Coin News

The price of Bitcoin has taken bit of a dive over the last couple of days, shedding over 20 percent of its value in the last 24 hours. The sell-off, like other sell-offs and rallies before it, draws a lot of attention and questions about what it means for the future of the technology. Here's why I don't focus on price much.

The post The Price of Bitcoin Doesn’t Matter Right Now appeared first on WIRED.

The US Marshals Service has revealed it expects its next bitcoin auction to take place in Q1 of 2015.

Predictably, negativity in regards to Bitcoin is gaining traction as the fiat valuation of it loses the same, and Erik Voorhees, the man behind Coinapult and SatoshiDice you may remember from The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin, has (generously) taken the time to respond to a particularly denigrating article in mainstream website the Daily Dot’s […]

The post Erik Voorhees: “Bitcoin is Ultimately a Battle of Ideas.” appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

The House of Representatives voted 271-154 today today amend the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law, and in particular, to postpone implementation of the Volcker Rule.

The House Financial Services Committee debated the proposed legislation for two hours last night and at least another hour this morning before voting. Last week, Republicans attempted to fast-track the legislation's 11 provisions, but failing to win the two-thirds of votes needed, they reintroduced it under regular timetable this week.

The Volcker Debate

Many Democrats, including Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, took issue with an amendment that would allow banks to wait until 2019 to comply with the "Volcker Rule," as it relates to collateralized loan obligations. 

A Dodd-Frank provision, the Volcker Rule prohibits banks from trading high-risk securities known as collateralized-debt obligations, or CLOs. (Current legislation requires banks to adopt the measure by 2017.)

According to Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)'s team, "CLOs provide nearly $300 billion in financing to U.S. companies and the legislation will prevent a 'fire-sale' of CLOs."

They describe the rest of the legislation as "relief" to the "growing regulatory burden on Main Street businesses."

But many Democrats disagree.

"Somehow, Wall Street bankers – the supposedly smartest people in the room – can't seem to comply with a law passed in 2010 by, that's right, 2017," said Rep. Waters during last night's debate.

Last month, Rep. Waters and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) fought to block Dodd-Frank amendments negotiated into the 2015 spending bill that would allow banks to trade potentially risky derivatives rather than "pushing out" that activity to affiliates. (Unlike the big banks, the affiliates aren't underwritten by the federal government.)

Though the legislation was brought before the House, not the Senate, today, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) had this to say:

Rolling back protections that safeguard against practices that nearly crippled our economy creates unnecessary risks for taxpayers and investors. It’s time the House advance legislation in the interest of Main Street, rather than Wall Street.

Not Yet Law

Today's bill passed with a number of Democrat votes. And, as bill sponsor Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) noted, many of the provisions had already been approved in individual committees or passed in the House during the last Congress.

"All of these bills have Democrat and Republican cosponsors, all of them have gained Democrat and Republican support in the committee and on the floor of the House, and these bills should pass," he said during last night's debate.

But, while the House has approved the legislation, it is not yet law. In a statement on Monday, the White House suggested that President Obama would likely veto the legislation:

The President has been clear about his opposition to legislation that would weaken and undermine the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ... The Administration has significant concerns with provisions that would undermine the Volcker Rule ... The Administration also has concerns with other provisions that would roll back important derivatives reforms ... If the President were presented with H.R. 37 [the most recently-proposed amendments to the Dodd-Frank law], his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.

Which would make this entire thing a massive waste of time.

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Bitcoin prices have dropped sharply in the past few days, with the currency losing nearly a third of its value as of this writing and down nearly half since the New Year. At these prices, multiple cloud mining operations are going to be running at a loss, no matter what

 You can purchase a bitcoin for just over $185 at the moment, a price that is down nearly 8 percent in the last hour, and 46.7 percent in the last month. Of course, you can pick any price timeframe you want, but it’s fair to say that bitcoin’s dollar value has had a rough time of it in recent days. Read More

As the bitcoin price plummeted today, notable figures from within the bitcoin community took to Twitter to share perspectives on the decline.

 BTC value fell below the $200 mark for a brief period overnight, a move that is causing many Bitcoin bulls a bit of concern. The currency has been falling steadily since the holiday and is now at or below the levels set when BTC exchange Mt.Gox imploded. It is currently at $186.53 and relatively stable. However, that price is a far cry from the heady $1,000 days of late 2013, a price that I… Read More

Turtle Rock Studios wants $60. This shouldn't be surprising: $60 is the going rate for a modern AAA game, and Turtle Rock is making one, namely, Evolve, its upcoming 4 v 1 asymmetrical shooter. Their only problem is that they don't want to have to wait until they've actually made a game to get your $60, which just sounds like a pain. So they've cooked up a little pre-purchase bonus, wherein you can skip all of the normal progression mechanics in the game and unlock some top characters right off the bat. It comes with the tacit implication that everyone who doesn't pre-purchase the game is playing a more boring, or, at least, less fun version of the game, but if we need to cripple games to incentivize pre-ordering, than so be it. It's like F2P, minus the F.

Cointerra, a Bitcoin mining company, based in Utah, is shutting down operations as they work with lenders on a potential restructuring of it financing, according to CEO Ravi Iyengar. This action has led Cointerra to be in default of its senior notes obligations. The loans are currently secured by the operational mining equipment at multiple […]

The post Cointerra Cloud Mining Goes Into Default; Sued by C7 appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Times just got even tougher for the fledgling cryptocash

You'd think that a collapsing rouble, plunging oil prices and with trade sanctions at every turn, Russia would have more important things to deal with than Bitcoin. That's why it's such a surprise to see the nation's equivalent of the FCC banning fiv...

WAToday reports that Bitcoin is a speedy and cheap solution to “avoid being gouged by brutal online banking costs” when sending money across borders. The article sites an unusual case in which Crystal Fong, 29, an entrepreneur on travel from Australia to Tokyo found herself in a prickly situation. Both her debit cards (from 2 different […]

The post Andorra to Zimbabwe – Bitcoin Ends Brutal Price Gouging on Global Payments appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

The Bitcoin Foundation has announced that it will hold the first of a series of roundtable discussions for developers in Boston next month.

 With an eye toward making blockchain technology easy to integrate into any application, BlockCypher has raised $3 million in its first round of financing. The financing comes amid a steep slide in Bitcoin pricing over the past year, which has stymied some of the enthusiasm in the market. Read More

As bitcoin plunges below $200, exchange volume orders have surged, making it the busiest day for exchanges since last November.

Bitcoin scams are back. CryptoDouble, a website founded on the promise of doubling its users’ deposits within 100 hours, ceased all its operations. At least 2233 BTC (about $500,000) have been cashed out on BTC-E, leaving thousands of customers out of pocket. The service gained a significant popularity on Bitcointalk, where customers first testified about […]

The post Bitcoin Ponzi CryptoDouble Disappears With At Least 2233 Bitcoins appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

The price of Bitcoin is continuing to crash, dropping as low as $173 early Wednesday, according to stats from CoinDesk. It's down from around $244 just a day before, a drop of nearly 30%. At the time of writing, the price continued to fluctuate around the $200-mark. 

The virtual currency is looking increasingly beleaguered, and its price had been dropping steadily in recent months. At the start of 2014, Bitcoin was trading at as much as $1,000 a coin. Today, the value is just a fifth of that. Here's a longer-term chart:

Just yesterday, the currency broke through the $250 barrier for the first time since November 2013, prompting worries over further drops. The effects of the crash are already being felt, with one cloud mining service forced to temporarily halt operations because its service is no longer profitable due to the low price.

CoinDesk speculated on Jan. 6 that short-selling might be responsible for the recent drop. However, TradeBlock's Greg Schevy suggested to the New York Times that the market might be trapped in a vicious downwards spiral: mining operations and other cryptocurrency services "have very real fiat-based liabilities that they have to pony up for, and to do that, they're going to have to sell Bitcoins." This drives the price down, leaving their coins less valuable, forcing them to sell even more.

There's also been a slew of bad news and regulatory woes for Bitcoin recently. Earlier this month, the news broke that Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp had been targeted by hackers, who managed to steal $5 million in the virtual currency. It's a reminder of the security issues that face any virtual currency that face mainstream adoption, and brings back memories of the infamous exchange Mt. Gox. Responsible at its peak for 70% of all Bitcoin transactions, it shuttered in February 2014, with $450 million in Bitcoin missing.

Combined with Bitcoin's reputation as an enabler for criminal activity, it's likely this public image problem is hindering mainstream adoption. As one commenter on discussion board Hacker News remarks, Bitcoin is "even worse [an investment] than [gold] because normal people at least  have a decent idea of when their gold is secure. A non-techie just has to trust that the online bitcoin provider or author of the wallet is doing what he/she really says and in a secure fashion."

CoinDesk reports that Nasdaq's trading blog predicts the virtual currency will ultimately stabilise around $140, which is "a slight premium to the level it was trading at, around $120, before the bull-run in the autumn of 2013."

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The bitcoin price fell below the landmark $200 point at 07:24 GMT today, putting it back into territory not seen since late 2013.

Bitcoin Price has dropped lower and, at the time of writing, is testing the critical “psych” level of $200. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3 hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Bitcoin Price Analysis Time of analysis: 06h15 UTC Bitstamp Daily Chart – 05h00 Earlier today, the above chart posted at […]

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The 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2015) always brings attention to the tech industry. Down the Las Vegas streets, everyone seems to be embracing technology in one form or another, from Bitcoin ATMs to self-driving cars. Inside the conference room, thousands of people are packed in visiting booths while talking devices and watching speakers present new features or […]

The post CES 2015 By the Numbers: Statistics From One of the Largest Technology Conferences in the United States appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Renouncing U.S. citizenship in favor of a Caribbean isle sounds exciting, but exit taxes and being blocked from return can temper one's enthusiasm. Ask Bitcoin Jesus.

The digital currency is getting off to a poor start in 2015 after a rough ride last year

Safe. This is the conclusion drawn by KPMG, who gave a precious ISAE 3402 accreditation to the bitcoin cold storage firm Elliptic. The company secures its customers’ bitcoin through the combined use of strong encryption procedures and secure physical locations disseminated all over the world. Also read: Elliptic Vault In The United Kingdom Is Offering […]

The post Bitcoin Vault Elliptic Receives ‘Big Four’ Financial Accreditation appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.