time_unix
int64 1.31B
1.75B
| date_time
stringdate 2011-06-22 10:56:00
2025-06-04 14:01:05
| text_matches
stringlengths 2
1.33k
| title_matches
stringlengths 2
37
| title
stringlengths 8
297
| url
stringlengths 50
197
| source
stringclasses 364
values | source_url
stringclasses 361
values | article_text
stringlengths 3
362k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1,386,343,920 |
2013-12-06 15:32:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1538, 1565]}
|
{}
|
Facebook Is Giving Up On A Potentially Huge Revenue Stream: Developing Its Own Currency
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-giving-potentially-huge-revenue-153242755.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
REUTERS/Edgar Su
A visitor looks at portraits of Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg at solo exhibition "The Face of Facebook" by Chinese artist Zhu Jia at a gallery in Singapore October 30, 2013.
For years, analysts and reporters who watched Facebook said the company would eventually roll out some sort of product to do with payments.
You'd hear that Facebook was working on a "Pay With Facebook" button.
Or you'd read that Facebook Credits, a currency you could once use to buy virtual goods in Facebook games, would eventually become a currency you could use at e-commerce or even offline stores.
Never happened.
Then, earlier this year, Facebook ceased supporting Facebook Credits all together.
What gives?
Reporting for The Information,Katie Benner says that according to "interviews with Facebook executives, former employees and payments experts," Facebook only wants to be in the payments business so far as it can bolster its ad revenues.
Facebook has a product called Autofill, where users can give Facebook their credit card information once, and then when visiting e-commerce apps and websites later, can click a button and have that information quickly populate fields on the page.
Benner says the business goal behind the product is for Facebook to understand "consumer buying patterns that should bolster its advertising business, its main revenue stream and core competence."
Venture capitalist Hunter Walk is disappointed by Facebook's payments pivot.
In a blog post, he writes that he thinks Facebook could have created Bitcoin before there was a Bitcoin.
He lists four reasons:
1. Immediate Utility Different Than The Dollar (First Party Utility)
An alternate currency needs to have bootstrapped/kickstarted market liquidity and validation. Facebook, at the time, had the power to tell all Facebook Platform app developers that they needed to use Credits as their virtual currency. Immediately there was a widespread use case and reason for consumers to hold Credits instead of Dollars. The issuer of the currency was also able to create a market.
2. Broader Third Party Recognition
Once the Games market was set, other on-platform businesses started to experiment with Credits. For example, you could rent movies from Warner Brothers. At the time “F-Commerce” (omg what a horrible name) was trendy and all different types of apps were being used to help merchants set up storefronts within Facebook and on their Facebook Pages.
3. Tied to Identity & Reputation
Because Facebook is a real name space, it was exciting to imagine that Facebook Credits could come with a reputation system. There hasn’t been an interesting transaction-oriented reputation system on the web since eBay built their user ratings, and that never broadened despite fact that eBay User Ratings + Paypal COULD HAVE BEEN HUGE AS A PLATFORM. Within Facebook, or anywhere that you could sign in using Facebook ID (which is still the most robust part of their platform play), you would have a one-click payment system tied to a user history. Huge.
4. Inherently Global
Facebook was also the first global social network at scale. That meant you were going to run into inter-country transactions and a frictionless proxy currency would have had use. Within a single country it would be very hard to replace the local unit of exchange, but across borders, less so.
Why didn’t the Hacker Way push Facebook to be aggressive here. Hacking money? That’s so cool. Unfortunately they turned in another direction. Admittedly they had much on their plate and needed to focus, but I wonder why they don’t take on a few of these 100 Year Hacks…
Facebook's decision to leverage whatever position it has, or could have, in online transactions for the benefit of its already existing ad business fits a general trend at the company these days. Unlike Google, which is investing its massive and growing search advertising profits into seemingly unrelated industries like cars, robots, and health – Facebook is going through a narrowing of its ambitions. It's figuring out how to sell branded ads against social content viewed on mobile devices.
More From Business Insider
• Twitter Is Now More Teen-Centric Than Facebook
• Now There's A Foolproof Way To Know Which Of Your Facebook Friends Hate Your Guts
• Here's Facebook's New Way Of Letting You Block Annoying Stuff That Appears In Your News Feed
|
1,417,631,666 |
2014-12-03 18:34:26+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [728, 1211, 1539]}
|
{}
|
A New Zealand Lawyer Used A 'Pizza Delivery Defence' In A Trial For Buying Drugs Online
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zealand-lawyer-used-pizza-delivery-183426062.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
Flickr/Jay ReedA lawyers claims buying drugs online is safer than ordering pizza.
A New Zealand man appeared in court this week charged with buying drugs on the deep web. During the trial, his lawyer has come up with an interesting defence for buying drugs on the internet.
The New Zealand Herald reportsthat Daniel Wayne Fowler, 23, plead guilty to importing a class B drug on Wednesday. New Zealand customs intercepted three packages sent to Fowler's address from Germany and Belgium, and found that they contained 201 Ecstasy pills and 16 grams of cannabis.
During the trial, it emerged that Fowler had purchased the drugs online, visiting deep web drug marketplace the Silk Road and paying for them using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
Foster's lawyer Tudor Clee tried to convince the court that buying drugs on the internet wasn't a particularly serious crime. Here's one of his justifications:
It's safer and easier to order the drugs — which are the subject of the charges before the court today — than it is to order a pizza. Choose the delivery location, choose the toppings and place the order.
That's not completely true. Ordering drugs on the deep web involves downloading special software, purchasing Bitcoin, encrypting messages and generally having an understanding of how the internet works. You don't need any of that to buy pizza.
Clee also said that buying drugs on the internet is safer than "walking down the local gang pad." That's a fair point, buying drugs on the street is pretty dangerous. Spending your hard-earned Bitcoin on drugs is pretty safe, the most dangerous thing that could happen is being sent a tainted batch of drugs.
The court asked why Foster had ordered over 200 pills. Buying lots of drugs is a sign that he intended to sell them on, which carries a harsher sentence. Clee had an answer for that, too. He said that "it's not possible to buy five or six pills," pointing out that sellers only deal in large batches because that's the only way they can make a profit.
More From Business Insider
• Silk Road smuggling
• 10 Of The Strangest Drug Laws In America
• The World's 2nd-Smartest Man Reveals The 'Brain Drugs' That He Thinks Make Him Smarter
|
1,417,634,033 |
2014-12-03 19:13:53+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [52, 511]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [54]}
|
Former Facebook Foes Prepare To Divulge On Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/former-facebook-foes-prepare-divulge-191353051.html
|
Benzinga
|
http://www.benzinga.com/
|
Not much has changed in the status of theWinklevoss Bitcoin Trustover the last six months since Cameron and Tyler Winklevossupdated their SEC filingto reflect a commitment to trading on the NASDAQ exchange.
This proposed ETF is designed to track a proprietary and newly established index of the renowned digital currency called the “Winkdex.”
However, the twins (of Facebook fame), recently conducted an interview with ETF.com regarding the risks and opportunities of this first-of-its-kind fund.
Related Link: Bitcoin ETF Inching Closer To Reality
Winklevoss ETF Would Be Unlike Any Other
The new ETF, if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, will function similarly to theSPDR Gold Trust (ETF)(NYSE:GLD) as a bitcoin repository that tracks a published index of daily price movement. The goal is to help bring this digital currency into the mainstream by helping establish regulations and more consistent trading across the global marketplace.
The SEC appears to be taking its time to review this unique product to ensure it doesn’t pose significant structural risks to investors. The initial S-1 registration statement was filed July 1, 2013, and subsequent amendments have been updated on a regular basis since that date.
The brothers acknowledged in the interview that investing in this new format does carry significant risks, including those that are unique to bitcoin itself. However, it can ultimately be beneficial for those that are interested in investing in bitcoins without the ability to access, store and protect them on their own.
Two Years Of S-1 Updates And More Details To Come
According to ETF.com, the Winklevoss twins will also be presenting additional details on their plans at the upcoming Inside ETFs conference in January. That may shed more light on the current status of the regulatory process, lessons learned in this pioneering effort and any follow up ETFs planned in the future.
This should be one of the most closely watched ETFs moving through the regulatory process in years.
See more from Benzinga
• New Month, New ETFs: November's Watchlist Includes Media, Gold And Emerging Market
• How Gold ETFs Sank After The End Of QE
© 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
|
1,386,361,220 |
2013-12-06 20:20:20+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [57, 193, 297, 407, 822, 915, 1452, 1514, 1543, 1893]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [8]}
|
Another Bitcoin Virtual Currency Crush from China, via Baidu
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/another-bitcoin-virtual-currency-crush-202020773.html
|
24/7 Wall St.
|
http://247wallst.com
|
Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) is likely one of the key reasons that Bitcoin has been able to rise handily and gain more adoption. After all, when the largest search engine site in China started accepting Bitcoin payments it was a mark of adoption. Now we have word that Baidu is suspending the acceptance of Bitcoin for payments.
The news is running on the ticker on Bloomberg TV that on Baidu has suspended accepting Bitcoin due to volatility in its value. A suspension may not be a permanent ban, but it is far from a more widespread adoption.
ALSO READ:Ten Cities Where Poverty Is Soaring
Just on Thursday came word that Bank of America Corp. (BAC) even tried to project an upside fair value of up to $1,300 based upon numerous calculations and a maximum valuation of $15 billion. As a reminder, there are a maximum of 21 million Bitcoins allowed and the coins are still being mined.
The Mt. Gox website is an exchange for Bitcoin and the last trade we have seen was at $877.46 after having been at a high of $1,155.00 earlier on Friday. That is a drop of 30% in a single day. For a real nation's currency to rise or fall 30% in any one day it would require one of two likely scenarios: 1) a massive government currency devaluation or 2) a major war or a nuclear event.
ALSO READ:The Best and Worst Run States in America: A Survey of All 50
Earlier this week we also saw former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan come out of the crypt for an interview were he called Bitcoin a bubble.
24/7 Wall St. has been more than puzzled by Bitcoin's rise, and it fall. Bitcoin is still operating without its buyers and sellers knowing who created it. It has no nation behind it, so it cannot tax people, it has no laws protecting it from outsiders, it cannot issue laws, and it has no armed forces to defend its interests.
Baidu may have just smartened up here by realizing that it cannot adequately shield itself from Bitcoin volatility. The currency markets are the most liquid markets in the world. The same might not prove to be true for a virtual currency that still has international regulators undecided upon how to treat it.
ALSO READ:Ten Companies Paying Americans the Least
Our inquiries into Baidu have not yet been answered. Does this look like a currency chart to you below?
Related Articles
• Eight States With the Highest Minimum Wages
• Eight Countries Where the Most People Suffer
• Ten Brands That Will Disappear in 2014
|
1,386,362,340 |
2013-12-06 20:39:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [76, 288, 397]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [0]}
|
Bitcoin Jesus Appears On Bloomberg
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-jesus-appears-bloomberg-203907081.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
This happened.
Bloomberg TV
Here's thefull storyof Roger Ver, also known as Bitcoin Jesus. The 34-year-old has made a fortune investing in the digital currency since 2011.
More From Business Insider
• Former South African President Nelson Mandela Has Died At The Age Of 95
• HUGH HENDRY: Bitcoin Could Go To $1 Million And I Wish I Could Own It
• The Amount Of Computing Power Dedicated To Mining Bitcoin Has Gone Parabolic
|
1,386,525,600 |
2013-12-08 18:00:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [3927]}
|
{}
|
Middle class getting priced out of ski trips
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/middle-class-getting-priced-ski-180000835.html
|
CNBC
|
http://www.cnbc.com/
|
Skiers and snowboarders searching for "the steep and deep" this winter may find the concept has taken on a much less appealing connotation: The price of the sport is getting so steep that some believe it may be becoming the exclusive domain of those whose pockets are exceedingly deep.
"You have the haves and the have mores," said Douglas Quinby, principal analyst at PhoCusWright, which conducts market research on the travel industry. "When you factor in the airfare of the typical ski trip, the accommodations and the length of stay, you're talking about a pretty significant penny."
Coupled with lift tickets that can top $100 per day and clothing and equipment that can cost thousands, it's not surprising that both the industry and its fans are concerned about the sports' long-term viability for those of more modest means.
Read more at NBCNews.comSouthwest, Virgin approved for LaGuardia slotsApps to smooth your journeyN.Ireland looks to 'Game of Thrones' to lure tourists
Skiing, of course, has never been considered an inexpensive activity, but the sport has seen a significant upward shift in visitor demographics in recent years.
Last year, 54 percent of skier visits, defined as one skier/snowboarder riding for one day, came from households earning more than $100,000, according to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). That's up from 48 percent five years ago, a 12.5 percent increase.
In contrast, visits from households earning less than $100,000 during the same period slipped from 52 percent to 46 percent-an 11.5 percent decrease.
"They're chasing existing customers who have the money to spend rather than going after new customers," said Roger Marolt, a lifelong skier and Aspen resident. "They're creating all these expensive amenities to attract them, which drives the price of skiing up even further."
(Read more:Unused vacation: Too afraid to stay away?)
The average weekend lift-ticket price last season was $85.52, which was actually a bargain compared to the $129 you'd have paid if you walked up to a ticket window at Vail or Beaver Creek last Christmas. This year, Deer Valley, Jackson Hole, Park City and Sun Valley have all joined Aspen and Vail in charging $100 or more for a lift ticket during peak periods.
Such prices clearly play into the perception that skiing is the exclusive domain of the well-heeled, but it's also true that few people pay such stratospheric rates. More than half of so-called ski travelers (as opposed to day-trippers) now buy their tickets at least a week in advance and just under half buy them online, garnering potentially significant discounts by doing so, according to Quinby's research.
Many get discounts as part of lodging packages that include multi-day lift tickets; others by taking advantage of "dynamic-pricing systems" that peg prices to seasonal demand and how far in advance they buy.
"Selling lift tickets at the window is like the airline industry selling all its tickets at the counter," said Evan Reece, co-founder and CEO of Liftopia, which sells online advance tickets, rentals and other products to 250 resorts around the world.
For those willing to commit in advance, the site offers deals such as day tickets at Smugglers' Notch, Vt., in December for as low as $38 (43 percent off) and 5 of 7 day tickets at Sun Valley, Idaho, in January for $261 (45 percent off). There's even a one-day lift ticket and bacon Bloody Mary deal at Arapahoe Basin, Colo., for as low as $58 (24 percent off).
Other skiers and snowboarders save big bucks by buying season passes, some of which pay for themselves in as few as five or six visits. Traditionally offered by individual resorts and pegged toward locals, newer passes such as Vail Resorts' Epic Pass (unlimited skiing at 12 resorts for $729) and the Mountain Collective pass (12 days at six destinations for $379) extend the concept to those who don't live at the base of the hill.
(Read more:Bitcoins in a fountain: Travelers make a go)
"If you look at the season pass deals out there, by some definitions skiing has never been more affordable for our core participants," said Michael Berry, NSAA president.
And therein lies the proverbial rub. That core audience is getting older and they're not being replaced by enough new participants to grow the sport. Last year, the median age on the slopes was 38, compared to 34 a decade ago, a worrisome shift for the industry.
The overall result is little or no growth in participation and the potential for future declines as baby boomers "age out" of the sport. Last year, skier visits hit 56.9 million, an increase of 11 percent over 2011 - which was the worst season in 20 years - but still below the sport's 10-year average of 57.4 million.
The challenges are only expected to grow. As the major resorts spend millions on new lifts and posh lodges, smaller areas - so-called "feeder and breeder" resorts - can't afford to offer competitive amenities. In 1978, there were approximately 700 ski areas in the U.S.; last year, there were only 477.
The future of the ski industry, Quinby said, looks increasingly like the travel industry at large: a two-tiered market in which wealthier participants are more optimistic, more able to travel and more willing to accept higher costs. The rest, by contrast, are less optimistic and less likely to spend - with one major caveat.
Regardless of their economic status, skiers and snowboarders are nothing if not passionate about the sport, and most will find a way to satisfy their passion.
They're people like Elizabeth Rodgers, a lifelong skier who lives in Boise, Idaho. She can hit the local slopes at Bogus Basin, where season passes sold for $229 earlier this year, or drive 2.5 hours to Sun Valley, where day tickets during peak periods are $105.
For Rodgers, a mother of two who skis about 20 times a year, the economics are simple: "Bogus is much smaller but it's accessible, it's affordable and you can still ski a lot."
And Sun Valley? "It's just heaven-it's only gotten more beautiful and more fancy-but only the one percent can afford to have a real family vacation there."
(Read more:Say goodbye to the world's longest flight)
-By NBC News contributor Rob Lovitt.Follow him on Twitter.
More From CNBC
• US income gap for middle-age jumps 21% in 20 years
• A surprising group stands in way of income equality
• Pushed out too soon? Age discrimination claims rise
|
1,386,525,600 |
2013-12-08 18:00:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [3927]}
|
{}
|
Middle class getting priced out of ski trips
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/middle-class-getting-priced-ski-180000835.html
|
CNBC
|
http://www.cnbc.com/
|
Skiers and snowboarders searching for "the steep and deep" this winter may find the concept has taken on a much less appealing connotation: The price of the sport is getting so steep that some believe it may be becoming the exclusive domain of those whose pockets are exceedingly deep.
"You have the haves and the have mores," said Douglas Quinby, principal analyst at PhoCusWright, which conducts market research on the travel industry. "When you factor in the airfare of the typical ski trip, the accommodations and the length of stay, you're talking about a pretty significant penny."
Coupled with lift tickets that can top $100 per day and clothing and equipment that can cost thousands, it's not surprising that both the industry and its fans are concerned about the sports' long-term viability for those of more modest means.
Read more at NBCNews.comSouthwest, Virgin approved for LaGuardia slotsApps to smooth your journeyN.Ireland looks to 'Game of Thrones' to lure tourists
Skiing, of course, has never been considered an inexpensive activity, but the sport has seen a significant upward shift in visitor demographics in recent years.
Last year, 54 percent of skier visits, defined as one skier/snowboarder riding for one day, came from households earning more than $100,000, according to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). That's up from 48 percent five years ago, a 12.5 percent increase.
In contrast, visits from households earning less than $100,000 during the same period slipped from 52 percent to 46 percent-an 11.5 percent decrease.
"They're chasing existing customers who have the money to spend rather than going after new customers," said Roger Marolt, a lifelong skier and Aspen resident. "They're creating all these expensive amenities to attract them, which drives the price of skiing up even further."
(Read more:Unused vacation: Too afraid to stay away?)
The average weekend lift-ticket price last season was $85.52, which was actually a bargain compared to the $129 you'd have paid if you walked up to a ticket window at Vail or Beaver Creek last Christmas. This year, Deer Valley, Jackson Hole, Park City and Sun Valley have all joined Aspen and Vail in charging $100 or more for a lift ticket during peak periods.
Such prices clearly play into the perception that skiing is the exclusive domain of the well-heeled, but it's also true that few people pay such stratospheric rates. More than half of so-called ski travelers (as opposed to day-trippers) now buy their tickets at least a week in advance and just under half buy them online, garnering potentially significant discounts by doing so, according to Quinby's research.
Many get discounts as part of lodging packages that include multi-day lift tickets; others by taking advantage of "dynamic-pricing systems" that peg prices to seasonal demand and how far in advance they buy.
"Selling lift tickets at the window is like the airline industry selling all its tickets at the counter," said Evan Reece, co-founder and CEO of Liftopia, which sells online advance tickets, rentals and other products to 250 resorts around the world.
For those willing to commit in advance, the site offers deals such as day tickets at Smugglers' Notch, Vt., in December for as low as $38 (43 percent off) and 5 of 7 day tickets at Sun Valley, Idaho, in January for $261 (45 percent off). There's even a one-day lift ticket and bacon Bloody Mary deal at Arapahoe Basin, Colo., for as low as $58 (24 percent off).
Other skiers and snowboarders save big bucks by buying season passes, some of which pay for themselves in as few as five or six visits. Traditionally offered by individual resorts and pegged toward locals, newer passes such as Vail Resorts' Epic Pass (unlimited skiing at 12 resorts for $729) and the Mountain Collective pass (12 days at six destinations for $379) extend the concept to those who don't live at the base of the hill.
(Read more:Bitcoins in a fountain: Travelers make a go)
"If you look at the season pass deals out there, by some definitions skiing has never been more affordable for our core participants," said Michael Berry, NSAA president.
And therein lies the proverbial rub. That core audience is getting older and they're not being replaced by enough new participants to grow the sport. Last year, the median age on the slopes was 38, compared to 34 a decade ago, a worrisome shift for the industry.
The overall result is little or no growth in participation and the potential for future declines as baby boomers "age out" of the sport. Last year, skier visits hit 56.9 million, an increase of 11 percent over 2011 - which was the worst season in 20 years - but still below the sport's 10-year average of 57.4 million.
The challenges are only expected to grow. As the major resorts spend millions on new lifts and posh lodges, smaller areas - so-called "feeder and breeder" resorts - can't afford to offer competitive amenities. In 1978, there were approximately 700 ski areas in the U.S.; last year, there were only 477.
The future of the ski industry, Quinby said, looks increasingly like the travel industry at large: a two-tiered market in which wealthier participants are more optimistic, more able to travel and more willing to accept higher costs. The rest, by contrast, are less optimistic and less likely to spend - with one major caveat.
Regardless of their economic status, skiers and snowboarders are nothing if not passionate about the sport, and most will find a way to satisfy their passion.
They're people like Elizabeth Rodgers, a lifelong skier who lives in Boise, Idaho. She can hit the local slopes at Bogus Basin, where season passes sold for $229 earlier this year, or drive 2.5 hours to Sun Valley, where day tickets during peak periods are $105.
For Rodgers, a mother of two who skis about 20 times a year, the economics are simple: "Bogus is much smaller but it's accessible, it's affordable and you can still ski a lot."
And Sun Valley? "It's just heaven-it's only gotten more beautiful and more fancy-but only the one percent can afford to have a real family vacation there."
(Read more:Say goodbye to the world's longest flight)
-By NBC News contributor Rob Lovitt.Follow him on Twitter.
More From CNBC
• US income gap for middle-age jumps 21% in 20 years
• A surprising group stands in way of income equality
• Pushed out too soon? Age discrimination claims rise
|
1,386,590,520 |
2013-12-09 12:02:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [2355, 2437, 2531, 2644]}
|
{}
|
10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-things-know-opening-bell-120216908.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
REUTERS
People surround a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, which was toppled by protesters during a rally organized by supporters of EU integration in Kiev, December 8, 2013.
Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
• Asian markets were mostly higher in overnight trading. Japan's Nikkei closed up 2.29%; Hong Kong's Hang Seng, 0.29%; and Korea's KOSPI, 1.01%. European markets were mostly lower, but U.S. futures were pointing north.
• It's alight week of economic data, but economists continue to speculate on whether the Fed will taper its asset purchasing program in December or if it will wait until next year. Citing interviews and public statements by Fed officials, the New York Times' Binyamin Appelbaum reports that the taper isnot expected until next year. On the other hand, Deutsche Bank's Joe LaVorgna wrote clients, "Regarding the Fed, last Friday’s employment report reinforces our previous view that the Fed will begin QE tapering in December."
• In China,consumer prices grew 3%in November, slightly below expectations for a 3.1% rise. Producer prices fell 1.4%, missing expectations for a 1.5% drop. Meanwhile, reforms in the country continue, with Chinaintroducing the inter-bank negotiable certificate of depositson Saturday. The reform "can help banks secure a more stable funding source and offer liquid and safer underlying securities for investment products targeting individual investors," wrote Societe Generale's Wei Yao. And in another completely different reform, Chinese officials canno longer eat extravagant meals of shark fin and bird's nest soupon business trips.
• Japan's growth slowed in Q3, with GDP expanding an annualized 1.1% on the quarter, revised down from 1.9%. " Weaker-than-estimated business spending contributed to the revision to the GDP figures, indicating that Japan Inc. is yet to be convinced that Abenomics will trigger a prolonged economic revival," reports Reuters' Keiko Ujikane.
• We won't have new economic data today in the U.S., but we will see three Fed speeches that may further illuminate where officials stand on monetary policy. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker will speak in Charlotte, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard will speak on the economy in St. Louis, and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher will speak in Chicago on the economy and monetary policy.
• Bitcoin's weekend of pain is over, and the digital currency hasstaged a comeback. Bitcoin crashed on Friday and Saturday, at one point falling from $1100 to below $600 on poor Bitcoin-related news out of China. Now the cryptocurrency is above $900 again. Still, not everyone is buying the Bitcoin hype. "It’s not a currency at all, it’s a complete joke,"Bill Fleckenstein saidin a recent interview.
• After weeks of protests, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatradissolved parliament and called a snap election, Reuters reports. Still, protestors continue to clash with police in an attempt to remove Yingluck from power and " eradicate the influence of her self-exiled brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra," according to the report.
• Speaking of protestors, demonstrators in Kiev's Independence Squaretoppled a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Leninon Sunday. After protestors beat the headless statue with hammers,a poster read, "Yanukovich, you are next!" a reference to the current Ukranian president. Demonstrators have rioted over the government's ties with Russia at the expense of the European Union.
• Themerger of American Airlines and US Airways is expected to be finalized today, creating the world's largest airline. After a lengthy antitrust suit with the Justice Department (and with the Supreme Court declining a challenge), the two are expected to sign merger documents before the bell, CNNMoney's Gregory Wallace reports.
• Congress could bring Americans a nice gift for the holidays — a budget deal. "L awmakers and aides are optimistic that negotiators can reach a budget accord and continue to make progress on a farm bill and other measures,"reports the Wall Street Journal's Kristina Peterson and Michael R. Crittenden. PRG's Greg Vallierebelieves the deal will come in the next couple of days, as an "emotionally spent" Congress is willing to take smaller deals to avoid another budget trauma. " The pending 21-month budget deal will soften the sequester (while coming up with offsetting savings), and will greatly reduce the uncertainty over fiscal issues. And, of course, the deficit continues to plunge," Valliere wrote clients.
More From Business Insider
• 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
• 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
• 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
|
1,417,700,517 |
2014-12-04 13:41:57+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1949, 2176]}
|
{}
|
U.S. begins largest auction of bitcoins seized in Silk Road bust
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-begins-largest-auction-bitcoins-seized-silk-road-134157062--finance.html
|
Reuters
|
https://www.reuters.com/
|
By Nate Raymond and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday began auctioning off 50,000 bitcoins seized during the prosecution of the alleged owner of Silk Road, an Internet black-market bazaar where authorities say drugs and other illegal goods could be bought. The six-hour online auction began at 8:00 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) for nearly $18.6 million (11.86 million pounds) worth of bitcoins, and the winning bidders will be notified Friday. It was the Marshals Service's second such auction following an earlier one in June for almost 30,000 bitcoins seized during the Silk Road raid in 2013. To date, the government has recovered 173,991 bitcoins while pursuing the case, including about 144,336 from computer hardware belonging to Ross Ulbricht, the alleged creator of the underground website. As part of a civil forfeiture proceeding, Ulbricht and the government reached a deal in January in which the bitcoins on his hardware would be sold and the proceeds held, pending the outcome of his case. The remaining 94,341 bitcoins from Ulbricht's hardware will be auctioned in the coming months. Lynzey Donahue, a Marshals Service spokeswoman, said authorities "didn't want to flood the market" with too many bitcoins at once. The previous set of 29,655 bitcoins, which were recovered from Silk Road's servers, were won at auction by a single bidder, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper. Terms were not disclosed. Steven Englander, global head of G10 foreign exchange strategy at CitiFX, wrote in a note ahead of the auction that bidders this time "will likely lowball their bids relative to the current market price." "My expectation is that most bids will be aggressively to the downside in the hope of getting a post-Black Friday bargain," he wrote. Draper said Wednesday he would be among the bidders participating in the auction. Others who have said they will bid in the auction include the Bitcoin Investment Trust and Pantera Capital. Ulbricht, known online as "Dread Pirate Roberts," according to prosecutors, faces trial Jan. 5 on charges including conspiracy and narcotics trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty. Bitcoin prices were down 0.96 percent early Thursday at $371.37 per bitcoin, according to digital currency news website CoinDesk. (Additional reporting by Sarah McBride in San Francisco; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
|
1,417,728,170 |
2014-12-04 21:22:50+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1906, 2151]}
|
{}
|
U.S. auction of Silk Road bitcoins draws 27 bids
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-begins-largest-auction-bitcoins-134408669.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
By Nate Raymond and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday received more than two dozen bids for 50,000 bitcoins seized from the alleged owner of Silk Road, an Internet black-market bazaar on which authorities say drugs and other illegal goods could be bought.
Lynzey Donahue, a Marshals Service spokeswoman, said the government had 11 registered bidders and 27 resulting bids. Winning bidders for the bitcoins, valued at $18.6 million, will be notified on Friday.
It was the Marshals Service's second such auction following one in June for almost 30,000 bitcoins seized during a raid on Silk Road in 2013.
To date, the government has recovered 173,991 bitcoins while pursuing the case, including 144,336 from computer hardware belonging to Ross Ulbricht, the alleged creator of the underground website.
As part of a civil forfeiture proceeding, Ulbricht and the government reached a deal in January under which the bitcoins on his hardware would be sold and the proceeds held, pending the outcome of his case.
The remaining bitcoins from Ulbricht's hardware will be auctioned in the coming months.
Donahue said authorities "didn't want to flood the market" with too many bitcoins at once.
The previous auction of 29,655 bitcoins, which were recovered from Silk Road's servers, was won by a single bidder, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper. Terms were not disclosed.
Steven Englander, global head of G10 foreign exchange strategy at CitiFX, wrote in a note ahead of the auction that bidders this time "will likely lowball their bids relative to the current market price."
"My expectation is that most bids will be aggressively to the downside in the hope of getting a post-Black Friday bargain," he wrote.
Draper said Wednesday he would be among the bidders participating in the auction. Others who have said they will bid in the auction include the Bitcoin Investment Trust and Pantera Capital.
Ulbricht, known online as "Dread Pirate Roberts," according to prosecutors, faces trial Jan. 5 on charges including conspiracy, money laundering and narcotics trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty.
Bitcoin prices were down 0.7 percent late Thursday at $372.81. The digital currency has lost roughly half its value so far this year.
(Additional reporting by Sarah McBride in San Francisco; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Steve Orlofsky)
|
1,417,728,170 |
2014-12-04 21:22:50+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1906, 2151]}
|
{}
|
U.S. auction of Silk Road bitcoins draws 27 bids
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-begins-largest-auction-bitcoins-seized-silk-road-134408797--finance.html
|
Reuters
|
https://www.reuters.com/
|
By Nate Raymond and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday received more than two dozen bids for 50,000 bitcoins seized from the alleged owner of Silk Road, an Internet black-market bazaar on which authorities say drugs and other illegal goods could be bought. Lynzey Donahue, a Marshals Service spokeswoman, said the government had 11 registered bidders and 27 resulting bids. Winning bidders for the bitcoins, valued at $18.6 million, will be notified on Friday. It was the Marshals Service's second such auction following one in June for almost 30,000 bitcoins seized during a raid on Silk Road in 2013. To date, the government has recovered 173,991 bitcoins while pursuing the case, including 144,336 from computer hardware belonging to Ross Ulbricht, the alleged creator of the underground website. As part of a civil forfeiture proceeding, Ulbricht and the government reached a deal in January under which the bitcoins on his hardware would be sold and the proceeds held, pending the outcome of his case. The remaining bitcoins from Ulbricht's hardware will be auctioned in the coming months. Donahue said authorities "didn't want to flood the market" with too many bitcoins at once. The previous auction of 29,655 bitcoins, which were recovered from Silk Road's servers, was won by a single bidder, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper. Terms were not disclosed. Steven Englander, global head of G10 foreign exchange strategy at CitiFX, wrote in a note ahead of the auction that bidders this time "will likely lowball their bids relative to the current market price." "My expectation is that most bids will be aggressively to the downside in the hope of getting a post-Black Friday bargain," he wrote. Draper said Wednesday he would be among the bidders participating in the auction. Others who have said they will bid in the auction include the Bitcoin Investment Trust and Pantera Capital. Ulbricht, known online as "Dread Pirate Roberts," according to prosecutors, faces trial Jan. 5 on charges including conspiracy, money laundering and narcotics trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty. Bitcoin prices were down 0.7 percent late Thursday at $372.81. The digital currency has lost roughly half its value so far this year. (Additional reporting by Sarah McBride in San Francisco; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Steve Orlofsky)
|
1,417,735,871 |
2014-12-04 23:31:11+00:00
|
{"BTC": [789]}
|
{}
|
Your first trade for Friday
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-trade-friday-december-5-233111593.html
|
CNBC
|
http://www.cnbc.com/
|
The " Fast Money " traders give their final trades of the day. Dan Nathan was a seller of UAL (UAL).Brian Kelly was a buyer ofSPY (Singapore Exchange: SPY-SG) puts.Karen Finerman was a buyer of SUNE (SUNE).Guy was a buyer of SWHC (SWHC).
Trader disclosure: On Nov. 24, 2014, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Karen Finerman is long BABA, BAC, C, FINL, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, M, MTW, she is short SPY, her firm is long AAPL, ADT, BAC, PLCE, C, CMLS, FINL, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, GPS, JPM, M, MTW, SUNE, DIS, her firm is long calls BAC, C, JPM, GPS, her firm is short IYT, SPY, XRT, M calls, Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International. Brian Kelly is long BBRY calls, US30Y, TLT, BTC, CTRL calls, GDX calls, HYG puts, QQQ puts, he is short EWA, EWG, EWQ, EWQ, EWZ, EWH, EWW, today he sold his position in US Dollar, covered his short positions in British Pound, Euro, Yen, Australia Dollar, Swiss Franc, and bought QQQ puts. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. Dan Nathan has long options in USO long Jan 33/37 risk reversal (bullish), DIS long April Put Spread, PEP long Jan put spread, DIA long Dec put spread, XRT long dec/jan put spread, GOOGL long Dec put fly, GM long June call spread, WYNN long dec/jan put spread.
Northland Securities' Colin Rusch: Northland Securities makes a market in the subject company's security: TSLA, Northland Securities intends to seek compensation for investment banking services from the subject company in the next three months: TSLA.
|
1,386,654,562 |
2013-12-10 05:49:22+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1482]}
|
{}
|
PRESS DIGEST- New York Times business news - Dec 10
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-york-times-business-054922421.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
Dec 10 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* The government bailout of General Motors ended on Monday with the Treasury Department's announcement that it had sold its final shares of GM stock. The sale closes a tumultuous chapter in the history of the American auto industry, and allows the nation's largest automaker to continue its comeback free from the stigma of being known as "Government Motors." ()
* The Finnish cellphone giant Nokia is expected on Tuesday to offer almost $400 million to resolve a tax dispute with Indian authorities ahead of the company's planned sale of its handset business to Microsoft for $7.2 billion. ()
* Output at German factories, mines and power plants declined in October for a second straight month, official data showed on Monday, the latest sign that the economy at the heart of the euro zone recovery might not be growing as quickly as had been hoped. ()
* Not limiting their activities to the earthly realm, American and British spies have infiltrated the fantasy worlds of World of Warcraft and Second Life, conducting surveillance and scooping up data in the online games played by millions of people across the globe, according to newly disclosed classified documents. ()
* The advent of a new medium to conduct business inevitably means avenues for criminals to swoop in to take advantage. The development of Bitcoin, the virtual currency that is not issued by any government, presents challenges for the authorities to use laws that were not designed for the digital world to combat illegal conduct. ()
* Shortly after 1 a.m. on a day nearly a year ago, Cerberus Capital Management announced that it planned to sell its gun manufacturing company, the Freedom Group, after the deadly school shooting in Connecticut four days earlier. But the efforts to sell the company, which produced the Bushmaster rifle that Adam Lanza used in his assault on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., have been hamstrung by the public furor that prompted the auction in the first place. ()
* European Aeronautic Defense and Space, the parent company of Airbus, announced plans on Monday to cut 5,800 jobs from its military and space divisions over the next three years as it responds to reductions in European military budgets driven by austerity measures. ()
* The billionaire trader Steven A. Cohen is one step closer to converting his onetime $15 billion hedge fund into a family office after a tentative deal to sell a reinsurance firm he formed in 2012. Hamilton Reinsurance Group - a privately held firm led by the former insurance executive Brian Duperreault and Two Sigma Investments - will be buying the firm, known as SAC Re Ltd, for an undisclosed amount. ()
* When you think about Nelson Mandela, you probably think about freedom - free people, free country, free speech. What may be overshadowed by Mandela's extraordinary legacy was his complicated journey to support free markets and a free economy.
|
1,386,678,600 |
2013-12-10 12:30:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [238, 368, 445, 514, 659, 1392, 3483]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [47]}
|
Myriad Interactive Media Begins Development of Bitcoin Platform CryptoCafe.com
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/myriad-interactive-media-begins-development-123000821.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
TORONTO, ON and LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Dec 10, 2013) - Myriad Interactive Media Inc.(OTCQB:MYRY) (BERLIN:XNG) a global interactive media & development company, is pleased to announce an exciting new platform coming to the world of Bitcoin.
Myriad has initiated development of a new innovative platform which will be announced in the next 90 days to enhance the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency community.
"We have been involved in the world of Bitcoin for the last year," said Myriad CEO Derek Ivany. "We believe Bitcoin brings a world of possibilities to many around the world, and our new platform will add further value to these exciting P2P currencies."
Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network.
"We're pleased to add another platform to our technology portfolio," says Derek Ivany, CEO of Myriad "Our first two developed technologies, MingleSuite and MyMobiPoints focus on SME's, and now that we are in the sales phase with these two fabulous products, we have decided to put our development team to work on another exciting platform which introduces Myriad to a completely different market and further expands our asset portfolio as well as offers our shareholders another platform to be excited about."
CryptoCafe.com will be dedicated to not only Bitcoin but will embrace Litecoin and other currencies within. The platform which is planned to be announced for both desktop and mobile will be dedicated to virtually every person who uses cryptocurrencies, and opens up Myriad to what is becoming a major mainstream audience.
About Myriad Interactive Media, Inc.:Myriad Interactive Media is an interactive marketing and development firm based in Toronto, Canada. Myriad designs and develops customized marketing plans, social media marketing campaigns, pay per click, and search engine marketing. Our company also develops in house web & mobile applications.
Myriad Interactive Media Inc. is a public company quoted on the OTCQB under the symbol MYRY. For more information, please visit us in the USA atwww.myriadim.com
Forward-Looking Statements
In addition to historical information, this press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current expectations and projections about future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to be materially different from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Except as required by federal securities law, the Company assumes no obligation to update publicly or to revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available, new events occur or circumstances change in the future.
Contacts:Myriad Interactive Media Inc.
Find us on Social Mediahttp://www.myriadim.com/community
MyMobiPoints Social Media Mobile Marketing Technologyhttp://www.mymobipoints.com
MingleSuite Social Media Platform Aggregatorhttp://www.minglesuite.com
CryptoCafe.com - Coming to the world of Bitcoin!http://www.cryptocafe.com
|
1,386,678,600 |
2013-12-10 12:30:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [238, 368, 445, 514, 659, 1392, 3483]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [47]}
|
Myriad Interactive Media Begins Development of Bitcoin Platform CryptoCafe.com
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/myriad-interactive-media-begins-development-123000821.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
TORONTO, ON and LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Dec 10, 2013) - Myriad Interactive Media Inc.(OTCQB:MYRY) (BERLIN:XNG) a global interactive media & development company, is pleased to announce an exciting new platform coming to the world of Bitcoin.
Myriad has initiated development of a new innovative platform which will be announced in the next 90 days to enhance the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency community.
"We have been involved in the world of Bitcoin for the last year," said Myriad CEO Derek Ivany. "We believe Bitcoin brings a world of possibilities to many around the world, and our new platform will add further value to these exciting P2P currencies."
Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network.
"We're pleased to add another platform to our technology portfolio," says Derek Ivany, CEO of Myriad "Our first two developed technologies, MingleSuite and MyMobiPoints focus on SME's, and now that we are in the sales phase with these two fabulous products, we have decided to put our development team to work on another exciting platform which introduces Myriad to a completely different market and further expands our asset portfolio as well as offers our shareholders another platform to be excited about."
CryptoCafe.com will be dedicated to not only Bitcoin but will embrace Litecoin and other currencies within. The platform which is planned to be announced for both desktop and mobile will be dedicated to virtually every person who uses cryptocurrencies, and opens up Myriad to what is becoming a major mainstream audience.
About Myriad Interactive Media, Inc.:Myriad Interactive Media is an interactive marketing and development firm based in Toronto, Canada. Myriad designs and develops customized marketing plans, social media marketing campaigns, pay per click, and search engine marketing. Our company also develops in house web & mobile applications.
Myriad Interactive Media Inc. is a public company quoted on the OTCQB under the symbol MYRY. For more information, please visit us in the USA atwww.myriadim.com
Forward-Looking Statements
In addition to historical information, this press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current expectations and projections about future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to be materially different from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Except as required by federal securities law, the Company assumes no obligation to update publicly or to revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available, new events occur or circumstances change in the future.
Contacts:Myriad Interactive Media Inc.
Find us on Social Mediahttp://www.myriadim.com/community
MyMobiPoints Social Media Mobile Marketing Technologyhttp://www.mymobipoints.com
MingleSuite Social Media Platform Aggregatorhttp://www.minglesuite.com
CryptoCafe.com - Coming to the world of Bitcoin!http://www.cryptocafe.com
|
1,417,787,100 |
2014-12-05 13:45:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [3232]}
|
{}
|
Avra Inc. Enters Letter of Intent With Mango Pay SRL to Launch Digital Currency in Carribbean
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/avra-inc-enters-letter-intent-134500466.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Dec 5, 2014) -Avra, Inc.(OTCQB:AVRN) ("Avra" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce entry into a non-binding Letter of Intent (the "LOI") with Mango Pay SRL, an international company based in the Dominican Republic, providing consumers with instant electronic payment solutions for goods and services as well as money transfers. Founded in 2012, Mango Pay is a pioneer in the field of electronic payments via kiosks. The LOI aims to facilitate the possible development of a regional network of cryptocurrency ATM kiosks initially focused on bitcoin transactions and with a technical ability to provide additional digital currency offerings in the future.
According to the terms of the LOI, Avra and Mango Pay intend to jointly develop a software based solution to be integrated initially into the 90 Mango self-service payment kiosks, providing an easy to use and as yet unrivalled service to regional markets, with a view to offering the same service globally through 2015. This new solution will allow bitcoin services without the necessity to invest in expensive hardware and offers clients the ability to purchase digital currency by inserting cash and receiving currency directly to their digital wallet or on a paper receipt. The Company intends to enter into a definitive agreement with Mango Pay once certain conditions are satisfied to start the project.
"We are delighted by the prospect of working closely with one of the leaders in the kiosk sector in order to gain entry into this largely undeveloped market. We are thrilled to play a part in bringing new technologies to the consumer marketplace through a proposed initial trial at over 90 Mango Pay kiosks nationwide," states Steve Shepherd, CEO of Avra. In addition, Mr. Shepherd states, "Mango Pay has a strong regional brand and presence in the Dominican Republic, and they have the vision to see the potential that bitcoin has in this developing marketplace. The opportunity ranges from providing a decentralized currency combatting currency devaluation to allowing the unbanked to make internet purchases. The possibility for growth is truly significant."
"Together, Mango Pay and Avra have the opportunity to bring new technologies to this fast moving market. Our vision is to provide a full service solution from our terminals, allowing our users to access their financial needs in one place. Our work with Avra will create an unprecedented service to the Dominican Republic and Avra will provide the perfect approach to bringing the vision to reality," said Vasiliy Smetanin, Mango Pay CEO.
In light of this new partnership with the Company, and part of its global expansion strategy the Company will re-brand its URL and has registered the domainwww.avraglobal.com.
For more information please visit our current website and come back soon as we prepare to launch our all-new look at:www.avraglobal.com.
About Avra, Inc.(OTCQB:AVRN)The Company is focused on solutions in the digital currency markets, particularly in offering payment solutions to businesses worldwide. The Company's business model can be divided into four distinct categories: AvraPay: to develop a complete, turn-key and painless way for merchants to accept Bitcoin as Payment; AvraATM: to promote usage and acceptance of digital currencies through the Company's proposed network of ATMs; AvraTourism: to provide cryptocurrency payment processing solutions for merchants such as hotels and casinos; AvraNews: to provide a news portal focusing on digital currency news. For more information about the Company please visit:www.avraglobal.com.
About Mango Pay SRLMango Pay SRL, an international company based in the Dominican Republic, provides consumers with instant electronic payment solutions for goods and services as well as money transfers. Founded in 2012, Mango Pay is a pioneer in the field of electronic payments via kiosks and the official international market representative for Elecsnet, created in 2000 and which operates a network of over 4000 centrally managed kiosks. The Elecsnet processing center is connected in real time to the billing systems of leading communications operators, providing instant access to customers with the payment services as well as the immediate ability to fund their personal accounts. The convenience of this service is truly unique and unprecedented: from any kiosk, it is possible for customers to fund any Visa card account in the world. Kiosks are located in all convenient locations: supermarkets, shopping malls, entertainment centers, cafes and restaurants, gas stations, universities and subway stations to name but a few, with the majority of kiosks functioning around the clock. To help customers locate the kiosk closest to them, an interactive map is provided via the company's website. For more information about the Company please visit their website atwww.mango.do
Additional information regarding Avra, Inc. and its filings can be found atwww.sec.gov.
Forward Looking StatementsSome information in this document constitutes forward-looking statements or statements which may be deemed or construed to be forward-looking statements, such as the closing of the share exchange agreement. The words "plan", "forecast", "anticipates", "estimate", "project", "intend", "expect", "should", "believe", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve, and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance (financial or operating) or achievements to differ from the future results, performance (financial or operating) or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks, uncertainties and other factors are more fully discussed in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements attributable to Avra Inc., herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by the above-mentioned cautionary statement. Avra Inc., disclaims any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this estimate, except as may be required by law.
|
1,417,788,000 |
2014-12-05 14:00:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [45, 79, 711, 823, 842]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [0, 113]}
|
Bitcoin Shop CEO Charles Allen Interviewed on Bloomberg TV's 'Street Smart' to Discuss the U.S. Marshals Service Bitcoin Auction
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-shop-ceo-charles-allen-140000100.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
ARLINGTON, VA--(Marketwired - Dec 5, 2014) - Bitcoin Shop, Inc. (OTCQB:BTCS) ("Bitcoin Shop" or the "Company"), operator of the digital currency ecommerce marketplacewww.btcs.com,which is undertaking the build-out of a universal digital currency ecosystem, today announced that its Chief Executive Officer, Charles Allen, was interviewed on Thursday, December 4, 2014 live on Bloomberg TV's Street Smart at 3:20 p.m. ET. The topic of the appearance was a discussion regarding the U.S. Marshals Service auction of 50,000 bitcoins.
Street Smart online viewing details are as follows:Interview Date: Thursday, December 4, 2014Network/Program: Bloomberg TV/Street SmartInterview Title: On the Auction Block: 50,000 BitcoinsInterview Link:http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2014-12-04/on-the-auction-block-50-000-bitcoins
About Bitcoin Shop, Inc.:Bitcoin Shop, Inc. plans to build a universal digital currency platform with the goal of enabling users to engage in the digital currency ecosystem through one point of access. We currently operate our legacy ecommerce website (www.bitcoinshop.us) and are operating our public beta site (www.btcs.com) where consumers can purchase products using digital currency such as bitcoin, litecoin and dogecoin, by searching through a selection of over 2 million items. We provide our customers competitive pricing options from over 85 retailers through our "Intelligent Shopping Engine." All ecommerce customer orders are fulfilled by third party vendors. We plan to use our ecommerce platform as a customer on-ramp for a broader digital currency platform. We have been actively partnering with strategic digital currency companies who have technologies, services or products that are complementary to our business strategy by making investments in them and integrating with them.
Digital currencies use peer-to-peer networks to facilitate instant payments. They are categorized as cryptocurrencies, as they use cryptography as a security measure. Digital currency issuances and transactions are carried out collectively by the network, with no central authority, and allow users to make verified transfers.
Forward Looking Statements:Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
|
1,386,689,040 |
2013-12-10 15:24:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [67, 338, 489, 513, 625, 755, 910, 1017, 1571, 1713]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [23]}
|
Why Apple Is Rejecting Bitcoin Apps
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/why-apple-rejecting-bitcoin-apps-152453252.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
AP
It seems like everyone wants to chime in with their opinions on Bitcoin – "It's a scam," or "It's the future," etc. – but Apple has so far maintained its famous silence when it comes to the anonymous digital currency that's got heads turned across industries.
This post from TechCrunchcalls attention to how Apple has thus far treated Bitcoin-related apps when they're submitted for App Store approval. In short, not well.
Coinbase and Gliph are two higher-profile companies dealing in Bitcoin – Coinbase is a Bitcoin exchange for buying and selling the digital currency, and Gliph, a mobile payments app set up to handle Bitcoin transactions. The Coinbase app was removed from the App Store entirely and Apple requested thatGliph get rid of its app's Bitcoin functionality, despite letting it operate unencumbered for the previous seven months.
So even though Apple hasn't explicitly stated it won't allow Bitcoin apps, its behavior certainly sends a clear message. This is not to say that Apple willalwaysreject Bitcoin apps, but that Apple is simply protecting itself from legal repercussions until regulators can come to some sort of consensus on how to treat the digital currency.
Here are the salient details from the TechCrunch post:
The rejection, [Gliph CEO Rob] Banagale notes, was based largely off of section 22.1 of Apple’s App Store review guidelines. The rule states that “apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users. It is the developer’s obligation to understand and conform to all local laws.”
Bitcoin is not illegal, but it is also not legally recognized by governments as a currency. This gray area is what is leading Apple to reject Bitcoin-transaction apps.
More From Business Insider
• 20 Photorealistic Pictures Of Computer-Generated People
• IBM's Jeopardy-Winning Supercomputer Will Power A 'Cognitive, Expert Personal Shopper' App Next Year
• Remember When That Watson Supercomputer Won Jeopardy? Here's What's Going On With It Lately
|
1,386,689,040 |
2013-12-10 15:24:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [67, 338, 489, 513, 625, 755, 910, 1017, 1571, 1713]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [23]}
|
Why Apple Is Rejecting Bitcoin Apps
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-apple-rejecting-bitcoin-apps-152453252.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
AP
It seems like everyone wants to chime in with their opinions on Bitcoin – "It's a scam," or "It's the future," etc. – but Apple has so far maintained its famous silence when it comes to the anonymous digital currency that's got heads turned across industries.
This post from TechCrunchcalls attention to how Apple has thus far treated Bitcoin-related apps when they're submitted for App Store approval. In short, not well.
Coinbase and Gliph are two higher-profile companies dealing in Bitcoin – Coinbase is a Bitcoin exchange for buying and selling the digital currency, and Gliph, a mobile payments app set up to handle Bitcoin transactions. The Coinbase app was removed from the App Store entirely and Apple requested thatGliph get rid of its app's Bitcoin functionality, despite letting it operate unencumbered for the previous seven months.
So even though Apple hasn't explicitly stated it won't allow Bitcoin apps, its behavior certainly sends a clear message. This is not to say that Apple willalwaysreject Bitcoin apps, but that Apple is simply protecting itself from legal repercussions until regulators can come to some sort of consensus on how to treat the digital currency.
Here are the salient details from the TechCrunch post:
The rejection, [Gliph CEO Rob] Banagale notes, was based largely off of section 22.1 of Apple’s App Store review guidelines. The rule states that “apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users. It is the developer’s obligation to understand and conform to all local laws.”
Bitcoin is not illegal, but it is also not legally recognized by governments as a currency. This gray area is what is leading Apple to reject Bitcoin-transaction apps.
More From Business Insider
• 20 Photorealistic Pictures Of Computer-Generated People
• IBM's Jeopardy-Winning Supercomputer Will Power A 'Cognitive, Expert Personal Shopper' App Next Year
• Remember When That Watson Supercomputer Won Jeopardy? Here's What's Going On With It Lately
|
1,386,693,961 |
2013-12-10 16:46:01+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [72, 264, 341, 362, 426, 452, 570, 700, 872, 1278, 1315, 1391, 1552, 1655, 1823, 1915, 2179, 2338, 2533, 2616, 2718, 2861, 3058, 3157]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [46]}
|
The First SaaS App Builder Platform To Accept Bitcoin
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-saas-app-builder-platform-164502410.html
| null |
https://guce.yahoo.com/terms?locale=en-US
|
Boutique start-up company Mobihighway Ltd. announced they are accepting Bitcoins to host mobile apps built with their online, self-build app platform, www.approokie.com.
London, United Kingdom, December 10th, 2013 /MarketersMedia/ -- Approokie.com is now offering Bitcoin as a payment option for its SaaSapp builder platform. It is offering Bitcoin holders, and Bitcoin merchants worldwide, the possibility to create apps for Bitcoins and to integrate Bitcoin checkout methods within their mobile apps. The launch also offers a discount on several packages exclusive to Bitcoin buyers.
App Rookie offers a relatively new way to create mobile apps. Just as the market is changing for app development, Bitcoin is disrupting e-commerce. App Rookie wanted to be a participant in the burgeoning crypto-currency market and be on the forefront of SaaS app solutions by accepting Bitcoins.
App Rookie offers a convenient `WordPress`- like solution to building mobile apps for small to medium sized businesses. The coding architecture is done behind the scenes allowing the user to quickly develop a mobile application, ormobile websitefor their business, by simply adding unique content and graphics to user friendly templates. Monthly subscriptions and yearly plans are now offered in Bitcoins.
The launch of App Rookie`s Bitcoin friendly website comes on the heels of a highly volatile period for Bitcoin. Since mid-October, two announcements helped the price rocket and push it out into the mainstream. An announcement by Richard Branson to start accepting Bitcoin for Virgin Galactic; and by Baidu, the Chinese equivalent to Google, that it started accepting Bitcoins for one of its divisions, Baidu Jaisule, helped propel the price from around $200 to its recent stellar heights of over $1200. However, growing concerns about Bitcoin prompted a Chinese government announcement to ban Chinese banks from transacting in Bitcoins. Baidu quickly followed suit with a turn around on acceptance, and both events caused it to lose more than half its recent gains overnight. The price has stabilised, trading around the $700 range, still above levels seen two months ago.
It is likely that Bitcoin will still remain a currency of high volatility and uncertainty for the foreseeable future. However, despite the swings, there are a growing number of Bitcoin merchant payment gateways which are beginning to flourish and compete with traditional payment processors. They offer less expensive, or zero processing fees, adding to the attraction of Bitcoin. These gateways require merchant account verification and offer to convert Bitcoin back into local currencies by daily direct deposit. "We would like to add to the viability of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange, and would like to see more retailers accepting it" said Nancy Court, Founder ofMobihighwayand AppRookie.com. "Bitcoin is still in its infancy and will remain influenced by birth pangs until it is more established. Competition for crypto-currencies will also likely arise, but for now, it is still all about Bitcoin. As a business, we want to be inclusive and cater to those clients who want to transact in Bitcoin. It is simply an extra currency at our checkout and offers a cheaper alternative for transacting than the traditional payment gateways."
Visithttp://www.approokie.comfor more information.
Contact InfoName: Nancy CourtOrganization: Mobihighway Ltd.Email: info@approokie.com
###This announcement is sourced from MarketersMedia[Link].
This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.Source: MarketersMedia via GlobeNewswireHUG#1748864
|
1,386,698,400 |
2013-12-10 18:00:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [144, 230, 296, 377, 471, 522, 556, 599, 797, 961, 1237, 1311, 1602, 1953, 2025, 2365, 2466, 2831, 3126, 3360, 3414, 3585]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [48]}
|
KryptoKit Unveils World's First Secure, Instant Bitcoin Wallet in a Browser
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kryptokit-unveils-worlds-first-secure-180000893.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Dec 10, 2013) - INSIDE BITCOINS, LAS VEGAS - KryptoKit (www.kryptokit.com), the easiest and fastest way to handle Bitcoin transactions, today debuted the world's first Google Chrome extension instant Bitcoin wallet and secure payment system. The implementation of a Bitcoin wallet directly into a web browser has been touted as the holy grail for Bitcoin mass adoption, and today KryptoKit delivers a set of tools that dramatically simplify Bitcoin transactions.
KryptoKit offers the fastest Bitcoin wallet setup and simplest Bitcoin payments, integrated into a secure Bitcoin platform where all user data is stored client-side and never sent to any remote servers. KryptoKit does not know user passwords or private keys, nor does it have access to customer funds or Bitcoins.
Available for free on the Google Chrome Web Store, and with code that is visible for all to audit, KryptoKit installs immediately, generating a brand new Bitcoin wallet in a matter of seconds. Removing the need for passwords or user credentials during setup, one simply moves the mouse around the screen until a new public and private key-pair appears. The mouse coordinates coupled with a random character generator create a new Bitcoin wallet instantly.
"It's always been our goal to create an instant Bitcoin wallet system that removes much of the friction associated with current web and software wallets," says Anthony Di Iorio, who along with Steven Dakh founded the Toronto-based company. "With the demise of the popular Instawallet earlier this year, we knew there was a need for a fast Bitcoin wallet system, and we have been eager to fill the void."
Using the provided embedded QR code or deposit address, the KryptoKit wallet can be easily funded from any other web or software wallet. Deposits appear instantly and no confirmations are required to initiate outgoing transactions. The real genius of the system is unveiled when making Bitcoin payments as KryptoKit crawls the users screen (webpage) for any Bitcoin addresses and places them in a bulleted list directly in the wallet window. The user simply selects the address they wish to make a payment to, enters the amount, and hits send. No more copying and pasting addresses and no more moving back and forth between tabs to your web wallet. KryptoKit is the easiest and fastest way to make Bitcoin payments, including the automation of entering payment destination addresses.
Along with the Bitcoin wallet, packaged in the launch today of KryptoKit is an easy to use, secure and private messaging system. Utilizing GPG encryption (the open-source version of PGP), this easy-to-setup system makes sending encrypted messages to your friends a breeze, with new message notifications appearing directly in the extension icon.
KryptoKit is exhibiting at Inside Bitcoins in Las Vegas, December 10-11. Attendees are encouraged to drop by the booth, see KryptoKit in action and explore the additional features of this payment and communication systems. Features such as one-click backup of KryptoKit data, and a brain wallet that allows users to access their Bitcoin wallet anywhere in the world without carrying any backup files.
About KryptoKit
KryptoKit is a Toronto-based company specializing in encryption and digital currencies. Founder Anthony Di Iorio is the Executive Director of the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada and founder of the Toronto Bitcoin Community Meetup. Co-founder Steven Dakh is from New Jersey, and has been developing using multiple platforms since age six. Steven has been heavily involved with Bitcoin development since 2011.
|
1,417,800,594 |
2014-12-05 17:29:54+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [2425]}
|
{}
|
Shipping ETF Falls On Hard Times As Commodities Dip
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shipping-etf-falls-hard-times-172954370.html
|
Benzinga
|
http://www.benzinga.com/
|
Stocks involved in the shipping industry can be one way to play thetransportation sectorand global economic expansion theme. However, the continued collapse in worldwidecommodity pricesand economic uncertainty in Europe has sent prices of these companies lower in recent months.
Both theUnited States Oil Fund LP (ETF)(NYSE:USO) andUnited States Natural Gas Fund, LP(NYSE:UNG) are trading near their lowest levels of the year and putting pressure on commodity suppliers. Fears over a reduction in demand for transport of bulk goods are likely one of the driving forces in this new down-trend in shipping stocks.
Related Link:Commodity ETNs Not Crashing
Guggenheim Shipping ETF
TheGuggenheim Shipping ETF(NYSE:SEA) is the only industry-focused fund that tracks 26 companies engaged in the transport of goods and materials by sea. This ETF tracks the Dow Jones Global Shipping Index, which specifically excludes passenger stocks such as cruise ships.
So far this year, SEA has lost more than 12 percent despite the persistent strength in other areas of the transportation sector. From a short-term perspective, this ETF is now off more than 17 percent from its recent August high and continues to show signs of distress.
Comparison: iShares Transportation
By comparison, theiShares Dow Jones Transport. Avg. (ETF)(NYSE:IYT) has gained more than 25 percent over the same time frame. IYT focuses on domestic airline, railroad and trucking companies. Marine transport makes up just 8 percent of this broader index.
SEA Is Global
SEA is a truly global fund, with the United States only making up 23 percent of the total holdings. Other top country weightings include Denmark, Bermuda and Greece. The global shipping and resources conglomerate AP Moeller-Maersk A/S-B is the largest holding in this ETF, with more than 18 percent of the total asset allocation.
Many of the underlying companies in SEA are high-dividend paying stocks, which combine to generate a current 30-day SEC yield of 3.83 percent. It’s worth noting that as the price of this ETF falls, the stated yield component will rise.
While the current environment may not be supportive for the companies in SEA, a pickup in commodity prices may spur additional interest in this sector as a global value opportunity at some point in the future.
Image credit: Official U.S. Navy Page, Flickr
See more from Benzinga
• Former Facebook Foes Prepare To Divulge On Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF
• Retail, Energy And Switzerland ETFs To Watch This Week
• ETF Investors Have Much To Be Thankful For This Year
© 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
|
1,417,806,900 |
2014-12-05 19:15:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [544, 579], "BTC": [962]}
|
{}
|
Microelectronics BTCPOOLPARTY Receives CCN-Crypto Coins News Review
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microelectronics-btcpoolparty-receives-ccn-crypto-191500341.html
|
ACCESSWIRE
|
https://www.accesswire.com/
|
MONARCH BAY, CA / ACCESSWIRE / December 5, 2014 /Microelectronics Technology Corporation (OTC Pink: MELY) (MELY) The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that the company has received a review of the BTCPOOLPARTY mining pool and the company's mining operation and future development plans.
The article can found by following this link:
http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/btc-pool-party-new-transparently-audited-publiclytraded-us-bitcoin-mining-pool/
"This article is an endorsement of the company's business commitment to transparency in the Bitcoin industry in particular the Bitcoin mining pool industry" states company President Brett Everett. "The company feels that its own mining pool,www.BTCPOOLPARTY.combeing the only openly transparent and third party audited mining pool, is setting a new standard among pool operation for the future. As an operator of a worldwide pool the company is aware of the expense required to program, develop, and operate a BTC Mining pool and is transparent in the 3% fee structure that will be charged by the pool to participate. It brings into question how all of the other ZERO FEE pools can actually operate without accumulating significant operating losses unless there is value derived from other operations of the pool without open disclosure to the miners participating in the pool."
Open, Audited Transparency is atwww.BTCPOOLPARTY.com.
Server Acquisition:
The company through Mr. Garavaglia, has ordered its first shipment of Spondoolies-Tech SP 20s. Each SP-20 produces 1.7 TH/s the company's initial order of 270 units providing 460 TH/s will ship mid-December. The company is preparing the Washington facility for installation upon receipt of the servers.
Financing:
The company has finalized its negotiations for a two million dollar long-term debt placement with a private placement agent. The company will be offering a 12% Convertible Preferred, convertible after 24 months into common shares of the company at a 30% discount to market of a lowest three day average bid price, based on a 5 day look back.
This offering is currently in legal with expectations the company will be receiving subscriptions prior to months end.
This financing will allow for the company to expand and accelerate its server acquisition for the new year.
BTCPOOLPARTY Mining Pool:
The company continues to develop and improve the BTCPOOLPARTY mining pool with the introduction of more detailed stats of the mining operations available over the next several days.
https://www.BTCpoolparty.com
Additional photos and videos can be viewed at the company's Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/MELYPK
Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these statements are made to convey Company progress, business opportunities and growth prospects, readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements represent management's opinion. Whereas management believes such representations to be true and accurate based on information and data available to the Company at this time, actual results may differ materially and are subject to risk and uncertainties. Factors that may cause actual results to differ include without limitation: dependence on key personnel and suppliers; MELY's ability to commercialize its technology; ability to defend intellectual property; material and component costs; competition; economic conditions; consumer demand and product acceptance, and availability of growth capital.
Additional considerations and risk factors are set forth-in reports filed on Form 8-K and 10-K with the SEC and other filings. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon these forward-looking statements; historical information is not an indicator of future performance. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements.
CONTACT:
Microelectronics Technology Co.President:Mr. Brett Everett702-221-1938info@melypk.comwww.melypk.comwww.dynamoservers.com
SOURCE:Microelectronics Technology Company
|
1,386,704,580 |
2013-12-10 19:43:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [21, 274, 316, 397, 594, 613, 670, 851, 1024, 1094, 1559, 1579, 1606, 1643, 1709, 1920, 1991, 2140, 2253, 2325, 2398]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [11]}
|
How To Buy Bitcoins Completely Anonymously
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/buy-bitcoins-completely-anonymously-194354962.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
GlenCooper/flickr
As Bitcoin is a decentralized monetary system, it has a certain appeal to hardcore libertarian types who'd prefer to keep their money out of the government's sight and reach. But maintaining this kind of financial anonymity isn't entirely straightforward.
Bitcoin exchanges, where you buy and sell Bitcoin, are often paired to your bank account in order to convert your money to Bitcoin as you buy it. And your bank account is obviously tied to your identity. Let's go through two different methods for taking your stores of wealth off the grid.
1. Cash deposits through LocalBitcoins.com.
LocalBitcoinsis a service that connects people seeking to buy Bitcoin with those looking to sell, and vice versa.
For those looking to anonymously buy it, simply selected a trusted vendor from the list of people able to sell you the amount of Bitcoin you want. They'll provide you with banking information and you make a cash deposit into their account. Once the transaction's confirmed, you'll usually receive your Bitcoins in a matter of minutes.
Here's an example. If I want $100 in Bitcoins, I search for people able to accommodate that amount as a cash deposit. Here's what the search results look like:
Screenshot
I'd probably use the first vendor, as his feedback shows over 100 completed transactions and a 100% positive rating. The description lists Wells Fargo as this person's bank, so at this point I'd go to a Wells Fargo with $100 cash and make a deposit into the vendor's account. As soon as it's confirmed, I have anonymously acquired Bitcoins in my LocalBitcoins account.
2. Use a Bitcoin tumbler.
If you already have Bitcoins that you want to anonymize, you'd probably want to use a Bitcoin tumbler. Here's a scaled-down version of the idea behind them.
If you and I each put 500 pennies in a jar and shake it up, we can then remove 500 pennies each without knowing whose were initially whose. Bitcoin tumblers facilitate groups of people anonymously pooling their Bitcoins, mixing them up, and redistributing them back to the group, usually minus a small fee for the service.
The most popular tumbler seems to be BitcoinFog, whichyou can read more about here.
More From Business Insider
• The Dealership That Sold A Tesla For Bitcoin Wants To Make More Digital Deals
• Someone Bought A Tesla Using Bitcoin
• Two Guys On Reddit Are Chasing A Thief Who Has $220 Million In Bitcoins
|
1,386,709,200 |
2013-12-10 21:00:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [128, 217, 762, 943, 1619, 1944, 2354, 2917]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [30, 65]}
|
KnCMiner Debuts Most Powerful Bitcoin Miner in History at Inside Bitcoins Conference
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kncminer-debuts-most-powerful-bitcoin-210000931.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Dec 10, 2013) -INSIDE BITCOINS-- KnCMiner (www.KnCMiner.com/), a manufacturer of state-of-the-art Bitcoin mining machines, today began general pre-ordering of its next-generation Neptune Bitcoin mining equipment. The machine has already been available for pre-order to existing KnCMiner customers, a pre-sale that included the company taking $8 million in orders in just 24 hours. The company anticipates that continued strong demand means that the Neptune model will completely sell out before Christmas, with a total worldwide shipment of only 2,400 units. Pre-order pricing is $12,995.
"While we have seen a significant increase in demand for our line of machines from the last quarter to this one, unprecedented anywhere in the Bitcoin mining industry," said KnCMiner CEO Andreas Kennemar. "We're now focusing on doing everything we can to meet the demand we expect we will continue to receive, especially as Bitcoin's popularity continues to soar."
The Neptune is KnCMiner's first 20nm product and will be shipping in the first and second quarters of 2014. It has a minimum 3,000 GH/s (300,000,000,000 hashes per second) of hashing speed, five times faster than the speed of the company's first Jupiter release. This incredible speed is accomplished despite a 30 percent reduction in watts used per GH.
Subsequent to selling out its production supply for December in just a matter of days, KnCMiner also sold out a $600,000 supply of upgrade modules inunderfive minutesto existing customers who already have rigs. KnCMiner has produced almost $45 million in total global sales of its Bitcoin mining rigs to 120 different countries in the company's eight short months of existence since April 2013, rapidly going from market entry to market leader. The company soon will begin taking pre-orders again to meet this historic demand by miners who are participating in the new "digital gold rush."
KnCMiner offers Bitcoin mining hardware that is faster and more efficient at producing the virtual cryptocurrency, at competitive prices, while keeping energy costs lower and mining areas cooler. KnCMiner has partnered with the biggest names in supercomputing, including a recent partnership with Alchip Technologies, to deliver rigs that can hash faster and more efficiently than any others on the market. KnCMiner's line of Bitcoin speciality machines, including the popular Jupiter and Saturn models, contain proprietary technology with custom-engineered ASIC that provide the highest production performance on the market with energy-saving features that are unique to the product line.
For more details about KnCMiner, and specific lines of machines such as the Jupiter and Saturn, please visitwww.KnCMiner.com.
About KnCMinerKnCMiner is a Swedish company founded in 2013 as a joint venture between ORSoC AB and Kennemar & Cole AB. KnCMiner produces a popular line of machines to help Bitcoin producers mine the digital cryptocurrency more effectively and more efficiently at overall lower cost. For more information, please visitwww.KnCMiner.com.
|
1,386,709,200 |
2013-12-10 21:00:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [128, 217, 762, 943, 1619, 1944, 2354, 2917]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [30, 65]}
|
KnCMiner Debuts Most Powerful Bitcoin Miner in History at Inside Bitcoins Conference
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/kncminer-debuts-most-powerful-bitcoin-210000931.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Dec 10, 2013) -INSIDE BITCOINS-- KnCMiner (www.KnCMiner.com/), a manufacturer of state-of-the-art Bitcoin mining machines, today began general pre-ordering of its next-generation Neptune Bitcoin mining equipment. The machine has already been available for pre-order to existing KnCMiner customers, a pre-sale that included the company taking $8 million in orders in just 24 hours. The company anticipates that continued strong demand means that the Neptune model will completely sell out before Christmas, with a total worldwide shipment of only 2,400 units. Pre-order pricing is $12,995.
"While we have seen a significant increase in demand for our line of machines from the last quarter to this one, unprecedented anywhere in the Bitcoin mining industry," said KnCMiner CEO Andreas Kennemar. "We're now focusing on doing everything we can to meet the demand we expect we will continue to receive, especially as Bitcoin's popularity continues to soar."
The Neptune is KnCMiner's first 20nm product and will be shipping in the first and second quarters of 2014. It has a minimum 3,000 GH/s (300,000,000,000 hashes per second) of hashing speed, five times faster than the speed of the company's first Jupiter release. This incredible speed is accomplished despite a 30 percent reduction in watts used per GH.
Subsequent to selling out its production supply for December in just a matter of days, KnCMiner also sold out a $600,000 supply of upgrade modules inunderfive minutesto existing customers who already have rigs. KnCMiner has produced almost $45 million in total global sales of its Bitcoin mining rigs to 120 different countries in the company's eight short months of existence since April 2013, rapidly going from market entry to market leader. The company soon will begin taking pre-orders again to meet this historic demand by miners who are participating in the new "digital gold rush."
KnCMiner offers Bitcoin mining hardware that is faster and more efficient at producing the virtual cryptocurrency, at competitive prices, while keeping energy costs lower and mining areas cooler. KnCMiner has partnered with the biggest names in supercomputing, including a recent partnership with Alchip Technologies, to deliver rigs that can hash faster and more efficiently than any others on the market. KnCMiner's line of Bitcoin speciality machines, including the popular Jupiter and Saturn models, contain proprietary technology with custom-engineered ASIC that provide the highest production performance on the market with energy-saving features that are unique to the product line.
For more details about KnCMiner, and specific lines of machines such as the Jupiter and Saturn, please visitwww.KnCMiner.com.
About KnCMinerKnCMiner is a Swedish company founded in 2013 as a joint venture between ORSoC AB and Kennemar & Cole AB. KnCMiner produces a popular line of machines to help Bitcoin producers mine the digital cryptocurrency more effectively and more efficiently at overall lower cost. For more information, please visitwww.KnCMiner.com.
|
1,386,710,100 |
2013-12-10 21:15:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [2292]}
|
{}
|
Jeff Gundlach Speaks On The State Of The Economy And The Markets
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live-jeff-gundlach-speaks-state-210118899.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
REUTERS / Jessica Rinaldi
DoubleLine CEO Jeff Gundlach hosted one of his popular webcasts this afternoon in which he discussed "the economy, the markets and his outlook for what he believes may be the best investment strategies and sector allocations for the DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund and Core Fixed Income Fund."
The webcast is titled "Something for Nothing."
Below is a summary of the call.
4:23:Gundlach says one reason perhaps risk markets have been supported in 2013 is shrinking deficits while Federal Reserve bond buying has remained constant.
4:30:Gundlach has been talking mostly about Obamacare for the first 15 minutes of the call. He is concerned.
4:41:Gundlach notes the first increase in household debt in Q3 2013 in years, says those who expect economic growth to plateau at higher levels in 2014 probably need that development to hold steady.
4:46:Gundlach says the unemployment rate would be 9.3% if those who dropped out of the labor force for reasons other than demographics since the crisis were still in the labor force.
4:48:Gundlach notes that the unemployment rate for those without high school diplomas has been falling in line with the decline in unemployment for college graduates.
4:51:Gundlach says a lot of people are getting worried about covenant-lite loans and other relaxation of lending standards in the corporate bond market. He says this will come back to haunt us at some point, but not as long as corporate profitability stays this high.
4:55:Gundlach says Fed stimulus will be with us longer than people think because there is no inflation.
4:58:Gundlach doesn't think it's right to favor high-yield bonds over dollar-denominated emerging market bonds, given recent EM underperformance.
4:59:If rates go higher, Gundlach thinks the pension community is going to be a buyer.
5:02:Gundlach says a basket of Asian currencies seems to be a good short-term leading indicator of U.S. interest rates. When Asian currencies weaken, usually rates rise.
5:04:Gundlach says from a long-term perspective, there isn't a compelling case for EM equities relative to U.S. equities.
5:21:"One of the problems with this whole Japanese thing is that Mr. Abe is losing his popularity."—Gundlach
5:28:Gundlach is bullish on non-agency mortgages.
5:28:Gundlach says Bitcoin is just a wild, speculative rocket-shot to the moon, and it's living in a world of its own just based on speculation.
5:29:Gundlach says he thinks there is causality between the rise in real estate prices and the decline in gold prices.
Click Here For Gundlach's Full Chartbook »More From Business Insider
• Markets Are Higher Ahead Of Major Jobs Report
• Stocks Are On The Verge Of 5 Straight Down Days
• Markets Are Going Nowhere
|
1,386,710,100 |
2013-12-10 21:15:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [2292]}
|
{}
|
Jeff Gundlach Speaks On The State Of The Economy And The Markets
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/live-jeff-gundlach-speaks-state-210118899.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
REUTERS / Jessica Rinaldi
DoubleLine CEO Jeff Gundlach hosted one of his popular webcasts this afternoon in which he discussed "the economy, the markets and his outlook for what he believes may be the best investment strategies and sector allocations for the DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund and Core Fixed Income Fund."
The webcast is titled "Something for Nothing."
Below is a summary of the call.
4:23:Gundlach says one reason perhaps risk markets have been supported in 2013 is shrinking deficits while Federal Reserve bond buying has remained constant.
4:30:Gundlach has been talking mostly about Obamacare for the first 15 minutes of the call. He is concerned.
4:41:Gundlach notes the first increase in household debt in Q3 2013 in years, says those who expect economic growth to plateau at higher levels in 2014 probably need that development to hold steady.
4:46:Gundlach says the unemployment rate would be 9.3% if those who dropped out of the labor force for reasons other than demographics since the crisis were still in the labor force.
4:48:Gundlach notes that the unemployment rate for those without high school diplomas has been falling in line with the decline in unemployment for college graduates.
4:51:Gundlach says a lot of people are getting worried about covenant-lite loans and other relaxation of lending standards in the corporate bond market. He says this will come back to haunt us at some point, but not as long as corporate profitability stays this high.
4:55:Gundlach says Fed stimulus will be with us longer than people think because there is no inflation.
4:58:Gundlach doesn't think it's right to favor high-yield bonds over dollar-denominated emerging market bonds, given recent EM underperformance.
4:59:If rates go higher, Gundlach thinks the pension community is going to be a buyer.
5:02:Gundlach says a basket of Asian currencies seems to be a good short-term leading indicator of U.S. interest rates. When Asian currencies weaken, usually rates rise.
5:04:Gundlach says from a long-term perspective, there isn't a compelling case for EM equities relative to U.S. equities.
5:21:"One of the problems with this whole Japanese thing is that Mr. Abe is losing his popularity."—Gundlach
5:28:Gundlach is bullish on non-agency mortgages.
5:28:Gundlach says Bitcoin is just a wild, speculative rocket-shot to the moon, and it's living in a world of its own just based on speculation.
5:29:Gundlach says he thinks there is causality between the rise in real estate prices and the decline in gold prices.
Click Here For Gundlach's Full Chartbook »More From Business Insider
• Markets Are Higher Ahead Of Major Jobs Report
• Stocks Are On The Verge Of 5 Straight Down Days
• Markets Are Going Nowhere
|
1,417,816,669 |
2014-12-05 21:57:49+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [953]}
|
{}
|
Tim Draper wins part of U.S. 2nd bitcoin auction-Bloomberg
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tim-draper-wins-part-u-215749687.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
NEW YORK, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Venture capitalist Tim Draper won part of the U.S. Marshals Service' auction of 50,000 bitcoins, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
The news wire agency said the Draper, who bid on behalf of Draper Associates, successfully bid for 2,000 bitcoins at Thursday's auction. He did not disclose the price.
On Thursday, the U.S. government auctioned the 50,000 bitcoins confiscated during the prosecution of the alleged owner of Silk Road, an Internet black-market bazaar where authorities say illegal drugs and other goods could be bought.
It was the U.S. Marshals Service's second such auction following one in June for almost 30,000 bitcoins seized during a raid on Silk Road in 2013.
Lynzey Donahue, a Marshals Service spokeswoman, said in a emailed statement that she cannot "confirm, deny or make any further announcements until the entire award process has concluded, including the completion of required financial transactions."
Bitcoin prices were up 2.3 percent late Friday at $377.76 .
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Nate Raymond; Editing by David Gregorio)
|
1,386,728,880 |
2013-12-11 02:28:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [40, 71, 565, 932, 1425, 1449, 1514, 1656, 2008, 2032, 2091, 2141, 2241, 2388, 2433, 2518, 2604, 2646, 2807, 3136, 3195, 3301, 3422, 3566, 3603, 3787, 3831, 3922, 4016, 4188, 4382, 4696, 4752, 4843, 4904, 4962, 5010, 5071, 5157, 5735, 5789, 5918, 6116, 6227, 6337, 6478, 6550, 6623]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [0]}
|
Bitcoin Proves The Libertarian Idea Of Paradise Would Be Hell On Earth
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-proves-libertarians-idea-paradise-022800742.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh
Welcome to Bitcoinistan!
Libertarianslove Bitcoin.
About44% of the online crypto-currency's users self-identify as Libertarians.
They love the fact that it'snot controlled by a government or central bank— so no online Fed can "print" more of it and inflate our way out of trouble. They love that it's decentralized; it's the currency of The People, not The Man. They love that it's "mined," a bit like gold, because that makes it a bit like the gold standard, which libertarians think real currencies ought to be tied to. They love thatBitcoin isn't taxed, so you canhide your income from the government if you want to. They love the way itsvalue reflects pure supply and demand, and not a value forced into the system by regulation or monopoly. Andthey love that it's fairly lawless— it's difficult to enforce rules (other than the rules of the market) when everyone in the market is anonymous.
So the Bitcoin experience gives us a glimpse of Libertarian paradise: What life would be like with as little government interference as possible, in a market free of burdensome laws and taxes.
Unfortunately, that experience looks like a total nightmare. It's characterized by radical instability, chaos, the rise of a boss-class of criminals who assassinate people they don't like, and a mass handover of wealth to a minority even smaller than the 1% that currently lauds it in the United States.
If Bitcoin was a country — Bitcoinistan? — it would be like Somalia. Consider:
Flickr/Richt
Bitcoin is most useful to criminals.
Currently, for ordinary people, cash and credit work just fine. While some mainstream businesses do take Bitcoin, there is no compelling reason — yet — for ordinary people to use it. If you'rea criminal, however, there are very compelling reasonsto use it: you can transfer vast sums of cash completely anonymously. Cash transfers are a real problem for criminals. When you can't use bank accounts, lugging around vast sums of cash gets old pretty quickly. Bitcoin solves that. So Bitcoin is very, very empowering for criminals.
There is a Bitcoin crime wave going on right now.
Given that Bitcoin is good for criminals, it should not be surprising that those criminals are targeting other Bitcoin users for thefts. The most spectacular theft so far is theSheep Marketplace robbery, in which one hacker appears to have emptied a massive Bitcoin marketplace of up to $220 million in Bitcoins. Note that Sheep Marketplace was basically a trading post for drug dealers. Bitcoin exchange and account thefts are very common. Here's apotted history of recent Bitcoin capers.
Lance Fisher / Flickr, CC
Bitcoin "law" is enforced by paid assassins.
The most shocking thing about the indictment of the Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht was not the amount of money in Bitcoin he controlled (about $28 million). Rather, it was the fact that when other drug dealers ripped him off, he didn't put it down as the price of doing business. Instead,he is accused of hiring a hitman to murder six peoplehe believed had stolen from him.Ulbricht was a Libertarian. In other words, there will be laws in the Bitcoin Libertarian paradise: And the people with the most Bitcoins will decide what that law is, when it should be applied, and how "justice" will be meted out. In Bitcoinistan, the sentence for non-violent financial crimes includes the death penalty, apparently.
There is literally a Bitcoin market for assassinations.
There have always been people engaging in murder for hire, using old-fashioned cash. Butthe operator of this Bitcoin websiteseems to believe that Bitcoin creates enough anonymity to allow assassination to take place "at scale" (to borrow the parlance of the tech startup world). He wants to destroy "all governments, everywhere."
Bitcoin as a currency is horribly unstable.
Bitcoincharts
This chart (above) tells you all you need to know. One day you're rich, when Bitcoin approaches $1,200; the next day half your wealth is wiped out as it plummets to $700. Bitcoin isn't backed by any government's bonds or central bank gold. It's literally an asset without an underlying asset. So its price is determined entirely by its flows.
Bitcoinistan makes the Weimar Republic look sedate. Even if you could live with the crime, the instability makes transactions wildly unfair to the party on the downside.
Hasbro / Milton Bradley
Bitcoin has produced comical wealth inequality.
Libertarians don't care about inequality, of course. They see it as a reflection of individuals' natural talents, and as an incentive to work harder. But even the most hardcore free marketeer ought to blanche at the incredible level of inequality already endemic to Bitcoin. Just47 individuals own nearly one-third of all Bitcoins. About 927 people control half the entire currency. There are just over 1 million Bitcoin holders — the vast majority of them own mere crumbs.
Bitcoin hoarding could produce a cartel that controls all Bitcoin.
Astudy from Cornellhas claimed that if Bitcoin miners cooperate, they could end up controlling most Bitcoins and thus control the currency's price. The cartel could beggar or enrich all Bitcoin holders overnight, depending on how they trade it.
That kind of thing just doesn't happen with the dollar.
eofstr / Flickr, CC
Even if you can live with the crime, the inequality and the cartel, you might not tolerate the accidental chaos.
When you have a normal bank account with cash in it, you're almost guaranteed not to lose the money. The bank can burn to the ground, be robbed or even go out of business and because of federal deposit insurance you'll always get your money back. You can't "lose" U.S. dollars if they're parked in a checking account.
Not so with Bitcoin. If you're ever unlucky or careless with your Bitcoin wallet, you're completely screwed:
• Thisguy lost about $600 because he reset his mobile phone— permanently deleting his Bitcoin wallet.
• Thisguy threw away an old hard drive— and now he is looking for $6.5 million in a landfill.
• Thisguy lost about $90,000because he hit "delete" at the wrong time.
Sure, the entire Bitcoin economy is not run by criminals. But still, there is a price to pay for the freedom and anonymity that Bitcoin provides, and the price is a lack of enforceable laws that benefit the most ruthless.
The Libertarian Bitcoin dream is an interesting idea, but you wouldn't want to live there.
More From Business Insider
• The Dealership That Sold A Tesla For Bitcoin Wants To Make More Digital Deals
• Someone Bought A Tesla Using Bitcoin
• Two Guys On Reddit Are Chasing A Thief Who Has $220 Million In Bitcoins
|
1,417,833,790 |
2014-12-06 02:43:10+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1119, 1551]}
|
{}
|
Venture capitalist Tim Draper wins part of U.S. bitcoin auction
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/venture-capitalist-tim-draper-wins-024310389.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Venture capitalist Tim Draper won part of the U.S. Marshals Service' auction of 50,000 bitcoins, he said in an email Friday.
Draper said he successfully bid on one lot, totaling 2,000 bitcoins, on behalf of Draper Associates. The move helps fulfill his plan to invest 300 bitcoins in every startup that participates in the current session of Boost, a program for bitcoin-related startups founded by his son, Adam Draper.
Draper declined to disclose the price he paid.
On Thursday, the U.S. government auctioned the 50,000 bitcoins confiscated during the prosecution of the alleged owner of Silk Road, an Internet black-market bazaar where authorities say illegal drugs and other goods could be bought.
It was the U.S. Marshals Service's second such auction following one in June for almost 30,000 bitcoins seized during a raid on Silk Road in 2013.
Lynzey Donahue, a Marshals Service spokeswoman, said in a emailed statement that she cannot "confirm, deny or make any further announcements until the entire award process has concluded, including the completion of required financial transactions."
Bitcoin has declined in value throughout the year, leading to a school of thought that growth for the young currency has peaked. But Draper said he viewed the lower prices as a buying opportunity.
"Good luck to the Luddites you have been talking to," he wrote. "In a year or two, they are going to wonder what happened." He added he planned to keep investing in bitcoin-related companies in fields such as accounting and retailing.
Bitcoin prices were up 2.3 percent late Friday at $377.76.
Draper's success at the auction was first reported by Bloomberg.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Nate Raymond; Additional reporting by Sarah McBride in San Francisco; Editing by David Gregorio and Lisa Shumaker)
|
1,386,748,860 |
2013-12-11 08:01:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [189, 298, 318, 695, 737, 772, 845]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [58]}
|
Rostock Ventures Corp. Investigating Opportunities in the Bitcoin Industry
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rostock-ventures-corp-investigating-opportunities-080100880.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA--(Marketwired - Dec. 11, 2013) -Rostock Ventures Corp. (ROSV) wishes to announce that the company has engaged in discussions to look into the opportunities within the Bitcoin Industry from different aspects within this exciting area ranging from creating an exchange to trade Bitcoins to various Bitcoin mining opportunities. The company's board at this time has not secured a deal and may not find a viable opportunity going forward. Management will update shareholders as any progress is made on this front.
President and CEO, Greg Rotelli, stated, "Management is actively looking into opportunities that will enhance shareholder value, including but not limited to, the Bitcoin space. Potential opportunities in Bitcoin include involvement in the Bitcoin community for mining, trading and development. With the value of Bitcoins recently going over $1000, it makes sense to look into any opportunity that may add shareholder value."
Recently the company's Board of Directors has voted to initiate a 5-for-1 forward split of the Company's common shares payable as a dividend to our shareholders. At this time the Board has not selected the record a firm date to implement the forward stock split, but once a final record date is established, it will be announced. The Company anticipates that the forward stock split will occur prior to the end of 2013. Once we have implemented the 5-for-1 forward stock split, the Company's common stock will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis and the shareholders of record as of the selected record date will then own five shares for every one share previously owned. For example, if you owned 20,000 shares at the close of the record date you will be entitled to 100,000 shares after the split occurs.
Presently the Company has approximately 41,000,000 shares of its common stock issued and outstanding giving the company a market cap of just over $1 million currently. The Board and management feel that forward splitting the shares will increase liquidity in the Company which will give our shareholders added value and thus enable the Company to seek potential new projects.
Forward-looking Statements:
Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements, including the risks and uncertainties related to the progress, timing, cost, and results of exploration programs; competition from other exploration or mining companies; and the company's ability to obtain additional funding required to conduct its exploration activities. Please refer to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a comprehensive list of risk factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.
|
1,386,763,680 |
2013-12-11 12:08:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [2675], "BTC": [2901]}
|
{}
|
10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-things-know-opening-bell-120812668.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
REUTERS/ Kevork Djansezian
Cast members Paul Giamatti and Emma Thompson attend the film premiere of "Saving Mr. Banks," at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, December 9, 2013.
Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
• Asian markets were all down in overnight trading. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.62%; Hong Kong's Hang Seng, 1.71%; and the Shanghai, 1.49%. Europe, on the other hand, was slightly up, but U.S. futures were pointing lower.
• In a rare moment of bipartisanship, Democrats and Republicans agreed on a budget last night, preventing arepeatof October's government shutdown with weeks to spare. The deal — reached by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) — wasimmediately hailedby both President Obama and Speaker Boehner. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 " sets discretionary spending levels a little above $1 trillion for the next two years, while repealing and replacing some cuts of sequestration,"our Brett LoGiurato explains. "In fiscal year 2014, spending is set at $1.012 trillion, which sits about halfway between the proposed levels of the House and Senate budgets. Current law under sequestration calls for caps of $967 billion." The deal still has to pass both chambers by January 15.
• It seems we haveObamacare to thank for saving the U.S. economy. As our Joe Weisenthal writes, " Because Obamacare has rolled out terribly, Obama's approval ratings are in the toilet. This is a very welcome turn of events for the Republican party, which just over a month ago was in the toilet itself approval-wise. Republicans now have a good hand to play going into next November, and the only way they could obviously screw it up is by doing something stupid like shutting down the government again. So it appears that Republicans are content now to just not rock the boat and get to the next election which they hope will be a big one for them thanks to Obamacare."
• This budget deal was timely, because at 2:00 p.m. ET the U.S. government will make its monthly budget statement. Economists expect the Treasury to report a budget deficit of $140 billion. Of course, a quiet trend this year has been that thedeficit has been shrinking.
• German consumer price index (CPI) came in at 0.2% month-over-month and 1.3% year-over-year, meeting analyst expectations. The German economy has continued to outperform its European neighbors. Earlier this month, the country's manufacturing sector saw itsstrongest month since the summer of 2011.
• On the opposite end of the European spectrum, Greece reported anunemployment rate of 27.4%, up from 27.3% the previous two months. That rate is more than double the Eurozone average.
• A lucrativeBitcoin arbitrage opportunity in China has all but disappearedin recent days. " Traders could earn profits by buying bitcoins using dollars on a foreign exchange such as Mt. Gox, reselling them for yuan at the higher price on BTC China, the main local exchange, and finally converting the yuan back to dollars," reports Reuters' Gabriel Wildau. "In recent days, however, the spread between bitcoins as priced in yuan and those priced in dollars has disappeared" after the Chinese government released a statement forbidding local banks from dealing with the digital currency.
• Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta asked parliament to support his government andback a spate of reforms he said would boost the country out of the economic doldrums. "H e promised to rein in the deficit, cut Italy's towering public debt, the second highest in the euro zone as a proportion of the overall economy, lower taxes on families and companies, reduce unemployment and boost public investment," Reuters' James Mackenzie reported. " Privatizations would continue and the government would consider allowing employees to buy shares in the post office and other public companies, he said."
• Costcowill report earnings earnings today. Market analysts expect the company to post an EPS of $1.02, up from $0.95 a year ago, and revenue of $25.34 billion on the quarter. Last fiscal year, Costco netted$2.3 billion on membership fees, making up about 75% of its operating income. That huge figure allows the retailer to charge less and tempt customers looking to save money.
• Government regulatorsapproved the Volcker rule yesterday, a long-in-the-making measure that limits trading activity — specifically proprietary trading activity — at U.S. banks. Standard & Poor's estimates that the rule could shave off $10 billion in yearly pretax profit from the eight largest banks. At 953 pages, " Sure a lot of the Volcker rule is highly over-engineered checklists and admonitions that boil down to 'don't be dumb,' and sure there are good theoretical arguments against that sort of regulation, but I don't know, come on. You shouldn't be dumb,"wrote Bloomberg's Matt Levine. "You could do a lot worse than a rule that requires you to think about what you're doing."
More From Business Insider
• 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
• 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
• 10 Things You Need To Know This Morning
|
1,386,764,250 |
2013-12-11 12:17:30+00:00
|
{"BTC": [611, 1126, 1767]}
|
{}
|
China bitcoin arbitrage ends as traders work around capital controls
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-bitcoin-arbitrage-ends-punters-095750811.html
|
Reuters
|
https://www.reuters.com/
|
By Gabriel Wildau SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The price gap between bitcoins trading in Chinese yuan and those sold for other currencies has evaporated in recent days, highlighting the porous nature of China's capital controls. Chinese bitcoin chat rooms buzzed last month as investors noticed that the digital currency as sold on China's biggest exchange was more expensive, in dollar terms, than bitcoins traded abroad using dollars, creating a tempting arbitrage play. Traders could earn profits by buying bitcoins using dollars on a foreign exchange such as Mt. Gox, reselling them for yuan at the higher price on BTC China, the main local exchange, and finally converting the yuan back to dollars. "Insane bitcoin. If you've got dollars, hurry and do arbitrage," a user called 'foxtree' wrote on Weibo, a Twitter-like micro-blogging platform, on November 19, the day the gap peaked at more than 30 percent. A key driver of the price gap was China's capital controls, which make it difficult for speculators to swap yuan proceeds from the sale of high-priced Chinese bitcoins into dollars. "Certainly a portion of the premium on BTC China was a result of the fact that any coins sold would be in RMB, which isn't the most portable currency," said Zennon Kapron, head of Kapronasia, a Hong Kong-based finance and technology consultancy, using an alternate term for the Chinese currency. "So if you did trade that market, getting your money back into another currency is more difficult," he said. RAPID EVOLUTION In recent days, however, the spread between bitcoins as priced in yuan and those priced in dollars has disappeared. An announcement by China's central bank last week forbidding commercial banks from dealing in bitcoin also contributed to the price decline on BTC China. But analysts say the price convergence also reflects the rapid evolution of the bitcoin market, which began with technology enthusiasts but quickly expanded to include those with the financial know-how to evade China's strict capital controls. Story continues A 27-year-old e-commerce professional from the east coast city of Xiamen, who goes by the screen name 'King,' is typical of early-wave amateur punters. He told Reuters that he used RChange, an online currency exchange and payment service based in the Seychelles, to exchange yuan for commercially-operated electronic currencies such as OKPay and EgoPay, which are accepted by several international bitcoin exchanges. But because such currencies carry hefty charges, this method is only profitable when the bitcoin spread is very wide. SOPHISTICATED ARBITRAGEURS Recently, as bitcoin has grown in popularity, more sophisticated arbitrageurs have stepped in. Early this month, Chinese media began reporting that investors from Wenzhou, the east coastal city known for its entrepreneurial and speculative zeal, were piling into bitcoin. Wenzhou's famously tight-knit, business-savvy global diaspora has given rise to the adage "Wherever there's a market, there are Wenzhou people" and offers Wenzhou investors ready access to foreign currency. Some bitcoin speculators are also likely resorting to other tried-and-true methods for skirting China's capital controls. The most common is falsified trade invoices, which disguise movements of speculative cash as payments for goods and services. Indeed, unexpectedly strong export growth in November reignited suspicions that official data had been inflated by fake invoicing. Those suspicions centered on the conversion of dollars to yuan in order to profit from appreciation of the Chinese currency. But the same technique has been used to move funds in the other direction. Mis-invoicing in China resulted in illicit outflows worth $3.79 trillion between 2000 and 2011, according to a report last year by Global Financial Integrity, a think tank and advocacy group in Washington. A Shanghai-based fixed income fund manager dismissed capital controls as a barrier to shifting money around. "All of my clients have plenty of money offshore already," he said. (Additional reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
|
1,386,764,250 |
2013-12-11 12:17:30+00:00
|
{"BTC": [611, 1126, 1767]}
|
{}
|
China bitcoin arbitrage ends as traders work around capital controls
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-bitcoin-arbitrage-ends-punters-095750480.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
By Gabriel Wildau
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The price gap between bitcoins trading in Chinese yuan and those sold for other currencies has evaporated in recent days, highlighting the porous nature of China's capital controls.
Chinese bitcoin chat rooms buzzed last month as investors noticed that the digital currency as sold on China's biggest exchange was more expensive, in dollar terms, than bitcoins traded abroad using dollars, creating a tempting arbitrage play.
Traders could earn profits by buying bitcoins using dollars on a foreign exchange such as Mt. Gox, reselling them for yuan at the higher price on BTC China, the main local exchange, and finally converting the yuan back to dollars.
"Insane bitcoin. If you've got dollars, hurry and do arbitrage," a user called 'foxtree' wrote on Weibo, a Twitter-like micro-blogging platform, on November 19, the day the gap peaked at more than 30 percent.
A key driver of the price gap was China's capital controls, which make it difficult for speculators to swap yuan proceeds from the sale of high-priced Chinese bitcoins into dollars.
"Certainly a portion of the premium on BTC China was a result of the fact that any coins sold would be in RMB, which isn't the most portable currency," said Zennon Kapron, head of Kapronasia, a Hong Kong-based finance and technology consultancy, using an alternate term for the Chinese currency.
"So if you did trade that market, getting your money back into another currency is more difficult," he said.
RAPID EVOLUTION
In recent days, however, the spread between bitcoins as priced in yuan and those priced in dollars has disappeared. An announcement by China's central bank last week forbidding commercial banks from dealing in bitcoin also contributed to the price decline on BTC China.
But analysts say the price convergence also reflects the rapid evolution of the bitcoin market, which began with technology enthusiasts but quickly expanded to include those with the financial know-how to evade China's strict capital controls.
A 27-year-old e-commerce professional from the east coast city of Xiamen, who goes by the screen name 'King,' is typical of early-wave amateur punters.
He told Reuters that he used RChange, an online currency exchange and payment service based in the Seychelles, to exchange yuan for commercially-operated electronic currencies such as OKPay and EgoPay, which are accepted by several international bitcoin exchanges. But because such currencies carry hefty charges, this method is only profitable when the bitcoin spread is very wide.
SOPHISTICATED ARBITRAGEURS
Recently, as bitcoin has grown in popularity, more sophisticated arbitrageurs have stepped in. Early this month, Chinese media began reporting that investors from Wenzhou, the east coastal city known for its entrepreneurial and speculative zeal, were piling into bitcoin.
Wenzhou's famously tight-knit, business-savvy global diaspora has given rise to the adage "Wherever there's a market, there are Wenzhou people" and offers Wenzhou investors ready access to foreign currency.
Some bitcoin speculators are also likely resorting to other tried-and-true methods for skirting China's capital controls. The most common is falsified trade invoices, which disguise movements of speculative cash as payments for goods and services.
Indeed, unexpectedly strong export growth in November reignited suspicions that official data had been inflated by fake invoicing.
Those suspicions centered on the conversion of dollars to yuan in order to profit from appreciation of the Chinese currency. But the same technique has been used to move funds in the other direction.
Mis-invoicing in China resulted in illicit outflows worth $3.79 trillion between 2000 and 2011, according to a report last year by Global Financial Integrity, a think tank and advocacy group in Washington.
A Shanghai-based fixed income fund manager dismissed capital controls as a barrier to shifting money around. "All of my clients have plenty of money offshore already," he said.
(Additional reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
|
1,386,777,600 |
2013-12-11 16:00:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [314, 353, 535, 711, 1012]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [126]}
|
Mastercoin Foundation, Bitshares and ColoredCoins Form Self-Regulatory Organization to Ensure Continued Free Operation of New Bitcoin Applications and Protocols
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mastercoin-foundation-bitshares-coloredcoins-form-160000194.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Dec 11, 2013) - INSIDE BITCOINS - Mastercoin Foundation, Invictus Innovations (Bitshares, Protoshares), and ColoredCoins have announced the formation of a self-regulatory organization (SRO) to ensure the continued free operation of new decentralized applications and protocols in the Bitcoin ecosystem. The rapid growth of Bitcoin has led to the building of additional user layers and interfaces, including non-currency uses such as securities, lending, trading assets, bartering and prediction markets.
"Bitcoin technology can be used to disrupt many other market segments," said Daniel Larimer, CEO of Invictus Innovations. "CoDA's mission is to enlist the full resources of the Bitcoin community toward future innovation, while protecting new business models from excessive regulation."
CoDA (http://www.coda.co) is a membership organization based in Washington, DC, protecting the rights of developers, entrepreneurs and users alike. Expanding upon the scope of groups like the Bitcoin Foundation, DATA and Electronic Frontier Foundation, CoDA is based on what it believes are essential freedoms of the computer age:
• freedom to communicate
• freedom to participate in open-source software
• freedom to freely exchange digital value
Individuals interested in the benefits of decentralized protocols and applications can join the global organization. For more information, please contactinfo@coda.co.
About Mastercoin FoundationThe Mastercoin Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enable and accelerate innovation worldwide by building a technological crowd-sourcing platform for community projects, coupled with a rich financial-exchange system and liquidity layer. Members use the Mastercoin Open Source Project and Protocol precedents as benchmarks for their enforcement standards. For more information, please visithttp://www.mastercoinfoundation.org.
About Invictus InnovationsInvictus Innovations is building decentralized solutions for centralized problems such as identity, prediction markets, domain name registration and other use cases. The company is based in Blacksburg, VA, and created Bitshares, a decentralized bank and exchange.
About ColoredCoinsColoredCoins is an open-source project whose mission is to (1) Standardize: build a strong core of Colored Coins developers making compatible projects by following a universal standard, (2) Promote: spread the word and guide the community about the merits of Colored Coins and how they can be used, and (3) Support: gather donations for funding new and existing Colored Coins projects. Colored Coins' open source project works with other related projects, including Mastercoin, on developing a solid legal framework for these types of projects, including issuing a dedicated Color to bridge between the two initiatives.
|
1,386,785,760 |
2013-12-11 18:16:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [34, 294, 348, 800, 1044, 1098, 1432, 1531, 1698, 2166, 2323, 2442, 2716, 2782, 2853, 2898, 3178, 3289, 3354, 3537, 3583, 3629, 3807, 3884, 4339, 4624, 4702, 4892, 4922, 5020, 5504, 5830, 5925, 6228, 6643, 6950, 7072, 7237, 7306, 7474, 7582, 7736, 7747, 8140, 8309, 8993, 9244, 9421, 9487, 9628, 9752, 9771, 10160, 10381, 10868, 11047, 11161, 11259, 11432, 11550, 11960, 12040, 12110, 12171, 12248], "BTC": [5133, 5184, 5254, 10365, 10561]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [5]}
|
What Bitcoin Arbitrage Can Teach Us About the Crypto-Currency
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-arbitrage-teach-us-crypto-181600650.html
|
Minyanville
|
http://www.minyanville.com/
|
Parabolic appreciation has thrown Bitcoin back into the spotlight, as Chinese demand for the crypto-currency sent it to an all-time high of $1,260 last Wednesday, up from $200 six weeks ago. A quick rise gave way to a steep dive after China announced a ban on financial institutions conducting Bitcoin transactions andBaidu(BIDU) stopped accepting Bitcoin payments at the end of last week. The digital currency crashed, dipping below $600 on some exchanges. Positive guidance fromBank of America(BAC), which said the currency could become a major form of transaction and gave it a $1,300 price target, and fromCitigroup(NYSE:C) which suggested the currency could attract reserve managers as a complement to gold, didn't buffer the free fall at the time. Although over the weekend and into this week, Bitcoin prices have recovered and are now trading in the high $900s.Volatility like that in markets that are regulated and not plagued by questions of legitimacy, sustainability, and safety, can be troubling. In barely-regulated, decentralized Bitcoin markets, the risk is incalculable. So how are Bitcoin traders -- yes, they do exist -- supposed to manage? The same way investors manage turbulent established markets: arbitrage.It's a practice as old as markets themselves -- an academic paperpublishedin the Oregon Law Review traces put-call parity back to ancient Israel; others have found evidence of arbitrage in Mesopotamia. Bitcoin has provided no exception.Writing for ForexMagnates.com, Steve Hatzakisexplainshow nascent Bitcoin markets have provided ample opportunity for people to exploit price differences, in what's also known as "scalping." Disparity between prices on the different Bitcoin exchanges is significant, especially when compared to traditional equities and commodities markets:
Normally this pricing challenge isn't as pronounced (or even existent) with certain exchange traded securities or assets that are priced under any applicable best-execution regulations...Such opportunities in more developed markets are not only rarer and infrequent, but even more fleeting.
Incidentally, people have been taking advantage of inefficiencies in Bitcoin markets for some time now. Hank Stoever, a Seattle-based software engineer currentlycrowdfundingan open-source project to teach people how to create Bitcoin arbitrage programs, says he's seen arbitrage activity happening for years."The Internet is full of examples of Bitcoin arbitrage bots and discussions circa 2009," Stoever says. "So, there are definitely a lot of people out there doing it...in the past few months, my open-source project and blog posts have received continual boosts in traffic, likely due to the increased interest in Bitcoin."Open-source algorithms like Stoever's are popular in the Bitcoin community. A quick search for algorithms across popular online Bitcoin forums, like bitcointalk.org or the "Bitcoinmarkets" subreddit, will return posts upon posts of novice Bitcion traders seeking an introduction to algorithmic arbitrage, and a slew of programmers, like Stoever, promoting their open-source bots.On hisblog, Stoever lays out a basic scenario where a trader could employ Bitcoin arbitrage. To paraphrase: Imagine the US government declares financial gains and deposits made through Bitcoin will remain untaxed forever. In turn, people rush to buy Bitcoin on the common exchanges, where liquidity may be higher and transactions are easier to conduct. Say that exchange is the Slovenia-based Bitstamp, at present one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in the world. As people buy Bitcoins on Bitstamp, they drive the price of Bitcoins higher. Simultaneously, on a smaller exchange with lower volume like the Alpharetta, Georgia-based CampBx, prices are slower to react. For the next hour, the price of a Bitcoin on Bitstamp remains higher than on CampBx, allowing someone to buy a Bitcoin on CampBx at a lower price and sell it on Bitstamp at a higher price, locking in a risk-free profit.This process is no different from basic currency arbitrage, where a currency is bought and sold from different brokers to exploit price disparity.Braden Perry, a former senior trial attorney with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates Forex trading in the US, says he sees similarities between the early Forex market and Bitcoin markets."Forex essentially started the same way, and it has become automated to the point that its an extremely efficient system and people can do millions of transactions instantaneously to capture small spreads at a large scale. Right now on Forex it's efficient to do that."Bitcoin is a different story. The large spreads between the leading US dollar Bitcoin exchanges (seen below) can seem like an attractive opportunity to squeeze a profit. But according to Félix Moreno, a portfolio manager at RF Trading in Madrid, Spain, who follows Bitcoin closely and practices Bitcoin arbitrage, taking advantage of these asynchronous markets can be problematic.There are 84 Bitcoin exchanges currently operating. However, a mere four account for nearly all of the global trading volume: BTC China (35%), Mt.Gox (22%), Bitstamp (19%), and BTC-e (18%). Activity in the three US dollar exchanges (which exclude BTC China) is shown here. (Source:bitcoincharts.org.)"There is a reason why there's such a large spread between exchanges. It's because there is a huge inefficiency in the way money goes in and out of them. It is extremely easy, for instance, to buy Bitcoins in Bitstamp where they are cheaper than Mt.Gox and send them to Mt.Gox where you can sell them for a higher price. But then, you can't actually get the money out of Mt.Gox to get a turnaround."The Japan-based Mt.Gox exchange has arguably been the most high-profile example of how government regulations have crippled Bitcoin exchanges in the US. At one point, Mt.Gox was responsible for four-fifths ofall global Bitcoin trading. Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Securityseizeda total of $5 million from Mt.Gox after the exchange failed to register in the US as a money transmitting company. In June, Mt.Gox US temporarily suspended US dollar withdrawals claiming it did not have enough cash to convert Bitcoins. Transfers were markedly slower when withdrawals services resumed two weeks later, and they've been sluggish ever since. Trading activity on Mt.Gox has since plummeted by roughly 75%.Mt. Gox isn't the only exchange that's been targeted by the US government. The TreasuryDepartment''s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen), forced the now-defunct exchange TradeHill, at one point the second largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, to shut down in 2012. Writing forThe Guardian, Jerry Britoexplainsregulations that include " federal anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules, as well as the cumbersome state-by-state licensing of money transmitters" have given government agencies reason to pursue Bitcoin businesses including exchanges.Not surprisingly, this attention from local and federal government has slowed down Bitcoin trading in the US. Moreno explains that it can take weeks to get money out of Mt.Gox, as thisforumtitled "MtGox bitcoin withdrawal delay >:(" on the popular Bitcoin message board site bitcointalk.org confirms. The reason that Bitcoins are trading at such high premium on Mt.Gox is because money is "trapped" on the Mt.Gox exchange. The only way people can get their money out is in the form of Bitcoins, creating the demand which has inflated the price.Liquidity factors into the issues that can deter Bitcoin arbitrageurs from scalping the markets. In addition, unpredictable volatility and the high fees for withdrawal can wipe out any profits made from Bitcoin-to-Bitcoin arbitrage."I've done arb myself with small amounts of money," Moreno explains. "But I've found there had to be at least a 15% difference between Bitstamp and Mt.Gox for it to be worth it. Really, even if it were 10%, you're taking too much risk. In the time it takes to move money from one [exchange] to the other, the price is going to move too much."
Instead of playing the price of Bitcoin across exchanges, Moreno favors another means of facilitating arbitrage: through open outcry.Localbitcoins.com is a website where people looking to buy and sell Bitcoins organize in-person meet-ups with individuals or groups of people to conduct bid-ask exchanges. While technology has quieted 100-year-old open-outcry trading pits on the floors of equity, commodity, and futures exchanges around the world, ironically a currency born of technology has spurred a reemergence of the practice.Source: Reddit.com
"It's much easier to get onto localbitcoins.com than to get onto an exchange," Moreno says of the barriers to entry. There are "know your customer" (KYC) and "anti-money laundering" (AML) compliance regulations one must submit to before joining many exchanges. Localbitcoins.com also offers an online store, where you can buy and sell Bitcoins over the Internet person to person."You have to send an copy of your ID, you're going to have to register, whereas with localbitcoins.com, you're just posting ads so all you need is an email address...you can call it a sort of craigslist for Bitcoin."While using localbitcoins.comvprovides less friction than trading from exchange to exchange, it might not be where the best opportunities lie. Taariq Lewis, founder of Bitcoin Business, an advisory service that helps merchants set up Bitcoin payments, explains that as more and more people jump into and go long in Altcoins -- crypto-currencies that serve as alternatives to Bitcoin -- the more chances there are to conduct arbitrage on a single exchange rather than move between exchanges to trade Bitcoin.Altcoin-to-Bitcoin arbitrage, and Altcoin-to-Altcoin arbitrage for that matter, look a lot less like the currency arbitrage that's been discussed so far, and a lot more like statistical arbitrage, or pair trading. Pair trading is the buying or selling of two stocks with a historical correlation, and taking advantage of that correlation to predict future movement between them and lock in profit.As Bitcoin has grown in popularity, Altcoins like Peercoin, Securecoin, Quarkcoin, and Feathercoin have emerged in the margins, with a growing number beginning to trade on major exchanges like Bulgaria-based BTC-e alongside Bitcoin."Arbitrage trading really works when there are already Altcoins available to trade against, and there are price differences between them, Lewis says. "What we find is that BTC-e is currently the arbitrage king...because they are quick to offer trading in Altcoins that you might not be able to trade elsewhere, or newly launched coins that are increasing in popularity."Imaginably, with this growing popularity of Altcoins, more and more opportunities will present themselves to Bitcoin arbitrage traders out there trying to squeeze a profit from crypto-currencies. Predicting their behavior is made a little harder, though, by the fact that the identity of Bitcoin users remains anonymous if they so choose.So Who Are These Traders?Before jumping into any arbitrage with Bitcoins, an investor might want to know who is on the other side of a trade. Who are the typical Bitcoin swappers? Are they traditional traders and investors? Or engineers and computer programmers?The aforementioned Stoever, whose online, crowdfunded course on building Bitcoin arbitrage bots is currently half funded, is able to give us a clue:
It's a more technical crowd that attracts Bitcoin. Personally, I was an economics major that later shifted into a software career...I've been surveying the people who have preordered my course and the results are interesting. Seventy-seven percent of people have programming experience and 70% have finance experience. So it turns out that a lot of these people are very similar to myself in that they have a mixed bag of relevant skills, which is why Bitcoin is so attractive.
For those interested in a more more technical look at Bitcoin arbitrage, check out Stoever'sblog postexplaining math behind Bitcoin arbitrage yields.See also:Can a Value Investor Buy a Bitcoin?
Twitter:@brokawbrokaw
Related Articles
• Can a Value Investor Buy a Bitcoin?
• Todd Harrison: The Holiday Party Indicator Flashes a Sell Signal
• 10 Companies Whose Customers Do the Advertising for Them
|
1,386,788,400 |
2013-12-11 19:00:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [442, 922]}
|
{}
|
NXT-ID (NXTD) - Upcoming Release of Wocket(TM) Taps Into Ramping Demand for Digital Wallets and Currencies
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nxt-id-nxtd-upcoming-release-190000989.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Dec 11, 2013) - SoundView Technology Group: New research note points to recent industry developments as important drivers to adoption of the upcoming NXT-ID (OTCQB:NXTD) Wocket.
Over 7 million consumers have watched a marketing video for a new digital wallet with a very limited feature set. Consumer interest in this product area is high and accelerating.
The commercial development of new digital currencies like Bitcoin has continued despite extreme price volatility. Industry leaders from companies like PayPal have acknowledged the value and viability of the new currency. At the same time mainstream venture capital firms like Andreesen Horowitz have stepped up their efforts to find "major bets" to make in this new market.
These industry developments increase our confidence and enthusiasm for the NXT-ID (NXTD) Wocket™ both as a digital wallet and a potential secure storage option for Bitcoins. As we outline in our note, the Wocket has a much more robust design in terms of security and usability.
We see the following as key advantages for the NXT-ID Wocket:
Security: Using a secure chip the Wocket can store 100s of cards and digital records. Authentication is multi-factor and includes biometrics. Cards go into the Wocket directly without involving unsecure intermediate steps.
Usability: The Wocket includes an ultra-lower power touchscreen display in addition to the dynamic magnetic stripe as both a UI and QR-code mechanism. A combination of power management, in-wallet charging and standard battery means that consumers won't have to fear a "dead wallet."
Flexibility: Rather than being tied to a phone or platform the Wocket can be paired with any device either locally or in the cloud when secure protocols are available. This dynamic pairing is a key feature of the NXT-ID approach and is a powerful and highly differentiated aspect of their technology.
NXT-ID is an early stage technology company going after a large market. Based on initial traction and a conservative intrinsic valuation (IV) model show a fair value of $11/share we see the company continuing to benefit from intensive investor attention to this space.
Our full report is available for download here:http://s3.amazonaws.com/Published_Research/NXT-ID_NXTD_NOTE_DEC_2013.pdf
About SoundView Technology Group
We are an independent advisory and research firm specializing in emerging technologies as they reach commercialization. Our proprietary research and modeling work provides valuable information for company management teams and investors in these emerging opportunities. We regularly publish our findings across a variety of channels including all the major retail and institutional information outlets. SoundView is based in Boston, Massachusetts with locations in New York and Connecticut.
Disclosures
SoundView analysts do not receive compensation for their research opinions, any specific views or conclusions. They are tasked to provide fact-based research with sound analysis. SoundView does not provide investment advice or make "buy/sell/hold" recommendations. Nor do we provide investment banking or brokerage services. We act as a publisher of our own research work and are responsible for all content which is correct to the best of our abilities but by no means should it be relied upon without further validation and confirmation. SoundView provides paid advisory services NXT-ID on their business plans, technology description and investor positioning
|
1,386,788,400 |
2013-12-11 19:00:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [442, 922]}
|
{}
|
NXT-ID (NXTD) - Upcoming Release of Wocket(TM) Taps Into Ramping Demand for Digital Wallets and Currencies
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/nxt-id-nxtd-upcoming-release-190000989.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Dec 11, 2013) - SoundView Technology Group: New research note points to recent industry developments as important drivers to adoption of the upcoming NXT-ID (OTCQB:NXTD) Wocket.
Over 7 million consumers have watched a marketing video for a new digital wallet with a very limited feature set. Consumer interest in this product area is high and accelerating.
The commercial development of new digital currencies like Bitcoin has continued despite extreme price volatility. Industry leaders from companies like PayPal have acknowledged the value and viability of the new currency. At the same time mainstream venture capital firms like Andreesen Horowitz have stepped up their efforts to find "major bets" to make in this new market.
These industry developments increase our confidence and enthusiasm for the NXT-ID (NXTD) Wocket™ both as a digital wallet and a potential secure storage option for Bitcoins. As we outline in our note, the Wocket has a much more robust design in terms of security and usability.
We see the following as key advantages for the NXT-ID Wocket:
Security: Using a secure chip the Wocket can store 100s of cards and digital records. Authentication is multi-factor and includes biometrics. Cards go into the Wocket directly without involving unsecure intermediate steps.
Usability: The Wocket includes an ultra-lower power touchscreen display in addition to the dynamic magnetic stripe as both a UI and QR-code mechanism. A combination of power management, in-wallet charging and standard battery means that consumers won't have to fear a "dead wallet."
Flexibility: Rather than being tied to a phone or platform the Wocket can be paired with any device either locally or in the cloud when secure protocols are available. This dynamic pairing is a key feature of the NXT-ID approach and is a powerful and highly differentiated aspect of their technology.
NXT-ID is an early stage technology company going after a large market. Based on initial traction and a conservative intrinsic valuation (IV) model show a fair value of $11/share we see the company continuing to benefit from intensive investor attention to this space.
Our full report is available for download here:http://s3.amazonaws.com/Published_Research/NXT-ID_NXTD_NOTE_DEC_2013.pdf
About SoundView Technology Group
We are an independent advisory and research firm specializing in emerging technologies as they reach commercialization. Our proprietary research and modeling work provides valuable information for company management teams and investors in these emerging opportunities. We regularly publish our findings across a variety of channels including all the major retail and institutional information outlets. SoundView is based in Boston, Massachusetts with locations in New York and Connecticut.
Disclosures
SoundView analysts do not receive compensation for their research opinions, any specific views or conclusions. They are tasked to provide fact-based research with sound analysis. SoundView does not provide investment advice or make "buy/sell/hold" recommendations. Nor do we provide investment banking or brokerage services. We act as a publisher of our own research work and are responsible for all content which is correct to the best of our abilities but by no means should it be relied upon without further validation and confirmation. SoundView provides paid advisory services NXT-ID on their business plans, technology description and investor positioning
|
1,386,791,683 |
2013-12-11 19:54:43+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [0, 193, 318, 424, 628, 751, 761, 830]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [4]}
|
Why Bitcoin Is Better Than Other Currencies
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-bitcoin-better-other-currencies-195443987.html
|
Entrepreneur
|
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
|
Bitcoin may be the "it" currency right now, but, truth is, people have used all sorts of odd things to buy and sell goods, from bones to gold to tulips to Deutsche Marks.
The question is, will Bitcoin last like gold, or fade like tulips?
TheFoundation for Economic Educationproduced a neat video that seems to suggest Bitcoin is here to stay, at least when you look at what properties a sustainable currency needs. In fact, Bitcoin looks a lot better than the greenback.
It's uncertain whether it is a fad or the way the world will trade goods and services. But, after watching this, you can't help but have a lot more faith in Bitcoin than in fiat currency.
More From Entrepreneur
• SecondMarket CEO: Wall Street Will Put 'Hundreds of Millions' Into Bitcoin
• Bitcoin Gets Slammed by China as BofA Touts its Potential
• How Did 'Bitcoin Jesus' Become a Virtual Currency Millionaire?
|
1,418,051,851 |
2014-12-08 15:17:31+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [2320]}
|
{}
|
Best And Worst ETFs Of The Week Amid Santa Claus Rally
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-worst-etfs-week-amid-151731537.html
|
Benzinga
|
http://www.benzinga.com/
|
New all-time highs are becoming a reoccurring event on Wall Street as the first week of December ushered in continued strength in the equity markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is rapidly approaching the 18,000 level and continues to exhibit strong relative momentum as traders and investors ride this most recent Santa Claus rally.
TheSPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF(NYSE:DIA), which tracks this blue chip index of 30 mega-cap stocks, finished slightly higher to end the week.
The following ETFs represent a sample of the best- and worst-performing funds over the last five trading sessions.
BEST: China A-Share Stocks
Chinese stocks have finally awoken in 2014 as the Shanghai Composite Index capped its bestweekly gains since 2009. It appears that recent rate cuts in China have spurred renewed interest from foreign and domestic investors on the expectations of a pickup in economic activity.
TheDeutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF(NYSE:ASHR) tracks the 300 largest and most liquid A-Share equities in mainland China. This ETF was one of the first to offer direct access to this coveted market to U.S.-based investors. This week, ASHR gained more than 14 percent as this class-specific index soared.
According to ETF.com, ASHR has attracted over $333 million in new assets this year and now has $717 million total under management. That spike is most likely due to the 40 percent total return this ETF has achieved in 2014, which has primarily come in just the last six weeks.
WORST: Natural Gas
Natural gas is once again making headlines as continued speculation in this liquid futures market has led to prices touching their lowest levels of the year this week. TheUnited States Natural Gas Fund(NYSE:UNG) tracks the daily price movement of front month natural gas futures and fell nearly 9 percent over the last five trading sessions.
Natural gas has seen sharp moves in both directions this year, which has led to it being in the top and bottom of these weekly screens. This roller coaster action and enhanced volatility has provided traders with opportunities on both sides of the price action.
See more from Benzinga
• Health Care ETFs Take Over Market Leadership Role
• Shipping ETF Falls On Hard Times As Commodities Dip
• Former Facebook Foes Prepare To Divulge On Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF
© 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
|
1,386,793,800 |
2013-12-11 20:30:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [41, 547, 634, 744, 958, 1242, 1287, 1498, 1793, 2064, 2770, 3192, 3392, 3503, 3701, 3805, 3991, 4276, 4482, 4635, 4722]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [67]}
|
SecondMarket CEO: Wall Street Will Put 'Hundreds of Millions' Into Bitcoin
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/secondmarket-ceo-wall-street-put-203000747.html
|
Entrepreneur
|
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
|
Wall Street is getting ready to dive intoBitcoin, pouring vast amounts of institutional and investor money into the digital currency that has been labeled a "bubble" by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and which not long ago was seen as the sole preserve of crypto-geeks, monetary-theory wonks and anti-government types.
So says Barry Silbert, founder and chief executive of SecondMarket, the online platform that allows its users to trade private company stocks. "We're three to six months away from Wall Street dollars moving into Bitcoin in a big way," he says.
Silbert should know: Earlier this fall, he launched theBitcoin Investment Trust, the first investment vehicle allowing institutional investors to put money into the Bitcoin market while avoiding the hassle of personally holding the currency. The trust is open only to accredited investors, and the minimum investment is $25,000.
Speaking on Tuesday night at a private dinner for Bitcoin cognoscenti in New York, Silbert said he was astonished by the BIT's performance. "We launched six weeks ago and we're up to $70 million. That blows my mind. We were hoping to get to $10 million by the end of the year."
The value of the BIT derives entirely from the price of Bitcoin; it has benefited in recent weeks as Bitcoin soared north of $1,200. Because of a recent dip, the net assets of the trust now stand at about $63 million, which means it is holding that dollar value in bitcoins.
Related:SecondMarket Establishes New Bitcoin Trust for Accredited Investors
Silbert says he meets frequently with hedge fund workers, traders at large financial institutions and others who want to gain a better understanding of digital currencies and figure out how to capitalize on them. He reckons that Wall Street will enter the Bitcoin market in roughly three waves. The first is already beginning, and it's taking the form of IRA money. Customers with self-directed IRAs at Fidelity, Pensco Trust Company, The Entrust Group and Millenium Trust Company are now able to invest some of their money in Bitcoin via the BIT. Silbert expects most other IRAs to approve the BIT as an investment vehicle before the second quarter of next year, in response to growing interest from their customers.
Also in this first wave will be clients of the wealth-management arms of Wall Street banks. Silbert says the BIT is in conversations with "several major banks" and he expects the trust to be an approved product on their wealth-management platforms within the first half of 2014.
The second wave will be hedge funds and other institutional investors. "The principals that work at all those firms are starting to invest personally in the BIT," Silbert says. Anecdotally, he adds, it's clear they are investing in the Bitcoin market through other platforms as well. With traders, portfolio managers and executives all gaining interest, it appears to be only a matter of time before their firms follow suit and take a position in the digital currency.
The third wave will be Wall Street banks themselves, motivated purely by profit, says Silbert. "These banks already have large teams trading dollars and euros and yen and gold. Ultimately, Bitcoin is no different than those" as far as forex and commodities traders are concerned, he says. And indeed, currency strategists at Bank of Americaissued a noteto clients last Thursday talking up Bitcoin's potential and analyzing its fair market value.
While most institutional investors are keeping mum on Bitcoin for the time being, the head of one firm has been outspoken about his faith in the cryptocurrency. Michael Novogratz, the co-chief investment officer of macro funds at Fortress, plumped for Bitcoin at a conference held in New York on Oct. 24. Herecommendedthat investors "put a little money in Bitcoin," saying its value would appreciate significantly over the next few years.
At the time, the price of a single bitcoin was less than $200 on most exchanges. "I have a nice little Bitcoin position," Novogratz said at the conference. "Enough that I'm smiling that it doubled." One can imagine how that smile must have widened in the weeks since.
But it's hard to say where the price will be a month or six months from now. Although right now Silbert is happy to see Bitcoin performing above his expectations, in the near term "the price volatility is only going to get worse," he says. "We haven't seen anything yet."
He added, "Once Wall Street starts putting money into Bitcoin -- we're talking about hundreds of millions, billions of dollars moving in -- it's going to have a pretty dramatic effect on the price."
Related:Bitcoin Gets Slammed by China as BofA Touts Its Potential
More From Entrepreneur
• Why Bitcoin Is Better Than Other Currencies
• AMC Offers Loyal Customers Stock in Upcoming IPO
• Here Is How to Get a VC's Attention
|
1,386,793,800 |
2013-12-11 20:30:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [41, 547, 634, 744, 958, 1242, 1287, 1498, 1793, 2064, 2770, 3192, 3392, 3503, 3701, 3805, 3991, 4276, 4482, 4635, 4722]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [67]}
|
SecondMarket CEO: Wall Street Will Put 'Hundreds of Millions' Into Bitcoin
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/secondmarket-ceo-wall-street-put-203000747.html
|
Entrepreneur
|
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
|
Wall Street is getting ready to dive intoBitcoin, pouring vast amounts of institutional and investor money into the digital currency that has been labeled a "bubble" by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and which not long ago was seen as the sole preserve of crypto-geeks, monetary-theory wonks and anti-government types.
So says Barry Silbert, founder and chief executive of SecondMarket, the online platform that allows its users to trade private company stocks. "We're three to six months away from Wall Street dollars moving into Bitcoin in a big way," he says.
Silbert should know: Earlier this fall, he launched theBitcoin Investment Trust, the first investment vehicle allowing institutional investors to put money into the Bitcoin market while avoiding the hassle of personally holding the currency. The trust is open only to accredited investors, and the minimum investment is $25,000.
Speaking on Tuesday night at a private dinner for Bitcoin cognoscenti in New York, Silbert said he was astonished by the BIT's performance. "We launched six weeks ago and we're up to $70 million. That blows my mind. We were hoping to get to $10 million by the end of the year."
The value of the BIT derives entirely from the price of Bitcoin; it has benefited in recent weeks as Bitcoin soared north of $1,200. Because of a recent dip, the net assets of the trust now stand at about $63 million, which means it is holding that dollar value in bitcoins.
Related:SecondMarket Establishes New Bitcoin Trust for Accredited Investors
Silbert says he meets frequently with hedge fund workers, traders at large financial institutions and others who want to gain a better understanding of digital currencies and figure out how to capitalize on them. He reckons that Wall Street will enter the Bitcoin market in roughly three waves. The first is already beginning, and it's taking the form of IRA money. Customers with self-directed IRAs at Fidelity, Pensco Trust Company, The Entrust Group and Millenium Trust Company are now able to invest some of their money in Bitcoin via the BIT. Silbert expects most other IRAs to approve the BIT as an investment vehicle before the second quarter of next year, in response to growing interest from their customers.
Also in this first wave will be clients of the wealth-management arms of Wall Street banks. Silbert says the BIT is in conversations with "several major banks" and he expects the trust to be an approved product on their wealth-management platforms within the first half of 2014.
The second wave will be hedge funds and other institutional investors. "The principals that work at all those firms are starting to invest personally in the BIT," Silbert says. Anecdotally, he adds, it's clear they are investing in the Bitcoin market through other platforms as well. With traders, portfolio managers and executives all gaining interest, it appears to be only a matter of time before their firms follow suit and take a position in the digital currency.
The third wave will be Wall Street banks themselves, motivated purely by profit, says Silbert. "These banks already have large teams trading dollars and euros and yen and gold. Ultimately, Bitcoin is no different than those" as far as forex and commodities traders are concerned, he says. And indeed, currency strategists at Bank of Americaissued a noteto clients last Thursday talking up Bitcoin's potential and analyzing its fair market value.
While most institutional investors are keeping mum on Bitcoin for the time being, the head of one firm has been outspoken about his faith in the cryptocurrency. Michael Novogratz, the co-chief investment officer of macro funds at Fortress, plumped for Bitcoin at a conference held in New York on Oct. 24. Herecommendedthat investors "put a little money in Bitcoin," saying its value would appreciate significantly over the next few years.
At the time, the price of a single bitcoin was less than $200 on most exchanges. "I have a nice little Bitcoin position," Novogratz said at the conference. "Enough that I'm smiling that it doubled." One can imagine how that smile must have widened in the weeks since.
But it's hard to say where the price will be a month or six months from now. Although right now Silbert is happy to see Bitcoin performing above his expectations, in the near term "the price volatility is only going to get worse," he says. "We haven't seen anything yet."
He added, "Once Wall Street starts putting money into Bitcoin -- we're talking about hundreds of millions, billions of dollars moving in -- it's going to have a pretty dramatic effect on the price."
Related:Bitcoin Gets Slammed by China as BofA Touts Its Potential
More From Entrepreneur
• Why Bitcoin Is Better Than Other Currencies
• AMC Offers Loyal Customers Stock in Upcoming IPO
• Here Is How to Get a VC's Attention
|
1,386,795,109 |
2013-12-11 20:51:49+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [88, 360, 599, 811, 1301, 1381, 1781, 3957, 4066]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [0]}
|
Bitcoin fund raises $65 mln after first two months, founder says
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-fund-raises-65-mln-205149343.html
|
Reuters
|
https://www.reuters.com/
|
By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - A fund established to offer investors exposure to Bitcoin is holding around $65 million in the digital currency after two months in operation, its creator, SecondMarket Chief Executive Officer Barry Silbert, said on Wednesday. Silbert told a group of journalists at his company's New York headquarters the fund, named the Bitcoin Investment Trust, has 90 investors, among them hedge fund traders and private family investment firms. Using investor contributions and seed money of more than $2 million from SecondMarket, the BIT, as it is known, has been buying Bitcoins from a wide array of sources, including exchanges, merchants and individual users. The fund is also buying the digital currency from "miners," who are producing it by running programs that interact with Bitcoin's software to make new units of the currency. The BIT is structured like an electronically traded fund and modeled, according to Silbert, after one of the most prominent gold ETFs, but it is not publicly traded and will not be for several more years. SecondMarket launched the fund at the end of September. As the value of the floating currency, which is not governed by any central bank or company, increases, shares in the BIT will increase in value too. The price of one unit of Bitcoin was listed at $920 on the website of Mt.Gox, a firm that buys and sells Bitcoin in exchange for dollars and other currencies. A month ago, on November 11, it was $361, according to Mt.Gox. The most direct competition with Silbert's fund comes from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin brothers famous for their legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg over the founding of Facebook. The two announced earlier this year they would launch a publicly traded ETF called Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust. They are awaiting approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Silbert said he decided not to wait for SEC approval to launch SecondMarket's fund because it could take years. SecondMarket is known as a platform for selling and trading private investments. Story continues In a statement to Reuters on Wednesday Cameron Winklevoss said: "We designed our product to allow all investors to be able to invest and believe that SEC review is an important part of the process. "Trading on an exchange as a public vehicle removes friction and provides shareholders with liquidity and transparency," he added. SecondMarket was one of the two most prominent places to trade shares of Facebook before the social media company's initial public offerings debuted. Silbert said early next year BIT investors will be able to begin trading in shares of the fund on a limited basis through a process similar to the pre-IPO Facebook trading. JOBS ACT BOOST Silbert said new SEC rules stemming from a 2012 law known as the JOBS Act, which lifted the ban on advertising by private investment companies, have helped draw new customers to the fund. "We knew the JOBS Act was a big opportunity," Silbert said, adding the new advertising freedoms had allowed SecondMarket to start a website displaying the fund's performance and to describe the fund to a wider pool of potential investors. "It's been huge." People whose personal wealth meets certain standards can now buy into the fund through three brokerages selling shares in it to customers with self-directed Individual Retirement Accounts. Fidelity last week became the latest brokerage to begin selling BIT shares, joining Pensco and Entrust. To invest in the BIT, individuals have to prove their net worth is $1 million, not counting primary residence, or that they draw annual incomes of more than $200,000. The minimum buy-in amount is $25,000. Critics have said the JOBS Act will expose more people with fragile finances to potential scams or simply to deals with a high likelihood of collapse. Silbert said SecondMarket tries to determine whether potential investors can handle the risks of investing in the Bitcoin fund before describing the fund in detail to them. "It's still a really risky investment," he said. "Bitcoin might still go away." (Reporting By Emily Flitter; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
|
1,386,795,109 |
2013-12-11 20:51:49+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [88, 360, 599, 811, 1301, 1381, 1781, 3957, 4066]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [0]}
|
Bitcoin fund raises $65 mln after first two months, founder says
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-fund-raises-65-mln-205149343.html
|
Reuters
|
https://www.reuters.com/
|
By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - A fund established to offer investors exposure to Bitcoin is holding around $65 million in the digital currency after two months in operation, its creator, SecondMarket Chief Executive Officer Barry Silbert, said on Wednesday. Silbert told a group of journalists at his company's New York headquarters the fund, named the Bitcoin Investment Trust, has 90 investors, among them hedge fund traders and private family investment firms. Using investor contributions and seed money of more than $2 million from SecondMarket, the BIT, as it is known, has been buying Bitcoins from a wide array of sources, including exchanges, merchants and individual users. The fund is also buying the digital currency from "miners," who are producing it by running programs that interact with Bitcoin's software to make new units of the currency. The BIT is structured like an electronically traded fund and modeled, according to Silbert, after one of the most prominent gold ETFs, but it is not publicly traded and will not be for several more years. SecondMarket launched the fund at the end of September. As the value of the floating currency, which is not governed by any central bank or company, increases, shares in the BIT will increase in value too. The price of one unit of Bitcoin was listed at $920 on the website of Mt.Gox, a firm that buys and sells Bitcoin in exchange for dollars and other currencies. A month ago, on November 11, it was $361, according to Mt.Gox. The most direct competition with Silbert's fund comes from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin brothers famous for their legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg over the founding of Facebook. The two announced earlier this year they would launch a publicly traded ETF called Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust. They are awaiting approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Silbert said he decided not to wait for SEC approval to launch SecondMarket's fund because it could take years. SecondMarket is known as a platform for selling and trading private investments. Story continues In a statement to Reuters on Wednesday Cameron Winklevoss said: "We designed our product to allow all investors to be able to invest and believe that SEC review is an important part of the process. "Trading on an exchange as a public vehicle removes friction and provides shareholders with liquidity and transparency," he added. SecondMarket was one of the two most prominent places to trade shares of Facebook before the social media company's initial public offerings debuted. Silbert said early next year BIT investors will be able to begin trading in shares of the fund on a limited basis through a process similar to the pre-IPO Facebook trading. JOBS ACT BOOST Silbert said new SEC rules stemming from a 2012 law known as the JOBS Act, which lifted the ban on advertising by private investment companies, have helped draw new customers to the fund. "We knew the JOBS Act was a big opportunity," Silbert said, adding the new advertising freedoms had allowed SecondMarket to start a website displaying the fund's performance and to describe the fund to a wider pool of potential investors. "It's been huge." People whose personal wealth meets certain standards can now buy into the fund through three brokerages selling shares in it to customers with self-directed Individual Retirement Accounts. Fidelity last week became the latest brokerage to begin selling BIT shares, joining Pensco and Entrust. To invest in the BIT, individuals have to prove their net worth is $1 million, not counting primary residence, or that they draw annual incomes of more than $200,000. The minimum buy-in amount is $25,000. Critics have said the JOBS Act will expose more people with fragile finances to potential scams or simply to deals with a high likelihood of collapse. Silbert said SecondMarket tries to determine whether potential investors can handle the risks of investing in the Bitcoin fund before describing the fund in detail to them. "It's still a really risky investment," he said. "Bitcoin might still go away." (Reporting By Emily Flitter; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
|
1,386,797,100 |
2013-12-11 21:25:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [48, 536, 655, 806, 1459, 1518, 1563, 1706, 1803, 1878, 1939, 1991, 2392, 2435]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [52]}
|
This Website Advertises A Bunch Of Jobs That Pay In Bitcoin
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/website-advertises-bunch-jobs-pay-212545411.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
Coinality
Despite violent price fluctuations in Bitcoin, it's becoming increasingly common for individuals to take their salary in the digital currency.
More than 1,000 people have now registered forCoinality.com, a site launched in September that advertises jobs that pay in digital currencies. At least 700 people have submitted applications for 350 positions, which can range from Chief Compliance Officer at a bitcoin trading platform, to programmers familiar with the customizable part of the Blockchain, the master ledger for all Bitcoin transactions. More than 200 people have looked ata marketing position for an independent filmmaker that pays 3 Bitcoin for three months' work.
Although digital currency-related job postings can be found elsewhere, and individuals active in the sphere have taken Bitcoin as salaries for at least months, this appears to be the first site exclusively devoted to both.
The site was created by Dan Roseman, a web developer based in Orange County, California who left law school in 2011 after just a year after not finding it to his liking. The site is not yet a full-time gig, and Roseman says he has no plans to monetize it, and for now will rely on donations (bitcoin, of course, is accepted).
"It's just a service that's free to use," he told us by phone recently. That could change if the site blows up, he added.
In fact, most major digital currency players give their employees the option to take their salary in Bitcoin. That's true of Bitpay, one of the world's largest Bitcoin transaction processing sites. At The Bitcoin Foundation, an organization that serves as an unofficial custodian for the cryptocurrency. All employees there get paid exclusively in Bitcoin, a foundation rep told us. It's also increasingly common overseas, where the majority of Bitcoin web development has taken place. According to Martti Malmi, one of Bitcoin's earliest programmers, executives at Bitstamp, LocalBitcoins and Finnish site Bittiraha all get paid in Bitcoin . Malmi himself said he does too.
Finally, of course there's the Kentucky police chiefwe just profiledwho looks to be one of the first people in his state to do so.
But all the stuff above shows the phenomenon is hardly a stunt.
More From Business Insider
• Boehner Unloads At Conservative Groups That Oppose The Budget Deal: 'This Is Ridiculous!'
• You Should Probably Ignore That 'JP Morgan Bitcoin' Patent — It's Over A Decade Old
• Bitcoin Jesus Appears On Bloomberg
|
1,386,797,100 |
2013-12-11 21:25:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [48, 536, 655, 806, 1459, 1518, 1563, 1706, 1803, 1878, 1939, 1991, 2392, 2435]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [52]}
|
This Website Advertises A Bunch Of Jobs That Pay In Bitcoin
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/website-advertises-bunch-jobs-pay-212545411.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
Coinality
Despite violent price fluctuations in Bitcoin, it's becoming increasingly common for individuals to take their salary in the digital currency.
More than 1,000 people have now registered forCoinality.com, a site launched in September that advertises jobs that pay in digital currencies. At least 700 people have submitted applications for 350 positions, which can range from Chief Compliance Officer at a bitcoin trading platform, to programmers familiar with the customizable part of the Blockchain, the master ledger for all Bitcoin transactions. More than 200 people have looked ata marketing position for an independent filmmaker that pays 3 Bitcoin for three months' work.
Although digital currency-related job postings can be found elsewhere, and individuals active in the sphere have taken Bitcoin as salaries for at least months, this appears to be the first site exclusively devoted to both.
The site was created by Dan Roseman, a web developer based in Orange County, California who left law school in 2011 after just a year after not finding it to his liking. The site is not yet a full-time gig, and Roseman says he has no plans to monetize it, and for now will rely on donations (bitcoin, of course, is accepted).
"It's just a service that's free to use," he told us by phone recently. That could change if the site blows up, he added.
In fact, most major digital currency players give their employees the option to take their salary in Bitcoin. That's true of Bitpay, one of the world's largest Bitcoin transaction processing sites. At The Bitcoin Foundation, an organization that serves as an unofficial custodian for the cryptocurrency. All employees there get paid exclusively in Bitcoin, a foundation rep told us. It's also increasingly common overseas, where the majority of Bitcoin web development has taken place. According to Martti Malmi, one of Bitcoin's earliest programmers, executives at Bitstamp, LocalBitcoins and Finnish site Bittiraha all get paid in Bitcoin . Malmi himself said he does too.
Finally, of course there's the Kentucky police chiefwe just profiledwho looks to be one of the first people in his state to do so.
But all the stuff above shows the phenomenon is hardly a stunt.
More From Business Insider
• Boehner Unloads At Conservative Groups That Oppose The Budget Deal: 'This Is Ridiculous!'
• You Should Probably Ignore That 'JP Morgan Bitcoin' Patent — It's Over A Decade Old
• Bitcoin Jesus Appears On Bloomberg
|
1,418,062,080 |
2014-12-08 18:08:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1033]}
|
{}
|
Bill Gates' 5 Favorite Books of 2014
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-gates-5-favorite-books-180819588.html
|
Entrepreneur
|
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
|
Looking for an especially entrepreneurial gift idea this holiday season? Bill Gates has got you covered.
In a brand newblog post, the billionaire inventor and philanthropist has shared his five favorite books of 2014 -- many of which touch on today’s prevailing economic issues and business trends.
GatescallsBusiness Adventuresby John Brooks, for instance, “the best business book I’ve ever read.” Given to Gates by Warren Buffett, the out-of-print collection ofNew Yorkerarticles from the 1960s hones in on different case studies -- price-fixing at General Electric, the flop of the Ford Edsel and missteps at Xerox, to name a few -- in order to teach greater strategic lessons.
Gates also callsHow Asia Worksby Joe Studwell one of the best -- and most aptly-timed -- reads of 2014. As China recently surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s largest economy, Gates says the book aims to answer “why some of the continent’s countries [Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and China] grew so fast while others languished.”
Related:Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
And it would be hard to compile any list of the best business books of the year without mentioning Thomas Piketty’sCapital in the Twenty-First Century-- which “sparked a fantastic global discussion this year about inequality,” Gates writes. While Gates does differ on certain “secondary points and policy prescriptions” offered by Piketty, he agrees with the book’s basic premise: “that inequality is a growing problem and governments should play a role in reducing it.”
Rounding out Gates’ holiday reading list is Vaclav Smil’sMaking the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization, which details “how our ability to make things with less material -- say, soda cans that need less aluminum -- makes them cheaper, which actually encourages more production.”
Gates has also included his favorite novel of the year,The Rosie Effectby Graeme Simison, which is a love story. For the full rundown, check out his blog posthere.
Related:Bill Gates' Solution to Income Inequality
|
1,418,066,393 |
2014-12-08 19:19:53+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [138], "BTC": [282, 523]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [12]}
|
Operator of Bitcoin stock exchange penalized by U.S. SEC
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/operator-bitcoin-stock-exchange-penalized-191953017.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators on Monday ordered the operator of a stock exchange, which allowed clients to use Bitcoin to trade in certain securities, to pay $68,000 to resolve claims that he did not register the exchanges.
Ethan Burnside and his company BTC Trading Corp operated two online exchanges through which account holders could buy, sell and trade securities of companies in the virtual currency business between 2012 and 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
Burnside and BTC neither admitted nor denied the charges.
Burnside agreed to be barred from the securities industry but will be able to reapply after two years. His lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment.
The exchanges had solicited more than 10,000 users who had opened online accounts and executed more than 425,000 traders, the SEC said.
The settlement requires Burnside to pay $58,387 in profits and interest, and a penalty of $10,000.
(Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
|
1,418,066,717 |
2014-12-08 19:25:17+00:00
|
{"BTC": [282, 541]}
|
{}
|
Operator of bitcoin stock exchange penalized by U.S. SEC
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/operator-bitcoin-stock-exchange-penalized-192517800.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com
|
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The operator of a stock exchange that allowed clients to use bitcoins to trade in certain securities was ordered by U.S. regulators to pay $68,000 to resolve claims that he did not register the exchanges. During 2012 and 2013, Ethan Burnside and his company, BTC Trading Corp, operated two online exchanges through which account holders could buy, sell and trade securities of companies in the virtual currency business, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday in announcing the settlement. Burnside and BTC neither admitted nor denied the charges. Burnside agreed to be barred from the securities industry but would be able to reapply after two years. His lawyer, Steve Unger, said in a statement that they were pleased the SEC had approved the settlement, and that Burnside worked to protect website users and to cooperate with the SEC. The exchanges had solicited more than 10,000 users who opened online accounts and executed more than 425,000 trader, the SEC said. The settlement requires Burnside to pay $58,387 in profits and interest, and a penalty of $10,000. (Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Bernadette Baum) View comments
|
1,418,068,707 |
2014-12-08 19:58:27+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [3232]}
|
{}
|
Avra Inc. Enters LOI With Mango Pay SRL to Launch Digital Currency in Caribbean
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/avra-inc-enters-loi-mango-195827054.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Dec 8, 2014) -Avra, Inc.(OTCQB:AVRN) ("Avra" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce entry into a non-binding Letter of Intent (the "LOI") with Mango Pay SRL, an international company based in the Dominican Republic, providing consumers with instant electronic payment solutions for goods and services as well as money transfers. Founded in 2012, Mango Pay is a pioneer in the field of electronic payments via kiosks. The LOI aims to facilitate the possible development of a regional network of cryptocurrency ATM kiosks initially focused on bitcoin transactions and with a technical ability to provide additional digital currency offerings in the future.
According to the terms of the LOI, Avra and Mango Pay intend to jointly develop a software based solution to be integrated initially into the 90 Mango self-service payment kiosks, providing an easy to use and as yet unrivalled service to regional markets, with a view to offering the same service globally through 2015. This new solution will allow bitcoin services without the necessity to invest in expensive hardware and offers clients the ability to purchase digital currency by inserting cash and receiving currency directly to their digital wallet or on a paper receipt. The Company intends to enter into a definitive agreement with Mango Pay once certain conditions are satisfied to start the project.
"We are delighted by the prospect of working closely with one of the leaders in the kiosk sector in order to gain entry into this largely undeveloped market. We are thrilled to play a part in bringing new technologies to the consumer marketplace through a proposed initial trial at over 90 Mango Pay kiosks nationwide," states Steve Shepherd, CEO of Avra. In addition, Mr. Shepherd states, "Mango Pay has a strong regional brand and presence in the Dominican Republic, and they have the vision to see the potential that bitcoin has in this developing marketplace. The opportunity ranges from providing a decentralized currency combatting currency devaluation to allowing the unbanked to make internet purchases. The possibility for growth is truly significant."
"Together, Mango Pay and Avra have the opportunity to bring new technologies to this fast moving market. Our vision is to provide a full service solution from our terminals, allowing our users to access their financial needs in one place. Our work with Avra will create an unprecedented service to the Dominican Republic and Avra will provide the perfect approach to bringing the vision to reality," said Vasiliy Smetanin, Mango Pay CEO.
In light of this new partnership with the Company, and part of its global expansion strategy the Company will re-brand its URL and has registered the domainwww.avraglobal.com.
For more information please visit our current website and come back soon as we prepare to launch our all-new look at:www.avraglobal.com.
About Avra, Inc.(OTCQB:AVRN)The Company is focused on solutions in the digital currency markets, particularly in offering payment solutions to businesses worldwide. The Company's business model can be divided into four distinct categories: AvraPay: to develop a complete, turn-key and painless way for merchants to accept Bitcoin as Payment; AvraATM: to promote usage and acceptance of digital currencies through the Company's proposed network of ATMs; AvraTourism: to provide cryptocurrency payment processing solutions for merchants such as hotels and casinos; AvraNews: to provide a news portal focusing on digital currency news. For more information about the Company please visit:www.avraglobal.com.
About Mango Pay SRLMango Pay SRL, an international company based in the Dominican Republic, provides consumers with instant electronic payment solutions for goods and services as well as money transfers. Founded in 2012, Mango Pay is a pioneer in the field of electronic payments via kiosks and the official international market representative for Elecsnet, created in 2000 and which operates a network of over 4000 centrally managed kiosks. The Elecsnet processing center is connected in real time to the billing systems of leading communications operators, providing instant access to customers with the payment services as well as the immediate ability to fund their personal accounts. The convenience of this service is truly unique and unprecedented: from any kiosk, it is possible for customers to fund any Visa card account in the world. Kiosks are located in all convenient locations: supermarkets, shopping malls, entertainment centers, cafes and restaurants, gas stations, universities and subway stations to name but a few, with the majority of kiosks functioning around the clock. To help customers locate the kiosk closest to them, an interactive map is provided via the company's website. For more information about the Company please visit their website atwww.mango.do
Additional information regarding Avra, Inc. and its filings can be found atwww.sec.gov.
Forward Looking StatementsSome information in this document constitutes forward-looking statements or statements which may be deemed or construed to be forward-looking statements, such as the closing of the share exchange agreement. The words "plan", "forecast", "anticipates", "estimate", "project", "intend", "expect", "should", "believe", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve, and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance (financial or operating) or achievements to differ from the future results, performance (financial or operating) or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks, uncertainties and other factors are more fully discussed in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements attributable to Avra Inc., herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by the above-mentioned cautionary statement. Avra Inc., disclaims any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this estimate, except as may be required by law.
|
1,418,075,220 |
2014-12-08 21:47:00+00:00
|
{"BTC": [282, 541]}
|
{}
|
Operator of bitcoin stock exchange penalized by U.S. SEC
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/operator-bitcoin-stock-exchange-penalized-192517956.html
|
Reuters
|
https://www.reuters.com/
|
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The operator of a stock exchange that allowed clients to use bitcoins to trade in certain securities was ordered by U.S. regulators to pay $68,000 to resolve claims that he did not register the exchanges. During 2012 and 2013, Ethan Burnside and his company, BTC Trading Corp, operated two online exchanges through which account holders could buy, sell and trade securities of companies in the virtual currency business, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday in announcing the settlement. Burnside and BTC neither admitted nor denied the charges. Burnside agreed to be barred from the securities industry but would be able to reapply after two years. His lawyer, Steve Unger, said in a statement that they were pleased the SEC had approved the settlement, and that Burnside worked to protect website users and to cooperate with the SEC. The exchanges had solicited more than 10,000 users who opened online accounts and executed more than 425,000 trader, the SEC said. The settlement requires Burnside to pay $58,387 in profits and interest, and a penalty of $10,000. (Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
|
1,418,128,200 |
2014-12-09 12:30:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [171, 258, 444, 580, 644, 723, 938, 1703, 2870, 2912, 3059, 3169, 3292, 3343, 3409, 3466, 3526, 3590, 3669, 3864, 3935, 3988]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [0]}
|
Bitcoin Exchanges QuadrigaCX and BitMEX Integrate with Vogogo
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-exchanges-quadrigacx-bitmex-integrate-123000492.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
CALGARY, ALBERTA and PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA--(Marketwired - Dec 9, 2014) - Payment Processing specialistVogogo Inc.(TSX VENTURE:VGO) today announced signed contracts with Bitcoin exchangesQuadrigaCXandBitMEX.
Vancouver-basedQuadrigaCXis the leading Canadian Bitcoin exchange, offering a highly sophisticated trading platform as well as an online/offline merchant program. The majority of ATMs in Canada trade on QuadrigaCX and it was the first Bitcoin exchange in North America to obtain a Money Services Business (MSB) license.
Hong Kong-basedBitMEXis the only centrally cleared Bitcoin derivatives exchange. BitMEX offers commercial hedgers, Bitcoin miners, and professional investors and traders the ability to exchange Bitcoin risk.
It is expected that both exchanges will integrate with Vogogo's payment processing and risk management platform enabling each to offer users of their respective platforms seamless transactions between Bitcoin and fiat currencies in the US and Canada, with the EU expected in Q1, 2015.
Vogogo will continue to test and scale its payment processing and risk management platform through the remainder of Q4, 2014 and anticipates reaching commercial trading volumes in Q1, 2015.
Vogogo CEO Geoff Gordon said of the announcement, "Integrating cutting edge Crypto exchanges such as QuadrigaCX and BitMEX is another significant step in our established growth strategy. It is also another validation of the value new and innovative Crypto exchanges are placing in the Vogogo platform to help them access and transact seamlessly with traditional banking networks."
"I look forward to working with Vogogo and integrating their innovative payment solutions with the QuadrigaCX Bitcoin trading platform," said Gerald Cotten, Founder & CEO of QuadrigaCX. "With Vogogo's experience in processing payments for the cryptocurrency industry, I'm confident that their services will simplify and expedite the funding and withdrawal process for our clients."
BitMEX Co-founder and CEO, Arthur Hayes said, "Partnering with Vogogo will allow BitMEX to offer fiat margined contracts, and expand the sophistication and breadth of our product offerings."
AboutVogogo
Vogogo is a TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") publicly traded payment services company with integrated risk management and compliance. Founded in 2008, Vogogo designed, built and launched its web-based payment processing technology while growing its expertise in software development, payments, risk management, compliance and related financial services. Vogogo is now executing on its plan to serve global markets. The plan focuses on market opportunities where Vogogo believes it has a competitive advantage due to its positioning and technology.
For further company information please view theVogogo Media Kit.
AboutQuadrigaCX
With offices in Vancouver, BC, QuadrigaCX is the leading Canadian Bitcoin exchange, often No. 1 by volume onBitcoinAverage.com. Quadriga offers the most sophisticated trading platform in Canada, an online/offline merchant program, and has placed numerous Bitcoin ATMs around Canada. The vast majority of ATMs in Canada trade on QuadrigaCX. QuadrigaCX was the first Bitcoin exchange in North America to obtain an MSB license. QuadrigaCX is also the only exchange in Canada to offer a gold/Bitcoin (XAU/XBT) order book.
AboutBitMEX
BitMEX - Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange is where professional investors trade Bitcoin derivatives. BitMEX is the world's most advanced Bitcoin derivatives platform and the only centrally cleared Bitcoin derivatives exchange. BitMEX offers commercial hedgers, Bitcoin miners, and professional investors and traders the ability to exchange Bitcoin risk.
Harnessing the financial derivatives experience of its staff, BitMEX was formed in early 2014. BitMEX went live this November. BitMEX's mission is to professionalise the trading of Bitcoin derivatives. By offering a fast, safe, and liquid way to hedge Bitcoin vs. fiat currency risk, BitMEX hopes to spur Bitcoin adoption by consumers and merchants.
READER ADVISORY
Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
None of the information contained on, or connected to, Vogogo's website is incorporated by reference herein.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release contain forward-looking information including, without limitation, timing for integration of the Vogogo platform with BitMEX and QuadrigaCX, expansion plans of Vogogo and anticipated dates for commercial trading volumes. The words "will", "anticipate","believe","estimate","expect","intent","may","project","should",and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are founded on the basis of expectations and assumptions made by Vogogo. Readers are cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Vogogo. Vogogo does not have any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as expressly required by applicable securities laws.
|
1,386,868,500 |
2013-12-12 17:15:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [42, 107, 277, 353, 431, 773, 1012, 1579, 1701, 1801, 1815]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [42]}
|
Coinbase Nets $25 Million in Largest Ever Bitcoin Fundraise
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/coinbase-nets-25-million-largest-171500103.html
|
Entrepreneur
|
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
|
Wall Street may be gearing up toenter the Bitcoin marketin a big way, but Silicon Valley is already there.
Bitcoin exchange and wallet service Coinbase announced today that it hasraised $25 millionin a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz, the largest fundraise ever by a Bitcoin company.
San Francisco-based Coinbase is perhaps the most prominent Bitcoin operations in the United States, allowing individuals to buy and sell Bitcoin with a U.S. bank account and allowing merchants to accept the digital currency as payment. Online-dating service OKCupid is among the 16,000 merchants using Coinbase. Previously the eight-employee startup, which launched in June 2012, had raised about $6 million of investment capital.
"We think Coinbase can significantly accelerate Bitcoin's proliferation, and as that happens the Internet will enter a new phase of invention and opportunity,"said Andreessen Horowitz's Chris Dixon, who will join Coinbase's board of directors on the heels of this latest funding round. "Bitcoin is the first plausible proposal for an economic protocol for the Internet."
The Series B money will allow Coinbase to grow its staff and scale its business. As it stands, its recent growth is impressive: The company says its user base has tripled since Aug. 1, from 200,000 to more than 600,000 user accounts.
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, which participated in the funding round along with Ribbit Capital, will also join the Coinbase board.
Coinbase also announced today that Gavin Andresen, the head developer of the open-source software underlying Bitcoin, is joining the company as an advisor.
Related:SecondMarket CEO: Wall Street Will Put 'Hundreds of Millions' Into Bitcoin
More From Entrepreneur
• SecondMarket CEO: Wall Street Will Put 'Hundreds of Millions' Into Bitcoin
• Why Bitcoin Is Better Than Other Currencies
• AMC Offers Loyal Customers Stock in Upcoming IPO
|
1,386,868,500 |
2013-12-12 17:15:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [42, 107, 277, 353, 431, 773, 1012, 1579, 1701, 1801, 1815]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [42]}
|
Coinbase Nets $25 Million in Largest Ever Bitcoin Fundraise
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coinbase-nets-25-million-largest-171500103.html
|
Entrepreneur
|
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
|
Wall Street may be gearing up toenter the Bitcoin marketin a big way, but Silicon Valley is already there.
Bitcoin exchange and wallet service Coinbase announced today that it hasraised $25 millionin a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz, the largest fundraise ever by a Bitcoin company.
San Francisco-based Coinbase is perhaps the most prominent Bitcoin operations in the United States, allowing individuals to buy and sell Bitcoin with a U.S. bank account and allowing merchants to accept the digital currency as payment. Online-dating service OKCupid is among the 16,000 merchants using Coinbase. Previously the eight-employee startup, which launched in June 2012, had raised about $6 million of investment capital.
"We think Coinbase can significantly accelerate Bitcoin's proliferation, and as that happens the Internet will enter a new phase of invention and opportunity,"said Andreessen Horowitz's Chris Dixon, who will join Coinbase's board of directors on the heels of this latest funding round. "Bitcoin is the first plausible proposal for an economic protocol for the Internet."
The Series B money will allow Coinbase to grow its staff and scale its business. As it stands, its recent growth is impressive: The company says its user base has tripled since Aug. 1, from 200,000 to more than 600,000 user accounts.
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, which participated in the funding round along with Ribbit Capital, will also join the Coinbase board.
Coinbase also announced today that Gavin Andresen, the head developer of the open-source software underlying Bitcoin, is joining the company as an advisor.
Related:SecondMarket CEO: Wall Street Will Put 'Hundreds of Millions' Into Bitcoin
More From Entrepreneur
• SecondMarket CEO: Wall Street Will Put 'Hundreds of Millions' Into Bitcoin
• Why Bitcoin Is Better Than Other Currencies
• AMC Offers Loyal Customers Stock in Upcoming IPO
|
1,418,142,118 |
2014-12-09 16:21:58+00:00
|
{"BTC": [282, 541]}
|
{}
|
Operator of bitcoin stock exchange penalized by U.S. SEC
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/corrected-operator-bitcoin-stock-exchange-143138970.html
|
Reuters
|
https://www.reuters.com/
|
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The operator of a stock exchange that allowed clients to use bitcoins to trade in certain securities was ordered by U.S. regulators to pay $68,000 to resolve claims that he did not register the exchanges. During 2012 and 2013, Ethan Burnside and his company, BTC Trading Corp, operated two online exchanges through which account holders could buy, sell and trade securities of companies in the virtual currency business, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday in announcing the settlement. Burnside and BTC neither admitted nor denied the charges. Burnside agreed to be barred from the securities industry but would be able to reapply after two years. His lawyer, Steve Ungar, said in a statement that they were pleased the SEC had approved the settlement, and that Burnside worked to protect website users and to cooperate with the SEC. The exchanges had solicited more than 10,000 users who opened online accounts and executed more than 425,000 trader, the SEC said. The settlement requires Burnside to pay $58,387 in profits and interest, and a penalty of $10,000. (Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
|
1,386,893,080 |
2013-12-13 00:04:40+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [146, 1073, 1965]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [40]}
|
EU banking watchdog warns of risks from Bitcoin
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-banking-watchdog-warns-risks-000440099.html
|
Reuters
|
https://www.reuters.com/
|
* Consumers have no protections in virtual currencies * EBA studying whether sector needs regulating By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - People using Bitcoins are on their own when it comes to losses, the European Union's banking watchdog said on Friday in a formal warning to consumers on the risks of using unregulated online currencies. The European Banking Authority said there was no protection or compensation for people whose "digital wallets" are hacked, a transfer of virtual money goes wrong or a platform is shut. The warning follows similar announcements from the Bank of France and the Chinese central bank. The EBA stopped short of telling consumers not to use online currency markets but said if they end up out of pocket there won't be a safety net like the compensation given to deposit holders when a mainstream EU bank goes bust. "Currently, no specific regulatory protections exist in the EU that would protect consumers from financial losses if a platform that exchanges or holds virtual currencies fails or goes out of business," EBA said in a statement. Bitcoin is not backed by any central bank or government, or by physical assets. Its value depends on people's confidence in the currency. It has been gaining acceptance by the general public and investment community but has yet to become an accepted form of payment on websites of major retailers such as Amazon.com. "Cases have been reported of consumers losing significant amounts of virtual currency, with little prospect of having it returned. Also, when using virtual currency for commercial transactions, consumers are not protected by any refund rights under EU law," said the EBA. The watchdog has been studying virtual currencies for three months and is still considering whether they can or ought to be regulated. It has powers to ban them, though questions remain over how this could be done in practice. There are about 100 virtual currencies, with new ones appearing every week. Bitcoin is by far the best known. Story continues The price of the bitcoin rose above $1,000 last month for the first time, extending a 400 percent surge in less than a month and fuelling concerns of a bubble. EU regulatory officials doubt such published estimates as the currency and the platforms that trade it are not regulated. Some platforms have been closed down amid concerns there could be a risk of money laundering, leaving those who held money on them nursing temporary or permanent losses. The EBA said there could also be potential tax liabilities for users of virtual currencies. (Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)
|
1,386,894,780 |
2013-12-13 00:33:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [2706, 2737, 2821, 3026]}
|
{}
|
VANGUARD: These Four Simple Principles Can Put Investors On The Path To Success
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vanguard-four-simple-principles-put-003336764.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
REUTERS/John Gress
FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors.
These Four Simple Principles Can Put Investors On The Path To Success(Vanguard)
Investors are worried about the impact that a Federal Reserve tapering of its $85 billion monthly asset purchase program and rising rates could have on their portfolio. Many are tempted to time markets. Instead, Vanguard Chief Investment Officer Tim Buckley, says he always reminds his clients of four core principles that put clients on the path to investment success.
"I always come back to our four principles, which have served investors well regardless of the environment: Know your goals, set your portfolio allocation according to your goals, minimize cost, and have the discipline to rebalance." He says investors that haven't rebalanced their portfolio in the past six months or year should take another look at their portfolio. He also says investors should be "wary of strategies that are based on back-tested data with an expectation of outperforming the market in the future."
Hedge Fund Holdings Surge Even As They Underperform The Stock Market(Financial Times)
Even has hedge funds have underperformed equity markets in 2013, the continue to draw investors. Hedge funds have pulled in $360 billion this year, a 15.7% increase on their assets under management (AUM) at the end of 2012, reports Stephen Foley at The Financial Times. This is largely because investor expectations are changing. Investors no longer expect massive returns and are instead looking to diversify their portfolio with smaller and more stable returns, reports Foley. And this has hedge funds optimistic going into 2014. 25% expect to launch a new funds, according to a Prequin survey of fund managers cited by Foley.
Jim Rogers: Right Now, I'd Rather Buy Silver Than Gold(BullionVault)
Gold prices have been falling and Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, told BullionVault, that this was because India "which has been the largest buyer, has reduced its buying a lot." Rogers added that if Indian politicians could get people to sell their gold, "Who knows how low gold could go?" Rogers said right now he isn't buying silver or gold but if he had to buy one today, it would be silver because it has fallen more than gold. But he added that "With all this staggering amount of currency debasement, gold has got to be a good place to be down the road once we get through this correction."
Fidelity Is Not Letting Retail Investors Put Bitcon In Their Retirement Accounts(Business Insider)
It was earlier report that Fidelity, the world's largest RIA provider, was letting its clients invest in Bitcoin through SecondMarket’s Bitcoin Investment Trust. "At this time, Fidelity does not allow investments in the Bitcoin Investment Trust through our retail platform, including in IRAs," a Fidelity spokesman told Business Insider in an email. Accredited investors did have access at one point, but don't anymore.
"The Bitcoin Investment Trust was previously approved by Fidelity as an eligible investment for accredited clients in their self-directed IRA accounts and investments began closing last week," SecondMarket's Barry Silbert said in a statement. "We understand that Fidelity has decided to reevaluate this decision."
ROSENBERG: The Market Is So Strong That It Could Go Through A Near-Term Setback And None Of The Bullish Technical Trendlines Would Be Violated(Gluskin Sheff)
The latest Investors Intelligence poll has "hit an extreme" writes Gluskin Sheff's David Rosenberg. And this acts as a contrary indicator. The bull share has climbed to 58.2% in the latest week, up from 57.1%, while the bear camp is at 14.3%. The correction camp is down to 27.5%, from 28.6%. "As such the bull/bear spread widened to a new high for the year (43.9 percentage points versus 42.8 last week) as bullish sentiment went to a new high for the year."
"This index is at an extreme high and one that has more often that not, regardless of the macro or policy backdrop — ushered in a corrective phase, something we have not seen now in well over two years, which itself is highly unusual. The market is so strong that it could undergo a near-term 10% setback and none of the bullish technical deadlines would be violated."
More From Business Insider
• Investors Should Take Two Key Steps When Building A Diversified Portfolio
• Barry Ritholtz Explains Why Hedge Funds Have Lousy Performance
• BLACKROCK: Stock Valuation And Investor Sentiment Don't Justify Bubble Fears Just Yet
|
1,386,899,411 |
2013-12-13 01:50:11+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1209]}
|
{}
|
PRESS DIGEST- Financial Times - Dec 13
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-financial-times-dec-015011010.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
Dec 13 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
Headlines
GOLD PRICE PROBE EXTENDED TO DEUTSCHE BANK
()
MADOFF VICTIMS SET TO RECOVER THREE-QUARTERS OF LOSSES
()
BOJ VOWS TO STICK WITH EASY MONEY POLICY
()
EUROPEAN WATCHDOG'S WARNING THROWS COLD WATER ON BITCOIN FEVER
()
EADS CHIEF CALLS FOR EU DRONE BUDGET
()
OVERTIME WORK AT FOXCONN STILL BEYOND CHINA'S LEGAL LIMITS
()
Overview
German banking regulator Bafin has demanded documents from Deutsche Bank as part of a probe into suspected manipulation of benchmark gold and silver prices by banks, according to people familiar with the matter.
After a new contribution from JPMorgan Chase & Co, funds set up for victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme should recover almost three-quarters of the $17.5 billion of losses.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the central bank would keep its highly expansionary monetary policy in place until inflation hits and stabilises at its 2 percent target.
European financial watchdogs have warned of the "violent fluctuations in electronic currencies" consumers face by using virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, the price of which has fluctuated between $340 and $1,240 in the past week.
Tom Enders, chief executive of Europe's largest aerospace company EADS, has warned that Europe will have to buy its next fighter jet from the U.S. or Asia if it does not invest in its own defence industry and allow sector consolidation.
An audit of operations at Foxconn Technology Group , best known for assembling Apple Inc's iPhones, has found that workers still do more overtime than permitted by Chinese labour law.
|
1,386,930,180 |
2013-12-13 10:23:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [49, 93, 142, 218, 292, 357, 1250, 1348, 1412, 1440, 1564, 2454, 2563, 2843, 2940, 3028, 3112, 3167, 3264, 3341, 3478, 3811]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [38, 64]}
|
Startup Cheap Explainer Video Accepts Bitcoin, 20% Discount For Bitcoin Clients
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/startup-cheap-explainer-video-accepts-102300370.html
|
ACCESSWIRE
|
https://www.accesswire.com/
|
Innovative startup Cheap Explainer Video accepts Bitcoin as a payment method; supporting the Bitcoin ecosystem by offering a 20% discount for Bitcoin customers. Cheap Explainer Video founder Oladapo Ajayi has a strong Bitcoin background.
December 12th, 2013 -Cheap Explainer Videonow accepts Bitcoin and offers a huge 20% discount to customers who pay with Bitcoin. Cheap Explainer Video specializes in creating short, highly engaging animations which succinctly present the features and benefits of a product. These animations, also known as Explainer Videos, can increase conversion rates for online businesses by 50% or more. A well made Explainer Video leverages the power of storytelling to create an emotional connection between businesses and customers, or between the product and customers. It also quickly grabs a website visitor’s attention and educates them about the product before they have a chance to lose interest. Explainer Videos are quickly becoming standard fare for web based businesses. If a website does not have a good Explainer Video, it is probably losing customers.
Cheap Explainer Video founder Oladapo Ajayi is a decentralized currency enthusiast, serial entrepreneur and software developer - his innovative peer to peer Bitcoin trading software is scheduled to be released in early 2014. He is also very active in the Bitcoin community – being the sole developer and founder of the Bitcoin Coinsigner project.
Bitcoin businesses have an added challenge in that they also need to be able to quickly, easily and engagingly explain what Bitcoins are to potential customers; who may have not heard of them. They have to accomplish this in addition to showcasing the features and benefits of their particular product. Cheap Explainer Video works with each client to distill the product down to its most useful or exciting features and benefits, then create an engaging short animation which clearly shows potential customers how the product will better their lives.
According toCheap Explainer Video founder Oladapo Ajayi, all online businesses need Explainer Videos that make customer understanding as painless as possible. No matter how complicated the product or service might be, Cheap Explainer Video will create a video designed to grab customer attention within the first five to ten seconds using animation, sound, sound effects and emotion-based voice over acting.
In an effort to support businesses and startups in the Bitcoin ecosystem, Cheap Explainer Video is offering a massive 20 percent discount to all clients who pay in Bitcoin. Oladapo Ajayi’s vision for Cheap Explainer Video is simple: to produce high quality, affordable Explainer Videos which engage and educate online visitors, turning them into customers at a dramatically improved rate. As more and more online businesses enter the exploding Bitcoin space, Cheap Explainer Video‘s innovative and one-of-a-kind media service is perfect for Bitcoin startups worldwide to increase profits and conversions. Through Oladapo’s solid Bitcoin background, and by offering a generous 20% discount on all orders paid with Bitcoin, Cheap Explainer Video is a true benefactor of Bitcoin startups across the globe.
Cheap Explainer Video also supports the long-term interest of Bitcoin by taking a stance to support efforts to preserve the fungibility of Bitcoin as a currency. As that, Cheap Explainer Video will not participate in initiatives to validate, whitelist, greenlist or blacklist Bitcoin addresses.
To get in touch with Cheap Explainer Video please go to:http://cheapexplainervideo.comDonations are welcome: 1C4vYv8mqxnZqc6ryTHj37JHDXp2GT6u2i
Visithttp://cheapexplainervideo.com/for more information.
Contact InfoName: Oladapo AjayiOrganization: Cheap Explainer VideoEmail: ola@cheapexplainervideo.com
Source: MM-BitcoinPR
|
1,386,942,734 |
2013-12-13 13:52:14+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [21, 212, 323, 627, 762, 1111]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [58]}
|
We're Actually Surprised By How Many Americans Know About Bitcoin
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/were-actually-surprised-many-americans-135214400.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
Bitcoins created by enthusiast Mike Caldwell are seen in a photo illustration at his office in Sandy, Utah, September 17, 2013.
Bloomberg hasperformed a simple pollon Americans' awareness of Bitcoin, and the results may be pretty bullish for the digital currency.
42% of Americans correctly identified Bitcoin as a digital currency. 46% said they weren't sure.
And 12% thought it was either an iPhone app or an Xbox game.
Still, 42% ain't bad for a computer program created in a guy's bedroom that until just a few months ago was used primarily to buy drugs in the backwaters of the Internet.
The value of Bitcoin has climbed 7,000% in 2013, and about 200% in the past month. It was trading at about $915 on the Mt. Gox exchange today.
Once Bitcoin was defined to those who weren't familiar with it, 45% said it would be better if it were regulated, while 39% said it would be better if it continued to go unregulated. 16% said they weren't sure.
Bloomberg and Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, IA, interviewed 1,004 U.S. adults ages 18 or older.
More From Business Insider
• The World's Largest Bitcoin Exchange Looks Like It's Malfunctioning
• Digital Currencies Everywhere Are Plummeting On China Report
• BITCOIN IS CRASHING — Digital Currency Tanks After Chinese Internet Company Suspends Usage
|
1,386,942,734 |
2013-12-13 13:52:14+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [21, 212, 323, 627, 762, 1111]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [58]}
|
We're Actually Surprised By How Many Americans Know About Bitcoin
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/were-actually-surprised-many-americans-135214400.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
Bitcoins created by enthusiast Mike Caldwell are seen in a photo illustration at his office in Sandy, Utah, September 17, 2013.
Bloomberg hasperformed a simple pollon Americans' awareness of Bitcoin, and the results may be pretty bullish for the digital currency.
42% of Americans correctly identified Bitcoin as a digital currency. 46% said they weren't sure.
And 12% thought it was either an iPhone app or an Xbox game.
Still, 42% ain't bad for a computer program created in a guy's bedroom that until just a few months ago was used primarily to buy drugs in the backwaters of the Internet.
The value of Bitcoin has climbed 7,000% in 2013, and about 200% in the past month. It was trading at about $915 on the Mt. Gox exchange today.
Once Bitcoin was defined to those who weren't familiar with it, 45% said it would be better if it were regulated, while 39% said it would be better if it continued to go unregulated. 16% said they weren't sure.
Bloomberg and Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, IA, interviewed 1,004 U.S. adults ages 18 or older.
More From Business Insider
• The World's Largest Bitcoin Exchange Looks Like It's Malfunctioning
• Digital Currencies Everywhere Are Plummeting On China Report
• BITCOIN IS CRASHING — Digital Currency Tanks After Chinese Internet Company Suspends Usage
|
1,418,166,000 |
2014-12-09 23:00:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1516, 3255], "BTC": [1922, 1971, 2039]}
|
{}
|
Ziftr(R) Launches Public Presale for ziftrCOIN(TM), the Gateway Coin to Mainstream Cryptocurrency Adoption
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ziftr-r-launches-public-presale-230000482.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Dec 9, 2014) - Ziftr, a New Hampshire-based company that develops products, tools and apps to revolutionize the shopping experience, today launched the ziftrCOIN Presale athttp://www.ziftrCOIN.com. The Presale runs from now until January 23 or sooner depending on when the coins run out. ziftrCOIN is an innovative altcoin designed to onboard the next 10 million cryptocurrency users and to help fulfill Ziftr's goal of bringing cryptocurrency into the mainstream for consumers and retailers. All proceeds from the ziftrCOIN Presale will directly fund Ziftr's efforts to accelerate mainstream cryptocurrency adoption.
To accomplish its goal of bringing cryptocurrency into the mainstream, Ziftr has created a suite of tools including ziftrCOIN, an innovative altcoin for online shoppers; ziftrPAY, a secure API that enables retailers to accept cryptocurrency and credit cards without viewing the customer's credit card information; and ziftrSHOP, the online component of Ziftr's retailer network where tens of thousands of retailers display millions of products that consumers can browse for the best price. The money raised during the ziftrCOIN Presale will fund the ongoing development of these tools and help Ziftr onboard its existing ziftrSHOP retailers into the ziftrPAY system.
"If you believe in the future of cryptocurrency and you want to see mass cryptocurrency adoption in the next couple years, the keys to making this happen are enabling retailers to easily accept not only Bitcoin but the many popular altcoins and getting the next 10 to 15 million users on board with cryptocurrency," said Bob Wilkins, CEO of Ziftr and ziftrCOIN. "I encourage you to participate in the ziftrCOIN Presale and help us achieve our goal of making cryptocurrency highly accessible and easily adoptable for the average consumer and retailer."
During the ziftrCOIN Presale, ziftrCOINs will start at 1 BTC for 1,600 ziftrCOINs and gradually rise to 1 BTC for 533 ziftrCOINs -- though participants can spend less than 1 BTC if they choose to. In addition to receiving ziftrCOINs, Presale participants also have the opportunity to receive rewards in exchange for their contribution. Ziftr is partnering with companies like Red Harbinger to offer exciting rewards ranging from ziftrCOIN swag to mining rigs to an all-expense-paid trip to the Ziftr office for an exclusive planning session.
Following the ziftrCOIN Presale, all purchased ziftrCOINs will become available for use in February 2015. In late 2015, Ziftr will give away 300 million ziftrCOINs free of charge (a maximum of 100 ziftrCOINs to each individual) so that everyday consumers can begin familiarizing themselves with cryptocurrency. Each ziftrCOIN will have a minimum redemption value of $1 when used within Ziftr's retailer network, functioning similarly to a coupon. By giving away the coins, Ziftr's goal is to get them into the hands of consumers who aren't likely to mine coins or purchase them on an exchange until they can see for themselves the benefits of cryptocurrency.
"Our hope is that by giving ziftrCOINs away to people who haven't yet used cryptocurrency, they'll become familiar with using it within the Ziftr retailer network and gradually begin using Bitcoin and other altcoins as well," said Wilkins. "In this way, ziftrCOIN really is designed to be the gateway coin to cryptocurrency adoption, and its success will increase the value of all cryptocurrencies."
To purchase ziftrCOINs through the ziftrCOIN Presale, visithttp://www.ziftrcoin.com/.
About ziftrCOIN™www.ziftrCOIN.comziftrCOIN, the first digital currency developed for online shoppers, aims to revolutionize shopping by putting cryptocurrency into the hands of consumers and enabling them to conduct simple, secure transactions at their favorite online retailers.
For more information about ziftrCOIN, visit:www.ziftrCOIN.com
About Ziftr®www.ziftr.comEstablished in 2008 and based in Milford, New Hampshire, Ziftr revolutionizes the online shopping experience through the development of innovative products, tools and apps that make life easier for both consumers and retailers. The company's first tools, a browser add-on and mobile app that connect shoppers with the best deals at their favorite online retailers, have had more than 2.5 million downloads.
Ziftr is a product of myVBO®, a full service design, marketing and development company that helps businesses turn their ambitions into realities.
For more information about Ziftr, visitwww.ziftr.com
DisclaimerAll statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts that address future ziftrCOIN availability, or developments that the ziftrCOIN expects are forward looking statements. Although the Corporation believes the expectations expressed in such forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward looking statements. Factors that could cause results to differ materially from those in the forward looking statements include, but are not limited to: market volatility; continued availability of capital, financing and personnel; government regulation and laws; and general economic, market or business conditions.
|
1,386,948,997 |
2013-12-13 15:36:37+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [70, 237, 377, 424, 504, 555, 1052, 1178]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [22]}
|
6% of Americans Think Bitcoin Is an Xbox Game
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/6-americans-think-bitcoin-xbox-153637111.html
|
The Atlantic
|
http://www.theatlantic.com/
|
Anew poll from Bloomberg has foundthat six percent of Americans think Bitcoin is an Xbox game, and another six percent believe it to be a new iPhone app. Nearly half, 46 percent, were honest and said they just weren't sure. But, despite Bitcoin's relatively niche appeal, not to mention utility, quite a large percentage of the 1,004 Americans surveyed—42—correctly identified Bitcoin as a virtual currency.
For the moment, Bitcoin primarily functions as an investment vehicle for those who believe that Bitcoin's value,currently hovering around $880 per Bitcoin,will eventually rise to ridiculous heights. As my colleague Matt O'Brien recently reported, "Researchersfrom the University of California-San Diego and George Mason University found that 64 percent of all bitcoins are being hoarded in accounts that have never been spent. And of the bitcoins that are being spent, a full 60 percent are on the gambling site Satoshi Dice."
For people not interested in putting their money into a novel and unproven investment, nor gambling at Satoshi Dice, Bitcoin is of little relevance. Olga Ruff, a jewelry business proprietor in Dallas (who, for her part, did correctly identify Bitcoin in the survey) toldBloomberg News, “What use would it be for me?”
H/t Brian Fung
More From The Atlantic
• Why There Are So Many Rich Counties Concentrated Around Washington, D.C.
• Map: The Astonishing Concentration of High-Income Earners Around Washington, D.C.
• Insurance Companies Are Making a $500 Million Bet on Obamacare
|
1,418,183,640 |
2014-12-10 03:54:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [11, 993, 2716], "BTC": [2916]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [0]}
|
Bitcoin Alternative FibreCoin Launches FibreLock, Anonymous ZeroTrust And Secure Operating System Fibre OS
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-alternative-fibrecoin-launches-fibrelock-035400115.html
|
ACCESSWIRE
|
https://www.accesswire.com/
|
Innovative Bitcoin alternative FibreCoin has in just eight weeks launched several exclusive safety features; their most recent project ZeroTrust offers an exclusive end to end privacy solution now available to the public
London, UK / ACCESSWIRE / December 9, 2014 /Among Fibre's innovations to optimize security for cryptocurrency adopters are FibreConnect, FibreDark, FibreOS and FibreLock to combat keyloggers by using a security pattern similar to that used for Android.FibreCoin is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) cryptocurrency allowing FibreCoin adopters to enjoy ongoing hands-off profitswhen storing FibreCoins in the wallet.
Fibre is a part of Blocknet and implements Dark Gravity Wave for difficulty re-target, a block speed of 60 seconds and 5% PoS annual interest. FibreCoin has met with large early success and is already accepted on six online exchanges including Cryptsy, Bittrex and Poloniex. FibreLock is a keycryptocurency security innovation from Fibre and is already implemented in Bitcoin wallet.
Fibre aims to make ZeroTrust the safest obfuscation technologyin the cryptocurrency ecosystem. ZeroTrust is exclusively developed and coded by the FibreCoin team and does not use XC mixer, Dark Send, Zerocoin or Zerocash technology making it a brand new solution to the security breaches cryptocurrency transactions have faced in the past. Fibre's ZeroTrust prevents common problems by sharing transaction information between multiple mixer nodes on the decentralized network.Fibre strives to make all safety features, including ZeroTrust, as user-friendly as possibleallowing them to be available for novice and experienced cryptocurrency enthusiasts alike.
ZeroTrust is only the latest in a long line of exclusive features previously introduced by FibreCoin. Other projects includes FibreConnect, an anonymous and fully encrypted communication system, FibreDark, a special stealth feature allowing users to hide their IP address and location when using the Fibre network and FibreOS; Fibre's very own Linux operating system dedicated to the coin which allows users to achieve ultimate security and cold storage solutions meaning that FibreOS can be stored off-line on a USB stick making the information impossible for hackers to steal.
Fibre will also be added to the Casheer cryptocurrency iOS and Android merchant payments Appallowing Fibre to be accepted at hundreds of real-world merchants and online worldwide. With the launch of FibreCoin featuring a whole line of innovative security options covering all aspects of conducting commerce using cryptocurrencies; such as communication, transactions, pin codes, anonymity and safe storage solutions -FibreCoinmarks the beginning of a new generation of Bitcoin alternatives emerging from within the cryptocurrency space.
For more information please visit:http://www.fibrecoin.com/
To trade Fibre please go to:https://bittrex.com/Market/Index?MarketName=BTC-FIBRE
To see the Fibre Core Development Roadmap please go to:https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=737771.msg9170047#msg9170047andclick here.
To see the latest news and updates from the Fibre team please go to:http://www.fibrecoin.com/updates/
Fibre is now proof-of-stake but can still be mined at the multipool:http://fibre.xpool.ca/
To learn more about Fibrelock security innovation please go to:https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=737771.msg9270360#msg9270360
Fibre on Twitter:@fibrecoinand@zyduuu
Fibre on IRC: #Fibre
Fibre on Reddit:http://www.reddit.com/r/FibreCoin
For more information about us, please visithttp://fibrecoin.com
Contact Info:
Name: MartinEmail:info@fibrecoin.comOrganization: FibreCoin
SOURCE:FibreCoin
|
1,386,953,520 |
2013-12-13 16:52:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [142, 505, 1682, 1907, 1994]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [11]}
|
Actually...Bitcoin's Recognition is Pretty Darn High
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/actually-bitcoins-recognition-pretty-darn-165256179.html
|
Entrepreneur
|
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
|
There's a lot of snickering on Twitter today about a Bloomberg poll that showed "just" 42 percent of people surveyed nationally correctly knewBitcoinwas a virtual currency. In fact,6 percent of respondentsthought it was an Xbox game or an iPhone app.
To wit...
and...
But, hold on. Isn't the fact that 42 percent of people know what this new, still-emerging and admittedly little understood currency is cause for praise, not worry?
A 42-percent recognition rate is pretty high, considering the novelty of Bitcoin. Hell, Americans are notoriously short on information, despite the proliferation of devices and data at their fingertips. In 2011, Newsweek had Americanstake the test that immigrants undergo as part of citizenship. Twenty-nine percent didn't know the name of our vice president. Forty-four percent didn't know what the Bill of Rights is. As the Supreme Court was deciding whether Obamacare was actually constitutional, FindLaw.com polled Americans and found thatonly 34 percent of citizenscould name even one member of the high court.
But why do people think it might be an iPhone app or a video game? Well, because there were only three options in the poll, which talked with 1,004 American adults, over age 18. The first was virtual currency, the last was "not sure," and the two others were -- wait for it -- an Xbox game and an iPhone app. So, it's not that people actuallythinkit's a game or phone. They reallydon't know, and, presumably, didn't want to admit that so they checked the box on something plausible. (It is a sad trait that we humans tend to hide our ignorance, rather than try to eradicate it through education.)
So, instead of snark, the backers of Bitcoin should be throwing confetti. We know who you are, at least as much as we know Joe Biden.
More From Entrepreneur
• Apple Becomes China's Third Highest Smartphone Distributor
• Coinbase Nets $25 Million in Largest Ever Bitcoin Fundraise
• SecondMarket CEO: Wall Street Will Put 'Hundreds of Millions' Into Bitcoin
|
1,387,027,260 |
2013-12-14 13:21:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [9, 87, 150, 190, 528, 839, 922, 1758, 1817, 1883, 1953]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [13]}
|
That Swedish Bitcoin Mining Company Has Sold $28 Million-Worth Of Its New Mining Hardware
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/swedish-bitcoin-mining-company-sold-132143016.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
KnCMiner
Bitcoin businesses are booming, especially now that42% of Americans know what Bitcoin is— but there remain few businesses as revenue-rich as Bitcoin mining development.
Background: Bitcoins are mined by computers unscrambling blocks of "hashes" or complex strings of numbers and letters. This tends to be an expensive and labor-intensive proposition — the fastest miners now cost thousands of dollars, and they eat up lots of electricity and manhours of setup.
We recentlyreportedthat Knc Miner, a Swedish developer of Bitcoin miners, had sold $8 million of its latest model, the Neptune, in 24 hours. When it drops in early 2014 (the date remains a bit amorphous), the Neptune could be the most powerful and efficient miner in the world, depending on what the competition looks like at that time (it's impossible to say how many Bitcoins it can mine because the mining difficulty rate, which goes upward as more Bitcoins are mined, will have changed when it's released).
Today, we got new figures on Neptune sales: t he first 1,200 Neptunes were sold exclusively to existing customers, at a price of $10,000 for a total of $12 million, Ian Chaffee, a press rep for the company, told us in an email.
The next batch of 1,200 were sold to new customers for $12,999 each, for a total of $15,598,800.
That gets them to a grand total of $27,598,800, excluding taxes.
The figure nearly matches the company's entire revenues for its first seven months of production and sales of its earlier models, Chaffee says.
It's not clear how the margins on one of these babies is —Alex Lawn, a KnC employee who recently came by BI's officesto demonstrate an earlier model, would only tell us the retail price is enough to cover the costs.
But it's a sign of how far Bitcoin's come.
More From Business Insider
• PAUL KRUGMAN: Bitcoin's Value Is Driven By The Fact That It Sounds Impressive
• Bitcoin Has Made A Major Comeback
• FLECKENSTEIN: Everyone Betting On Bitcoin Will Lose All Of Their Money
|
1,387,027,260 |
2013-12-14 13:21:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [9, 87, 150, 190, 528, 839, 922, 1758, 1817, 1883, 1953]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [13]}
|
That Swedish Bitcoin Mining Company Has Sold $28 Million-Worth Of Its New Mining Hardware
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/swedish-bitcoin-mining-company-sold-132143016.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
KnCMiner
Bitcoin businesses are booming, especially now that42% of Americans know what Bitcoin is— but there remain few businesses as revenue-rich as Bitcoin mining development.
Background: Bitcoins are mined by computers unscrambling blocks of "hashes" or complex strings of numbers and letters. This tends to be an expensive and labor-intensive proposition — the fastest miners now cost thousands of dollars, and they eat up lots of electricity and manhours of setup.
We recentlyreportedthat Knc Miner, a Swedish developer of Bitcoin miners, had sold $8 million of its latest model, the Neptune, in 24 hours. When it drops in early 2014 (the date remains a bit amorphous), the Neptune could be the most powerful and efficient miner in the world, depending on what the competition looks like at that time (it's impossible to say how many Bitcoins it can mine because the mining difficulty rate, which goes upward as more Bitcoins are mined, will have changed when it's released).
Today, we got new figures on Neptune sales: t he first 1,200 Neptunes were sold exclusively to existing customers, at a price of $10,000 for a total of $12 million, Ian Chaffee, a press rep for the company, told us in an email.
The next batch of 1,200 were sold to new customers for $12,999 each, for a total of $15,598,800.
That gets them to a grand total of $27,598,800, excluding taxes.
The figure nearly matches the company's entire revenues for its first seven months of production and sales of its earlier models, Chaffee says.
It's not clear how the margins on one of these babies is —Alex Lawn, a KnC employee who recently came by BI's officesto demonstrate an earlier model, would only tell us the retail price is enough to cover the costs.
But it's a sign of how far Bitcoin's come.
More From Business Insider
• PAUL KRUGMAN: Bitcoin's Value Is Driven By The Fact That It Sounds Impressive
• Bitcoin Has Made A Major Comeback
• FLECKENSTEIN: Everyone Betting On Bitcoin Will Lose All Of Their Money
|
1,387,042,980 |
2013-12-14 17:43:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1665]}
|
{}
|
This Company Banned Email And Loved It
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/company-banned-email-loved-174333263.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
Flickr via excalipoor
Tony Teunis, VP of Operations at All Western Mortgage, had a problem.
Intra-office email was getting out of control. Gargantuan email threads were getting in the way of his and his employees' productivity. Workday progress slowed to a halt as everyone tried to stay on the same page.
"I’d say it was kind of a mosh pit of communication methods," said Teunis. "[We used] email, private instant messaging systems, bulletin boards, snail mail even believe it or not. It was very difficult to communicate with the size of operation we are plus how we’re spread out geographically throughout the globe."
So he changed the tone of communication at the office. He banned email and implementeda product called Unison, an application for workplace collaboration (we've previously profiled it here). It pulls together text chat, Skype-like voice chat, and in-app messaging that can accommodate companies of nearly any size.
The go-to statistic from Unison is that it can generally reduce office email by 80%, but All Western Mortgage smashed that in an effort to cut out email entirely. Now that everyone is communicating on the same platform, work gets done more quickly.
Teunis said, "If an underwriter underwrites a loan, can’t make a decision, and posts it and the loan committee at 7 am, it might already be out of the loan committee by 8:05. In the traditional world we had to set a loan committee meeting twice a week that took place in our offices. Now we’re not held to the constraints of traditional meetings and conference calls that we were in the past."
More From Business Insider
• Inside The $7.85 Million Las Vegas Home You Can Buy With Bitcoin
• Comedian Lewis Black: 8 Reasons Why Amazon's Drones Won't Work
• Look How Many Of Isaac Asimov's Predictions About Robots Are Coming True
|
1,387,054,074 |
2013-12-14 20:47:54+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [434]}
|
{}
|
Vegas developer selling $7.85M mansion for bitcoin
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vegas-developer-selling-7-85m-163608512.html
|
Associated Press
|
https://apnews.com/
|
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A casino owner-turned-commercial developer is asking $7.85 million to sell a Las Vegas home, and he's willing to accept the online currency bitcoin for the deal. Jack Sommer said he got the idea to seek bitcoin for his 25,000-square-foot mansion from two of his sons, who've been involved in making and trading the currency. "The advantage is that we're expanding our market and adding some notoriety," Sommer said. Bitcoin peer-to-peer trading began in 2009. Value is purchased through an exchange website with a mainstream paper currency, such as dollars or euros, though trading isn't government-regulated. Using the currency can streamline international business deals, said Julian Tosh, a consultant and owner of the marketplace website bitcoinsinvegas.com. "There are a bunch of people who have bitcoins, and they're dying for a place to spend it," Tosh told the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/1b2VrHk ). He said Sommer's willingness to accept bitcoin could open the home to a global audience. "If you increase awareness of potential buyers, you could tap into new markets," Tosh said. Sommer has put a lot of work into the home in the posh Spanish Trail Country Club. It features marble from China, Iceland and Brazil, a full basement, staff quarters with Jacuzzis, and a secret garden. It also has 39 air conditioning zones fed from a 120-ton cooling tower. Library shelves are stainless steel clad in American cherry wood, and the view from the owner's suite is of golf course fairways. Sommer once owned the Aladdin resort, which is now the Planet Hollywood Resort on the Las Vegas Strip. He said he and his wife, Laura, considered the additions they've made to the home "an exercise in how many cool details we could put in." He said they were downsizing now that their seven children have grown and moved out. Sommer's sales agent, Craig Tann, of Prudential American Group's Estates of Las Vegas team, said the home may be the first in southern Nevada to be marketed formally around bitcoin. A range of businesses accept the currency. A California Lamborghini dealership sold a $103,000 Tesla to a Florida man for 91.4 bitcoin, the Review-Journal reported, and a Canadian man listed his Alberta home for the bitcoin equivalent of $405,000. The currency hit a watermark when Bank of America Merrill Lynch said this month that one bitcoin could have a maximum value of $1,300, or more than the price of an ounce of gold. A bitcoin on Friday was valued at about $870, up from $10 in January. Tosh acknowledged the volatility in value could make a $7.85 million bitcoin trade risky. Story continues "Locking in a price for such a large transaction is going to be kind of difficult," he said. "If the value is changing 30 percent a day, how do you quantify that in a contract and expect each side to hold on for 30 to 90 days while escrow clears?" ___ Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com View comments
|
1,418,220,120 |
2014-12-10 14:02:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [258, 1792, 2803]}
|
{}
|
Avra, Inc. Closes $150,000 Funding to Expand Platform and Distribution Strategy
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/avra-inc-closes-150-000-140200211.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Dec 10, 2014) - Avra, Inc. ( OTCQB : AVRN ) ("Avra" or the "Company"), a development stage Company focused on product innovation and activities to further global commercial activation of merchant and consumer interaction in the Bitcoin-related digital currencies market, is pleased to announce today the close of an initial seed funding round of US$150,000. On December 5, 2014, the Company closed a financing transaction by entering into a subscription agreement with a non-U.S. investor for aggregate investment proceeds of $150,000. Pursuant to the subscription agreement, the Company issued 600,000 shares of the Company's common stock at a purchase price of $0.25 per share, and a warrant to purchase an aggregate of 600,000 shares of the Company's common stock, for an exercise price of $0.50 per share for a period of one year from the closing date. The foregoing securities under Purchase Agreement were offered and sold without registration under the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") in reliance on the exemptions provided by Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act and/or Regulation S promulgated thereunder and in reliance on similar exemptions under applicable state laws. "Avra will employ the funding to further develop its payment platform for both traditional and digital currency payments and in establishing its global distribution strategy moving into 2015," said Stephen Shepherd, Chief Executive Officer of Avra, Inc. Mr. Shepherd continued, "We now have the technology and partners in-place to leverage our access into strategic regional markets. Our goal is to demonstrate the speed in which we can prove our concept and to continue to seek additional capital in order to build our network as rapidly as possible. The worldwide Bitcoin opportunity is like a vacuum waiting to be filled and we are ready to act decisively." This information is not an offer to purchase, a solicitation of an offer to purchase or a solicitation of consent with respect to any securities. Additional details of the Company's business, finances, appointments and agreements can be found as part of the Company's continuous public disclosure as a reporting issuer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1933 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") EDGAR database. Story continues For more information please visit our current website and come back soon as we prepare to launch our all-new look at: www.avraglobal.com . About Avra, Inc. ( OTCQB : AVRN ) The Company is focused on solutions in the digital currency markets, particularly in offering payment solutions to businesses worldwide. The Company's business model is divided into four distinct categories: AvraPay: to develop a complete, turn-key and painless way for merchants to accept Bitcoin as Payment; AvraATM: to promote usage and acceptance of digital currencies through the Company's proposed network of ATMs; AvraTourism: to provide cryptocurrency payment processing solutions for merchants such as hotels and casinos; AvraNews: to provide a news portal focusing on digital currency news. For more information about the Company please visit: www.avraglobal.com . Additional information regarding Avra, Inc. and its filings can be found at www.sec.gov . Forward Looking Statements Some information in this document constitutes forward-looking statements or statements which may be deemed or construed to be forward-looking statements, such as the closing of the share exchange agreement. The words "plan", "forecast", "anticipates", "estimate", "project", "intend", "expect", "should", "believe", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve, and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance (financial or operating) or achievements to differ from the future results, performance (financial or operating) or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks, uncertainties and other factors are more fully discussed in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements attributable to Avra, Inc., herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by the above-mentioned cautionary statement. Avra, Inc., disclaims any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this estimate, except as may be required by law.
|
1,387,114,920 |
2013-12-15 13:42:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [153, 246, 419, 2966]}
|
{}
|
3 New Technologies That Will Force Laws To Be Totally Rewritten
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-technologies-force-laws-totally-134236894.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
Amazon
As we develop new and interesting technologies, ostensibly to make our lives better, it puts pressure on our legal system to make sure that we
1. Bitcoin
The government cares a lot about its money, especially when it can be converted into Bitcoin, the digital anonymous currency, and taken off the radar to be sent anywhere without anyone's identity attached to it.
The Feds are still figuring outhow to address Bitcoin. In the meantime, many marketplaces legitimate and illegitimate alike will gladly take the currency as payment foreverything from sockstodrugs.
2. Commercial drones
Commercial drone use was catapulted to the public's attention with Amazon's surprising announcement that it's been experimenting with package delivery by unmanned aerial vehicle.
But here's the thing – there's no legal framework in the United States for businesses to make use of drones with the government's blessing. The FAA is on record as saying that it will be drawing up rules for such use cases, and when that happens, it'll shake up a number of industries. Obviously the aforementioned package deliveries can be handled much more swiftly and cheaply when there's not a human responsible for getting it to your door, but farmers can use them to dust crops, and companies in Australia are even using them to put out bush fires.
Commercial drone use faces two major hurdles before it becomes part of our lives – winning the public's favor as a safe and easy way to get business done, and figuring out where it fits within FAA regulations.
3. 3D printing
Many were raising a stink late last year (I was one of them) about Defense Distributed, a nonprofit organization committed to designing a functioning gun that one could hypothetically make at home with a 3D printer. It presents something of a problem to lawmakers – how do you make sure guns are being used safely when they can be manufactured in someone's garage without serial numbers or accountability? The city of Philadelphiahas already issued a banon 3D printed weapons, so look for this ban to become a trend.
But that's not the only legal implication of 3D printing. Given the ability to manifest pretty much any object you can conceive of, 3D printers also have copyright zealots up in arms about potential infringement.The famous example here is found in Warhammer 40K, a tabletop wargame played with small figures that are most certainly protected under intellectual property laws. But with a 3D scanner and printer, it becomes a cinch to clone your figures at a fraction of the price you'd pay to buy them at a store. Is this legal or illegal?
These are just three examples of how technology is outpacing the law, and given the current rate at which people are churning out newer and better gadgets to expand our capabilities, lawmakers will continue to have to play catchup.
More From Business Insider
• This Company Banned Email And Loved It
• Inside The $7.85 Million Las Vegas Home You Can Buy With Bitcoin
• Comedian Lewis Black: 8 Reasons Why Amazon's Drones Won't Work
|
1,387,117,068 |
2013-12-15 14:17:48+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [903, 1275, 1336, 1407, 1440, 1614, 1759, 1855, 1967, 2017, 2621, 2997, 3058, 3141, 3259, 3368, 3421, 3465, 3718]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [4]}
|
Why Bitcoin Will Never Be a Currency—in 2 Charts
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-bitcoin-never-currency-2-141748774.html
|
The Atlantic
|
http://www.theatlantic.com/
|
Falling prices sound like a good thing, but they're not.
When prices fall, people put off buying things. And when people put off buying things, companies put off investing. And then the economy slumps—and keeps slumping. Even worse, people are stuck trying to pay back debts that don't fall with wages that do. So bankruptcies pile up, and so do bank losses. That makes people too scared to borrow, and banks too scared to lend, which only makes prices fall even more.
This self-perpetuating cycle of doom is what sunk the global economy in the 1930s, and what, to a lesser extent, has sunk Japan since the 1990s. And it's what has been sinking us since 2008, though this time central banks have at least kept prices from falling, just barely.
Now, it doesn't make much sense, but there's actually a currencydesignedto create these kind of economic calamities. A currency designed for deflation. That's Bitcoin, the virtual currency you can theoretically use to buy things online. See, there's a predetermined number of bitcoins that will only grow at a low rate until 2040—and then stop. This artificial scarcity means that the dollar value of a bitcoin should go up considerably. And it has. In just the last year, it's gone up something like 64 times. That's enough that "Bitcoin millionaires" are now a thing.
Of course, a stronger Bitcoin is just another way of saying that things cost lessin terms of Bitcoin. In other words, there's Bitcoin deflation. Just how much? Well, as you can see below,Peter Coycalculates that prices would have had to fall98.5 percentthe past year if they had been set in terms of Bitcoin. As point of comparison, prices fell about 10 percent a year during the worst of the Great Depression.
But prices aren't set in terms of Bitcoin. They're set in terms of dollars. So it doesn't hurt the real economy when the price of Bitcoin goes up. People just go on living their lives,mostly unawareof the virtual currency. But itdoeshurt the Bitcoin economy, such as it is, when the price of Bitcoin goes up. Why would anyone use their bitcoins to buy things when those bitcoins might double in value in a day—or hour—or two?
They wouldn't. Researchers found that64 percentof bitcoins are in accounts that have never been used. And the ones that are being used aren't being used more. You can see that in the chart below fromJason Kuznicki, which looks at the dollar value of all bitcoin transactions each day divided by the dollar value of all bitcoins each day. It's hard to see any pattern here—and that's the point. If people were using bitcoins more, this ratio would be going up. It's not.
Bitcoin won't work as a currency as long as it's so deflationary. Why spend bitcoins today when they might be worth much more tomorrow? The only reason would be to buy or do things online that you can't buy or do with dollars (or euros or yuan)—something illegal. Now, black markets can be big markets, especially when it comes toevading capital controls, but not so big that Bitcoin would ever become more than a niche "currency."
What Bitcoin really needs is a central bank to stabilize its value. When the demand for Bitcoin goes up, they need to print more to keep it from skyrocketing. That is, they need to decide whether they want Bitcoin to be a Ponzi scheme for techno-libertarians or an actual medium of exchange. See, the technology of Bitcoin really is revolutionary, but the currency of Bitcoin is holding it back. In other words, Bitcoin really could have use as a payments systemif it had a stable value. But it doesn't, so it's just adotcom stock. And one that could be co-opted by banks that take its technology and use it with dollars instead.
So who's the perfect person to run Bitcoin? It'd have to be someone with central banking experience. Someone who understands whydeflation is a problem. And someone who thinksvirtual currencies hold promise. Someone like ... Ben Bernanke.
More From The Atlantic
• Sexy (and Sexist) Airline Ads From theAtlanticArchives
• Would Increasing the Minimum Wage Create Jobs?
• Our Historic Austerity—in 1 Crazy Chart
|
1,418,227,200 |
2014-12-10 16:00:00+00:00
|
{}
|
{"Bitcoin": [40]}
|
Blade Financial to Bring Debit Cards to Bitcoin Businesses
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blade-financial-bring-debit-cards-160000436.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Dec 10, 2014) - TodayBlade Financiallaunched as the first B2B payment processing platform extending traditional debit card programs to bitcoin businesses. Blade makes it fast, easy, and compliant for digital currency companies to offer their customers a familiar way to spend bitcoin at millions of merchants worldwide.
Blade Financial CEO Ed Boyle previously served as General Manager of the Prepaid Card Business at American Express. In his role, Boyle was repeatedly creating and bringing to market industry firsts, from the first on-statement database marketing, to the first microchip-enabled corporate card, and the first open-loop/network-branded gift card.
Additionally, Blade is comprised of payments experts that have launched over 30 card programs worldwide with over $1 billion in annual transactions. The team has an average 15+ years of direct industry experience and comes from noteworthy institutions like AMEX and Total System Services (TSYS).
Despite support from major retailers like Dell, DISH Network and Overstock.com, bitcoin's annual transaction volume currently represents less than one percent of the $7.4 trillion in purchases processed through Visa and Mastercard last year. The reality is, consumers just don't have enough ways to spend their cryptocurrency.
"It's the age old chicken and egg problem: which comes first, merchants or consumers?" said Blade Financial Co-Founder and CEO Ed Boyle. "Blade takes away half of the equation by fully solving for the merchant side."
Today, 80% of people own debit cards. They provide a convenient way for consumers to make purchases, and remain the number one form of payment over cash or credit. Every bank outsources its card program, and now digital currency companies can offload merchant adoption to Blade so they can focus on their core business of acquiring and retaining users.
The Blade engine integrates digital currency companies with banks via a REST API to deploy white label and co-branded debit cards that work over existing global payment networks. Blade transactions are instant; the digital currency is debited real-time at the point of authorization and no pre-funding of fiat is required. To learn more, visitwww.bladefinancial.com.
About Blade FinancialBlade Financial makes it fast, easy and compliant to launch your own bitcoin debit card. Founded in 2014 and based in New York, NY, the company is led by Ed Boyle, the former GM of Prepaid Cards at American Express and a 20+ year payments industry veteran. Blade is a Platform-as-a-Service offering digital currency businesses both white label and co-branded bank debit cards for their customers. To learn more, visitwww.bladefinancial.com.
|
1,387,207,800 |
2013-12-16 15:30:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [45, 252, 309, 405, 599, 668, 851, 936, 1008, 1345, 1575, 1615, 1717, 1997, 2047, 2238, 2305, 2562, 2696, 2730, 2901, 3130, 3201, 3285, 3456, 3586, 3670, 3782, 4086, 4207, 4324, 4506, 4856, 5013]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [0]}
|
Bitcoin: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-good-bad-ugly-153000452.html
|
Entrepreneur
|
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
|
Bank of America recentlysaid in a reportthat Bitcoin could become 'a major means of payment for e-commerce,' and as an avid observer of digital currencies, I believe this to be a major step toward globalized finance. The recent controversy surrounding Bitcoin, however, lies within the factthat 90 percent of Bitcoin buyers are market speculators,according to Nicholas Colas of the ConvergEx group.
While Bitcoin is an ideal proof of concept for what digital currencies might look like in the future, I think entrepreneurs should be thinking big picture. The explosive popularity -- and price -- of Bitcoin is temporary, but understanding the brass tacks value behind Bitcoin and its upstart competitors are where you'll find the next-level thinking that will shape the future.
The Good: Digital currency needs a champion.The most exciting element of Bitcoin -- and most dangerous for speculators -- is that technology is iterative and Bitcoin is only the first wave. While there is a hard cap of 21 million Bitcoins available to be mined, the number of routes digital currency can take are infinite. Alternative cryptocurrencies such asLitecoin,PeercoinandNamecoinhave been gaining traction by offering users separate systems of economic growth and even simulating inflation. A mainstream competitor is already in the works, and the Let's Talk Bitcoin blogrecently uncovered a patentfiled by JPMorgan Chase to develop a solution to the primary issue of international online money transfers that independently produced digital currencies could potentially solve.
Related:Why Bitcoin Is Better Than Other Currencies
Bitcoin, crypto capitalist or not, revealed a gaping hole in the online marketplace. While supporting Bitcoin may be a hassle for most mom and pop retailers, a stable digital currency could make buying stuff online easier as well as providing an alternative to Western Union fees to transfer money by simply sending their recipient a 'Chase Coin.'
The Bad: After you've bought your Bitcoin, there isn't much that you can do with it.Bitcoin is a great idea. Publicizing it to people who may or may not fully understand the concept, however, is a big reason for its explosive success. Instead of a separate form of currency, Bitcoin has become a sort of volatile gold for would-be investors. Bitcoin has managed to pick itself up from supposed'crashes,'but that's not because of the inherent usefulness of the currency. In a Quora post, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz said that while digital currency is a ripe pasture for experimentation, theBitcoin craze is 'overhyped.'
He goes on to cite a UC San Diego and George Mason University study that found that 60 percent of spent Bitcoins were exchanged through a Bitcoin-supported gambling service, Satoshi Dice. Digital currency is neat. It's only natural to want to buy some after hearing about it online, but the global demand for Bitcoin currently far outweighs its intended purpose. Just as curious newbies make their first stop at Mount Gox to buy their coins, they notice the upward trajectory of the price graph and are enticed into the volatile world of Bitcoin speculation.
Related:Coinbase Nets $25 Million in Largest Ever Bitcoin Fundraise
The Ugly: With legitimacy comes oversight.The initial interest in Bitcoin was driven by crypto libertarians willing to invest their money and computer processing power into a decentralized, self-limiting system of currency. The price of Bitcoin has, ironically, grown as the currency moves further away from its fringe roots and into the public eye. The harbinger of Bitcoin's arrival into the mainstream was a senate hearing that bumped the price of Bitcoin up to $750 on Nov. 16.
After creeping up to a peak of about $1,300, thePeople's Bank of China denounced Bitcoin, plummeting its price on Mount Gox to $700 the next day. The Chinese government cited both the volatility of the currency and the possibility for illiquidity for buyers in its statement. For the same reason, a finance professor at The Boston University School of Management has even claimed that Bitcoin could fall as far as 99 percent by June in aWashington Post interview. The anarchistic glee that attracted early Bitcoin adopters missed the intrinsic inevitability of any digital currency: widespread use.
Is the current price of Bitcoin the result of a bubble? Yes, but the bubble was formed around a hole in the market that digital currencies will soon fill. While I wouldn't suggest exchanging your money for Bitcoin, I'd definitely urge any entrepreneur to make the time investment and research cryptocurrencies over the coming months. The next big tech disruption could rethink how we buy stuff online, who knows about it and whether a bank will need to keep track of your finances.
Related:SecondMarket CEO: Wall Street Will Put'Hundreds of Millions' Into Bitcoin
More From Entrepreneur
• The Outrageously Silly Argument Against Uber's Surge Pricing
• Holiday Tipping Guide: Whom to Tip and How Much
• Actually...Bitcoin's Recognition is Pretty Darn High
|
1,387,232,760 |
2013-12-16 22:26:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1786, 1811]}
|
{}
|
Excessive Speculation Tinges All Old, New Market Bubbles
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/excessive-speculation-tinges-old-market-222600912.html
|
Investor's Business Daily
|
http://www.investors.com/
|
History has a habit of repeating itself in the stock market. Just look at past market bubbles.
They always start the same as a herd mentality pushes prices higher, creating newfound wealth. They end the same way, too, when the bubble pops and wealth disappears. Easy come, easy go.
One thing's for certain: Price and in the major averages are your best guide as to when a stock market bubble is about to burst. When this happens, cash is the best place for your portfolio.
That's why monitoring distribution days in the major averages and sell signals in leading stocks is so important. Use The Big Picture column and Market Pulse as your daily guide.
One of the earliest bubbles was the tulip craze in the Netherlands in the 1630s. There was the stock-market bubble in the 1920s that eventually led to the Great Depression; the economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1991; the U.S. tech bubble in 2000 and the U.S. housing bubble, which ultimately collapsed in 2006 and 2007.
In the late 1990s, just before the tech bubble burst, an unprecedented 53% of American adults held investments in the stock market, according to "Pop Finance," and headlines were getting a bit sensational. At the time, a New York Times headline proclaimed "a new era of shareholder democracy." Indeed, headlines can become hyperboles as a bubble takes shape.
In the late '90s, IPOs doubled and tripled in price on their first day of trading — many without earnings. Speculation was excessive, prompting Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan to use the term "irrational exuberance." Of course, the euphoria came to an end when the bubble popped in 2000 and prices started falling. Priceline.com (PCLN) fell 56% in September 2000 alone.
Fast forward to today and there's growing talk about a bubble in the online currency Bitcoin. In January, the Bitcoin was worth $13. Earlier this month, it was trading around $1,240.
Just recently, a Noble prize-winning economist recently warned of a U.S. stock market bubble. Others talk about recent frothiness in the IPO market as a sign of a possible bubble.
It's true that the Fed's easy-money policy has been a boon for the stock market and 401(k) statements. But to say speculation has been excessive is a stretch. The stock market is not a topic of conversation like it was at cocktail parties in the late '90s.
|
1,387,232,760 |
2013-12-16 22:26:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1786, 1811]}
|
{}
|
Excessive Speculation Tinges All Old, New Market Bubbles
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/excessive-speculation-tinges-old-market-222600912.html
|
Investor's Business Daily
|
http://www.investors.com/
|
History has a habit of repeating itself in the stock market. Just look at past market bubbles.
They always start the same as a herd mentality pushes prices higher, creating newfound wealth. They end the same way, too, when the bubble pops and wealth disappears. Easy come, easy go.
One thing's for certain: Price and in the major averages are your best guide as to when a stock market bubble is about to burst. When this happens, cash is the best place for your portfolio.
That's why monitoring distribution days in the major averages and sell signals in leading stocks is so important. Use The Big Picture column and Market Pulse as your daily guide.
One of the earliest bubbles was the tulip craze in the Netherlands in the 1630s. There was the stock-market bubble in the 1920s that eventually led to the Great Depression; the economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1991; the U.S. tech bubble in 2000 and the U.S. housing bubble, which ultimately collapsed in 2006 and 2007.
In the late 1990s, just before the tech bubble burst, an unprecedented 53% of American adults held investments in the stock market, according to "Pop Finance," and headlines were getting a bit sensational. At the time, a New York Times headline proclaimed "a new era of shareholder democracy." Indeed, headlines can become hyperboles as a bubble takes shape.
In the late '90s, IPOs doubled and tripled in price on their first day of trading — many without earnings. Speculation was excessive, prompting Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan to use the term "irrational exuberance." Of course, the euphoria came to an end when the bubble popped in 2000 and prices started falling. Priceline.com (PCLN) fell 56% in September 2000 alone.
Fast forward to today and there's growing talk about a bubble in the online currency Bitcoin. In January, the Bitcoin was worth $13. Earlier this month, it was trading around $1,240.
Just recently, a Noble prize-winning economist recently warned of a U.S. stock market bubble. Others talk about recent frothiness in the IPO market as a sign of a possible bubble.
It's true that the Fed's easy-money policy has been a boon for the stock market and 401(k) statements. But to say speculation has been excessive is a stretch. The stock market is not a topic of conversation like it was at cocktail parties in the late '90s.
|
1,387,233,956 |
2013-12-16 22:45:56+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [250, 5222, 5277, 5357, 5709, 5805, 5875, 5928, 6340]}
|
{}
|
Has the Fed been fueling bubbles? You be the judge
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-fueling-bubbles-judge-172941730.html
|
Associated Press
|
https://apnews.com/
|
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve's super-low interest-rate policies have inflated a slew of dangerous asset bubbles. Or so critics say. They say stocks are at unsustainable prices. California homes are fetching frothy sums. Same with farmland, Bitcoins and rare Scotch. Under Chairman Ben Bernanke, the Fed has aggressively bought bonds to try to cut borrowing rates and accelerate spending, investing and hiring. Its supporters say low rates have helped nourish the still-modest economic rebound. Yet some say the Fed-engineered rates have produced an economic sugar high that risks triggering a crash akin to the tech-stock swoon in 2000 and the housing bust in 2006. On the eve of the Fed's latest policy meeting Tuesday and Wednesday, here's why — or why not — these five assets might be in a bubble: STOCKS The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index has jumped about 26 percent since the Fed announced a year ago that it would buy $85 billion in bonds each month. And since the Fed's first round of bond buying at the end of 2008, stocks have soared 124 percent. Stocks outside the United States have also surged as other central banks have followed the Fed with their own low-rate policies. Germany's DAX is up 20 percent, Japan's Nikkei index 46 percent. Why it's a bubble: By artificially depressing bond yields, the Fed has led more investors to shift money into stocks. Such a flood of cash can swell share prices without regard to corporate earnings. Once the Fed unwinds its support, many investors could abandon stocks and send shares tumbling. "I am most worried about the boom in the U.S. stock market" because of its disconnect from a "weak and vulnerable" economy, Robert Shiller, the Nobel Prize-winning Yale economist, told the German magazine Der Spiegel a few weeks ago. Shiller knows a bubble when he sees one. He accurately warned of both the tech and housing bubbles before they burst. Why it isn't: One key measure assesses stock prices relative to corporate profits. A healthy price-earnings ratio is around 15 — or $15 a share for each dollar of profit. The current P/E ratio is about 18.4, slightly above average but probably no cause to panic. Janet Yellen, nominated to succeed Bernanke, said last month: "If you look at traditional valuation measures ... you would not see stock prices in territory that suggests bubble-like conditions." Story continues HOUSING The last housing bubble ignited the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. Home prices became inflated in part from an influx of cash and low rates driven by the Fed and other central banks. And in recent months, prices have again soared in some hot U.S. markets. Why it's a bubble: It depends on location, location, location. All-cash sales, low rates and tight supplies have lifted prices in areas like New York City and Washington, D.C. Fitch Ratings estimated in November that a worrisome 17 percent of the U.S. home market is overvalued, a risk because much of the buying is tied to investments and house-flipping. Coastal California is "approaching bubble-year peaks," with Bay Area prices nearing the "environment in 2003," Fitch said. Some leading forecasters have also warned of bubbles in London and areas of Canada and Norway. New York University economist Nouriel Roubini worries about bubbles in Switzerland, France, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Israel and Brazil. These countries have accelerating prices, rising price-to-income ratios and huge proportions of mortgage debt as a share of total household debt. Why it isn't: At least in the United States, some safety valves are in place that didn't exist during the previous housing bubble, Roubini wrote this month. Lending standards are tighter. Banks are cushioned from possible losses from greater capital in reserve. And homeowners have more home equity this time. FARMLAND Over the past five years, the cost of Iowa farmland has rocketed 118 percent to $8,400 an acre, according to the Agriculture Department. Prices have more than doubled, too, in Kansas, Nebraska and North Dakota. The prices recall a 1970s-era boom. That ended with a bust that put many family farms into foreclosure, leading musicians such as Willie Nelson to start the Farm Aid benefit concerts. Why it's a bubble: The Fed's low-rate policies have encouraged farmers to expand their holdings over the past five years. Ethanol subsidies led them to plant more corn as prices for that crop rose during the past three years. "The bubble has been climbing," said Dan Muhlbauer, a grain farmer who's also a Democratic representative in the Iowa House. One ominous sign: The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed cutting ethanol blending requirements. Why it isn't: Unlike during the 1970s bubble, farmers haven't become "over-leveraged" with debt, Esther George, president of the Kansas City Fed, noted last summer. The percentage of farmers' assets financed with borrowed money has dropped from 22 percent in 1985 to less than 11 percent. This decline in debt should protect many farmers if the value of cropland plunges. BITCOIN Critics fear that the Fed's low rates are undermining the dollar's value. For some, the hot new choice is an Internet-based currency called Bitcoin. Because there's a finite supply of 21 million Bitcoins, devotees say the currency will continue to appreciate. The value of a Bitcoin relative to the U.S. dollar has surged at an average pace of 292 percent a year, according to a Bank of America analysis. Why it's a bubble: Prices are insanely volatile. They jumped 50 percent on Nov. 18 after regulators signaled that digital currencies could be acceptable. They plunged 30 percent on Dec. 5 after China's central bank banned Bitcoins as currency, according to the online exchange Mt.Gox. And the volatility suggests that Bitcoins are highly speculative. Bank of America said this month that Bitcoin is "at risk" of bubble status. Why it isn't: Bitcoin may become a useful commodity in the future economy. Its digital nature could make it easier for immigrants to send money back home. It could charge lower transaction fees than credit cards, saving retailers money. Eli Dourado, an economics research fellow at George Mason University, says bubbles occur when assets are priced above their fundamental value, "but we don't know the fundamental value of a Bitcoin yet." SCOTCH Rare decades-old Scotch could give investors a terrible hangover. Over the past five years, prices have shot up 170 percent, according to an index of auctions and sales by the Scotland-based firm Whisky Highland. It's among the investments that have grown more alluring as interest rates have fallen. The buyers aren't just tycoons with tweed blazers, empty snifters and money to burn. Auctions are fetching bids from Chinese nationals, while firms such as Whisky Highland offer guidelines for investing. There's "a perception that this is a good area of investment at a time when more traditional investments are producing low rates of return," says Martin Green, a whisky specialist for the auction house Bonhams. Why it's a bubble: Regardless of how high someone bids, Scotch still tastes the same. It generates returns by appreciating in price, not producing income as stocks, bonds or real estate can. By definition, whisky, wine and fine art are speculative and can abruptly lose favor with investors. Not to mention: The $41,077 spent on a 60-year old Macallan — which sold last month at a Hong Kong auction — can literally be poured down the drain. Why it isn't: What inflates bubbles beyond rationality is greed. Green says most buyers acquire Scotch for other reasons: "the mystical allure of the taste," the thrill of the chase, the pursuit of status. "One of the motives for Chinese buyers is social aspiration," he says.
|
1,387,251,720 |
2013-12-17 03:42:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [449, 629, 1994]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [43]}
|
Introducing FastCoin – The World’s Fastest Bitcoin Alternative
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/introducing-fastcoin-world-fastest-bitcoin-034200886.html
|
ACCESSWIRE
|
https://www.accesswire.com/
|
With its highly qualified and motivated core development team, strong social media presence, rising popularity and primary innovation of being the fastest digital currency in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, FastCoin has a bright future ahead.
Toronto, CA - December 17th, 2013 - In late May 2013FastCoin (FST)was launched; its primary innovation being to have the fastest transaction speeds of any digital currency currently in existence. Compared to Bitcoin’s 10 minute block times the FastCoin network has just a 12 second target block time with transactions fully confirming in 48 seconds. Based on the same fundamentals as the Bitcoin protocol FastCoin is a blockchain based, decentralized, peer 2 peer worldwide digital currency with no central issuing authority. FastCoin has seen a rapid rate of adoption, with the coin’s market cap reaching $1 250 000 USD in late November, and the official website,http://fastcoin.ca, seeing constantly increasing traffic and serving thousands of unique hits every month. The coin is backed by a team of developers and FastCoin enthusiasts from all over the world; including the USA, Europe, Australia, UK, Russia, China, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, India and more.
FastCoin is based in Toronto, Canada, but the core development team consists of 10 highly qualified individuals from all over the world. The majority of the core team are primarily system engineers: seasoned veterans of the IT ecosystem, with some possessing over 25 years experience in the industry. Some members of team FastCoin possess teaching backgrounds having taught computer science at the University and College Level. Others have held relatively key positions for high profile international IT companies such as Microsoft, Symantec and ATI. FastCoin also has professionals with MBA’s and global work experience; aiding the business analysis aspects of managing the FST project. All have been actively involved in the cryptocurrency space for years; enthusiastically mining Bitcoin and participating in the emerging digital currency economy. Christopher Tao is regarded as the head developer of FastCoin and the coin’s primary creator.
Reflecting the popularity of the coin, the official FastCoin twitter account has over 11 000 followers and this is rapidly growing month after month. With its fast transaction speeds the FastCoin team is also actively targeting the mobile space and to this end they have released an Android FastCoin wallet. Due to its lightning fast transaction speeds FastCoin offers tangible benefits for merchants who accept FST as a payment method; any website or business who reaches out to the FastCoin team looking to accept FST will be warmly received.
With its highly qualified and motivated core development team, strong social media presence, rising popularity and primary innovation of being the fastest transacting digital currency in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, FastCoin has a bright future ahead. With FST having reached a market cap of $1 250 000 USD, this is no doubt a foreshadowing of bigger things to come.
To learn more about FastCoin please go to:http://fastcoin.ca
FastCoin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/fast_coinFastCoin on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fastcoinca/593923330628082FastCoin Android App Beta: http://www.fastcoin.ca/fastcoin-mobile-apps-beta-available.htmlFastCoin Sites and Services: http://www.fastcoin.ca/services.html
FastCoin is currently the fastest transacting peer 2 peer digital currency in existence; for the technically minded the FST protocol details are as follows:- 12 second block target.- 4 confirms per transaction – every transaction confirms in 48 seconds.- Mining difficulty retargets every hour. Accelerated re-targets are utilized so as to eliminate instamining.- 32 coins per block, block reward halves roughly every 12 months or 2 592 000 blocks.- A total of 165 888 000 coins will be minted.- Connection port is 9526, RPC-port 9527- Similar to Litecoin, FastCoin utilizes a Scrypt based cryptographic algorithm.
Visithttp://fastcoin.cafor more information.
Contact InfoName: Alexander.BezkrovnyOrganization: FastCoinEmail: alexander.bezkrovny@fastcoin.ca
|
1,387,251,720 |
2013-12-17 03:42:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [449, 629, 1994]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [43]}
|
Introducing FastCoin – The World’s Fastest Bitcoin Alternative
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/introducing-fastcoin-world-fastest-bitcoin-034200886.html
|
ACCESSWIRE
|
https://www.accesswire.com/
|
With its highly qualified and motivated core development team, strong social media presence, rising popularity and primary innovation of being the fastest digital currency in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, FastCoin has a bright future ahead.
Toronto, CA - December 17th, 2013 - In late May 2013FastCoin (FST)was launched; its primary innovation being to have the fastest transaction speeds of any digital currency currently in existence. Compared to Bitcoin’s 10 minute block times the FastCoin network has just a 12 second target block time with transactions fully confirming in 48 seconds. Based on the same fundamentals as the Bitcoin protocol FastCoin is a blockchain based, decentralized, peer 2 peer worldwide digital currency with no central issuing authority. FastCoin has seen a rapid rate of adoption, with the coin’s market cap reaching $1 250 000 USD in late November, and the official website,http://fastcoin.ca, seeing constantly increasing traffic and serving thousands of unique hits every month. The coin is backed by a team of developers and FastCoin enthusiasts from all over the world; including the USA, Europe, Australia, UK, Russia, China, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, India and more.
FastCoin is based in Toronto, Canada, but the core development team consists of 10 highly qualified individuals from all over the world. The majority of the core team are primarily system engineers: seasoned veterans of the IT ecosystem, with some possessing over 25 years experience in the industry. Some members of team FastCoin possess teaching backgrounds having taught computer science at the University and College Level. Others have held relatively key positions for high profile international IT companies such as Microsoft, Symantec and ATI. FastCoin also has professionals with MBA’s and global work experience; aiding the business analysis aspects of managing the FST project. All have been actively involved in the cryptocurrency space for years; enthusiastically mining Bitcoin and participating in the emerging digital currency economy. Christopher Tao is regarded as the head developer of FastCoin and the coin’s primary creator.
Reflecting the popularity of the coin, the official FastCoin twitter account has over 11 000 followers and this is rapidly growing month after month. With its fast transaction speeds the FastCoin team is also actively targeting the mobile space and to this end they have released an Android FastCoin wallet. Due to its lightning fast transaction speeds FastCoin offers tangible benefits for merchants who accept FST as a payment method; any website or business who reaches out to the FastCoin team looking to accept FST will be warmly received.
With its highly qualified and motivated core development team, strong social media presence, rising popularity and primary innovation of being the fastest transacting digital currency in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, FastCoin has a bright future ahead. With FST having reached a market cap of $1 250 000 USD, this is no doubt a foreshadowing of bigger things to come.
To learn more about FastCoin please go to:http://fastcoin.ca
FastCoin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/fast_coinFastCoin on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fastcoinca/593923330628082FastCoin Android App Beta: http://www.fastcoin.ca/fastcoin-mobile-apps-beta-available.htmlFastCoin Sites and Services: http://www.fastcoin.ca/services.html
FastCoin is currently the fastest transacting peer 2 peer digital currency in existence; for the technically minded the FST protocol details are as follows:- 12 second block target.- 4 confirms per transaction – every transaction confirms in 48 seconds.- Mining difficulty retargets every hour. Accelerated re-targets are utilized so as to eliminate instamining.- 32 coins per block, block reward halves roughly every 12 months or 2 592 000 blocks.- A total of 165 888 000 coins will be minted.- Connection port is 9526, RPC-port 9527- Similar to Litecoin, FastCoin utilizes a Scrypt based cryptographic algorithm.
Visithttp://fastcoin.cafor more information.
Contact InfoName: Alexander.BezkrovnyOrganization: FastCoinEmail: alexander.bezkrovny@fastcoin.ca
|
1,387,283,400 |
2013-12-17 12:30:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [239, 328, 638, 713, 783, 1052, 1274, 1349, 1447, 2315, 2626]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [42]}
|
Myriad Interactive Media Entering Popular Bitcoin Market With Its Brand of Technology
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/myriad-interactive-media-entering-popular-123000943.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Dec 17, 2013) - Myriad Interactive Media (OTCQB:MYRY) (BERLIN:XNG) will once again use the company's design and development team to bring its brand of technology to another area of popularity -- this time it's Bitcoin. The only topic that's possibly more popular than medical marijuana right now is Bitcoin, and Myriad, a global interactive media and development company, has announced it has plans to enter the space. This company has never shied away from using its ability to design platforms that address complicated but popular ideas to create a solution that makes life easier for its users, so why not Bitcoin.
For those new to this term and there probably aren't many of you, Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency, or even simpler, Bitcoins are digital coins you can send through the internet using a peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks and these coins are wildly popular. It's that popularity that caught our attention when Myriad announced it would be entering the Bitcoin arena with "an exciting new platform" that will reside atwww.CryptoCafe.com.
Myriad CEO, Derek Ivany, told investors his team has initiated development of a new innovative platform that he expects will enhance the Bitcoin and crypto-currency community. "Our project is not just related to Bitcoin, but other crypto-currencies as well like Litecoin. We have been involved in the world of Bitcoin for the last year, and we are really excited about having the opportunity to bring forward a platform that could introduce the world of crypto-currencies to a much larger audience, on a worldwide scale."
Ivany chose not to reveal too much about CryptoCafe fearing competitors would jump on the idea, but an answer may lie in what he did say. "Right now it's difficult for many citizens around the world to process modern currencies. Many face limits and restrictions with traditional service providers like Western Union and PayPal, and then there are some who may not be able to use services like PayPal at all. Crypto-currencies offer a seamless alternative with much lower transaction fees, and no middle man. Today's mobile phone culture allows just about anyone with a Smartphone the opportunity to house a digital wallet and spend crypto-currencies like Bitcoin straight from their phone."
Myriad's latest venture should enhance what is becoming an impressive technology portfolio. The company's first two developed technologies, MingleSuite and MyMobiPoints focus on SME's and are in the sales phase, but now Myriad will try its hand at bringing the ultra-popular Bitcoin to the small cap market.
About Stock Market Media GroupStock Market Media Group is a full service Investment Relations firm specializing in Research and Content Development. It offers a platform for CEOs to tell their story through the media with Reports, Interviews and Feature Articles. For more information and to read disclaimers and disclosures:www.stockmarketmediagroup.com
|
1,418,313,213 |
2014-12-11 15:53:33+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [2131]}
|
{}
|
Have Gold ETFs Finally Turned?
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gold-etfs-finally-turned-155333920.html
|
Benzinga
|
http://www.benzinga.com/
|
Gold ETFs have come under fire this year for their persistent weakness and disjointed trading patterns. The combination of a risingU.S. dollar, falling interest rates and tepid inflationary statistics have not been kind togold bullionprices or associated mining stocks.
More recently, traders have been focused on plungingcrude oiland natural gas prices, which has allowed gold the opportunity to make a stealthy move higher. This development may be a signal that a trend change is in the works for the yellow metal.
Related Link: Has Gold Found A Bottom?
SPDR Gold Trust
Since bottoming in early November, theSPDR Gold Trust (ETF)(NYSE:GLD) has pressed nearly 8 percent higher and regained its 50-day moving average. This well-known precious metals fund is designed to track the daily price fluctuations of gold bullion and has shown marked strength in recent weeks.
Market Vectors Gold Miners
Another corner of the gold market that has seen an even stronger bounce is theMarket Vectors Gold Miners ETF(NYSE:GDX). This index tracks 41 large- and mid-cap gold mining stocks from around the globe. GDX currently has $6.4 billion in total assets and charges an expense ratio of 0.53 percent.
After having fallen 40 percent from its 2014 high-water mark, GDX has rebounded 19 percent off the November lows. It too has regained its 50-day moving average and may be mounting a counter-trend rally to regain more of those substantial losses.
Other Possible Factors
Gold has traditionally been a flight to quality instrument during periods of stock volatility and had a noticeable uptick during the October selloff. Further deterioration in equities may generate renewed interest in gold as a hedge instrument.
Another factor that may propel gold buyers is a pullback in the U.S. dollar index. ThePowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish(NYSE:UUP) has had a powerful five-month winning streak that may be due for a breather. A consolidation or weakness in the dollar may provide a catalyst for global investors to load up on gold bullion or gold mining stocks.
See more from Benzinga
• Former Facebook Foes Prepare To Divulge On Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF
• Retail, Gold Miners And Small-Cap ETFs To Watch This Week
• New Month, New ETFs: November's Watchlist Includes Media, Gold And Emerging Market
© 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
|
1,387,283,400 |
2013-12-17 12:30:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [239, 328, 638, 713, 783, 1052, 1274, 1349, 1447, 2315, 2626]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [42]}
|
Myriad Interactive Media Entering Popular Bitcoin Market With Its Brand of Technology
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/myriad-interactive-media-entering-popular-123000943.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Dec 17, 2013) - Myriad Interactive Media (OTCQB:MYRY) (BERLIN:XNG) will once again use the company's design and development team to bring its brand of technology to another area of popularity -- this time it's Bitcoin. The only topic that's possibly more popular than medical marijuana right now is Bitcoin, and Myriad, a global interactive media and development company, has announced it has plans to enter the space. This company has never shied away from using its ability to design platforms that address complicated but popular ideas to create a solution that makes life easier for its users, so why not Bitcoin.
For those new to this term and there probably aren't many of you, Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency, or even simpler, Bitcoins are digital coins you can send through the internet using a peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks and these coins are wildly popular. It's that popularity that caught our attention when Myriad announced it would be entering the Bitcoin arena with "an exciting new platform" that will reside atwww.CryptoCafe.com.
Myriad CEO, Derek Ivany, told investors his team has initiated development of a new innovative platform that he expects will enhance the Bitcoin and crypto-currency community. "Our project is not just related to Bitcoin, but other crypto-currencies as well like Litecoin. We have been involved in the world of Bitcoin for the last year, and we are really excited about having the opportunity to bring forward a platform that could introduce the world of crypto-currencies to a much larger audience, on a worldwide scale."
Ivany chose not to reveal too much about CryptoCafe fearing competitors would jump on the idea, but an answer may lie in what he did say. "Right now it's difficult for many citizens around the world to process modern currencies. Many face limits and restrictions with traditional service providers like Western Union and PayPal, and then there are some who may not be able to use services like PayPal at all. Crypto-currencies offer a seamless alternative with much lower transaction fees, and no middle man. Today's mobile phone culture allows just about anyone with a Smartphone the opportunity to house a digital wallet and spend crypto-currencies like Bitcoin straight from their phone."
Myriad's latest venture should enhance what is becoming an impressive technology portfolio. The company's first two developed technologies, MingleSuite and MyMobiPoints focus on SME's and are in the sales phase, but now Myriad will try its hand at bringing the ultra-popular Bitcoin to the small cap market.
About Stock Market Media GroupStock Market Media Group is a full service Investment Relations firm specializing in Research and Content Development. It offers a platform for CEOs to tell their story through the media with Reports, Interviews and Feature Articles. For more information and to read disclaimers and disclosures:www.stockmarketmediagroup.com
|
1,387,288,803 |
2013-12-17 14:00:03+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [27618]}
|
{}
|
15 Psychological Triggers to Convert Leads Into Customers
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/15-psychological-triggers-convert-leads-140003486.html
|
Entrepreneur
|
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
|
Would you like to know how to get more customers who can’t wait to buy your products and services?
It’s a lot simpler than you might think. And the best part is that, as you strive to increase revenue, you actually will be serving your potential customers better. You don’t need to manipulate or hypnotize them into buying. You just need to give them what they want.
The key to success in any business is an understanding of psychology.
All human beings essentially have the same mental triggers that drive actions. In order to influence and understand your customers, you need to know what those triggers are and how to utilize them in your marketing message.
Why?
Because our minds decide what to buy. So if you know how minds function, you have the power to influence the decisions they make. Which is why, although this is a long article, you won’t want to miss the marketing lessons that follow.
Here are 15 psychological triggers you can start using today to double your sales:
All human behavior, at its root, is driven by the need to avoid pain and the desire to gain pleasure. Even when we do something that appears to be painful, we do it because we associate pleasure with the action.
For example, in May 2012, I spent one month dragging a 190-pound sled 350 miles across the second largest icecap in the world in temperatures as low as -40 degrees. Most of the journey was spent in misery and struggle. Yet, I chose to make the crossing because I associated pleasure with the challenge, hard work, and, ultimately, the sense of accomplishment that comes from an expedition of that magnitude.
Firefighters run into burning buildings because they associate pleasure with helping people and saving lives. Likewise, marathoners put themselves through 26.2 miles of misery because they associate pleasure with completing the course.
This is the basic trigger on which every other one below is based.It underlies the motivation for every single action we take on a daily basis.
To use this trigger in your marketing, you need to first understand what your customers associate with pain and pleasure, because not everyone associates pleasure with running a marathon or crossing an icecap.
This is a key point to remember in any marketing message: In order to influence someone, you need to know what already influences them. You find this out by getting clear on who your audience is.
Once you know who they are and what they want, then use the A to Z technique to implement this trigger in your marketing.
The A to Z technique:
Your customers want to get from point A (where they are now) to point Z (where they want to be).
In your marketing message, your goal is to teach your leads how to move as close as possible to Z before you ask for their money. The closer you get them to Z, the more likely they are to buy from you in order to go the final few steps needed to arrive at their desired end result.
By doing this, in their minds, they start to associate your business with the pleasure they get from the results produced as they arrive at all the milestones between A and Z.
On this landing page, GoToMeeting is promising the “freedom of online meetings,” for free, with no credit card required! They have just taken me to point Y. I am just one step away from point Z.
If I want to get to point Z and enjoy this freedom permanently, then I need to pay them. And I will be far more likely to pay them after having already experienced the taste of the freedom I want.
In contrast, to use the pain motivator, show your prospects all the dangers in the road from A to Z and how your product is the weapon they need to defeat those dangers.
This is an even stronger motivator than the desire for pleasure because we all have what psychologists call“the negativity bias.”We do more to avoid pain than we do to gain pleasure. This works on a neurological level as well. It has been demonstrated that the brain lights up more from a negative external stimuli than from a positive one.
Check out this page from the Harvest time-tracking app. Its marketing message is focused around addressing the pain of a complicated time tracking app. Even their testimonial is a reflection of this pain that they know their audience has experienced. Harvest co-founder, Danny Wen, even says “solve a real pain point, and don’t be afraid to charge for it.”
Having said that, though, in today’s world people are driven by both forces equally when it comes to buying decisions, because there is just so much out there to choose from now that it gets overwhelming. You will want to address both forces in your marketing.
For example, no one really needs an iPad. And we most certainly don’t need an iPad Mini. They don’t solve pressing problems that we as consumers experienced before their release. We were more than happy with our laptops. Yet, people flock to Apple stores at every new release. Why?
Because they address a desire, a want, and an aspiration. They make life more pleasurable.
On a side note, my wife has an iPad and I own an iPad Mini.
We as human beings love novelty.Neurologically, it has been demonstrated that exposure to something new and unfamiliar increases the release of dopamine in the brain.Novelty makes our brains feel like there is a possibility for reward waiting for us just around the corner. That potential for pleasure motivates us to seek it out.
Why do you think Apple releases a new iPhone and iPad every few months?
You and I both know that the difference between the older model and the newer one is miniscule. Yet, hundreds of thousands of people toss away their old phones to pick up the latest model.
Why does every single car company release a new model every year? Like Apple, more often than not the differences between models are barely noticeable, yet these multibillion dollar corporations make the effort to release and promote new versions of their products.
That is no accident.
Squarespace recently released a new mobile app, and it is pretty clear in their marketing copy that it is new. Anyone remotely interested in their product will be triggered by this. Without customers even knowing it, their brains will light up at the prospect of investing in something new.
If you want your prospects to buy your products, create new ones, or just make a few tweaks, update the old ones, and rebrand them. You also could combine this with the scarcity trigger to release a certain product once every few months, so that every time it is released it creates a perception of novelty.
Most successful online marketers do this with their information products. They release them it for only a week or so every few months. They could just as easily have the product available for purchase throughout the year, but that would fail to employ the novelty and scarcity triggers, which in turn increase their sales.
Novelty can backfire, though, if you appear to be new in a way that signifies lack of experience or credibility. To address this concern, use this trigger in conjunction with the triggers below, especially the ones like providing social proof, simplifying your solution, and building curiosity.
I will sacrifice one hour of my time to give you a free plan to double your income or give you 100 dollars.
What went through you mind as you read that?
You want to know why I would do that, right?
Of course you do. Because our brains are always searching for answers.
In his bookWho’s in charge?: Free will and the science of the brain, Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, a psychology professor at the University of California, found that our rational mind is always searching for meanings, even when there is no inherent meaning. Essentially, we seek out explanations to understand everything we experience in life.
In the now famousXerox experimentby psychologist Ellen Langer, she found that people are willing to do more for you if you give them a reason, even if the reason is completely arbitrary.
People standing in line to use a photocopier were 34% more likely to let someone cut in front of them, even when their reason was as meaningless as “because I have to make some copies.”
On this landing page, Startup Weekend doesn’t just invite you to attend their event. They tell you exactly why you should and what you will get out of it.
In your marketing copy, explain why you are offering something, and your prospects will be far more likely to comply with your request.
Human beings have been telling stories for thousands of years. It is how messages have been passed on from generation to generation.
Why? (See what I am doing here!)
Because they trigger emotions and we are emotional creatures. Gerard Zaltman, the author ofHow Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Marketfound that95% of cognition happens outside of our conscious brain and inside our subconscious, emotional brain.
Telling stories activates parts of the brain associated with sight, sound, taste, and movement.
They make us feel an experience without directly experiencing it.They literally transport us into the world of the story andlight up our emotional brains, which is where we make our decision whether to buy or not. So that is where you as a business owner need to venture into.
One of my favorite examples of telling stories to sell a product is Red Bull’s marketing campaign.
Their product is an energy drink, but their brand is about exploring the unknown and pushing the limits of human potential. They have built that brand and that association in our collective minds by telling stories of people who exemplify the message they want to convey.
Here is another great example:
Rob Walker, the author ofBuying in: What we buy and who we areand Joshua Glen conducted an experiment where they bought hundreds of cheap thrift store items to see if they could sell them by using the power of stories.
They invited 200 writers to contribute fictional stories for each of their products and used the stories to sell them on Ebay.
They raised almost $8,000, making a 2,700% profit. Not a bad return for telling a few stories.
In his bestselling book,Thinking Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize winning psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, says “A general ‘law of least effort’ applies to cognitive as well as physical exertion. The law asserts that if there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will eventually gravitate to the least demanding course of action. In the economy of action, effort is a cost, and the acquisition of skill is driven by the balance of benefits and costs. Laziness is built deep into our nature.”
We always migrate to the easiest option to achieve a desired result. It is no surprise that Stephen Covey’s7 Habits of Highly Effective Peoplebecame a multimillion dollar bestseller. It provides a simple formula to follow to become a highly effective person. All it takes is 7 habits.
Feed this psychological trigger by creating an easy-to-follow framework for your audience to follow. Show them how your product makes it fool-proof to achieve the result they want in the fastest time possible. Even though we all know deep down that achieving the result we want takes work, we still don’t want to do the work. So give your audience what they want, the easiest and simplest solution, on the front end and teach them what they need on the back end.
In the above example, Fastrack is telling their audience that they will give them the result they want and they will do it fast.
In this example, Right Signature is telling you that they are the easiest and fastest way to get the result you want.
Use words like easy, step-by-step, fast, system, or framework in your marketing copy to let your prospects know that your solution is the simplest one available and they will be far more likely to buy from you.
Create a common enemy and ally with your prospects against it in order to get them fired up to invest in your products and services.
Every audience has a common enemy that they believe is the reason they are not getting the results they want. Sociologist Georg Simmelargued that we create common enemies because it unites us with groups of people we believe to be like us.
It also allows us to create an explanation for why bad things happen in the world. And remember we are meaning-seeking creatures, so we create enemies to ensure that the world makes sense again. Otherwise, why would bad things happen to good people?
People have even gone to war to stand up against a common enemy, which is why this is a very powerful marketing tactic.
I know Apple comes up a lot in this article (which is a testament to their brilliant marketing), but they are perfect examples of creating a common enemy to build a brand.
Since their early years, they have turned PC into the enemy, and that is why Apple fans are such loyal brand fanatics. They are united with Apple against the “evil” that is PC.
Here is an old Apple commercial turning PC users into mindless drones:
Here is another more recent commercial where they once again made PC the enemy:
The enemy doesn’t have to be a competitor either. Take a look at this brilliant ad from Careerbuilder.com where they turned coworkers, a boring job, and a mean boss into the enemy:
You have to be careful with this trigger, though. You don’t want to create an enemy that causes people to dislike your brand. It is a good idea to stay away from politics, race, and religion when defining the enemy. Choose something more general or something that most people see as an enemy anyway, like Careerbuilder did with “the boring 9-5 job.”
George Loewenstein, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, discovered that when there is a gap between what we know and what we want to know, we will take action to fill that gap. It is referred to as the Information Gap Theory.
Think of it likean itch that needs to be scratched.Our curiosity not only inspires action, it increases activity in the parts of the brain associated with pleasure as well.
Triggering curiosity will ensure that your prospects open your emails, promote your content, and buy your products in order to fill the gap between the teaser you leave them with and the answer that lies beyond it.
Check outthis articlefrom Derek Halpern of Social Triggers to learn more about how to implement curiosity in your marketing.
There are many ways to pique the curiosity of your audience. To implement this trigger successfully, combine curiosity with the other triggers mentioned in this article.
Here are some examples:
One way is to leave your prospects wanting more by using the driving forces of human behavior in your marketing copy. Give them a taste of how they can achieve their desired result or leave behind their existing pain through your products or services.
Here Zipongo tells me I can get what I “actually need” and get “50-90%off.” I can achieve my desired result and avoid the pain of paying a high price for it? Perfect!
Controversy is another great way to pique curiosity.
Manpacks does a great job of inspiring curiosity through mild controversy. Without knowing what the service is, just by looking at that picture and reading that headline, most men with girlfriends will be immediately interested in reading more about what they have to say.
Another great way is to ask questions that you know your audience is asking, like Wistia does here:
Here is another one:
How much does that make you want to open the card? Telling your audience not to do something or self-deprecating yourself in some way is a great way to inspire curiosity. Some of the highest opening rates I have gotten in my email marketing campaigns are with subject lines like “DO NOT open this email,” or “This is the worst (insert anything you want here, such as sales letter) ever.”
Get creative with this trigger and test out different ways to see what gets you the best result.
Ever notice how hundreds of people line up for any new Apple product before it is even released?
Why is that?
Because Apple builds anticipation for any new product release.
Sporting events are no different. Weeks before the Super Bowl, hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country plan and prepare for the eagerly awaited event. They tingle with excitement and joy at the thought of opening a beer and watching their favorite teams duke it out for the greatest honor in football.
Gretchen Rubin, the bestselling author of The Happiness Project, says thatanticipation is a key stage in happiness; by having something to look forward to, you bring happiness into your life well before the event actually takes place.”
Large companies likeAppleandCanoneven have whole websites dedicated entirely to rumors about their products. This builds anticipation for their eventual releases which in turn increases sales.
Create publicity for your products before they are released to get people excited about them. This will trigger pleasurable emotions that they will associate with your product and eventually buy them when your product is released.
Marie Forleo does this with her flagship product, “Rich Happy and Hot B School.” She doesn’t just announce it, she gets people to sign up so that they can get a “heads up” when the program is released. This gets people excited about it.
Next time you are launching a product or service, create publicity for it in your community by announcing it months ahead of time, getting people talking about it and finding influencers to promote its release as well.
This is a very common one, but nonetheless a necessary one to mention.
Professor of psychology and bestselling author ofInfluence: The Psychology of persuasion, Robert Cialdini says “If you can get people who are similar to the person you’re trying to persuade to speak on your behalf, it’s a lot easier for you than if you have to try to hammer your message one more time into a reticent mind.”
Human beings are social creatures. We look to others to determine what actions we should take.
Show your prospects how much others are benefiting from your product so that they know it works. Use testimonials from your clients or show numbers of how many people use your products to let your audience know that your product produces results.
Most of the examples illustrated in this post employ social proof in some manner. Here is another example:
Not only do they use testimonials from other trusted experts, they have logos of brands that use their software as well.
Check out this article for more about how to leverage this strategy.
Dan Ariely, the bestselling author ofPredictably Irrationalstates that “humans rarely choose things in absolute terms. We don’t have an internal value meter that tells us how much things are worth. Rather, we focus on the relative advantage of one thing over another, and estimate value accordingly.”
All life experiences are judged based on references that we have of previous ones. Create price juxtapositions and offer bargains sporadically to induce a previous reference that makes this new experience worthwhile. This will make people more likely to buy your products.
By first showing us the $150 a month price tag, Basecamp creates a reference point that then makes the lower price tag just below it far more appealing.
The need to feel significant is ingrained in all of us.Tony Robbins says it is one of the six basic human needs.
We as human beings all want to feel important and significant, not just in our own eyes, but since we are social creatures, in the eyes of our peers as well.
Make your customer feel important by letting them know you actually care about them, because sadly good customer service is not just a given these days. Try calling Delta airlines customer service hotline and you will know exactly what I mean.
Providing not just good, but excellent, customer service makes your prospects feel like you value them, which makes them more likely to buy from you.
Leo Widrich, the co-founder of Buffer, says “Giving the best customer support possible is at the very top of our list. Like literally, it is the number one thing we want to get done every day.”
On their FAQ page, they rightfully make sure their prospects know how much they care about their customers.
Another way to make your customers feel significant is to reward them the way credit card companies do when you get their card:
By signing up for this credit card, I know I will be rewarded. And, as a frequent traveler, this makes me feel valued by the company and more likely to invest in their product.
There are many ways to make a person feel valued. At its core, the fundamental principle behind this trigger is actually caring for your customer. People know when someone is faking concern. Nothing substitutes genuinely valuing the needs of your customers. Do that and they will love you for it.
Aristotle once said “Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.”
We have an inherent need to be a part of a social community and to feel connected to others. It not only makes us feel secure and comfortable,it inspires us to take action to achieve our desired results as well.So if your prospect feels that your product will help them get what they want, they will be more likely to act and hit the buy button.
When you sell to a customer, give them something else to make them feel like they are now part of your community. This also builds fanatical loyalty that has your customers proud to be included in your group.
One way to build community is with a compelling vision. Or your “why,” as Simon Sinek describes it in his bestselling book,Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.”
In the book, Sinek references Apple’s “why” and how they use it in their marketing. Their message to their customers is “In everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo and thinking differently. We do this by making our products beautifully designed and simple to use. We just happen to make great computers. Do you want to buy one?”
Why do you think Apple fans are so loyal to their community?
Here is another example of community building in action:
Starbucks built a community not just with their website about “My Starbucks Idea,” but like Apple, it is the very foundation of their entire business model.
As the founder and CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, said “We’re in the people business serving coffee, not the coffee business serving people.”
Build your community by creating a compelling why that drives your business forward and enrolls people into your vision for the world. Do this and your tribe will promote your business without you even having to ask for it.
Memory is fickle.
One minute people are concerned with earthquakes. The next it is a forgotten memory that doesn’t rear its ugly head until the next time there is an earthquake. That is why earthquake insurance sales are highest right after an earthquake, despite the fact that the risk of an earthquake is the lowest after one occurs.
People ignore scientists’ warnings of earthquakes and buy insurance only when the risk is minimal.
Strange, isn’t it?
But that’s just how we function. Daniel Gardner, the author ofThe Science of Fear,says “recent, emotional, vivid, or novel events are all more likely to be remembered than others.”
We react to what is most prevalent in our minds. And where are we getting the information that sticks in our minds?
The media.
Jonah Berger, the bestselling author ofContagious: Why Things Catch Onsays “if something is top-of-mind it will be tip-of-the-tongue. Just like peanut butter reminds us of jelly, the more we’re triggered to think about a product or idea, the more we’ll talk about it.”
Tie current events or celebrities that are currently on the top of people’s minds into your marketing to create triggers that make people remember your product.
Here you can see how Oreo cookies tied the Mars Rover landing and the anniversary of the moon landing into their marketing. These events were on the top of people’s minds anyway, but now when they think of these events, they will be more likely to think of Oreo cookies as well.
Check outthis articleto learn more about Oreo’s marketing campaign.
What current events could you use in your marketing campaign?
As it has been established, we look to others to determine what action to take. So the less there is of something, the more people perceive it to be a highly valued commodity, which in turn means that the more they will want to buy it.
But scarcity can backfire if it’s not used carefully.A study conducted by researchers Worchel, Lee and Adewole, found that a product decreases in value if it first appears scarce and then becomes abundant.
You don’t want your audience to think that your product is for only an elite few at first and will open up to “normal” people at a later date.
To use scarcity in your marketing, eliminate any possibility of future abundance in the minds of your prospects. Either maintain the scarcity or gradually increase the level of abundance, without revealing it to your audience ahead of time.
Some other ways to use scarcity in your marketing are to put a countdown clock on your product page, create a limited number of products in a given time frame, or create a limited level of access.
Groupon does this with every single product. Right under the buy button, it says “limited time only,” with a countdown clock. So I know that if I want to buy this product, I have to act now.
In his research, Jonah Berger, the aforementioned bestselling author ofContagious,found that too much controversy turns people away, but small amounts draw people in.
He discovered that “controversy increases likelihood of discussion at low levels, but beyond a moderate level of controversy, additional controversy actually decreases likelihood of discussion.”
Mild controversy in your marketing engages your audience. It not only inspires curiosity, but it triggers anger as well.And anger is the most effective emotion in creating viral content.
Here is an articlewith more about the science of creating controversy.
Tim Ferris says “Study the top stories at Digg or MSN.com and you’ll notice a pattern: the top stories all polarize people. Do not try to appeal to everyone. Instead, take a strong stance and polarize people. If you make it threaten people’s 3 Bs — behavior, belief, or belongings — you get a huge virus-like dispersion.”
This is a great example of how HelpScout used a controversial headline to draw readers in. Most people would be outraged at that headline, because it challenged one of the 3 B’s.
Challenge one of the 3 B’s, behavior, belief, or belongings, and you will immediately draw people into your marketing message.
Like any of the above triggers, get creative with this one. Think about your audience and what their beliefs are. Challenge some of those beliefs or align with them to polarize the other side of the argument.
Remember, avoid politics, race, and religion, but everything else is fair game.
What other psychological triggers have you used in your business to generate sales? If you are struggling with implementing any of the above triggers in your business or have any questions about how to do so, post them in the comments below and I promise to answer every single one of them.
More From Entrepreneur
• 5 Tips for Maximizing LinkedIn for Your Business
• Black Friday: A Chance for Bitcoin to Get Some Mainstream Love
• Why Wait Until Saturday? Small Businesses Seek Black Friday Buzz
|
1,387,288,803 |
2013-12-17 14:00:03+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [27618]}
|
{}
|
15 Psychological Triggers to Convert Leads Into Customers
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-psychological-triggers-convert-leads-140003486.html
|
Entrepreneur
|
http://www.entrepreneur.com/
|
Would you like to know how to get more customers who can’t wait to buy your products and services?
It’s a lot simpler than you might think. And the best part is that, as you strive to increase revenue, you actually will be serving your potential customers better. You don’t need to manipulate or hypnotize them into buying. You just need to give them what they want.
The key to success in any business is an understanding of psychology.
All human beings essentially have the same mental triggers that drive actions. In order to influence and understand your customers, you need to know what those triggers are and how to utilize them in your marketing message.
Why?
Because our minds decide what to buy. So if you know how minds function, you have the power to influence the decisions they make. Which is why, although this is a long article, you won’t want to miss the marketing lessons that follow.
Here are 15 psychological triggers you can start using today to double your sales:
All human behavior, at its root, is driven by the need to avoid pain and the desire to gain pleasure. Even when we do something that appears to be painful, we do it because we associate pleasure with the action.
For example, in May 2012, I spent one month dragging a 190-pound sled 350 miles across the second largest icecap in the world in temperatures as low as -40 degrees. Most of the journey was spent in misery and struggle. Yet, I chose to make the crossing because I associated pleasure with the challenge, hard work, and, ultimately, the sense of accomplishment that comes from an expedition of that magnitude.
Firefighters run into burning buildings because they associate pleasure with helping people and saving lives. Likewise, marathoners put themselves through 26.2 miles of misery because they associate pleasure with completing the course.
This is the basic trigger on which every other one below is based.It underlies the motivation for every single action we take on a daily basis.
To use this trigger in your marketing, you need to first understand what your customers associate with pain and pleasure, because not everyone associates pleasure with running a marathon or crossing an icecap.
This is a key point to remember in any marketing message: In order to influence someone, you need to know what already influences them. You find this out by getting clear on who your audience is.
Once you know who they are and what they want, then use the A to Z technique to implement this trigger in your marketing.
The A to Z technique:
Your customers want to get from point A (where they are now) to point Z (where they want to be).
In your marketing message, your goal is to teach your leads how to move as close as possible to Z before you ask for their money. The closer you get them to Z, the more likely they are to buy from you in order to go the final few steps needed to arrive at their desired end result.
By doing this, in their minds, they start to associate your business with the pleasure they get from the results produced as they arrive at all the milestones between A and Z.
On this landing page, GoToMeeting is promising the “freedom of online meetings,” for free, with no credit card required! They have just taken me to point Y. I am just one step away from point Z.
If I want to get to point Z and enjoy this freedom permanently, then I need to pay them. And I will be far more likely to pay them after having already experienced the taste of the freedom I want.
In contrast, to use the pain motivator, show your prospects all the dangers in the road from A to Z and how your product is the weapon they need to defeat those dangers.
This is an even stronger motivator than the desire for pleasure because we all have what psychologists call“the negativity bias.”We do more to avoid pain than we do to gain pleasure. This works on a neurological level as well. It has been demonstrated that the brain lights up more from a negative external stimuli than from a positive one.
Check out this page from the Harvest time-tracking app. Its marketing message is focused around addressing the pain of a complicated time tracking app. Even their testimonial is a reflection of this pain that they know their audience has experienced. Harvest co-founder, Danny Wen, even says “solve a real pain point, and don’t be afraid to charge for it.”
Having said that, though, in today’s world people are driven by both forces equally when it comes to buying decisions, because there is just so much out there to choose from now that it gets overwhelming. You will want to address both forces in your marketing.
For example, no one really needs an iPad. And we most certainly don’t need an iPad Mini. They don’t solve pressing problems that we as consumers experienced before their release. We were more than happy with our laptops. Yet, people flock to Apple stores at every new release. Why?
Because they address a desire, a want, and an aspiration. They make life more pleasurable.
On a side note, my wife has an iPad and I own an iPad Mini.
We as human beings love novelty.Neurologically, it has been demonstrated that exposure to something new and unfamiliar increases the release of dopamine in the brain.Novelty makes our brains feel like there is a possibility for reward waiting for us just around the corner. That potential for pleasure motivates us to seek it out.
Why do you think Apple releases a new iPhone and iPad every few months?
You and I both know that the difference between the older model and the newer one is miniscule. Yet, hundreds of thousands of people toss away their old phones to pick up the latest model.
Why does every single car company release a new model every year? Like Apple, more often than not the differences between models are barely noticeable, yet these multibillion dollar corporations make the effort to release and promote new versions of their products.
That is no accident.
Squarespace recently released a new mobile app, and it is pretty clear in their marketing copy that it is new. Anyone remotely interested in their product will be triggered by this. Without customers even knowing it, their brains will light up at the prospect of investing in something new.
If you want your prospects to buy your products, create new ones, or just make a few tweaks, update the old ones, and rebrand them. You also could combine this with the scarcity trigger to release a certain product once every few months, so that every time it is released it creates a perception of novelty.
Most successful online marketers do this with their information products. They release them it for only a week or so every few months. They could just as easily have the product available for purchase throughout the year, but that would fail to employ the novelty and scarcity triggers, which in turn increase their sales.
Novelty can backfire, though, if you appear to be new in a way that signifies lack of experience or credibility. To address this concern, use this trigger in conjunction with the triggers below, especially the ones like providing social proof, simplifying your solution, and building curiosity.
I will sacrifice one hour of my time to give you a free plan to double your income or give you 100 dollars.
What went through you mind as you read that?
You want to know why I would do that, right?
Of course you do. Because our brains are always searching for answers.
In his bookWho’s in charge?: Free will and the science of the brain, Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, a psychology professor at the University of California, found that our rational mind is always searching for meanings, even when there is no inherent meaning. Essentially, we seek out explanations to understand everything we experience in life.
In the now famousXerox experimentby psychologist Ellen Langer, she found that people are willing to do more for you if you give them a reason, even if the reason is completely arbitrary.
People standing in line to use a photocopier were 34% more likely to let someone cut in front of them, even when their reason was as meaningless as “because I have to make some copies.”
On this landing page, Startup Weekend doesn’t just invite you to attend their event. They tell you exactly why you should and what you will get out of it.
In your marketing copy, explain why you are offering something, and your prospects will be far more likely to comply with your request.
Human beings have been telling stories for thousands of years. It is how messages have been passed on from generation to generation.
Why? (See what I am doing here!)
Because they trigger emotions and we are emotional creatures. Gerard Zaltman, the author ofHow Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Marketfound that95% of cognition happens outside of our conscious brain and inside our subconscious, emotional brain.
Telling stories activates parts of the brain associated with sight, sound, taste, and movement.
They make us feel an experience without directly experiencing it.They literally transport us into the world of the story andlight up our emotional brains, which is where we make our decision whether to buy or not. So that is where you as a business owner need to venture into.
One of my favorite examples of telling stories to sell a product is Red Bull’s marketing campaign.
Their product is an energy drink, but their brand is about exploring the unknown and pushing the limits of human potential. They have built that brand and that association in our collective minds by telling stories of people who exemplify the message they want to convey.
Here is another great example:
Rob Walker, the author ofBuying in: What we buy and who we areand Joshua Glen conducted an experiment where they bought hundreds of cheap thrift store items to see if they could sell them by using the power of stories.
They invited 200 writers to contribute fictional stories for each of their products and used the stories to sell them on Ebay.
They raised almost $8,000, making a 2,700% profit. Not a bad return for telling a few stories.
In his bestselling book,Thinking Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize winning psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, says “A general ‘law of least effort’ applies to cognitive as well as physical exertion. The law asserts that if there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will eventually gravitate to the least demanding course of action. In the economy of action, effort is a cost, and the acquisition of skill is driven by the balance of benefits and costs. Laziness is built deep into our nature.”
We always migrate to the easiest option to achieve a desired result. It is no surprise that Stephen Covey’s7 Habits of Highly Effective Peoplebecame a multimillion dollar bestseller. It provides a simple formula to follow to become a highly effective person. All it takes is 7 habits.
Feed this psychological trigger by creating an easy-to-follow framework for your audience to follow. Show them how your product makes it fool-proof to achieve the result they want in the fastest time possible. Even though we all know deep down that achieving the result we want takes work, we still don’t want to do the work. So give your audience what they want, the easiest and simplest solution, on the front end and teach them what they need on the back end.
In the above example, Fastrack is telling their audience that they will give them the result they want and they will do it fast.
In this example, Right Signature is telling you that they are the easiest and fastest way to get the result you want.
Use words like easy, step-by-step, fast, system, or framework in your marketing copy to let your prospects know that your solution is the simplest one available and they will be far more likely to buy from you.
Create a common enemy and ally with your prospects against it in order to get them fired up to invest in your products and services.
Every audience has a common enemy that they believe is the reason they are not getting the results they want. Sociologist Georg Simmelargued that we create common enemies because it unites us with groups of people we believe to be like us.
It also allows us to create an explanation for why bad things happen in the world. And remember we are meaning-seeking creatures, so we create enemies to ensure that the world makes sense again. Otherwise, why would bad things happen to good people?
People have even gone to war to stand up against a common enemy, which is why this is a very powerful marketing tactic.
I know Apple comes up a lot in this article (which is a testament to their brilliant marketing), but they are perfect examples of creating a common enemy to build a brand.
Since their early years, they have turned PC into the enemy, and that is why Apple fans are such loyal brand fanatics. They are united with Apple against the “evil” that is PC.
Here is an old Apple commercial turning PC users into mindless drones:
Here is another more recent commercial where they once again made PC the enemy:
The enemy doesn’t have to be a competitor either. Take a look at this brilliant ad from Careerbuilder.com where they turned coworkers, a boring job, and a mean boss into the enemy:
You have to be careful with this trigger, though. You don’t want to create an enemy that causes people to dislike your brand. It is a good idea to stay away from politics, race, and religion when defining the enemy. Choose something more general or something that most people see as an enemy anyway, like Careerbuilder did with “the boring 9-5 job.”
George Loewenstein, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, discovered that when there is a gap between what we know and what we want to know, we will take action to fill that gap. It is referred to as the Information Gap Theory.
Think of it likean itch that needs to be scratched.Our curiosity not only inspires action, it increases activity in the parts of the brain associated with pleasure as well.
Triggering curiosity will ensure that your prospects open your emails, promote your content, and buy your products in order to fill the gap between the teaser you leave them with and the answer that lies beyond it.
Check outthis articlefrom Derek Halpern of Social Triggers to learn more about how to implement curiosity in your marketing.
There are many ways to pique the curiosity of your audience. To implement this trigger successfully, combine curiosity with the other triggers mentioned in this article.
Here are some examples:
One way is to leave your prospects wanting more by using the driving forces of human behavior in your marketing copy. Give them a taste of how they can achieve their desired result or leave behind their existing pain through your products or services.
Here Zipongo tells me I can get what I “actually need” and get “50-90%off.” I can achieve my desired result and avoid the pain of paying a high price for it? Perfect!
Controversy is another great way to pique curiosity.
Manpacks does a great job of inspiring curiosity through mild controversy. Without knowing what the service is, just by looking at that picture and reading that headline, most men with girlfriends will be immediately interested in reading more about what they have to say.
Another great way is to ask questions that you know your audience is asking, like Wistia does here:
Here is another one:
How much does that make you want to open the card? Telling your audience not to do something or self-deprecating yourself in some way is a great way to inspire curiosity. Some of the highest opening rates I have gotten in my email marketing campaigns are with subject lines like “DO NOT open this email,” or “This is the worst (insert anything you want here, such as sales letter) ever.”
Get creative with this trigger and test out different ways to see what gets you the best result.
Ever notice how hundreds of people line up for any new Apple product before it is even released?
Why is that?
Because Apple builds anticipation for any new product release.
Sporting events are no different. Weeks before the Super Bowl, hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country plan and prepare for the eagerly awaited event. They tingle with excitement and joy at the thought of opening a beer and watching their favorite teams duke it out for the greatest honor in football.
Gretchen Rubin, the bestselling author of The Happiness Project, says thatanticipation is a key stage in happiness; by having something to look forward to, you bring happiness into your life well before the event actually takes place.”
Large companies likeAppleandCanoneven have whole websites dedicated entirely to rumors about their products. This builds anticipation for their eventual releases which in turn increases sales.
Create publicity for your products before they are released to get people excited about them. This will trigger pleasurable emotions that they will associate with your product and eventually buy them when your product is released.
Marie Forleo does this with her flagship product, “Rich Happy and Hot B School.” She doesn’t just announce it, she gets people to sign up so that they can get a “heads up” when the program is released. This gets people excited about it.
Next time you are launching a product or service, create publicity for it in your community by announcing it months ahead of time, getting people talking about it and finding influencers to promote its release as well.
This is a very common one, but nonetheless a necessary one to mention.
Professor of psychology and bestselling author ofInfluence: The Psychology of persuasion, Robert Cialdini says “If you can get people who are similar to the person you’re trying to persuade to speak on your behalf, it’s a lot easier for you than if you have to try to hammer your message one more time into a reticent mind.”
Human beings are social creatures. We look to others to determine what actions we should take.
Show your prospects how much others are benefiting from your product so that they know it works. Use testimonials from your clients or show numbers of how many people use your products to let your audience know that your product produces results.
Most of the examples illustrated in this post employ social proof in some manner. Here is another example:
Not only do they use testimonials from other trusted experts, they have logos of brands that use their software as well.
Check out this article for more about how to leverage this strategy.
Dan Ariely, the bestselling author ofPredictably Irrationalstates that “humans rarely choose things in absolute terms. We don’t have an internal value meter that tells us how much things are worth. Rather, we focus on the relative advantage of one thing over another, and estimate value accordingly.”
All life experiences are judged based on references that we have of previous ones. Create price juxtapositions and offer bargains sporadically to induce a previous reference that makes this new experience worthwhile. This will make people more likely to buy your products.
By first showing us the $150 a month price tag, Basecamp creates a reference point that then makes the lower price tag just below it far more appealing.
The need to feel significant is ingrained in all of us.Tony Robbins says it is one of the six basic human needs.
We as human beings all want to feel important and significant, not just in our own eyes, but since we are social creatures, in the eyes of our peers as well.
Make your customer feel important by letting them know you actually care about them, because sadly good customer service is not just a given these days. Try calling Delta airlines customer service hotline and you will know exactly what I mean.
Providing not just good, but excellent, customer service makes your prospects feel like you value them, which makes them more likely to buy from you.
Leo Widrich, the co-founder of Buffer, says “Giving the best customer support possible is at the very top of our list. Like literally, it is the number one thing we want to get done every day.”
On their FAQ page, they rightfully make sure their prospects know how much they care about their customers.
Another way to make your customers feel significant is to reward them the way credit card companies do when you get their card:
By signing up for this credit card, I know I will be rewarded. And, as a frequent traveler, this makes me feel valued by the company and more likely to invest in their product.
There are many ways to make a person feel valued. At its core, the fundamental principle behind this trigger is actually caring for your customer. People know when someone is faking concern. Nothing substitutes genuinely valuing the needs of your customers. Do that and they will love you for it.
Aristotle once said “Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.”
We have an inherent need to be a part of a social community and to feel connected to others. It not only makes us feel secure and comfortable,it inspires us to take action to achieve our desired results as well.So if your prospect feels that your product will help them get what they want, they will be more likely to act and hit the buy button.
When you sell to a customer, give them something else to make them feel like they are now part of your community. This also builds fanatical loyalty that has your customers proud to be included in your group.
One way to build community is with a compelling vision. Or your “why,” as Simon Sinek describes it in his bestselling book,Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.”
In the book, Sinek references Apple’s “why” and how they use it in their marketing. Their message to their customers is “In everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo and thinking differently. We do this by making our products beautifully designed and simple to use. We just happen to make great computers. Do you want to buy one?”
Why do you think Apple fans are so loyal to their community?
Here is another example of community building in action:
Starbucks built a community not just with their website about “My Starbucks Idea,” but like Apple, it is the very foundation of their entire business model.
As the founder and CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, said “We’re in the people business serving coffee, not the coffee business serving people.”
Build your community by creating a compelling why that drives your business forward and enrolls people into your vision for the world. Do this and your tribe will promote your business without you even having to ask for it.
Memory is fickle.
One minute people are concerned with earthquakes. The next it is a forgotten memory that doesn’t rear its ugly head until the next time there is an earthquake. That is why earthquake insurance sales are highest right after an earthquake, despite the fact that the risk of an earthquake is the lowest after one occurs.
People ignore scientists’ warnings of earthquakes and buy insurance only when the risk is minimal.
Strange, isn’t it?
But that’s just how we function. Daniel Gardner, the author ofThe Science of Fear,says “recent, emotional, vivid, or novel events are all more likely to be remembered than others.”
We react to what is most prevalent in our minds. And where are we getting the information that sticks in our minds?
The media.
Jonah Berger, the bestselling author ofContagious: Why Things Catch Onsays “if something is top-of-mind it will be tip-of-the-tongue. Just like peanut butter reminds us of jelly, the more we’re triggered to think about a product or idea, the more we’ll talk about it.”
Tie current events or celebrities that are currently on the top of people’s minds into your marketing to create triggers that make people remember your product.
Here you can see how Oreo cookies tied the Mars Rover landing and the anniversary of the moon landing into their marketing. These events were on the top of people’s minds anyway, but now when they think of these events, they will be more likely to think of Oreo cookies as well.
Check outthis articleto learn more about Oreo’s marketing campaign.
What current events could you use in your marketing campaign?
As it has been established, we look to others to determine what action to take. So the less there is of something, the more people perceive it to be a highly valued commodity, which in turn means that the more they will want to buy it.
But scarcity can backfire if it’s not used carefully.A study conducted by researchers Worchel, Lee and Adewole, found that a product decreases in value if it first appears scarce and then becomes abundant.
You don’t want your audience to think that your product is for only an elite few at first and will open up to “normal” people at a later date.
To use scarcity in your marketing, eliminate any possibility of future abundance in the minds of your prospects. Either maintain the scarcity or gradually increase the level of abundance, without revealing it to your audience ahead of time.
Some other ways to use scarcity in your marketing are to put a countdown clock on your product page, create a limited number of products in a given time frame, or create a limited level of access.
Groupon does this with every single product. Right under the buy button, it says “limited time only,” with a countdown clock. So I know that if I want to buy this product, I have to act now.
In his research, Jonah Berger, the aforementioned bestselling author ofContagious,found that too much controversy turns people away, but small amounts draw people in.
He discovered that “controversy increases likelihood of discussion at low levels, but beyond a moderate level of controversy, additional controversy actually decreases likelihood of discussion.”
Mild controversy in your marketing engages your audience. It not only inspires curiosity, but it triggers anger as well.And anger is the most effective emotion in creating viral content.
Here is an articlewith more about the science of creating controversy.
Tim Ferris says “Study the top stories at Digg or MSN.com and you’ll notice a pattern: the top stories all polarize people. Do not try to appeal to everyone. Instead, take a strong stance and polarize people. If you make it threaten people’s 3 Bs — behavior, belief, or belongings — you get a huge virus-like dispersion.”
This is a great example of how HelpScout used a controversial headline to draw readers in. Most people would be outraged at that headline, because it challenged one of the 3 B’s.
Challenge one of the 3 B’s, behavior, belief, or belongings, and you will immediately draw people into your marketing message.
Like any of the above triggers, get creative with this one. Think about your audience and what their beliefs are. Challenge some of those beliefs or align with them to polarize the other side of the argument.
Remember, avoid politics, race, and religion, but everything else is fair game.
What other psychological triggers have you used in your business to generate sales? If you are struggling with implementing any of the above triggers in your business or have any questions about how to do so, post them in the comments below and I promise to answer every single one of them.
More From Entrepreneur
• 5 Tips for Maximizing LinkedIn for Your Business
• Black Friday: A Chance for Bitcoin to Get Some Mainstream Love
• Why Wait Until Saturday? Small Businesses Seek Black Friday Buzz
|
1,387,293,603 |
2013-12-17 15:20:03+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [135, 147, 242, 435, 506, 689, 748, 789, 844, 941, 1067, 1323, 1342, 1440]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [72, 84]}
|
GreenBank Capital (CNSX:GBC) Launches Two New Subsidiaries to Invest in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Startups - Video News Alert Summary on InvestmentPitch.com
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/greenbank-capital-cnsx-gbc-launches-152003732.html
| null |
https://guce.yahoo.com/terms?locale=en-US
|
Vancouver, British Columbia, December 17, 2013 - GreenBank Capital (CNSX:GBC) has launched two new subsidiaries, designed to invest in Bitcoin and Bitcoin startups. GreenBank believes it is the first public company to establish a presence in Bitcoin.
InvestmentPitch.com has produced a "video news alert" about GreenBank Capital. If this link is not enabled, please visitwww.InvestmentPitch.comand enter "GreenBank" in the search box.
Bitcoin, a digital cryptocurrency, is created and held electronically. Bitcoin`s most important characteristic, and the thing that makes it different to conventional money, is that it is decentralized. No single institution controls the bitcoin network.
Bitcoin Canada Investments Inc. will invest exclusively in Bitcoin currency. The second subsidiary, Bitcoin Angel Capital Inc., will invest in early stage Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency focused companies.
Danny Wettreich, CEO stated, "I believe that Bitcoin is in the early stages of becoming a revolutionary payment medium, and GreenBank intends to be actively involved as a Bitcoin incubator and investor."
To facilitate these new ventures, Mr. Wettreich intends to raise up to $5 million by way of a private placement of debentures with accredited investors. These debentures will be convertible into 90% of the common shares of Bitcoin Canada and Bitcoin Angel. GreenBank has entered into management agreements with both companies to manage the Bitcoin investment portfolio for a fee equal to 10% of the portfolio appreciation.
Management plans to ultimately spin off a portion of both these companies to GreenBank shareholders and apply to list the new entities on the Canadian National Stock Exchange.
GreenBank Capital is in the corporate finance investment business, and in addition to having a history of listing private companies on the CNSX, also arranges mergers and acquisitions, investing in the transactions when appropriate. GreenBank retains a position in the newly listed companies.
GreenBank has approximately 7.1 million shares outstanding, with management holding about 4 million shares. For a more information, please visitwww.GreenBankCapitalInc.com, contact Danny Wettreich, CEO at 647-931-9768 or emaildw@GreenBankCapitalInc.com.
About InvestmentPitch
InvestmentPitch.com, a multimedia company that provides a combined solution for creating and hosting financial video content, and distributing it across multiple platforms to investors and financial professionals, specializes in producing short three minute videos based on significant news releases, research reports and other market information. Please visit InvestmentPitch.com and browse the extensive library of investment videos.
CONTACT:InvestmentPitch.comBarry Morgan, CFO604-684-5524bmorgan@investmentpitch.com
This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.Source: InvestmentPitch via GlobeNewswireHUG#1749964
|
1,418,327,101 |
2014-12-11 19:45:01+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [92, 524, 1134, 1214, 1631, 1760, 1944, 2371]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [16]}
|
Jason Brailow's Bitcoin Project Partners With Three Major Online Gaming Companies
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jason-brailows-bitcoin-project-partners-194501559.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Dec 11, 2014) - Only two months after entering the emergent Bitcoin market with his startup company, Advanced Global Concepts,Jason Brailowannounces partnerships with three leading online gaming operators. According to a recent forecast report by Niko Partners -- a leading market intelligence, custom research, and consulting services provider in Asia -- Southeast Asians countries alone are estimated to generate $784.4 million in gaming revenues in 2014. Due to the international approach Bitcoins offer, allowing for seamless transactions across borders worldwide, it has become considerably easier for companies based in western countries to benefit from the majorly profitable markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. With his secure infrastructure, Brailow offers an appealing payment alternative that connects online companies with users all over the world, guaranteeing both parties the implementation of the highest security standards to give them peace of mind.
Advanced Global Concepts founder and CEO,Jason Brailow, is a leading figure in the current Bitcoin boom and with his decision to open the door for gaming companies to the Bitcoin market, he significantly shapes the development of the current trend towards the digital currency. In doing so, he is once again a step ahead of other leading online organizations such as eBay, whose CEO, Devin Wenig, said to be considering the adoption of the cryptocurrency for the online auction platform after the digital currency's value soared to $450 in November, with $6 million in sales generated by Bitcoin on Black Friday alone, bringing the market's cap up to $5 billion.
"We have built the safest, most secure place to store Bitcoin," explains Brailow. "Additionally, we intend to partner with leading gaming and financial services companies around the world, enabling them to run their own exchange and make Bitcoins available to their customer base." Instead of using traditional systems such as digital wallets that are saved locally or on cloud servers, which bring along inevitable security holes, Advanced Global Concepts has developed a novel, proprietary, high-performance exchange technology system that meets the stringent demands of banks, brokerages, hedge funds, trading firms and currency dealers, thus paving the way for Bitcoins to become a mainstream means of payment.
Based on his wide-ranging background in business and technology startups, serial entrepreneurJason Brailowhas been guiding his company with an exceptionally innovative and creative approach to the evolving worldwide marketplace. Based in Dubai's Burj Khalifa building -- the tallest building in the world -- and with satellite locations in California and Utah, Advanced Global Concepts has been trailblazing the new frontier of cryptocurrency to ensure safe, seamless and swift customer transactions. Over his fifteen year career, Brailow has launched dozens of successful startups and been featured in notable publications such as Forbes, Tech Crunch, and Wired Magazine. Along with advancements in cyber security, he has been recently working to establish a solar-powered smart home community in California, which promises to reduce homeowners' carbon footprint and energy costs.
To learn more about Jason Brailow, visit:http://www.JasonBrailowNews.com
Twitter:http://twitter.com/JasonBrailowUT
LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/in/jbrailow
Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2736588
|
1,387,299,000 |
2013-12-17 16:50:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [35, 500, 658, 1489, 1781, 1964, 2201, 2609, 4527, 4858, 4876, 5041, 5177, 6118, 6251]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [5]}
|
What Bitcoin's Latest Price Move Says About the Social Mood of Money
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoins-latest-price-move-says-165000201.html
|
Minyanville
|
http://www.minyanville.com/
|
A while back, I wrote apiece about Bitcoinand where I thought it fit in the digital landscape of money. It's a leap forward in how we think about what shape/form money can take, for sure. Is it ready for widespread adoption? No. Will it ever be? Possibly, but I doubt it.Regardless of what I or anyone else has said, it has been virtually impossible to escape the chatter of the digital currency since then. And the currency itself has been on a tear:
A lot has been made about the price increase in Bitcoin over the past several months. It truly has been staggering. So, of course, the rise in volatility of the crypto-currency has increased.
See also:What Bitcoin Arbitrage Can Teach Us About the Crypto-Currency
But what's shocking is just how much it has increased. I was really curious about this, because I wanted to quantify it somehow. So I calculated moving standard deviations of 10 and 20 days, just to get a feel for it. But, given the parabolic nature of the price increase, I didn't think that was good enough. So I took those standard deviations and expressed them as a percentage of the 10- and 20-day moving average prices:
On some days, a one-standard-deviation move translated into a 41% price move. Think about that. A standard deviation is supposed to cover two-thirds of the possible outcomes for any given population. So to cover two standard deviations, you could wake up to find out you either doubled your money or you were completely wiped out.But okay, sure -- Bitcoins are volatile to trade, we all know that. But they can't be that much more volatile than anything else, can they? Well, yes.I took the same number of trading days in gold between April 2010 and September 2011 -- which is about the same time gold saw its historic peak -- to benchmark Bitcoin with. This chart, which also looks at gold's standard deviation expressed as a percentage of 10- and 20-day moving average prices, gives some perspective on just how volatile Bitcoin is relative to something else, which is typically thought of as being rather volatile in its own right. I don't think much else needs to be said if we're comparing volatility between asset classes:
Another discussion point about Bitcoin has to do with its impact on the economy should it become a strong force: Some say that given that it's a deflationary currency, it wouldn't be conducive to economic growth. The counterargument has always been that the US grew quite well on its own after the Civil War and into the early 20th century, while it was on the gold standard. That is true.
See also:Aaron Brown: Can a Value Investor Buy a Bitcoin?
But how much does a currency, or a currency standard, have to do with economic growth? Aside from taking away the frictions that come with using physical commodities as the currency to settle transactions, it may not matter as much as you think. Because to look at our use of a gold-backed currency as a reason for economic growth in the mid-19th to early 20th century is to miss the forest for the trees. What am I talking about? Consider this chart from Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond economist John Walter's paperexamining bank failures leading up to and through the Great Depression. It's a chart of the number of banks that were in the United States between the mid-1800s through the 1960s:
If you read the rest of Walter's paper, he makes the assertion (rightly so, in my opinion) that the bank failures of the Great Depression era were the result of a banking bust following several decades of relentless growth and massive technological upheaval in late Victorian-era America. The fact that we could see a rise in bank failures before the Depression and the Crash of 1929 only add credence to one ofTodd Harrison'soft-repeated sayings that the stock market crash didn't usher in the Great Depression, but rather the Great Depression caused the market to crash. Mood was already negative and growing. The fact is that bank failures started rising in 1921. See below:
My point is this: The type of currency is of little consequence so long as positive social mood drives behavior that fosters the expansion of credit within the economy. Meaning, the real driver of the economic expansion back then was the expansion of credit and overall willingness to take on risk, not the kind of currency used. If people are feeling good about their world today, and they see that positive feeling carrying through to tomorrow, next week, or next year, their risk appetites will expand.Given that the ethos behind Bitcoin is a perpetual state of distrust of everyone and everything, it is the ultimate vehicle to express falling social mood (i.e. "me, here, now" behaviors). But what I didn't know about was theproliferation of copycat crypto-currencies. And what's really interesting is that they all seem to befollowing the same price trendas Bitcoin. So while Bitcoin is the crypto-currency poster child, the world according to crypto-currencies is highly fragmented and very illiquid.But here's the real Achilles' heel of a Bitcoin and its ilk: As they are designed, crypto-currencies don't really foster the use of credit within their economy. No one borrows Bitcoins or any other digital currency to buy something. It's a "me, here, now" kind of purchase, or nothing. Trans-Atlantic cables for telegrams and telephones didn't get laid because someone had all of the money up front, they got laid because someone took a chance and lent the money out, expecting to get repaid over time by some future date. That takes trust.And as people trust other people and institutions again, fears subside. The latest congressional budget deal is an example. Sure, it's a measly deal, and there were no grand bargains struck. But given where Congress was two months ago, it's an improvement. Maybe, just maybe, social mood is starting to turn more positive. I'll admit it's something I've been waiting to see for the past couple years. So while it may not have turned yet, every day brings us closer to that eventuality.Have we seen the end of societal acrimony or political dysfunction? No. But I will say that Bitcoin and the other crypto-currencies can act as a pretty good barometer of what our social mood is like now.Related:The Basics on Bitcoin: 11 Things to Know About This Suddenly 'Hot' Digital CurrencyTwitter:@japhychron
Related Articles
• Gold and Silver at a Crossroads
• Gold Is Nearing a Type of Endgame, May Take Traders by Surprise
• Why This Economy Is More Sensitive to Interest Rates Than You Think
|
1,418,331,891 |
2014-12-11 21:04:51+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [643]}
|
{}
|
MOVES- U.S. Wealth, Societe Generale
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moves-canaccord-genuity-circle-internet-130233281.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
Dec 11 (Reuters) - The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Thursday. To inform us of other job changes, email moves@thomsonreuters.com.
U.S. WEALTH MANAGEMENT
The wealth manager appointed Shannon Baustian as senior wealth planner to its Private Client Reserve business.
SOCIETE GENERALE CORPORATE & INVESTMENT BANKING
The financial services company appointed Nick Gionfriddo as Head of OTC Clearing Sales, North America, within its Newedge services business.
VTB CAPITAL
The investment arm of Russian lender VTB Bank appointed Nick Hutt as the head of its international business.
CIRCLE INTERNET FINANCIAL
The Bitcoin startup hired JP Morgan Chase & Co's managing director, Paul Camp, as chief financial officer, the Wall Street Journal reported.
CANACCORD GENUITY GROUP INC
The financial services firm appointed Nishad Vallonthaiel as head of electronic and program trading and Andrew Clotworthy as intermediary sales director in its wealth management business.
AMUNDI
The Paris-based asset management company appointed Benedicte Rabier as senior product specialist of its alternative investments.
(Compiled by Anet Josline Pinto and Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru)
|
1,387,304,280 |
2013-12-17 18:18:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [93, 270, 604, 1556, 1566, 1773, 2157, 2243, 2331, 2544, 2593, 2679, 2836, 3452, 3944, 3977, 4128, 4236, 4614, 4789, 4848, 4887]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [4]}
|
Why Bitcoin Inventor 'Satoshi Nakamoto' Is The Most Impressive Person Of 2013
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-named-bitcoin-inventor-satoshi-181800404.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
Mike Nudelman/Business Insider
Satoshi Nakamoto, the person who created the digital currency Bitcoin, is ourperson of the year.
Don't laugh.
Although to this day no one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is (or are — for the latest theoriescheck out Chart Girl's running chart) Bitcoin evangelists make the case that his true identity doesn't matter: what he's created is changing the world.
It's an assertion you hear a lot in the arts world too: you should know the man (or men, or woman — there's nothing to suggest Satoshi couldn't be one) by their works, not their biography.
This is a convincing argument.
Bitcoin wasn't the first digital currency (think World of Warcraft), and,as we've documented, wasn't the last.
But Satoshi managed to come up with something that is simply more farsighted and bulletproof than anything else, combining the best features of existing digital coins while adding his own perfections.
In particular, he addressed one of the biggest problems in online transactions: fraud. In the real world, it's the job of a centralized authority to prevent that from happening. But Satoshi figured out a workaround by cutting out that middleman: just make all transactions public, and have the entire community confirm a transaction is legit. "We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust," Satoshi wrotein his 2008 spec paper laying out the currency— a line which, it now seems, will echo through generations.
Perhaps his most brilliant idea was making sure you couldn't hack the ability to create excess Bitcoins. Bitcoins are "mined" by computers unscrambling blocks of "hashes" or complex strings of numbers and letters. Satoshi's solution was to continuously increase the difficulty of unscrambling the hashes as more Bitcoins were created. As he wrote, " To compensate for increasing hardware speed ... the proof-of-work difficulty [the unscrambling] is determined by a moving average targeting an average number of blocks per hour. If they're generated too fast, the difficulty increases."
Even the folks behind hashcash, an early digital currency which Satoshi admits he was inspired by, had toadmitBitcoin was "an extremely clever innovation and invention," and "a first."
But why is Bitcoin such a big deal?Bank of America analyst David Woo's recent notebest boiled down Bitcoin's three main uses: as a store of value, like gold; as a way to buy stuff online, and as a means for remitting money. And in most instances it's cheaper, easier, and more secure to do all these things with Bitcoin. The first two have been occurring since Bitcoin's birth, andthe advent of the last one is imminent. In absolute dollar terms, Bitcoinhas already surpassedWestern Union for transaction volume, and is nipping at the heels of PayPal.
Of course this is all entirely subjective, and even Bitcoin's most passionate evangelists don't rule out that some technological or regulatory catastrophe could cause its value to plunge to zero.
When we decided to name Satoshi "Person of the Year," we considered who and what else has changed society in the past 12 months.We respect the actual choice made by Time— Pope Francis has a clear set of goals, is hyper aware of the issues of the day, and really lives his religion.
Obviously, though, we have a business bias. We were not about to give the title to Paul Volcker, whose rule, while extremely meaningful, does not possess the same kind of worldwide reach as Bitcoin. Ben Bernanke could have gotten it (and possibly the Nobel Peace Prize) every year since 2009, but consecutive years of basically doing the same great stuff rules him out for 2013. Carl Icahn made an extremely impressive case for putting the fear of god into companies, but he is not quite a household name.
Neither, of course, is Satoshi. But what were you talking more about over cranberry and stuffing a few weeks ago: Carl Icahn's Tweets? Or regrets about having not gotten in on Bitcoin sooner?
One final use of Bitcoin that is often under-discussed: its use as a solution for the "unbanked," or people without access to financial instruments. As with everything Bitcoin, this may seem far-fetched at first blush. How could people who may lack access to the Internet use Bitcoin? Butinvestors have made the casethat these communities would use their cell phones — which are widespread in the developing world — as the primary medium through which these people would interact with the currency. Possessing the ability to securely send and receive funds from your pocket is a big deal for someone without access to a bank account.
If that takes hold, Bitcoin could even begin nibbling at inequality — something Pope Francis could respect.
More From Business Insider
• We're Actually Surprised By How Many Americans Know About Bitcoin
• No, Fidelity Is Not Letting Retail Investors Put Bitcoin In Their Retirement Accounts
• Bitcoin Just Rocketed past $1,000 Again
|
1,387,304,280 |
2013-12-17 18:18:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [93, 270, 604, 1556, 1566, 1773, 2157, 2243, 2331, 2544, 2593, 2679, 2836, 3452, 3944, 3977, 4128, 4236, 4614, 4789, 4848, 4887]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [4]}
|
Why Bitcoin Inventor 'Satoshi Nakamoto' Is The Most Impressive Person Of 2013
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/why-named-bitcoin-inventor-satoshi-181800404.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
Mike Nudelman/Business Insider
Satoshi Nakamoto, the person who created the digital currency Bitcoin, is ourperson of the year.
Don't laugh.
Although to this day no one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is (or are — for the latest theoriescheck out Chart Girl's running chart) Bitcoin evangelists make the case that his true identity doesn't matter: what he's created is changing the world.
It's an assertion you hear a lot in the arts world too: you should know the man (or men, or woman — there's nothing to suggest Satoshi couldn't be one) by their works, not their biography.
This is a convincing argument.
Bitcoin wasn't the first digital currency (think World of Warcraft), and,as we've documented, wasn't the last.
But Satoshi managed to come up with something that is simply more farsighted and bulletproof than anything else, combining the best features of existing digital coins while adding his own perfections.
In particular, he addressed one of the biggest problems in online transactions: fraud. In the real world, it's the job of a centralized authority to prevent that from happening. But Satoshi figured out a workaround by cutting out that middleman: just make all transactions public, and have the entire community confirm a transaction is legit. "We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust," Satoshi wrotein his 2008 spec paper laying out the currency— a line which, it now seems, will echo through generations.
Perhaps his most brilliant idea was making sure you couldn't hack the ability to create excess Bitcoins. Bitcoins are "mined" by computers unscrambling blocks of "hashes" or complex strings of numbers and letters. Satoshi's solution was to continuously increase the difficulty of unscrambling the hashes as more Bitcoins were created. As he wrote, " To compensate for increasing hardware speed ... the proof-of-work difficulty [the unscrambling] is determined by a moving average targeting an average number of blocks per hour. If they're generated too fast, the difficulty increases."
Even the folks behind hashcash, an early digital currency which Satoshi admits he was inspired by, had toadmitBitcoin was "an extremely clever innovation and invention," and "a first."
But why is Bitcoin such a big deal?Bank of America analyst David Woo's recent notebest boiled down Bitcoin's three main uses: as a store of value, like gold; as a way to buy stuff online, and as a means for remitting money. And in most instances it's cheaper, easier, and more secure to do all these things with Bitcoin. The first two have been occurring since Bitcoin's birth, andthe advent of the last one is imminent. In absolute dollar terms, Bitcoinhas already surpassedWestern Union for transaction volume, and is nipping at the heels of PayPal.
Of course this is all entirely subjective, and even Bitcoin's most passionate evangelists don't rule out that some technological or regulatory catastrophe could cause its value to plunge to zero.
When we decided to name Satoshi "Person of the Year," we considered who and what else has changed society in the past 12 months.We respect the actual choice made by Time— Pope Francis has a clear set of goals, is hyper aware of the issues of the day, and really lives his religion.
Obviously, though, we have a business bias. We were not about to give the title to Paul Volcker, whose rule, while extremely meaningful, does not possess the same kind of worldwide reach as Bitcoin. Ben Bernanke could have gotten it (and possibly the Nobel Peace Prize) every year since 2009, but consecutive years of basically doing the same great stuff rules him out for 2013. Carl Icahn made an extremely impressive case for putting the fear of god into companies, but he is not quite a household name.
Neither, of course, is Satoshi. But what were you talking more about over cranberry and stuffing a few weeks ago: Carl Icahn's Tweets? Or regrets about having not gotten in on Bitcoin sooner?
One final use of Bitcoin that is often under-discussed: its use as a solution for the "unbanked," or people without access to financial instruments. As with everything Bitcoin, this may seem far-fetched at first blush. How could people who may lack access to the Internet use Bitcoin? Butinvestors have made the casethat these communities would use their cell phones — which are widespread in the developing world — as the primary medium through which these people would interact with the currency. Possessing the ability to securely send and receive funds from your pocket is a big deal for someone without access to a bank account.
If that takes hold, Bitcoin could even begin nibbling at inequality — something Pope Francis could respect.
More From Business Insider
• We're Actually Surprised By How Many Americans Know About Bitcoin
• No, Fidelity Is Not Letting Retail Investors Put Bitcoin In Their Retirement Accounts
• Bitcoin Just Rocketed past $1,000 Again
|
1,387,317,383 |
2013-12-17 21:56:23+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [2159, 2226]}
|
{}
|
Elizabeth Warren Wants To Ban Companies From Using Credit Checks On Potential Employees
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elizabeth-warren-wants-ban-companies-215623298.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
Boston Herald
Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill today that wouldprevent companies from using credit reports in hiring decisions.
Since the Great Depression, many unemployed Americans have struggled to find a job once employers check their credit history. Many of these people fell on hard times after the housing bubble burst or faced an unforeseen medical issue. Warren argues that since research has shown that a person's credit report has no indication on their job performance, companies shouldn't be allowed to use them in evaluating applicants.
"A bad credit rating is far more often the result of unexpected medical costs, unemployment, economic downturns, or other bad breaks than it is a reflection on an individual's character or abilities," she said. "Families have not fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis, and too many Americans are still searching for jobs. It makes no sense to make it harder for people to get jobs because of a system of credit reporting that has no correlation with job performance and that can be riddled with inaccuracies. "
Warren is right that this has hurt many Americans looking for jobs, but another potentially more worrisome problem with firms using credit reports in hiring decisions is that they use them to discriminate against applicants. For instance, the Department of Laborwon a caseagainst Bank of America in 2010 for its use of credit checks to discriminate against African-Americans for entry-level positions.
If studies showed that credit reports were a good proxy for an applicant's job performance, then Congress would need to crack down on the discriminatory practices without banning the use of credit reports in hiring decisions. But given that research shows otherwise, Congress can ban the practice altogether and ensure that companies cannot use credit reports as a roundabout way to discriminate while also not reducing companies' ability to evaluate job applicants.
Correction: Companies uses credit reports, not credit scores in hiring decisions.
More From Business Insider
• New Obama Adviser Compares Republicans To A 'Cult Worthy Of Jonestown' — And Then Apologizes
• CRASH: Bitcoin Collapses After Major Blow From China
• FINANCE PROFESSOR: Bitcoin Will Crash To $10 By Mid-2014
|
1,387,317,383 |
2013-12-17 21:56:23+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [2159, 2226]}
|
{}
|
Elizabeth Warren Wants To Ban Companies From Using Credit Checks On Potential Employees
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/elizabeth-warren-wants-ban-companies-215623298.html
|
Business Insider
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/
|
Boston Herald
Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill today that wouldprevent companies from using credit reports in hiring decisions.
Since the Great Depression, many unemployed Americans have struggled to find a job once employers check their credit history. Many of these people fell on hard times after the housing bubble burst or faced an unforeseen medical issue. Warren argues that since research has shown that a person's credit report has no indication on their job performance, companies shouldn't be allowed to use them in evaluating applicants.
"A bad credit rating is far more often the result of unexpected medical costs, unemployment, economic downturns, or other bad breaks than it is a reflection on an individual's character or abilities," she said. "Families have not fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis, and too many Americans are still searching for jobs. It makes no sense to make it harder for people to get jobs because of a system of credit reporting that has no correlation with job performance and that can be riddled with inaccuracies. "
Warren is right that this has hurt many Americans looking for jobs, but another potentially more worrisome problem with firms using credit reports in hiring decisions is that they use them to discriminate against applicants. For instance, the Department of Laborwon a caseagainst Bank of America in 2010 for its use of credit checks to discriminate against African-Americans for entry-level positions.
If studies showed that credit reports were a good proxy for an applicant's job performance, then Congress would need to crack down on the discriminatory practices without banning the use of credit reports in hiring decisions. But given that research shows otherwise, Congress can ban the practice altogether and ensure that companies cannot use credit reports as a roundabout way to discriminate while also not reducing companies' ability to evaluate job applicants.
Correction: Companies uses credit reports, not credit scores in hiring decisions.
More From Business Insider
• New Obama Adviser Compares Republicans To A 'Cult Worthy Of Jonestown' — And Then Apologizes
• CRASH: Bitcoin Collapses After Major Blow From China
• FINANCE PROFESSOR: Bitcoin Will Crash To $10 By Mid-2014
|
1,387,319,100 |
2013-12-17 22:25:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1615, 1722, 1865]}
|
{}
|
WPCS Announces Acquisition of New Line of Business
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/finance.yahoo.com/news/wpcs-announces-acquisition-line-business-222500226.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
EXTON, PA--(Marketwired - Dec 17, 2013) - WPCS International Incorporated (NASDAQ:WPCS), ("WPCS" or the "Company"), which specializes in design-build engineering services for communications infrastructure, today announced that it has entered into various agreements to acquire BTX Trader LLC (BTX), an early stage technology company currently engaged in the development of a proprietary trading platform for the emerging bitcoin industry. The BTX acquisition is expected to add a new line of business to the Company's existing operations.
To acquire BTX, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement (the Purchase Agreement) with certain investors in which WPCS sold 2,348 shares of a newly designated Series E Preferred Stock (the Preferred Stock) and warrants to purchase up to 1,500,000 shares of its common stock (the Warrants), for 100% of the membership interests of BTX. Each share of Preferred Stock has a stated value of $1,000 and is convertible into shares of the Company's common stock equal to the stated value (and all accrued but unpaid dividends) divided by the conversion price of $3.50 per share. The Preferred Stock accrues dividends at a rate of 12% per annum, payable quarterly in arrears. The Warrants have an exercise price of $5.00 per share.
Neither the Preferred Stock nor the Warrants are convertible or exercisable, respectively, until the Company obtains its stockholders' approval for (i) the increase in the number of shares of common stock authorized for issuance to 75 million; and (ii) the issuance of all of the securities issuable pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
Bitcoin is a digital or virtual currency that uses peer-to-peer technology to facilitate instant payments. Bitcoin is a type of alternative currency known as a cryptocurrency, which uses cryptography for security, making it difficult to counterfeit. Bitcoin issuance and transactions are carried out collectively by the network, with no central authority, and allows users to make secure, verified transfers. BTX has developed and is currently beta testing its trading system to offer bitcoin traders advanced charting, trading blotters, and trading integration across five of the major bitcoin exchanges, which will allow users to see liquidity, route orders, and identify arbitrage opportunities across all platforms, and to control trading risks with access to stop loss orders.
Sebastian Giordano, Interim Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are very excited about bitcoin and the prospect offered by BTX to enter a very fast-growing market. We believe that the software platform developed by BTX will support the opportunities to advance bitcoin as an asset class, currency, money transfer mechanism, and important alternative in the financial markets space. As one of the first publicly traded companies to make an early entrance into the bitcoin space, we believe this transaction is consistent with ongoing efforts to provide the Company with an opportunity to deliver improved shareholder value in the future."
About WPCS International Incorporated:
WPCS is a design-build engineering company that focuses on the implementation requirements of communications infrastructure. The Company provides its engineering capabilities including wireless communication, specialty construction and electrical power to the public services, healthcare, energy and corporate enterprise markets worldwide. For more information, please visitwww.wpcs.com.
Statements about the company's future expectations, including future revenue and earnings and all other statements in this press release, other than historical facts, are "forward looking" statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time. The company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. In reflecting subsequent events or circumstances, the company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.
|
1,387,319,100 |
2013-12-17 22:25:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1615, 1722, 1865]}
|
{}
|
WPCS Announces Acquisition of New Line of Business
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wpcs-announces-acquisition-line-business-222500226.html
|
Marketwired
|
http://www.marketwired.com/
|
EXTON, PA--(Marketwired - Dec 17, 2013) - WPCS International Incorporated (NASDAQ:WPCS), ("WPCS" or the "Company"), which specializes in design-build engineering services for communications infrastructure, today announced that it has entered into various agreements to acquire BTX Trader LLC (BTX), an early stage technology company currently engaged in the development of a proprietary trading platform for the emerging bitcoin industry. The BTX acquisition is expected to add a new line of business to the Company's existing operations.
To acquire BTX, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement (the Purchase Agreement) with certain investors in which WPCS sold 2,348 shares of a newly designated Series E Preferred Stock (the Preferred Stock) and warrants to purchase up to 1,500,000 shares of its common stock (the Warrants), for 100% of the membership interests of BTX. Each share of Preferred Stock has a stated value of $1,000 and is convertible into shares of the Company's common stock equal to the stated value (and all accrued but unpaid dividends) divided by the conversion price of $3.50 per share. The Preferred Stock accrues dividends at a rate of 12% per annum, payable quarterly in arrears. The Warrants have an exercise price of $5.00 per share.
Neither the Preferred Stock nor the Warrants are convertible or exercisable, respectively, until the Company obtains its stockholders' approval for (i) the increase in the number of shares of common stock authorized for issuance to 75 million; and (ii) the issuance of all of the securities issuable pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
Bitcoin is a digital or virtual currency that uses peer-to-peer technology to facilitate instant payments. Bitcoin is a type of alternative currency known as a cryptocurrency, which uses cryptography for security, making it difficult to counterfeit. Bitcoin issuance and transactions are carried out collectively by the network, with no central authority, and allows users to make secure, verified transfers. BTX has developed and is currently beta testing its trading system to offer bitcoin traders advanced charting, trading blotters, and trading integration across five of the major bitcoin exchanges, which will allow users to see liquidity, route orders, and identify arbitrage opportunities across all platforms, and to control trading risks with access to stop loss orders.
Sebastian Giordano, Interim Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are very excited about bitcoin and the prospect offered by BTX to enter a very fast-growing market. We believe that the software platform developed by BTX will support the opportunities to advance bitcoin as an asset class, currency, money transfer mechanism, and important alternative in the financial markets space. As one of the first publicly traded companies to make an early entrance into the bitcoin space, we believe this transaction is consistent with ongoing efforts to provide the Company with an opportunity to deliver improved shareholder value in the future."
About WPCS International Incorporated:
WPCS is a design-build engineering company that focuses on the implementation requirements of communications infrastructure. The Company provides its engineering capabilities including wireless communication, specialty construction and electrical power to the public services, healthcare, energy and corporate enterprise markets worldwide. For more information, please visitwww.wpcs.com.
Statements about the company's future expectations, including future revenue and earnings and all other statements in this press release, other than historical facts, are "forward looking" statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time. The company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. In reflecting subsequent events or circumstances, the company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.
|
1,387,319,312 |
2013-12-17 22:28:32+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [147, 460, 583, 953, 1105, 1274, 1752, 2369, 2568, 2769, 3664]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [23]}
|
U.S. Treasury cautions Bitcoin businesses on legal duties
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-treasury-cautions-bitcoin-businesses-222832667.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
By Brett Wolf
ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department's anti money-laundering unit is warning businesses linked to the digital currency Bitcoin that they may have to comply with federal law and regulation as money transmitters, a Treasury spokesman said.
Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has sent "industry outreach" letters to about a dozen firms, regarding potential anti-money laundering compliance obligations related to Bitcoin businesses, FinCEN spokesman Steve Hudak told Thomson Reuters' regulatory information service Compliance Complete.
Bitcoin, which unlike conventional money is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of any central authority, has grown popular among users who lack faith in the established banking system. It has also raised concerns among law-enforcement authorities that digital currencies could be used for laundering money.
The letters have had a "chilling effect" on Bitcoin businesses, which are intimidated by the threat of civil and criminal sanctions for non-compliance, said Jon Matonis, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, an advocacy group. The firms, he said, may effectively be "put out of business in an extrajudicial manner."
Brad Jacobsen, a lawyer representing one Bitcoin businessman who received a letter from FinCEN, said his client has chosen to suspend his business activity "while state and federal compliance matters are considered and/or appropriate exemptions are determined."
FinCEN's letters, which ask recipients for more information about their business models, put the firms on notice that there is a legal "gray area," so they are "better off to err on the side of caution" and comply with FinCEN's rules, Matonis said.
Certain Bitcoin businesses came under FinCEN regulation in March when the Treasury bureau issued guidance defining some players in the digital currency industry as money transmitters.
For more than a decade the money-transmission industry, which includes firms such as Western Union and PayPal, has been required to enact anti-money laundering controls, report suspicious activity, register with FinCEN and obtain state licenses.
These steps are required to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, the main anti-money laundering statute, and avoid running afoul of a federal law that bans unlicensed money transmitters.
While some Bitcoin businesses reject FinCEN's assertion that they are money transmitters, a number have still registered with the agency, a search of the Treasury bureau's website shows.
FinCEN sent letters to Bitcoin-related businesses on the Internet that appeared to fall under its definition of money transmitters but had not registered, Hudak said. He said FinCEN will keep sending letters to unregistered Bitcoin businesses.
"As we come across them, and as people tip us off, we'll make inquiries. That is part of what we do," Hudak said.
PUTTING BUSINESSES ON HOLD
Mike Caldwell, who runs a business out of his Utah home that accepts digital bitcoins from customers and turns them into metal coins that hold the "private key" needed to redeem the currency, received one of FinCEN's letters, as first reported by the online publication Wired.
Jacobsen, Caldwell's lawyer, told Compliance Complete that "out of an abundance of caution" Caldwell's business, Casascius LLC, reacted to the letter by registering with FinCEN and suspending business activity.
"Laws and regulations related to virtual currencies are in a state of flux and we are working to determine how to appropriately comply with any that are applicable to our client. Casascius LLC is committed to furthering the use and acceptance of Bitcoins but is also committed to complying with applicable law," Jacobsen said.
The identities of the other recipients of FinCEN's letters are not known.
NEW ENFORCEMENT PRECEDENT
A legal expert with years of experience representing digital currency firms said FinCEN seemed to be establishing a new regulatory enforcement precedent by warning individual businesses of compliance obligations before taking action.
"Is this setting a new standard that in the future if there are any questionable business models there will be notice given before any action is taken?" said Carol Van Cleef, a partner with the Washington law firm Patton Boggs LLP.
In response, Hudak said the letters are an attempt at gathering information. He likened them to the letters that banks sometimes send to customers seeking information about the customer's transactions in an effort to determine whether suspect transactions are truly linked to illicit activity.
(This article was produced by the Compliance Complete service of Thomson Reuters Accelus. Compliance Complete (http://bit.ly/16Ebxub) provides a single source for regulatory news, analysis, rules and developments, with global coverage of more than 230 regulators and exchanges. Follow Accelus compliance news on Twitter: @GRC_Accelus)
(Editing by Randall Mikkelsen and David Gregorio)
|
1,387,357,096 |
2013-12-18 08:58:16+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [602, 1515, 1615, 2249, 2824, 3338, 4439, 5197, 5392], "BTC": [1553, 1731, 1903, 2458, 4479]}
|
{"Bitcoin": [0]}
|
Bitcoin price halves as China clampdown escalates
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-price-halves-china-clampdown-085816934.html
|
CNBC
|
http://www.cnbc.com/
|
The price of bitcoin has plummeted by 50 percent since record highs in late November with selling accelerating after reports that the People's Bank of China (PBoC) has ordered third-party payment providers to stop using the virtual currency.
On Wednesday the price of a bitcoin (:MTGOXUSD) fell to below $600 after stabilizing near $800 for the last couple of weeks after a price slump from $1,200 in late November. At 8 a.m. London time on Wednesday the currency was trading at $555 on major exchange Mt Gox and $550 on CoinDesk's index, which measures a basket of prices around the world.
(Read more:Bitcoin crashes 20% on China clampdown fears)
China's central bank has ordered third-party payment agencies - which provide clearing services for bitcoin exchanges - to stop any "custody, trading and other services" related to the virtual currency, according to a report Tuesday byYicai.com. The Chinese website - which is affiliated with the China Business Network TV station - added that platforms were told to end working relationships with virtual currency exchanges before Chinese New Year which commences at the end of January.
Zhou Jinhuang, the deputy director of payment clearance at the People's Bank of China is reported to have chaired the closed-door meeting on Monday when more than 10 third-party payment platforms were given the news. Attendees included a representative from Alipay, which is China's leading third-party online payment solution, according to its website.
(Read more:Buyer beware: Bitcoin's fate could rest with China)
BTC China, the world's largest bitcoin exchange, according to Bitcoinity.org, stopped accepting deposits in Chinese yuan on Wednesday due to the clampdown. Bobby Lee, the CEO of BTC China told CNBC that he had received notice from his third-party payment processor on Wednesday.
"They essentially have cut us off from allowing customer deposits into BTC China's bitcoin exchange," he said. "Customers don't have to worry, the deposits are still here, the withdrawals will still be allowed. So there's no need to panic on that."
Lee added that he believes the recent clampdown is not due to government officials in the country fearing that bitcoin is helping customers to move yuan out of China. "Bitcoin exchanges are legal...so our business model is still valid but we're under some pressure in terms of being able to work with third-party payment companies. So we're looking for alternatives," he said.
BTC China only deals with bitcoin yuan trades due to the strict currency controls in the country. Lee said that his company did not have any near-term plans to look at other currencies. Zennon Kapron, founder of Shanghai-based financial consultancy group Kapronasia, agrees with Lee that the clampdown wasn't necessarily due to fears of capital outflows.
(Read More:Bitcoin: CNBC Explains)
"The wealthy in China have always found ways, ether legally or illegally, to move their money out of the country," he told CNBC via telephone. He said that hints from the central bank that bitcoin exchanges were still legal meant there were "mixed messages" from the government. Chinese curbs may have hit the price of bitcoin hard but Kapron believes that the U.S. still plays a major role in the industry and it remains to be seen how U.S. authorities will regulate the digital currency.
Bitcoin is a "virtual" currency that allows users to exchange online credits for goods and services. While there is no central bank that issues them, bitcoins can be created online by using a computer to complete difficult tasks, a process known as mining. Some 12 million bitcoins are believed to be in circulation, with a cap of 21 million - meaning no more bitcoins can be created after that point.
The initial fall in price in early December coincided with a statement released on the website of China's central bank which warned of the risks that the crypto currency posed. It warned that Chinese financial institutions should not trade the digital currency saying that while it does not yet pose a threat to China's financial system, it carries risks.
Its surge to over $1,000 in November was attributed partly to increased interest from Chinese users as well as favorable comments by regulatory officials at a U.S. Senate hearing in November. Former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alan Blinder has been quoted as saying that the crypto currency shows "promise".
(Read more:In the Murky World of Bitcoin, Fraud Is Quicker Than the Law)
BTC China exchange is now believed to have the highest number of registered users and received $5 million in November from institutional investors Lightspeed China Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Chinese search engine Baidu announced in October that it had started to accept bitcoin for its security service. This came after Chinese state television company CCTV broadcast a documentary detailing the digital currency in the summer. Many analysts see that as a key point at which interest in bitcoin increased.
Downloads of bitcoin wallets surged in China in the days following the documentary, according to statistics from SourceForge, rising to second place in the global ranking behind the United States. Bitcoincharts.com has data that shows the Chinese yuan is the second most traded currency pair with bitcoin after the U.S. dollar.
-CNBC.com's Matt Clinch. Follow him on Twitter
More From CNBC
• Bitcoin crashes 20% on China clampdown fears
• As bitcoin tops $1,200, its fate could rest in China
• Why bitcoin may never be ready for popular consumption
|
1,387,361,700 |
2013-12-18 10:15:00+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [715]}
|
{}
|
Yet Another Two-Bit Proposal for a Dollar Coin
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yet-another-two-bit-proposal-101500531.html
|
The Fiscal Times
|
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/
|
The idea that the U.S. should begin minting a $1 coin and do away with the iconic dollar bill resurfaces every few years. People won’t use it, and businesses hate the idea, but the dollar coin keeps coming back like…well…a bad penny.
In the 1970s it was the Susan B. Anthony Dollar. If they used them at all, people confused them for quarters, and any transaction involving them was bound to require explanations to both a cashier and, possibly, a store manager.
In 2000 it was the “golden dollar” with the image of Lewis and Clark’s Shoshone guide Sacagawea. More recently, in 2007, new dollar coins were minted with the images of former presidents on the front.
Nobody used those, either.
Related: Why Regulating Bitcoin is Like Herding Cats
In awhite paperreleased this month researchers from the Federal Reserve were asked to study the viability of the dollar coin as a replacement for the dollar bill and their findings were as follows:
“The overarching goal of this study is to provide an analytical framework for the public to better understand the effects, risks, and benefits of withdrawing the $1 Federal Reserve note from payment system circulation. This paper finds that under a broad range of assumptions the $1 Federal Reserve note is currently the more efficient payment instrument compared with the $1 coin.”
Roughly translated from Fed-speak, this means: “The dollar coin is a terrible idea. Please stop bothering us with it.”
The researchers found that the use of dollar coins is “inherently inefficient” within the payments system. Because people use coins differently than notes, they found, the Mint would need to produce more than one dollar coin for every dollar bill taken out of circulation.
Related: Canada’s New Currency Prompts Legal Money Laundering
Dollar coins are also not cost-effective, according to the study. They cost much more to make on a per-unit basis and the difference “is not offset by the longer life of the coin.”
Turns out, the old dollar bill is the workhorse of the currency world. The Fed looked at a number of other countries that have replaced their lowest denomination notes with coins, and determined that the average life of the note being replaced was 10 months.
The dollar bill, by contrast, stays in circulation for an average 70 months. The difference is the cotton-linen blend of paper used by the U.S. Mint, which is far more durable than the cotton substrate used in other countries.
Low-denomination note life in various countries, 2001
Costs incurred by the private sector from switching to a dollar coin, which would include increased transportation costs related to the heavier coin and retrofitting of existing currency-handling equipment, they found, could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Government Accountability Office has been one of the primary drivers of the push to move to a dollar coin, releasing various studies over the years insisting that it would save the government money.
However, the Fed researchers argued that the GAO’s assumptions – including an overly optimistic replacement rate for the coins – were so uncertain as to call the agency’s findings into question.
The Fed’s findings ought to be the final stake through the heart of the dollar coin, but it keeps turning up like a bad penny.
Follow Rob Garver on Twitter@rrgarver
Top Reads from the Fiscal Times:
• Government Blatantly Wastes $30 Billion This Year
• With Budget Deal Done, Ryan and Murray Eye Tax Reform
• Investing 2014: The Smart Money Is on European Stocks
|
1,387,367,350 |
2013-12-18 11:49:10+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1628], "BTC": [282, 541, 590, 699, 943]}
|
{}
|
China tightens curbs on bitcoin trade
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-tightens-curbs-bitcoin-trade-114910675.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
By Adam Rose
BEIJING, Dec 18 (Reuters) - A Chinese bitcoin exchange platform announced on Wednesday that it had stopped taking Chinese yuan deposits, sending the price of the virtual currency down sharply as China broadened its crackdown on domestic bitcoin trading.
Shanghai-based BTC China, the world's largest bitcoin exchange by volume, posted a notice about the new regulations on its website, two weeks after Beijing banned financial institutions from trading in bitcoin, due to the risks involved.
"Due to new government regulations, BTC China will temporarily suspend CNY deposits. BTC deposits/withdrawals and CNY withdrawals are not affected, and will continue to operate in the interim," BTC China said in the notice.
The platform could no longer handle new deposits because its third-party payment provider had abruptly cut off service, said Chief Executive Bobby Lee.
"It was disconnected against our will," said Lee, adding that BTC China had switched to the provider on Sunday as a precautionary measure.
On Tuesday, the Chinese Business News reported that the government had asked third-party payment services to stop handling bitcoin transactions.
It was not immediately clear whether other exchange platforms were affected.
The yuan-bitcoin exchange rate on BT China has dropped 46 percent from Monday, and 60 percent since a peak on Dec. 1. The exchange rate on rival platform FXBTC.com has fallen 70 percent from its Nov. 30 peak.
Over the past two months, the value of bitcoin relative to the dollar has skyrocketed some 800 percent as speculators have piled into the currency, according to bitcoinity.org.
Bitcoin market operators say Chinese nationals are major market participants and hold an outsize share of the total number of bitcoins in circulation.
The government this month issued a statement banning financial institutions from trading in bitcoin, but did not ban individual trading. [ID: nL4N0JK1KZ]
The statement, on the website of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), said the government would act to prevent money laundering risks from bitcoin, which is not backed by a government or central bank.
The PBOC may have cause to be concerned about bitcoin, which is anonymous, untraceable, and can be carried on memory sticks or transmitted electronically, because it represents a potential hole in the country's capital controls.
However, analysts point out that, given the tiny value of the total bitcoin in circulation relative to other currencies, it is unlikely to have much impact on the wider economy.
|
1,387,367,646 |
2013-12-18 11:54:06+00:00
|
{"Bitcoin": [1628], "BTC": [274, 533, 582, 691, 935]}
|
{}
|
China tightens curbs on bitcoin trade
|
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-tightens-curbs-bitcoin-trade-115406843.html
|
Reuters
|
http://www.reuters.com/
|
By Adam Rose
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese bitcoin exchange platform announced on Wednesday that it had stopped taking Chinese yuan deposits, sending the price of the virtual currency down sharply as China broadened its crackdown on domestic bitcoin trading.
Shanghai-based BTC China, the world's largest bitcoin exchange by volume, posted a notice about the new regulations on its website, two weeks after Beijing banned financial institutions from trading in bitcoin, due to the risks involved.
"Due to new government regulations, BTC China will temporarily suspend CNY deposits. BTC deposits/withdrawals and CNY withdrawals are not affected, and will continue to operate in the interim," BTC China said in the notice.
The platform could no longer handle new deposits because its third-party payment provider had abruptly cut off service, said Chief Executive Bobby Lee.
"It was disconnected against our will," said Lee, adding that BTC China had switched to the provider on Sunday as a precautionary measure.
On Tuesday, the Chinese Business News reported that the government had asked third-party payment services to stop handling bitcoin transactions.
It was not immediately clear whether other exchange platforms were affected.
The yuan-bitcoin exchange rate on BT China has dropped 46 percent from Monday, and 60 percent since a peak on December 1. The exchange rate on rival platform FXBTC.com has fallen 70 percent from its November 30 peak.
Over the past two months, the value of bitcoin relative to the dollar has skyrocketed some 800 percent as speculators have piled into the currency, according to bitcoinity.org.
Bitcoin market operators say Chinese nationals are major market participants and hold an outsize share of the total number of bitcoins in circulation.
The government this month issued a statement banning financial institutions from trading in bitcoin, but did not ban individual trading.
The statement, on the website of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), said the government would act to prevent money laundering risks from bitcoin, which is not backed by a government or central bank.
The PBOC may have cause to be concerned about bitcoin, which is anonymous, untraceable, and can be carried on memory sticks or transmitted electronically, because it represents a potential hole in the country's capital controls.
However, analysts point out that, given the tiny value of the total bitcoin in circulation relative to other currencies, it is unlikely to have much impact on the wider economy.
(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
|
Subsets and Splits
Bitcoin News Oct 2022 -
Retrieves records from a specific date range that contain 'Bitcoin' in the title_matches, providing basic filtering but limited analytical value.
Bitcoin News April 2021 Filter
Retrieves specific entries within a given datetime range, providing a snapshot of records over a particular period.
Bitcoin News 2021-20
Retrieves all entries from the dataset where the title contains "Bitcoin" within the years 2021 to 2025, providing a basic filter.
Bitcoin News 2021-20
Returns a limited number of entries related to Bitcoin within a specific date range, providing basic filtering without extensive analysis.