PYMNTS Bitcoin Tracker: Xapo Users Grumble, Could Overstocks’ Employees?

Bitcoin Tracker | Week 35

“If bitcoin could help us be more efficient, we’d use it” said John Kunze, the CEO of Xoom who is in the money transfer business. PYMNTScaught up with him on a variety of things, and  bitcoin came up. Interview is worth listening to. Among other things, he says that in order to comply with KYC laws, Xoom has to, well, know his customers. As an anonymous currency, bitcoin is the antithesis of KYC. Compliance adds cost and friction. Bitcoin will have to comply with rules which will add cost and friction. Will there still be value? Don’t ask any Xapo customers though, who are not at all amused by the fees they are paying with their bitcoin debit cards. (Did they not understand that they were actually changing currency every time they wanted to pull out cash or use it since merchants don’t take bitcoin?!)

In the “the bitcoin side of the street is always sunny” it was reported that Visa’s CEO, Charles Scharf, said that it was open to the idea of bitcoin. Actually, that’s not what he said. He said,   “Visa is not a currency, it’s a network. We can process real or virtual currencies to the extent that it makes sense.” He didn’t actually say bitcoin made sense. But the story got a lot of clicks given its, ah, optimistic portrayal of what Scharf said, but didn’t actually move its price. Bitcoin is just about the same as last week, trading at $589.65 when last week (8/1) trading was $588.02 according toPYMNTS.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 …

There is no such thing as a free lunch (or Wikipedia as it turns out). It still needs money to run and has raised over $140,000 since accepting bitcoin contributions last week. BitPay said it would offer retailers payment processing at no charge and has partnered with Global Payments to expand the number of merchants who can accept bitcoin. And a new virtual currency is being developed in Equator to help pay off debts! And, Overstock said it would be paying its employee bonuses in bitcoin (we couldn’t decide whether that belonged in the positive or negative column to be honest).

  •  August 7, 2014 – TheWikimedia foundation has received over $140,000 in bitcoin donations since it began accepting contributions last week.
  •  August 7, 2014 –BitPay is offering retailers basic payment processing services at no cost.
  •  August 7, 2014 –KryptoKit, makers of the bitcoin wallet browser extension, launched RushWallet to help widen bitcoin’s reach and create a simpler experience for when dealing with the online currency.
  •  August 7, 2014 –Overstock.com announced that they will be paying their stock bonuses in bitcoin.
  •  August 6, 2014 – TheUK Treasury has launched a review, to look into turning the UK into a center for virtual currency trade. The government’s long term economic plan is to cement the UK as the center of global finance and the UK Treasury plans to do this by harnessing innovation.
  •  August 6, 2014 – One of the largest Bitcoin exchanges,OKCoin, announced that they will be adding futures trading.
  •  August 6, 2014 –Global Payments signed a referral agreement with BitPay to incorporate the cryptocurrency into Global Payments product suite and to offer bitcoin payment acceptance to its worldwide merchants.
  •  August 5, 2014 – After mortgaging most of the country’s oil and gold to finance spending,Ecuador’s president is planning to create virtual money to pay for the nations bills.
  •  August 4, 2014 –Aaron Koenig the founder of bitfilm.com believes that “In Twenty Years we will use Bitcoin as naturally as we use the internet today”.

On the Dark Side …

A mysterious hacker has diverted computing power of bitcoins and generated $84,000 worth of bitcoins and still no trace of who or how he did it. More banks refused to work with bitcoin related businesses, this time in Argentina for a bitcoin exchange firm. Russia is in the news again, this time due to a drafted bill that might ban bitcoins. And Xapo users are ticked because their cards come with high fees.

  •  August 7, 2014 – Ahacker generated $84,000 worth of bitcoin after gaining access to a Canadian internet provider and diverting the computing power of bitcoin “mines”. The hacker remains anonymous.
  •  August 6, 2014 – Bitcoinsupporters are asking for more time to navigate the new virtual currency rules from New York State’s financial regulator.
  •  August 5, 2014 – Argentina-based bitcoin exchangeUnisend had to stop customer deposits and bank transfers after Banco Santander Rio and Banco Gallica closed Unisend’s bank accounts.
  •  August 5, 2014 –Xapo is in hot water with bitcoin debit card users after launching their debit card that is laden with transaction fees.
  •  August 5, 2014 – A new proposal from theRussian Ministry of Finance could see that bitcoin is banned in the future.
  •  August 5, 2014 – A spike insearches for bitcoins can be a good predictor of an imminent crash in its value.
  •  August 5, 2014 – CEO ofXOOM, John Kunze, explained the many parts and players involved in money transfer and disputed the claims that bitcoin could be used to move funds at low or no costs, pointing out that once bitcoin is regulated costs will change and add up.

PYMNTS.comBitcoin Price and Volatility index.

Follow 303 Cryptocurrencies here:http://coinmarketcap.com/ .