Coin News

The creator or micropayments startup dogetipbot has announced he will open-source the payments tool, just over one year after raising $445,000 from investors including Blackbird Ventures. In a post on his Facebook page obtained by CoinDesk, dogetipbot's Josh Mohland announced he will return the project to the bitcoin and dogecoin cryptocurrency communities, though the tone […]

The creator or micropayments startup dogetipbot has announced he will open-source the payments tool, just over one year after raising $445,000 from investors including Blackbird Ventures. In a post on his Facebook page obtained by CoinDesk, dogetipbot's Josh Mohland announced he will return the project to the bitcoin and dogecoin cryptocurrency communities, though the tone […]

Readers may recall our story earlier this month about Securus, a leading prison telephony provider, being hacked and how the hackers discovered that the company was recording thousands of privileged communications that lawyers had with inmates. The Intercept had received the tip-off, along with the calls, and reported on the subject. Securus defended itself by saying that these lawyers must not have registered their phone numbers with the “service.”

The post Prison Phone Profiteer Securus Granted Robocalling Patent appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

In May, Bitcoin Magazine reported that blockchain-based Governance 2.0 initiative Bitnation is developing a collaborative platform for DIY Governance based on the blockchain.

“Bitnation is a Governance 2.0 Operating System, designed to disrupt the nation-state oligopoly through offering more convenient, secure and cost-efficient governance services,” said Bitnation founder and CEO Susanne Tarkowski Tempelhof.

Bitnation is one of several emerging initiatives to empower connected global citizens with a growing range of options to bypass legacy governance systems based on nation states. The e-Residency program launched by the government of Estonia is another such initiative.

The program offers anyone, anywhere, a digital identity issued by the Estonian government and the possibility to start and operate a business online under Estonian regulations. The foreigners who become e-residents of Estonia are not automatically entitled to physical residency in the small Baltic state, but they can base their online financial life there.

Estonia, a country at the forefront of modern e-government, has been offering efficient online services to its citizens for more than a decade.

“By offering e-residents the same services, Estonia is proudly pioneering the idea of a country without borders,” proudly states the e-residency website. In particular, e-residents can digitally sign, verify and encrypt documents and contracts, establish an Estonian company online in 24 hours with a physical address in Estonia provided by an external service, and administer the company from anywhere in the world.

Currently, establishing an Estonian bank account for the company requires one in-person meeting at one of the banks that recognize e-resident smart ID cards – currently LHV, Swedbank and SEB – but once the account is established e-residents can manage e-banking and remote money transfers from anywhere in the world.

An appealing feature of e-residency for entrepreneurs is that, in Estonia, company income is not taxed. Therefore, compliance is simplified and all income is available for re-investment. However, since e-residency doesn’t imply tax residency, e-residents are supposed to pay taxes at home for the money that they take out of the company.

Now, the Estonian government is partnering with Bitnation to offer a public notary service to Estonian e-residents based on blockchain technology.

“Via the international Bitnation Public Notary, e-residents, regardless of where they live or do business, will be able to notarize their marriages, birth certificates, business contracts, and much more on the blockchain,” states a joint press release.

"I'm delighted to work with Estonia's e-residency program to set a standard practice of competition of governance services on a global market, and to enable others to exercise self-determination and follow Bitnation's path to sovereignty,” said Tarkowski Tempelhof in the press release.

“The Republic of Estonia is on the forefront of innovation when it comes to e-governance,” Tarkowski Tempelhof told Bitcoin Magazine. “They’re mostly young and open-minded, eager to test new technologies to improve their services. Additionally, their processes are quite streamlined, which is original for being a government, and needless to say, very refreshing.”

If a couple gets married on the public notary, it doesn’t mean they get married in the jurisdiction of Estonia, or in any other nation state jurisdiction, notes the press release. Instead, they get married in the “blockchain jurisdiction.”

International Business Times notes that, besides marriages, blockchain technology can provides a worldwide legally binding proof of existence and integrity of contractual agreements for things such as banking, incorporating companies quickly and cheaply and generally empowering entrepreneurs and citizens around the world.

"In Estonia we believe that people should be able to freely choose their digital/public services best fit to them, regardless of the geographical area where they were arbitrarily born,” said e-Residency Program Director Kaspar Korjus. “We're truly living in exciting times when nation states and virtual nations compete and collaborate with each other on an international market, to provide better governance services."

In fact, the importance and potential impact of the Estonian government’s move shouldn’t be underestimated. Here we have the government of a nation state, a full member of the European Union, acknowledging a virtual nation as a legitimate partner for the development and gradual implementation of next-generation governance services.

“My aim is to see a world where hundreds of thousands or millions of governance service providers in a free global market competing through offering better services at a better value, rather than through the use of force within arbitrary lines in the sand,” Tarkowski Tempelhof told Bitcoin Magazine. “To that end, seeing nation state governments starting to provide governance services on a free global market as well, like The Republic of Estonia, is encouraging, and a step in the right direction. Now we need more nation state governments, as well as open source protocols joining the global market.”

Tarkowski Tempelhof added that, realistically, it’s more likely that small nations will adopt the technology in the short term.

“Countries and city states that come to mind are Singapore, Lichtenstein, Andorra, etc.,” she said. “We’re also likely to see nations in the developing world leapfrogging in terms of governance technologies.”

Photo Steve Jurvetson / Flickr(CC)

The post Estonian Government Partners with Bitnation to Offer Blockchain Notarization Services to e-Residents appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The Estonian Supreme Court has asked the country’s government to provide clarity in an ongoing court case involving bitcoin trading.

Netki, a service aimed to simplify bitcoin payments, has officially released a beta of their Google Chrome browser extension, allowing customers to use email-esque Wallet Names such as ‘wallet.justin.me ‘ instead of lengthy 32 character public addresses. Netki users can now enter their Wallet Name anywhere on the web, and the extension will automatically replace the name with the appropriate public wallet address. They currently support bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin, Factom (Factoids and entry credits), and Ether, among others.

Their new extension will allow Netki users to maintain their anonymity and save time across nearly any web-based blockchain application, including wallets such as Coinbase, Blockchain, and Uphold, exchanges like Kraken, Bitfinex, and CEX.IO, and other applications such as Fold and Purse.io.

The extension is available for free on the Chrome Web Store. And while an individual Wallet Name is available on Netki’s website for as little as $1.95 a year, ChangeTip users are given one for free. If you’d like to try the extension, sign up for a ChangeTip account on their website, navigate to the ‘Tips’ tab on the top left of the page, and activate your personalized Wallet Name by clicking on the personalized URL under the ‘Tip.me Page’ header on the left side of the page. Your new Wallet Name will be tied to the deposit address for your ChangeTip account, which you can use anywhere on the Internet with the new extension.

Netki, started in 2014 and described by many as the “DNS for Bitcoin,” has already partnered with companies such as ChangeTip, Gem, and Snapcard, whose users are automatically registered and given a personalized Wallet Name.

However, their ambitions are much larger. Wallet Names will allow individuals to remain ‘pseudo-anonymous’ on the public blockchain, mitigating serious privacy concerns for those whose real-world identities become associated with single, static public addresses.

In addition, Netki also built in support for Hierarchical Deterministic or HD Wallets, which allow users to automatically create a unique public address for each transaction related to a single Wallet Name. HD Wallets, when combined with Netki’s Wallet Name, can help individuals maintain anonymity on the blockchain without the hassle of managing dozens of public addresses.

Netki CEO Justin Newton also hopes their new extension, combined with individualized Netki Wallet Names, will allow new users to more easily understand and use bitcoin online.

“We are excited to release this Chrome extension as it now allows users to send using Wallet Names at all web-based blockchain and bitcoin services.," Newton said. "This is a significant step forward in the usability of blockchain technology to ensure easier mainstream market adoption.”

The post Netki Launches Google Chrome Extension to Simplify Bitcoin Wallet Addresses appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Netki, a service aimed to simplify bitcoin payments, has officially released a beta of their Google Chrome browser extension, allowing customers to use email-esque Wallet Names such as ‘wallet.justin.me ‘ instead of lengthy 32 character public addresses. Netki users can now enter their Wallet Name anywhere on the web, and the extension will automatically replace the name with the appropriate public wallet address. They currently support bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin, Factom (Factoids and entry credits), and Ether, among others.

Their new extension will allow Netki users to maintain their anonymity and save time across nearly any web-based blockchain application, including wallets such as Coinbase, Blockchain, and Uphold, exchanges like Kraken, Bitfinex, and CEX.IO, and other applications such as Fold and Purse.io.

The extension is available for free on the Chrome Web Store. And while an individual Wallet Name is available on Netki’s website for as little as $1.95 a year, ChangeTip users are given one for free. If you’d like to try the extension, sign up for a ChangeTip account on their website, navigate to the ‘Tips’ tab on the top left of the page, and activate your personalized Wallet Name by clicking on the personalized URL under the ‘Tip.me Page’ header on the left side of the page. Your new Wallet Name will be tied to the deposit address for your ChangeTip account, which you can use anywhere on the Internet with the new extension.

Netki, started in 2014 and described by many as the “DNS for Bitcoin,” has already partnered with companies such as ChangeTip, Gem, and Snapcard, whose users are automatically registered and given a personalized Wallet Name.

However, their ambitions are much larger. Wallet Names will allow individuals to remain ‘pseudo-anonymous’ on the public blockchain, mitigating serious privacy concerns for those whose real-world identities become associated with single, static public addresses.

In addition, Netki also built in support for Hierarchical Deterministic or HD Wallets, which allow users to automatically create a unique public address for each transaction related to a single Wallet Name. HD Wallets, when combined with Netki’s Wallet Name, can help individuals maintain anonymity on the blockchain without the hassle of managing dozens of public addresses.

Netki CEO Justin Newton also hopes their new extension, combined with individualized Netki Wallet Names, will allow new users to more easily understand and use bitcoin online.

“We are excited to release this Chrome extension as it now allows users to send using Wallet Names at all web-based blockchain and bitcoin services.," Newton said. "This is a significant step forward in the usability of blockchain technology to ensure easier mainstream market adoption.”

The post Netki Launches Google Chrome Extension to Simplify Bitcoin Wallet Addresses appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Netki, a service aimed to simplify bitcoin payments, has officially released a beta of their Google Chrome browser extension, allowing customers to use email-esque Wallet Names such as ‘wallet.justin.me ‘ instead of lengthy 32 character public addresses. Netki users can now enter their Wallet Name anywhere on the web, and the extension will automatically replace the name with the appropriate public wallet address. They currently support bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin, Factom (Factoids and entry credits), and Ether, among others.

Their new extension will allow Netki users to maintain their anonymity and save time across nearly any web-based blockchain application, including wallets such as Coinbase, Blockchain, and Uphold, exchanges like Kraken, Bitfinex, and CEX.IO, and other applications such as Fold and Purse.io.

The extension is available for free on the Chrome Web Store. And while an individual Wallet Name is available on Netki’s website for as little as $1.95 a year, ChangeTip users are given one for free. If you’d like to try the extension, sign up for a ChangeTip account on their website, navigate to the ‘Tips’ tab on the top left of the page, and activate your personalized Wallet Name by clicking on the personalized URL under the ‘Tip.me Page’ header on the left side of the page. Your new Wallet Name will be tied to the deposit address for your ChangeTip account, which you can use anywhere on the Internet with the new extension.

Netki, started in 2014 and described by many as the “DNS for Bitcoin,” has already partnered with companies such as ChangeTip, Gem, and Snapcard, whose users are automatically registered and given a personalized Wallet Name.

However, their ambitions are much larger. Wallet Names will allow individuals to remain ‘pseudo-anonymous’ on the public blockchain, mitigating serious privacy concerns for those whose real-world identities become associated with single, static public addresses.

In addition, Netki also built in support for Hierarchical Deterministic or HD Wallets, which allow users to automatically create a unique public address for each transaction related to a single Wallet Name. HD Wallets, when combined with Netki’s Wallet Name, can help individuals maintain anonymity on the blockchain without the hassle of managing dozens of public addresses.

Netki CEO Justin Newton also hopes their new extension, combined with individualized Netki Wallet Names, will allow new users to more easily understand and use bitcoin online.

“We are excited to release this Chrome extension as it now allows users to send using Wallet Names at all web-based blockchain and bitcoin services.," Newton said. "This is a significant step forward in the usability of blockchain technology to ensure easier mainstream market adoption.”

The post Netki Launches Google Chrome Extension to Simplify Bitcoin Wallet Addresses appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The Arlington – a pub in Glasgow will start accepting the digital currency Scotcoin. For now, the cryptocurrency can only be used as settlement for one particular lager. Starting today on St. Andrew’s Day, The Arlington – a Glasgowian pub will start accepting Scottish-based cryptocurrency Scotcoin. The pub is believed to be the first in all of Scotland to allow its customers to pay with the cryptocurrency. As reported by the Herald Scotland, the pub’s Kenny Low admits that the pub will not be paying any worker in Scotcoin, nor buying any of its supplies with the digital currency. However, […]

The post Glasgow Pub Starts to Accept Digital Currency Scotcoin appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

 Bitcoin is currently enjoying what politicos call a boomlet — a small bump that, while perhaps not impressive on a historical scale, is certainly notable. For bitcoin at the moment, this means a price spike that has put the cryptocurrency into its highest territory in a year. That, combined with a small rise in global interest and what seems to be the highest transaction volume in… Read More

Prime Finance is Business Insider's midday summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours. 

Wall Street is back in action today after a quiet week due to Thanksgiving.

The big news of the day is the International Monetary Fund officially designating the Chinese yuan a global reserve currency. In Brazil meanwhile, investment bank BTG Pactual has named a new leadership team following the arrest of its former chief executive, and it may need to be rescued by a buyer.

There are also reports that Morgan Stanley is about to launch a brutal round of job cuts in its fixed-income business. 

Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday -

It's unfortunate what happens to ETFs right after you're able to invest in them - People love exchange-traded funds, commonly known as ETFs. 

HSBC reduced your entire life to one line on a chart - HSBC global economist James Pomeroy divides your entire life into just five economically relevant periods. 

One of the hottest gift items this Christmas just got a huge endorsement from Wall Street - Wearables are one of the hottest gift categories this Christmas.

The commodities bloodbath of 2015 in one chart - "Unfortunately for commodities, there’s no waking up from this nightmare."

A star Silicon Valley entrepreneur explains how bitcoin is going to change the world - "[There's] more people in the world who need a currency they can trust than the opposite."

A critical shift is taking place in China ― and it could have brutal consequences - China is beginning to "talk the walk."

In case you missed it - 

Former Goldman programmer accused of insider trading says 'there is a lot of misunderstanding' - Yue Han said in a message that "there is a lot of misunderstanding and what they sued against me is not true."

A booming Wall Street business is about to be tested for the first time - The marketplace-lending business has boomed in the post-financial-crisis era, with loan volumes swelling and the leading companies going public.

It is getting worse in Houston - A severe slowdown could be on its way to Houston.

SALLIE KRAWCHECK: The economy is changing so fast that no one is safe - The economy is moving so quickly now that delivering great results doesn't guarantee a job.

Elsewhere on the web -

JPMorgan Leaves Bonus Pool for Traders, Bankers Unchanged - Bloomberg

A Wealthy Governor and His Friends Are Remaking Illinois - The New York Times

Forget Going Public, U.S. Companies Want to Get Bought - The Wall Street Journal

BATS Global Markets plans 2016 IPO - The Wall Street Journal 

Join the conversation about this story »

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Slush Pool, a Czech-based Bitcoin mining pool accounting for 6 percent of hashing power on the Bitcoin network, indicates it will re-enable connected miners to vote for a block-size increase through BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal) 101. Slush Pool was the first mining pool on the Bitcoin network to allow miners to vote for BIP 101, but recently suspended this option due to sustained DDoS attacks on its servers.

Speaking to Bitcoin Magazine, Slush Pool operator Marek Palatinus said: “We're strengthening our infrastructure and we plan to enable BIP 101 mining again.”

The block-size dispute might reach a critical juncture over the next weeks, with the upcomingScaling Bitcoin workshop in Hong Kong in the first week of December, and the stated intent of several prominent Bitcoin companies to change their code to allow for bigger blocks that same month. As such, Bitcoin miners (and pools) might be faced with an important decision as to which code they will support.

Palatinus said that the effort to re-enable miners to vote for bigger blocks is unrelated to this “December deadline,” however.

“We're not focused on December with our decision, but we still think the block-size limit should be increased,” Palatinus explained. “Sometimes there are already blocks full of valid transactions, and there's not any particular reason why user experience with bitcoin transactions should be limited because of an arbitrary limit of 1 megabyte.”

He added, “We're close friends to Paralelni Polis, the first – and only? – bitcoin-only cafe and co-working space, located in Prague near our offices. We have real-world experience with day-to-day bitcoin transactions of common users. We also see issues related with transactions not going through the Bitcoin network and how it affects bitcoin acceptance. For this reason we consider this an urgent issue.”

BIP 101 – which is implemented in alternative Bitcoin implementation Bitcoin XT – is programmed to increase the maximum block size to 8 megabytes if a threshold of 75 percent of mining power accepts the change. Once activated, this limit is set to double every two years. Much like before, however, Slush Pool does not intend to force connected miners to vote for a BIP 101 block increase with their hashing power. Instead, individual miners will be given the option to cast such a vote if they want to.

“We personally hope BIP 101 will be adopted, but we do not want to enforce BIP 101 mining on our pool,” Palatinus said. “We believe in open discussion and democracy. For this reason we want to tell our miners about all options, explain their pros and cons, and let them individually decide by their mining vote.”

BIP 101 has received criticism within the Bitcoin development community, the main concern being that its exponential growth curve might lead to oversized blocks. While an increased block size would allow for more transactions on the Bitcoin network, “Decentralists ” fear that oversized blocks could further centralize mining and full nodes – in turn, potentially harming Bitcoin's censorship resistance.

Palatinus, however, believes the risks of BIP 101 are being exaggerated, explaining:

“Improved block compression solutions will be able to vastly decrease the risk of oversized risks in regard of centralization of mining. Additionally, Bitcoin's blockchain file is impractically big for common use already. Normal users don't run Bitcoin Core anymore, because there are many other easier and more user-friendly solutions for managing bitcoin than Core. For those who want to have a full copy for any reason, there won't be a much bigger difference.”

Finally, Palatinus added that Slush Pool is open to alternative block increase proposals, too.

One alternative block-size proposal that has been gathering support is an incremental increase to 8 megabytes over four years time. Proposed as a temporary solution by Blockstream CEO and hashcash inventor Dr. Adam Back, this “2-4-8” option seems acceptable to a significant segment of the Bitcoin Core development team, as well as prominent industry members.

When asked by Bitcoin Magazine about the 2-4-8 quick fix, Palatinus said: “This will only move the same discussion to the future, not solving the real issue. However as a temporary solution – possible.”

The post Slush Pool to Re-Enable BIP 101 Bitcoin Mining appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Brazil's leading investment bank may need to sell itself to survive in the wake of a corruption scandal and the arrest of its co-founder and former CEO.

BTG Pactual's stock has been crippled by the investigation into Andre Esteves, with the shares falling by about 30% in a matter of days.

Esteves, who had been CEO, chairman and the firm's biggest shareholder, was charged with hindering a corruption investigation on November 25.

Esteves was replaced Sunday, and  Reuters reported Monday that BTG Pactual is considering a possible sale of its commodities unit, while other reports suggest that the bank's partners are working on a plan to buy out Esteves's stake.

But it might take an all out sale to a bank or a wealth fund looking to boost its exposure to emerging markets — and at a steep discount to where BTG Pactual shares used to trade – to bolster confidence in the Brazilian bank's shares, said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. 

"The bank needs an acquirer with capital and credibility to save it," he said. "The bank's short-term capital structure relies on investor confidence, and investors can be confident of nothing until there is more clarity on the bank's involvement in alleged wrongdoing and the bank's ability to remain profitable without Esteves and whatever he did to make the bank profitable."

BTG Pactual itself has not been implicated in the corruption and bribery investigation. The bank declined to comment when reached by Business Insider.

"One of the key risks for BTG Pactual is the reliance on its CEO," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note late last week after news of the investigation broke. 

Persio Arida, who was named interim CEO in the wake of Esteves' arrest last week, was voted in by shareholders November 29 as executive chairman and a pair of longtime BTG Pactual executives, Marcelo Kalim and Roberto Sallouti, were named co-CEOs of the firm over the weekend. 

Gordon says the firm may have to rely on an international acquirer to support it. The bank had a market capitalization of about 19.5 billion Brazilian real, or around $5 billion, as of Monday November 30.

"The best prospects are non-Brazilian banks that want to get into the market," Gordon said. "The Brazilian government would prefer a local buyer but a local buyer has less incentive to pay a high price and already has the connections it needs to do business in Brazil."

Though the firm's 'BTG' acronym stands for 'banking and trading group,' BTG Pactual's investment banking prowess have also earned it a second definition: 'Better than Goldman.' 

Join the conversation about this story »

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Another bitcoin price advance and another successful trade concluded a few hours before this article's publication. Sometimes the simplest indicators yield the easiest intra-day profit while co-located, on-site, algorithm-fuming, HFT bots squeeze little out of the apparently unorthodox bitcoin market. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now and receive a $29 discount using the code CCN29. Bitcoin Price Analysis Time of analysis: 14h30 UTC Bitstamp 1-Hour Chart From the analysis pages of xbt.social, earlier today: xbt.social concluded another successful trade earlier - the second for this advance […]

The post Bitcoin Price Profit Offer appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Authorities in Greece have banded together a special team of cyber sleuths to safeguard Greek banks from cyber-attacks after a malicious hacker group demanded a bitcoin ransom with the threat of further DDoS attacks. In yet another instance of the infamous hacked group ‘Armada Collective’ targeting banks, the online operations of three Greek banks were rendered offline for a few hours last week, in a demonstration of their malicious hacking abilities. The group threated to attack again unless the banks paid a bitcoin ransom before Monday. The deadline is today, as reported by Greek publication Kathimereini. Crazy story this am […]

The post Greek Banks Targeted by Hackers Demanding Bitcoin Ransom appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Bitcoin Press Release: Bitcasino.io, the world's first legally licensed and regulated online Bitcoin-only casino gaming and sportsbook operator confirmed that it has reached the platform milestone of their 100 millionth spin for their bitcoin-enabled slots. A spokesperson for Bitcasino.io said, “We are delighted to reach this bitcoin casino industry milestone which further demonstrates the continuing global player demand for using bitcoins for gaming entertainment.  Our players not only seek the best discreet gaming experience with bitcoins, but they want to play as many quality games as possible. We have expanded our gaming portfolio with 30 new games this month to […]

The post Bitcasino.io continues slots expansion with 100 millionth spin appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Tech entrepreneur and bitcoin guru Wences Casares saw his family lose their entire wealth three times in Argentina because of hyperinflation, a currency collapse and confiscation.

"[There's] more people in the world who need a currency they can trust than the opposite," Casares told Dan Morehead, the ex-head of macro trading at Tiger Management, in a new interview on RealVision Television, a subscription financial news service.

Those instances are what ultimately led him to the digital cryptocurrency bitcoin.

Casares created Argentina's first internet provider and later sold his online brokerage firm to Banco Santander for $750 million in 2000. He is now a star of the Silicon Valley bitcoin scene, heading Xapo, a company that provides a bitcoin wallet and storage vault.

The real "a-ha" moment for bitcoin happened when he was planning a trip with a group of childhood friends back in Argentina. 

'I was very skeptical'

"We all had to chip in some money. They were all in Argentina except me, I'm here in California. They all got together and gave the cash to one of them. And I was trying to find a way to send money. At the time, PayPal had to stop sending money to Argentina and wire transfers were not working because of the currency control." 

That's when one of his friends suggested using bitcoin.

"I was very skeptical because this particular friend of mine is not particularly tech savvy or financially sophisticated." 

Casares did some research online and arranged a meeting in a Palo Alto cafe with someone he connected with on Craigslist. He gave the man cash and got some bitcoin in return. He immediately sent the bitcoin to his friend in Argentina. 

"By the time I made it back to the office my friend had sold it for pesos in Argentina. I was like, 'Wow that's incredible. It's like magic.'"

Casares compared the power of bitcoin in the developing world to the cellphone.

"I think it's obvious the cellphone had a lot more impact in developing world than the developed world because most phones in the developing world are cellphones. If it weren't for cellphones the developing world would not be communicating so it really changed the lives of people in emerging markets."

That's not to say that cellphones aren't important in the developed world though. Bitcoin will be important there too, Casares said.

"It's easier to see how [bitcoin can be] transformative and it can change the lives of people in emerging markets, but it also has an important role to play in the developed world." 

Watch the teaser below. You can watch the full interview by subscribing to RealVision:

SEE ALSO: Star Silicon Valley entrepreneur: Here's why bitcoin will be bigger than the internet

Join the conversation about this story »

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The Bitstamp Price Index struck a 3-week high of $383 at 9:22 AM UTC today, soon after a steady increase from Sunday when Bitcoin price to USD opened at $362.75. The late hours of Sunday saw the price jump from $364 at 9:43 PM UTC to $372.38 at 10:55 UTC. Bitcoin price opened Monday, November 30 at $370.95. At the time of publishing, Bitcoin is trading at $375.38. The steady turnaround comes after the frenetic increase earlier this month when the price set records with increased trading from Chinese exchanges playing a significant role with the recent yearly-high. The opening of […]

The post Bitcoin Price Climbs to 3-Week High to End a Memorable November appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

The busiest day for bitcoin exchanges ever was recorded on 26th November, according to data provider Bitcoinity.

Random Darknet Shopper, an automated, online bot that searches the Darknet and buys random items using a weekly $100 bitcoin budget, is back in business following a hiatus last year when it was temporarily confiscated by St. Gallen, Switzerland legal authorities. Last week, the bot, created by a European art group !Mediengruppe Bitnik, purchased a fake Lacoste polo shirt for $35, according to Digital Trends. The bot is programmed to randomly select and buy one item on the Darknet and send it to the art group's exhibition space. The !Mediengruppe Bitnik website describes the shopper as “an exploration of the deep web […]

The post Darknet Shopper Bot Back In Business; Who Is Culpable For Illegal Purchases? appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Two Barbadian economists have concluded that the country's central bank may want to consider holding a small amount of bitcoin as part of its portfolio of foreign reserves.

BlockApps, a Microsoft affiliate designed to provide an enterprise block chain toolkit to help businesses develop new functionalities, brings to mind the role that Oracle plays in the future of decentralized databases, according to Victor Wong, BlockApps CEO. In an interview with International Business Times, Wong cited Oracle’s role as a database provider as a parallel to BlockApp’s role providing tools such as smart contracts for businesses to use to create new functionalities. Microsoft Enters The Block Chain Arena Microsoft partnered with an Ethereum-based startup, ConsenSys, to deliver block chain as an enterprise solution for clients of its cloud-based Azure […]

The post BlockApps CEO Likens The Block Chain ‘Sandbox’ To Oracle’s Database Role appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Bitcoin reputation startup Bonafide has elected to cease operations and commence liquidation less than one year after raising $850,000.