Month: July 2015

Rand Paul Staffer Estimates Campaign Raised $33,000 In BTC By Mid-June

Rand Paul made headlines back in April by becoming the first major U.S. Presidential candidate to accept bitcoins for campaign contributions. A staffer for the campaign told us that it was a success and estimated that the campaign had raised “about” $33,000 through bitcoin donations alone “about a week” before the June 30th reporting deadline. Far from an …

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Japanese Police to Press Charges Against Mark Karpeles over Mt. Gox Fraudulent System Manipulation

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is building a case against Mt. Gox’s former founder and CEO Mark Karpeles for fraudulent system manipulation leading to the exchange’s collapse in early 2014. The police will press charges against Karpeles, who is suspected of fraudulently manipulating the cryptocurrency system and inflating the bitcoin balance of fake accounts, reported local news outlet …

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OpenBazaar’s Hoffman: I’m Sure We’re Being Watched at Some Level

OpenBazaar Lead Developer Brian Hoffman was recently interviewed on This Week in Startups (TWIS), and he was asked a few different questions about the controversial nature of his platform for decentralized online commerce. On more than one occasion, TWIS Host Jason Calacanis brought up the topic of how governments will react to this new technology, …

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Funderbeam Announces Blockchain-Powered Syndication and Trading Platform for Startup Investments

UPDATE (July 29, 2015, 11:09am GMT): This article has been updated with details provided by Kaidi Ruusalepp on the platform’s ETA and Funderbeam’s partnership with Bitcoin 2.0 startup ChromaWay. Funderbeam, a company providing startup data intelligence, has announced a new syndication and trading platform for startup investments powered by the blockchain. The new platform will allow …

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Former Visa Senior VP: Bitcoin is Probably the Biggest Innovation in Fintech Since the Introduction of Electronic Payments

Bitnet is a Bitcoin payment processing company that has raised tens of millions of dollars over the past year, and the team behind this global payments platform has a plethora of experience in the traditional online payments space. Before co-founding Bitnet, CEO John McDonnell was a Senior Vice President at Visa. McDonnell was recently interviewed …

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Local Blockchain Startups Receive Support from Central Bank as Singapore Looks to Become Asia’s Fintech Hub

Singapore’s central bank and financial regulatory authority, wants to turn the city-state into the fintech hub of Asia. Ravi Menon As technology has changed the way we live, work and play, technology will change the way we transact, save and manage wealth, Ravi Menon, Managing Director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said in …

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HK Bitcoin Exchange Gatecoin Appoints George Popescu as Chairman of Advisory Board

Gatecoin, an award-winning startup based in Hong Kong operating a bitcoin exchange platform, has announced its advisory board composed of seasoned entrepreneurs, investments bankers and IT experts. The startup has appointed serial fintech entrepreneur and VC investor George Popescu as Chairman. George Popescu – LinkedIn Popescu currently leads multiple companies including Boston Technologies, Inc., a forex …

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Bitnet Confident in Instant Approval System in Spite of Recent Shapeshift Double Spends

Although many Bitcoin proponents have stated the digital money is useful for buying goods at physical stores, the reality is that some merchants are still not comfortable with accepting zero-confirmation transactions. Although the average confirmation time of ten minutes is fine in many situations, there are still plenty of instances where waiting more than a …

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Spanish Banking Giant Calls Blockchain Tech ‘The Ultimate Disruption in the Financial System’

BBVA, a multinational banking group and the second largest bank in Spain, has issued a new report in which it says that blockchain technology has the potential to cause the “biggest disruption to date” in the banking and financial sector. Untitled ‘Blockchain Technology: The Ultimate Disruption in the Financial System,’ the short report published by BBVA …

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Deloitte Proposes ‘State-Sponsored Cryptocurrency’

“Big Four” professional services firm Deloitte, proposes a new concept of “state-backed cryptocurrency” that would combine the best attributes of the technology of cryptocurrencies with the features of an established fiat currency under the sponsorship of a central bank. “With the potential to reduce costs, reduce errors, speed the transfer of money, balance privacy with …

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Amir Taaki Backs Up Ross Ulbricht’s Claim of Leaving Silk Road After Creating It

One of the main arguments that Defense Attorney Joshua Dratel attempted to make on multiple occasions during the Ross Ulbricht trial was that it’s always difficult to know who is behind specific activities on the Internet. During the high-profile trial, Dratel explained, “The internet permits, and perhaps thrives, on deception and misdirection. You never know …

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Travel Agency Becomes Vietnam’s First Company to Accept Bitcoin

Future.Travel, an online ticket agency incorporated in Ho-Chi-Minh City, has become the first company in Vietnam to accept bitcoin as a payment method for flights and travel services joining many other companies that accept Bitcoin. “We are a progressive, future thinking company and can see the value to the consumer, as well as to ourselves, for …

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Confirmed: Uber Is Not Accepting Bitcoin Despite Shaky Media Claims

After a user on imgur posted an image purportedly of someone representing Uber confirming Bitcoin integration, various media outlets, including Bitcoinist, took the shaky claim and ran with it, stating that Uber had “confirmed” that Bitcoin integration was imminent. Through some very basic journalistic techniques (we emailed and asked Uber directly) we can now confirm that Uber is not …

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