After the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) imposed a temporary rule that initial coin offerings (ICO) are illegal and that startups must refund all ICO investments to contributors, The Central Bank of Russia also said that it “monitors” the cryptocurrency market and is continuing to develop a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. There is a question though – what are central banks over the world exactly scared of? Russia’s central bank is against allowing cryptocurrencies or any related financial instruments within the Russian Federation. In that way, they reiterated statement from January 2014 which explicitly compared bitcoin to a “money surrogate”, rendering it illegal in the
AMD Releases Blockchain-Only Driver to Help You Make Money
There’s no denying that blockchain technology is taking a strong foothold in the market, and that it can no longer considered a fad. Using a graphics card to mine cryptocurrencies is somewhat a controversial topic, as gamers complain about the inability to acquire graphics cards to be gaming cards. However, financial results from AMD and NVIDIA are showing that a double digit revenue improvement, and profits associated with it will enable both companies to invest more in R&D. We are not far off from companies offering dedicated mining cards which might even split from the brands of today. After all, NVIDIA Tesla used to be
New Mining-Oriented GPUs from AMD, NVIDIA Launching Soon
As new cryptocurrencies become available, as is the case of Ethereum and Zcash, more and more people try their luck in mining. Even the difficulties increased in BitCoin (BTC), the record growth over the past 12 months (365 days ago, BTC traded at $579.35. Today it trades at $2783.43) got people investing in purchasing mining computers. This increased interest in mineable cryptocurrency has led to a virtual lack of availability in shops of high performance video cards, and specifically all AMD-based GPUs since 2009, from 7000-series until today’s RX580 videocards from AMD. These cards are basically nowhere to be found. We received comments from some of
Bitcoin becoming Regulated Currency in the European Union
Slovenian startup Bitstamp just did something that no other digital currency startup was able to do – launch the first nationally licensed Bitcoin exchange (BitEx). As it usually goes, the startup could not receive a license in its home country, so it took advantage of registering themselves in one of most business-oriented countries in the European Union. Luxembourg granted the license which will be valid in all 28 EU countries, meaning starting July 1, 2016 – 508 million EU citizens should be able to access a Bitcoin exchange under the same operating restrictions and protections as the banks and stock exchanges. “We believe that this is stability-inducing – that people will see this
Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF To List 1M Shares on NASDAQ
The Winklevoss twins have filed to list 1M shares of a Bitcoin Trust ETF on Nasdaq, which introduces new investment strategies in the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin, Value and the Future of Cryptocurrencies
The value of Bitcoin will go beyond its use as a virtual ‘currency’, but will extend to how the Blockchain operates as a ledger of transactions.
FTC Leads Shutdown of 'Bogus' Bitcoin-Mining Rig Maker Butterfly Labs
Upon the FTC’s request, a federal court has ordered the shutdown of Butterfly Labs, which specializes in building computers for Bitcoin mining. The FTC says the company has delayed shipment or failed to deliver paid-for products, thereby resulting in losses to its customers.
PayPal Starts Accepting Bitcoin, But With Limits
PayPal has started accepting payments made with online cryptocurrency Bitcoin in some jurisdictions, although the functionality will be limited as the company tests the waters for consumer and merchant interest.
Will Bitcoin Remain The Gold Standard For Cryptocurrencies?
With Bitcoin gaining popularity and then some semblance of stability in its real-world value, will the cryptocurrency remain in the lead amongst other digital tender? Virtual currencies are not exactly new. While purely digital currencies like Bitcoin are often the subject of news today, technology startups have explored virtual currencies as early as the 1990s. Take for example Beenz.com, which launched a currency called “Beenz” meant for earning loyalty points and paying online. After raising $100 million in VC funding, the startup failed to gain traction and eventually folded in 2001. Even virtual currencies used in multi-player online games do hold real-world value in terms of their
AMD Posts Weaker Than Expected Earnings, Stock Plunges
Yesterday, AMD reported their earnings for the second quarter of 2014, with a lot of investors watching to see if AMD can complete their turnaround. They reported a net loss of $36 million even though they had an operating income of $63 million on $1.44 billion in revenue. Their non-GAAP operating income was $67 million and a non-GAAP profit of $17 million with the exclusion of the $49 million loss from debt redemption in the quarter, pushing the company’s GAAP earnings figures into the negative once again. Based upon these figures, this translates to a loss per share of $0.05, slightly more than what some
Newegg Now Accepts Bitcoin
As Bitcoin becomes more and more boring (and standardized) the amount of companies that begin to accept it increase ever more. A few months ago, TigerDirect announced that they would be accepting Bitcoin and that clearly has motivated other etailers to do so as well. So, it comes as little surprise that Newegg today announced that they will also be accepting Bitcoins as a form of payment for products on their site. There are no restrictions on what can be purchased with Bitcoin on Newegg’s site, which makes it incredibly attractive to anyone looking to spend their extra Bitcoins. Even though sites like Amazon haven’t