or to revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available, new events occur or circumstances change in the future. View comments

2014-01-21 18:13:27+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [125, 548, 724, 1276, 1629, 1704, 1797]}

{"Bitcoin": [42]}

Vegas casinos now accepting cybercurrency Bitcoin

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vegas-casinos-now-accepting-cybercurrency-181300248.html

Associated Press

https://apnews.com/

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Las Vegas is getting one more novelty. Starting this week, patrons will be able to use the online currency Bitcoin to pay for rooms, food and drinks at two downtown casinos. The D casino and the city's oldest casino, the Golden Gate, will accept bitcoins at hotel front desks beginning Wednesday. The cybercurrency will also be accepted at the D's gift shop and two restaurants. U.S. dollars will remain the only currency accepted on the gambling floor. Derek Stevens, the co-owner of the two casinos, said he's been intrigued by Bitcoin for years and had talked with patrons who wondered if the casinos would use it. He said it's tough to forecast how many patrons will pay for dinners and souvenirs with Bitcoin, but predicted other casinos will soon adopt the currency. "For us, it's going to be somewhat exciting to see what kind of impact it'll have," he said. State regulators are unlikely to allow casinos to exchange chips for bitcoins any time soon, according to A.G. Burnett, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The industry has not approached regulators about approving the currency for gambling. "We would have to have an extremely high level of comfort with virtual currency of this kind in order for that to ever occur," Burnett said. Bitcoin made its debut four years ago, and has been gaining momentum ever since, shedding its status as an internet oddity and approaching the mainstream. Earlier this month, the Salt Lake City-based retailer Overstock.com became the first major retailer to accept the digital currency as payment for goods. Unlike government-issued money, the value of Bitcoin fluctuates rapidly. Like Overstock.com, the two casinos will use a Bitcoin broker that immediately exchanges the digital coins into dollars. Advocates describe Bitcoin as the foundation of a Utopian economy: no borders, no change fees, no closing hours, and no one to tell you what you can and can't do with your money. ___ Hannah Dreier can be reached at http://twitter.com/hannahdreier

2014-01-21 18:58:43+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [139, 316, 506, 522, 795, 1183, 1283, 1686, 1789, 1876, 2080, 2306, 2561, 2729, 2875, 3071], "BTC": [2626]}

{"Bitcoin": [40]}

Nordic investor creates world's biggest Bitcoin database

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nordic-investor-creates-worlds-biggest-163544683.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

By Mia Shanley STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Nordic venture capital firm says it has built the world's largest database of businesses dealing in Bitcoins in an effort to shed light on a virtual currency which has seen its value rocket in the past year. Creandum said the database contained more than 300 companies trading Bitcoins - ranging from exchanges to payment processors and gambling companies - and was intended to give entrepreneurs and investors an overview of companies with a significant role in the Bitcoin system. Bitcoin is essentially software code that defines units of value, which users can move back and forth among themselves. Unlike other virtual money transmitters, its value isn't pegged to a hard currency like the U.S. dollar or the euro - it is determined by the demand for Bitcoins. Since its launch in January 2009, the system has grown popular with people who lack confidence in the traditional banking system, though it has also aroused concerns it could be used for money laundering. Creandum, which has invested in fast-growing Nordic tech firms such as online music streaming service Spotify and payment solutions firm iZettle, said it hoped to encourage Bitcoin enthusiasts to participate in the development of the currency. "This year and next year the Bitcoin needs to prove itself as a payment mechanism, and it could go either way," Creandum associate Joel Eriksson Enquist told Reuters. "Our hope is that the database will work like Wikipedia, with more and more contributors and more comprehensive data," he said of the open-source site which can be found at http://bitcoin.knackhq.com/btcdb . BUBBLE, OR A NEW WORLD? Creandum has not invested in any Bitcoin-related companies but is looking at a couple of players and Enquist himself is holding onto 10 Bitcoins he bought last year for a little over $100 each - just for the fun of it. The Bitcoin has recently traded above $1,000, up from $10 at the start of last year and fuelling concerns of a bubble. Story continues Creandum said it may take another three years before it is clear whether Bitcoin is a bubble, or whether this is "the beginning of a new world". In December, the digital currency was dealt a blow when the People's Bank of China banned financial institutions, though not individuals, from trading in Bitcoins. U.S. prosecutors are also sitting on millions of dollars worth of the currency which had belonged to Silk Road, an online market that authorities say was a conduit for purchasing drugs and computer hacking services. Creandum's database lists 46 Bitcoin exchanges in North America, 24 in Europe and 21 in Asia. BTC China and Europe's btc-e and Bitstamp are the biggest exchanges, with the three seeing 2.5 million Bitcoins traded on their platforms in the 30 days to January 9. While there are about 100 virtual currencies, with new ones appearing every week, Bitcoin is by far the best known. E-commerce site Overstock.com recently announced its plan to become the first major U.S. retailer to accept the digital currency. Dating site OKCupid also allows Bitcoins as a form of payment. (Editing by Mark Potter)

2014-01-21 20:22:25+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [125, 188, 294, 466, 733, 849, 1007, 1237, 1487]}

{"Bitcoin": [43]}

Marc Andreessen Has A Great Answer For Why Bitcoin Matters

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/marc-andreessen-great-answer-why-202225963.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

marc andreessen Flickr/Joi Ito Marc Andreessen. Marc Andreessen has a fabulous op-ed in The New York Times today called "Why Bitcoin Matters," and it serves as a good primer on all things Bitcoin. Andreessen is a huge proponent of the anonymous digital currency, having invested in a number of Bitcoin-related companies lately. Among the many things Andreessen tackles in his op-ed, he offers a salient take on the famous "Why is this stuff worth money?" question: [Bitcoin's] value is based directly on two things: use of the payment system today – volume and velocity of payments running through the ledger – and speculation on future use of the payment system. This is one part that is confusing people. It’s not as much that the Bitcoin currency has some arbitrary value and then people are trading with it; it’s more that people can trade with Bitcoin (anywhere, everywhere, with no fraud and no or very low fees) and as a result it has value. It is perhaps true right at this moment that the value of Bitcoin currency is based more on speculation than actual payment volume, but it is equally true that that speculation is establishing a sufficiently high price for the currency that payments have become practically possible. The Bitcoin currency had to be worth something before it could bear any amount of real-world payment volume. This is the classic “chicken and egg” problem with new technology: new technology is not worth much until it’s worth a lot. And so the fact that Bitcoin has risen in value in part because of speculation is making the reality of its usefulness arrive much faster than it would have otherwise. You can read the entire column here >> More From Business Insider Finally! Someone In Silicon Valley Has The Guts To Defend The NSA How Marc Andreessen And Elon Musk Really Got Rich Warren Buffett Will Give You $1 Billion If You Fill Out A Perfect 'March Madness' Bracket

2014-01-22 00:11:35+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [433, 1567, 2137]}

{}

Two Las Vegas casinos to accept virtual bitcoin currency

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/two-las-vegas-casinos-accept-001135190.html

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/

By Laila Kearney Jan 21 (Reuters) - Two Las Vegas casino hotels will become the first known U.S. commercial gambling houses to allow the use of the unregulated digital payment system, bitcoin, casino officials said on Tuesday. The co-owned Golden Gate Hotel and Casino and The D Las Vegas Casino Hotel will begin accepting bitcoins on Wednesday as payment for hotel rooms and related purchases, casino officials said in a statement. Bitcoin is an online currency bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network that is independent of central authority. The D will also accept the virtual currency at its gift shop, the American Coney Island restaurant and Joe Vicari's Andiamo Italian Steakhouse. "Downtown has really become a technology hub for all of Las Vegas," Derek Stevens, co-owner and chief operating officer for both casinos, told Reuters. "I think it is fitting that the Golden Gate and The D are the first hotels to offer (bitcoin)." Stevens said patrons increasingly had requested to use bitcoins over the past year. By becoming the first known casino hotels to accept the virtual currency, he hoped to attract customers unable to spend bitcoins at other local businesses. "I think that this is a technology where early adopters have an advantage," he said. The casinos will install iPads at cashier stations and use the online platform BitPay to process the currency, which can be loaded into a virtual wallet and used with a mobile device. Since its launch in early 2009, bitcoin has gained popularity with people who lack confidence in conventional banking. Bitcoins have a value determined by the demand for them. This month, the Sacramento Kings basketball team became the first U.S. professional sports franchise to allow purchases with bitcoins, and Overstock.com reported being the first major retailer to accept the online currency. BitPay, which enables merchants to allow bitcoins as payment by converting them into U.S. currency, processed more than $100 million worth of transactions in 2013. The currency has also raised concerns about its potential use in laundering money and for other illegal purposes. Last week, Bitcoin forfeited roughly $27,000 worth of the currency to federal authorities because the funds belonged to the anonymous online black market Silk Road.

2014-01-22 00:13:14+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [426, 1560, 2130]}

{}

Two Las Vegas casinos to accept virtual bitcoin currency

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/two-las-vegas-casinos-accept-001314887.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

By Laila Kearney (Reuters) - Two Las Vegas casino hotels will become the first known U.S. commercial gambling houses to allow the use of the unregulated digital payment system, bitcoin, casino officials said on Tuesday. The co-owned Golden Gate Hotel and Casino and The D Las Vegas Casino Hotel will begin accepting bitcoins on Wednesday as payment for hotel rooms and related purchases, casino officials said in a statement. Bitcoin is an online currency bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network that is independent of central authority. The D will also accept the virtual currency at its gift shop, the American Coney Island restaurant and Joe Vicari's Andiamo Italian Steakhouse. "Downtown has really become a technology hub for all of Las Vegas," Derek Stevens, co-owner and chief operating officer for both casinos, told Reuters. "I think it is fitting that the Golden Gate and The D are the first hotels to offer (bitcoin)." Stevens said patrons increasingly had requested to use bitcoins over the past year. By becoming the first known casino hotels to accept the virtual currency, he hoped to attract customers unable to spend bitcoins at other local businesses. "I think that this is a technology where early adopters have an advantage," he said. The casinos will install iPads at cashier stations and use the online platform BitPay to process the currency, which can be loaded into a virtual wallet and used with a mobile device. Since its launch in early 2009, bitcoin has gained popularity with people who lack confidence in conventional banking. Bitcoins have a value determined by the demand for them. This month, the Sacramento Kings basketball team became the first U.S. professional sports franchise to allow purchases with bitcoins, and Overstock.com reported being the first major retailer to accept the online currency. BitPay, which enables merchants to allow bitcoins as payment by converting them into U.S. currency, processed more than $100 million worth of transactions in 2013. The currency has also raised concerns about its potential use in laundering money and for other illegal purposes. Last week, Bitcoin forfeited roughly $27,000 worth of the currency to federal authorities because the funds belonged to the anonymous online black market Silk Road. (Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Andre Grenon)

2014-01-22 02:14:01+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [424, 1558, 2128]}

{}

Two Las Vegas casinos to accept virtual bitcoin currency

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/two-las-vegas-casinos-accept-021401590.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

By Laila Kearney REUTERS - Two Las Vegas casino hotels will become the first known U.S. commercial gambling houses to allow the use of the unregulated digital payment system, bitcoin, casino officials said on Tuesday. The co-owned Golden Gate Hotel and Casino and The D Las Vegas Casino Hotel will begin accepting bitcoins on Wednesday as payment for hotel rooms and related purchases, casino officials said in a statement. Bitcoin is an online currency bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network that is independent of central authority. The D will also accept the virtual currency at its gift shop, the American Coney Island restaurant and Joe Vicari's Andiamo Italian Steakhouse. "Downtown has really become a technology hub for all of Las Vegas," Derek Stevens, co-owner and chief operating officer for both casinos, told Reuters. "I think it is fitting that the Golden Gate and The D are the first hotels to offer (bitcoin)." Stevens said patrons increasingly had requested to use bitcoins over the past year. By becoming the first known casino hotels to accept the virtual currency, he hoped to attract customers unable to spend bitcoins at other local businesses. "I think that this is a technology where early adopters have an advantage," he said. The casinos will install iPads at cashier stations and use the online platform BitPay to process the currency, which can be loaded into a virtual wallet and used with a mobile device. Since its launch in early 2009, bitcoin has gained popularity with people who lack confidence in conventional banking. Bitcoins have a value determined by the demand for them. This month, the Sacramento Kings basketball team became the first U.S. professional sports franchise to allow purchases with bitcoins, and Overstock.com reported being the first major retailer to accept the online currency. BitPay, which enables merchants to allow bitcoins as payment by converting them into U.S. currency, processed more than $100 million worth of transactions in 2013. The currency has also raised concerns about its potential use in laundering money and for other illegal purposes. Last week, Bitcoin forfeited roughly $27,000 worth of the currency to federal authorities because the funds belonged to the anonymous online black market Silk Road. (Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Andre Grenon) View comments

2014-01-22 18:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [194, 297, 359, 389, 454, 499, 583, 668, 722, 749, 1173, 1664, 1906, 2109, 2533], "BTC": [276, 2622]}

{"Bitcoin": [69], "BTC": [49]}

BitAngels Goes Global, Closing $7 Million (7,000 BTC) in Funding for Bitcoin Startups

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitangels-goes-global-closing-7-180000531.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - Jan 22, 2014) - BitAngels ( http://www.bitangels.co ), the first international multi-city business incubator focused solely on early-stage startups disrupting through Bitcoin-based initiatives, today announced that it has invested $7 million (7,000 BTC) in 12 different Bitcoin startups since May 2013. Those startups have included Bitcoin layer "MSC Protocol," Bitcoin payment platform GoCoin, Seasteading incubator Blueseed, Bitcoin instant exchange Cash Into Coins and Bitcoin mining hardware company CoinTerra. The BitAngels have nearly $50 million in Bitcoins soft-circled by its now 324 angels across the globe ready to be invested in Bitcoin startups. "It has been an incredible time for Bitcoin since the May 2013 Bitcoins show in San Jose, and it has been an even more incredible one for BitAngels," said co-founder and Executive Director David A. Johnston. "Like the digital currency itself, BitAngels had small beginnings, but also like the digital currency, we continue to expect that we'll head straight to the moon, which might be the one place where BitAngels doesn't have a presence right now." The BitAngels came together at the Bitcoin 2013 Conference in San Jose last May. With what was once just a member count of 50 in just Austin, San Francisco, and New York, the BitAngels now count over 300 angels spread out over 23 countries among its support ranks. BitAngels has city leaders spread out across the globe, including Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, and many others. Prominent angels leading the network include Gyft CEO Vinny Lingham, Memory Dealers CEO and "Bitcoin Jesus" Roger Ver, Robocoin Asia Chairman Brock Pierce, and Tradehill CEO Jered Kenna. "We're continuing to aggressively pursue both new angels and new investment opportunities wherever they might be," said co-founder Michael Terpin. "Bitcoin continues to be a space that is growing constantly, with new ways in which it is touching our day-to-day lives, and BitAngels is going to be an integral part of that continuing development." For Bitcoin-related funding and investing opportunities with BitAngels, please visit http://www.bitangels.co . About BitAngels Co-founded by David A. Johnston, Michael Terpin and Sam Onat Yilmaz, BitAngels is the world's first distributed veteran entrepreneur and angel investor group. Focused on funding the most compelling companies in the digital currency ecosystem and matching them with the most experienced experts in the Bitcoin economy, BitAngels is made up of over 300 different angels, controls over 50,000 BTC and maintains a presence across the globe in 23 different countries. Interested startups and investors may learn more by visiting http://www.bitangels.co .

2014-01-23 06:33:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [405]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin Alternative EarthCoin (EAC) Soars With Its Unique Vision And Branding

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-alternative-earthcoin-eac-soars-063300166.html

ACCESSWIRE

https://www.accesswire.com/

Earthcoin is a revolutionary unique digital currency which is rapidly increasing in popularity and has recently begun trading on Cryptsy.com; with founders who believe in the potential of cryptocurrencies to change the world. January 23rd, 2014 - EarthCoin began as a collaboration between a young media / advertising executive, a detailed, experienced cryptocurrency developer, and a fund manager turned Bitcoin millionaire - and has now turned into a grass roots revolution. Norb says, "Frankly it took over my life for a bit there as I have an ‘all or nothing’ approach to most things, and this rabbit hole just never ends." The dev team has struck a chord with the crypto-community in their design and brand appeal - The People’s Currency. The EarthCoin Foundation has also provided real money assistance to many causes, with the coin only being three weeks old. Wesley lauds the community and says: "without the collective group effort there is no way this idea would have come to life. One small group of people could never achieve sustainability and adoption of a global trade vehicle. The technology itself is self-fulfilling, there is no way to drive value unless indirect force is applied through collective effort. It is simply amazing and we are humbled to have had this profound of an impact in such a short period of time. To tell you the truth we have not even started with our two year plan of adoption." EarthCoin’s appeal clearly comes from its marketing savvy, visual eye candy and broad identity. The underlying technology is as sound as any digital currency, but has been altered to address some of the earlier short-comings of cryptocurrencies. "There are features that we have integrated that try to mimic seasonality and human characteristics of behavior and productivity through out the year. It is no secret that we are creatures of habit and so we wanted to link the currency as closely as possible to those inherent instincts. To be variable but also cyclical.", says Wesley. Story continues John integrated sixty second block intervals with 5 confirmations to cut down transaction times drastically, as well as instituted a 13.5 billion coin supply which after the first year should create one coin per person on the planet. Transaction messages are allowed in the client but the mathematics behind the rate of creation of the money supply provides the twist. Cryptocurrencies are self-sustaining through their free market mechanism, as long as the incentive exists to allow the miners to reap the rewards to be able to cover their overhead and costs. With EarthCoin this is solved on two fronts – one of which is the cyclical nature of the seasons – representing changes in productivity along a sine curve – and the other is through 2x and 5x payouts for the miners. It sounds like a lot to handle but the dev team is confident that the psychology behind the metrics has its merits. This is evidenced by the creative content that has been provided by the community. Already, Facebook, Reddit, and IRC communications lines have been established as well as a very busy EarthCointalk.org forum and its earthcoin.eu news feed counterpart, which are both maintained and managed spectacularly. To really add some excitement to the community, the dev team has been in due diligence talks with BTC38 regarding EarthCoin’s future in the Chinese market. Their mission statement is profound: the current system is corrupt, it is broken, everyone instinctively knows this: "The technology educates people, from all walks, about the importance of the big picture. Not just the coin itself, the technology, the bulletproof public ledger system, the accounting that cannot be fudged, the fact that this tech can be applied to anything from land ownership deeds to wills to storing small units of value that you can transfer anywhere, to anyone, anytime," says Norb The team is settling in with a two year road map, but admits that many large milestones have already been reached. Being listed on coinedup.com, coinex.pw and just recently cryptsy.com is a testament to the coins viability. Daily trading volume has surpassed many established coins very quickly, again probably due to its broad based appeal, and definitely as a result of the dev team’s approach to not only their coin, but to the crypto revolution itself. To read a long detailed interview with the Earthcoin team please go to: http://bitcoinprbuzz.com/an-exclusive-interview-with-the-earthcoin-team/ To trade EarthCoin: http://cryptsy.com This press release is for informational purposes only. Visit http://getearthcoin.com for more information. Contact Info Name: EarthCoin Organization: EarthCoin Email: [email protected] Source:http://bitcoinprbuzz.com/bitcoin-alternative-earthcoin-soars-with-its-unique-vision-and-branding/

2014-01-23 06:33:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [405]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin Alternative EarthCoin (EAC) Soars With Its Unique Vision And Branding

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-alternative-earthcoin-eac-soars-063300166.html

ACCESSWIRE

https://www.accesswire.com/

Earthcoin is a revolutionary unique digital currency which is rapidly increasing in popularity and has recently begun trading on Cryptsy.com; with founders who believe in the potential of cryptocurrencies to change the world. January 23rd, 2014 - EarthCoin began as a collaboration between a young media / advertising executive, a detailed, experienced cryptocurrency developer, and a fund manager turned Bitcoin millionaire - and has now turned into a grass roots revolution. Norb says, "Frankly it took over my life for a bit there as I have an ‘all or nothing’ approach to most things, and this rabbit hole just never ends." The dev team has struck a chord with the crypto-community in their design and brand appeal - The People’s Currency. The EarthCoin Foundation has also provided real money assistance to many causes, with the coin only being three weeks old. Wesley lauds the community and says: "without the collective group effort there is no way this idea would have come to life. One small group of people could never achieve sustainability and adoption of a global trade vehicle. The technology itself is self-fulfilling, there is no way to drive value unless indirect force is applied through collective effort. It is simply amazing and we are humbled to have had this profound of an impact in such a short period of time. To tell you the truth we have not even started with our two year plan of adoption." EarthCoin’s appeal clearly comes from its marketing savvy, visual eye candy and broad identity. The underlying technology is as sound as any digital currency, but has been altered to address some of the earlier short-comings of cryptocurrencies. "There are features that we have integrated that try to mimic seasonality and human characteristics of behavior and productivity through out the year. It is no secret that we are creatures of habit and so we wanted to link the currency as closely as possible to those inherent instincts. To be variable but also cyclical.", says Wesley. Story continues John integrated sixty second block intervals with 5 confirmations to cut down transaction times drastically, as well as instituted a 13.5 billion coin supply which after the first year should create one coin per person on the planet. Transaction messages are allowed in the client but the mathematics behind the rate of creation of the money supply provides the twist. Cryptocurrencies are self-sustaining through their free market mechanism, as long as the incentive exists to allow the miners to reap the rewards to be able to cover their overhead and costs. With EarthCoin this is solved on two fronts – one of which is the cyclical nature of the seasons – representing changes in productivity along a sine curve – and the other is through 2x and 5x payouts for the miners. It sounds like a lot to handle but the dev team is confident that the psychology behind the metrics has its merits. This is evidenced by the creative content that has been provided by the community. Already, Facebook, Reddit, and IRC communications lines have been established as well as a very busy EarthCointalk.org forum and its earthcoin.eu news feed counterpart, which are both maintained and managed spectacularly. To really add some excitement to the community, the dev team has been in due diligence talks with BTC38 regarding EarthCoin’s future in the Chinese market. Their mission statement is profound: the current system is corrupt, it is broken, everyone instinctively knows this: "The technology educates people, from all walks, about the importance of the big picture. Not just the coin itself, the technology, the bulletproof public ledger system, the accounting that cannot be fudged, the fact that this tech can be applied to anything from land ownership deeds to wills to storing small units of value that you can transfer anywhere, to anyone, anytime," says Norb The team is settling in with a two year road map, but admits that many large milestones have already been reached. Being listed on coinedup.com, coinex.pw and just recently cryptsy.com is a testament to the coins viability. Daily trading volume has surpassed many established coins very quickly, again probably due to its broad based appeal, and definitely as a result of the dev team’s approach to not only their coin, but to the crypto revolution itself. To read a long detailed interview with the Earthcoin team please go to: http://bitcoinprbuzz.com/an-exclusive-interview-with-the-earthcoin-team/ To trade EarthCoin: http://cryptsy.com This press release is for informational purposes only. Visit http://getearthcoin.com for more information. Contact Info Name: EarthCoin Organization: EarthCoin Email: [email protected] Source:http://bitcoinprbuzz.com/bitcoin-alternative-earthcoin-soars-with-its-unique-vision-and-branding/

2014-01-23 13:25:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [99, 983, 1317, 1362]}

{"Bitcoin": [34]}

Jamie Dimon Goes On The Attack On Bitcoin

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jamie-dimon-goes-attack-bitcoin-132528619.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

jamie dimon bitcoin CNBC "It's a terrible store of value." The fact that we're still talking about Bitcoin seems to suggest that it has some staying power. However, Jamie Dimon believes its standing as a currency will eventually end. Dimon, who is the CEO of JP Morgan, spoke with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin about the so-called digital cryptocurrency. And he went on the attack. "It's a terrible store of value," said Dimon. "It could be replicated over and over." That speaks to the logistical issues. But what's worse is arguably the regulatory hurdles. "It doesn't have the standing of a government," added Dimon. "And honestly, a lot of it — what I've read from you guys — a lot of it is being used for illicit purposes. And people who will get upset with it is governments. Governments put a huge amount of pressure on banks: know who your client is, did you do real reviews of that. Obviously it's almost impossible to do with something like that." However, Dimon doesn't think Bitcoin will go away altogether. "They will eventually be made as a payment system to follow the same standards as the other payment systems and that will be probably be the end of them," he said. This is coming from someone who is arguably one of the most powerful bankers in the world. More From Business Insider An Introduction To Bitcoin A Group Of Miners Has Exposed One Of Bitcoin's Fatal Flaws Warren Buffett Will Give You $1 Billion If You Fill Out A Perfect 'March Madness' Bracket

2014-01-24 08:18:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [198, 467, 531]}

{"Bitcoin": [16]}

ROBERT SHILLER: Bitcoin Is An Amazing Example Of A Bubble

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/robert-shiller-bitcoin-amazing-example-081855557.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Robert Shiller Joe Weisenthal, Business Insider Nobel Laureate economist Robert Shiller is on a panel at Davos about digital trends in financial markets. Almost immediately he started talking about Bitcoin. He says that he finds it to be an "inspiration" because of the computer science. But he's not into it as an economic advance. As a currency he says it's a return to the dark ages. Shiller is a student and expert in the nature of bubbles, and he's adamant that Bitcoin is one. He says he's blown away by how much fascination Bitcoin has engendered, though it makes sense because human nature causes us to be interested in markets that exhibit extreme volatility. Says Shiller: "It is a bubble, there is no question about it. ... It's just an amazing example of a bubble." He added that he's "amazed by how people are so excited about it" and that he tells his students that "No, it's not such a great idea." More From Business Insider Shinzo Abe Just Ended A Speech With A Not-So-Veiled Message To China This Incredible Chart Explains Almost All Of Recent Economic History ANALYST: Here's The Chart That Should Worry The World's Elites In Davos

2014-01-24 10:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [27, 293, 324, 508, 645, 746, 839, 921, 1109, 1412, 1703, 1860, 2243, 2455, 2584, 2778, 3012, 3097, 3244, 3430, 3548, 3819, 4096, 4311, 4443, 5075, 5125]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin: The Future of Money or Flash in the Pan?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-future-money-flash-pan-103000626.html

The Fiscal Times

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/

There has been a lot about Bitcoins in the media lately. They are a type of electronic currency that is “ mined ” by computers and theoretically capped at a maximum of 21 million coins. Almost daily, some organization or business gets a bit of press by announcing that it is willing to accept Bitcoin payments. The price of Bitcoins varies and at times has fluctuated hundreds of dollars per coin in a single day. But lately the price has been relatively stable around $950. NYU economist David Yermack says Bitcoins have none of the qualities of bona fide currencies. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago says that without illegal transactions, Bitcoins really have no purpose . However, Internet pioneer Marc Andreessen thinks the real value of Bitcoins is the underlying technology , which has wider application. Related: Why Regulating Bitcoin Is Like Herding Cats Libertarians in particular have been very excited by Bitcoins because they hate the Federal Reserve and love the idea of a free market money. It doesn’t seem to bother them that everything they say they hate about dollars is even truer with Bitcoins. The main libertarian critique of the dollar is that it is a “fiat currency” that is not backed by anything real. Libertarians have long favored a gold standard with gold coins circulating as they did before 1933, and full convertibility of paper money for gold on demand at a fixed price. But Bitcoins are literally backed by nothing. They are just computer code and don’t even have the physical presence of a paper dollar. At least there is gold in Fort Knox backing the dollar to some extent and it is legal tender for the payment of taxes and debts. No one can be forced to accept Bitcoins in payment for anything. Some libertarians have made this point, including the economist Gary North . But most libertarians are still fascinated by Bitcoins. They are especially attracted by making anonymous payments for things that cannot be tracked by government through the traditional banking system. Story continues Related: Porn, Drugs Hitmen, Hackers—Welcome to the Deep Web This is indeed a potentially big draw for certain types of people, in particular criminals, terrorists and tax evaders. This means, inevitably, that Bitcoins are of great interest to government authorities and traditional banks subject to government regulations and scrutiny. Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon were asked about Bitcoins at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Lew said , “From the government’s perspective, we have to make sure [Bitcoin] does not become an avenue to funding illegal activities that have malign purposes like terrorist activities.” Dimon said it was unlikely that his company would have anything to do with Bitcoins, suggesting that enforcement of laws against money laundering and terrorist financing would likely put an end to the phenomenon. (On Dec. 20, the Congressional Research Service issued a report on the legal obstacles to using Bitcoins as money.) I think that’s right. The Treasury and Federal Reserve could put Bitcoin out of business in a minute if they choose to do so. I think they are looking the other way for now because they don’t really believe that Bitcoins are a currency or anything remotely like one. They are simply an asset, a commodity that some people are willing to pay real money for. Related: Feds Are Targeting Unregistered Bitcoin Exchanges If this is the case, then there is no reason why users shouldn’t pay taxes on gains in the value of Bitcoins just as they do when they invest in gold or Treasury securities or any other asset that has some characteristics of money. This is the position that Singapore has taken and it appears that the United Kingdom will as well . Sweden and Finland have also said that Bitcoin is not a currency, merely a commodity that should be taxed as such. The Internal Revenue Service has yet to take a position on the matter. In her recently-released annual report for 2013 , Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said that existing IRS guidance on the taxation of Bitcoins is inadequate and urged the agency issue rules that specifically apply to it and other electronic or cyber currencies, which are proliferating . Of course, if taxes have to be paid on gains in the value of Bitcoins, this will severely limit their use as a currency. It also points out the fact that any currency whose value fluctuates as Bitcoins do is very poor at providing the function of a medium of exchange. Stability is an essential quality of money. While it is true that the value of the dollar fluctuates, it does so gradually and relatively predictably. Even when inflation in the U.S. was over 10 percent in the late 1970s, there was no movement to replace the dollar with some other type of currency. That really only happens when hyperinflation occurs, which is defined as a rate of inflation exceeding 50 percent per month. I repeat, 50 percent per month. Remember that the next time someone casually throws around the word “hyperinflation.” Related: The Bitcoin Gamble—Is Now the Time to Invest? I think Bitcoins are a momentary fad that will fade away. But they raise important questions that aren’t going away. One is how businesses will respond to changes in the way people want to pay for things such as with smart phones. Many ways of making payments more convenient for consumers are hampered by outdated laws and regulations, designed for an era when people paid with cash or checks that have barely caught up with the use of credit and debit cards. Obviously, it is in the interest of both buyers and sellers to make paying for things as easy as possible, but those institutions that benefit from the status quo, such as banks and credit card companies, will resist. The other question of continuing importance is the idea of true electronic currencies; that is, replacing all coins and paper currencies with electronic money. The University of Michigan economist Miles Kimball is the principal exponent of this idea. He points out that it would have vast benefits for the Federal Reserve in the conduct of monetary policy. Instead of buying and selling Treasury securities and waiting for the effects to trickle down through the economy, the Fed could instantaneously and everywhere increase liquidity to fight an economic downturn or squeeze liquidity to fight inflation. Space prohibits a full discussion of the theoretical issues raised by a pure electronic currency system and it certainly won’t happen any time soon. Many people will strenuously resist giving up the convenience and anonymity of cash transactions. However, they shouldn’t underestimate government’s ability to end the use of currency if it wishes to. Just this week, India announced that it was calling in all pre-2005 currency in an effort to fight the underground economy. In 1933, the U.S. called in all gold coins and later retired all bills larger than a $100. Top Reads from Bruce Bartlett: Slashing the IRS Budget: Penny Wise, Pound Foolish Enterprise Zones: A Bipartisan Failure Why Legalizing Marijuana is a Smart Fiscal Move

2014-01-24 10:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [27, 293, 324, 508, 645, 746, 839, 921, 1109, 1412, 1703, 1860, 2227, 2439, 2568, 2778, 3012, 3097, 3244, 3430, 3548, 3819, 4096, 4311, 4443, 5075, 5125]}

{"Bitcoin": [0]}

Bitcoin: The Future of Money or Flash in the Pan?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-future-money-flash-pan-103000626.html

The Fiscal Times

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/

There has been a lot about Bitcoins in the media lately. They are a type of electronic currency that is “ mined ” by computers and theoretically capped at a maximum of 21 million coins. Almost daily, some organization or business gets a bit of press by announcing that it is willing to accept Bitcoin payments. The price of Bitcoins varies and at times has fluctuated hundreds of dollars per coin in a single day. But lately the price has been relatively stable around $950. NYU economist David Yermack says Bitcoins have none of the qualities of bona fide currencies. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago says that without illegal transactions, Bitcoins really have no purpose . However, Internet pioneer Marc Andreessen thinks the real value of Bitcoins is the underlying technology , which has wider application. Related: Why Regulating Bitcoin Is Like Herding Cats Libertarians in particular have been very excited by Bitcoins because they hate the Federal Reserve and love the idea of a free market money. It doesn’t seem to bother them that everything they say they hate about dollars is even truer with Bitcoins. The main libertarian critique of the dollar is that it is a “fiat currency” that is not backed by anything real. Libertarians have long favored a gold standard with gold coins circulating as they did before 1933, and full convertibility of paper money for gold on demand at a fixed price. But Bitcoins are literally backed by nothing. They are just computer code and don’t even have the physical presence of a paper dollar. At least there is gold in Fort Knox backing the dollar to some extent and it is legal tender for the payment of taxes and debts. No one can be forced to accept Bitcoins in payment for anything. Some libertarians have made this point, including the economist Gary North . But most libertarians are still fascinated by Bitcoins. They are especially attracted by making anonymous payments for things that cannot be tracked by government through the traditional banking system. Related: Porn, Drugs Hitmen, Hackers—Welcome to the Deep Web This is indeed a potentially big draw for certain types of people, in particular criminals, terrorists and tax evaders. This means, inevitably, that Bitcoins are of great interest to government authorities and traditional banks subject to government regulations and scrutiny. Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon were asked about Bitcoins at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Lew said , “From the government’s perspective, we have to make sure [Bitcoin] does not become an avenue to funding illegal activities that have malign purposes like terrorist activities.” Story continues Dimon said it was unlikely that his company would have anything to do with Bitcoins, suggesting that enforcement of laws against money laundering and terrorist financing would likely put an end to the phenomenon. (On Dec. 20, the Congressional Research Service issued a report on the legal obstacles to using Bitcoins as money.) I think that’s right. The Treasury and Federal Reserve could put Bitcoin out of business in a minute if they choose to do so. I think they are looking the other way for now because they don’t really believe that Bitcoins are a currency or anything remotely like one. They are simply an asset, a commodity that some people are willing to pay real money for. Related: Feds Are Targeting Unregistered Bitcoin Exchanges If this is the case, then there is no reason why users shouldn’t pay taxes on gains in the value of Bitcoins just as they do when they invest in gold or Treasury securities or any other asset that has some characteristics of money. This is the position that Singapore has taken and it appears that the United Kingdom will as well . Sweden and Finland have also said that Bitcoin is not a currency, merely a commodity that should be taxed as such. The Internal Revenue Service has yet to take a position on the matter. In her recently-released annual report for 2013 , Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said that existing IRS guidance on the taxation of Bitcoins is inadequate and urged the agency issue rules that specifically apply to it and other electronic or cyber currencies, which are proliferating . Of course, if taxes have to be paid on gains in the value of Bitcoins, this will severely limit their use as a currency. It also points out the fact that any currency whose value fluctuates as Bitcoins do is very poor at providing the function of a medium of exchange. Stability is an essential quality of money. While it is true that the value of the dollar fluctuates, it does so gradually and relatively predictably. Even when inflation in the U.S. was over 10 percent in the late 1970s, there was no movement to replace the dollar with some other type of currency. That really only happens when hyperinflation occurs, which is defined as a rate of inflation exceeding 50 percent per month. I repeat, 50 percent per month. Remember that the next time someone casually throws around the word “hyperinflation.” Related: The Bitcoin Gamble—Is Now the Time to Invest? I think Bitcoins are a momentary fad that will fade away. But they raise important questions that aren’t going away. One is how businesses will respond to changes in the way people want to pay for things such as with smart phones. Many ways of making payments more convenient for consumers are hampered by outdated laws and regulations, designed for an era when people paid with cash or checks that have barely caught up with the use of credit and debit cards. Obviously, it is in the interest of both buyers and sellers to make paying for things as easy as possible, but those institutions that benefit from the status quo, such as banks and credit card companies, will resist. The other question of continuing importance is the idea of true electronic currencies; that is, replacing all coins and paper currencies with electronic money. The University of Michigan economist Miles Kimball is the principal exponent of this idea. He points out that it would have vast benefits for the Federal Reserve in the conduct of monetary policy. Instead of buying and selling Treasury securities and waiting for the effects to trickle down through the economy, the Fed could instantaneously and everywhere increase liquidity to fight an economic downturn or squeeze liquidity to fight inflation. Space prohibits a full discussion of the theoretical issues raised by a pure electronic currency system and it certainly won’t happen any time soon. Many people will strenuously resist giving up the convenience and anonymity of cash transactions. However, they shouldn’t underestimate government’s ability to end the use of currency if it wishes to. Just this week, India announced that it was calling in all pre-2005 currency in an effort to fight the underground economy. In 1933, the U.S. called in all gold coins and later retired all bills larger than a $100. Top Reads from Bruce Bartlett: Slashing the IRS Budget: Penny Wise, Pound Foolish Enterprise Zones: A Bipartisan Failure Why Legalizing Marijuana is a Smart Fiscal Move View comments

2014-01-24 11:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [121, 217, 301, 382, 634, 815, 1211, 1264, 1595, 1770, 2073, 2106, 2310]}

{"Bitcoin": [36]}

KryptoKit Unveils First 'Two-Click' Bitcoin Shopping Directory, Complete With BitPay Integration

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kryptokit-unveils-first-two-click-110000716.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jan 24, 2014) - KryptoKit ( http://www.kryptokit.com/ ), the easiest and fastest way to handle Bitcoin transactions, today unveiled its new KryptoDirectory, a one-stop shopping directory for Bitcoin users that incorporates BitPay ( https://bitpay.com/ ), the world's largest Bitcoin payment processor. The announcement was made at the first North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami, Jan. 24 through 26. KryptoKit's directory assembles the Internet's online retailers and vendors that accept bitcoins -- such as TigerDirect and Gyft, among hundreds of others -- into one, easy-to-use tab inside KryptoKit's Bitcoin wallet for Google Chrome. Partnering with BitPay ensures that the directory works with every country in the world with payouts in native currencies and no charge-backs. "As Bitcoin becomes more universally known and accepted as currency, we saw a clear need to have a single, clean and easy to use resource for finding businesses that welcome cryptocurrency," said Anthony Di Iorio, the company's co-founder along with Steve Dakh. "KryptoKit will roll out more BitPay merchant sites in the upcoming weeks." Shoppers simply surf over to any online merchant that accepts Bitcoins. The extension automatically sniffs out the Bitcoin addresses for each item from the site and inserts them into the wallet, making them into a list of payment options. All the user needs to do is simply click on what he or she wants to purchase and hit send, eliminating the usual annoyance and inconvenience that comes from having to copy and paste information as part of a Bitcoin purchase. The wallet currently has a five-star rating in the Chrome Web Store and can be downloaded for free. KryptoKit has future plans to integrate with other major Bitcoin and digital currency processors in the coming months. For more information, please visit http://www.kryptokit.com/ . About KryptoKit KryptoKit is a Toronto-based company specializing in encryption and digital currencies. The company's founder, Anthony Di Lorio, is also the founder of Toronto's Bitcoin Meetup community and the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada ( http://www.bitcoinalliance.ca/ ), a non-profit dedicated to raising the awareness of bitcoins among Canadian consumers, merchants and policy makers to promote the adoption of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies.

2014-01-24 18:30:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [7, 142, 340, 1179, 1260, 1293, 1393, 1513, 1591, 1989, 2304, 2688, 2774, 3088, 3249, 3536, 4668, 4785]}

{"Bitcoin": [35]}

These Angel Investors Want to Make Bitcoin 'Sexy' for Average People

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/angel-investors-want-bitcoin-sexy-183000497.html

Entrepreneur

http://www.entrepreneur.com/

At the Bitcoin 2013 conference in San Jose, Calif., last May, Michael Terpin noticed something missing. At the conference, digital wallet and Bitcoin exchange service Coinbase had announced a $6.1 million Series A round led by Union Square Ventures. But while venture capital firms such as Union Square had begun to make big investments in Bitcoin startups, no group of angel investors -- who are usually the first to give promising early-stage companies a financial boost -- had risen up to support this growing community. "I've never seen a space where there are top-tier VCs putting money in, but no angels," Terpin said to David Johnston, the founder of a startup called Engine, whose Google Chrome extension tackles information overload problems. Along with a young startup founder and polymath named Sam Yilmaz, Terpin and Johnston founded BitAngels to fill the void. By the end of the conference, there were 50 angels onboard, spread across Austin, San Francisco, and New York. Almost immediately, BitAngels began having an impact in the world of digital currency businesses. Earlier this week, the group announced that its members collectively had invested $7 million in Bitcoin startups in 2013. These funds were spread across 12 companies, including Bitcoin payment platform GoCoin, Bitcoin instant exchange Cash Into Coins -- now renamed Express Coins -- and CoinTerra, which makes Bitcoin mining rigs. The BitAngels group sees itself as not only making smart investments but also helping to shape the Bitcoin ecosystem in a positive direction. Terpin often compares the state of Bitcoin in 2014 to the state of the internet in the early 1990s. He wants to have a hand in building the iconic companies of what he sees as a revolutionary technology. So far, BitAngels has just been laying the groundwork. "You couldn't have had a Google in the internet until you had a Netscape," Terpin says. "And you couldn't have had a Netscape without a Cisco." Story continues Related: This Bitcoin Wallet Service Just Added 3 Major Players To Its Roster By far the group's largest investment so far is the $5 million it put into Mastercoin last year, an open-source platform that is at the cutting edge of digital currency projects. The Mastercoin community is working on apps and protocols that will use Bitcoin as a jumping-off point, everything from digitized property rights to custom currencies issued by individuals. Fifty of the angels participated in that investment, with Johnston being one of the largest investors. He now sits on Mastercoin's board of directors. First and foremost, says Terpin, "We're looking for investments that can sort of act as insurance for the price of Bitcoin, because if you don't have companies growing the infrastructure, the price of Bitcoin is never going to get from $1,000 to $10,000 to $100,000." "As well, we're looking for things that are going to make it sexy for average consumers and easy for merchants to use," he adds. "The single biggest thing that sustains long-term value is adoption. If there are 10 times the number of people using Bitcoin, or 10 times the trading volume, or some combination thereof, the price has historically gone up in correlation to that." BitAngels has grown along with Bitcoin's value and the amount of entrepreneurial interest in cryptocurrencies. As of Jan. 23, BitAngels had 330 members across 23 countries. In total, its members have $50 million worth of bitcoins earmarked for future investments, making BitAngels one of the biggest financiers in the Bitcoin space. A core group of six members sifts through applications and presents a few of the best to the full roster. This core group is comprised of Terpin and his two co-founders, along with Gyft chief executive Vinny Lingham, Jered Kenna of online exchange Tradehill and a man named Farzad Hashemi. A third of applications are "completely ridiculous crap," Terpin says, while another third are not quite fully baked. The remaining third are interesting enough for the BitAngels members to discuss. One area of interest is online exchanges. BitAngels would like to help sophisticated regionalized exchanges crop up in the U.S. and abroad, platforms that could handle global currencies and that would be fluent in the regulations pertaining to their own part of the globe. As of now, the process of exchanging dollars or euros or rubles for bitcoins is still difficult for many people. "We take more risks than the VCs do," Terpin says. "We put money into companies that are still in the concept stage, that have no revenue, that are maybe two guys in a garage. As an angel group should." Related: How Milton Friedman Predicted Bitcoin in 1999 More From Entrepreneur What Industries Venture Capitalists Are Hot For How Milton Friedman Predicted Bitcoin In 1999 Report: Andreessen Horowitz to Raise Another $1.5 Billion

2014-01-27 17:15:45+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1001]}

{}

Midday movers: Vodafone, Sony, Xerox & More

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/midday-movers-vodafone-sony-xerox-171545746.html

CNBC

http://www.cnbc.com/

Take a look at some of Monday's midday movers: Vodafone Group (London Stock Exchange: VOD-GB) moved lower on news AT&T (NYSE: T ) had ruled out a bid for the British cellphone company for the time being. United Technologies ( UTX ) gained ground after Defense News, an industry publication, cited sources in reporting the company is considering options including a sale or spin-off for its Sikorsky helicopter unit. Royal Caribbean Cruises ( RCL ) moved higher after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue. It also guided fiscal 2014 earnings above consensus views. Career Education ( CECO ) slid after the for-profit education company said it received inquiries from attorneys general in 12 states regarding its enrollment practices and student loans. Rayonier ( RYN ) moved higher after the maker of specialty wood pulp used in cigarette filters said it would split in two, separating its performance fibers business from its forest resources and real estate businesses. Bitcoin (:MTGOXUSD) rose despite having two exchange operators charged in a money laundering scheme for allegedly attempting to sell $1 million in the digital currency to users of the underground black market website Silk Road. Tata Motors fell after the Indian automaker's director of domestic operations sudden death over the weekend. Police were investigating the case as an apparent suicide. Ann ( ANN ) lost ground after Janney Capital downgraded the operator of Ann Taylor and Loft to neutral, citing negative holiday traffic and weak consumer demand. Xerox ( XRX ) moved lower, on track for a sixth straight losing session, after BMO Capital and Barclays downgraded the stock. Twitter ( TWTR ) , Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) , Netflix ( NFLX ) , Facebook ( FB ) , 3D Systems ( DDD ) and Veeva Systems ( VEEV ) all moved lower after Marc Faber recommended shorting the stocks. Pfiizer ( PFE ) moved a bit lower after its experimental lung cancer drug failed two late-stage trials. Southwest Airlines ( LUV ) came off its lows after announcing plans to start flights to Aruba, Bahamas and Jamaica in July, its first international service. Story continues YRC Worldwide ( YRCW ) moved higher after the Teamsters approved its revised labor contract. Sony (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6758.T-JP) fell after Moody's cut its debt rating to junk status. Mallinckrodt ( MNK ) lost ground after UBS downgraded the stock to sell from neutral. RetailMeNot ( SALE ) rose after Goldman upgraded the stock to buy from neutral with a price target of $40 a share (from $32), citing improving mobile initiatives and direct traffic. Foot Locker ( FL ) gained ground after JPMorgan began coverage with an overweight rating and a $47 a share price target. Xoom ( XOOM ) climbed after Raymond James upgraded the consumer-to-consumer online money transfer company to Strong Buy from Market Perform with a price target of $33 a share. ( Read More : See CNBC's Market Insider Blog ) -By CNBC's Rich Fisherman. Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]

2014-01-27 17:38:31+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1666, 2852, 3001]}

{}

Two bitcoin exchange operators charged in money laundering scheme

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/two-bitcoin-exchange-operators-charged-money-laundering-scheme-162637756--finance.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two men who operate bitcoin exchange businesses have been charged with money laundering for helping drug merchants exchange $1 million (603.2 thousand pounds) in cash for bitcoins, the digital currency, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday. Federal prosecutors in New York announced charges against Charlie Shrem and Robert Faiella, both operators of bitcoin exchange businesses, for attempting to sell $1 million in the digital currency to users of the underground black market website Silk Road, which was shut down by authorities in September. According to the charging document, Shrem, 24, chief executive officer of the exchange BitInstant.com, changed cash into bitcoins for Faiella, 52, who ran an underground bitcoin exchange through the username BTCKing on Silk Road's website. The criminal complaint says that Shrem, in addition to knowing that Faiella's business was funneling money into Silk Road, also used Silk Road himself to buy drugs. The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said in a statement that authorities arrested Shrem on Sunday at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Faiella was arrested on Monday at his home in Cape Coral, Florida. The tech investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss invested $1.5 million in BitInstant last year. A spokeswoman for their firm, Winklevoss Capital, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case against Shrem is likely to deal a blow to the burgeoning community of bitcoin businesses because Shrem is a high-profile advocate for the technology. In addition to running BitInstant, he is vice president of the main bitcoin-focused trade group, the Bitcoin Foundation, according to the foundation's website and Shrem's LinkedIn profile. A spokeswoman for the foundation declined to immediately comment on Shrem's arrest. Shrem and Faiella were charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. A spokeswoman for Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said there was no information about legal representation available for either of the two men, who are expected to appear in court in New York and Florida. respectively. Shrem has a home address in the Brooklyn borough of New York. According to the charges, Faiella, going by "BTCKing" online, sold bitcoins to Silk Road users and passed on purchase orders he received from the site to Shrem, who filled them, transferring funds to Faiella's account at another bitcoin exchange service based in Japan. The Japan-based exchange business is not named. One of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the world, MtGox, is based in Japan. The charging document says that Shrem, who also ran BitInstant's compliance program for a little under two years, failed to report suspicious activity to regulators "with respect to numerous Bitcoin purchases" Faiella made from BitInstant. Shrem's lawyer, Keith Miller at Perkins Coie in New York, was not immediately available for comment Bitcoin is a digital currency whose value fluctuates according to demand by users. It is currently trading on MtGox at a level of $985 per unit. Users can transfer bitcoins to each other over the internet and store the currency in digital "wallets." (Reporting by Emily Flitter; Editing by Leslie Adler)

2014-01-27 17:50:00+00:00

{}

{"Bitcoin": [29]}

Is Silver Mining Better than Bitcoin Mining? An Interview with Geoff Burns, President and CEO of Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/silver-mining-better-bitcoin-mining-175000498.html

Wall Street Transcript

http://www.twst.com/

67 WALL STREET, New York - January 27, 2014 - The Wall Street Transcript has recently published its Gold and Precious Metals Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online . Topics covered: Precious Metals - Lower Gold Price Environment - Precious Metals Exploration and Production - Increasing Capital Expenditures - Emerging Markets Silver Consumption - Mining Safety and Environmental Concerns - Gold Production Cost Structures - Gold Price Stabilization Companies include: Precious Metal Mining Companies In the following excerpt from the Gold and Precious Metals Report , the CEO of Pan American Silver discusses the outlook for his company for investors: TWST: Can you share some highlights from your own career and that of any of your core management team, and update us on changes to your key management? Mr. Burns: I guess I'd start with the last part of your question. We have been very fortunate at Pan American. I joined the company about 11 years ago when we were on the cusp of a very major growth leg in our history. I teamed up with Ross, and he gave me the freedom to bring together a team of mining professionals. At that time prices of silver and gold were very low, as were many of the commodity prices, and I was fortunate enough to able to convince some of the best people that I have worked with in my 25-plus years in the industry to join Ross and me here at Pan American. We formed an incredibly strong team with a straightforward mission. The mission was to take this very small but growing silver company and make it into a real mining company. And as I started to say, we have been very fortunate - this senior management team has remained together; the same team that was responsible for the growth in Pan American has remained basically intact over the last 11 years. There have been almost no departures of any of our senior operating, geological or financial personnel. So that part has been, for me, a wonderful experience, because the team not only works together well, but we socialize together well, and that has created a strength that I don't think I have ever witnessed in my 30-plus years in this business. Story continues Myself, I started in gold mining in 1983 and spent the first almost 15 years of my career working for gold mining companies; all of them operating companies, predominantly with activity in Canada and the United States. I moved for a brief period of time to Coeur d'Alene Mines, where I was the Senior Financial Executive at Coeur, and it was my first taste of the silver business. I left Coeur in early 2003 and joined up with Ross at Pan American later that same year, and have been here as President and CEO since 2004. It has been a wonderful, wonderful ride, even though there are times like these when the ride gets a little bumpy. When I joined Pan American, we had essentially two operations and a lot of dreams. We were doing about 6 million ounces of silver a year, and over the last 11 years we have brought five new mines into production, either acquiring them and expanding them or building them from the ground up. And we have taken our production from 6 million ounces to what we are intending to do this year, which is close to 25 to 26 million ounces. So over the last 11 years we have grown the company fourfold in terms of production and at the same time added a pretty healthy gold component, expecting to do somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 to 160,000 ounces of gold as well this year. Last year our revenues topped out at just about $1 billion, and I can remember when I first started with the company, looking at our annual income statement and looking at a revenue line that was under $100 million. So it's sort of four times the amount of production and 10 times the amount of revenue, and it has been a tremendous ride. TWST: That's a stellar performance, and it looks like Pan American has done very well despite the fact that the underlying spot price in silver has weakened pretty significantly. How has this drop affected your strategies and goals for the company? I know it must be a tremendous headwind for you. What do you see going forward? For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

2014-01-27 17:50:00+00:00

{}

{"Bitcoin": [112]}

Interview with Geoff Burns, President and CEO of Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS): Is Silver Mining Better than Bitcoin Mining?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/interview-geoff-burns-president-ceo-175000247.html

Wall Street Transcript

http://www.twst.com/

67 WALL STREET, New York - January 27, 2014 - The Wall Street Transcript has recently published its Gold and Precious Metals Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online . Topics covered: Precious Metals - Lower Gold Price Environment - Precious Metals Exploration and Production - Increasing Capital Expenditures - Emerging Markets Silver Consumption - Mining Safety and Environmental Concerns - Gold Production Cost Structures - Gold Price Stabilization Companies include: Precious Metal Mining Companies In the following excerpt from the Gold and Precious Metals Report , the CEO of Pan American Silver discusses the outlook for his company for investors: TWST: Can you share some highlights from your own career and that of any of your core management team, and update us on changes to your key management? Mr. Burns: I guess I'd start with the last part of your question. We have been very fortunate at Pan American. I joined the company about 11 years ago when we were on the cusp of a very major growth leg in our history. I teamed up with Ross, and he gave me the freedom to bring together a team of mining professionals. At that time prices of silver and gold were very low, as were many of the commodity prices, and I was fortunate enough to able to convince some of the best people that I have worked with in my 25-plus years in the industry to join Ross and me here at Pan American. We formed an incredibly strong team with a straightforward mission. The mission was to take this very small but growing silver company and make it into a real mining company. And as I started to say, we have been very fortunate - this senior management team has remained together; the same team that was responsible for the growth in Pan American has remained basically intact over the last 11 years. There have been almost no departures of any of our senior operating, geological or financial personnel. So that part has been, for me, a wonderful experience, because the team not only works together well, but we socialize together well, and that has created a strength that I don't think I have ever witnessed in my 30-plus years in this business. Story continues Myself, I started in gold mining in 1983 and spent the first almost 15 years of my career working for gold mining companies; all of them operating companies, predominantly with activity in Canada and the United States. I moved for a brief period of time to Coeur d'Alene Mines, where I was the Senior Financial Executive at Coeur, and it was my first taste of the silver business. I left Coeur in early 2003 and joined up with Ross at Pan American later that same year, and have been here as President and CEO since 2004. It has been a wonderful, wonderful ride, even though there are times like these when the ride gets a little bumpy. When I joined Pan American, we had essentially two operations and a lot of dreams. We were doing about 6 million ounces of silver a year, and over the last 11 years we have brought five new mines into production, either acquiring them and expanding them or building them from the ground up. And we have taken our production from 6 million ounces to what we are intending to do this year, which is close to 25 to 26 million ounces. So over the last 11 years we have grown the company fourfold in terms of production and at the same time added a pretty healthy gold component, expecting to do somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 to 160,000 ounces of gold as well this year. Last year our revenues topped out at just about $1 billion, and I can remember when I first started with the company, looking at our annual income statement and looking at a revenue line that was under $100 million. So it's sort of four times the amount of production and 10 times the amount of revenue, and it has been a tremendous ride. TWST: That's a stellar performance, and it looks like Pan American has done very well despite the fact that the underlying spot price in silver has weakened pretty significantly. How has this drop affected your strategies and goals for the company? I know it must be a tremendous headwind for you. What do you see going forward? For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

2014-01-27 17:53:00+00:00

{}

{"Bitcoin": [3]}

Is Bitcoin Mining Better than Silver Mining? An Interview with Geoff Burns, President and CEO of Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-mining-better-silver-mining-175300970.html

Wall Street Transcript

http://www.twst.com/

67 WALL STREET, New York - January 27, 2014 - The Wall Street Transcript has recently published its Gold and Precious Metals Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online . Topics covered: Precious Metals - Lower Gold Price Environment - Precious Metals Exploration and Production - Increasing Capital Expenditures - Emerging Markets Silver Consumption - Mining Safety and Environmental Concerns - Gold Production Cost Structures - Gold Price Stabilization Companies include: Precious Metal Mining Companies In the following excerpt from the Gold and Precious Metals Report , the CEO of Pan American Silver discusses the outlook for his company for investors: TWST: Can you share some highlights from your own career and that of any of your core management team, and update us on changes to your key management? Mr. Burns: I guess I'd start with the last part of your question. We have been very fortunate at Pan American. I joined the company about 11 years ago when we were on the cusp of a very major growth leg in our history. I teamed up with Ross, and he gave me the freedom to bring together a team of mining professionals. At that time prices of silver and gold were very low, as were many of the commodity prices, and I was fortunate enough to able to convince some of the best people that I have worked with in my 25-plus years in the industry to join Ross and me here at Pan American. We formed an incredibly strong team with a straightforward mission. The mission was to take this very small but growing silver company and make it into a real mining company. And as I started to say, we have been very fortunate - this senior management team has remained together; the same team that was responsible for the growth in Pan American has remained basically intact over the last 11 years. There have been almost no departures of any of our senior operating, geological or financial personnel. So that part has been, for me, a wonderful experience, because the team not only works together well, but we socialize together well, and that has created a strength that I don't think I have ever witnessed in my 30-plus years in this business. Story continues Myself, I started in gold mining in 1983 and spent the first almost 15 years of my career working for gold mining companies; all of them operating companies, predominantly with activity in Canada and the United States. I moved for a brief period of time to Coeur d'Alene Mines, where I was the Senior Financial Executive at Coeur, and it was my first taste of the silver business. I left Coeur in early 2003 and joined up with Ross at Pan American later that same year, and have been here as President and CEO since 2004. It has been a wonderful, wonderful ride, even though there are times like these when the ride gets a little bumpy. When I joined Pan American, we had essentially two operations and a lot of dreams. We were doing about 6 million ounces of silver a year, and over the last 11 years we have brought five new mines into production, either acquiring them and expanding them or building them from the ground up. And we have taken our production from 6 million ounces to what we are intending to do this year, which is close to 25 to 26 million ounces. So over the last 11 years we have grown the company fourfold in terms of production and at the same time added a pretty healthy gold component, expecting to do somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 to 160,000 ounces of gold as well this year. Last year our revenues topped out at just about $1 billion, and I can remember when I first started with the company, looking at our annual income statement and looking at a revenue line that was under $100 million. So it's sort of four times the amount of production and 10 times the amount of revenue, and it has been a tremendous ride. TWST: That's a stellar performance, and it looks like Pan American has done very well despite the fact that the underlying spot price in silver has weakened pretty significantly. How has this drop affected your strategies and goals for the company? I know it must be a tremendous headwind for you. What do you see going forward? For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

2014-01-27 17:54:00+00:00

{}

{"Bitcoin": [3]}

Is Bitcoin Mining Really Better than Silver Mining? An Interview with Geoff Burns, President and CEO of Pan American Silver Corp. (PAAS)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-mining-really-better-silver-175400952.html

Wall Street Transcript

http://www.twst.com/

67 WALL STREET, New York - January 27, 2014 - The Wall Street Transcript has recently published its Gold and Precious Metals Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online . Topics covered: Precious Metals - Lower Gold Price Environment - Precious Metals Exploration and Production - Increasing Capital Expenditures - Emerging Markets Silver Consumption - Mining Safety and Environmental Concerns - Gold Production Cost Structures - Gold Price Stabilization Companies include: Precious Metal Mining Companies In the following excerpt from the Gold and Precious Metals Report , the CEO of Pan American Silver discusses the outlook for his company for investors: TWST: Can you share some highlights from your own career and that of any of your core management team, and update us on changes to your key management? Mr. Burns: I guess I'd start with the last part of your question. We have been very fortunate at Pan American. I joined the company about 11 years ago when we were on the cusp of a very major growth leg in our history. I teamed up with Ross, and he gave me the freedom to bring together a team of mining professionals. At that time prices of silver and gold were very low, as were many of the commodity prices, and I was fortunate enough to able to convince some of the best people that I have worked with in my 25-plus years in the industry to join Ross and me here at Pan American. We formed an incredibly strong team with a straightforward mission. The mission was to take this very small but growing silver company and make it into a real mining company. And as I started to say, we have been very fortunate - this senior management team has remained together; the same team that was responsible for the growth in Pan American has remained basically intact over the last 11 years. There have been almost no departures of any of our senior operating, geological or financial personnel. So that part has been, for me, a wonderful experience, because the team not only works together well, but we socialize together well, and that has created a strength that I don't think I have ever witnessed in my 30-plus years in this business. Story continues Myself, I started in gold mining in 1983 and spent the first almost 15 years of my career working for gold mining companies; all of them operating companies, predominantly with activity in Canada and the United States. I moved for a brief period of time to Coeur d'Alene Mines, where I was the Senior Financial Executive at Coeur, and it was my first taste of the silver business. I left Coeur in early 2003 and joined up with Ross at Pan American later that same year, and have been here as President and CEO since 2004. It has been a wonderful, wonderful ride, even though there are times like these when the ride gets a little bumpy. When I joined Pan American, we had essentially two operations and a lot of dreams. We were doing about 6 million ounces of silver a year, and over the last 11 years we have brought five new mines into production, either acquiring them and expanding them or building them from the ground up. And we have taken our production from 6 million ounces to what we are intending to do this year, which is close to 25 to 26 million ounces. So over the last 11 years we have grown the company fourfold in terms of production and at the same time added a pretty healthy gold component, expecting to do somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 to 160,000 ounces of gold as well this year. Last year our revenues topped out at just about $1 billion, and I can remember when I first started with the company, looking at our annual income statement and looking at a revenue line that was under $100 million. So it's sort of four times the amount of production and 10 times the amount of revenue, and it has been a tremendous ride. TWST: That's a stellar performance, and it looks like Pan American has done very well despite the fact that the underlying spot price in silver has weakened pretty significantly. How has this drop affected your strategies and goals for the company? I know it must be a tremendous headwind for you. What do you see going forward? For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

2014-01-27 18:52:41+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [55, 85, 199, 441, 1178, 1304, 1498, 1954, 2003]}

{"Bitcoin": [2]}

2 Bitcoin operators charged in NY 'Silk Road' bust

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-bitcoin-operators-charged-ny-39-silk-road-174244980.html

Associated Press

https://apnews.com/

NEW YORK (AP) — The top executive of a Manhattan-based Bitcoin company and a Florida Bitcoin exchanger have been charged with conspiring to commit money laundering by selling more than $1 million in Bitcoins to users of the black market website Silk Road, which let users buy illegal drugs anonymously, authorities said Monday. Charlie Shrem, 24, the chief executive officer of BitInstant and vice chairman of a foundation that promotes the Bitcoin currency system, was arrested Sunday at New York's Kennedy Airport while Robert Faiella was arrested Monday at his Cape Coral, Fla., residence, prosecutors said in a news release. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Shrem personally bought drugs on Silk Road and was fully aware that it was a drug-trafficking website. Shrem's defense attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment ahead of a court appearance scheduled for Monday. It wasn't immediately clear who would represent Faiella in court. Authorities have said Silk Road's San Francisco operator generated more than $1 billion in illicit business from January 2011 through September on the website, which used the tough-to-track digital currency called Bitcoin before it was shut down. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Faiella and Shrem conspired to sell more than $1 million in Bitcoins to criminals who wanted to sell narcotics on Silk Road between December 2011 and October. "Truly innovative business models don't need to resort to old-fashioned law-breaking, and when Bitcoins, like any traditional currency, are laundered and used to fuel criminal activity, law enforcement has no choice but to act," Bharara said. James J. Hunt, acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office, said the defendants were "hiding behind their computers" as they earned substantial profits by facilitating anonymous drug sales. According to prosecutors, Faiella operated under the name "BTCKing" as he ran an underground Bitcoin exchange on the Silk Road website, where Bitcoins were the only form of payment accepted.

2014-01-27 18:52:41+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [56, 86, 200, 442, 1179, 1305, 1499, 1955, 2004]}

{"Bitcoin": [2]}

2 Bitcoin operators charged in NY 'Silk Road' bust

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-bitcoin-operators-charged-ny-174250651.html

Associated Press

https://apnews.com/

NEW YORK (AP) -- The top executive of a Manhattan-based Bitcoin company and a Florida Bitcoin exchanger have been charged with conspiring to commit money laundering by selling more than $1 million in Bitcoins to users of the black market website Silk Road, which let users buy illegal drugs anonymously, authorities said Monday. Charlie Shrem, 24, the chief executive officer of BitInstant and vice chairman of a foundation that promotes the Bitcoin currency system, was arrested Sunday at New York's Kennedy Airport while Robert Faiella was arrested Monday at his Cape Coral, Fla., residence, prosecutors said in a news release. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Shrem personally bought drugs on Silk Road and was fully aware that it was a drug-trafficking website. Shrem's defense attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment ahead of a court appearance scheduled for Monday. It wasn't immediately clear who would represent Faiella in court. Authorities have said Silk Road's San Francisco operator generated more than $1 billion in illicit business from January 2011 through September on the website, which used the tough-to-track digital currency called Bitcoin before it was shut down. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Faiella and Shrem conspired to sell more than $1 million in Bitcoins to criminals who wanted to sell narcotics on Silk Road between December 2011 and October. "Truly innovative business models don't need to resort to old-fashioned law-breaking, and when Bitcoins, like any traditional currency, are laundered and used to fuel criminal activity, law enforcement has no choice but to act," Bharara said. James J. Hunt, acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office, said the defendants were "hiding behind their computers" as they earned substantial profits by facilitating anonymous drug sales. According to prosecutors, Faiella operated under the name "BTCKing" as he ran an underground Bitcoin exchange on the Silk Road website, where Bitcoins were the only form of payment accepted. View comments

2014-01-27 22:47:28+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [59, 89, 203, 398, 627, 868, 1373, 1523, 2000, 3334, 4339, 4388]}

{"Bitcoin": [2]}

2 Bitcoin operators charged illicit drug site bust

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-bitcoin-operators-charged-illicit-drug-bust-195059081.html

Associated Press

https://apnews.com/

NEW YORK (AP) — The top executive of a New York City-based Bitcoin company and a Florida Bitcoin exchanger have been charged with conspiring to commit money laundering by selling more than $1 million in Bitcoins to users of the black market website Silk Road, authorities said Monday. Charlie Shrem, 24, the chief executive officer of BitInstant and vice chairman of a foundation that promotes the Bitcoin currency system, was arrested Sunday at New York's Kennedy Airport, and Robert Faiella was arrested Monday at his Cape Coral, Fla., residence, prosecutors said. Faiella and Shrem conspired to sell more than $1 million in Bitcoins to criminals who wanted to sell narcotics on Silk Road between December 2011 and October, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a release. "Truly innovative business models don't need to resort to old-fashioned law-breaking, and when Bitcoins, like any traditional currency, are laundered and used to fuel criminal activity, law enforcement has no choice but to act," Bharara said. Over the objection of prosecutors, U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman allowed Shrem to be released on bail, though he required him to submit to electronic monitoring and live with his parents in Brooklyn. They were required to post nearly $1 million in property as collateral. Assistant U.S. Attorney Serrin Turner said Shrem "has held himself out as a 'Bitcoin millionaire'" who was ready to flee rather than face charges that could put him in prison for nine to 11 years. Turner said the nature of the Bitcoin industry meant that Shrem had a "storage locker in the clouds" with money to facilitate flight. He added that Shrem had traveled internationally 16 times since 2007, with most of the trips in the past two years to places including the Netherlands, Turkey, Panama, Aruba and Mexico. Turner played a video interview of Shrem posted online in which the Manhattan resident boasted that if the government tried to make arrests or take down companies that promote the use of Bitcoin, "I have a plane ticket ready to take me to Singapore. There's another corporation already set up." Shrem's defense lawyer, Keith Miller, said there were other videos of his client saying that everybody involved with virtual currency should comply with the law. In setting bail conditions, Pitman said he appreciated that "sometimes people make statements on video that may or may not carry weight." As the bearded Shrem entered court in a sweatshirt with a hood on it, he waved to his family and nodded toward his girlfriend. Miller challenged a report from authorities that claimed Shrem had $6 million in assets, saying it apparently counted money that a company his client supported hoped to raise from investors. Story continues "The allegations in the complaint are simply allegations and he is presumed innocent," Miller told Pitman, though he declined to comment outside court. Federal prosecutors in New York said Shrem personally bought drugs on Silk Road and was fully aware that it was a website that let users buy illegal drugs anonymously, among other contraband. It wasn't immediately clear who would represent Faiella in court in Florida. Authorities have said Silk Road's San Francisco operator generated more than $1 billion in illicit business from January 2011 through September on the website, which used Bitcoin, the tough-to-track digital currency, before it was shut down. The website, which had nearly 1 million registered users by July, let users anonymously browse through nearly 13,000 listings under such categories as cannabis, psychedelics and stimulants. It was shut down with the arrest of Ross William Ulbricht, who authorities say masterminded the operation while hiding behind the alias of "Dread Pirate Roberts," an apparent reference to a character in "The Princess Bride." He has pleaded not guilty and remains incarcerated, awaiting trial. Ulbricht was arrested in a branch of San Francisco's public library, where authorities said he was chatting online with a cooperating witness. James J. Hunt, acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office, said the defendants were "hiding behind their computers" as they earned substantial profits by facilitating anonymous drug sales. According to prosecutors, Faiella operated under the name "BTCKing" as he ran an underground Bitcoin exchange on the Silk Road website, where Bitcoins were the only form of payment accepted. View comments

2014-01-27 23:39:34+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [63, 1837, 2305, 2699, 2899, 3012, 3057, 3137, 4647, 4751, 4976, 5015, 5460, 6078]}

{"Bitcoin": [10]}

Prominent Bitcoin entrepreneur charged with money laundering

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/two-bitcoin-exchange-operators-charged-162424192.html

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/

By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - The vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, a trade group promoting the adoption of the digital currency, has been charged by U.S. prosecutors with conspiring to commit money laundering by helping to funnel cash to illicit online drugs bazaar Silk Road. Charlie Shrem, who had financial backing from the Winklevoss twins and is well known as one of the bitcoin's biggest global promoters, was arrested on Sunday at John. F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan said on Monday. Shrem, who was also charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, appeared in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday and was released on $1 million bond. "At this point the allegations in the complaint are simply allegations, and Mr. Shrem is presumed innocent," his lawyer Keith Miller said. The 24-year-old entrepreneur, who lives above a bar he jointly owns in Manhattan that accepts bitcoins as payment, was CEO of BitInstant, a bitcoin exchange company that closed last summer. According to prosecutors, Shrem conspired with a Florida resident, Robert Faiella, who ran an illegal exchange, to sell more than $1 million in bitcoins to users of Silk Road, which was shuttered by authorities last year. Faiella, 52, is also charged in the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan with conspiring to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. He was arrested at his home in Coral Gables, Florida. At his court hearing on Monday in federal court in Florida, Faiella consented to detention until Wednesday, at which point there will be a bail hearing. Shrem could not be reached for comment. A person who answered the phone at Faiella's house and declined to be identified said, "Nobody wants to talk." Bitcoin is a digital currency that is not backed by a government or central bank and whose value fluctuates according to demand by users. Users can transfer bitcoins to each other over the Internet and store the currency in digital "wallets." Story continues The criminal complaint says that Shrem, in addition to knowing that Faiella's business was funneling money into Silk Road, also used Silk Road himself to buy drugs, including marijuana-infused brownies. "When Bitcoins, like any traditional currency, are laundered and used to fuel criminal activity, law enforcement has no choice but to act," Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said in a statement emailed to the press on Monday. "We will aggressively pursue those who would co-opt new forms of currency for illicit purposes." Bharara has said recently that prosecutors are not going after Bitcoin itself and view it as they view any other currency in which transactions are sometimes made illegally. U.S. law enforcement officials have vowed to pursue any criminal activity in the nascent Bitcoin world as regulators try to formulate their approach to the digital currency. The charging of a prominent Bitcoin Foundation official may be a blow to Bitcoin's prospects, though it did not have a huge immediate impact on trading. Bitcoins were exchanging hands at $970 late on Monday, down from prices above $1,000 earlier this month but up from around $150 four months ago on the Tokyo-based exchange MtGox. Winklevoss Capital, which is run by twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, invested in BitInstant in 2012 and led a capital-raising effort last May that raised $1.5 million. The twins, who are best known for their failed lawsuit against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in which they had claimed he had stolen their idea for an online social networking platform at Harvard, have been seeking regulatory approval for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund. "When we invested in BitInstant in the fall of 2012, its management made a commitment to us that they would abide by all applicable laws - including money laundering laws - and we expected nothing less," the Winkelvoss twins said in a statement. "Although BitInstant is not named in today's indictment of Charlie Shrem, we are obviously deeply concerned about his arrest," they said. "We were passive investors in BitInstant and will do everything we can to help law enforcement officials." As part of the conditions of his bail, Shrem will be confined to his parents' home in the Marine Park section of Brooklyn. A report prepared by the court for his bail hearing listed his net worth at $6 million, according to U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman. Serrin Turner, an assistant U.S. attorney, opposed bail, saying Shrem had a "strong incentive to flee" and the means to do so. Bitcoin insiders said Shrem's arrest showed just how hard it is to get away with illegal activity using Bitcoin, which has an ownership chain built into its software so that each unit can be tied to the users who have acquired or spent it. "Using bitcoin for illicit transactions is really, really dumb," said Patrick Murck, the Bitcoin Foundation's general counsel. "Bitcoins are so easy to track." "THE ART OF HIDING" According to the charges, Faiella, going by "BTCKing" online, sold bitcoins to Silk Road users and passed on purchase orders he received from the site to Shrem, who filled them, transferring funds to Faiella's account at an unidentified bitcoin exchange service based in Japan. The charging document says that Shrem failed to report suspicious activity to regulators "with respect to numerous Bitcoin purchases" Faiella made from BitInstant. The document contains email conversations between Shrem and BitInstant's co-founder, who is not identified in the charges but is listed on BitInstant's website as Gareth Nelson, in which Shrem tried to hide his dealings with Faiella by pretending to ban him from BitInstant's exchange platform. "You are hereby banned from our services," he wrote in an email to BTCKing that he copied to Nelson. According to the complaint, Shrem then privately wrote to BTCKing, without including Nelson. "Your email address is banned," Shrem wrote, "but you can use a different one." Bitcoins have been gaining wider acceptance recently. The Sacramento Kings basketball team earlier this month became the first professional sports franchise to say it would allow purchases using bitcoins. Last month, ecommerce site Overstock.com announced its plan to become the first major U.S. retailer to accept the digital currency. Created in 2009 by a developer or team of developers going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto, whose true identity remains unknown, the bitcoin's earliest adopters have included people expressing a desire to conduct their affairs in a realm outside of government-sanctioned commercial spaces. Some of that sentiment is visible in the charges against Shrem and Faiella. In one online interaction, Shrem tried to assure Faiella he was being discreet. "The art of hiding is making people think you are someone else," he wrote. Faiella replied: "You must understand that the people that we pay taxes to have a long reach and I like to stay away from that." (Reporting by Emily Flitter in New York; Additional reporting by Nate Raymond in New York and Brett Wolf in St. Louis; Editing by Leslie Adler)

2014-01-27 23:39:34+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [63, 1837, 2289, 2683, 2883, 2996, 3041, 3121, 4631, 4735, 4960, 4999, 5444, 6062]}

{"Bitcoin": [10]}

Prominent Bitcoin entrepreneur charged with money laundering

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/two-bitcoin-exchange-operators-charged-money-laundering-scheme-162424352--finance.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - The vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, a trade group promoting the adoption of the digital currency, has been charged by U.S. prosecutors with conspiring to commit money laundering by helping to funnel cash to illicit online drugs bazaar Silk Road. Charlie Shrem, who had financial backing from the Winklevoss twins and is well known as one of the bitcoin's biggest global promoters, was arrested on Sunday at John. F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan said on Monday. Shrem, who was also charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, appeared in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday and was released on $1 million bond. "At this point the allegations in the complaint are simply allegations, and Mr. Shrem is presumed innocent," his lawyer Keith Miller said. The 24-year-old entrepreneur, who lives above a bar he jointly owns in Manhattan that accepts bitcoins as payment, was CEO of BitInstant, a bitcoin exchange company that closed last summer. According to prosecutors, Shrem conspired with a Florida resident, Robert Faiella, who ran an illegal exchange, to sell more than $1 million in bitcoins to users of Silk Road, which was shuttered by authorities last year. Faiella, 52, is also charged in the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan with conspiring to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. He was arrested at his home in Coral Gables, Florida. At his court hearing on Monday in federal court in Florida, Faiella consented to detention until Wednesday, at which point there will be a bail hearing. Shrem could not be reached for comment. A person who answered the phone at Faiella's house and declined to be identified said, "Nobody wants to talk." Bitcoin is a digital currency that is not backed by a government or central bank and whose value fluctuates according to demand by users. Users can transfer bitcoins to each other over the Internet and store the currency in digital "wallets." The criminal complaint says that Shrem, in addition to knowing that Faiella's business was funneling money into Silk Road, also used Silk Road himself to buy drugs, including marijuana-infused brownies. "When Bitcoins, like any traditional currency, are laundered and used to fuel criminal activity, law enforcement has no choice but to act," Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said in a statement emailed to the press on Monday. "We will aggressively pursue those who would co-opt new forms of currency for illicit purposes." Bharara has said recently that prosecutors are not going after Bitcoin itself and view it as they view any other currency in which transactions are sometimes made illegally. U.S. law enforcement officials have vowed to pursue any criminal activity in the nascent Bitcoin world as regulators try to formulate their approach to the digital currency. The charging of a prominent Bitcoin Foundation official may be a blow to Bitcoin's prospects, though it did not have a huge immediate impact on trading. Bitcoins were exchanging hands at $970 late on Monday, down from prices above $1,000 earlier this month but up from around $150 four months ago on the Tokyo-based exchange MtGox. Winklevoss Capital, which is run by twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, invested in BitInstant in 2012 and led a capital-raising effort last May that raised $1.5 million. The twins, who are best known for their failed lawsuit against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in which they had claimed he had stolen their idea for an online social networking platform at Harvard, have been seeking regulatory approval for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund. "When we invested in BitInstant in the fall of 2012, its management made a commitment to us that they would abide by all applicable laws - including money laundering laws - and we expected nothing less," the Winkelvoss twins said in a statement. "Although BitInstant is not named in today's indictment of Charlie Shrem, we are obviously deeply concerned about his arrest," they said. "We were passive investors in BitInstant and will do everything we can to help law enforcement officials." As part of the conditions of his bail, Shrem will be confined to his parents' home in the Marine Park section of Brooklyn. A report prepared by the court for his bail hearing listed his net worth at $6 million, according to U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman. Serrin Turner, an assistant U.S. attorney, opposed bail, saying Shrem had a "strong incentive to flee" and the means to do so. Bitcoin insiders said Shrem's arrest showed just how hard it is to get away with illegal activity using Bitcoin, which has an ownership chain built into its software so that each unit can be tied to the users who have acquired or spent it. "Using bitcoin for illicit transactions is really, really dumb," said Patrick Murck, the Bitcoin Foundation's general counsel. "Bitcoins are so easy to track." "THE ART OF HIDING" According to the charges, Faiella, going by "BTCKing" online, sold bitcoins to Silk Road users and passed on purchase orders he received from the site to Shrem, who filled them, transferring funds to Faiella's account at an unidentified bitcoin exchange service based in Japan. The charging document says that Shrem failed to report suspicious activity to regulators "with respect to numerous Bitcoin purchases" Faiella made from BitInstant. The document contains email conversations between Shrem and BitInstant's co-founder, who is not identified in the charges but is listed on BitInstant's website as Gareth Nelson, in which Shrem tried to hide his dealings with Faiella by pretending to ban him from BitInstant's exchange platform. "You are hereby banned from our services," he wrote in an email to BTCKing that he copied to Nelson. According to the complaint, Shrem then privately wrote to BTCKing, without including Nelson. "Your email address is banned," Shrem wrote, "but you can use a different one." Bitcoins have been gaining wider acceptance recently. The Sacramento Kings basketball team earlier this month became the first professional sports franchise to say it would allow purchases using bitcoins. Last month, ecommerce site Overstock.com announced its plan to become the first major U.S. retailer to accept the digital currency. Created in 2009 by a developer or team of developers going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto, whose true identity remains unknown, the bitcoin's earliest adopters have included people expressing a desire to conduct their affairs in a realm outside of government-sanctioned commercial spaces. Some of that sentiment is visible in the charges against Shrem and Faiella. In one online interaction, Shrem tried to assure Faiella he was being discreet. "The art of hiding is making people think you are someone else," he wrote. Faiella replied: "You must understand that the people that we pay taxes to have a long reach and I like to stay away from that." (Reporting by Emily Flitter in New York; Additional reporting by Nate Raymond in New York and Brett Wolf in St. Louis; Editing by Leslie Adler)

2014-01-28 10:45:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [24, 76, 232, 501, 979, 1188, 1535, 1897, 1973, 2028, 2104, 2683, 3134, 3219, 3477, 3838, 4017, 4400, 4880, 4961, 5193, 5444, 5597, 5678]}

{"Bitcoin": [24]}

Will Drug Deals Tarnish Bitcoin?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/drug-sales-tarnish-bitcoin-104500343--politics.html

The Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com

Will Drug Deals Tarnish Bitcoin? It’s been a rough 24 hours for drug users, Bitcoin aficionados, and multi-millionaire twins played by Armey Hammer in Social Network . In a move heard round the Internet, the well-respected CEO of a Bitcoin exchange, along with a 52-year-old co-conspirator who went by the name “BTCKing,” were arrested and charged with money laundering, as well as operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. It’s a crime that would have been impossible five years ago, when Bitcoin was just a twinkle in Satoshi Nakamoto’s eye. But today, we live in a brave new world of online drug markets, government-free currencies, and investment opportunities that have the potential to turn 24-year-olds into millionaires--or felons. Here’s what you need to know: READ MORE Lawsuit: Facebook Sold Messages Charlie Shrem is a 24-year-old from Brooklyn who was building a cryptocurrency empire before he had his Bachelor’s. He’s currently the vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation--though that will probably change, depending on how his legal problems play out--and a prominent member of the cryptocurrency community. Quick interpolation on the cryptocurrency community: Bitcoin is an online peer-to-peer based currency that doesn’t have any state backing. As a result, its value can change rapidly. And last year, it skyrocketed. Now there are dozens of competing cryptocurrencies, as well as enormous online (and real-life) spaces for their users to meet and socialize. Shrem was a prime mover in these circles. The Bitcoin exchange he headed, called BitInstant, had enough prominence to draw the eyes and investment dollars of the Winkelvoss twins. Shrem isn’t some troll living in his mom’s basement; he’s the real deal. READ MORE Facebook’s Robot King And that’s why his arrest is so shocking--imagine if Grover Norquist was locked up for tax fraud. Sam Patterson, author of Bitcoin Beginner: A Step-by-Step Guide to Buying, Selling, and Investing in Bitcoins , explains that Shrem was one of the original Bitcoin pioneers. Story continues “He’s in some ways been an evangelist for Bitcoin,” Patterson adds. READ MORE Ditch the Lazy Lady-Tech The case is a bit complicated. It goes roughly as follows: The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office says Shrem and a co-conspirator are charged with “conspiring to commit money laundering, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.” Assuming the federal allegations are correct--and that’s a big assumption, but let’s make it for the sake of argument--this is what happened: Shrem worked in tandem with a 52-year-old from Cape Coral, Fla., named Robert Faiella (alias “BTCKing”) to set up a system that sold Bitcoins to Silk Road users, who then used the currency to buy illegal drugs. If it sounds like something out of The Big Lebowski , that’s because it might as well be. Silk Road, by the way, is a now-defunct (or, as far as I know, now-defunct) online marketplace that was essentially the eBay of illegal drugs. Users used an IP anonymizer to visit the website, where dealers hawked their wares--just about any narcotic imaginable--which they sold for Bitcoin. Silk Road played an integral role in the development of the currency, since Bitcoin allowed for transactions that were virtually anonymous. READ MORE What You Talked About in 2013 But “virtually” is the operative word in that sentence, as Shrem (allegedly) learned the hard way. The two (still allegedly) sold more than $1 million in Bitcoin to users for drug-procuring purposes. And a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of New York says Shrem also bought drugs on the site, though it doesn’t look like they’re charging him with that as of now. “Even if people think they’re really covering their tracks and being super secretive, who knows?” says Chuck Grimmett, a web developer and Bitcoin investor who (full disclosure) is a close friend who first told me about the currency. READ MORE Hack Your Facebook That’s one of the big takeaways from the Shrem arrest. Bitcoin lets users make transactions with comparatively unparalleled anonymity. But that doesn’t mean it sets Internet denizens up for perfect crimes. Patterson says that though Silk Road was shut down a few months ago, lots of clone sites using the same model have sprung up in its wake. And that raises an interesting legal question: Shrem seems to have believed that just selling Bitcoins on Silk Road wasn’t illegal. He didn’t think it was totally above-board, per Patterson--but he seems to have felt that he was operating in a legal gray area. It looks like the Feds disagree. “If you were to sell shoes on Silk Road, is that something you’d go to jail for?” asks Patterson. And depending on how this case plays out, that could be a serious query. READ MORE Subreddit on Navy Yard Shooting Banned A bigger question here, though, is how all this will affect Bitcoin’s future. Its value went down a bit today, but not by an outsize margin; Bitcoin is very volatile, and dips aren’t unusual. The biggest threat to the currency is that users will worry other exchanges are in danger of federal crackdowns if their managers have ties to online drug rings--think of it as the Bitcoin equivalent of a bank run. That wouldn’t be good. But that seems to be an unlikely result. Based on testimony at a recent Senate hearing, federal law enforcement agents seem to think they have the legal tools necessary to go after people using Bitcoin to sell drugs online. So at the moment, it’s doubtful onerous regulations will hit users. And Grimmett adds that the structure of the case is in Bitcoin’s favor; it’s a hit on online drug rings, he says, rather than a generic Bitcoin investigation looking for a crime. READ MORE iPhone 5s: The 'S' Stands for 'Same In a weird way, this story has everything: celebrities, Internet celebrities, drug money, and a Florida Man. How it plays out could have significant ramifications for the future of online currency. The Internet is watching, and—maybe--the future of money and drug crime is waiting. Related from The Daily Beast Apple With a Side of Koch Bracelet Unlocks Devices with Heartbeat Are They or Aren’t They? Like us on Facebook - Follow us on Twitter - Sign up for The Cheat Sheet Newsletter

2014-01-28 12:12:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [525, 1809, 1886]}

{}

10 Tech Things You Need To Know This Morning

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-tech-things-know-morning-121259279.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

apple tim cook iphone 5c Apple Tim Cook presenting the iPhone 5C. Good morning! Here's the latest in tech: Apple fell over 8% in after-hours trading after earnings results disappointed investors. It beat expectations on revenue and EPS, but Apple had a huge miss on iPhone sales. It sold 51 million units which was lower than expectations of 54.7 million. Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the company's cheaper, plastic device was part of the problem. He said iPhone 5c demand was "different than we thought." The CEO of Bitcoin exchange BitInstant, Charlie Shrem, was arrested for money laundering. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss backed his company and say they're "obviously deeply concerned about his arrest." A man who lost his six-year-old daughter on New Year's Eve is suing Uber and the UberX driver who hit her for wrongful death and negligence. Legendary VC Tom Perkins explained, clarified, apologized for, and then stood by his controversial letter where he said people who criticize the rich are like Nazis. "It’s absurd to demonize the rich for being rich and doing what the rich do, which is get richer by creating opportunities for others," he told Bloomberg TV's Emily Chang . Serial entrepreneur and startup investor Jason Calacanis launched a new app this morning, Inside.com . Its mission: to change the way you find and read news on your smart phone. Facebook is reportedly hiring editors for its news-reading app, Paper. Online news sites are launching all over the place even though it's becoming increasingly difficult to make money from ads. It's causing some to say media is in its own technology bubble. Crowdfunding platform Indiegogo has raised $40 million. Google Glass now works with prescription lenses. More From Business Insider 10 Tech Things You Need To Know This Morning Bitcoin Startups Seek Ways To Provide FDIC-Style Insurance PAYMENTS INSIDER: Bitcoin Startups Seek Ways To Provide FDIC-Style Insurance View comments

2014-01-28 14:53:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2721]}

{}

The iPhone 5C Turned Out To Be A Dud

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/iphone-5c-turned-dud-145327443.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

apple iphone 5c REUTERS/Adrees Latif The iPhone 5C. Apple may have reported record-breaking iPhone sales for last quarter , but one model doesn't seem to be selling so well: the iPhone 5C. For the first time since the original iPhone launch, Apple introduced two new models last year, the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. The latter, which basically has the same internals as 2012's iPhone 5 but wrapped in a colorful plastic body, was at first thought to be Apple's entry into the low end of the smartphone market. But Apple priced the 5C at just $100 less than the 5S, giving customers little incentive to choose it over the flagship model. And it looks like the 5C is turning out to be a dud in terms of sales ( it's still a nice phone ), at least compared to the iPhone 5S. While Apple doesn't break out sales of individual models, we have plenty of evidence showing that the 5C isn't performing very well with consumers. First, there's the Average Selling Price (ASP) for iPhones. The ASP increased last quarter to $637 (it was $577 the quarter before), meaning more people are buying the pricier iPhone 5S instead of the iPhone 5C or iPhone 4S. Here's a look at the iPhone ASP over time: iPhoneASP 2913 q4 BII On yesterday's earnings call, analysts repeatedly asked Apple CEO Tim Cook about the iPhone 5C sales. Cook admitted that the plastic phone didn't do as well during the holiday quarter because people preferred the advanced iPhone 5S features like the new Touch ID fingerprint sensor. "I think [with] the 5S, people are really intrigued with Touch ID," Cook said. "It’s a major feature that has excited people. And I think that, associated with the other things that are unique to the 5S, got the 5S to have a significant amount more attention and a higher mix of sales." On the other hand, Cook said the iPhone 5C was more popular among first-time iPhone buyers. "We saw a significant new to iPhone number," Cook said on the call. "It’s not a number that we throw out, but we particularly saw that on the 5C, which is what we wanted to see." Story continues It makes sense. The iPhone 5C only costs $100 less than the iPhone 5S, but it's still powered by hardware that's over a year old. There isn't much incentive for customers to choose the iPhone 5S over the 5C. If it were $200 or $300 cheaper, things may have been different. But Apple has been firm in its stance that it doesn't need to offer a "cheap" phone. Meanwhile, an early report from The Wall Street Journal hinted that Apple may discontinue the iPhone 5C this year and launch two new iPhones with bigger screens instead. More From Business Insider Innovation Isn't Over In Smartphones, As Companies Compete To Build Great, Mass-Market Cheap Devices Bitcoin Startups Seek Ways To Provide FDIC-Style Insurance Steve Jobs’ First Demonstration of the Mac, Unseen Since 1984, Is The 'Stuff Of Tech-History Legend' Smart Watches And Fitness Bands – Here's Why The Wrist Will Be The Next Frontier For Computers Apple Is Getting Ready To Roll Out Mobile Payments [Report]

2014-01-28 15:29:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [8264]}

{}

Apple Haters Pile On As Wall Street Asks Tim Cook, 'Are You Still A Growth Company?'

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-haters-pile-wall-street-152923721.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Tim Cook AP Which way are you going, Tim Cook? Apple just delivered a record quarter of iPhone sales , 51 million units, a 6.7% jump in sales year-over-year. And yet Wall Street seems to hate the company right now: The stock fell over 8% after hours and opened this morning at ~$508, down from ~$550 the day before. It dropped another 7% in early trading. The general theme emerging with investors is: Apple has entered an era of low-to-no growth; it has made some sort of pricing error with the too-expensive-for-not-enough-phone iPhone 5C; and the iPhone is being boxed into a high-end consumer demographic while the majority of the world happily communicates on Android, the cheaper competitor. 'Are you still a growth company?' On yesterday's call with analysts, Ben Reitzes of Barclays asked the most brutal question of CEO Tim Cook: "My question is, are you still a growth company?" Wow. That's the kind of question you put to fusty old packaged goods companies that sell soap and toilet paper in groceries, not the company that stands at the pinnacle of American tech innovation. We'll get to Cook's response in a moment, but first some perspective. Never underestimate Apple. The company remains the ne plus ultra of tech firms, it attracts the best talent and it has a country-sized bank account it can use to buy or create whatever it wants. Several times, Apple has created new markets for devices out of thin air. It routinely confounds its competitors. So if you're an Apple hater, enjoy this moment of doubt — history says it is likely to be short-lived. More importantly, Apple has a huge new product cycle coming up that could involve the launch of an iPhone 6 with a big "phablet" screen, an Apple TV, and/or maybe an Apple smart watch. The recent launch of iTunes Radio has yet to play out, but it shows that Apple isn't done reorganizing the entertainment industry. iPod Timeline apple pop up museum in atlanta Don Synstelien Cook partially blamed the iPod for Apple's lack of growth. Yet Apple might shrink Story continues Apple's problem is that right now, these are all rumors and conjecture. In the real world, Apple might even shrink as a company. Here's that painful exchange with Barclays' Reitzes : My question is for Tim. You’re at the midpoint of your guidance. It obviously implies a decline in revenue in the quarter coming up, and you haven’t done that forever. You came pretty close a couple of quarters ago, but you had some growth. And my question is, are you still a growth company? And should we expect the growth rate to accelerate as we go throughout the year? And why, if that’s the case? Cook's response was technical and meandering. At one point he blamed the iPod. At another, he suggested that the stats don't say what they ought to say, so maybe we should look at some different stats: I think it’s important to listen to what [CFO Peter Oppenheimer] said about the guidance, and about the compares year over year, and the point that he made that the underlying sell-through, that we’re very confident of growth year over year. And that is the way we look at it. Some people just look at the numbers on a piece of paper, but the way I’d look at the business is our business from a sell-through point of view less iPod, because I think all of us have known for some time that iPod is a declining business. And when you do that, the numbers from last quarter, and the deferral, which we’ve just increased, as Peter went through, when you look at that, and look at the numbers from last quarter, it comes up to a double digit growth. And we’re proud of that. I think that’s a pretty good result. Is Apple no longer in control of its fate? Tim Cook Apple Justin Sullivan/Getty Images "Our North American business contracted somewhat year over year." This was a typical response on the call. Cook and Oppenheimer alternately blamed inventory patterns, foreign currency headwinds, bad comparables from the prior year, and wireless carrier policies that are less generous to people who want new phones. It was not awe-inspiring stuff. It made Apple look like it was suffering from events that are beyond its control, rather than being in charge of its own destiny. At one point Cook admitted the American iPhone business was shrinking, but he blamed it on Apple's own incorrect estimates of which phones customers actually wanted: In North America, we did not do as well, and this weighed our results. Our North American business contracted somewhat year over year. And if you look at the reason for this, one was that as we entered the quarter, and forecasted our iPhone sales, where we achieved what we thought, we actually sold more iPhone 5Ss than we projected. And so the mix was stronger to the 5S, and it took us some amount of time in order to build the mix that customers were demanding. And as a result, we lost some sort of units for part of the quarter in North America and relative to the world, it took us the bulk of the quarter, almost all the quarter, to get the iPhone 5S into proper supply. The other issue here is the problem of big numbers. Apple is so successful that getting double-digit percentage growth is simply much harder than it used to be. Look at this chart: iPhoneSales BII The issue here is not that Apple is failing, it's that Apple is now so big it's hard to see where new iPhone buyers might come from. What if China doesn't rescue Apple? One answer, Apple hopes, is China. But Toni Sacconaghi of Sanford Bernstein suggested that China was a symptom of the problem, not the cure. Apple was making machines that are so expensive they don't appeal to most people, he argued, and this is hurting Apple's growth: ... if we look at your prior four quarters, fiscal ’13, Apple grew its iPhone units about 20%. The market grew in the 40s. I think this quarter, even with a new product and having China front loaded, the iPhone is going to grow at a fraction of ultimately what the market is likely to grow at. And I know your belief and philosophy historically has been that you want to make the best product, and that’s the most important thing, but in Macs, you’ve actually succeeded in making the best product and being able to gain share. You cited again how you’ve gained share in 30 out of the last 31 quarters in Mac. But in iPhone, that is not happening. ... do you propose to do anything differently going forward? Cook was careful to note that Apple's deal with China's largest wireless carrier, China Mobile, was only a couple of weeks old and had yet to hit results. "We’ve been selling with China Mobile now for about a week, and last week was the best week for activations we’ve ever had in China. So it’s been an incredible start, and at this moment, we’re just selling in 16 cities with China Mobile," he said at a different point in the call. But Sacconaghi's subtext was clear: Your strategy is wrong. Ridiculous pessimism ... but the pressure is warranted Steve Jobs and Tim Cook Apple Portrait Illustration Mike Nudelman/Business Insider Analysts are still comparing Cook to Steve Jobs. But even Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster put out a gloomy note this morning talking about "core markets will make it difficult for new products to meaningfully reaccelerate revenue growth" and "a slowdown in US smartphone growth." One analyst, Bert Dohmen of Dohmen Capital Research Institute, believes AAPL will fall to $320 . "Apple hasn't had any technological innovations since Steve Jobs left, and this is a company that's getting beaten by its competitors. Now, we hear the next big item (iPhone 6) is going to have a larger (screen) size, Samsung has had that for two years," he says. That seems ridiculously pessimistic to us, especially when we know that Apple has several potentially huge new products in its pipeline that will likely start rolling out in calendar Q4 2013. But the fact that people are saying such things openly only puts the pressure on Apple: These new products had better be mindblowing, and not the mere upgrades we saw last year that led to the revenue slowdown we're seeing now. More From Business Insider Two Reasons Why Apple Could Whiff On Earnings Today Innovation Isn't Over In Smartphones, As Companies Compete To Build Great, Mass-Market Cheap Devices Bitcoin Startups Seek Ways To Provide FDIC-Style Insurance

2014-01-28 19:27:53+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [41, 171, 274, 330, 383, 435, 480]}

{"Bitcoin": [68]}

A Surprisingly Large Number Of IT Professionals Want To Get Paid In Bitcoin

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/surprisingly-large-number-professionals-want-192753626.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

Can you imagine getting your paycheck in Bitcoin? That would be just dandy for a lot of IT professionals. Events company Tech in Motion polled 847 IT pros about accepting Bitcoin as payment for work, and more than half, 51%, said yes; another 18% said maybe. Only 10% think Bitcoin won't last. It probably helps that the value of Bitcoin is really high right now. As of Tuesday, one Bitcoin is worth about $850, according to Coindesk. Bitcoin paycheck Tech in Motion IT pros want Bitcoin paychecks. More From Business Insider This 17-Year-Old Dropped Out Of High School For Peter Thiel And Built A Game-Changing New Kind Of Computer Famous VC Says The Rich 'Are Threatened' And Shows Off His Super-Expensive Watch During Wild Interview On Bloomberg Microsoft Apologizes For A Tweet That Implied Older Women Can't Use Computers

2014-01-28 23:39:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1481]}

{}

Government Shuts Down 11-Year-Old's Cupcake Business

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/government-shuts-down-11-olds-233906781.html

Entrepreneur

http://www.entrepreneur.com/

An 11-year-old girl from Illinois got a dose of regulation American-style this week when local government officials shut down her cupcake business. Chloe Stirling, from Troy, got the front-page treatment from her local newspaper, which featured how well her business, Hey, Cupcake, was doing. By all accounts, it was a successful little enterprise. Chloe was getting $10 for a dozen cupcakes and $2 for each specialty cupcake. She even donated her cupcakes when a boy in her school fighting cancer held a fundraiser. Heartwarming? Yes. A great example of the entrepreneurial possibilities inherent in American capitalism? You betcha. A danger to society? Apparently so. Related: Regulations Get Sticky As the Danes Ban the Danish Seeing the article prompted local regulators to swoop in and shut her down . The Madison County Health Department told her she could no longer make or sell cupcakes because she lacks a permit. That runs afoul of the Madison County food ordinance and Illinois' food-santitation code. Oh, and her kitchen itself wasn't licensed either. The health department said it was only following the law , which applies to everyone, from big bakeries to sweet, detertmined young women who might have their dreams crushed from time to time. The dessert eaters of Madison County can no doubt sleep soundly tonight, knowing their health is protected. Related: In Google Glass Case, Laws Again Lag Innovation More From Entrepreneur Cameron Winklevoss: A 'Sheriff' for Bitcoin's Wild West Is a Good Thing 5 Ways to Beat Seasonal Affective Disorder In Your Office Study: Enjoy Life, Live Longer

2014-01-29 13:14:35+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [829]}

{}

Worlds Inc. Appoints Ed Gildea to Board of Directors, Prepares for Uplisting to Senior Exchange

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/worlds-inc-appoints-ed-gildea-131435852.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Jan 29, 2014) - Worlds Inc. ( OTCBB : WDDD ) welcomes Ed Gildea as a member of its Board of Directors. "Ed's expertise in areas of intellectual property (IP), mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, funding, business development and executive leadership, along with his many years of experience as a corporate board member will be a valuable asset on Worlds' Board," stated Thomas Kidrin, World's CEO. "We look forward to tapping his expertise as we take the next steps to qualify for listing on a senior exchange, pursue patent infringement litigation and develop strategic partnerships." Mr. Gildea is currently a member of the board of directors of publicly held companies Finjan Holdings Inc. (intellectual property security software) and WPCS International Inc. (wireless communications and Bitcoin exchange). He was the CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board Of Directors of publicly held Converted Organics Inc., (manufacturing) from 2006 until 2013. He was also a lawyer for, and COO of, QualityMetric Inc. (healthcare) from 2000-2005 and Grolier Incorporated (publishing) from 1980-1989. He spent 10 years at the Kellogg Company (1990-2000) as their vice president of legal where he managed and supervised a legal team responsible for executing mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. He received his undergraduate degree from The College of the Holy Cross and his law degree from Suffolk University. Worlds has also begun the process to qualify for uplisting to the NASDAQ or another senior exchange and has filed appropriate paperwork with the Securities Exchange Commission. About Worlds Inc.: Worlds Inc. ( OTCBB : WDDD ) developed software and related technology for the creation of interactive three-dimensional (3D) Internet environments encompassing massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG). The company's technologies are designed for large-scale communities of simultaneous online users, who interact within online interactive 3D virtual worlds. Worlds intends to monetize its patent portfolio through enforcement, licensing and royalties of its patented technologies. For more information, visit www.worlds.com . Story continues Forward Looking Statements This release contains certain forward-looking statements and information relating to Worlds Inc. that are based on the beliefs of Worlds' management, as well as assumptions made based upon information currently available to the Company. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events including estimates and projections about its business based on certain assumptions of its management, including those described in this Release. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risk and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, including, among other factors, changes in demand for the Company's services and products, changes in the economic environment and changes in technology. Additional risk factors are included in the Company's public filings with the SEC. Should one or more of these underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as "hoped," "anticipated," "believed," "estimated," "should," "preparing," "expected," "intends" or words of a similar nature. The Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements. Disclaimer with respect to website: You are advised that the contents of the Company's website are not incorporated by reference into this press release.

2014-01-29 17:49:50+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [104, 2387]}

{}

Ethereum Listens to Community, Releasing Testnet Prior to Raising Funds

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ethereum-listens-community-releasing-testnet-174950039.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan 29, 2014) - Ethereum received an incredible response at the Miami Bitcoin Conference. We travelled there anticipating many technical questions as well as a philosophical discussion about the purpose of Ethereum; however, the overwhelming amount of interest and enthusiasm for the project was much larger than we had anticipated. Vitalik's presentation was met with both a standing ovation and a question queue that took hours to address. Because we intend on providing an equal opportunity to all those who want to be involved, and are reviewing the relevant logistical and regulatory issues for a fundraiser of this scale, we have decided to postpone the Feb 1 launch of the fundraiser. We will make the announcement of the new fundraiser launch date on our official website: Ethereum.org. The Ethereum project is also excited to announce the alpha release of the open source testnet client to the community on Feb 1st. This will give people an opportunity to get involved with the project and experiment with Ethereum scripts and contracts, and gain a better understanding of the technical properties of the Ethereum platform. Launching the testnet at this date will give those interested in the fundraiser a chance to better understand what the Ethereum project is about before participating. The testnet will include full support for sending and receiving transactions, the initial version of the scripting language as described in our whitepaper, and may or may not include mining. This will also be the first major cryptocurrency project to have two official clients released at the same time, with one written in C++ and the other in Go; a Python client is also in the works. A compiler from the Ethereum CLL to Ethereum script will be released very soon. For more information please visit our official website , blog , and forums . A Note on Security The fundraiser will NOT be launching on February 1st and any attempt to collect funds at this time should be considered a scam. There have been some scams in the forums thus please use caution and only consider information posted on Ethereum.org to be legitimate. It is important to reinforce to all that only information released and posted at Ethereum.org should be trusted as many are likely to impersonate us. About Ethereum The Ethereum Project is a decentralized collaboration of the Bitcoin community assembled to develop a unified distributive application platform for the next generation of the cryptocurrency space.

2014-01-29 18:18:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2237, 2261]}

{}

19 Emoji That Really Should Exist

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/19-emoji-really-exist-181824157.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

You can never have too many emoji, and while everyone has their favorite (red dress woman!), there are a few that we really can't believe aren't a part of the collection. Where are the cupcakes? Where are the shot glasses? How do these not already exist? We were wondering the same thing. Emoji Layout Mike Nudelman / Business Insider One of the biggest complaints about emoji is the lack of minorities. Over the summer, there was a petition to Apple , urging it to make emoji "less racist." Nothing has come of it, yet, but we thought it was important. If we had our way, everyone would have an emoji that looked exactly like them. Emoji African American Man Mike Nudelman / Business Insider Emoji Indian Woman Mike Nudelman / Business Insider Why do all of the emoji have 20/20 vision? Here's a guy wearing Warby Parker glasses. He also has a mustache, because these days, everyone looks like one of Mumford's sons. Emoji Warby Parker Mike Nudelman / Business Insider It's a little weird that there is no cupcake emoji. Emoji Cupcake Mike Nudelman / Business Insider Or burrito emoji. Emoji Burrito Mike Nudelman / Business Insider Or one of these. Emoji Microwave Mike Nudelman / Business Insider Or sandwich emoji! Emoji Sandwich Mike Nudelman / Business Insider If you're looking for something healthier, may we suggest kale? Emoji Kale Mike Nudelman / Business Insider While we appreciate the beer steins and the glass of red wine, some of us prefer the old standby of tequila shots. Don't exclude the tequila drinkers of the world, emoji! Emoji Tequila Mike Nudelman / Business Insider And here's what you'll need the morning after one too many shots. Emoji Starbucks Mike Nudelman / Business Insider But, whatever. YOLO, right? Emoji Shrug Mike Nudelman / Business Insider When we polled our colleagues at Business Insider for what emoji they'd like to see, we got an overwhelming cry for more Hanukkah-themed emoji. Emoji Menorah Mike Nudelman / Business Insider And a few animals that deserve more attention. Emoji Unicorn Mike Nudelman / Business Insider Emoji Dinosaur Mike Nudelman / Business Insider Emoji Lobster Mike Nudelman / Business Insider And of course, how could we not include everyone's favorite Internet memes: Bitcoin and Doge? Emoji Bitcoin Mike Nudelman / Business Insider Emoji Doge Mike Nudelman / Business Insider Don't forget selfies! (How could you?) Emoji Selfie Mike Nudelman / Business Insider And, as a bonus...the Drake emoji. Emoji Drake Mike Nudelman / Business Insider To use any of these emoji, simply drag the images out onto your desktop and email them to yourself. Or, if you're viewing this on a mobile device, take a screenshot and crop accordingly. Just save it to your photos, perhaps in their own folder, so they're easy to grab when you need them. NOW WATCH: 14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do More From Business Insider No, the new yellow-faced human emoji aren't racist. Here's why Apple's next iPhone update will include hundreds of new Emojis The 10 best Android apps on sale right now View comments

2014-01-29 19:45:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [54, 182, 394, 995, 1094, 1241, 1309, 1610, 1994, 2065, 2192, 2302, 2378, 2664, 2927, 3006, 3261, 3470, 3531, 3631, 3763, 4325, 4447, 4694, 4827, 4859, 4999]}

{"Bitcoin": [49]}

More Major Retailers Are Getting Ready to Accept Bitcoin

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-major-retailers-getting-ready-194500156.html

Entrepreneur

http://www.entrepreneur.com/

When it comes to major retailers accepting payment in Bitcoin , Overstock and TigerDirect are only the beginning. This revelation came in testimony by Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of the Bitcoin exchange and wallet service Coinbase , during the second day of hearings organized by New York state's top banking regulator to discuss the promise and peril of cryptocurrencies. Ehrsam described how the Bitcoin economy has been going through a speculative phase, with people around the world driving up the digital currency's value enormously in terms of U.S. dollars, euros, Japanese yen and other national currencies. But now, he said, the market is beginning to shift away from speculation and toward spending. "One great beacon here is major retailers like Overstock -- and there have been others -- hopping onboard," said Ehrsam, whose startup's service makes it possible for Overstock to accept bitcoins in exchange for its products. "There are others of similar stature in the pipeline." Related: Bitcoin ATMs Are Spreading Across the World Already, 21,000 merchants are using Coinbase to accept Bitcoin from customers. Overstock, for one, is reaping the benefits of opening itself to the new form of money. Since announcing its acceptance of Bitcoin on Jan. 9, the retailer has received nearly 3,000 orders in Bitcoin, with a total value of more than $600,000. TigerDirect, a Fountainbleau, Fla.-based online and catalog retailer of electronics, experienced similar results when it began accepting bitcoins on Jan. 23. Within the first 24 hours of the company's announcement, it processed more than $250,000 in Bitcoin payments. Jonathan Johnson, the executive vice chairman of Overstock's board of directors, testified Wednesday before members of the New York Department of Financial Services that Overstock uses Coinbase to immediately translate any bitcoins it receives into U.S. dollars. Because of this instant exchange, said Johnson, the company is not exposed to the ups and downs of the Bitcoin market, which has seen wild price fluctuations over time. "Our Bitcoin currency risk is nearly nonexistent," he told regulators. Story continues Related: Cameron Winklevoss: A 'Sheriff' for Bitcoin's Wild West Is a Good Thing Coinbase, which is located in San Francisco, is one of the most prominent Bitcoin startups in the United States, allowing individuals to buy and sell Bitcoin with a U.S. bank account and allowing merchants, including Overstock, to accept the digital currency as payment. Last month, Coinbase announced that it had raised $25 million in a Series B round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz -- the largest fundraise ever by a Bitcoin business. If the startup is indeed becoming the service of choice for top-flight merchants, then it's already living up to the prediction of Andreessen Horowitz's Chris Dixon, made at the time of the Series B, that Coinbase will "significantly accelerate Bitcoin's proliferation." Asked what was the incentive for retailers to accept Bitcoin or another digital currency as payment, Johnson's rationale was simple. "We are merchants, and we are willing to accept any practical form of exchange" that allows the company to sell goods in exchange for value, he said. Most of the nearly 3,000 Bitcoin spenders were first-time Overstock customers, he added. For the time being, however, there are limits to the company's embrace of digital currency. Overstock, which is based in Salt Lake City, accepts Bitcoin only on domestic U.S. orders, and mobile orders with Bitcoin are not yet possible on the merchant's website. Related: These Angel Investors Want to Make Bitcoin 'Sexy' for Average People As for the bugaboo of regulation, a primary concern of entrepreneurs and investors in the nascent Bitcoin market, Ehrsam admitted that further requirements for digital currency startups are both inevitable and necessary. "Once you open up a business that's moving money around, bad stuff can happen right out of the gate," he said. Although new regulation is likely, the hearings held in lower Manhattan on Tuesday and Wednesday have been largely positive on the subject of digital currencies' potential benefits to the economies of New York state and of the U.S. as a whole. Even a Wednesday morning panel of federal and state prosecutors paid lip service to Bitcoin's legitimate uses. Among the founders and investors who testified, some made dramatic claims about the ability of Bitcoin to revolutionize ecommerce, the payment processing and banking industries and even the exchange of stocks, bonds, contracts and property deeds. Others, including Ehrsam, were careful not to raise expectations too high for mass adoption of Bitcoin. "One should expect volatility in the near term," he said. "We are a long way away from a world in which things just stay in Bitcoin all the time." Related: Bitcoin: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly More From Entrepreneur Stop Pressuring Companies to Raise Wages Cameron Winklevoss: A 'Sheriff' for Bitcoin's Wild West Is a Good Thing BitInstant CEO Arrested for Alleged Ties to Silk Road

2014-01-29 21:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1964, 2030, 2196, 2464]}

{}

FED TAPERS AND STOCKS DIVE: Here's What You Need To Know

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-tapers-stocks-dive-heres-210011456.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

golfer water REUTERS/ Mike Blake Stocks tumbled and the Federal Reserve reduced the pace of monthly bond purchases by another $10 billion, to $65 billion. First, the scoreboard: Dow: 15,739.69 (-188.87, -1.19%) S&P 500: 1,774.22 (-18.28, -1.02%) Nasdaq: 4,051.43 (-46.53, -1.14%) And now the top stories: The Federal Open Market Committee announced its final monetary policy decision under outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. The FOMC reduced its monthly purchasing program by $10 billion to $65 billion, in line with economist expectations. It also didn't change its forward guidance on short-term rates. Markets, which were already down, slid a bit after the announcement. Wall Street analysts then reacted to the news . " From the viewpoint of domestic U.S. economic conditions the Statement is completely anodyne," Citi's Steven Englander wrote clients. "From the point of view of EM, the Fed has just said 'hasta la vista, baby'. The comment on U.S. growth was a not surprising upgrade in the growth assessment – economic activity 'picked up' rather than 'is expanding at a moderate pace', but very little else changed other than the expected $10 billion additional tapering." Completed foreclosures dropped 24% in 2013 from 2012, according to new data from CoreLogic. " The decline indicates that the distressed foreclosure inventory is healing at an accelerating rate heading into 2014," CoreLogic chief economist Mark Fleming said. The South African rand plummeted after the country's central bank unexpectedly hiked rates today at their monthly policy meeting. The SARB raised its benchmark rate 50 basis points to 5.50%. " Across EM, markets have been caught in a storm of portfolio outflows as the Federal Reserve begins winding down its quantitative easing program, reducing dollar liquidity in worldwide," writes our Matthew Boesler. The Turkish lira soared after a massive rate hike by Turkey's central bank on Tuesday, but later gave up its gains . Bitcoin has been pretty steady as of late . "Starting in October, Bitcoin began experiencing almost violent price swings, driven largely by a run-up — and just as soon, a free fall — in Chinese demand," explains our Rob Wile. " But Bitcoin price charts show volatility has seriously deflated in January. And that's despite numerous negative opinions on the digital currency from Malaysia , Russia , and the world's largest Nordic foreign currency trader — and despite the arrest this week of a major Bitcoin player ." Facebook reported Q4 2013 earnings after the bell. The company posted $2.59 billion in revenue and an EPS of $0.31, beating Wall Street expectations. Shares popped up 6% in after hours trading. DON'T MISS: Too Many Fires Burning — Why Emerging Markets Are Tanking » More From Business Insider STOCKS FALL AGAIN: Here's What You Need To Know STOCKS CRUMBLE, BONDS JUMP AFTER EMERGING MARKET ROUT: Here's What You Need To Know STOCKS DROPPED, BONDS JUMPED, THE ARGENTINE PESO GOT DESTROYED: Here's What You Need To Know

2014-01-29 22:32:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [81, 215, 321, 557, 703, 803, 975, 1084, 1108, 1337, 1450, 1599, 2193, 2529, 2605, 3331, 3625, 3697, 3954, 4044, 4180, 4193, 4238]}

{"Bitcoin": [13]}

The Emerging Bitcoin Civil War

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-bitcoin-civil-war-223242758.html

Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/

bitcoin civil war Mike Nudelman/Business Insider A civil war is emerging between Bitcoin's earliest and most libertarian adopters, and a more commercial wing seeking to embrace regulation as a means of legitimizing Bitcoin businesses. The divide came into focus this week with two key events events. One was a hearing on Bitcoin regulation by the New York Department Of Financial Services. The other was the arrest of BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem on money laundering charges. Until the moment of his arrest, Shrem, 24 had been something of a darling in the Bitcoin venture capital community — the Winklevoss brothers were one of BitInstant's earliest investors, and Shrem was scheduled to co-headline a Bitcoin conference in Miami this past weekend. But on the first day of hearings about the future of Bitcoin regulation convened this week by the New York Department of Financial Services, a panel of VCs were quick to disavow Shrem as an example of a more immature wing of Bitcoin. The Winklevoss twins said they were gratified the Department was discussing ways to help legitimize Bitcoin commerce. Their Bitcoin ETF is awaiting regulatory approval from the SEC. The division is not just about sheer dollar size. Appearing at the Tuesday hearing, Fred Wilson — whose Union Square Ventures spearheaded a $5 million investment round in Bitcoin wallet firm Coinbase warned against anything but the lightest-touch regulations. He compared the dangers Bitcoin startups would face to what happened to early-stage music streaming platforms, which were inundated with lawsuits from record labels. Should Bitcoin startups be subject to similar legal scrutiny from financial regulators, he said, they would be snuffed out before they even had a chance to bloom. Wilson's views were countered by no other than Fred Ehrsam, Coinbase's co-founder. He told DFS regulators Wednesday, "Although I love Fred Wilson, there's probably some minimal requirements and procedures that should be put in place if you're facilitating that kind of exchange." Story continues Perhaps it is not surprising that this ultra-libertarian faction was not represented at this week's hearings. But it could be seen at the NYC Bitcoin Center on Broad Street in Manhattan — where a follow-up cocktail party was held Tuesday to discuss "fallout" from the first day's hearing — and online, where this faction railed from afar against regulators. bitcoin regulation tweets Twitter These individuals may seem extreme, but, until recently, they represented the core of Bitcoin evangelism. But their influence seems to be fading. Barry Silbert's Bitcoin Investment Trust is now worth 10s of millions of dollars. In an email Wednesday, he said he agreed the crypto-anarchists who dominated the digital currencies earliest incarnations were getting left behind. "There are certainly a handful of folks that are hardcore libertarians (some anarchists) that believe that bitcoin should be completely unregulated, but I believe they are in the minority and, as a percentage of bitcoin believers, is shrinking very quickly. I respect their viewpoint, but unfortunately, don’t see how there vision is viable in today’s society." On Wednesday, New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said the greatest concern about digital currencies among law enforcement was anonymity. In a Bitcoin transaction, all transactions are essentially conducted between e-addresses that lack any kind of user identification. "The difficulty, when criminal activity is involved, is for investigators to identity how the money is moved where and for what purpose.," he said. But tinkering with Bitcoin's anonymity would seem to strike at the heart of another one of Bitcoin's core elements — as seen in the following Tweet: bitcoin regulation tweets Twitter But Jeremy Allaire, founder and CEO of Circle, a company that develops digital currency products, showed little concern that regulators could start scraping away at Bitcoin's anonymity element. Asked Tuesday on the panel whether new regulations affecting Bitcoin's anonymity would undermine the popularity of the currency, Allaire replied, "That depends on your definition of the essence of Bitcoin." As Bitcoin continues to emerge, this fight over Bitcoin's essence, and how much of a role government should play, will only get more intense. More From Business Insider This Is The Best Explanation We've Seen For Why All Of Atlanta Is Stuck In Traffic Budweiser's 'Puppy Love' Super Bowl Commercial Is Irresistibly Heartwarming Atlanta's Hell Commute Is Still Going On 26 Pictures From The Insane Traffic Jam That Has Atlanta Looking Like 'The Walking Dead' Four Tweets Show The Vast Misguided Freakout At This Year's Davos Conference

2014-01-30 19:23:12+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [4954]}

{}

5 Intriguing Things: Thursday, 1/30

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-intriguing-things-thursday-1-192312341.html

The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/

1. Someone died in the sixth century. More than 1,400 years later, a scientist discovers the body and sequences the DNA of the organism that killed the person . "Scientists have reconstructed the genetic code of a strain of bacteria that caused one of the most deadly pandemics in history nearly 1,500 years ago. They did it by finding the skeletons of people killed by the plague and extracting DNA from traces of blood inside their teeth. This plague struck in the year 541, under the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian, so it's usually called the Justinian plague . The emperor actually got sick himself but recovered. He was one of the lucky ones." 2. The story of THG, the steroid that brought down Barry Bonds, from the perspective of chemists . "A steroid called gestrinone , on the other hand, was commercially available. It was originally devised, in 1974, as a contraceptive steroid. It has an alkynyl group – containing a carbon-carbon triple bond – attached at carbon 17. Arnold realised that converting the alkyne group to an alkyl group would make gestrinone into a carbon-17 alkylated steroid, likely to have real anabolic properties. It would just require the addition of four hydrogen atoms to turn the gestrinone molecule into tetrahydrogestrinone. To a skilled organic chemist like Arnold, this was easy, it just needed the reaction of hydrogen gas in the presence of a catalyst, and it was turned into THG. Once this had been done, THG was ready to be used. It is the presence of the alkyl group at carbon-17 that enables it to make stronger van der Waals' contacts with the human androgenic receptor than do the other steroids, and that is why it has such strong androgenic properties, as well as its anabolic effects." 3. An arch interpretation of what On the Road was about . " The exact and approximate spots Kerouac traveled and described are taken from the book and parsed by Google Direction Service API. The result is a huge direction instruction of 45 pages. The chapters match the ones of the original book." Story continues Media Archaeology Lab 4. Lori Emerson's Media Archaeology Lab at UC Boulder . "T he MAL – which is the largest of its kind in North America – is a place for cross-disciplinary experimental research and teaching using obsolete tools, hardware, software and platforms, from the past. The MAL is propelled equally by the need to both preserve and maintain access to historically important media of all kinds – from magic lanterns, projectors, typewriters to personal computers from the 1970s through the 1990s – as well as early works of digital literature/art which were created on the outdated hardware/software housed in the lab." + Emerson highlighted the book Artyping , which became the springboard for my romp through typewriter art history . (Which is also the reason your newsletter is late.) 5. The Facebook page "Dont Touch My Hair, Face, or Phone" accumulated 8 million likes flogging the idea people shouldn't touch your hair, face, or phone. Now, it appears to be operated by a London online retailer. What happened? "And for most of July, the page left hair, face and phone unguarded while commencing on an Awesome Inventions shopping frenzy — “Water Fountain Sink! LED Slippers! Message In A Bottle USB! Superman Ice Cubes!!” But rather than flagging these posts as spam, a sizable number of the page’s followers accepted the new direction, tagging their friends and sharing each post. A post touting a “ Mug with Biscuit Pocket! “, for example, garnered 5,565 likes. Yesterday’s New York Times obit of Pete Seeger, by comparison, earned just shy of 1,700 likes . Building this sort of audience through Facebook ads would cost a fortune, far beyond the budget of a modest online store. Enter the black market. Popular Facebook pages can be sold in a fairly simple process. The original page administrator receives payment off the Facebook platform and in exchange, adds the buyer as an admin on the page. With admin privileges, the buyer is able to post whatever they’d like, leaving the original audience none the wiser. On forums like Black Hat World , Facebook pages are openly bought and sold. Sites like FameSwap are even more shameless about it, offering potential buyers a choice of subject area and more detailed statistics to guide their purchase. Sometimes buyers don’t use an external site at all, opting to simply reach out to a page’s admin to make an offer." Today's 1957 English Language Tip: anagram. (Lit.): 'rewriting.' A shuffling of the letters of a word or phrase resulting in a significant combination. Bunyan tells his readers that John Bunyan anagram'd makes nu hony in a B (new honey in a bee). Anagrammatize(d) is the usual verb, but the now obs. anagram'd is less cumbersome. By this logic, Instagrammatize would have been the most likely verb, if the app had come out in 1957. Subscribe to 5 Intriguing Things A Modern Magic Lantern More From The Atlantic Bitcoin Is Broken—Here's a Simple Plan to Fix It Obamacare Is Going to Make Americans a Little Lazier—So What? The State of Emerging Markets: Up, Down, and Up—But Still Moving Forward

2014-01-30 20:44:45+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [38, 164, 311, 579, 652, 1092, 1307, 1374, 1591, 1907, 2256, 2334, 2664, 2963, 3278, 3436, 3654, 3869, 4226, 4467, 4552, 4651, 4704, 5492, 5688, 6069, 6092]}

{"Bitcoin": [9]}

To grow, Bitcoin may need to shed its world of intrigue

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/grow-bitcoin-may-shed-world-204445473.html

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/

By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bitcoin enthusiasts were buzzing about the arrest of a high-profile promoter of the digital currency at Monday night's weekly Bitcoin trading session in Manhattan's financial district. Charlie Shrem's detention on money laundering charges the day before shocked New York's Bitcoin community, which meets in a small conference room to trade the currency. It is contemplating the end of a world of intrigue away from the watchful eyes of police and regulators. "Charlie's a good kid, and he serves good drinks," said Jacob Dienelt, who trades Bitcoins himself. Shrem, 24, partly owns a bar in Manhattan that accepts Bitcoins as payment. Dienelt was acting as an unofficial spokesman for a community that has come under intense scrutiny as authorities crack down on illegal activity carried out using the currency. Dienelt said he wanted the world to know Shrem, who was charged on Monday with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating a money changing business without a license, was not a bad person. Shrem, who resigned as vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation after his arrest, is presumed innocent, his lawyer Keith Miller said on Monday. One thing is clear, though, after a week that included not only Shrem's arrest but also two days of testimony about Bitcoin regulation to a panel of financial regulators in New York: Bitcoin users are finding that their freewheeling ways are no longer acceptable. Tighter controls will undermine the anonymity that had been a major attraction of the digital currency. The pressure is on promoters of Bitcoins, which are not backed by a government or central bank and whose value fluctuates according to demand, to either comply with the demands of the police and regulators or face prosecution. The authorities are not only swooping down when they suspect criminal activity but regulators also want to set rules for Bitcoin entrepreneurs in the same way they police banks and others in the traditional financial system. In particular, they are demanding reporting of any suspicious transactions. New York's top financial regulator on Tuesday even raised the idea of creating a "BitLicense" - rather like a banking license - for those who provide marketplaces where Bitcoins can be exchanged for dollars and other currencies. SILK ROAD The old Bitcoin world spawned people such as 29-year-old Ross Ulbricht, who was charged in October with counts relating to drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking. Prosecutors accused Ulbricht of involvement in the anonymous Internet marketplace Silk Road, which they said sold drugs and criminal services in exchange for Bitcoins. Ulbricht has maintained his innocence through statements by his lawyer. Story continues It was the world in which Shrem, a computer whiz from Brooklyn's Syrian Jewish community, rocketed to prominence as a wealthy businessman, with a bitcoin trading platform and the bar to his name. Now, Bitcoin exchanges will likely have to team up with traditional banks or at least imitate some of their anti-money laundering practices, keeping meticulous records of customer identities and report any suspicious activity to regulators. Law enforcement officials have already shown they can attach real names to the Bitcoin addresses of suspected criminals, which means the digital currency is no longer a cloak for some to hide behind. The loss of much of the anonymity of Bitcoin trading may diminish its appeal before it has the chance to get traction with larger numbers of potential users, some experts say. "With a fluctuating price driven by speculators and an uncertain legal regime, Bitcoin's viability as a consumer currency is still up in the air," said Matthew Rhoades, director of the cyberspace & security program at the Truman Project and Center for National Policy. Certainly, the strongest Bitcoin supporters say there are still plenty of attractions despite the changes, including the speed of transactions and lack of centralized control. They are banking on mass adoption of the currency to smooth out awkwardness created by its wild price fluctuations and unwieldy technology. They say if the majority of businesses can be convinced to accept Bitcoins there will be less need to exchange them for mainstream currencies, and less interaction with the authorities. "I think regulation will actually normalize the whole thing," said James Barcia, the communications director for the NYC Bitcoin Center, which hosts the weekly trading sessions. Some of the most successful Bitcoin entrepreneurs say there is no choice but to work with governments and traditional banks if Bitcoin is to grow. Fred Ehrsam, a co-founder of the Bitcoin trading platform Coinbase, said his company took a position early on that it would not fight regulators. Regulators have cited it as an example of how others should behave. "The whole reason we have such confidence in our company is that from the start we said this has got to be something that plays nicely with the traditional financial world," Ehrsam said in an interview. Coinbase quickly hired Silicon Valley's top compliance experts, luring away the online payment system PayPal's (NSQ:EBAY) chief compliance officer and also hiring lawyers with extensive Silicon Valley experience. One of their main points of focus is the "know your customer" rule, which puts the onus on financial services providers to make sure they are not doing business with criminals. To follow it, Bitcoin businesses are going to have to collect some information about who their customers are and how they are using their funds. "We've seen a change in the types of people who are attracted to Bitcoin over the last few years," said Jeremy Liew, a venture capitalist who invests in businesses dealing in the digital currency, in testimony to officials from New York's Financial Services Department. Liew said criminals and people with strong political opposition to governments were among the currency's earliest adopters but were not the people he saw as being good for the Bitcoin business. "The Bitcoin community is moving in the direction of greater legitimacy," he said. (Reporting By Emily Flitter; Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Martin Howell and Grant McCool) View comments

2014-01-30 20:45:35+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [0, 220, 913, 1253, 1395, 1716, 2411, 2590]}

{"Bitcoin": [50]}

Popular Finance App Mint Now Lets You Manage Your Bitcoin Billions

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/popular-finance-app-mint-now-lets-you-manage-your-75000324042.html

Yahoo Tech

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/

Bitcoin Keeping tabs on your bitcoins just got a little bit easier — and a little bit more mainstream, too. The personal finance app Mint announced a new feature Thursday that allows people to monitor the value of their Bitcoin investments alongside other personal financial information. It’s the first personal finance service that allows users to view and track the value of the bitcoin in real time. And it could be another step toward validation for the controversial “cryptocurrency.” Some context: Mint is a handy service that allows people to track their wealth (or lack thereof). You register your bank information with the app and, in turn, Mint automatically categorizes your transactions — charting spending history and notifying you when you go over budget in certain categories. It’s helpful for saving up for big purchases, tracking investments and being an all-around more responsible human being. Bitcoin, meanwhile, is a new kind of digital currency that’s intended to make online transactions more efficient and less costly than what banks offer now. (My colleague Rob Pegoraro offers a more thoughtful explanation of it here ). A lot of people have questioned its validity. Last year, Vanity Fair’s Kurt Eichenwald predicted that the Bitcoin bubble would pop, calling its market “a fantasy.” Just last month, the New York Times’ Paul Krugman called it “evil.” Still, however, Bitcoin has increased in both popularity and value over the past several months, entering both the public consciousness and the coffers of more mainstream retailers, some of which have begun to accept bitcoins as currency. So what, exactly, does this union of financial tools mean? Well, for one thing, it signifies that Bitcoin is continuing its growth, having gotten another big company like Mint to take notice. “As it’s become more of a legitimate currency, we’ve integrated it into the app,” Vince Maniago, group product manager at Mint.com, told Yahoo Tech earlier this week. “One trend we’ve noticed is lots of people speculating by buying just one bitcoin. This feature allows you to track it similar to how you track your 401(k) or investments.” Story continues Mint partnered with Coinbase, a money services firm that aids in securely buying, using and accepting bitcoins, to create the feature. Coinbase is legally approved by all 50 states to transmit money and currently supports about 834,000 consumer Bitcoin wallets. The new addition to the Mint app was tested out with users of Reddit in the few weeks prior to today’s launch. Now, Redditor or not, you’ll be able to track your Bitcoin investment with Mint. You can download the app from Mint’s website . Yahoo Tech is a brand new tech site from David Pogue and an all-star team of writers. Follow us on Facebook for all the latest.

2014-01-30 21:40:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [164, 236, 1165, 1446, 1627, 1833, 1907, 2219, 2603, 2964, 4161, 4430, 4636, 5342, 5497, 5666, 6172, 6278, 6375]}

{"Bitcoin": [41]}

At Regulatory Hearing, Prosecutors Admit Bitcoin Is a Technological Breakthrough

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/regulatory-hearing-prosecutors-admit-bitcoin-214000913.html

Entrepreneur

http://www.entrepreneur.com/

In the course of testifying before members of the New York State Department of Financial Services on Wednesday, two government prosecutors as much as admitted that Bitcoin represents a technological breakthrough and perhaps is, as many Bitcoin proponents have long argued, a better form of money than any that had previously existed. You had to listen closely to hear it. When asked by state financial services superintendent Benjamin Lawsky whether virtual currencies are qualitatively different from other technologies, such as prepaid "burner" mobile phones, that criminals might use to further their illegal activities, Cyrus Vance, district attorney of New York County, said they are. "I think there is a qualitative difference, and that is that we have seen the digital currencies becoming part of the mainstream currency market and financial transactions market," Vance said. Misuse of digital currencies in a world without adequate regulation, therefore, could open a door "into financial transactions around the world," he added. His fellow panelist, Richard Zabel, a deputy U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, agreed, saying that some of Bitcoin's "intrinsic qualities make it need to be treated differently, even though in essence it is trying to be treated like cash." Although the prosecutors admitted that digital currencies are not specifically designed to facilitate criminal activity, their overall depiction of Bitcoin and its digital alternatives was far less rosy than the one painted by investors and entrepreneurs. Of course, some of the features they singled out as potential dangers -- Bitcoin's "combination of anonymity and ease of movement," for instance -- are the same features that have attracted many users in the first place. Related: More Major Retailers Are Getting Ready to Accept Bitcoin "Regulators are understandably concerned about the anonymity that Bitcoin transactions may offer," says Alex Rozman, a senior manager at Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP who consults on anti-money laundering programs. "But there are existing regulations currently applicable to money services businesses and money transmitters that regulators could leverage for Bitcoin use. The challenge is to implement suitable regulations balancing the interests of commerce and technological innovation with the need to prevent funding for illegal activities." Story continues 'Enhanced due diligence' Vance and Zabel spoke on the second day of hearings organized by New York state's top banking regulator to discuss whether and how cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin should be handled. The first day's panelists, many of whom were investors in digital currencies or related startups, tended to express the view that existing regulations, tweaked to apply to digital-currency businesses, would be sufficient to police this emerging ecosystem. By contrast, Vance and Zabel urged regulators to issue tighter guidelines for Bitcoin businesses. At minimum, said Vance, digital currency exchanges should be required to perform "enhanced due diligence with respect to their customers' identities." That would mean storing customers' names, addresses, and information about their businesses in addition to maintaining transaction records. They would also need to ensure that each digital wallet used by a customer truly belonged to its purported owner. Finally, exchanges should be required to register as money transmitters, a legally defined business category with certain barriers to entry. Zabel went even further, saying anyone or anything -- like an ATM -- that accepts cash and converts it into bitcoins should be regulated. The same goes for merchants who accept digital currencies as payment, as large retailers like Overstock and TigerDirect now do. Although high-profile arrests have been made, most of the people who conducted illegal business with online black market Silk Road and with Liberty Reserve, a money-laundering operation, both of which required the use of virtual currencies, are still at large, Zabel said. Vance was equally skeptical that existing laws are enough to pursue all the bad actors in a Bitcoin world. "Virtual currency is a relatively recent phenomenon, and I certainly don't think that the fact that we have made significant cases and arrests in this arena means it's all under control," he said. "It's not." Related: Cameron Winklevoss: A 'Sheriff' for Bitcoin's Wild West Is a Good Thing But another lawyer, Judith Rinearson, a partner at Bryan Cave, testified on the first day of hearings that there is at least one precedent for the free-for-all nature of Bitcoin. Prepaid debit cards were once described as "candy for criminals," she said, and the regulatory landscape was characterized as a "Wild West," just like that of digital currencies today. In the 1990s, the Federal Reserve Board considered regulation that would have greatly restricted prepaid cards, but instead it held off and states simply adapted existing money transmitter laws to the new financial instrument. "The framework is already there to license these kinds of businesses," Rinearson told Entrepreneur.com in an interview. "I would urge that any regulation be done with a light hand and with a lot of care not to stifle this important, nascent industry." Entrepreneurs rush in Meanwhile, Bitcoin startups aren't waiting for regulation in order to act. Mint, a personal finance app created by Intuit, announced today that it is partnering with Bitcoin wallet and exchange service Coinbase to give users who hold bitcoins a more complete picture of their financial life. Mint's 14 million users can now view their Bitcoin holdings alongside traditional bank and investment accounts. In a statement, a Mint representative said the new feature "better serves consumers' changing financial needs." Mint is the first money management tool to integrate a digital currency into its service. Its partner, Coinbase, which is located in San Francisco, hosts more than 870,000 consumer wallets, more than the number of customer accounts at many mid-sized banks, according to a release. Related: These Angel Investors Want to Make Bitcoin 'Sexy' for Average People More From Entrepreneur More Major Retailers Are Getting Ready to Accept Bitcoin Government Shuts Down 11-Year-Old's Cupcake Business Cameron Winklevoss: A 'Sheriff' for Bitcoin's Wild West Is a Good Thing

2014-01-30 21:44:05+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [2670]}

{}

Forgotify: The Tool for Discovering Spotify's 4 Million Unheard Tracks

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forgotify-tool-discovering-spotifys-4-214405391.html

The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/

flattop341/Flickr The idea first came to Lane Jordan when he heard an odd little fact: Around 20 percent of tracks on Spotify — some four million songs —had been played exactly zero times. Four million songs! That got Jordan thinking. What were those songs? And don't they, too, deserve a little listening? Jordan brought the idea to his friend, J Hausmann, and together, along with the help of a third friend ( Nate Gagnon) , they built Forgotify , a discovery engine for Spotify's unplayed tracks. Forgotify is built upon a database that the trio created to crawl Spotify's API for pieces with a play count of zero. Once a song has been played, it disappears from the site, rendering it oddly reminiscent of an old, archival audio cassette which, once played, may never play again. Playing it destroys it. (Except, of course, in the case of Forgotify, the songs still live on in Spotify proper.) The catalog of zero-play songs is, unsurprisingly —definitionally, perhaps—obscure. I've been listening to it for the past few hours, and its finds have been ... eclectic, with a few hits mixed in with lots of misses. There's been operatic French modernist music, instrumental church hymns, one bit of Tchaikovsky (something of a reprieve), a country ballad sung by a New Zealander during a brief Nashville sojourn, Greek rebetiko , and a Norwegian religious folk melody played on a recorder (the clear winner, in my book). One of Forgotify's recent picks for me (Forgotify) According to Jordan, a lot of Spotify's undiscovered tracks are older : Newer music tends to get at least a few plays as it posts, but the backlog from decades past just sits on Spotify's digital shelves, accumulating dust. Forgotify, however, is built to mix it up. "W e’ve tried to randomize the plays as much as possible so that each sequential track is from a different era and genre," Jordan told me. While the randomness certainly kept things interesting, I can't say that Forgotify was among the more enjoyable listening experiences I've had. And that's perhaps to be expected: " Some have said that there's a reason those tracks have not been played, and I tend to agree," Jordan says. Story continues But at the same time, there was a sort of thrill in knowing that I was listening to something very new —not new in terms of being recent, but in terms of being unknown. (Of course, people may be listening to that Greek rebetiko tune at home on their LPs, for all I know, or even on another service like Rdio—but, still, pretty unknown.) And, as Jordan says, " if you stumble upon just one gem, I think it's worth it." More From The Atlantic The 1 Thing Everybody Got Wrong About Twitter Bitcoin Is Broken—Here's a Simple Plan to Fix It Obamacare Is Going to Make Americans a Little Lazier—So What?

2014-01-31 12:00:00+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [125, 2184, 2212]}

{"Bitcoin": [76]}

Grand Pacaraima Gold Corp (PINKSHEETS: BITCF) (Pending Name Change to First Bitcoin Capital Corp.) Announces Appointment of Top Financial Mathematician Dr. Vyacheslav M. Abramov as Chairman of Advisory Board

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/grand-pacaraima-gold-corp-pinksheets-120000552.html

Marketwired

http://www.marketwired.com/

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - Jan 31, 2014) - Grand Pacaraima Gold Corp ( PINKSHEETS : BITCF ) (pending name change to First Bitcoin Capital Corp.) is pleased to announce the appointment of leading financial mathematician Dr. Vyacheslav M. Abramov, PHD to its advisory board. Dr. Abramov holds a PHD in mathematics from Tel Aviv University with more than 30 years of unparalleled experience as a financial statistician, software engineer, algorithm and computer database developer. In addition to being invited to speak at several international science and technology conferences and symposiums, he has also lectured at some of the top technological institutes around the world including Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, City University of Hong Kong, the University of Melbourne, Monash University in Australia and others on topics such as time series analysis, financial mathematics, differential equations and probability and statistics. Dr. Abramov is a published author and has written reports and reviews in many of international mathematical and statistical journals including a review on operations research and management science for the e-book "Queuing Networks: A fundamental approach." Dr. Abramov is highly skilled in predicting financial markets and crypto-currency fluctuations and shared his opinion in the Asia Pacific Financial Markets journal with a review on "Estimation and Prediction of a Non-constant Volatility." He also served as an associate editor for the International Journal of Statistics and Probability and he was a member of the editorial board for the Chinese Journal of Mathematics' mathematical analysis section. "We are thrilled and honored that Dr. Abramov has agreed to join our advisory board as Chairman," the company said. "His level of mathematical financial expertise is parallel to none and we are looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship. He became involved in crypto-currency concepts and will apply his in-depth mathematical knowledge to take the company to the next level." Story continues Dr. Abramov will also identify the direction of crypto-currency development and provide advice on the acquisition of Bitcoin start-ups and other Bitcoin-related businesses. The company is currently in negotiations with a number of other experts in the financial field on crypto-algorithm development to come on board as advisors. About the company: Grand Pacaraima Gold Corp. is a developing Canadian-based mining company currently holding concessions of Gold in Venezuela and is preparing to enter the crypto-currency industry. SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release includes various "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which represent the Company's expectations or beliefs concerning future events. Statements containing expressions such as "believes," "anticipates," "intends," or "expects," used in the Company's press releases and in Disclosure Statements and Reports filed with the Over the Counter Markets through the OTC Disclosure and News Service are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes its expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions within the bounds of its knowledge of its business and operations, there can be no assurances that actual results will not differ materially from expected results. The Company cautions that these and similar statements included in this report are further qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof.

2014-01-31 13:35:33+00:00

{"Bitcoin": [1608, 1921]}

{}

Hack alert: Change your Yahoo Mail password right now

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hack-alert-change-yahoo-mail-password-now-133533509.html

BGR News

http://www.bgr.com/

Yahoo on Thursday announced yet another hacking attempt, advising Yahoo Mail users to change their passwords if prompted to do so. “Security attacks are unfortunately becoming a more regular occurrence, Yahoo wrote on its official Tumblr blog. Recently, we identified a coordinated effort to gain unauthorized access to Yahoo Mail accounts. Upon discovery, we took immediate action to protect our users, prompting them to reset passwords on impacted accounts.” Users whose accounts’ passwords have not been reset are probably safe, but it may be a good measure to change passwords every once in a while anyway – you should make sure not to use weak passwords that are easy to guess , though. Yahoo did not reveal how many accounts may have been compromised or what exactly happened but said that there’s no evidence the compromised accounts were used obtained directly from Yahoo. Instead, hackers may have collected them from a third-party database that was compromised. The company is working with federal law enforcement to find the perpetrators. “Our ongoing investigation shows that malicious computer software used the list of usernames and passwords to access Yahoo Mail accounts.” Yahoo wrote. “The information sought in the attack seems to be names and email addresses from the affected accounts’ most recent sent emails.” This is the second time Yahoo acknowledges a hack that can potentially affect its customers in a matter of weeks. In early January, it was revealed that hackers managed to compromise its ad network to deliver malware to unsuspecting Yahoo users for various purposes including Bitcoin mining . It’s not clear whether the two incidents are related or not. More from BGR: The iPhone 6 will apparently have a nearly unbreakable screen This article was originally published on BGR.com Related stories Yahoo ad malware attack far greater than anticipated Yahoo ad malware hijacked computers for Bitcoin mining Mayer on mail issues: Yahoo 'really let you down this week'