Coin News

This week's media coverage, though interrupted by the launch of Ethereum's decentralised app network, largely scrutinised bitcoin's reputation.

Zone Startups India, BitStreet and Block Chain University are hosting India’s first bitcoin hackathon at the Bombay Stock Exchange in India named “HackCoin Mumbai.” The hackathon will be joined by over a hundred developers looking to build blockchain-based applications for payments, big data and digital experience. “There are three problem statements – one for each theme,” explained Ajay Ramasubramanian, project head of Zone Startups India. “There are possibilities for the winning outputs to be rolled out into full-scale projects.” The hackathon is sponsored by Microsoft, IBM and Citruspay, and the executives of these companies will participate in the event as mentors and panelists. “What we are really excited about is not only that we are the first fintech hackathon in […]

The post HackCoin: Bitcoin Hackathon in India Sponsored by Microsoft, IBM and Citruspay appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Ripple Inc., payment gateway for hundreds of assets and digital currencies has announced the closure of btc2ripple gateway for all US residents starting September 1, 2015. Btc2ripple gateway is one of the hundreds of gateways on the Ripple Trade platform which is used to purchase or trade BTC to XRP (Ripple’s IOU). On September 1, Ripple will shut down the btc2ripple gateway for all U.S. residents, which will disallow any Americans from purchasing or depositing BTC using Ripple Trade accounts. In a statement, the btc2ripple team announced, “We are discontinuing the btc2ripple service for U.S. residents. All non-U.S. customers will have full access to our service as usual. Starting Sept 1, 2015, you will not be able to make BTC deposits […]

The post Bitcoin to Ripple Gateway to Shut Down for US Users appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Ripple Inc., payment gateway for hundreds of assets and digital currencies has announced the closure of btc2ripple gateway for all US residents starting September 1, 2015. Btc2ripple gateway is one of the hundreds of gateways on the Ripple Trade platform which is used to purchase or trade BTC to XRP (Ripple’s IOU). On September 1, Ripple will shut down the btc2ripple gateway for all U.S. residents, which will disallow any Americans from purchasing or depositing BTC using Ripple Trade accounts. In a statement, the btc2ripple team announced, “We are discontinuing the btc2ripple service for U.S. residents. All non-U.S. customers will have full access to our service as usual. Starting Sept 1, 2015, you will not be able to make BTC deposits […]

The post Bitcoin to Ripple Gateway to Shut Down for US Users appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Writing on CIO Journal, a Wall Street Journal blog for corporate technology executives, Owen Jelf and Sigrid Seibold , respectively global managing director of Accenture’s capital markets practice and managing director of Accenture’s digital capital markets efforts, weigh in on the fashionable debate about the blockchain as a system vs. bitcoin as a currency. Not surprisingly, the two Accenture writers propose to do without bitcoin as a currency, but they are bullish about the potential of the blockchain in financial markets. “Blockchains present an enormous opportunity for the world’s banks and financial institutions, which have moved quickly to make investments in it,” they say. Accenture, a Fortune Global 500 company, is the world’s largest consulting firm as measured by revenues […]

The post Accenture Executives Propose Replacing Bitcoin with a Closed Blockchain appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

One of the strengths of Ethereum is its decentralized nature, giving it a wider, more stable base. There are Ethereum project teams in different parts of the world, including Amsterdam, Berlin, Switzerland and Brazil. (For example, Geth was deployed by the Amsterdam team while Eth was produced by the Berlin team.) If there is a center to Ethereum, it would be in the beautiful town of Zug, Switzerland, home of the Ethereum Foundation that overseas the project’s finances, manages the funds raised in the Ether sale and determines the long-term vision and direction of Ethereum. Stephan Tual, chief communications officer for the Ethereum project, told Bitcoin Magazine that the new executive director and board members represent a fresh start, a […]

The post New Ethereum Foundation Executive Director and Board Members Signal a Reboot for Ethereum appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Paxful was chosen by Backpage.com to provide users with bitcoins when the company was shut down by Visa and Mastercard. Now that Paxful is up and running, they've had their hands full teaching many people the basics of Bitcoin in the process of selling it to them, so they can place their ads on Backpage.com. Now the company has made a video to ease the process for Backpage.com users. Also read: Chicago Sheriff Barred From Tampering With Backpage Funding In plain language, the process of buying bitcoins and spending them at Backpage.com is explained. The video aims to take some […]

The post Bitcoin Company Creates Video to Help Backpage Users (Video) appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

A new partnership between Bing Rewards and startup Tango Card will let users of the search engine receive rewards in bitcoin.

 When it comes to regulating bitcoin companies, it’s still mostly a work in progress. Some governments want to restrict bitcoin quite a lot, while others are adopting a more favorable stance. The U.K. has been the financial hub of Europe for decades now, and it looks like it plans to do the same thing with bitcoin. British Prime Minister David Cameron is currently wrapping up his first… Read More

Darkode, the hacker forum and illegal online malware marketplace, is back online after law enforcement agencies shut it down a few weeks ago.

The post Illegal Marketplace and Cybercrime Forum Darkode Is Back Online appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

2015 is a Shemitah year leading many analysts to claim the remainder of the year could hold great volatility in the political and economic arenas. Shemitah predictions entail major implications for the future Bitcoin price, with some claiming $2 million Bitcoin due to the dislocations.  In a recent video, “SHEMITAH EXPOSED: Financial Crisis Planned For September 2015” (see video below), Dollar Vigilante Editor-in-Chief Jeff Berwick predicts major dislocations as early as this fall. These, according to the founder of Canadian financial website Stockhouse, could have major implications for the Bitcoin price. The video has more than 300,000 views on YouTube, […]

The post Some Believe Shemitah Foretells a Bitcoin Price Increase This Fall appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

A company in the San Francisco area is delivering bitcoin-purchased medicinal cannabis to customers via drone.

In a recent e-mail to the Bitcoin core development mailing list, Gavin Andresen described the "worst of all possible worlds" for Bitcoin as being "no plan for how to scale up." Andresen appears to believe still that scaling is Bitcoin's only obstacle at the moment, regardless of how that must be achieved. If a fork to Bitcoin-XT is required, it seems that Andresen and others are willing to go along with that. Scaling seems to be on the minds of many core developers. Developers aside from Andresen, however, don't feel that the problem is as urgent as it's made to […]

The post Gavin Andresen's Worst of All Possible Worlds appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

George Galloway wants to use the blockchain software that underpins bitcoin to keep track of the Mayor of London's spending.

Galloway, who is famous for his far-left views as well as pretending to be a cat on Celebrity Big Brother, is running for Mayor of London next year. The former MP, who lost his seat for the Respect Party in May's election, is running as an independent.

One of his key pledges is to run the capital's £17 billion ($26.4 billion) budget on a software known as MayorsChain, Finextra reports.

The software will keep track of public spending and let anyone see what's being spent where.

It will be built on the blockchain, the software that underpins bitcoin. The blockchain is a distributed ledger that records and enables bitcoin transactions to take place. It is completely transparent, prevents money being over-spent or double-spent, and is much quicker than traditional finance.

Blockchain technology also has the potential to be cheaper than traditional methods and Galloway reckons he can save 5% of the budget, or £9 million ($14 million), using this technology.

The MayorsChain website says: "Each London resident can then propose cost savings per item, again in a publicly visible manner. There will be a process for the Council to consider these suggestions and, if adopted, the changes will be recorded on the Mayor’s Chain."

Galloway is also running a crowdfunding campaign for his Mayoral bid and on the funding page he is quoted as saying: "Now, for the first time, the radically disruptive technology of block chains can provide a technological backbone for true, 100 percent transparency. Political accountability, it seems, is about to take on a whole new meaning."

Galloway has developed MayorsChan with Max Keiser, an American entrepreneur-turned-broadcaster who hosts a financial TV programme on Russian state broadcaster RT. Keiser is an economic advisor to Galloway and a long-time supporter of cyrptocurrencies — last year he launched his own digital currency, MaxCoin.

As revolutionary as all this sounds, the chances of us getting MayorsChain aren't great. Galloway's odds of being elected next year range from 20 to 40/1, according to OddsChecker.

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The outline for the grant is overly specific, aimed at candidates who will be able to help define a "rigorous scientific foundation" for cryptocurrency. Six researchers from three universities will be claiming it. Cornell, University of Maryland, and UC Berkeley all have researchers involved. The researchers will reportedly focus on smart contracts. The National Science Foundation has made other awards focusing on cryptocurrency in the past. One such project was called "Addressing the challenges of cryptocurrencies: Security, anonymity, stability." The government awarded $500,000 for that project. Now the researchers will be working with a combined total of $3 million. The […]

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