The Winklevii launched WinkDex, NASCAR’s Alex Bowman wants to bring a Bitcoin sponsored car to the circuit and NY says get permission or get out. Just another week in the life of Bitcoin (who has a new competitor too).
PYMNTS.com Bitcoin Price and Volatility index.
Follow 303 Cryptocurrencies here: http://coinmarketcap.com/ .
Bitcoin Tracker | Week 33
Turns out Market Platform Dynamic’s David Evans isn’t the only bitcoin disbeliever. Bloomberg Businessweek had a group of illustrious bitcoin disbelievers on a June 24th segment about the future of bitcoin. They haven’t been drinking that bitcoin Kool Aid. Check out the discussion here and don’t miss a clip where Bloomberg interviewed David Evans about his views on if bitcoin could help transform financial services in developing countries, like MPESA has for Kenya. His view – how is bitcoin going to help someone who needs cold hard cash to buy stuff in their villages? It doesn’t.
A lot of people were totally bummed not to have the chance to bid on bitcoins.com this week. A court order stopped the auction which was expected to fetch at least $750k. A new crypto currency launched this week, Ethereum founded by Vitalik Buterin, a former college student who presented at PYMNTS.com Innovation Project 2015 last year. Its coin, the ether, is said to be neither a currency or an investment but a token that is useful for paying people in a trusted way. It’s not even available yet but $7 million have already been sold. Confused?
Bitcoin is back below $600, but barely, trading at $596.62 from $611.59 July 17th according to PYMNTS.com Bitcoin Price index.
As always, if you have any news you’d like to share, please send it our way at contactus@pymnts.com.
On the Plus Side …
Watchout bitcoin there is a new cryptocurrency in town! Ethereum launched this week and was swept up by investors. Then the Winklevoss twins have finally launched an API for their price index, WinkDex. Also, there is a new exchange for bitcoin in Japan, bitFlyer and India is trying to bring bitcoin back.
- July 24, 2014 – Consumers can now use a bitcoin debit card that was issued by ANX Bitcoin Exchange to make purchases at retailers and online merchants and withdraw cash from ATMs.
- July 24, 2014 – A former Goldman Sachs employee started his own bitcoin exchange in Japan called bitFlyer.
- July 24, 2014 – A new poll revealed the ethnic group that knows the most about bitcoin and it may not be the group that is dominating the bitcoin market. The poll found that the ethnic group that has most likely heard about bitcoin is Hispanic Americans.
- July 24, 2014 – NASCAR driver Alex Bowman announced that they have a new crowdfunding campaign that aims to bring a Bitcoin-brand race car to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
- July 24, 2014 – The Winklevosses launched an API for their bitcoin price index, WinkDex.
- July 24, 2014 – Coinsetter the low latency bitcoin exchange and ECN lauched from beta.
- July 24, 2014 – PayStand is making political donations via bitcoin possible for a dozen New Hampshire state senate canidates.
- July 23, 2014 – Mexico based bitcoin exchange Volabit has received $250,000 in new funding which will be used to help the company establish itself in the digital currency market.
- July 23, 2014 – The most hyped digital currency since bitcoin has launched, called Ethereum. As of 10 a.m. on the 23rd, investors had already bought $2.6 million worth.
- July 23, 2014 – Now people can book flights with Bitcoin with AirBaltic being the first airline to accept bitcoin for tickets.
- July 23, 2014 – ZipZap has expanded their bitcoin buying service to 34 European countries.
- July 23, 2014 – BitHalo has launched which may help with consumer adoption.
- July 22, 2014 – Dell partnered with Coinbase to enable accepting bitcoin as a payment option for online purchases.
- July 22, 2014 – A VC focused on the underbanked/underserved believes that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies can be used to benefit the underbanked and provide relief from costly fees that are associated with remittances.
- July 22, 2014 – Innovators in India are trying to bring bitcoin back, with new startups working with regulators to make bitcoins legal.
- July 22, 2014 – The privacy-focused messaging app Gliph once again supports bitcoin functionality with its newest iOS release.
On the Dark Side …
Things aren’t looking so hot in New York for bitcoin startups a week after The New York Department of Financial Services released a series of proposed regulations that may shut down the current ecosystem. Investors in Mt. Gox, the failed exchange, are looking for their money and they’re not getting answers. And, the auction of bitcoins.com was halted by a court order. And, needless to say, there were a bunch of unhappy investors in Tokyo this week.
- July 24, 2014 – Investors in Mt. Gox are pretty angry after the first creditors meeting in Tokyo when they didn’t receive answers to their questions about what happened to their money.
- July 24, 2014 – The Wall Street Journal website was breached and hackers offered the data for bitcoins.
- July 24, 2014 – After a lot of back and forth and many modifications the Australian Tax Office released clarity on how taxpayers can address bitcoin holdings on income tax returns.
- July 23, 2014 – A U.S. court order temporarily blocked the auction of bitcoins.com which was expected to go for more than $750,000.
- July 23, 2014 – Sweden is still confused (like many EU countries) about how to handle the taxing of bitcoin and asked the European Court of Justice for some clarity.
- July 21, 2014 – New York told the bitcoin startups to “Get Permission or Get Out”.
