Brokers Minutes

Bitcoin News Mash-Up: BitX Expands; Waiver for Greeks; and More

BitX Launches in Nigeria

Singapore-based Bitcoin startup BitX has announced to launch its operations in Nigeria, a decision that promised to improve the country’s remittence sector to a wonderful extent. In its blogpost, the company mentioned how it was receiving requests from the Nigerian customers, traders and businesses, something that led them to a full-fledged launch in Africa’s largest economy. You can read the full report here.

Greeks Get Another Bitcoin Trading Fee Waiver

The ongoing economical crisis in Greece has disrupted the international economy. However, the decentralized cryptocurrency market hasn’t lost a nickel under its pressure. Instead, the Bitcoin market is booming due to an unannounced hype that says that Greeks are buying it in large numbers. These rumors have further led companies to launch special offers for Greece-based users. One among them is bitcoin.de that recently waived its trading fee, only for Greece citizens. You can read the full story here.

A Blockchain-based Reddit is Possible, Says VC Fred Wilson

Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson has suggested social networking website Reddit to use blockchain technology for monitoring contents without policing the users. “You are either going to police the site or you are going to build something that cannot be policed even if you want to,” he says. “In using a collective network of computers to monitor the site, blockchain entries could be made to serve that function.” You can read the full report here.


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Citibank Working on Its Own Version of Bitcoin

In a report, IBTimes UK, Ken Moore, head of Citi Innovation Labs the bank has been looking at distributed ledger technology for “the last few years” and has amassed a skilled team. The news report from the online portal informs that Citibank claims that they have constructed three blockchain and a test currency to run across them.

Moore was quoted saying that his company has up and running three separate systems within Citi now that actually deploy blockchain distributed ledger technologies. He also informed media professionals that his company is all within the labs just now so there is no real money passing through these systems yet; they are at a pre-production level to be clear.

The website quoted Moore saying:

We also have an equivalent to Bitcoin up and running, again within the labs, so we can mine what we call a ‘Citicoin’, for want of a better term. It’s in the labs, but it’s to make sure we are at the leading edge of this technology and that we can exploit the opportunities within it.

Not Patent Filed Yet

Answering to a question whether the company has filed a patent on the technology behind Citicoin, Moore said that there was no such decision as what they have been doing has been open-source. He remarked that most of their efforts have been focused on payments; trade probably being a second runner.

Nonetheless, it’s an interesting turn of events, as a traditional bank has been experimenting with its own cryptocurrency. The decision by Citibank to develop at least three of its own cryptocurrencies based on the same principles as Bitcoin will encourage and prompt other similarly placed banks to take similar activities in their portfolios.

Why not Use Bitcoin?

Interestingly, a lot of questions are now being raised by skeptical who think the concept of Bitcoin in itself is to disrupt traditional banking system. For instance, they ask why Citi would use their own cryptocurrency rather than simply use Bitcoins to make inter-bank transactions, or whatever plans they had for using the cryptocurrencies.

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Bitcoin News Mashup: Democratic Bitcoin Bill; New Wallet; and More

Jersey Lawmakers Consult Public for Bitcoin Bill Creation

The Government of Jersey has taken a one-of-its-kind approach to decide whether it will create Bitcoin regulation or not. They have released a whole document where it has discussed its stand on the virtual currency businesses. But in the same letter, they have also asked the public to give their opinions on Bitcoin regulation.

Blockchain Releases Alpha Version of its New Bitcoin Wallet

Bitcoin services company Blockchain has recently released a new Bitcoin wallet in alpha phase, in the wake of which, it is asking users to signup and review it. The said wallet is speculated to have a series of new features, including an improved account management and a simplified user interface.

Facebook Official Joins BitReserve

BitReserve recently went further on its spree of adding celebrated official to its team. After Nike’s CIO Anthony Watson, the San Francisco-based Bitcoin startup has now appointed Facebook’s lawyer Craig Clark as its Executive Vice President and General Counsel.


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Bitnet and Limonetik Partner, allow Merchants Accept Bitcoin on Limonetik Payment Platform

The partnership that could help hundreds of merchants accept Bitcoin has been announced by Bitnet and Limonetik. The two companies have agreed for a strategic partnership to allow merchants to accept Bitcoin on the Limonetik payment platform. This will pave the way for Bitcoin and help millions of customers.

Nonetheless, Bitnet, an enterprise Bitcoin payments processor, and Limonetik, a key player in global digital payments infrastructure and a marketplaces solution provider, will enable the merchants to accept Bitcoin regardless of either which country they are in or where they are targeting their business.

Receive Payments from Customers Anywhere in the World

The partnership will allow merchants accept payment from anyone anywhere in the world at low cost and with no chargeback risk. Additionally, as the partnership will enable Limonetik to add Bitcoin to its already impressive portfolio of payment types, customers of Limonetik which range from ecommerce merchants to marketplaces to PSPs will benefit a lot.

The merchants wishing to offer additional forms of payment will now be able to add Bitcoin to their checkout pages quickly and easily. Nonetheless, the press release from the two companies informs that Bitnet will enable Limonetik’s customers to accept payments in Bitcoin without being exposed to risk of fraudulent transactions or any volatility in the price of Bitcoin.

Moreover, as funding in a local currency of choice further simplifies the end-to-end flow, the customers will benefit a lot from the entire development. The partnership will also benefit Limonetik as it aims to remove the complexity from payments processing whilst increasing the reach of their customers.

Will help Encourage Merchants go For Bitcoin

Christophe Bourbier, CEO and co-founder at Limonetik says that his company recognized the growing interest in digital currencies from its customer base and excited to partner with Bitnet to add Bitcoin to the service offering. He also admitted that they selected Bitnet as a partner due to the ease-of-integration and scalability of their platform.

Additionally, as Bitnet has the team that has a lot of experience in the payments space, the partnership is expected to reap rich dividends. Even Akif Khan, Chief Commercial Officer at Bitnet admitted that the partnership with Limonetik enables them to plug into a proven and innovative platform which powers payments processing for a range of merchants, PSPs and marketplaces.

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Bitcoin tipping service ChangeTip now Accepts Payments from Visa and MasterCard cards

Now, users of the popular Bitcoin tipping service ChangeTip can top up their accounts via purchases with Visa and MasterCard credit cards. The decision from the company is expected to encourage the new users as it will help them do easy and fast recharge of their accounts. With the addition of the new payment option, ChangeTip will also get new customers.

The company announces that the users can add to their tipping wallet via credit card, Bitcoin or a direct ACH transaction. ChangeTip is the fastest and easiest payment solution that connects you to anyone in the world through digital currency. Even if some user does not have bank account or wants small transactions, there is no problem.

Purchases Using Any Card running on the Visa or MasterCard network

The company informs that purchases can be made with any card running on the Visa or MasterCard network; however, at the same time it makes clear that American Express and Discover are not available. The announcement also informs the customers that additional bank fees apply for purchases.

Victoria van Eyk, the ChangeTip head of community informs that while users could previously use credit cards to make Bitcoin purchases through Coinbase, the company has added additional payment options. According to her the addition of a direct credit card purchasing option will remove added friction from the wallet top-up process.

She was quoted saying that the idea is to make buying Bitcoin really easy, so the company decided to create an option where users can do it right on the website. The company according to her wants to provide the smoothest end-to-end experience. Interestingly, credit card users are restricted on how much Bitcoin they can purchase with the service.

For instance, there are daily limits set at a minimum of $10 and maximum of $20. The announcement from the company informs the customers that they can only buy $40 worth of Bitcoin every three days and $80 each week, though this figure increases based on the number of social accounts users connect to ChangeTip.

The Users Must Provide Fundamental Information

ChangeTip also informs the users that to add a credit card, they must provide their first and last name, email address, mobile number, date of birth and billing address. Additionally, the company says that the users who are not verified with the service must then connect a verified Facebook or Twitter account, and connect an additional Twitter, GitHub, Reddit or StockTwits account.


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Bitcoin News Mash-Up: Coinsetter New Features; OKCoin’s Explanations; and More

Coinsetter Introduces New Features to Its Bitcoin Trading Platform

New York-based Bitcoin exchange Coinsetter recently introduced margin trading and shorting features on its trading platform, a feature that was previously available on only a certain section of users. But following the announcement, the aforesaid features will now be available for every trader. You can read more about them here.

OKCoin Announces Compensation for DDoS Affected Users

Chinese Bitcoin trading platform OKCoin has announced to carry out proportioned compensations for users that were affected by the recent DDoS attack. It is believed that OKCoin traders were unable to access its futures trading platform, an error that led their trades executing against the speculations. You can read more about this report here.

Swift Institute Calls Bitcoin for Blockchain Research, Announces €15,000 Award

The Swift Institute has published a document where it has raised certain questions about the blockchain, Bitcoin’s underlying technology. The organization has further announced a €15,000 reward for the researcher who will be able to bring out the most logical and practical answers to these questions. Swift is hoping to use the winning thesis for its securities settlements project. You can read more about these questions here.


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Zinger Partners with Philippine Coins.ph to offer Instant Remittance Services for Locals

In what could be the pleasing announcement, Zinger, a startup initially servicing the Canadian-Filipino remittance corridor, has announced a partnership with local service Coins.ph to provide the local population, instant remittance. Thus, technically, the first instant remittance service to the Philippines has been launched.

Nonetheless, using Bitcoin to facilitate near-real time funds transfer to the country which has huge number of expatriates working in the US and other advanced countries is going to be of great help. The announcement says that now banked workers in Canada can use the domestic payments provider Interac to pay for a Bitcoin transmission to a Coins.ph wallet.

The sent Bitcoin can be cashed out at a range of Philippines locations. Talking about the announcement, Lorne Lantz, creator and CEO of Zinger, said that he came onboard with Coins.ph, one of a considerable number of remittance-focused startups in the Philippines, due to their strong market presence in the country and further afield in Southeast Asia.

He was quoted saying that his company partnered with Coins.ph because they have the best Fintech product in the Philippines, and he knew that if they integrated with them, Zinger would be of high quality as well. He also concluded that every encounter he has had with their team has been extremely positive.

The Interac method for Safe and Secure Transactions

Bitcoin transactions are safe and secure; however, Zinger relies on the concept of Interac ‘pushing’ transactions by purchasing remittances in CAD, authorizing a user’s bank transfer and signaling a BTC transfer in Zinger. The company informs that funds arrive in the corresponding Coins.ph wallet in BTC, before being converted to peso to be cashed out as required.

The company also assures that there is complete security as the Interac method ensures that the sender only needs to share their personal payment information with their bank. Nonetheless, consolidating the BTC purchase and sale process into one step also takes away much of angst associated with traditional remittances; this is the best payment solution.
Lantz said that under the hood things get very complicated very fast, which an important problem his company solves is. He added that right now Filipinos sending remittances through Bitcoin have to buy their Bitcoin in Canada and then send it to coins.ph.

However, his company has streamlined that process for them and taken out the complexity of managing multiple exchange rates and multiple fees along the way.

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Bitcoin News Mash-Up: BitSpark Sparks; Bitcoin’s Critic; and More

BitSpark Selected for Accenture’s FinTech Innovation Program

Hong Kong remittence platform BitSpark has been selected to join the Accenture’s FinTech Innovation Lab Asia Pacific 2015. The program, created by world renowned technology and consulting company Accenture, is aimed at inviting the best financial technology startups to be incubated by world’s leading financial institutions. BitSpark is the only Bitcoin based company to have been selected for the program. You can read the full report here.

Paul Krugman Criticizes Bitcoin Once Again

Nobel award winning economic Paul Krugman recently criticized Bitcoin for being “not so good”. He said the digital currency’s legitimacy can only be judged if the governments start taking it as a form of tax payments. Bitcoin really looks like a bubble in multiple senses. Its a technically sweet solution to a problem, but it is not clear that the problem is one that has much economical relevance, he added. You can read the full report here.

Bitcoin Advocacy Groups Surprisingly Criticizes New Californian Bill

While a majority of the Bitcoin community and advocacy groups have praised Californian regulators to present a friendly Bitcoin bill, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Copia Institute think differently. According to these two Bitcoin advocacy groups, the newly amended Californian bill threatens the growth of digital currency industry and must be banished. You can read the full report here.


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Auction Website eBay removes the Merchant for it Accepts Bitcoin Payment

A decision which may send rude shock to a lot of merchants who had expected that auction websites like eBay would support disruptive technology like Bitcoin has come to notice. In a recent post on /r/Bitcoin, Andy Shroder posted that eBay Inc. had removed his merchant listing because he accepted Bitcoin for his products.

In a communication with the auction website eBay, Schroder, a solar energy researcher and solar panel manufacturer, came to know that he has been removed from the list of the merchants. The reason behind the removal was that he was accepting Bitcoin which according to eBay does not qualify as a payment method due to “two key factors” — security and safety, and ease of use.

In an email to Schroder eBay said:

“Please understand that you mentioned you accept ‘Bitcoin’ as a method of payment. Some online payment companies are fairly new and inexperienced and they do not provide sufficient fraud protection to members. When we review payment methods to determine whether they are allowed on eBay, two key factors that we consider are ‘Security and Safety’ and ‘Ease of use.’ Please do not offer this payment method.”

eBay Polices on Bitcoin and Virtual Currencies

Interestingly, eBay that claims to be a revolutionary solution provider for e-auctions has surrendered to the traditional overview of currency as according to eBay’s policies on Bitcoin and virtual currencies, it restricts merchants from using it for settling payments. This is not for the first time that eBay has taken such a regressive decision.

Earlier, two years ago, eBay actively delisted products any time a merchant even remotely mentioned Bitcoin. Looks like there is some incongruency in what eBay says in public and acts in private. One such incongruency is eBay CEO John Donahoe’s statement in 2013 where he had said the e-commerce giant wanted to integrate Bitcoin on PayPal.

He had then aimed that with such a move users could purchase items on eBay with Bitcoin. He had said that Bitcoin was a new disruptive technology, and he was looking at it closely and exploring the ways to enable it inside PayPal.

From the responses eBay is receiving after this decision, it looks it will become extremely unpopular among progressive techsavvy people who feel Bitcoin is lot safer and secure than the traditional payment methods that eBay has mentioned in the email.

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Blockchain-focused investment firm Coinsilium to go for Public Listing

A Fintech company focusing on blockchain technology, harnessing growth through investment, acceleration and development, Coinsilium has made clear that it aims to go for public listing. The company says that it will list on London’s AIM market, which would make it the first such company to publicly list.

Once the company is listed on London AIM market, investors would be able to invest in the stocks and get exposure to the new technology via a basket of early-stage innovators like Factom, SatoshiPay, bitSIM, etc. Coinsilium calls itself as a hybrid venture capital and business growth consultancy that offers husbandry both financial and professional to ten start-ups.

Currently, the company holds ownership in the range of 5% and 20%; however, the common theme is blockchain. The company believes that blockchain, the mechanics used to verify Bitcoin transactions, not to mention a hoard of other possible applications is a revolutionary technology that can have huge implications for various industries.

Hopes to start trading around the end of the first week of August

All preparations are going on for Coinsilium before listing on London AIM market. The company will do another week of presentations before closing its book early next week, and following its admission by AIM, hopes to start trading around the end of the first week of August. It has come to notice that the company will trade using the ticker symbol “coin”.
Talking about the plan, Coinsilium executive chairman Cameron Parry says:

"Normally for different propositions you get one or two guys from a broking house giving you half an hour, but with these ones we are getting meetings filled up with six or eight people – you are into the second hour, you have gone past an hour and they are still asking questions. It’s quite captivating. It’s hard to grasp in one sitting what the technology may mean. But what they can grasp is the financial opportunity that it represents.”

According to some estimates, the range Coinsilium is looking at is between a minimum of £3m ($4.7m) and a cap of £20m and so on this occasion it is not targeting large institutions. Even Parry admits that he is expecting there will be a couple of funds that will take cornerstone positions and that may be for half a million pounds.

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