Some days, the planets align and you get magic. For example: this news from DealBook that Zuck nemeses the Winklevii are, in fact, two of the biggest Bitcoin investors in the world.
Of course they are!
Bitcoin day traders are at loose ends again today, as the major exchange Mt. Gox just announced they’ve shut down trading, in order to “allow the market to cooldown following the drop in price.”
The press release is, we are very sorry to report, not terribly reassuring: Read More
The FBI recently estimated that after three years, the Bitcoin economy is worth at least $35 million. Thanks to the uncertainty surrounding certain government currencies, it may soon be worth more. The Financial Post reports that fear over the value of the euro, strained by potential government insolvency in Greece and Spain, has led to a significant uptick in euro-for-Bitcoin trading. Read More
Bitcoin usage is on the rise; the virtual currency is now employed by everyone from advertisers to artists. In fact, Bitcoin has apparently grown so popular that it warranted its own FBI report.
Published in late April but leaked yesterday, the unclassified document–of which Wired provided a PDF–outlines the federal government’s fears surrounding the Bitcoin currency, primarily that in the near future, “cyber criminals will treat Bitcoin as another payment option alongside more traditional and established virtual currencies.” Read More
A serial Bitcoin entrepreneur, “Andrew Bitcoiner,” contacted Betabeat over the weekend to announce the debut of BitcoinAdvertisers.com, an online advertising network where business is done in the decentralized e-currency Bitcoin. Sign up, name a price, name the number of clicks in the campaign, and write the text for your ad, and BitcoinAdvertisers will charge you in Bitcoins to display your ad on sites in its network. As a publisher, merely type in your Bitcoin address and grab the generated code to place an ad spot on your site. BitcoinAdvertisers charges advertisers a 1 percent fee. Read More
A new Bitcoin commerce site, CoinDL, makes it fast and easy to buy and sell virtual goods from music to avatars. Traders on Wall Street may be speculating with Bitcoin, but it’s efforts like CoinDL that truly bolster the budding digital economy. CoinDL offers a marketplace where you can buy digital goods with digital money: wallpapers, ringtones, avatars, music, videos–basically anything that can be downloaded. “Our downloads are fast, easy, and for Bitcoin only. Scan our QR codes for maximal geek arousal,” the site says.
CoinDL was created by David Sterry, who formerly operated the Bitcoin exchange ExchB. ExchB closed in October as it faced increasing resistance from banks.
“People need to have a way to have a positive experience with Bitcoin,” Mr. Sterry said. “CoinDL enables people to buy digital items for Bitcoin, but also letting them do it really quickly. If things are virtual it can be very easy.” Read More
Brooklyn-based BitInstant, a startup that provides temporary credit in order to make Bitcoin transactions faster, has raised an undisclosed sum of seed funding from an angel investor. “We sold 15 percent of our company to Roger Ver, CEO of MemoryDealers, which is probably the largest used computer parts site on the West Coast,” co-founder Charlie Shrem told Betabeat by Gchat.* “He bought in for an undisclosed sum and is now our director of marketing and Asian operations, as he’s based in Tokyo.”
The original plan was to have three or four investors, but Mr. Ver offered in full and wanted to be on the team, Mr. Shrem said. “An offer I could not refuse!” Read More
The Bitcoin economy is truly like a miniature Wall St. First there was the Bitcoin flash crash; soon exchanges will offer short selling and other derivatives Bitcoin trading. And now we have our first IPO!
Eli Sklar, a Tel Aviv-based developer, is working on a new Bitcoin client. He wants to raise $100,000 for the project. So he’s extended a tentative Bitcoin initial public offering. In Bitcoin, preferably. Read More
Bitcoin’s not just for investors (although it mostly is) and criminals; at least three Manhattan restaurants accept the digital currency and Betabeat is noticing more and more goods and services being traded for BTC.
Among many creative ways to obtain the coveted cryptocurrency posted on bitcoin-otc.com comes this international offer: “I’ll sell you anything which can be bought for NOK in Norway, and ship it to you for the equivalent price in BTC (mtgoxask). Contact me for details.” Read More
