Coin News

Venture capitalist Tim Draper has been talking up Bitcoin for months now. On Friday, he beat out all of the other bidders on 30,000 Silk Road Bitcoin auctioned off by Federal Marshals.

Lighthouse, a decentralized crowdfunding platform for bitcoin projects, is expected to launch in August.

Within the last six months bitcoin has been steadily increasing its mainstream process. Stores like Overstock, Lord & Taylor, TigerDirect, Virgin Galactic and earlier this week NewEgg all are now accepting the digital currency. But, after it was announced that Dish Network would be accepting bitcoins, the future's looking brighter.

Expedia's Michael Gulmann talks to CoinDesk about the company's plans for expanding its bitcoin payment services.

Stocks went nowhere on the last full trading ahead of the holiday-shortened week, but by virtue of closing with gains, the Dow and S&P 500 each made new all-time closing highs.

First, the scoreboard

• Dow: 16,970.93, +15, (+0.1%)
• S&P 500: 1,973.62, +0.3, (+0.01%)
• Nasdaq: 4,454.39, -4.2, (-0.1%)

And now, the top stories of the day:

1) ADP said private payrolls climbed 281,000, the biggest increase since November 2012. Economists were expected additions of 205,000, up from May's gain of 179,000. Following the report, Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macro said, "In one line: Looks great but ADP's predictive powers are very limited." Shepherdson added that, "Still, this is a bigger rebound than we expected. It does not change our payroll forecast, though, which remains at a decent but unspectacular 200K. We worry that the seasonal factors in the official data — which are entirely separate from those used by ADP — were too generous in June last year and will now correct. Any hit will be temporary, though; the labor market is improving steadily despite the short-term noise." Following the report, Chris Rupkey at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi said, "The economy has big momentum going for it now as uncertainty over the outlook diminishes."

2) U.S. factory orders for May fell 0.5%, worse than expectations for a decline of 0.3%. This was the final economic data report before the jobs report, set for release at 8:30 am EST tomorrow morning. At the same time as the jobs report, we'll also get weekly initial jobless claims and the balance of trade report for May. 

3) Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen spoke in front of the IMF in Washington, and said she sees, "pockets of increased risk-taking across the financial system." Among other things, BI's Rob Wile noted that Yellen said, "credit levels do not suggest borrowers are taking on excessive debt, and that improved capital and liquidity positions at lending institutions should ensure resilience against potential losses due to their exposures." Yellen also said that monetary policy faces limitations as a tool used to promote financial stability. 

4) In corporate news, Tyson Foods and Hillshire Brands reached a definitive merger agreement under which Tyson will acquire Hillshire for $8.55 billion, or $63 per share. The agreement also includes Tyson paying $163 million to Pinnacle Foods as part of that company's dissolved merger agreement with Hillshire.

5) GoPro lost more than 12%, the first negative day for the wearable camera maker since its debut last Thursday. The tumble in GoPro comes after yesterday the stock traded above $48, or more than double its $24 IPO price. Karl Loomes, a market analyst with SunGard's Astec Analytics, said data showed that short sellers are beginning to circle GoPro. Loomes noted that most all of the shares available for borrow to be shorted have been spoken for. 

6) On Friday, the government auctioned off 30,000 Bitcoins, which were all purchased by legendary VC investor Tim Draper. At current Bitcoin prices of around $640, Draper's haul is worth about $19 million. 

7) A new research note from Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas said that despite its massive recalls, General Motors sales have been increasing because, Parker writes, dealers flooded with customers bringing in recalled cars have lead to new sales when there normally wouldn't be. 

Don't Miss: This Man Says He's Building The 'Healthcare Internet' And He's Started A Huge Controversy On Wall Street »

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This is a guest post by Richard Boarse. A Bitcoin millionaire from Monaco who recently posted a bounty on Reddit for $100,000 for a proposal that could replace the Bitcoin Foundation has announced Mike Hearn’s Lighthouse initiative as the winner of $40,000, with a further $50,000 pledged to any developers who put significant work into the development of the protocol itself on the Lighthouse platform. Janssen has also offered the remaining $10,000 as a runner’s-up prize to Casey Kuhlman and Dennis McKinnon for their Project Douglas/ERIS platform, the first legally structured DAO which runs on the Ethereum test-net. Janssen said: “First of all I want to thank everyone for their submissions, ideas and positive feedback.  There were a lot of great […]

The post Bitcoin Millionaire Announces the Winner of His $100k Bounty appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire has said Bitcoin’s core development needs to be a more open process.

Privacy International's deputy director, Eric King, has told Forbes that a new battle in the courts against Britain's GCHQ is indicative of a fightback from internet providers.

The Bank of Russia issued new statements suggesting it is still evaluating its treatment of bitcoin and digital currencies.

Olivier Janssens ha anunciado por fin quien es el ganador de la recompensa que propuso hace un mes y medio. Entonces quiso premiar a aquel equipo que fuese capaz de producir una plataforma que sustituyese a la Fundación Bitcoin. Hoy ha sido anunciado que el proyecto dirigido por Mike Hearn, Lighthouse, será quien consiga la […]

The post Lighthouse consigue la recompensa de casi 100.000 dólares de Olivier Janssens appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Back in May, Olivier Janssens posted a bounty for software that would replace the Bitcoin Foundation. Lighthouse, led by Mike Hearn, was awarded the $90,000 bounty on Wednesday. Lighthouse is a crowdfunding platform designed by Bitcoin core developer Mike Hearn. It runs over the blockchain. Think of Kickstarter, but decentralized and funded by Bitcoin. Hearn […]

The post Mike Hearn’s Lighthouse Wins Bitcoin Foundation Replacement Bounty appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

When the FBI shut down illegal online marketplace the Silk Road, it seized a stash of 30,000 bitcoin from the underground website and announced plans to auction the supply off. This week, venture capitalist and would-be California-splitter-upper Tim Draper won all of it, gaining an estimated $17.7 million in illicit cryptocurrency.

Read more...

The nearly 30,000 bitcoins auctioned off by the U.S. Marshals Service last week will be put to use building digital currency businesses outside of the United States. The bitcoins are part of a massive cache of digital currency seized by the feds in connection with last year’s bust of the Silk Road online drug marketplace. […]

Lamassu's new open-source software lets operators provide remittance services and bill payments via their machines.

Claiming to be the island's first cryptocurrency exchange, CoinCorner lets users buy and sell bitcoin, and trade several altcoins.

Claiming to be the island's first cryptocurrency exchange, CoinCorner lets users buy and sell bitcoin, and trade several altcoins.

Litecoin is experiencing its biggest price slump ever, less than two months after it effectively parted ways with bitcoin.

Litecoin is experiencing its biggest price slump ever, less than two months after it effectively parted ways with bitcoin.

 According to bitcoin exchange Vaurum founder Avish Bhama, VC Tim Draper won all 30,000 BTC in the recent government auction. It is believed he paid above the current market rate for BTC. The price of one BTC is now up $5 to $645. Draper and Bhama intend to use the hoard to allow emerging markets to buy and use bitcoin in lieu of their own fiat currencies, thereby assisting in bitcoin liquidity. Read More

 One of the amusing things about the fast-maturing Bitcoin ecosystem is how the better-funded startups in the space are offering products that increasingly resemble services proffered by banks, the very entities they arguably are trying to disrupt. With Bitcoin, transactions can be handled anonymously and irreversibly without the need for a third-party mediator. Yet that ability also has… Read More

The cryptocurrency exchange is saying it has fully reimbursed all affected customers since it suffered an attack in March.

Social Media that Pays Users in Bitcoin On February 1st of this year, Film Annex announced that it would be the first website in the world to pay its users in Bitcoin. The social media platform has over 300,000 registered users in 245 different countries worldwide. Users are rewarded Bitcoin for creating content such as films, blogs and images. Content creators are measured by the Buzz Score, an algorithm that measures the impact and quality of the content provided. Users are then financially rewarded in bitcoin based on their personal Buzz Score. Francesco Rulli, an Italian businessman and philanthropist, founded Film Annex in 2006. It was very difficult and costly to pay users from 245 different countries. Bitcoin simplifies the payout […]

The post Social Media that Pays in Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Tim Draper, Founder and Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, won U.S. Marshals’ Bitcoin auction. Since the news came out earlier today that there was only one winner of the auction, there have been many speculated guesses on who that winner was. Tim Draper was probably not one of the options for the many speculators. […]

The post Bitcoin Auction was won by venture capitalist Tim Draper and Varum appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Our family is now on Day Nine of our cross country Bitcoin-only tour and we have used various Bitcoin friendly services to book our hotel rooms. The first service we used was Gyft to purchase globalhotelcard.com gift cards. We booked our hotels in Baton Rouge and Atlanta this way without a hitch. The payment confirmed instantly and our hotel room was ready for us upon arrival. The third night we decided to use Expedia because we heard they recently started accepting Bitcoin on their site. We found an affordable room and paid with bitcoin through Coinbase. We waited for a confirmation but nothing happened. We called the hotel to see if they received confirmation of our itinerary and they said […]

The post Our Nightmarish Experience Using Bitcoin on Expedia appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

VC Tim Draper has been revealed as the winning bidder for all 29,656 bitcoins in the USMS auction.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Organizers of the Cryptolina Bitcoin Expo announced today that world renowned venture capitalist Adam Draper will be addressing attendees and providing advice to local startups and aspiring entrepreneurs at the event. Draper is a fourth generation venture investor who mentors startups and has invested in leading companies such as Coinbase and Practice Fusion. Draper […]

The post Boost VC Adam Draper to Address Raleigh Bitcoin Conference (Press Release) appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

The new account offers additional security features for storing large amounts of bitcoin aimed at high net-worth customers.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 2, 2014 Contact: John Bush, Uncoinventional Tour [email protected] (512) 773-6102 Www.uncoinventional.com Www.sovereignbtc.com Nikhil Chand, Founder, CoinNEO [email protected] (216) 202-0423 www.coinneo.com www.bitcoinboulevard.us “Uncoinventional” Family on Bitcoin Only Cross Country Tour to Visit Ohio’s Bitcoin Boulevard A family of four has finished their first two weeks of Bitcoin-only travel. Tonight they will arrive in Cleveland Heights, OH to shop and eat at Bitcoin friendly establishments on Bitcoin Boulevard (www.bitcoinboulevard.us). The founder of Bitcoin Boulevard US, Nikhil Chand, says “Attracting Bitcoin tourism is one of our primary goals for Bitcoin Boulevard US, especially for travelers driving through Cleveland via I-90. We are delighted to host Catherine and John’s family during their journey across the US, and are sure they […]

The post “Uncoinventional” Family on Bitcoin Only Cross Country Tour to Visit Ohio’s Bitcoin Boulevard appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Legendary VC Tim Draper has announced he won each of the nearly 30,000 Bitcoins the government  auctioned off Friday.  

In a post on Medium.com, Vaurum, a Bitcoin exchange, said Draper was partnering with it to "provide bitcoin liquidity in emerging markets."

Draper's investments have included Skype, Hotmail, Tesla, Baidu, Theranos, Athenahealth, Solar City, Box.

Here's Draper's statement:

Bitcoin frees people from trying to operate in a modern market economy with weak currencies. With the help of Vaurum and this newly purchased bitcoin, we expect to be able to create new services that can provide liquidity and confidence to markets that have been hamstrung by weak currencies.

Of course, no one is totally secure in holding their own country’s currency. We want to enable people to hold and trade bitcoin to secure themselves against weakening currencies.”

Prices were hovering around $640.

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The Winklevoss twins have filed an update with the SEC that reveals several new facts about their ETF.

Jeremy Allaire, fondateur et président de Circle, une entreprise spécialisée dans les services financiers bitcoin basée à Boston, parle de l’enchère des bitcoins de Silk Road et partage son point de vue sur la reconnaissance de la crypto-monnaies par les gouvernements et institutions bancaires.  Dans un entretien avec le Wall Street Journal, Jeremy Allaire de Circle […]

The post Jeremy Allaire de Circle parle des enchères des bitcoins de Silk Road et de la reconnaissance de la crypto-monnaie par les Etats appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Security concerns have many Bitcoin users feeling uneasy in recent weeks after learning the new Coinbase iOS app wasn’t developed by Coinbase. Instead, the app was introduced by a third-party developer not directly affiliated with the company. Though the app carries the Coinbase name and logo, users are skeptical of its origins and security standards. The […]

The post Coinbase iOS App Strikes Sour Chord Among Users appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

 The US Marshals announced they have sold 30,000 BTC to an anonymous bidder. The auction took place on June 27 and the highest bidder won all 30 blocks of 1,000 bitcoins. Comically, the sender of a an email to those involved in the auction disclosed all the bidders last week, making it clear that a number of big players, including Barry Silbert of SecondMarket and Bitcoin Investment Trust,… Read More

One of Korea's 'big three' online payment processors allows bitcoin as an option for over 10,000 websites internationally.

Somebody just bought a whole heck of a lot of bitcoins. Last week, the U.S Marshals’ Service auctioned off 29,656.5 bitcoins it had seized from the Silk Road, the online illicit drug marketplace the feds shutdown this past fall, and on Tuesday, the service said it has moved all those bitcoins—the equivalent of about $19 […]

The former Bitcoin Foundation vice-chairman and CEO of BitInstant is doing speaking engagements, consulting, and building new business--so long as he and his electronic-monitoring device are home by 9 p.m.

BitPay's latest contribution to bitcoin's infrastructure, BitAuth, finds the company tackling digital identity with bitcoin technology.

Bitcoin, the preferred currency of hackers, fraudsters, and e-based ruffians everywhere, is now being extorted right in your own backyard—from your local pizza joint, specifically. Now the owners just need to figure out what a bitcoin actually is.

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