Quote from: Cloudbet on Today at 03:48:07 AM
Quote from: Bettor1 on January 31, 2016, 08:56:53 PM
Quote from: DanWest on January 31, 2016, 08:13:02 PM
i did ta…
Re: Cloudbet.com - bitcoin sportsbook and casino | WORLDWIDE live dealer casino
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Re: Cloudbet.com - bitcoin sportsbook and casino | WORLDWIDE live dealer casino
Re: Cloudbet.com - bitcoin sportsbook and casino | WORLDWIDE live dealer casino
8.8k USD of BTC to Wells Fargo - Best Way (reddit.com)
I want to convert about 8.8k of bitcoin to my Wells Fargo account as quickly as possible. I have an old (empty) coinbase account but had to change the phone number on the account to be able to access it. Currently the phone number is in the process of being changed but I am not sure when or if that will occur. Anyone have an idea with how long these typically take or if they are often approved? What is another site I can use to send these coins to my bank? I really need this money by the…
8.8k USD of BTC to Wells Fargo - Best Way (reddit.com)
Re: BITCOIN IS BETTER THAN WESTERN UNION ?
Bitcoin is fading into oblivion if you ask me right now, I don't think it will be relevant in a couple more years the way things are going, its image is too tainted. Hopefully it can survive or find a way to create actual demand for its product. Replac…
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Re: BITCOIN IS BETTER THAN WESTERN UNION ?
Gamerholic, the First ‘Billion Dollar Gaming Company’? A Q&A With Anari Sengbe
Gamerholic is an online, competitive gaming platform that uses cryptocurrency as the fuel behind its services. Members of Gamerholic can enter tournaments and competition or make wagers on games using “Gamerholic coin,” the platform’s own cryptocurrency.
Also read: LimoPlay to Announce Cutting Edge Game at LAC 2016
Gamerholic: A Platform for Crypto Gaming
Users can purchase Gamerholic coin on the Bittrex exchange, which has an exchange rate of 0.00000473 BTC ($ 0.0018 USD) as of press time. With this cryptocurrency, will get 20% off on purchases made on Gamerholic.com, they will be able to participate in all of the website’s games and tournaments, and they can exchange their coins back to bitcoin on the Bittrex exchange.
For all you altcoin nerds, here are the specs for Gamerholic coin as listed on the Gamerholic website:
- Algo: SHA-256D
- POW/POS Hybrid
- Avg 60 second block time
- 4% annual interest
- 8 hour stake age
- Emission Schedule
- Block 0 – 10,000: 100GHC
- Block 10,001 – Infinity: 2.5GHC
- 250 blocks to maturity
Although the website is fairly bare at the moment, with the service in its early stages of life, it is clear that Gamerholic has an interesting idea going on. There are several games that are played natively on the website. The most visible one is “Grabbit” and its several variables, where players can compete with one another to “grab” the prize. Grabbit prizes span across a wide range of gaming and tech merchandise, with things like PlayStation Store and Blizzard gift cards, console games, and even an iPhone 6S Plus up for “grabs.”
For more competitive gamers, Gamerholic offers a console and PC tournament section on their website, where it picks a game and sets up a tournament for its customers. At press time, the current tournament is for Madden ’16 on PlayStation 4. This tournament has 3 prizes, similar to the prizes for other tournaments hosted on Gamerholic. First place gets 1 bitcoin and 1,000 Gamerholic coins (GHC); second place gets 0.50 btc and 1,000 GHC; and third place will receive 0.25 btc and 1,000 GHC.
Unfortunately, the website doesn’t seem to be fully functional just yet, as the link buttons to the rules and registration for the console and PC tournaments do not seem to work, as nothing happens when they are clicked. With such a new and seemingly complex service though, minor bugs like this are to be expected, so we’ll give Gamerholic the benefit of the doubt and assume that the website will become more functional as the project progresses.
I got to ask Gamerholic Founder Anari Sengbe a few questions about Gamerholic, as well as other projects his team has worked on in the past.
We don’t claim it to be better than bitcoin, we don’t claim it can do what bitcoin can’t. It’s a coin for gaming, with it’s [sic] own unique api sets.
Tell us a little bit about Gamerholic.
Gamerholic is a competition as a service gaming platform.
Natural competition is part of gaming, you want to beat the computer, your friend or a stranger gamer hundreds of miles away.
Gamerholic enhances natural competition with real world prizes, not points and badges.
Digital currencies like bitcoin and Gamerholic coin are perfect for gaming. Buy in-game items at a fraction of the cost, or participate in robust gaming economies.
What is the inspiration behind this project?
Gamerholic Founder Anari Senge in Gamerholic’s pitch for Shark Tank
Years ago when PS2 1st allowed play over the internet, it made sense that friendly wagers over the internet would be next. The problem with that is chargebacks, when I learned about bitcoin, instinctively I believed micro payments and gaming go hand in hand, bitcoin and the immense brainpower behind it is great, but a crypto currency you can dedicate to gaming would be pretty cool as well.
How competitive is Gamerholic, is it a place for professional gamers, or is it meant for casual competition?
It’s a bit of both, the important thing about the Gamerholic platform, we don’t make games, We simply provide an API for game developers to accept Gamerholic coin within their games. So in theory there should be more than enough games to choose from and with expanded creativity, you should see more competitive games.
The one game we did make is called Grabbit, a fun shopping game with real prizes. You win bitcoin for FREE or xbox live point cards, video games and more. There’s always something awesome up for grabs in the grabbit game. That game can get REALLY competitive.
Tell us about Gamerholic coin.
I love Gamerholic coin, I can’t wait to see game developers rush to it. It’s really just a fun crypto currency for gaming. We don’t claim it to be better than bitcoin, we don’t claim it can do what bitcoin can’t. It’s a coin for gaming, with it’s own unique api sets.
The biggest value of Gamerholic coin will be noticed by game developers who can create more dynamic situations within their games. The coin is going up on the exchange, what should happen in your game? the coin is going down on the exchange and so on.
This includes education games, Gamerholic coin is a real world incentive for young people to do well in math, or history games, or biology games.
What makes Gamerholic unique from other gaming projects that integrate cryptocurrency?
I think the strength for us is the brand, Gamerholic is a persona, everyone loves the brand. From t-shirts, to hats, to gaming accessories… we have more avenues to get Gamerholic coin in the hands of gamers. Competitively, that’s our advantage and that will keep us going long enough to best the technology advantages other gaming projects offer.
If you don’t mind me asking, has Gamerholic gotten much traffic since you guys started it?
There is an education hurdle for sure, I knew that during the transition to crypto currency. I think we’ll continue to play the role of introducing a demographic to crypto currency for a couple of years.
What is your ultimate goal for this project?
My fulfillment will come when I see Gamerholic coin applied to education games and young people in sierra leone where I’m from can make money from learning. That for me will be the ultimate disruption.
I noticed that your firm has been involved in several hackathons, can you tell us a little bit about your other projects?
Hackathons kept me alive in San Francisco. Hackathons are great idea battles. Often we apply fun gamification or different use cases for crypto currency in our hacks.
For the Emirates Airlines hackathon, we built PlayFlight, a way to use your airline miles as virtual currency in video games.
For the HP hackathon we used Gamification to identify Alpha’s in an Organization
And for the Mercedes benz [sic] hackathon, we built BenzPay a way to pay for parking, gas and more using bitcoin.
Lastly at during the TechCrunch hackathon, a we built foodhigh club, a way to pair your favorite strain of marijuana with delicious meals from local restaurants.
Any big plans in store that you want to tell us about?
LOL, this is stealth city, Game developers conference is around the corner, game developers will be the biggest buyers and sellers of Gamerholic coin so, we’ll be at GDC and give away a pile of Gamerholic coin to game developers. I’m very excited about that push, I’m confident we’ll have over 500 games using gamerholic coin by years end with a $ 250,000 market cap.
What do you think about Gamerholic? Is it a gaming platform you could see yourself using? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Gamerholic
The post Gamerholic, the First ‘Billion Dollar Gaming Company’? A Q&A With Anari Sengbe appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
Gamerholic, the First ‘Billion Dollar Gaming Company’? A Q&A With Anari Sengbe
Bitcoin Businesses Resilient Despite Price Fluctuations
Businesses that accept Bitcoin manage to keep income and profits stable despite price fluctuations
CoinTelegraph.Com News
Bitmain Antminer S3 1000W PSU Power Supply complete kit to power (2) Antminer S3
bitcoin - click on the image below for more information.
- Original HP 1000watts server power supply
- Using our proprietary X-Adapter
- Set of (4) 26inches PCI-E 14AWG
- Heat Resistant rubber foot pads.
- Can power (2) S3 or (1) S5. Completely assembled and tested.
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Bitmain Antminer S3 1000 Watt Power Supply. Complete setup to power (2) Bitmain Antminer S3. Setup will be completely assembled and tested before shipping.This set up can power (1) Antminer C1, (2) Antminer S1, (2) Antminer S3, or (1) Antminer S5.
Package include:
• 1x HP ProLiant 1000W proprietary hot-swap power supply.
• 1x X-ADAPTER Power Supply Adapter PCB Board.
• 4x 2 wire 6pin 26in 14 AWG Power Supply Cable.
Bitmain Antminer S3 1000W PSU Power Supply complete kit to power (2) Antminer S3
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Bitcoin Businesses Resilient Despite Price Fluctuations
Re: [GROUP BUY][EU] Kialara Physical Bitcoin [ROUND 4][NEW COINS!]
Nice to see that today this group buy is closing, i want to have these coins as soon as possible. Will be my first kialaras coins , i need them for my collection.
Bitcoin Forum
Re: [GROUP BUY][EU] Kialara Physical Bitcoin [ROUND 4][NEW COINS!]
Different Ways to Raise Funding For A Bitcoin Startup
Starting a company in the Bitcoin world is not that hard these days. All one needs is a good idea, and a proof-of-concept to show this idea is valuable to begin with. But the biggest challenge for most startups is to raise enough funding, as day-to-day operations can be quite costly. Rather than looking for VC funding, there are other alternatives well worth exploring by Bitcoin entrepreneurs.
Also read: OpenBazaar in Depth: Interview with COO Sam Patterson
Raising The Funding For Your Bitcoin Company
When it comes to securing funding for a Bitcoin startup, venture capitalists are the preferred target. Presenting one’s case at any of the Bitcoin conferences around the world is a great way to reach an audience of potential investors, although the end results may vary slightly. Not every concept needs VC backing, though, as there are plenty of other ways to raise funds.
Crowdfunding campaigns in the Bitcoin ecosystem are not all that common just yet, although things are changing. Equity crowdfunding is a particularly interesting trend in the digital currency space these days, where companies will offer a small share of their company in exchange for funding. What makes these campaigns so interesting is how they will get a company lots of press exposure, and there is no need to hunt down individual investors.
Even though most countries around the world are still debating on whether or not they should create a regulatory framework for Bitcoin, there could be a bright future ahead. Bitcoin offers innovation, and any form of innovation should be stimulated through startup grants. It remains to be seen whether or not these perks will ever translate to Bitcoin startups, but it is an alternative form of funding to keep in mind for the future.
Angel investors are quite popular among Bitcoin entrepreneurs these days, as they offer flexible business agreements and bring a strong network of partners to the table. But at the same time, it is difficult to obtain follow-up investments from angel investors. Startup unicorns might be an exception to this rule although they are very uncommon these days.
Last but not least, there is the option of receiving a peer-to–peer loan. Keeping in mind how Bitcoin is all about the peer-to-peer transaction, this type of funding seems to be perfect for digital currency startups and entrepreneurs. These loans provide a fast way to raise capital without sacrificing equity, but they do require some form of collateral in most cases.
There Is No Wrong Approach To Secure Funding
With so many different options at the disposal of startups and entrepreneurs in the Bitcoin industry, there is no wrong way to raise funding. Every individual method has their pro’s and con’s, and cookie-cutter solutions simply do not exist. Different types of businesses will benefit from different approaches.
Raising the necessary funding to get one’s project off the ground is an important aspect of the Bitcoin business world. Just having a bright idea is not enough, as, without money, there is not much progress to be made. That being said, combining several of the options as mentioned above might yield the best results.
How would you go about raising the necessary funding for a bitcoin funding? Are the other ways that are viable as well? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Tech In Asia
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Catalyst Resources
The post Different Ways to Raise Funding For A Bitcoin Startup appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
Different Ways to Raise Funding For A Bitcoin Startup
Re: Does skrill allow bitcoin buy/sell transactions?
https://www.skrill.com/en-us/footer/terms-conditions/
section 9.1
this looks applicable.
· Third party processing and payment aggregators;
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Re: Does skrill allow bitcoin buy/sell transactions?
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Re: Vanity Adresses for Bitcoin users (custom bitcoin address)
No problem.
Do you want an estimate price for the prefix requested ?
If yes, case sensitive or not?
Bitcoin Forum
Re: Vanity Adresses for Bitcoin users (custom bitcoin address)
How Android And IOS Apps Would Help In Promotion Of Bitcoin?
In 2016 bitcoin apps have a unique opportunity to try and change the way things work around. We are all witness to new mobile apps springing up to provide wallets, payment systems, and even games.
CoinTelegraph.Com News
ARCTIC Breeze Mobile, USB-Powered 92mm Portable Fan, Portable Cooling Solution, Quiet Fan, Mini USB Fan, Mini Gooseneck Fan for laptop and PC - White
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- Slim & light weight USB fan keep you cool on hot days.
- As the fan and the motor are adapted from ARCTIC's successful case fans, it works virtually silent while offering a high air flow.
- Simply connect to one of the USB ports in your notebook, flexible
- And adjustable gooseneck directs the breeze to blow into the exact direction as you desired.
- Flexible and adjustable gooseneck directs the breeze to blow into the exact direction as you desired.
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ARCTIC Breeze Mobile is a portable USB-powered cooling fan that brings you pleasant cool breeze for your personal space. It can be powered by tablets, laptops or portable USB power source such as power bank. Its space-saving design (8"x3.5"x0.9") and light weight (at only 2.2 oz) means you can take it with you just about everywhere you go. The 92mm fan with low-noise blades quietly moves air at 1700 rpm, keeping your personal space nicely ventilated but most importantly without the distracting buzzing noise. It does not replace your traditional electric fan but is perfect for on-the-move as well as venues requiring the least distractions and noise such as office cubicles, classroom and library. ARCTIC Breeze Mobile has a flexible gooseneck design allowing you to easily position the fan for your desired setting. ARCTIC Breeze Mobile is also ideal to provide almost silent yet effective external cooling solution for your hardworking game console. Simply plug the ARCTIC Breeze Mobile into one of the available USB port and position the fan accordingly. You can enjoy gaming without the distracting fan noise and extend the life of your game console. ARCTIC Breeze Mobile comes with a 2-year limited warranty. Please contact arctic.us@arctic.ac for service.
ARCTIC Breeze Mobile, USB-Powered 92mm Portable Fan, Portable Cooling Solution, Quiet Fan, Mini USB Fan, Mini Gooseneck Fan for laptop and PC - White
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How Android And IOS Apps Would Help In Promotion Of Bitcoin?
Re: Bitcointalk Censorship
Quote from: dogie on January 30, 2016, 10:46:19 PM
Quote
This means I own law cases in Bitcoin and crypto currency so I can "reap" the industry.
What does that even mean…
It means he knows nothing about …
Bitcoin Forum
Re: Bitcointalk Censorship
Digital Currency Group Hints At Going Public In The Future
Barry Silbert and Digital Currency Group are two names many Bitcoin enthusiasts will be more than familiar with. It should come as no surprise to find out that DCG is keeping a close eye on the progress of Bitcoin and blockchain technology in India, which is one of the world’s leading emerging markets. Unocoin is one of the leading Bitcoin in India, and DCG has invested in this company, among others.
Also read: First Global Credit: Encouraging Bitcoiners to Become Traders
Digital Currency Group Makes Strategic Investments
The country of India provides an interesting playing ground for Bitcoin, blockchain technology, and digital currency in general. With a large part of the population cut off from traditional finance, and a growing interest in mobile commerce solutions, a disruption of the financial sector seems to be long overdue.
But it is not just India that is of interest to Barry Silbert and Digital Currency Group, as the company has made multiple strategic investments. In doing so, DCG wants to make Bitcoin more accessible to everyday consumers, both for buying and selling. By investing in various local leading Bitcoin exchanges in developing markets, the popular digital currency can thrive in the years to come.
In total, Digital Currency Group has their fingers in no less than 15 exchanges all over the world. These strategic investments cover a total of 40 currency trading pairs, which give DCG a global appeal in return. Providing liquidity to the Bitcoin industry is key, especially for smaller exchanges operating in countries where Bitcoin adoption has not gained any noteworthy levels just yet.
Many people see Digital Currency Group as a collective focusing mostly on the blockchain and how this technology can affect the everyday lives of consumers all over the world. While Silbert told IBTimes how the company is still keen on blockchain technology in general, but people should be equally excited about Bitcoin itself.
One of the main reasons why Digital Currency Group has so much money to go around is because they are not a fund. Instead, the business plan is to allow for redeployment of capital, rather than returning capital to partners. By holding permanent capital and having the option to invest in and buy up interesting companies, Digital Currency Group has made quite the name for itself over the years.
Taking The Company Public In The Future
One of the more interesting remarks made by Barry Silbert is how there are plans to take Digital Currency Group public in the near future. No official details have been announced just yet, other than saying how going public is a path the company will likely go down. This would bring even more legitimacy to both Bitcoin and the blockchain.
If Digital Currency Group is serious about going public, they will be following in the footsteps of Bitcoin Shop, Inc. and Bitcoin Group. Both of these companies have made their way to mainstream exchange platforms in 2015, and Digital Currency Group would be a welcome addition to that brief list.
What are your thoughts on Digital Currency Group in general? Let us know in the comments below!
Source; IB Times
Images courtesy of Barry Silbert, DCG, Shutterstock
The post Digital Currency Group Hints At Going Public In The Future appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
Digital Currency Group Hints At Going Public In The Future
The Venezuelan Economy: Bitcoin To The Rescue
It is popular knowledge that the Venezuelan economy is passing through some very difficult times. As the nation struggles to find stability in it’s economy, can Bitcoin play any role at all?
CoinTelegraph.Com News
The Venezuelan Economy: Bitcoin To The Rescue
Re: Вкусний прогноз цены BITCOIN i LITECOIN 2
Quote from: Chainger
к 2020 году точно будет 
Смех смехом, а не увидел ни одной нормальной темы, посвященной именно долгосрочному курсу.
Bitcoin Forum
Re: Вкусний прогноз цены BITCOIN i LITECOIN 2
TransferWise on Bitcoin and the Battle for International Money Transfers
Everyone from Nick Szabo, who developed the concept of smart contracts, to Blockchain Capital Managing Partner Brock Pierce has been touting Bitcoin’s value as a vehicle for international money transfers lately, but it appears that TransferWise CEO Taavet Hinrikus has not received the memo. Hinrikus was recently on a panel with MasterCard President of International Markets Ann Cairns at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and he did not seem threatened when asked about the new Bitcoin-based alternatives to his service, such as Align Commerce, that have popped up over the past year.
Although Hinrikus appeared to be bullish on blockchain technology, he said the Bitcoin experiment is nearly over.
Bitcoin Is “Becoming Dead”
When asked directly for his thoughts on using Bitcoin for international money transfers, Hinrikus conceded that the idea sounds exciting in theory; however, the TransferWise CEO believes this digital peer-to-peer cash system will work only if more people have bitcoin wallets. He explained:
“I think [Bitcoin-powered money transfers] are super exciting, and in a world where we all have a bitcoin wallet in our phones, that actually might work. But how do we go from a world where nobody has a bitcoin wallet to a world where everyone has a bitcoin wallet? That’s the question that I haven’t been able to figure out.”
When viewing Bitcoin as a system for money transfers, Hinrikus noted the costs associated with each end of the process. In his view, these added costs make the idea more expensive than originally thought. He stated:
“If you think about it today, getting money into Bitcoin is a pain in the ass. Getting money out of Bitcoin is similarly a huge pain. You end up paying typically half a percent or one percent on both ends. It’s a process which takes multiple days, so I think Bitcoin – I’m kind of sorry to say it but – it seems that experiment is becoming dead pretty quickly.”
This response from the TransferWise CEO does not sound dissimilar from a Medium post made by former Rebit.ph Head of Product Luis Buenaventura. After co-founding and working at Rebit.ph for over a year, Buenaventura came to the conclusion that Bitcoin does not make international remittances cheaper due to the costs associated with the “last mile” on the recipient’s end.
Blockchain Is More Exciting
Hinrikus also echoed some of the same points he made when asked about Bitcoin at last year’s TechCrunch Disrupt. Specifically, he feels the growth of Bitcoin has been mostly driven by greed. He stated:
“It seems to me that what has been driving Bitcoin has been greed – similar to a lot of stuff that has been driving the banking system. People bought bitcoin because they thought it was going to be worth more tomorrow … I kind of don’t have much hope for bitcoin anymore. With blockchain, I think that’s much more exciting. I think about – could we see a world where blockchain disrupts MasterCard?”
Although Hinrikus noted his appreciation for blockchain technology, he made no indication that his company is currently looking at implementing (or even testing) any sort of distributed ledger technology. On the other hand, MasterCard’s Cairns said that the credit card processing giant is currently testing out blockchains for a variety of possible use cases.
BitFury CEO Defends Bitcoin
The day after the panel discussion featuring Hinrikus and Cairns took place, BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov was interviewed in the same exact spot. He took on the role of defending Bitcoin against the pessimism from the TransferWise and MasterCard representatives.
During his interview with TechCrunch’s Matt Burns, Vavilov explained why the public Bitcoin blockchain still has a key role to play in this new world of permissioned, distributed ledgers:
“Bitcoin is the most secure blockchain. The Bitcoin blockchain is the public blockchain. If we split Bitcoin and blockchain – blockchain is the ledger. Blockchain is the database. Bitcoin is the vehicle and the security. Bitcoin is today secured by 750 petahashes of computational power. Let’s look at an analogy. Imagine the top 500 supercomputers in the world. The Bitcoin blockchain security is more than 3,000 times bigger.”
In other words, Bitcoin’s open, permissionless features are not found on any of the private blockchains currently in development by R3, Digital Asset Holdings, or any other startup. Bitcoin is also backed by an exponentially larger amount of hashing power than any other public blockchain.
The only requirement for someone to receive bitcoin is for them to have a bitcoin wallet and access to the Internet. This is a much lower barrier to entry than anything attached to the legacy banking system – at least when it comes to digital payments. Bitcoin’s censorship resistance also makes it useful for getting around capital controls in more economically-restrictive countries.
TransferWise may not see the value of Bitcoin now, but at least three Bitcoin startups (Align Commerce, Abra, and Freemit) believe they’re missing out on a huge opportunity. Only time will tell who has it right.
Kyle Torpey is a freelance journalist who has been following Bitcoin since 2011. His work has been featured on VICE Motherboard, Business Insider, RT’s Keiser Report and many other media outlets. You can follow @kyletorpey on Twitter.
The post TransferWise on Bitcoin and the Battle for International Money Transfers appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.
TransferWise on Bitcoin and the Battle for International Money Transfers
Re: moneypot.com missing withdrawal
Quote from: Sumplexy on Today at 03:11:28 PM
It makes two days since I won 43 bitcoin at moneypot.com mainly through plinko, and am still for my withdrawal. So far I have heard nothing back from multiple support fo…
Re: moneypot.com missing withdrawal
Weekly Bitcoin Price Review: The January Drop
This week is the last of January. We can summarize that this month Bitcoin lost $ 50 but Bitcoin has a lot of potential for growth.
CoinTelegraph.Com News
Weekly Bitcoin Price Review: The January Drop
Bitcoin In-Fighting Doesn’t Matter: Gavin Andreson Weighs in
January 30, 2016 – Gavin Andreson, former head Bitcoin Core maintainer, posted a short treatise on the issue of consensus infighting among the Bitcoin implementations on the Svbtle writing network. The squabbling between the different dev teams has caused a deal of speculation and nervousness about the future of Bitcoin, but Andreson sees the issue a bit differently.
Also Read: Bitcoin Network Reaches 1 EH/s For First Time
Andreson: The Worst Case Isn’t That Bad
In his post, he proposes a short thought experiment, outlining the trajectory of a split on consensus rules in the bitcoin specification, something that seems more likely as the debate escalates on what direction to take moving forward. He appears to think this supposedly worst-case scenario wouldn’t hurt Bitcoin much at all:
“What would happen if some minority of mining hash power and maybe a merchant or exchange decided to stay with, or move to, different consensus rules than everybody else?
Would there be two different flavors of Bitcoin? Would it cause massive disruptions to the Bitcoin economy? Would your coins be safe?
(spoiler alert if you’re in a hurry: no, no, and yes)”
While it is refreshing to see a more optimistic perspective in the midst of doomsday profecy and wild speculation about how and when Bitcoin will change, his reasoning makes a lot of sense. Extreme changes would essentially become an altcoin, going the way of CLAMS, and the sort of ‘civil war’ scenario he outlines would end quickly and bloodlessly, the victor being the specification with the most hashing power. The Minority branch’s value would drop to zero, and the hashpower and coins in old blocks would get transferred back over to the main branch as this becomes apparent. In short, it wouldn’t be that big a deal:
“That is the real disincentive for miners to stick with the minority branch; in the three days it takes for their newly minted minoritycoins to mature they are very likely to see the price they can get for those coins drop to almost zero.”
Andreson’s understanding of Bitcoin lends credibility to a lot of his extrapolations, and the fact he’s not worried about its collapse makes you wonder what all the hysteria is even about. Most likely, all it’s achieving is development delays and introducing politics into a process that should be purely technical.
Bitcoin’s Unique Situation
Bitcoin’s P2P nature makes central control efforts problematic
Bitcoin has fundamentally and irrevocably changed commerce and finance, and our thinking about investments has to change accordingly in the context of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin Isn’t a company, doesn’t have a central bank, and bitcoin owners aren’t shareholders. Lack of a united front can at best be seen as competition bringing the best to the forefront of Bitcoin as software, or at the worst be seen as irrelevant. Bitcoin is worth a lot, but the developers working on it aren’t CEO’s or a Federal reserve. Bitcoin’s value comes from its decentralization and the amount of people using and trading in it. Outside of that, not much else matters long-term.
Because the devs are as close as people can get to a centralized authority on Bitcoin, they attach a lot of importance to what they say and do in the community. Bitcoin’s nature makes exertion of individual interest close to meaningless, though. Andreson’s write-up exposes the fallacy of the vying for control over any decentralized system. Even in a split designed to harm or change the network forever, majority adoption wins out, and things come to equilibrium fairly quickly. I propose the best course of action for the bitcoin community is to let the developers do their jobs without interruption, so they can address real potential points of failure in the software — not speculative ones on social media.
What’s your take on bitcoin development and the balance of community input? Be sure to let us know in the comments!
Logo Image courtesy of SVBTLE
The post Bitcoin In-Fighting Doesn’t Matter: Gavin Andreson Weighs in appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
Bitcoin In-Fighting Doesn’t Matter: Gavin Andreson Weighs in
Friday, January 29, 2016
Real Estate Latest Bitcoin-Friendly Luxury
Bitcoin users have not been shy about using the currency to make large purchases in the past. With the wide range of Bitcoin-friendly retailers on the Internet, it’s become even easier to purchase everything from land to jewelry with the digital currency.
As of January 17, 2016, in Philadelphia, you could buy a condo. The new Bitcoin-friendly condominiums went up for sale in the city’s historic Manayunk district at a price of around $ 365,000 – or 795 bitcoins, according to Curbed. This makes them the first condos in the city to be sold with Bitcoin users in mind.
A quick look at the Falcon Condominiums website reveals that the building was once home to The Polish Falcons Club. Now, condos sprawl throughout the structure, boasting hardwood flooring and extra-large windows with views of the city. State-of-the-art kitchens and private outdoor terraces round out the list of amenities, but could flexible payment options also be driving a new type of buyer to these properties?
It appears that those who have big money to spend are particularly interested in purchasing property using Bitcoin. In 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported on a Lake Tahoe property that sold for $ 1.6 million in bitcoin.
BitPremier founder and CEO Alan Silbert was behind the first large real estate transaction involving Bitcoin back in 2014. The transaction totaled around $ 500,000, according to HousingWire. Since then, Silbert has continued to see the market evolve directly on BitPremier.
“I think we are still too early in Bitcoin’s evolution to see substantial changes to the real estate market, but it has certainly started people thinking about disruption to the space,” said Silbert.
BitPremier, the Bitcoin luxury marketplace, is specifically geared toward consumers who want to spend their bitcoins on fast cars, vacation homes and everything in between (think private islands). Sellers who want to get rid of their luxuries can do so on BitPremier as well, making it a go-to spot on the Internet for all things related to Bitcoin trading.
“For now, the appreciation of bitcoin to date has created some wealthy Bitcoiners who want to diversify into other assets, be it real estate, commodities or whatever,” Silbert continues. “Real estate is seeing the benefit of that trend, as we witnessed first-hand with the villa sale BitPremier brokered between a property developer in Bali and an early Bitcoin adopter in the U.S.”
But Silbert sees the impact of Bitcoin spreading far beyond the real estate market.
“Every major financial institution has one or more people researching Bitcoin or the blockchain. I give everybody the disclaimer that it is a high-risk investment and they should only invest money they can afford to lose. That being said, Bitcoin has come a long way in a short period of time and the future looks very exciting.”
Krystle Vermes is a professional writer, blogger and podcaster with a background in both online and print journalism.
The post Real Estate Latest Bitcoin-Friendly Luxury appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.
Real Estate Latest Bitcoin-Friendly Luxury
Re: $10,000 per Bitcoin ???
Its like dream comes true situation when bitcoin will reach to $ 10000. Its actually possible but takes some duration and this duration is totally depends on block size and rewards. As its only 21 billion bitcoins will be generated so after end of BITC…
Bitcoin Forum
Re: $10,000 per Bitcoin ???
SF Block Chain Conference by Lighthouse Partners to Feature More than Just Bitcoin
The Block Chain Conference is a cryptocurrency agnostic conference. Rather than focusing on Bitcoin exclusively, the Block Chain conference focuses on “accelerating the development and deployment of blockchain based approaches by global businesses.”
Also read: Bitcoin Core Launches Social Media Presence
The Block Chain Conference: When and Where
Scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 10th, 2016, the conference will be held at Mission Bay conference center, located on the campus of UCSF Mission Bay of San Francisco. Produced by Lighthouse Partners, Inc., “a business and technology consulting firm advising on positioning of innovative enterprise technologies,” the conference will feature Peter Harris as Conference Chair.
The Block Chain Conference will be held at UCSF
The conference is tailored for senior business innovation and product marketing executives, as well as senior technologists from companies deploying enterprise IT systems; this kind of people are the ones expected to attend. You must be 18 years or older to attend, without specific dispensation.
The highlight of the conference will come from IBM’s keynote, being delivered by Global Blockchain Offering Director John Wolpert, titled “How to Make Block Chain Real for Business.” Providing IMB’s point of view on the potential that block chain technology has, it will focus on the company’s collaboration with The Linux Foundation.
IBM will also be joined by likes of AlphaPoint, Gem, Overstock.com, and Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, just to name a few.
“A key mission of The Block Chain Conference is to educate business innovators and technology architects from companies deploying enterprise IT on the potential benefits and challenges of leveraging block chains, distributed ledgers and smart contracts, with lots of reality and zero hype. – Conference Chair Peter Harris”
16 additional presentations will be given in addition to the IBM keynote, with topics ranging from Bitcoin’s place in corporate and personal payment settings, Etherum involvement within Microsoft Azure, as well as Factom blockchain technology uses.
As Bitcoin and the block chain both become words that are spoken more often, it is good that we to see conferences like this one pop up with a focus on introducing new people to cryptocurrency technology, compared to conferences that focus solely on Bitcoin. If interested in signing up for the conference, the rate of the entrance is $ 495 online and $ 595 at the door.
Will you be attending? Which presentation are you most excited to hear about? Let us know in the comments below!
Images Courtesy of The Block Chain Conference.
The post SF Block Chain Conference by Lighthouse Partners to Feature More than Just Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
SF Block Chain Conference by Lighthouse Partners to Feature More than Just Bitcoin
Re: What if Bitcoin is made illegal? We must reject the illuminati takeover !
As long as no one owns the internet privately, they can't make bitcoin illegal. Besides, how can they make it illegal? They don't have power over it like with banks. That's the great part about bitcoin. It's freedom.
Bitcoin Forum
Re: What if Bitcoin is made illegal? We must reject the illuminati takeover !
IMF: Virtual Currencies and Their Underlying Technologies Can Provide Faster and Cheaper Financial Services
On January 20, 2016 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, during the panel on Transformation of Finance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a paper titled “Virtual Currencies and Beyond: Initial Considerations.”
“Virtual currencies and their underlying technologies can provide faster and cheaper financial services, and can become a powerful tool for deepening financial inclusion in the developing world,” said IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. “The challenge will be how to reap all these benefits and at the same time prevent illegal uses, such as money laundering, terror financing, fraud and even circumvention of capital controls.”
The paper is presented as a “Staff Discussion Note.” These documents showcase policy-related analysis and research being developed by IMF staff members and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate, with the disclaimer: “The views expressed in Staff Discussion Notes are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.” Plausible deniability all the way, but presenting the document at Davos seems to strongly suggest some degree of official support.
A key conclusion of the paper is that the distributed ledger concept has the potential to change finance by reducing costs and allowing for deeper financial inclusion in the longer run, states the IMF press release. This could be especially important for remittances, where transaction costs can be high, around 8 percent. Distributed ledgers can also shorten the time required to settle securities transactions, which currently take up to three days, as well as lower counterparty and settlement risks.
At the same time, notes the IMF paper, virtual currencies based on distributed ledger technology can also serve as vehicles for money laundering, terrorism financing and tax evasion. Achieving a balanced regulatory framework that guards against risks without suffocating innovation is a challenge that will require extensive international cooperation.
A conclusion of the IMF paper is that virtual currencies fall short of the legal concept of currency or money. While acknowledging that there is no generally accepted legal definition of currency or money, the authors note that both are associated with the power of the state to issue currency and regulate the monetary system.
Currently, according to the IMF, virtual currencies are unable to function as money because of the high price volatility, the relatively small size of the virtual economy, and the fact that virtual currencies are hardly being used as independent units of account in a closed-circuit economy. In fact, notes the report, the retailers who accept payment in virtual currency usually quote prices in fiat currency.
After a simplified explanation of distributed ledger technologies for virtual currencies, the paper focuses on regulatory issues.
“The potential for rapid change in the financial industry engendered by virtual currencies is a challenge for financial regulators and supervisors,” note the IMF authors, adding that the absence of effective regulations has contributed to both benefits and risks.
The IMF authors make a difference between cryptocurrencies and “legitimate” uses of the underlying distributed ledger technology: “The growing interest in blockchain technology, independent from a [virtual currency] scheme, a priori raises fewer policy concerns, because the technology would be used in a closed system administered by regulated financial institutions.”
While advocating regulation of virtual currencies, the paper acknowledges that there are unique regulatory challenges, including the fact that the geographically decentralized nature of virtual currency networks like Bitcoin doesn’t fit easily within traditional regulatory models based on local jurisdictions. Another challenge is the fact that the traceability of virtual currency transactions is is limited due to user anonymity and anonymizing service providers that obfuscate the transaction chain.
In fact, the push to increased regulation of virtual currencies is likely to be countered by the emergence of next-generation privacy-preserving digital currencies like Zcash.
The IMF paper concludes with a list of principles that could guide national authorities in further developing their regulatory responses. Besides the guidelines mentioned above, it’s worth noting that the IMF authors realize that new closed-circuit business models, where virtual money is re-used instead of exchanged for fiat, could escape regulations, and propose to extend regulations to wallet providers.
The IMF paper confirms two current trends: Virtual currencies based on distributed ledger technology are increasingly considered by top financial institutions as a necessary part of future mainstream fintech, and at the same time regulatory pressures are increasing.
Photo Mikhail Klimentyev / Creative Commons
The post IMF: Virtual Currencies and Their Underlying Technologies Can Provide Faster and Cheaper Financial Services appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.
IMF: Virtual Currencies and Their Underlying Technologies Can Provide Faster and Cheaper Financial Services
Why Buy #Bitcoin From These Guys?
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Why Buy #Bitcoin From These Guys?
Daily Bitcoin Price Analysis: A Short-Term Decline Or A Downtrend?
At the time of the release of macroeconomic data the Euro positions may straighten and place pressure on Dollar, which will fractionally strengthen Bitcoin.
CoinTelegraph.Com News
Daily Bitcoin Price Analysis: A Short-Term Decline Or A Downtrend?
Emercoin and First Bitcoin Capital Corp. Sign Strategic Evaluation Agreement
First Bitcoin Capital Corp (BITCF) has become the next ally after Microsoft (MSFT) to the Emercoin International Development Group.
CoinTelegraph.Com News
Emercoin and First Bitcoin Capital Corp. Sign Strategic Evaluation Agreement
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Amid Scaling Debate, Bitcoin Core Goes on Outreach Offensive
CoinDesk examines the current bitcoin scaling debate through the eyes of Bitcoin Core, the project’s main developer team.
CoinDesk
Amid Scaling Debate, Bitcoin Core Goes on Outreach Offensive
The Crypto Show with Travis Boyd of DaoWISP.io
We talk with Travis Boyd, creator of DaoWISP, about his vision of wireless ISPs and what role Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can play in that model.
DAOWISP is short for Decentralized Autonomous Organization of Wireless ISPs.
Travis has envisioned a network that automatically rewards participants with crypto for the amount of work contributed.
Original air date: January, 27, 2016 on the Logos Radio Network.
Links:
- http://TheCryptoShow.com
- http://FreeRoss.org
- http://Anarchapulco.com (coupon code: crypto)
- http://DaoWISP.io
The Let’s Talk Bitcoin Network
The Crypto Show with Travis Boyd of DaoWISP.io
OpenBazaar in Depth: Interview with COO Sam Patterson
With The launch of OpenBazaar and the d10e conference on the horizon, There’s been a lot of interest in decentralized commerce technologies. Here, we Interview Sam Patterson, the COO of OB1. This company funds the open source development of Openbazaar in part. I met Sam testing the development build on my Linux machine, after running a few testnet transactions and picking up a conversation about the current functionality of the system.
Also Read: Ayden Can Bring Bitcoin to Major Businesses Like Netflix and Uber
On the History of Openbazaar
Sam Patterson
What initially inspired the fork of DarkMarket in 2014?
Brian Hoffman forked the code, and as he’s talked about, he did it for a few reasons. First and foremost it was clear that DarkMarket wasn’t going to continue development. He reached out to them, and they told him that directly. Since he liked the project he wanted development to continue, so he forked it. He also felt that the focus of DarkMarket was too narrow and exclusionary. Brian felt that decentralized trade would be valuable for all types of trade, and didn’t want to focus on the “dark” labeling. So he changed the name to OpenBazaar.
How do you see OpenBazaar getting bitcoin closer to legitimate, small business?
We’ve had hundreds of individuals and small businesses reach out to us and ask to be vendors on the network when it launches. People are fed up with the high fees of eBay and other platforms, and many want to do more business in Bitcoin. The biggest advantage OpenBazaar has over other platforms for small businesses is the expense and the ease of use. It costs nothing to download, nothing to run (except electricity costs of your computer), nothing to list products, and there’s no percentage taken from each sale. There are services that you can pay for, such as dispute resolution or store hosting but those costs are optional and can be selected on an open marketplace. The ease of use is also important. Purchasing a domain and web hosting and then figuring out how to install Magento and the plugins to accept Bitcoin isn’t a cheap or simple process. With OpenBazaar, you download a file and open it, that’s it.
Moving Forward
Openbazaar’s P2P network allows true free trade in a secure and user friendly environment.
What can we expect from you guys at d10e? What about your side-event?
A group of our developers went to Europe in 2015 at the FOSDEM event in Brussels and presented OpenBazaar, and we were able to connect with lots of great people there. We hope our Amsterdam trip will do the same. We’re excited to present OpenBazaar to the decentralization community and get as many people on board as we can. Our event gives us the opportunity to have more time to present the current state of the project and take more in-depth questions, as well as letting members of the OpenBazaar ecosystem present what they are working on. We also plan to have a community coding session where we tackle OpenBazaar development together.
Openbazaar’s release target is early 2016. Can you give a smaller window at this point in development?
We’re not giving any specific dates. We don’t want to disappoint anyone; We will release it when it is ready. Since it’s open source, anyone can view the current state of the code on our Github repositories. You’ll notice that it’s already usable for most of what people need in an online marketplace. If you want to learn more, you can join our Slack group and ask to help test.
In it’s current state, the front-end app is very user-friendly. Will there be outreach to help incentivise early adoption?
We’ve spent a lot of time making OpenBazaar user-friendly. Lots of Bitcoin applications have the ability to do technically challenging (and valuable) things, but often have difficulty finding adoption because they are not easy to use. We will have materials ready at launch to help inform users (and developers) on how to use the platform, though we hope the design is intuitive enough that they mostly will not be needed. In the early stages of OpenBazaar, we will rely more on the Bitcoin community and word of mouth to promote adoption to ensure that people genuinely find it useful. We want to bring decentralized markets to the mainstream, and our first release is only the beginning of that process.
Your program is cross-platform and built on node.js; are there plans to port OpenBazaar to mobile?
Yes. OpenBazaar will be available on mobile eventually.
Bugs and Features
What weaknesses would you like to address in future versions of the software?
Existing centralized marketplaces like Amazon and eBay have had decades to build up an impressive suite of features for their users. Our first release has the advantage of 0% fees and using Bitcoin, but it will be a long time before we are as feature-rich as the big platforms. One of the weaknesses of the decentralized approach is the fact that if a store goes offline, it’s listings aren’t available to the rest of the network. We’re considering using IPFS or something similar to allow stores and listings to be cached and available offline.There are probably some weaknesses that we won’t even know about until we’re launched and have lots of people using it. We’ll be fixing those as they present themselves.
What other major features would you like to see come to OpenBazaar proper? What about point-of-sale integration? Payment processor hooks?
There are dozens of features that we’ve had to shelve to get the first release out and not be stuck in development forever. This isn’t a publish-and-done deal; we will be continually introducing new releases with new features after the initial release. The current developers aren’t the only people building on OpenBazaar either. We’re excited to see what other people build using the protocol and network.
Are there plans to support altcoins in future builds?
No specific plans. Ideally, any altcoin with multisig could be used, but in the current design, it’s Bitcoin-only.
As OpenBazaar matures, my personal use of the early builds inspires a lot of confidence. I encourage anyone interested in bitcoin commerce to take a look on release. Success in decentralized services outside of Cryptocurrency are testaments to not only the value of Bitcoin but the Blockchain model and to the effectiveness of empowering individuals to act on their own. Bitcoin is open source in nature and the more open solutions that bring it into the hands of the average person, the better.
Will you try OpenBazaar out on release? Be sure to let us know in the comments!
Images Courtesy of OB1, P2P Foundation
The post OpenBazaar in Depth: Interview with COO Sam Patterson appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
OpenBazaar in Depth: Interview with COO Sam Patterson
State of Bitcoin and Blockchain 2016: Blockchain Hits Critical Mass
CoinDesk’s 2016 State of Bitcoin and Blockchain report summarizes key trends, data and events from 2015 and includes predictions for 2016.
CoinDesk
State of Bitcoin and Blockchain 2016: Blockchain Hits Critical Mass
Bitcoin is it going to be up or down at end of the day?
The trend is up but there is a lot of uncertainty out there. Buy low sell high is a common tack for most of the bitcoin brokers out there or anyone who brokers anything actually. If you are ready to jump in on the bitcoin train then be sure to check out this pro bitcoin exchange broker. They are the best in the bitcoin business. Click here.
Bitcoin is it going to be up or down at end of the day?
AMD Launches GPUOpen: Potentially Huge Boon for Cryptocurrency
January 28, 2016 — This Tuesday, AMD launched GPUopen, a suite of MIT-licensed development tools for graphics and GPGPU applications. GPGPU is integral to making mining hardware profitable for many cryptocurrencies, and with the upcoming launch of Vulkan and the recent Hack of AMD’s GCN architecture, many interesting possibilities for the Mining and Cryptocurrency communities present themselves.
Also Read: Bank of England Considers Distributed Ledger Technology To Revamp UK Financial Infrastructure
The Trouble with GPGPU
We’ve found ourselves in a strange transitional period for both cryptocurrency and the hardware that makes it possible. Debates rage around the direction bitcoin can (or should) go. A bevy of new altcoins are coming into their own, and GPGPU hardware has reached a point of stagnation as major hardware manufacturers refine their newest architectures.
Successful decentralized services rely heavily on open source development and distribution, a concept markedly foreign to AMD and Nvidia when it comes to the software they provide for their cards. Nvidia’s CUDA was choked out of the cryptocurrency market as a standard for this reason. Thus far we’ve been limited from both a performance and development standpoint by the opacity of the closed drivers, only able to interface with GPGPU hardware via the provided SDKs. This introduces overhead, inefficiencies, and inconsistent performance where there needn’t be because developers can’t see what’s going on inside the driver binaries, or “blobs.”
GPUOpen Brings Transparency to the Table
The options outside of the manufacturer provided ones weren’t great for a long time. You could hack the binary drivers to uncover direct hardware access like Tomasz Stachowiak did for GCN, but you can’t ship finished code with these implementations because of all the legal trouble it’ll get you in. You could also use open source drivers, but up to this point they perform badly compared to the closed versions and have little to no support for GPGPU. GPUOpen turns this Paradigm on its head. It provides support and tools for OpenCL implementations on the open source AMD driver, enabling developers to get closer to the inner workings of the cards they’re writing applications for. This means improvements in a lot of areas down the road for AMD support, but it should be of particular interest to Cryptocurrency miners, because it means hashing overhead could come down and compute efficiency may very well rise, and all of this is happening for GCN hardware, which has been the miner’s GPU architecture of choice for some time now, given it’s OpenCL performance.
There’s one package from GPUOpen that should give the Crypto community pause: The ROCK open-source kernel driver. It allows more direct hardware access than one can achieve with the proprietary driver, and its liberal license means there are tremendous opportunities for permutation and optimization. In addition, development on the open source driver will push improvements for the open-source software stack, leading to stability and performance improvements comparable to what we see in the proprietary Catalyst driver, possibly replacing it on Unix-based systems. With Vulkan intended to replace OpenGL in the near future, having a solid open-source codebase to work from in case OpenCL stagnates or standards change is invaluable.
So what does this all mean in the context of the Cryptocurrency community? Well, Developing mining applications and setting up direct-compute proof of work just became a lot easier, a viable open source driver has come into play that lets developers see what the hardware is doing, which means lower overhead and faster hashing, as well as more granular control of compatibility and settings for the end user. There’s a lot to be unsure of moving forward into the new year, but a lot of it should be exciting for those that use or are interested in blockchain technology.
How do you think GPUOpen will affect Blockchain development? Let us know in the comments!
Images courtesy of Wikimedia commons, Vulkan Group
The post AMD Launches GPUOpen: Potentially Huge Boon for Cryptocurrency appeared first on Bitcoinist.net.
AMD Launches GPUOpen: Potentially Huge Boon for Cryptocurrency
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