Thousands of websites from South Korea will embrace Bitcoin due to Galaxia Communications

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After the South Korean payment gateway giant, Galaxia Communications, announced to join Bitcoin payment method, thousands of websites from South Korea will embrace Bitcoins.

Galaxia Communications is one of the top three online payment companies in South Korea. This company has more than 10,000 customers both inside and outside of South Korea. It also is the top seller for mobile gift card and coupon in South Korea. The cooperated Bitcoin payment processor is Coinplug, which provides technology support for Bitcoin transaction.

The vice president and COO of Galaxia Communications, Yongkwang Kim, said the first time he heard about Bitcoin is just last year. Now he already has his own Bitcoin wallet. Kim also stated that persuading other staff of the company to accept Bitcoin is still challenging, since there is lots of negative news about digital currency, which makes bitcoin look unreliable. Kim also emphasised that there is no big problem in technical implementation:"We have operated many other payment methods. The operation of Bitcoin payment is relatively easier."

Source: http://www.8btc.com/koreans-have-thousands-new-online-bitcoin-opportunities-thanks-galaxia

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Posted in Bitcoin, Communications, embrace, Galaxia, Korea, South, Thousands, websites

Bitcoin notícias do dia (II)

Acerte o salto para ler as notícias de Bitcoin mais importantes do dia!

"Os tempos de Bitcoin"

Última hora: O Blockchain tem bifurcado

Grande falha na rede Bitcoin faíscas sell-off; preço temporariamente cai 23%

Bitcoin surge passados 45 dólares cada um, um ganho de 250 por cento desde janeiro

PNN – Coreia do Norte, a expansão do mercado Bitcoin

BitInstant-engenharia Social, DNS seqüestrar Hack terminado com $12.480 valor de Bitcoins roubado

Ano do Bitcoin

Bitcoin – o futuro do dinheiro?

Bitcoin valor continua a subir – quase US $50 cada

A demografia do Bitcoin

Bitcoin & despertar político global

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Posted in Bitcoin, notcias

Useful Bitcoin Web Tools

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There are several webs focused on the Bitcoin world that contain a lot of interesting information about the state of the Bitcoin network, the contents of the blockchain and other stuff. Let's check out seven of them today:

Great tools for the Bitcoin user!

1. Bitcoin Block Explorer


Bitcoin Block Explorer allows you to easily view information about the blocks, addresses, and transactions created by Bitcoin. It's a simple website made in plain text with no images. If your query is too complex it might not give you an answer though.

http://blockexplorer.com/

2. Blockchain Info


Blockchain Info allows you to navigate the Bitcoin blockchain, that is, the record of all transactions ever made on the Bitcoin network. It's very much like the previous Bitcoin Block Explorer site, but it shows the results to your queries in a much prettier way.

http://blockchain.info/

3. Bitcoincharts


Bitcoincharts provides financial and technical data related to the Bitcoin network. It's also got links to important Bitcoin news, data on how the power of the network is distributed (Hashrate Distribution) and allows you to buy Bitcoins from people who live close to you through the site LocalBitcoins.

http://bitcoincharts.com/

4. Bitcoin Watch


Macroeconomic data, technical analysis and Bitcoin market overview. Bitcoin Watch provides very complete, fast to access and useful information for those who want to know the economics behind Bitcoin. It takes much of its information from Bitcoincharts.

http://bitcoinwatch.com/

5. Bitcoin Clock


Bitcoin Clock is an original way to represent the state of the blocks created since Bitcoin was created. Here you can see the blocks that have been created, how long it will take until the block creation difficulty is adjusted, the remaining time for the reward a miner gets when he finds a block to drop by half, etc.

http://bitcoinclock.com/

6. Bitcoin Sentiment


How will the price of one Bitcoin in United States Dollars vary six months from now? Will it be worth more than today or less? On Bitcoin Sentiment you can cast your opinion and see the combined opinions of the rest of people who visited this page, so as you can plan your Bitcoin inversions easier.

http://bitcoinsentiment.com/

7. Bitcoin Monitor


Bitcoin Monitor visualizes the activities on the Bitcoin network: coins being moved around (transactions), recording and tamper-proofing the history of events (block creation) and exchanges with other currencies taking place (currency trade). It's a pretty informative and hypnotizing tool.

http://www.bitcoinmonitor.com/

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Posted in Bitcoin, Tools, Useful

Bitcoin notícias do dia

Quando não tenho nenhum artigo pronto para mostrar a você, vou te dar uma lista das notícias mais interessantes do dia Bitcoin! Aqui são as de hoje!:

Extra! Extra!

Bitcoin milionários vs papel bilionários

Hackers russos roubam $12.500 na Internet dinheiro da Cyberbank

Como 'Meu' Bitcoins e ganhar dinheiro Real

Por que é troca de moeda cyber Bitcoin em alta

Lança o primeiro fundo de Hedge Bitcoin de Malta

BitcoinStore lançando oficialmente hoje, marcação de 0%

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Posted in Bitcoin, notcias

Dutch Campaign Aims to See Bitcoin Classified as Money

Bitcoin company Bitonic has launched a crowdfunded campaign to support efforts to define bitcoin as money in the Netherlands.

The campaign has been dubbed Bitcoin is Geld (literally: ‘bitcoin is money’) and has so far raised more than 30 BTC. The cause enjoys the support of the Dutch Bitcoin Foundation and law firm SOLV.

Bitcoin is Geld will use the funds to promote legislation beneficial to bitcoin users in the Netherlands, effectively defining bitcoin as money in the country.

The campaign website indicates that the campaign was formed after a Dutch judge stated that bitcoin is not considered ‘real’ money and it now plans to take “the judge’s statement to a higher court by giving reasons as to why bitcoin should be defined as money”.

It states:

“Labelling bitcoin as a medium of exchange instead of money could have a big impact on individuals and companies who are engaged with this virtual currency. With this campaign, Bitonic and the community examines the question as to what could be expected if bitcoin, by law, would be treated the same as money.”

Highlighting pros and cons

The first goal is to raise a minimum of €15,000-worth of bitcoin, with Holland-based Bitonic contributing around a third of that total (10 BTC and €2,500), which will go towards hiring lawyers to spearhead the campaign. If fundraising goes well, other experts will also be taken on board.

The campaign aims to highlight the differences between treating bitcoin as a medium of exchange and treating it as money, which has far-reaching implications for taxation and estate law, as well as anti-money laundering (AML) provisions. As a result, the campaign argues, the regulatory framework should be changed.

“The aim is to point out [the] conclusion that civil law will become more efficient and organized when bitcoin and money are equated. In order to continue this campaign, [the] appeal needs to be funded, by integrating crowdfunding they are hoping to accomplish this goal,” the website states.

Bitconic executive Daan Kleiman explains:

“The current interpretation needs to be changed and improved and this is the reason why we are bringing the case to a higher court. In the first stage, the law firm SOLV will provide the judge with arguments as to why the current interpretation needs to be improved. This first step is the most important one since it requires the judge to reconsider the previously made statements and will hopefully change the current laws and regulations in order to prevent mistakes in future bitcoin-related cases.”

Kleiman argues a victory for bitcoin in the Netherlands would benefit other jurisdictions as well.

“Our campaign has currently been funded for 90+% in a very short time period. We still have more than 50 days to go so we have a very positive outlook towards our goal and are convinced that we will hit the target,” he told CoinDesk.

Calls for community discussion

The Bitcoin is Geld campaign already has its share of critics in the country’s cryptocurrency community, though.

One of them is local bitcoin activist and investor Paul Buitink, who shared his viewsin a video discussion last week (Dutch language), along with fellow critic Martijn Wismeijer and Bitonic’s Pieterjan Goppel and Daan Kleiman.

Buitink later told CoinDesk that he does want bitcoin to be treated like fiat currencies or forex, as that is the only way of making it a truly successful means of exchange. He argues that more relaxed regulation would benefit startups and small companies rather than stifle innovation in the block-chain space.

However, he is not convinced that the campaign is the right way forward:

“With regards to the initiative, I think Bitonic needs to halt it and first have a good and honest discussion with the Dutch bitcoin community that clearly isn’t supporting this to the extent they hoped. The Dutch Bitcoin Foundation, Stichting Bitcoin Nederland, should become more transparent and explain how they’re funded and involved with this.”

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Posted in Bitcoin, Campaign, Classified, Dutch, Money

New Internet toothache: unstoppable bitcoin thieves

The Dell computer corporation's SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit recently discovered an unknown hacker quietly "hijacking networks belonging to Amazon, Digital Ocean, OVH, and other large hosting companies between February and May 2014."  During that period of time, the hijacker used a complicated but time-tested "redirection" technique to steal $83,000 of profits from the currency miners.  ("Cryptocurrency" refers to virtual online currency, the most famous example being Bitcoin.  The miners were basically using automated programs to engage in sophisticated high-speed currency speculation.)

As noted in an article by MIT cyber-security student Josephine Wolff at Slate, what's alarming about this little heist is that the redirection tools used by the hacker have been around for nearly two decades, and security professionals have no idea how to stop them, because they're perverting one of the core features of the Internet:

When we go online we take for granted that we’ll be able to reach content and communicate with people regardless of the Internet service provider they use. My home Internet connection comes via Comcast, but I can use that connection to email friends with Verizon or Time Warner, or any other service provider. Eventually, that email will have to make its way from my provider, where it originated, to the recipient’s. This is what the Border Gateway Protocol, or BGP, is for—to help autonomous networks like Comcast and Verizon connect and direct traffic between each other.

Using BGP routers, service providers announce which IP addresses they can easily deliver traffic to, so that other providers know which traffic to send them. If multiple providers advertise that they can deliver traffic to the same IP address, then whichever one serves a smaller set of addresses will receive traffic intended for that address. So networks are constantly updating and broadcasting these announcements to one another via BGP routers, letting their peers know which addresses they can deliver traffic to, and allowing the rest of us to ignore the question of which service providers everyone else is using.

Without BGP, there is no Internet as we know it. But that doesn’t mean it can’t cause problems—our reliance on the accuracy of the information provided by BGP routers means that anyone who can gain access to one can redirect some portion of online traffic by advertising a sufficiently small set of addresses whose traffic it wants to target. In other words, if you want access to some piece of online traffic directed to someone else, you can use BGP to announce that you will deliver it to its intended recipients—in the same way that Comcast announces it can deliver traffic to me—and the rest of the Internet will believe you. So this is probably what happened in the bitcoin theft incidents investigated by SecureWorks—the thief used the credentials of someone who worked at a Canadian ISP to send out false routing announcements. Using those announcements, the thief redirected the traffic of groups dedicated to bitcoin mining and was able to retain the bitcoins harvested by those groups’ machines rather than paying them out to the owners of the mining computers.

It's sort of like dressing up as a mailman, helping yourself to sacks of mail at the post office, and stealing every letter that contains money.  The thieves can operate from nearly anywhere in the world - a previous redirection scare from a couple of years back was caused by a Russian gang that had quietly insinuated a bit of viral code into millions of web browsers, routing Internet address requests to servers under their control.  They originally did this to hijack the in-line ad spaces on web pages, a relatively subtle and innocuous crime in which they would quietly replace, say, an ad for Amazon.com with ads provided by their illicit clients.  The big problem is that once the gang got busted, infected web browsers around the world would keep hitting those sleazy Russian servers to get Internet addresses... and if the servers were abruptly yanked offline, a sizable portion of the Internet wouldcrash.  The solution involved keeping the gang's servers up and running until the virus could be thoroughly purged from the planet's computer systems.  It went off quite well, but cybersecurity experts were very nervous for a while there.

As Wolff notes, these redirection shenanigans are extremely difficult to detect and nearly impossible to prevent, because the fluid nature of the Internet is one of its great strengths.  You didn't have to type in a long string of 16-digit numbers to read this article; you just pointed your computer at Breitbart.com, and a fairly long string of computers located hundreds or thousands of miles apart swiftly resolved that request.  Virtual real estate moves around, but the process is wonderfully transparent to end users.  It's as though your home or business can hoist itself onto wheels and roll to a less expensive or more convenient location at the drop of a hat, but everyone can still effortlessly find you just by using your name.

There have been many other examples of the Internet's strength being turned against it by miscreants - spam email, for instance, which peaked into such a menace during the mid-2000s that companies were taking themselves offline to escape the from the tidal wave of Canadian pharmacy ads and requests for assistance from deposed Nigerian princes, which threatened to bring corporate mail networks to their knees.  Spam exploits the astonishing ease of sending mail across the Internet.  The early spam kings were using beat-up old computers from spare rooms in their houses, pumping out thousands of emails per hour.

And look at all the Obama Administration scandals in which inconvenient emails have been made to disappear, with muttered excuses about freak hard-drive crashes and bouts of amnesia concerning federal record-keeping requirements.  It didn't take our political class long to figure out how it could use the ease and power of online communication to digitally enhance its cover-ups, did it?

In many ways, the swift growth of the Internet has served as an unprecedented sociological experiment, hurling people into a new world where there weren't many rules at first.  Parts of that virtual frontier will never be tamed.  In a state of online anarchy, some people saw wondrous opportunities for communication and collaboration... while others set to work figuring out how they could pillage the high-speed traffic, or ruin the hard work of others for their amusement.  It's a tough lesson for those who believe human nature can be perfected.

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Posted in Bitcoin, Internet, thieves, toothache, unstoppable

Bitcoin virtual currency can be used to pay for coffee, beer and facials

Sophie Brown pays for her drink with bitcoins on her phone at the Old Fitzroy. Photo: Wolter Peeters

Six years ago it was a figment of a geek's imagination. Now the bitcoin is on the cusp of mainstream use, with a  growing number of shops accepting it as easily as cards and cash.

Last September, Garry Pasfield ushered in a new digital era at the Old Fitzroy pub in Woolloomooloo, when he began accepting the virtual currency.

"There was a group of geeks in my pub, and I overheard them talking about bitcoins. I was intrigued, looked into it, and thought I'd give it a go," he said.

Since then, there has been a bitcoin payment every two days. Any punter with a bitcoin wallet on their phone can pay for beers by snapping a QR code generated at the till.

It has pulled dozens of new customers through the century-old pub's doors, especially fans from the United States and Canada.

The prospect of boosting trade has been a key motive for recent adopters, including Adeva Beauty Salon in Blacktown, the Owl House restaurant in Darlinghurst and Chem-Dry Randwick carpet cleaning.

They are among 1000 bitcoin-enabled businesses in Australia, according to figures from the Tax Office, which on Wednesday ruled that bitcoins are property and not money for tax purposes.

The unregulated, wildly fluctuating currency has been linked with money laundering, tax evasion and cybercrime. But it has been a trouble-free and cost-saving journey for Mr Pasfield.

"I've had people hand me a credit card, build up a tab of $150 and walk out. The biggest bad debt is in credit cards, but a debt in bitcoins does not exist," he said.

Jason Williams of BitPOS, the Visa equivalent of the bitcoin world, said merchants could save hundreds of dollars in fees using bitcoins.

"We take a flat 1 per cent on the transaction. But there are no banking fees, monthly charges, sign-up costs, terminal rental costs, and it's instant. There's no wait for the money to come through."

Ron Tucker from the Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association said Bitcoin had surpassed Western Union in terms of daily volume of transactions and was nipping at the heels of PayPal.

When he launched an exchange service in April last year, his research showed only two out of 10 people had heard about bitcoin. Now it was nine out of 10.

"We expect to see mass adoption of bitcoins by consumers and businesses in the next two to three years based on the penetration rates of other digital technologies across established industries like the post, film and music industries," he said.

Amir Halpert, owner of the Owl House restaurant, said some weeks bitcoins accounted for a tenth of revenue. "It's the currency of the future, this is the way we're heading. Near or far, it will happen."

Chem-dry Randwick operator James McKeon began accepting bitcoins in June. He was quick to concede it was a gimmick - for now. "I'll take payment in anything, I'm happy to have cash, cheque, card, bitcoins! I'm not expecting to convert customers, I'm wanting to see new customers."

BIG NUMBERS

$US509 - the current value of a bitcoin

$US2000 - average worth of a bitcoin transaction worldwide

70,000 - the number of daily bitcoin transactions 

$US250 million - the worth of daily bitcoin transactions

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Posted in Bitcoin, coffee, currency, facials, virtual

Cryptocurrency Round-Up: Argentina Embraces Altcoins, Bitcoin Boosts Overstock Shares and Bitbond Funding

The price of bitcoin has continued to slide, dropping in value by a further 5% over the last 24 hours. This takes its price down to $525 (£315), around $100 less than it was one month ago.

Bitcoin's misfortunes have been mirrored by most other major cryptocurrencies, with litecoin, peercoin and darkcoin all experiencing similar drops.

Bucking the trend, but in the opposite direction for a change, is dogecoin. The meme-inspired cryptocurrency saw its price rise by just over 3% since yesterday, taking its market capitalisation up above $13 million once more.

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Argentina embraces altcoin

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A new bitcoin brokerage service based in Argentina has been launched, allowing consumers to buy the cryptocurrency at more than 8,000 convenience stores.

Ripio, launched by bitcoin merchant processor BitPagos, aims to provide an easy method of acquiring bitcoins to underbanked consumers and existing bitcoin users.

"You can go to any location, give them your account in Ripio and the amount of pesos you want to get in bitcoins. Boom: You have some bitcoins," Sebastian Serrano, CEO of BitPagos, told CoinDesk.

"It's going to be extremely easy to use and to buy bitcoins easily, securely and near you, even if you don't have a bank account. We think that this is going to push adoption."

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Bitcoin adds 4 cents to each Overstock shares

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Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne has attributed the introduction of bitcoin infrastructure into the online retailer's payment structure to an expected rise of four cents per share.

Overstock began accepting bitcoin payments in January and has since made more than $2 million in sales through the cryptocurrency. That accounts for around 0.25% of total sales.

"I think the world expects us to make 75-80 cents per share this year. And four cents of that would be attributable to bitcoin," Byrne toldReuters.

"When technology comes along like cryptocurrency, which can replace at a far lower cost, I'm all for supporting it."

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Bitcoin lending platform secures seed funding

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Peer-to-peer bitcoin lending platform Bitbond has received €200,000 (£160,000) in a seed funding round led by VC Point Nine Capital.

The Berlin-based company provides individuals and small businesses a way to raise funds through cryptocurrency rather than traditional means.

CEO and co-founder Radoslav Albrecht said: "Our main target borrowers are small businesses that have been operating for two or three years, or maybe longer and cannot get finance from a bank, possibly because they simply don't have access to a bank account, or they are a type of business that the banks typically do not lend to."

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Posted in Altcoins, Argentina, Bitbond, Bitcoin, Boosts, Cryptocurrency, Embraces, Funding, Overstock, RoundUp, Shares

Who's Got Your Back On Bitcoin Deals?

You know there are problems out there when a government watchdog agency says it’s “accepting complaints” on digital currencies.

That’s government speak for “we think this is a huge problem and we ought to investigate it.” That means digital currencies are still on the fringe of legitimacy and you need to be careful, according to latest consumer advisory from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The CFPB is concerned about Bitcoin and other digital currencies. As more and more vendors accept it, this unregulated currency has come under scrutiny. Who controls the supply of it? Can hackers steal it easily — as they’ve done in the past two years? Who’s policing it? What about people who hide assets in Bitcoins during a divorce? Can you do that? These are all unanswered questions.

While I’m all for the emergence of digital currencies, they won’t work without independent regulation. Here’s what the CFPB had to say:

“Virtual currency companies are springing up around the world to offer products and services to consumers. There are virtual currency exchanges, which are companies that help consumers buy or sell virtual currencies. They are designed to be an alternative to current payment systems. Better-known virtual currencies include Bitcoin, XRP, and Dogecoin. They are a way for people to track, store, and send payments over the Internet, and they may have the potential to make payment processing cheaper or faster.

But they are not backed by any government or central bank. In addition, because virtual currency accounts are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, if a virtual currency company fails – and many have – the government will not cover the loss.”

Warnings About Digital Currencies

Total Bitcoin supply over time. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• Exchange rates are volatile and costs unclear: The exchange rate of Bitcoins to U.S. dollars in 2013 fell as much as 61 percent in a single day. In 2014, the value of Bitcoins has dropped by as much as 80 percent in a single day. Consumers who buy virtual currencies should be prepared to weather this kind of volatility.
• The Federal Reserve doesn’t back Bitcoins. Nor does the U.S. Treasury, since this is not a government-issued currency. They are worth whatever the online exchange says they’re worth.
• Consumers should also consider whether there are mark-ups or other fees when using an exchange or digital wallet provider. Companies may be charging consumers to buy, spend, or accept virtual currencies.
• Hackers and scammers pose serious security threats: Virtual currencies are targets for highly sophisticated hackers and scammers. Individuals, digital wallet providers, and exchanges are all at risk. For example, if a hacker gains access to a consumer’s Bitcoin “private keys,” which are 64-character codes that unlock the consumer’s funds, the consumer can lose all their virtual currency.
• Fraudsters are also taking advantage of the hype surrounding virtual currencies to pose as Bitcoin exchanges, Bitcoin intermediaries, and Bitcoin traders in an effort to lure consumers to send money, which is then stolen.
• Companies may not offer help or refunds for lost or stolen funds: Some virtual currency companies do not identify their owners, provide phone numbers and addresses, or even specify the country in which they are located. Before using a company’s products or services, consumers should carefully consider if they know how to contact the company in question, and if they know their contractual rights.
• Who’s Got Your Back on Bitcoin? If a consumer trusts a company to hold their virtual currencies and something goes wrong, the company may not offer the kind of help the consumer would expect from a bank, debit card, or credit card provider. In fact, some virtual currency companies disclaim responsibility for consumer losses if funds are lost or stolen.

As you can see, there are far too many unknowns in digital currencies. Some day they might prove to be a viable alternative to cash, but not before there’s some oversight on how they are circulated and created. In the interim, if you have a problem with them,contact the CFPB. They are the only cop on this beat at the moment.

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Posted in Bitcoin, Deals

Bitcoin ATM out of service, Pacman ate all coins.

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Posted in Bitcoin, coins, Pacman, service

Ecuador's Phony Bitcoin Ploy

Few economic injustices are more villainous than stealing from the poor. Yet this is what a government does when it devalues its currency. Pope Francis has stressed the Christian obligation to share with the least of our brothers. Devaluation actually takes from them what they have earned themselves. And while the inflation tax that follows hits everybody, it wallops the low-income population the hardest.

Ecuadoreans are not free to speak against this threat to their earnings and savings. Mr. Correa is well known for using the judicial system and the army to threaten and silence his critics. Earlier this month he won the passage of a new law that makes it a crime—punishable by up to seven years in prison—to "publish, broadcast or spread" news that creates "economic panic." The law suggests that the brash University of Illinois-trained economist is well aware of the trouble his funny money is likely to cause.Ecuador engaged in this insidious practice repeatedly throughout most of the 20th century. The little nation took a giant step in 2000 when it adopted the U.S. dollar as its currency to put an end to theft-by-devaluation. But last month President Rafael Correa pushed through Congress a law to permit the creation of what Ecuador calls a new "electronic" currency. So now the central bank again has a vehicle that will allow it to conjure money out of thin air to finance a political agenda.

Venezuela's Nicólas Maduro and Argentina's Cristina Kirchner, both fellow travelers of the Ecuadorean president, have driven their economies into the ground. Compared with them, Ecuador's dollarized economy looks better. Seven years after Mr. Correa took power, Ecuador reports an average annual gross domestic product growth rate of 4.3% and a drop in the poverty rate to 26% from 38%.

Still, economic statistics compiled by an authoritarian state should always be viewed with some skepticism, as should a June poll that purportedly found the president has a 61% approval rating. Even the government's numbers are hardly miraculous. According to development economists, it takes GDP growth of better than 6% for a decade to authentically move people out of poverty. Dollarization has made people better off by protecting their savings and earnings, but Ecuador has achieved no progress in economic competitiveness, the linchpin of growth. Instead Mr. Correa has run the country on the fumes of high-price oil and borrowing.

In 2008 Ecuador repudiated $3.9 billion in foreign debt. The government had the money to pay its creditors, but the president had other plans for those funds. So Mr. Correa justified the default by alleging that the debt, incurred by previous governments, was "illegitimate" and that bondholders were "real monsters." Then he went on his own spending tear.

This year Ecuador will run a fiscal deficit, including debt service, of some $9.2 billion, more than 9% of GDP. That's what happens with budgeting that forecasts that oil prices will grow to the sky. It will be hard to shrink bloated state payrolls and subsidies, and the cost of servicing rising debt levels isn't getting any cheaper.

To return this year to the international capital markets with a $2 billion 10-year bond, Ecuador had to pay a whopping 7.95% coupon. It also took out a $400 million three-year loan from Goldman Sachs against Ecuadorean gold to meet budget shortfalls. China holds $11 billion in Ecuadorean debt, not including billions of dollars in loans from Beijing secured by future oil shipments at an undisclosed price.

Now Mr. Correa is planning for when he runs out of other people's money. The central bank says its new money will be a parallel currency backed up by dollars or the "equivalent" and used to pay its 500,000 bureaucrats in a "hygienic" manner. But if so, why not use dollars? In today's world, there's nothing special about transferring money electronically. Implying that this is a "virtual" currency is an attempt to lend Bitcoin-like cachet to what will essentially be IOUs issued by a country with a rather dodgy credit history. Coming from a president who ran for office in 2006 pledging to de-dollarize an economy renowned for bouts of hyperinflation, this is more than disconcerting.

Pope Francis is not oblivious to the consequences of monetary meddling. In his November 2013 "apostolic exhortation," he wrote: "Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realize the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real purchasing power."

That's an excellent if somewhat cryptic summation of what may be the most ubiquitous cause of persistent poverty in the world: government fiscal profligacy and the monetary devaluation that follows it. The pope's statement goes to the heart of why Mr. Correa is building the escape hatch to get out of dollarization, and what will happen to Ecuadoreans when he uses it.

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Posted in Bitcoin, Ecuadors, Phony

Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam and MrBitco.in against regulations.

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Posted in against, Amsterdam, Bitcoin, Embassy, MrBitcoin, regulations

LibraTax Looks To Solve Bitcoin Tax Accounting-Related Woes

With new IRS guidance on taxing crypto-currency trading, it can be a bit complicated for Bitcoin enthusiasts to figure out how much capital gains and income tax they owe.

Losses and gains are subject to a capital gains tax, which means you have to remember Bitcoin’s valuation at the point you bought the currency and at the point you sold it. That leads to a complicated year-round exercise in bookkeeping.

Then, people that mine their own Bitcoins face two different kinds of taxes: one is an income tax based on the fair market value of the currency when they mined it. The other is the capital gains taxes on any changes in the valuation of that currency once they sell it.

This, of course, makes for a nice market opportunity for someone out there to create something like TurboTax for Bitcoin.

Enter LibraTax, a fresh startup that lets individuals and businesses keep track of their earnings from Bitcoin, Ripple and other crypto-currency related transactions.

“The new IRS rules create this huge accounting nightmare,” said LibraTax founder Jake Benson. “You not only have to realize gains and losses, but you have to remember what you paid originally for the Bitcoin.”

LibraTax automatically retrieves a person’s historical sales and purchases of Bitcoin from the blockchain, or the public ledger of transactions, and reconciles them with whatever the value of Bitcoin was at that time. It should work with transactions that even date back to earlier years in case people who filed tax returns want to make amendments.

The company is aiming to have a two-tiered model, with one kind of software for consumers that should largely be free unless they want premium services like additional wallets. They’re also looking at a model that will target tax professionals and accounting firms, who will pay a licensing fee and can join an affiliate program. They are also in the process of building a product suite for small businesses.

LibraTax has funding so far from accelerator CrossCoin Ventures, which is associated with the crypto-currency Ripple.

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Posted in AccountingRelated, Bitcoin, LibraTax, Looks, Solve

Bitcoin gets bit by a summertime swoon

Bitcoin fell sharply Wednesday, touching lows against the dollar not seen since May.

The drop comes after a stable July for the cryptocurrency, and a strong run that has seen bitcoin hold above $560 since May 26. The slide began on Monday-the same day the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced new warnings about the digital currency-and accelerated Wednesday morning, according topricing data from CoinDesk.

According to CoinDesk, the currency has only once finished the day on more than a 5 percent change since May: Bitcoin rose almost 7 percent on June 30. Its last drop of over 5 percent was on June 12.

At its lows on Wednesday, CoinDesk's price index had fallen more than 6 percent on the day.

Still, some argue that the fall is part of an orderly correction for the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency.

In a blog post for CryptoCoinsNews, Venzen Khaosan argued that technical analysis predicted the current fall, with $525 as an expected bottom. News events, such as the CFPB announcement, he added, have not typically moved the market.

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Posted in Bitcoin, summertime, swoon