Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies

Buying Bitcoin in Indonesia Made Easy as Customers can Buy them at 10,000 Indomaret Stores

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Sep 3, 2014 10:10PM BST




Indonesia has huge potential for Bitcoin and as the number of Bitcoin users is expanding in the country, some companies are looking to explore the market well; one of them is Bitcoin.co.id. This company is Indonesia’s rising Bitcoin website, has now entered into a partnership with Indomaret to help Indonesia’s over 238 million residents to fund their Bitcoin.co.id accounts.

The company says that with the new partnership with Indomaret, Indonesians will now have access to Bitcoin at more than 10,000 Indomaret convenience stores across the country. According to a representative from the firm customers in Indonesia can now get a chance to top up Indonesian Rupiah on their Bitcoin.co.id account and then trade for Bitcoin as well.

Headquartered in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, Indomaret came to existence in 1988 when the first official Indomaret store opened its doors for customers and since then it has not looked back. Currently, it has more than 10,000 stores in Indonesia and caters the requirements from its customers giving them competitive services.

The latest decision to help Bitcoin.co.id customers to get Bitcoin balance in their account is going to further help the customers and the company as well. Bitcoin.co.id has previously received international press coverage late in 2013 after an Indonesian publication, the JakartaGlobe, ran a story titled, Bitcoin Finds Itty-Bitty Market in Indonesia.

Indonesia Has Huge Prospects for Bitcoin

In his statement to media Bitcoin.co.id’s co-founder Oscar Darmawan said that he is very hopeful for Indonesian Bitcoiners as the number of investors and merchants who accept Bitcoin in the country is expanding like never before. Though the country still does not many companies that accept Bitcoin, there is no doubt about the fact that it is making inroads.

Another reason behind the slow growth of Bitcoin in the country is that taking the cognizance of the situation Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia, issued a statement about Bitcoin through their Department of Communication’s Executive Director: Difi Ahmad Johansyah. It warned the users about the digital currencies; this gave negative impact on users.

If Bitcoin becomes popular, it can help travelers from world around as well as tourism sector in the country is growing fast and currently nets Indonesia almost 10 billion USD annually. However, if there are many outlets wherein these travelers can use their Bitcoin, the quantum of the transactions may go up manifold.


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United Way Now Accepting Bitcoin in Donations

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Sep 16, 2014 9:47PM BST



United Way which envisions a world where all individuals and families achieve their human potential through education, income stability and healthy lives, has announced that is going to accept Bitcoin in donations. The organization says that Bitcoin donation will support United Way Worldwide’s Innovation Fund.

According to an official communication with the press the decision to accept Bitcoin is going to transform United Way and*the*social sector through technology, relationships, and efficiency. Now, donors will have a 10 minute window in which to make their donation. The organization said that during this time, the Bitcoin value is locked in.

Deliberating the process, the official website says that after 10 minutes, donor’s Bitcoin order will expire. The organization says that all over the world, it is building stronger communities by improving education, financial stability and health. Creating real and lasting change that goes beyond charity, the organization is always looking for funding and Bitcoin can help it a lot in it.

The organization says that to carry out all the charity work, it needs support from people as without it achieving the shared vision for the world where all individuals and families have an opportunity to succeed requires innovation powered by new technology and new strategies for expanding worldwide movement.

To Fund its Operations, United Way Needs Money in Donation

The organization says that in 2008, it initiated a 10-year program designed to achieve some goals by 2018 and for that it needs to fund a lot of operations that it carries out. For instance, its goal is to improve education, and cut the number of high school dropouts 1.2 million students, every year in half.

Similarly, it wants to help people achieve financial stability, and get 1.9 million working families i.e. half the number of lower-income families who are financially unstable on the road to economic independence. Also, it is working to promote healthy lives, and increase by one-third the number of youth and adults who are healthy and avoid risky behaviors.

To fund all these activities, United Way needs a lot of fund. Adding Bitcoin in the donation list, the organization aims to make it possible for techno savvy people to pay without trouble and help it utilize its core strengths i.e. a national network, committed partners and public engagement capacity. With enough money at disposal, it can achieve the goals before 2018.


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CoinAgenda to be Held on October 7 to 9 at the Palms Casino and Resort in Las Vegas

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Sep 20, 2014 10:19PM BST




October month is going to witness exclusive Bitcoin event ‘CoinAgenda’ from 7^th to 9^th. The event is dedicated solely to Bitcoin and virtual currency investors. According to the organizers of the conference it is going to be held at the Palms Casino and Resort in Las Vegas. They claim that it is going to provide excellent exposure to investors and companies.
In a press release issued the organizers inform that the main CoinAgenda conference features two days of keynotes and specialized sessions on cryptocurrency investment, trading and hedging strategies, and allocation of virtual currency portfolios. They admit that approximately 40 speakers will present during the conference.
Further, throughout the conference there will be meals and cocktail parties, including a special dinner on the 8th at the former Mike Tyson mansion made famous in the film “The Hangover.” The organizers invite everyone whether they are a stock market, real estate or gold investor looking to diversify their portfolio with the historically high returns of cryptocurrency.

Even angel investors, who are looking for new startups in this hot new sector, are being invited by the organizers of the event which has been broken into two tracks. The main CoinAgenda conference features two days of keynotes and specialized sessions on cryptocurrency investment, including Bitcoins, altcoins and mining; trading and hedging strategies; and allocation of cryptocurrency portfolios.

Attractive Opportunities for Investors and Companies

The organizers claim that the conference will include meals and cocktail parties throughout the event, including a special dinner on Wednesday night at the former Mike Tyson mansion made famous in the movie, The Hangover. There will be a concurrent event by BitAngels that will focus on startups and early-stage investments, with 20 early stage startups presenting.

The second event is sort of social event for the 500-person global network, but does not include all of the investment sessions nor the same hospitality options. CoinAgenda attendees will have full access to both events. Michael Terpin, the founder of the event says that unlike some tradeshows where may feel like an afterthought, here participants are the center of attention.

He says that the four tiers of educational content i.e. informative, action-oriented workshops, not theoretical debates are all aimed at putting the attendee in the framework of making an investment in cryptocurrency with some sense of urgency. According to him each sponsor has their own standalone presentation as part of the program.

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Jon Matonis, ED & Founding Board Member of the Bitcoin Foundation to Participate in SIBOS

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Sep 25, 2014 11:29PM BST




Jon Matonis, ED & Founding Board Member of the Bitcoin Foundation to Participate in SIBOS, an annual conference, exhibition and networking event organized by SWIFT for the financial industry. In his blog post at the official website of the Foundation he says that the event is an excellent forum for financial community.

SIBOS which started out as SWIFT’s international banking operations seminar, has grown into a premier business forum for the global financial community wherein participants debate and collaborate in the areas of payments, securities, cash management and trade, etc. The forum also provides excellent opportunity for Bitcoiners.

Writing in his blog Jon Matonis says that leading up to SIBOS, the largest and most influential forum for the financial community, the Bitcoin community has seen PayPal partner with BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin to accept Bitcoin and Jack Dorsey of Square suggest that they may be adding Bitcoin as a form of payment.

He says that it can be coincidence or even smartly placed events; however, one inevitable question remains is will banks be next? Quoting his piece that he wrote November last year “Banks Squander Opportunity in Bitcoin” in American Banker, wherein he credited the banking sector for being early movers of innovation he says the banks have huge role in it.

There is Huge Potential for Banking Organizations Says Jon Matonis

Jon Matonis writes that bankers can provide a trusted safekeeping of assets and digital wallets, Bitcoin exchange services with national currencies, merchant payment processing services, and transaction escrow services, etc. amongst others. He believes that there is huge potential for banking organizations in Bitcoin and that must not be squandered.

He, however, says that in the absence of banking visionaries and cumbersome bureaucracy, more agile and innovative entrepreneurs and FinTech startups such as BitStamp, Xapo, Square, Coinbase, BTCChina, BitPay, OKCoin and GoCoin, etc. have started to fill the gaps in the Bitcoin ecosystem as the banking organization not taking the initiatives.

Writing about SIBOS he says that for the past 36 years, the forum has brought together decision makers and topic experts from financial institutions, market infrastructures, multinational corporations and technology partners to collaboratively shape the ever evolving financial landscape.

Evidently, SIBOS brings together some 7,000 decision makers, nearly 200 exhibitors, and plenty of networking events and considered ideal place to do business and collectively shape the future of the financial industry.


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Jon Matonis, ED of the Bitcoin Foundation Says Bitcoin will become the new gold

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Oct 4, 2014 4:13PM BST



Though the prices of Bitcoin has gone down significantly this year when compared to the last year when they reached to the record 1200 US dollars, Jon Matonis, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation claims that the digital currency has huge potential. He says that when it clicks, the Bitcoin is going to reach an inflection point and become the new gold.
He was speaking at the Institute of Directors’ annual convention in the Royal Albert Hall wherein he admitted that Bitcoin was an “epic” revolution analogous to the printing press. Bitcoin is receiving accolades from various noted businessmen like Bill Gates who recently admitted that the digital currency is key to the modern day businesses.

Coming from the executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation the statement has not surprised many as it is the job of the body to expound the idea of the digital currency to the world and Jon Matonis is doing a fantastic job. His organization is a lobbying group founded in 2012 and aims to “standardize, protect and promote” the use of Bitcoin.

In his speech Mr Matonis claimed that countries such as Argentina were already adopting virtual currencies widely as trust in government declined and inflation rates increased. According to him half of the world’s population is unbanked which provides huge scope not just for Bitcoin but also for the other organizations to reach them.

Mr Matonis says that the unbanked population can’t even sign up for an online university course because they don’t have a credit card and when they try to better themselves they run into these payment barriers. He told that Bitcoin has issued $6bn worth of currency since it launched five years ago.

Bitcoin has Huge Scope among the Unbanked Population

However, according to him it has both struggled to attract mainstream adoption and also increasingly come to the attention of regulators. He believes that central banks could regulate people converting Bitcoin to other currencies, but could not currently regulate transactions conducted entirely in Bitcoin.

Jon Matonis says that users retained the choice to maintain privacy. He added that money doesn’t do bad things, people do bad things and according to him Bitcoin is a non political monetary unit that transcends borders. He says that in five short years Bitcoin has issued 12m units valued at $6bn and no other virtual currency has ever done that in the history of modern economics.


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This might be one of the worst days in the history of cryptocurrency trading, where every top coin gave its investors a cold sweat. While the leading digital currency Bitcoin fell to the session’s lowest figures, altcoins like Litecoin, Dogecoin and Darkcoin also crashed by huge margins.

This is a clear case of panic sell, which might have originated from the Bitcoin’s poor performance in last two weeks. In our previous articles, we speculated low demands and higher supply and dumping rate to be one of the major reasons for the constant decline in Bitcoin value. Reports from other websites also provided multiple speculations in the name of increasing merchant adoptions, market manipulation by short-term traders, etc. But no one could actually predict Bitcoin to fall over 14% within the span of 24 hours.

There is a huge chance that early adopters are giving up on the coin, and are selling it at low to recover whatever they can save, or make. A rumor is also coming to the wires, saying that one single investor has sold over 30,000 BTC on BitStamp, only at $300. More would be discussed later upon the conformation of the event.

But is it influencing the altcoins as well? Somewhere yes, as every topo cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin is also facing the speculations of a sell-off – be it Litecoin, which has fallen by 11% in US markets, Dogecoin by 13%, or NXT which has dipped by more than 12% in last 24 hours. Bear whale has struck the market indeed.

BTC/USD
The BTC/USD opened at 345 during the 10/4 trading session, from where it continued on its downtrend. There were however certain expectations that the pair will rebound upon reaching the 300-dollar wall. The slow decline was indicating the fear of small-term traders, leaving the market over the ongoing FUD. At one point of time though, the BTC/USD stepped upward, finding the first support level at 330. It however was short-lived, and started to fall back after touching the 338 mark. Once again there was a resistance-less decline, which ultimately brought the pair to the closing value of 316.

The real trouble surfaced during the 10/5 trading sessions when the Bitcoin’s value fell instantly within seconds, probably because of the aforementioned sell-off of 30,000 BTC. At this time, we cannot exactly predict whether the market will be bearish or bullish. But for long run, it might retrace its steps back once the buying pressure takes over the market.

Just in 14 hours the sell wall has shrunk by more than 50%.
Who’s Behind the Bitcoin Sell Wall?



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Labor senator Sam Dastyari Advocates for Bitcoin, Warns Australian Banks

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Oct 15, 2014 9:52PM BST




Advocating Bitcoin, Labor senator Sam Dastyari has warned Australian banks not to act like a bunch of ostriches with their heads in the sand when confronting the rise of the digital currency. He also urged companies to provide feedback to a Senate inquiry into how to regulate the highly volatile digital currency to move ahead.

His statement has come after the indications that Australian banks are highly skeptical and cautious in dealing with Bitcoins. For instance, NAB retreated from digital currencies including Bitcoin this year as the company says that it is too risky. A lot of the suspicion on Bitcoin is due to it being a decentralized currency.

Recently, NAB, Westpac Banking Corp, ANZ Banking Group and Commonwealth Bank of Australia along with seventy organizations that have been approached by the inquiry’s committee submitted their views to a committee chaired by Senator Dastyari. The Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Federal Police was also part of the group.

Even some international firms such as lobby group Bitcoin Foundation in the United States, and online payments behemoth PayPal formed the group that put their views in front of the committee. Senator Dastyari said that the fact is the banking sector can’t act like a bunch of ostriches and stick their heads in the sand.

He cautioned that the banks should not pretend these digital currencies aren’t a real thing. According to him too often it is observed that the banking sector has a tendency to try and pretend that change isn’t coming down the pipeline, in a bid to protect what is their market position.

Skepticism Must Go for Probity in Banking

However, according to him there were certain parts of the banking sector that realized they had to address the rise of digital currencies, because “it’s the future”. Nonetheless, as Australian banks have been highly skeptical and cautious in dealing with Bitcoins, his suggestion may prompt them to think about the digital currency.

In a statement a NAB spokesman said the bank was considering the terms of reference in the inquiry. However, it made clear that it does not bank or trade in unregulated currencies, or have any plans to do so. Also, it is too early to comment as they are developing their position on the issue.

Australia has still not banned Bitcoin and there are several organizations that provide Bitcoin exchange services and the country even has Bitcoin ATM.


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After suffering a little setback at the end of last week, cryptocurrency market is now in a comfortable zone. Almost every major coin, including the likes of Bitcoin, Litecoin, among others, have reversed from the short-term downtrend and are now consolidating within a stable price range.

There can be many factors to this prevailing bullish trend, mainly the short-hands buying back into the market with expectations to sell back at peak. This also signifies the instability of the current neutrality Bitcoin is seeing in USD markets. There is a great chance of market sentiment getting reversed by those who bought this cryptocurrency at bottom. Even if the bullish attempts take it above 400, there is a lower chance of the latter coming to a short break.
On the other hand, altcoins follow the path caved by Bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies including Litecoin, Dogecoin, NXT, and Darkcoin showed bullish sentiments during the 9/18 trading sessions, which succeeded further in today’s sessions as well. Though only Darkcoin had its own little reasons to rise. The coin’s development team launched a new client, named Onyx. And like every time, development updates kept on adding few new dollars to the Darkcoin overall market cap.

Here are the trade reports:

BTC/USD
The BTC/USD opened at 382 during the 10/18 trading session. It soon dropped a little and was supported at 378, following which the pair began to move in upward direction. This price behavior indicated the arrival of short-term bulls, trying to buy back at the three-day low. The BTC/USD was however resisted at 394, but yet remained away from any expected bearish sentiment. It closed at 391 at the end of the 10/18 sessions.

The price is still consolidating between stiff trading ranges. At press time, the pair is being traded at 389 and has increased 1.31% in last 24 hours. The technical indicators are currently suggesting a selling pressure, while the moving averages are neutral. In a bullish scenario, the BTC/USD might cross over 400, while in a bearish scenario, the pair may try to fall back to 375.


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The Bitcoin’s epidemic popularity is exploding further with incoming capital investments, merchant adoption and constant media buzzes. In the meantime, a number of countries have also introduced new regulatory frameworks for the cryptocurrency users and businesses, in order to generate a decent revenue for national exchequers.

But the Bitcoin’s influence is not limited to being optimistic. Apart from a handful of countries, some have openly banned the use of any kind of alternate currency ecosystem, citing the risks and illegal activities associated with it. Russia and Bangladesh are some among them.

A simple Wikipedia research might give you a one-liner look at the current Bitcoin policies around the world. But it is Mercator Advisory Group, which have decided to go two-steps ahead to deliver world a smartly researched paper on digital currency regulations around the world. Titled “Global Digital Currency Regulations: Divergent Paths” is an analysis on Bitcoin its growth as a cryptocurrency and trading asset, and mainly its regulations by different countries.

“The global payments industry has been taken aback by the rise of the new payment technology represented by Bitcoin and other digital currencies, which at its core has the potential to radically change the paradigm in which electronic payments are handled. Understandably, the response to this paradigm-changing technology has been mixed among regulators since true understanding of the benefits and opportunities as well as the disadvantages and consequences is hard to come by” says the note’s author Tristan Hugo-Webb, who also is the Associate Director of the International Advisory Service.

Traders and enthusiast, who are hoping to understand the future of cryptocurrency sector within their respective nations, are recommended to go through this paper. Mercator Advisory Group is a world renowned independent research and advisory services firm, with its central interest in payments and banking sector.

It is currently unavailable on public forums, but can be purchased at the Merchant Advisory Group website.


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KnCMiner Says It has discontinued the sales of its Bitcoin mining equipments

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Oct 23, 2014 11:38PM BST



Ditching its customers, Swedish company KnCMiner has discontinued the sales of its Bitcoin mining equipments. Now, the company says it will focus on expanding its data centers to mine Bitcoins and solve similar complex algorithms. The decision by the company has sparked debate whether it is justified in doing this.

KnCMiner which has been setup to create truly ground breaking mining equipment specifically designed and tailored for the Bitcoin market says that it started facing problems when Bitcoin price fell from $1,000 to $300 and customers who bought mining devices from KnCMiner started asking for refund which triggered the company’s latest move.

Till now the company has been offering the equipments that were being used to mine. However, now KnC co-founder Sam Cole says that when the company does not have these customers buy its hardware it becomes a different business model. According to him it becomes much easier, much more open, and more honest.

He added that there’s still going to be $2 billion, at the current price, mined in the next few years. According to him that’s a lot of cash that’s up for grabs and the company is going to do its best to take a decent chunk of it. His company previously raised $14 m in venture capital and is looking for locations in Sweden and Iceland for data centers.

The Decision is for the Greater Interest of the company

Also, the company is eying 20% share in the Bitcoin mining market, which is 15% more than what it mines now. Also, KnC is planning to raise $50 m to build more data centers and develop new mining equipment. Nonetheless, the company which was created as a joint venture between two strong companies, ORSoC AB and Kennemar & Cole AB, expects new operation will be profitable.

The source from company claims that together the company combines different kinds of expertise into KnCMiner which it believes is absolutely critical for a company offering any products and services to the Bitcoin industry. Kennemar & Cole*founder is Sam Cole who has*more than 20 years of expertise and global experience of bringing services and products to market.

Now it has to be seen what would the company that promised that its foundation was to bring high performance hardware products, response be to its existing customers who may face some issues with their Bitcoin mining machines.


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