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US Military thinks Bitcoin is Dangerous — Circle Opens Up — Philippines and Sweden Bitcoin – Video

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US Military thinks Bitcoin is Dangerous -- Circle Opens Up -- Philippines and Sweden Bitcoin
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US Military thinks Bitcoin is Dangerous -- Circle Opens Up -- Philippines and Sweden Bitcoin - Video

Coinbase Leads Move to Bring Bitcoin to Masses

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Fred Ehrsam, left, and Brian Armstrong, co-founders of the bitcoin brokerage Coinbase.

Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam certainly look like the kind of guys who could help bitcoin recover from its wild years.

They are tall and textbook fit, and as poised as Swiss bankers -- Vulcan Swiss bankers. Armstrong, 31 and a former software engineer at Airbnb Inc., shaves his head. Ehrsam, 26 and a former foreign-exchange trader at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), keeps his hair short and very much in place. When they discuss bitcoin, they rarely smile. Do not try to make them laugh.

Their seriousness is understandable, Bloomberg Markets magazine will report in its November 2014 issue. Armstrong and Ehrsam are the founders of a startup called Coinbase Inc., whose mission is to convince everyone that bitcoin isnt an Internet scam or a libertarian plot against the government or a digital version of goldbuggery, as various skeptics have it. Rather, its the best thing to happen to money since the Lydians started minting coins sometime in the seventh century B.C.

More from the November issue of Bloomberg Markets:

Coinbase isnt a bank -- technically, its a brokerage -- but in important respects it behaves like one. Customers open accounts, through which they buy bitcoins for dollars. Coinbase holds the bitcoins. Customers spend them using a computer or a smartphone application. Coinbase makes money by charging a 1 percent fee for exchanging dollars and bitcoins. All other transactions are free.

Adam Draper, founder of the accelerator program Boost VC. Draper wants to help launch 100 bitcoin-focused companies. Close

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Adam Draper, founder of the accelerator program Boost VC. Draper wants to help launch 100 bitcoin-focused companies.

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Coinbase Leads Move to Bring Bitcoin to Masses

Whats a Bitcoin Look Like? Popular Photograph Has Story

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Bitcoin is digital, yet this image showing physical bitcoins ranks as the most popular photograph of the virtual currency on Gettyimages.com.

Dollars, euros and pounds are easy to visualize: Theyre physical objects. Being digital, bitcoins arent tangible -- which has become a boon for George Frey.

Ive sort of cornered the market on bitcoin photos, the Provo, Utahbased photographer says in the November issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine.

More from the November issue of Bloomberg Markets:

Indeed, dozens of media outlets, including Bloomberg News, have published Freys pictures. The image used here -- dated April 26, 2013 -- happens to rank as the most popular bitcoin photograph on Gettyimages.com. But if a bitcoin isnt a physical object, what exactly are we looking at in Freys photographs?

Theyre called Casascius bitcoins, and they were minted, in a variety of metals, by software engineer Mike Caldwell at his home in Sandy, Utah. An early bitcoin adopter, Caldwell wanted to help popularize the cryptocurrency -- but he, too, grappled with its intangibility.

No one is going to get this if I cant show them something, Caldwell remembers thinking.

So in September 2011, he began making physical coins as vessels. Inside of each, he embedded a piece of paper that contained a bitcoin private key, which he protected with a tamper-resistant hologram sticker. As for the word casascius, it was half acronym (derived from the phrase call a spade a spade), half Latin-sounding suffix (cius).

As of Nov. 27, 2013, however, Caldwell no longer includes digital bitcoins in his physical bitcoins. A letter from the U.S. Treasury Departments Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, stopped him in his tracks: FinCEN considered his activity to be money transmitting and informed him that he lacked the necessary license.

Since then, Caldwell has sold only aluminum promo coins via his website, Casascius.com. A bag of 500 costs 0.39 bitcoin -- about $150, as of yesterday. All told, Caldwell minted about 60,000 Casascius bitcoins. Bitcoin enthusiasts consider them collectibles -- especially the earliest ones, which have fetched as much as $2,500 each on EBay because of a typo in the hologram.

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Whats a Bitcoin Look Like? Popular Photograph Has Story

Bitcoin converter Circle opens to the public worldwide

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The company's service allows consumers to swap established currencies for the digital kind without the speculating inherent in trading exchanges.

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Circle, a startup focused on enabling average folks to convert hard currencies into the digital kind, has officially launched across the globe.

The Bitcoin-focused service, which was available only in testing over the past year, is now open to the public worldwide in seven languages, including English, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish, Circle announced Monday. The company's language support means it can accommodate 40 percent of the world's population, Circle said.

Circle was founded in 2013 and emerged from stealth mode earlier this year. Its service is designed to offer the average consumer confidence in the Bitcoin platform. Circle argues that its service will be the first to make Bitcoin mainstream.

"Our goal is to make it easy for consumers to deposit and convert currency into a digital form that they can then use globally and instantly, not offer a trading exchange where they can bet on a speculative asset," Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire wrote in a blog post earlier this year.

The fact that Circle is not a trading exchange is what sets it apart from many other Bitcoin services on the Web. Circle does not operate by offering users the option to buy into the cryptocurrency at a specific rate with hopes of trading it for more. Instead, the company simply provides a service in which users can deposit local currency in return for Bitcoin. Upon withdrawal, Bitcoin is converted to local currency. No fees are incurred for the service.

Circle's launch comes at an important time for Bitcoin. The digital currency has become an acceptable option for payment for online goods on several websites, including tech retailer NewEgg. In addition, some governments are starting to warm to the idea of accepting Bitcoin, with the US Federal Election Commission saying last spring that it would allow political action committees to accept donations in Bitcoin. Still, there is no official government consensus on Bitcoin. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has said consumers shouldn't be so quick to trust Bitcoin.

There's also the issue of Mt. Gox. Last year, the exchange, which was the world's largest at the time, was hacked, allowing attackers to steal hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. Most of that has not been recovered and many users were burned by the hack.

In addition to announcing the international launch, Circle is trying to allay some security fears by offering insurance. In the event of theft, 100 percent of a user's Bitcoin deposit value will be covered by the insurance.

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Bitcoin converter Circle opens to the public worldwide

Bitcoin Looks More Like A "Real" Currency Every Day

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Opponents of Bitcoin, including governments, both Federal and State here in the U.S., and national governments elsewhere, face a dilemma. They disparage the crypto-currency by claiming that it is not a currency at all, just some artificial creation without worth, but this assertion presents them with a problem. If Bitcoin is not a currency and has no intrinsic value, how do you regulate it and, more tellingly, how do you enforce those regulations?

I discussed last week why I believe attempts to ban virtual currencies are not just fundamentally mistaken but also futile. That leaves governments in a situation of having to regulate the trading and use of them if they are to exert any control whatsoever. I am not one of those who believe that government involvement in anything is intrinsically evil or dangerous, and that any level of control and regulation is therefore, by definition, undesirable. I can accept that the motivation of some may be noble.

The financial world is littered with examples of fraud and theft and governments have a duty to protect, so some legally enshrined protection is probably warranted. That protection can only come, though, once governments make it clear that Bitcoin is a currency, not some crazy speculative game. To be fair, most countries around the world seem to be doing just that. Most of the published verdicts of governments around the world take the form that they do not regard Bitcoin as legal tender, but they recognize its status as a currency. Incidentally, the whole legal tender thing can be misleading to some. That a currency is not legal tender doesnt make it worthless; it simply means that merchants are not obliged to accept it in payment.

In the U.S. there has been little in the way of direct government definition, but the courts are leading the way. Court documents from the recent SEC vs. Trendon Shavers case resulting from a Bitcoin Ponzi scheme included Judge Amos L Mazzants assertion that Bitcoin is a currency or a form of money Apart from the somewhat cynical observation that having its own Ponzi scheme is a definite sign that Bitcoin is gaining ground, this judges assertion and other similar comments from the bench are significant. If courts treat Bitcoin as a currency, then the Federal government has little choice but to follow suit. As more and more countries around the world reach the same conclusion, often no doubt motivated by the desire to tax rather than protect their citizens, it becomes harder for the outliers to deny the legitimacy of Bitcoin.

Governments, then, and even some individuals, are being forced to accept that Bitcoin is, at least, a currency. That process will presumably be expedited by the announcement that Circle, touted as the first Bitcoin bank, is opening up to a global customer base. That is interesting and a banking system adds to the acceptance of crypto-currencies as just currencies, but the real news is that Bitcoin balances will be 100% insured. Some still have doubts about the security of a virtual currency and this re-assurance for them is welcome news.

I have maintained for a while that greater acceptance for Bitcoin is inevitable and that one of the first steps towards that is the general recognition that it is a currency just like any other. Now that it is clear that people can be defrauded of it (and the fraudsters punished) and that governments, bankers and insurance companies can all get in on the action, that recognition is looking closer every day.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

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Bitcoin Looks More Like A "Real" Currency Every Day

035 CreativeCommons+Bitcoin bit dick or even STEAL SOUL if u don’t OBEY Crypto Kitty – Video

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035 CreativeCommons+Bitcoin bit dick or even STEAL SOUL if u don't OBEY Crypto Kitty - Video

Circle Debuts Bitcoin Accounts for Mainstream Users

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Photographer: George Frey/Getty Images.

Circle Internet Financial Ltd. introduced its online accounts for sending, receiving and storing bitcoins, seeking to make it easier for consumers to use the virtual currency.

The Boston-based startup, which has raised $26 million in funding to date, has been testing the service for several months, said Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Allaire.

Bitcoin has gained some traction, with an more than 75,000 businesses accepting the digital money, including Dell Inc., Dish Networks Corp. and Expedia Inc. With Circle, Allaire is betting that more consumers will be willing to invest, and pay for goods and services using bitcoin, making it more of a mainstream payment system.

Circle is designed for new users who are coming into this world, Allaire said in an interview. We introduced a product thats free to use. Weve created something thats easier to use, better economically.

Circle, which will be available globally, will compete with offerings from other startups, such as Coinbase Inc. and Blockchain.info. U.S. customers will be able to link a bank account to their Circle wallets, where they can store bitcoins for use in transactions or as an investment. The service also lets users use credit cards to make deposits and withdrawals. Both U.S. and international users holdings are fully insured from theft, Allaire said.

So far, most bitcoin users have been technophiles who download complex software to use the virtual currency and spend days waiting for transactions to go through. Allaire anticipates that Circle will appeal to young people, and the company is focused on expanding its reach onto various college campuses, he said.

Circle is available in seven languages, including Spanish and Chinese. The site will automatically display peoples account balances in their local currency. Circle is also developing new iOS and Android applications, which will make the service accessible via mobile devices.

As it works to ramps up operations, Circle plans to expand the number of full-time employees to 50 people by the end of the year, up from the current 35, Allaire said. The company may seek more capital next year, he said.

The startups investors include Breyer Capital, Accel Partners, Oak Investment Partners and Pantera Capital, a San Francisco-based hedge fund that is investing in both Bitcoins and Bitcoin-related businesses.

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Circle Debuts Bitcoin Accounts for Mainstream Users

TXTPay to revolutionize Bitcoin payments in the Philippines

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Because Bitcoin is a digital currency one could be mistaken for assuming its only useful in technologically advanced countries. But if anything, it could be that third-world countries which rely on remittances from migrant workers will be among the first to see widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies.

Take for instance the Philippines, a country plagued with corrupt politicians, insane traffic jams, floods, and sometimes unbearable heat and humidity. Who would have guessed that its now attracting foreign Bitcoin investors and local Bitcoin innovators are now making their mark in the digital world?

Satoshi Citadel Industries Inc. is a venture capital firm focusing on funding Bitcoin startups in the Philippines. It currently has six verticals, Bitmarket.ph, Coinage, Rebit, Bitstars, Prepaidbitcoin.ph, and Bills Ninja, that are bringing Bitcoin closer to the masses as well as making it easier to use and acquire.

Of the said verticals, Bitmarket.ph is making headway in making Bitcoin accessible to small merchants with its recently introduced service TXTPay. In a country where almost everyone you see in the streets has some form of a mobile device in their hands, its easy to get peoples attention when you put the word text in your products title. Texting is a normal activity for Filipinos, especially when telecommunication companies offer unlimited texting for 24 hours, to all networks, for only about $0.22. So when you tell someone you can pay for things just by texting, people are sure to be curious.

There are less than 100 online and brick-and-mortar retailers in the Philippines that accept Bitcoin payments at the moment, but with TXTPay that may soon change as it will allow small stores in the remotest areas to start accepting Bitcoin easily.

Unlike other merchant-friendly Bitcoin services, TXTPay doesnt require an Internet connection, a smartphone or even a special tablet as it appeals to sari-sari stores or small convenience stores found in side streets that are not likely to have Internet connections.

Making a payment is as easy as sending a message to someone after the merchant has signed up for Bitmarkets services.. The Merchant simply sends a text message to Bitmarkets number, 29290724, which contains the price in Philippine pesos and a note or the name of the item, for instance 300 Load in the Philippines, when you hear the term load, it usually refers to prepaid credit on their mobile device.

Bitmarket then replies with the real-time BTC conversion of the items price, in this example, that would be about 0.02 BTC. The BTC amount is relayed to the customer who then scans the merchants QR code which may be displayed in the store in form of a poster so the customer can pay for the item using BTCs in his or her Bitcoin wallet. Bitmarket then sends the merchant a confirmation text that the payment has been made.

This solves a lot of dilemmas for sari-sari store owners, such as not having enough change on hand when a customer pays with large bills; they are less likely to be targets for thieves since they will have less cash stored on premises, and it beats using credit/debit card readers which may go offline at any given time.

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TXTPay to revolutionize Bitcoin payments in the Philippines


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