Coin News

 Welcome back to TCBTC, TechCrunch’s weekly podcast on the cryptocurrency bitcoin. This week Alex is on vacation so I recorded a short interview with Luis Buenaventura Of Rebit, a major Bitcoin remitter in the Philippines. Luis gave us a quick look under the hood of his growing business. Click here to download an MP3 of this show. Subscribe on iTunes. You can subscribe to the show here. Read More

Earlier today, Palo Alto­ based Bitcoin security service provider BitGo announced the general availability of the BitGo Platform API, which will allow developers to fully leverage, for the first time ever, the enterprise ­grade security features of BitGo’s multi­sig HD wallet in their own applications The launch of this particular service stands to be a turning point in the Bitcoin industry. That’s because all companies, whether general merchants or Bitcoin service providers, are now capable of integrating the Bitcoin protocol into their core product without being forced to give up control of their bitcoins to a third party, or without facing the multiple and complex Bitcoin security challenges that have brought otherwise strong companies to their knees. A bit of […]

The post BitGo Launches Platform API Opening Its Bitcoin Security Infrastructure to the Masses appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

GoCoin has added three new fiat currencies as payout options for merchants – euros, pound sterling and Singapore dollars.

Bitcoin Price dropped over the edge during yesterday’s session, and the slide continued for most of today. Price made the usual stops along the way: 38%, then 50% and then made its way to 62% where the bulls are attempting to stage a comeback. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3 hour delay. […]

The post Bitcoin Trading Retesting The Lows Near $200 appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

The FTC has only received 39 customer complaints against CoinTerra to date, far less than other troubled bitcoin mining companies.

Law firm Perkins Coie examines why bitcoins might be subject to security interests that reduce their value, and if this can be resolved.

If anyone still believes that bitcoin is magically anonymous internet money, the U.S. government just offered what may be the clearest demonstration yet that it’s not. A courtroom powerpoint presentation traced hundreds of thousands of bitcoins from the Silk Road anonymous marketplace for drugs directly to the personal computer of Ross Ulbricht, the 30-year-old accused […]

The post Prosecutors Trace $13.4 Million in Bitcoins From the Silk Road to Ulbricht’s Laptop appeared first on WIRED.

CoinDesk wants to hear directly from our readers about where they stand on the topic of bitcoin regulation.

We’ve only just begun our journey towards building the most extensive and credible portal to all things crypto-currency, but I have some exciting news to share about our next step in building out that vision: the signing of an exclusive partnership with decentral.tv, the world’s leading digital currency video channel and dashboard! As you’ll see as soon as you explore the link, decentral.tv is a clean dashboard and video channel designed to keep viewers up to date on the latest developments in cryptocurrency. The service is jam-packed with useful information such as live prices, headline news, charts, and more. But most important is decentral.tv’s demonstrated ability to deliver some of the best original video content covering all things crypto on the web. Highlighted by Decentral Talk Live […]

The post A Next Step for BTC Media! appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The casinos world has started to undergo a painful transformation in the last 9 months as Macau, the world's largest gambling center, saw gaming revenue fall off a cliff. It was the first time revenue fell at all since the island opened up to gambling 2002.

It's a dramatic shift to be sure — one with the ability to cripple companies unprepared for lean times — and as of Wednesday, we have a better idea of who will survive these changes.

That's when Las Vegas Sands, the largest casino firm in the US, reported a fourth quarter earnings beat.

How the firm managed to do that in the midst of double digit revenue declines from its Macau properties — and continued anemic gambling revenue from Las Vegas — holds the key to where global gambling is going, at least until Macau stabilizes.

First, a quick rundown of Q4 operating income Las Vegas Sands' properties to get us started:

• Sands Cotai (in Macau) — down 14.2%
• The Venetian Macao — down 25.8%
• Sands Macao — down 14.4%
• Las Vegas operations — down 3.7%
• Sands Bethlehem — up 49%
• Four Seasons Hotel Macao and Plaza Casino — up 53.2%
• Marina Bay Sands Operations (Singapore) — up 157.9%
  

So Singapore brought it in for Sands, hauling in $674 million in casino revenue alone for the fourth quarter. That's up 33.7% from the same time last year. Marina Bay Sands got its overall boost through a combination of more gambling winnings for the casino and cost cutting.Cost cutting and more house gambling winnings provided the same windfall for the Four Seasons in Macau.

The figure to watch here is called "rolling chip volume" in the gambling world. That's what tells you how much money high rollers are putting down to play. That number was down across the board (At the Four Seasons it was down 36.3%, and even in Singapore it was down it was down 26.8%) — but Sands made up for it by taking home more winnings for the casino, up 1.66 points and 1.35 points at the Four Seasons and Singapore respectively.

You know what they say about the house.

It's crucial to know who's capable of finding ways to put Asia's dwindling high roller money to work. What's happening in Macau is that Chinese President Xi's corruption crackdown is scaring big money players away.

The island's junket system — its own way of financing high rollers — made it easy for big players to get a lot of cash to the table. That system, however, is breaking down because Xi wants to know where that money is coming from.

You may be surprised to find out that sometimes it comes from ill-gotten gains.

High rollers with known ties to the Triad, China's mafia, have been chased off the island recently. Even the once-untouchable relations of Macau's casino scions are getting busted for illegal activity. It's a new world where kings are getting overthrown. As such, 16% of all the junkets on the island closed in 2014. These changes — and other things that turn off even the slowly growing number of retail Asian gamblers, like a casino floor smoking ban — aren't going away.

Additionally, none of this is particularly good for Las Vegas.

"We know that Asian high rollers have been very important to Las Vegas," said Professor Michael Green of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is now a place where more money is made from food, beverage and entertainment than anything else. The high rollers the place has, it wants to keep. Not that it has a choice in the matter.

Without them, Green added, we may see issues in Las Vegas' construction industry.

"They're [casino CEOs] going to have to step up they're efforts around the world and in Las Vegas," he said. Adding a reminder that it isn't impossible — just hard. "They didn't get to where they are by booking losers."

So the winners here will be the companies that have diversified outside Macau, have strong Las Vegas food, beverage and entertainment revenue, and have strong revenue from retail gamblers (think: The Sands Bethlehems of the world).

You'll see more deals like this making casinos happy — popular DJ Calvin Harris just signed a three year deal with Hakkasan, which has a mega club inside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. MGM also has a bunch of retail focused gambling operations across the US in places like Detroit and Reno.

Others who have their portfolios concentrated in Macau and Las Vegas, like Wynn Resorts for example, may not be as well positioned.

That said: We'll have to wait and see how the house did. It won't just have to win, it'll have to win big.

Join the conversation about this story »

The irony of Bitcoin's fall is that some of the attributes that initially made it so attractive to its backers like no centralized banking control, lax regulation and no transaction fees, are the very same things that are actually causing its demise.

For Immediate Release January 29, 2015 Toronto – Decentral.tv is excited to announce that it has entered into a partnership to become the exclusive video content provider for BTC Media LLC, the world’s largest Bitcoin media group. BTC Media LLC is the parent company of financial technology magazine yBitcoin and its website www.ybitcoin.com, as well as the recently acquired Bitcoin Magazine and www.bitcoinmagazine.com. “ yBitcoin has always stood out as a well-run publication,” said Anthony Di Iorio, founder and CEO of decentral.tv. “Now that Bitcoin Magazine is also in the capable hands of BTC Media and Calli and David Bailey, I’m excited to see where he’ll take this publication moving forward. This partnership between BTC Media and decentral.tv has great […]

The post Decentral.tv partners with BTC Media to become exclusive video content provider appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

At least $11m has gone to fraudsters running bitcoin scams in the last four years, university researchers have found.

In a new interview with CoinDesk, investors and entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss discuss their newly revealed exchange project, Gemini.

New research from Singapore-based web intelligence firm S2T suggests Islamic State (ISIS) could be using bitcoin for fundraising. Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz has reported that S2T analyst Ido Wulkan managed to find concrete evidence linking an ISIS cell based in the US to fundraising activities. The cell apparently used the dark web and bitcoin to cover its tracks. […]

The newly U.S. licensed Bitcoin Exchange Coinbase has just passed 2 million users. This is a large mark for Coinbase and we at CCN sends our congratulations. The question though is whether or not the accounts represent human beings or if there are a lot of duplicate or dormant accounts. We have reached out to […]

The post Bitcoin Exchange Coinbase Has Just Passed 2 Million Users appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

The Bitcoin Foundation Elections Committee has released a unique new project that has been in the works for the last year. “a new official Distributed Opinion System for the Board Elections” ~ Michael Toomim. With a newly created website dedicated to this system, The Distributed Opinion can be found here, https://bitcoin-election.consider.it/. Foundation members and non-members […]

The post Bitcoin Foundation Elections: Distributed Opinion System appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

As we’ve been following for you here at CCN, plenty of people are curious to learn more about Bitcoin. It was the fourth-largest “What is” search on Google last year, and this means the interest in Bitcoin is definitely not defined by its US Dollar price. Education is the biggest obstacle Bitcoin faces, both now, […]

The post Princeton Joins NYU: Bitcoin Courses Will Teach Students About Bitcoin appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Software magnate Bill Gates has again spoken out on bitcoin in his third 'Ask Me Anything' (AMA) session on social sharing platform Reddit. The focus of the AMA was philanthropy and the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As a result, Gates’ answer revolved around potential bitcoin applications in charity. In response to the question "What […]

P2P marketplace LocalBitcoins has experienced a hack on its chat client, resulting in the distribution of malware and loss of customer funds.

Forbes reviews the Hacker's List site, a "hire a hacker" service that the New York Times and many others have been giving a lot of air time. Turns out the possibly illegal site offers zero privacy, no anonymising Bitcoin services and might be insecure to boot.

A few bitcoin users from Poland have reported to CCN that they are dealing with bank crackdowns due to bitcoin activity. One Polish bitcoin exchange, BitMarket, became a victim of a shutdown earlier this week by BPH. When contacting BPH, they were told there were technical problems that needed to be sorted out. Upon further […]

The post BitMarket Bitcoin Exchange Loses Banking Connection as Polish Banks Start Crackdown on Bitcoin appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

BitFury elaborates on its plans to begin offering the cloud mining solution it hinted at during the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami.

 It’s been a few days since Coinbase launched their official Exchange, a dashboard for active Bitcoin traders that lets you buy and sell based on real time pricing. I thought I’d sit down and put it through its paces and see just how usable this tool was for the average BTC fan as well as folks who might want to add BTC to their trading regimen. To use the service you simply create… Read More