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Georgia-based
bitcoin merchant processing specialist BitPay has announced a new tool
aimed at spreading bitcoin adoption through popular social network
Facebook.
Called Get Bits,
the Facebook application allows users an easy way to trade bitcoin
in-person by helping to arrange meetings between friends on the network.
Notably, Get Bits does not allow users to transact through the app.
Rather, it serves as a way for independent buyers and sellers to connect
via a commonly used platform. BitPay framed
the launch as one that sought to use the power of social networking to
boost bitcoin, while leveraging Facebook’s utility as a social login to
preserve security in the process.
The company said:
“Because bitcoin is one of the only forms of payment
which cannot be fraudulently reversed, selling bitcoin usually requires
some level of trust in the buyer. To deal with this, Get Bits currently
leverages the world’s largest ‘web of trust’, Facebook.”
Users can sign into Facebook to view a list of friends that are using
the program. From there, Get Bits allows users to gift and trade
bitcoin or invite others to the program.
BitPay further advised that users should exercise caution during in-person exchanges, adding:
“If a friend is interested in buying a significant amount
of bitcoin from you, please consider exchanging in a physically secure
environment.”
The launch comes amid a boom in the number of bitcoin companies
seeking to leverage social media to spread digital currency adoption. In
May, San Francisco-based QuickCoin launched a social wallet, while Uruguay-based Moneero launched with a social focus in July. Disclaimer:CoinDesk founder Shakil Khan is an investor in BitPay
The bitcoin landscape is evolving so rapidly that it’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through the year.
Like any new industry, there are so many areas to explore in the
bitcoin space that a week’s worth of developments can sometimes feel
like a month or two have gone by.
Bitcoin has certainly seen a lot of action in 2014. The collapse of Mt. Gox, hefty venture capital investments in bitcoin startups and the US government auction of 30,000 bitcoins seized from the Silk Road all generated buzz in the mainstream media.
CoinDesk’s recent State of Bitcoin Q2 2014 report
highlights some of the key developments that have influenced bitcoin’s
journey over the past few months, providing context for the digital
currency’s ever-changing position in society.
While only time will tell what’s in store for bitcoin’s future, a
number of trends have emerged in the industry this year that could shape
the direction and velocity of bitcoin’s growth.
Here are five bitcoin trends that have emerged in the first half of 2014:
1. Big-name retailers jumping on board
The year started with a bang when Overstock became the first major retailer
to accept bitcoin. News of Overstock’s success with the digital
currency served as a signal for other large companies to follow suit.
Electronics retailer TigerDirect integrated bitcoin as a payment option by the end of January, and other household names like the Sacramento Kings, Lord & Taylor and REEDS Jewelers got on board soon after.
By the end of June, three companies with at least $2bn in annual revenue had begun accepting bitcoin: DISH, Expedia and Newegg.
With smaller businesses also continuing to accept bitcoin at a
fervent pace, we estimate that around 100,000 merchants will accept
bitcoin by the end of 2014: State of Bitcoin Q2 2014
2. A warming regulatory climate
While it certainly hasn’t been all smooth sailing between governments and bitcoin
this year, it seems like tides are changing and regulators around the
world are starting to take a more open-minded approach to the digital
currency.
In the beginning of 2014, China’s stance on bitcoin was ambiguous at best. By April, China’s Central Bank Governor said that banning bitcoin was “out of the question,” referring to it as more of an asset than a currency.
Russia, after releasing stern warnings about bitcoin early this year, recently reconsidered its stance on the digital currency.
Gerogy Luntovsky, the deputy chairman of Bank of Russia, explained
that his agency is going to take time to examine bitcoin as the industry
continues to evolve:
“At
this stage, we need to watch how the situation develops with these kinds
of currencies. These instruments should not be rejected.”
Progress has also been made in places like California, where Governor Jerry Brown has granted bitcoin ‘legal money’ status, and Switzerland, where similar ‘legal money’ regulations are being considered.
Regulators seem increasingly willing to hold off on impulsive
legislation in favor of working with the bitcoin community to find the
best resolutions to prevent money laundering and fraud without stifling
innovation.
3. VC firms keep betting big
Not everybody is as slow as governments to embrace bitcoin.
Serious venture capital investments in bitcoin companies were already taking place in 2013, but VCs have certainly kicked it up this year, with a total of $150m having already been invested in 2014.
With 2014′s Q2 VC investments reaching $73m (up from $57m in Q1),
CoinDesk estimates that by the year’s end, 2014 VC investments in
bitcoin companies will have surpassed 1995 VC investments in Internet
companies: State of Bitcoin Q2 2014
The venture capital flowing into the bitcoin space supports the
industry’s infrastructure both explicitly and implicitly: startups gain
access to resources that allow them to build much-needed products and
services around the Bitcoin protocol, and the investors’ confidence in
the digital currency brings legitimacy to bitcoin’s reputation.
4. Building on the block chain
Most people who take the time to really learn about bitcoin realize
that the true genius in Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention is not the coins
themselves, but rather the block chain.
The term ‘Bitcoin 2.0′ is often used to describe applications that
use the technology of the block chain to address issues like smart
contracts and identity verification that were once impossible to solve in a decentralized way on the Internet.
Jeff Garzik, one of the bitcoin protocol’s core developers, described the significance of the block chain beyond the scope of digital currencies:
“As a computer
scientist, and in computer science in general, when you talked about
building distributed systems, there tended to be a purely theoretical
view about how computers would talk to each other, how to keep them
coordinated. Satoshi and the blockchain really solved that problem in an
elegant and unexpected way.”
Block chain-focused startups like BlockScore
and BlockCypher have already secured funding this year from investors.
As 2014 rolls on, expect to see new uses of the block chain technology
solving problems in a uniquely decentralized manner.
5. New emphasis on transparency
The collapse of Mt. Gox, once the biggest bitcoin exchange in the market, was a wake-up call to many in the community.
The former exchange’s CEO Mark Karpeles was notoriously opaque in the months leading to its bankruptcy, causing confusion among users who held bitcoins on Gox.
Ultimately many people lost BTC through the course of Mt. Gox’s
downfall. Outcries from the community started pouring in, demanding
other big exchanges prove their solvency with professional audits.
Exchanges like Bitstamp, Kraken and Coinbase all agreed to be audited in the aftermath of Mt. Gox’s liquidation.
The demand for more transparency in the industry doesn’t stop at
exchange audits, though. Revered bitcoin evangelist Andreas Antonopoulos
recently took to Twitter to announce his departure from the Bitcoin
Foundation, citing a lack of transparency as a primary concern:
If the first half of 2014 proves anything, it’s that the technology
underlying bitcoin is resilient even under catastrophic circumstances
(Mt. Gox), and that the community is willing to rally together in
bringing bitcoin to mass adoption.
There’s a reason people call it the “honey badger of money.”
Stan Higgins |Published on July 1, 2014 at 21:45 BST
The
US Marshals Service (USMS) has announced that a single, undisclosed
bidder claimed all of the roughly 30,000 bitcoins seized from online
black market Silk Road and sold in its recent auction.
The winning bidder outbid all other parties for the 10 auction
blocks, according to the USMS. Further, the bitcoins have already been
transferred to the winner, according to Blockchain.
The USMS previously said that it would begin notifying bidders as to
whether they had secured any of the blocks on 30th June. The auction
took place on Friday, 27th June over a 12-hour span.
In a statement, the USMS said:
“The US Marshals Bitcoin auction resulted in one winning
bidder. The transfer of the bitcoins to the winner was completed today.”
The auction was structured into 10 blocks, with the first nine consisting of 3,000 BTC and the last one featuring 2,656.51306529 BTC.
Results trickle in
The news follows an earlier announcement
from the USMS on 30th June, when the agency said that 45 registered
bidders took part in the process. At the time, the federal agency didn’t
have a clear number on the final amount of winning bids.
The USMS released the
auction date and procedural details last month. At the time, the
federal agency outlined how participants could express interest in the
roughly $18 million worth of bitcoin.
Since then, a number of key bidders,
including SecondMarket founder and CEO Barry Silbert, have outlined
their participation in the auction. Silbert later announced via Twitter
that his auction syndicate, which consisted of 42 bidders for a total of
186 bids, was outbid on every bitcoin block.
The syndicate formed just part of a broader pool of known or possible bidders, a number of which were inadvertently released
by the USMS. Other bidders included Pantera Capital and Bitcoin Shop,
both of which have confirmed that they did not enter the winning bid. Image via Wikipedia
