Bits and Pieces 4thSep2013

  • Bitcoin exchange TradeHill halts trading after its banking partner experiences “regulatory issues”.

After series of Bitcoin businesses being dropped  by their banking partners earlier this year, the Internet Archive Federal Credit Union (IAFCU)  came to the rescue. The New Jersey based credit union, run by the Internet Archive, has been very friendly to the Bitcoin industry and has worked with a number of businesses who have had trouble establishing relationships with banks.

One of the businesses the credit union partnered with was the US based TradeHill  exchange. Late last week Jered Kenna, Tradehill’s founder and CEO, confirmed via Reddit that the exchange had suspended trading due to “operational and regulatory issues” faced by its bank.

IAFCU posted its own statement on the matter , but was not clear on the nature of the regulatory issues.

  • As the rupee continues to struggle, Indian officials continue their attempts to curb demand for gold.

Via Reuters

India is considering a radical plan to direct commercial banks to buy gold from ordinary citizens and divert it to precious metal refiners in an attempt to curb imports and take some heat off the plunging currency.

The RBI will ask the banks to buy back jewelry, bars and coins for rupees. Lenders will have to offer better rates than pawn shops and jewelers to lure sellers.

“We will start a pilot project among some banks where we will allow them to buy back gold from individual households,” the source, an official familiar with the central bank’s plan, said. “This will start soon, we have discussed (it) with banks.”

  • From New York to Germany, check out a timeline of August events affecting the crypto-currency community here.
  • For those following the Bitcoin Foundation’s board elections Bitcoin Magazine has posted transcripts from Let’s Talk Bitcoin’s interviews with the Individual Seat Candidates

Two new seats are being added to the Board of Directors. One representing Individual Members and the other is representing Industry (business) Members. In order to be eligible to vote in this election, you must be a current member of the Bitcoin Foundation.

Bits and Pieces Aug13th2013

Critical Vulnerability Found in Bitcoin Android Wallets. The Android software itself has a vulnerability in the way it generates random numbers. Long story short, if you have Bitcoin wallet on an Android phone you’ll want to upgrade your app and/or temporarily move your bitcoins off your phone. Details here.

It looks like Bloomberg is testing a Bitcoin ticker. Abbreviating Bitcoin as XBT, Bloomberg terminal users can now look up Bitcoin’s pricing history. Data comes from Bitcoin exchange service Mt. Gox as well as Tradehill. More details here.

The Bitcoin ATM is now available for pre-order. The makers of the Bitcoin machine, Lamassu, are now accepting orders for the machine. Lamassu will sell the machine with the appropriate software installed and leave regulatory compliance to those operating the ‘ATM’.  Customers in the US are required to sign a due diligence questionnaire.  Prices start at $5000 via Bitcoin or wire transfers. Order yours here.

Why Libbitcoin matters. Libbitcoin is an advanced alternative implementations of the Bitcoin protocol. While there are other alternative implementations, this one is unique it allows Bitcoin users with some technical skills but not necessarily experienced programmers to “work directly with the underlying [Bitcoin] building blocks.”

This may be a competitor to the current implementation, bitcoind and have the effect of limiting the influence of Bitcoin updates coming from authorities such as the Bitcoin Foundation. This may help to maintain Bitcoin’s decentralized nature and has some political implictions as explained here.

Bitcoin is officially Money. The SEC is suing Trendon Shavers for running a Ponzi scheme, the Bitcoin Savings & Trust. Part of Mr Trendon’s defence was to claim that Bitcoin investments are not securities and Bitcoin is not money; last week a judge disagreed.

 

Bits and Pieces 29thMar13

  • The BRICS nations, 43 percent of the world’s population, are working on a new “development bank” set to bypass the World Bank and the IMF.

“There’s a shift in power from the traditional to the emerging world.”

The move is seen as a way for BRICS to protect themselves from the US and Europe’s financial trouble and as a way to increase their global financial influence.

Details here  and here.

  • Russia to ban cash transactions over $10,000
  • Bitcoin’s market capitalization briefly hits $1Billion!
  • Texas want’s its gold back from the Fed.

 

Bits and Pieces 5thSep

North Dakota congressional candidate Eric Olson accepts donations to his campaign in Bitcoin http://ericolson2012.com/donate/  And sitting New Hampshire state representative Mark Warden is accepting them for his re-election campaign. http://www.markwarden.com/page/contribute-campaign

Attention digital currency providers, start advertising in Argentina. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/09/04/argentina-begins-tracking-all-credit-cards/

BitInstant’s Charlie Shrem wants Bitcoiners to “get together and get a SuperBowl ad” adding that “I want this commercial to be a statement to the banks and governments of the world and say ‘Look, your people don’t like your fiscal policies, you’ve put us in a recession, you’re screwing us up so much. We’re taking control of our own money, the way we’re doing it is Bitcoin.’ I want to scare them.

Also, in the next few weeks BitInstant should be open for business in Canada, 3,700 people have already signed up to get the new Bitcoin debit card, and loads more Bitcoin debit card details here http://codinginmysleep.com/bitcoin-mastercard-followup-interview-with-charlie-shrem/

GATA Chairman Bill Murphy is appearing on Russia Today’s “Capital Account” program at 4:30 p.m. ET Wednesday. http://www.gata.org/node/11714

And yet another community currency in Spain http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/04/spain-euro-free-economy?newsfeed=true