Well, just when everyone thought that New York would be Bitcoin friendly, they released the first draft of their plan that is anything but. Are these little town blues catching up with bitcoin? Get caught up on all the bitcoin news you really need right here.
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Bitcoin Tracker | Week 32
You’d never know that most merchants don’t give two hoots about Bitcoin by reading a lot of the popular press. Intuit heard straight from the horse’s mouth that, well, they really didn’t get all of the fuss. PYMNTS.com interviewed the Intuit team that developed their newly launched bitcoin wallet and learned from them that most SMBs not only didn’t care, some didn’t even know what they were talking about. Amazing what you learn when you talk to the mainstream merchant!
Summer break has hit the Bitcoin world as bitcoin prices were relatively stable this week, rising to $611.59 from $602.65 on June 11th according to PYMNTS.com Bitcoin Price index. And, just when everyone thought that New York would be Bitcoin friendly, they released the first draft of their plan that is anything but.
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 …
Bitcoin is seen by many in Africa as a solution to the problems of high money-transfer fees and a way to offer services to the “unbanked.” Then, we have the world’s biggest mining company, the GHash.IO miners, agree to not gain majority control of the currency in an attempt to help maintain bitcoin’s “credibility” who had. And, Coinbase has integrated with Shopify.
- July 17, 2014 – The largest group of bitcoin miners, GHash.IO has promised to avoid majority control of the currency to help maintain the payment system’s credibility.
- July 17, 2014 – South Africa’s PayFast incorporates bitcoin as a payment option, making it the first payment processor in South Africa to offer cryptocurrency as a payment option.
- July 17, 2104 – Right after Typhoon Rammasun slammed through the Philippines, a company launched a relief campaign that is collecting bitcoins which to work, will have to overcome the distrust of fundraising campaigns that many citizens have due to corruption in the Philippines.
- July 17, 2014 – A new bitcoin and litecoin exchange platform launched in Norway and bitcoinsnorway.com pledges to give 5% of their profits to charity organizations fighting poverty.
- July 17, 2014 – Cheapair.com announced that they have processed over $1.5 M in bitcoin transactions.
- July 16, 2014 – Google has added a bitcoin currency conversion search tool.
- July 16, 2014 – Online cryptocurrency data and research provider TradeBlock has raised $2.8 M in funding from a round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
- July 16, 2014 – Co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, said that bitcoin is part of his five-year investment plan.
- July 16, 2014 – A Bitcoin brokerage provider Trucoin has announced the introduction of their first service offerings to customers in eight US states.
- July 16, 2014 – BitPay launched a beta of their new multi-signature wallet, Copay.
- July 15, 2014 – A powdered food product, Soylent, accepts bitcoin for payment.
- July 15, 2014 – Shopify’s e-commerce platform can now accept bitcoin payments with Coinbase. Now over 100,000+ stores that are using Shopify can accept cryptocurrency payments.
- July 14, 2014 – A Bitcoin price prediction tool, BTCPredictions.com, was launched.
- July 14, 2104 – A joint venture between a Chinese and an American company plans to fill the hole left by Mt. Gox’s collapse with a new bitcoin exchange located in Japan. BitOcean Japan hopes to purchase the assets of Mt. Gox.
- July 12, 2014 – A flower shop in St. Louis is now accepting bitcoins as an experiment to draw in more customers.
On the Dark Side …
The Director of Tracfin (French Ministry of Finances service that fights money laundering) stands firm that Bitcoins can be used to launder money and commit fraud. He emphasized that bitcoin “poses a risk to users and the security of the financial system”. And a group of Russian hackers that stole CNET’s user database pranked the internet by calming they’d sell the data for just 1 BTC. And, just when everyone thought that New York would be Bitcoin friendly, they released the first draft of their plan that is anything but.
- July 17, 2014 – New York State released the first draft of their plan to regulate bitcoin and it may drive alternative currency startups right out of New York.
- July 17, 2104 – US banks continue to shun bitcoin over regulatory fears.
- July 17, 2014 – Another critic is calling bitcoin a potential Ponzi scheme, this time, a World Bank economist.
- July 16, 2014 – A group of Russian hackers that stole CNET’s user database said that they will sell the information for 1 BTC. Turned out to be just a publicity stunt!
- July 15, 2014 – An independent bitcoin buyer and seller and a professional mining specialist has disappeared after being charged with $190K of theft and fraud.
- July 15, 2014 – A Polish law firm identified the lack of protection and safeguards for bitcoin consumers.
- July 15, 2014 – The French Minister for Finance wants to increase the regulation of virtual currencies to fight financial crime.
