A local startup is attempting to make buying the digital
currency Bitcoin as easy as walking up to an ATM.
To Adam Sah, co-founder and CEO of Best Friend Wholesale & Mercantile, a San Francisco - based specialty grocery store chain, offering the digital
currency bitcoin as an alternative payment solution for customers seemed like a no - brainer.
The technology was first developed to underpin digital
currency bitcoin as it removes the need for a central bank or authority to police the currency.
Silk Road 2.0 provided an online bazaar where users across the world could buy and sell drugs, computer hacking tools and other illicit items, using the digital
currency Bitcoin as payment, authorities said.
Not exact matches
As Zynga becomes the latest adopter of the digital
currency, the move highlights a budding trend: businesses adopting
bitcoin to woo a key consumer demographic.
As Ryan Selkis of the Digital
Currency Group tweeted, blockchain is friendlier to business and innovation («I want to make money / follow rules») while
bitcoin suggests obsession and perhaps delusion («I'm fighting a holy war»).
Thomas added that Ripple's own digital
currency, known
as XRP, is less vulnerable to forks or unpredictable changes because, unlike
bitcoin, it relies on voting measures that favor users more than miners.
Henry Blodget discusses this week's
bitcoin rally, and how the virtual
currency could just
as easily go to $ 1 million
as it could fall to $ 0.
On August 1, the miners will implement a software update that will create a so - called «fork» and result in two versions of the
bitcoin blockchain — and two forms of the
currency as well.
That abrupt reversal was magnified many times over in a
bitcoin market that doesn't have anything like the same liquidity or transparency
as the market for official
currencies.
Fully - knit sweaters emblazoned with the logos of popular digital
currencies, including
bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin — known
as «ugly crypto sweaters» — are sweeping the online crypto community.
Bitcoin began
as a decentralized, unregulated
currency created by and traded between anonymous individuals, one that supposedly couldn't be tracked by government authorities.
Dixon, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, says people have been treating
Bitcoin as a
currency or investment opportunity, but that's backward.
Despite the record - breaking values of
Bitcoin and its ilk, most digital
currencies have failings that make them problematic
as a mainstream medium of exchange.
Known
as a self - proclaimed geek who said he was uncomfortable in his native France and hadn't been back in years, Karpeles became interested in
bitcoin when a customer of his web - hosting services wanted to pay in the virtual
currency.
The volatility of
bitcoin has made it more useful
as a vehicle for speculation than
as a
currency, say critics — when the value can change drastically from hour to hour, it introduces undesirable risk for sellers and buyers alike.
Bitcoin slumped
as South Korea's justice minister reiterated his proposal to ban local cryptocurrency exchanges, fueling concern that a government crackdown will erode one of the world's biggest sources of demand for digital
currencies.
That figure though assumes
Bitcoin is indeed set to one day become a worldwide
currency — a thought that even some cryptocurrency supporters, such
as Mark Cuban, question.
As it stands now, however, U.S. regulators don't see Bitcoin, as it stands now, as a currenc
As it stands now, however, U.S. regulators don't see
Bitcoin,
as it stands now, as a currenc
as it stands now,
as a currenc
as a
currency.
Bitcoin's value dropped below $ 8,000 on Friday morning, taking $ 100 billion off the cryptocurrency market
as concerns grew over the future of digital
currencies this week.
Its token, which the company says will initially be pegged to the value of one U.S. dollar, strives to become a legitimate medium of exchange, a true crypto -
currency as opposed to a crypto - commodity, like
Bitcoin.
Some investors, such
as Murray Stahl of Horizon Kinetics, hypothesize that
Bitcoin is worth the value of all the
currency in the world — about $ 361,000 per
Bitcoin, by Barron's estimates.
Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan said in September that he sees
bitcoin as more of an investment than a
currency.
While the decision to support
Bitcoin Cash may placate some Coinbase customers, others are likely to question why the company will take months to do so, even
as other digital exchanges support the new
currency.
You see, although
bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are commonly referred to
as a form of digital
currency, in the eyes of the IRS, cryptocurrencies are capital assets, like stocks or commodities, and are therefore subject to capital gains taxes.
«I have in fact sold all my
bitcoins recently and switched to
bitcoin cash,» he says, referring to the
currency that split from
bitcoin in August and recently overtook Ethereum
as the world's second - largest cryptocurrency.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is setting up a trading desk to make markets in digital
currencies such
as bitcoin, according to people with knowledge of the strategy.
Either outcome — proof that
Bitcoin can't work
as a
currency, or proof that it can — could suck speculative money out of
Bitcoin and precipitate a painful crash.
After all, for many believers in virtual
currency, the Federal Reserve is enemy No. 1, an institution that has so badly mismanaged the U.S. dollar
as to necessitate the creation of a decentralized
currency like
bitcoin.
Goldman Sachs is planning to get into the business of trading digital
currencies such
as bitcoin, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Virtual
currencies such
as Bitcoin and Ethereum are a new challenge for U.K. lawyers, plagued with volatility and secrecy that is extending the already painful process of dividing a couple's assets.
Bitcoin has soared more than 1,600 percent this year
as people rush to buy the digital
currency in the hope it will become a legitimate alternative to gold or traditional money.
Derivatives trading is the culmination of a wild year for
bitcoin, which captured imaginations and investment around the world, propelled by its stratospheric gains, and its anti-establishment mission
as a
currency without the backing of a government or a central bank, and a payment system without a reliance on banks.
He sees
bitcoin and Ethereum
as representing superior technology, and that this will drive their adoption, and in turn them into mainstream commodities and
currencies.
Byrne is a trained economist and a longtime advocate for
bitcoin, which he regards
as a global
currency beyond the control of central banks and governments.
Developed by the mint in 2012, Mint Chip is about
as different philosophically from
Bitcoin and other digital
currencies as you can get.
In other words, more people may be buying
bitcoin as a vehicle to invest in more exotic
currencies.
Last year, it said
Bitcoin businesses, which included exchanges that turn national
currencies into
Bitcoin, should be classified
as money transmitters.
At the start of April, regulators in Japan introduced new rules that treated
bitcoin less like an outlaw
currency and more
as a part of the banking system.
Besides local
currencies Stripe allows you to accept
Bitcoin or local payment instruments such
as Alipay.
With
bitcoin supply constrained and increasingly falling short of demand, instead of functioning
as a
currency,
bitcoin is a speculative empty asset.
For starters, here's an overly simplified explanation of
Bitcoin: It's a digital
currency (there are more than 800 now) that isn't controlled by a central authority such
as a government or bank.
Bitcoin's price is not a reflection of its growing usage
as currency; it reflects merely demand for the mirage of its speculative value.
Which global investment giant disses
Bitcoin as not a
currency at all?
One thing, however, is clear: Although both the public and the crypto community refer to
bitcoin and altcoins
as virtual
currencies, the IRS treats them
as property for tax purposes.
Because its price increases, both its «miners,» whose computers do complex calculations to earn the
currency, and those who buy
bitcoins from others feel reluctant to use them
as currency by spending them.
Some on social media were skeptical, however, of some of the report's loftier claims, including the idea of Telegram becoming a rival to
currencies such
as Bitcoin:
Of course,
as the owner of an exchange for the
currency, Lee has a huge stake in
Bitcoin's longevity.
For an entertaining yet educational eyeful of just how bizarre the
Bitcoin story is, from its mysterious beginnings to its rise
as a kind of, almost, on the brink of mainstream
currency around the globe today, take a look at the revealing infographic below from WhoIsHostingThis.com.
The news will come
as a relief to thousands of people who dabbled in
bitcoin but faced the prospect of a tax investigation for failing to disclose they sold a small amount of the
currency, or used it to purchase goods and services.