Coin News

CAVirtex, Canada’s largest and oldest Bitcoin online exchange, is facing a class action lawsuit to the tune of $884,880 CAD. The alleged losses were incurred by the lawsuit-bringers after the company offered 10% of its shares for sale on the crypto currency-based asset exchange, Havelock Investments then stopped listing the stock by the end of 2013. […]

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There’s a vicious, global economic war raging and its outcome will be determinative for the destiny of humanity, and necessarily, also for Bitcoin. That sounds melodramatic, but it’s true. You don’t have to take my word for it. Warren Buffett, multi-billionaire and fourth richest man in the world, recently stated: “Through the tax code, there has been class warfare waged, and my class has won. It’s been a rout.” The economic warfare is positively vicious. “Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. “ And 80% live on less than $10 per day. Indeed, in the aggregate, the 67 wealthiest people in the world, of whom Warren Buffett is number three, […]

Bitcoin exchange Kraken has announced it will once again allow USD deposits as it shifts its focus to Europe.

Two of the most major Norwegian banks have announced to the public that they will no longer service Bitcoin companies. The “Bitcoin chill” in Norway has caused Norwegian Bitcoin exchange, Justcoin, to close their doors. Justcoin also suffered a Ripple hack earlier this month after a Ripple feature was improperly implemented by the exchange. Both […]

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Two of the most major Norwegian banks have announced to the public that they will no longer service Bitcoin companies. The “Bitcoin chill” in Norway has caused Norwegian Bitcoin exchange, Justcoin, to close their doors. Justcoin also suffered a Ripple hack earlier this month after a Ripple feature was improperly implemented by the exchange. Both […]

The post Norwegian Banks Say No to Bitcoin Businesses; Justcoin Exchange Closes appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Arthur Levitt, former Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will serve as advisor to Bitpay and Vaurum. Levitt, the longest serving Chairman of the SEC, will work closely with both companies to monitor business practices as well as help develop new ways to market and refine this new form of currency. He […]

The post Former SEC Chairman Will Serve as Advisor to Two Bitcoin Companies appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Something strange happened early Tuesday morning when Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a response to a Wall Street Journal article that raised some questions about Tesla sales.

The WSJ story was about a new Tesla leasing deal, but reporters Mark Ramsey and John D. Stoll also noted that Tesla's U.S. sales, at 10,335 vehicles, are down 26% through September, compared with the same period in 2013.

For what it's worth, at the beginning of September, TheStreet tabulated exactly the same percentage decline for just the first half of 2014

The WSJ also cited WardsAuto data that indicates the sales decline occurred even as Tesla production has increased 10% since the beginning of the year.

And the WSJ quoted a WardsAuto analysts who said that the drop in Tesla sales could be chalked up to "temporarily satiated" demand for the "niche" Model S.

But Musk took to Twitter to disagree — September sales are up 65%, he tweeted. Tesla sales for September 2014 have been estimated at 2,500, a big month for the carmaker. September 2013 sales likely came in around 1,500 which was consistent with Tesla's sales pace for the year.

Article in @WSJ re Tesla sales is incorrect. September was a record high WW and up 65% year-over-year in North America.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2014

Tesla reports earnings for the third quarter next month, so we should get more clarity on these issues, as Musk is typically forthcoming with analysts when asked about sales and production data.

But here's where the weird stuff comes in. Tesla Model S production is behind where it might have been at this point because the company shut down production at its Fremont, Calif. factory for two weeks to retool the assembly line to build the Model X SUV, due out next year. Tesla has acknowledged this — the carmaker anticipates that it will deliver about 2,000 fewer cars in the third quarter than it would have without the shutdown (this Forbes post breaks down the numbers).

Tesla takes a $2,500 deposit for every Model S that a customer orders for sale or lease. At the moment, you have to wait until December to get your car, if you order it today. When Tesla delivers the car, they book the sale (in the case of the lease, it books the revenue all at once, by the way, as Tesla is paid in full by a bank that manages the payments). And even though the company should produce a bit more than 26,000 Model S sedans through the third quarter, it won't be able to deliver them all.

These numbers, by the way, are for all Tesla production, some of which is destined for other markets, such as Europe and Asia.

Overall, Tesla is aiming to sell 35,000 Model S's in 2014. The WSJ reports that half of those sales should be in the U.S. — and that this could create a problem: "Tesla would have to sell about 17,500 models in the U.S. At its current sales pace, the auto maker will miss that target by a wide margin—and will have to double its sales pace to hit its goal."

However, if you review the numbers on a quarter-by-quarter basis and look ahead to the end of the year, Tesla has said it can deliver 6,600 cars by the end of the year. So in the U.S., Tesla could conceivably miss its 2014 sales goal by several thousand cars.

But the point is that even if Tesla does miss its U.S. sales target, it should still be able to produce the cars. And because they're pre-ordered, the car deliveries will come in the first quarter of 2015.

Tesla's sales pace actually seems fine, as long as Tesla continues to sell cars at a rate that mirrors a 2014 monthly production output of around 700 cars (and that's supposed to increase next year). Ultimately, this looks more like an accounting debate embedded in a story about leasing — not a verdict on whether Tesla can build and sell its cars.

But what about flagging demand? Musk actually addressed this issue directly, during Tesla's second-quarter earnings call. He's worried about demand, but not in the way one might think — as he told Goldman Sachs' Patrick Archaumbault:

We can drive demand up at will. But if drive it up too much, then people would get upset with us because they waited too long for their car....[W]hen I was visiting in China, the only unhappiness I saw was...because customers were upset about waiting too long for their car. So it's like, boy, we better not stoke demand in that situation.

Tesla doesn't really seem to be having any trouble finding people who want to buy its cars. The trouble is more with being able to produce and deliver the cars on a schedule that matches what a customer might expect from an established automaker. 

As for the car being a "niche" product, no one disputes that. The Model S is a $100,000 luxury sedan. Its contribution to Tesla's sales could flatten at some point, but that's why Musk wants to bring a cheaper, mass-market car — the Model 3 — to market by 2017. 

There is a theory that Model S demand is tapped out domestically and that Tesla has been looking to markets outside the U.S. to find new customers. But doing that makes good business sense, if you look at the Model S as a luxury car and incorporate robust estimates for new-market growth in that segment. General Motors is trying to capitalize on this with Cadillac in China, and Ford is reviving its Lincoln brand largely to have a luxury product to sell in the Middle Kingdom. 

It goes without saying that all the European luxury carmakers — Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Ferrari — are all eyeing developing markets, as well.

The little dustup between Musk and Journal does highlight two things. 

First, it's difficult to sort out what's really going on with Tesla because the carmaker doesn't act like other auto companies, reporting sales on a monthly basis. 

Second, because Tesla only has one production facility, any changes to the assembly line will send ripples through the startup's system. Customers should understand this.

You could say that there's even a third issue: Everyone is watching Tesla's — and Musk's — every move. The upcoming earnings call is going to be interesting, unless Musk jumps in and provides more detail, either on the Tesla blog or Twitter, a platform he's clearly mastered. 

SEE ALSO: ELON MUSK: The Wall Street Journal Is Wrong About Tesla Sales

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Bitcoin is largely still a tool of the relatively privileged. So how do we level the playing field?

Many in the Bitcoin community are very impatient. Some “early adopters” want the world to accept “The Future of Money” now, for many reasons. One is they would love to see their precious Bitcoin go from $350 USD to $10,000 USD in a year, like some penny stock they’ve nurtured into maturity. Another is many […]

The post Why You Can’t Bank with Bitcoin – Yet appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

This article was published when the price for one bitcoin was $361.83 or €286.28 on bitcoinaverage. Have you been thinking, “What should I do with all of my bitcoin?” or “I am sick of living in the United States. What are my options?” I’ve contacted a few folks listing their million dollar properties on BitPremier and compiled this list. Trust me. A million dollars only “seems” like a lot of money until you’ve seen these homes. Orcas Island, Washington, US https://www.bitpremier.com/5-real-estate/1430-orcas-island-estate Ƀ2,759.153 $1,000,000.00 I’ve traveled to this area in 2006 and visited Whidbey Island for a wine tasting at Pasek Cellars. Island life is much slower paced than what goes on in Seattle, which is the closest city to the east of the Orcas. The […]

The appointment of a long-serving former SEC chairman could signal a new era for bitcoin compliance and acceptance.

The publication of the long-awaited sidechains whitepaper last week and the Reddit AMA with its authors took the Bitcoin world by storm and generated significant enthusiasm. At the same time, the whitepaper is quite technical and not easy to understand without a careful study, and most of the questions and answers on Reddit were deeply […]

The post A Simple Explanation of the Awesomeness of Bitcoin Sidechains appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

In one of the most sinister Bitcoin-related blackmail schemes to date, an as yet unidentified group of individuals has threatened to spread Ebola in the Czech Republic unless they receive their ransom demand of one million euros in Bitcoin. It may sound like a Tom Clancy novel or an episode of 24, but in this […]

The post Blackmailers to Czech Republic: Give Us Bitcoin or We Give You Ebola appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

BitPay has announced an open-source project called Foxtrot – "simple and secure routing based on bitcoin cryptography".

Bitcoin is a competitive business. Due to its decentralized nature, it has attracted a libertarian culture prone to individualistic thinking, which–while great for producing efficiency internally–can make it difficult to present a cohesive image as a community, and gather the necessary support for large-scale projects. The Vancouver Bitcoin community hopes to change that with Startup Weekend. We’ve created a Bitcoin Block for sponsorship purposes: all of our donations are pooled together, in an attempt to compete with larger corporate sponsors and reach a higher sponsorship tier (we’re currently 3 spots behind TD Bank). All Bitcoin donations sent to 19ZsPXZGZXSkQ6yTqJqWKfSrLRQjy6TNNg count towards our total. For the uninitiated: Startup Weekend is a non-profit registered in the United States that organizes 54-hour events for startup […]

Trucoin, which lets users buy bitcoin with cards, is to expand its US services to more than 30 states.

One of the few wallet offering advanced security features has made its official appearance into the official “unstable” repository of the popular Linux distribution Debian. What is Armory? First, let’s quote the great introduction wrote by Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin when he reviewed the wallet two years ago: “Armory is the most advanced and secure Bitcoin […]

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Six Exciting New Features and Free Brokerage from now until November 1, 2014 Coinarch has just added six new features to its bitcoin trading platform. Co Founder, Mark Hergott, commented saying, “these features will make it really simple for traders whilst giving them flexibility and complete control.  Previously, users would have to unwind their trade in US dollars, however our changes mean they will now get to choose between bitcoin or US dollars, fundamentally saving the trader time and money”. Features include: Move to a brokerage model, providing tighter spreads across the platform so profits are made from smaller moves Reduced Booster fees charged every six hours meaning traders only pay for the time their positions are open  Initial period charge based on time remaining in period rather than the full […]

Last week, a UK High Court judge granted Syscoin’s emergency injunction against Moopay LTD and former CEO Ryan Kennedy (also known as Alex Green). On Monday, the High Court granted the final injunction and served it to Moolah. According to the Order, Moolah has until October 28 to return the 750 bitcoins Moolah was holding […]

The post United Kingdom Judge Orders Bitcoin Exchange Moolah to Repay Syscoin’s Escrow Fund appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Hundreds of Bitcoin companies that have released unregistered securities on Counterparty, Cryptostocks have been sent inquiry letters by the SEC. The SEC is asking these Bitcoin companies to voluntarily hand over any documentation that they have regarding their unregistered securities offering. Many Bitcoin companies have been anticipating such action from the SEC and have the […]

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