RushWallet Delivers Fast, Frictionless and Login-Free Bitcoin Wallets
The team behind the popular Kryptokit wallet and encrypted messaging
extension for Chrome browsers now has a new offering called
‘RushWallet’, allowing near-instant bitcoin wallet creation from any
device or platform.
The philosophy behind RushWallet is “ease of use and removing
friction” – bitcoin should be as quick and accessible as reaching into
your pocket for some cash. There shouldn’t be any need to remember login
and password credentials every time you need to spend some money, and
you should keep full control over your private keys.
RushWallet is the latest product of the Kryptokit company based at the Decentral cryptocurrency
co-working space in Toronto, which includes co-founders Anthony Di
Iorio (team leader) and Steve Dakh (lead developer), among others.
A better successor to Instawallet
Di Iorio told CoinDesk RushWallet is designed to be a more reliable
implementation of the now-defunct Instawallet, which served a similar
purpose.
He said:
“Since then it’s been our goal to come up with a new instant wallet service, and that’s actually where Kryptokit came from. The key is to have an instant wallet that’s very easy to set up without any login credentials.”
Created in 2011, Instawallet had over a million accounts was once lauded by bitcoin developers for its ability to quickly create and use bitcoin addresses, but a 2013 hack saw it fraudulently relieved of all user funds.
Hackers were able to gain access to users’ secret URLs, which were
stored online. Instawallet later replaced most users’ balances after a
90 day claims process.
RushWallet is open-source and does not store any user information,
bitcoins, brainwallets or passwords on its servers; everything
remains local on users’ machines. If the service were to disappear,
users could simply import their brainwallet elsewhere without any loss.
Di Iorio added:
“We never want to hold on to people’s coins. And should anything ever happen to us, you have the full ability to import your wallet somewhere else.”
How to create and use a RushWallet
To create a new RushWallet, simply go to Rushwallet.com
and move your mouse (or finger on a touchscreen) around the box to
generate added randomness, or entropy. There is the option to
password-protect the wallet, though this is not compulsory.
RushWallet then generates a brand new wallet with a public key. Look
in the URL/address bar and you will see a random-looking string starting
with ‘#’ – the code after the ‘#’ is your ‘brainwallet’ seed, and is a
‘secret link’ not visible anywhere other than on your local browser.
Either copy the full URL somewhere safe or bookmark it for future
access.
If you want, you can import this brainwallet seed into the Kryptokit extension, a Blockchain.info wallet, or anywhere else that supports importing this format.
Users may create an unlimited number of RushWallet addresses, and
re-use them at any time providing they can remember the secret URLs. The
service also integrates with the OneName system,
which allows sending/receiving bitcoins using simple user names instead
of the standard, difficult-to-remember bitcoin addresses.
Users also have the option to create their own custom brainwallet seeds by typing https://rushwallet.com/# followed by the self-created string.
Not the wallet for life savings, or total anonymity
One word of caution: even though the ‘secret URL’ is never stored on
the internet itself, most modern browsers will save every URL they see,
meaning your new brainwallet may get saved too. That’s handy if you’re
the only person using your machine, but more dangerous if you’re using a
shared or public computer.
For this reason, the RushWallet team recommends setting a password,
or using RushWallet only for quick transactions after which the new
wallet is emptied and disposed of. Even if a hacker were to somehow gain
access to a user’s secret URL, a password would prevent them accessing
your funds.
Otherwise, be sure to clean out the browser’s history as you would to get rid of any other embarrassing or unwanted URL record.
While using multiple, easily-created bitcoin addresses is a step
toward anonymity and makes payments more difficult to tie to an
individual, Di Iorio said this is not one of RushWallet’s primary
functions.
Despite early impressions last year, neither RushWallet nor the Kryptokit extension is designed as a competitor the upcoming Dark Wallet, or the various other coin-mixing services available.
The Kryptokit extension
The RushWallet team’s previous offering, the KryptoKit wallet extension
for Google’s Chrome browsers, has proved a solid and easily-accessible
bitcoin wallet. It also supports encrypted instant messaging,
auto-detection of bitcoin addresses on a page, and a directory of
bitcoin-accepting merchants.
Kryptokit has proved reliable so far. Its only hiccup was in May,
when it was erroneously marked as malware and auto-removed from browsers
by Google. It was restored promptly without any users losing funds.
It counts Erik Voorhees, Roger Ver and Vitalik Buterin as team advisors.
Hardware wallet product coming soon
Toronto’s Decentral, on the city’s Spadina Ave, is also the birthplace of the Ethereum project and the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada.
Once RushWallet is launched and running smoothly, the development team will turn to its next project: A hardware wallet.
Led by hardware specialist Deepayan Acharjya, it has already produced
a prototype device. The plan for now is to ultimately produce two
devices: One version designed to be either portable or even wearable for
use “like a checking account”, and a second for ‘pure’ cold storage in a
safe place, eliminating the need to keep a spare computer for the
purpose.
The team is currently working with a design firm to produce a more stylish version of the prototype.
Source : http://www.coindesk.com
OKcoin Bitcoin Exchange Announces Futures Trading Platform
One of the world’s largest Bitcoin exchanges, OKCoin,
has just announced yet another service they will be adding for their
Bitcoin traders – futures. Futures allow for traders to hedge their risk
when dealing with high levels of volatility, which is one of the largest challenges Bitcoin faces at this time.
Futures trading is something offered on most stock brokerage service such as E*Trade or TDM Ameritrade,
and is now coming to the Bitcoin arena. OKCoin’s futures trading allows
traders to “lock in” future prices to buy their coins. Futures are
legally binding agreements between two parties to purchase a stock at a
predetermined price. In this case users are promising to buy or sell
Bitcoins to the exchange at a certain price between a given date, in
effect “locking in” the price. If the value drops, traders can cash in
their futures and sell their coins at the higher “fixed” price, or if
the value goes up, traders can purchase coins at the cheaper “fixed”
price.
Star Xu, who is the founder and CEO of OKCoin, said that
this move was in part to bring professional trading tools to
cryptocurrency investors.
“Today’s launch of bitcoin futures trading capabilities builds on the algorithmic trading tools we pioneered and launched on our platform last month. We have already seen a favorable response from institutional and individual investors. We are helping to make participation in Bitcoin a more safe and stable process. The ability to trade futures will further cement our position as one of the world’s leading bitcoin exchanges.”
OKCoin
is making a move towards adding more professional features to their
trading platform in order to bring more professional traders to the
scene and added validity to their exchange. In June of this year OKCoin launched Margin Trading with P2P lending. This feature allows traders to borrow up to three times their capital or lend their funds for a fee.
By
adding futures, OKCoin believes that while most users will use them to
avoid risk due to volatility, sophisticated investors will use them to
utilize higher leverage opportunities for price speculation. By moving
the volatility away from the underlying asset, derivatives trading
allows for decreased volatility and an increase in price predictability.
As more traders begin using futures, we may see a stronger and more
stable price for bitcoins.
OKCoin will be using a comprehensive
USD Price index derived from prices on 10 different Bitcoin exchanges.
This will help insure that they are gathering accurate pricing data for
their futures contracts.
Even though there has been a decrease in
volume, OKCoin has remained China’s largest Bitcoin exchange and one of
the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges not only in volume but
users and page views. OKCoin’s trading fees range from extremely low to
0%, which has continued to attract traders from all walks of life and
increased liquidity.
The beta-launch is expected to last for two weeks before going live.
Source : http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com
Nasdaq Exec: Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust Could Be Significant for ETF Industry
In a new interview, Nasdaq Vice President of Transaction Services and
Head of ETF business David LaValle has called the Winklevoss Bitcoin
Trust a “significant” development for the exchange-traded fund (ETF)
industry.
The ETF, first proposed by noted bitcoin investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in July 2013, has been in a state of regulatory flux as the potential offering moves through the approval process. According to recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the ETF would trade under the name ‘COIN’.
During his conversation with ETF.com, LaValle
discussed the ramifications of the bitcoin ETF on the broader
marketplace. Overall, he sees the Winklevoss effort as a positive one,
saying:
“I think it’s significant that we’re on the precipice of a new investable asset that’s coming to market or becoming available to investors first in the form of an ETF. In some ways, it gives the ETF credibility, and it accentuates many of the benefits of the ETF as an investment wrapper. To that extent, it’s important for the ETF industry.”
During the interview, LaValle touched on the nature of ETF investment and how bitcoin may fit within the bitcoin industry.
Notably, the Winklevoss twins also recently launched a bitcoin price index, Winklevoss Index, known commonly as the WinkDex, that will provide market information to the ETF should it be listed.
Boosting bitcoin availability
For LaValle, the advantage of having a bitcoin ETF lies in the fact
that, from an investor standpoint, it’s simply an easier way to gain
market access than buying bitcoin directly. This, he explained, makes
the digital currency more attractive – and trustworthy – for investors.
He told ETF.com:
“There’s availability for accessing the investment in different ways, and each investor is able to pursue that investment thesis through whichever wrapper they’re comfortable with. But, I think bringing it in an ETF wrapper gives bitcoins more credibility.”
Beyond that, however, LaValle sees bitcoin as being “quite dynamic”
and, as a result, a draw to investors with the right risk appetite.
He added that the ETF might be serve as both a trading and investing
tool for those who get involved, but that it’s tough to say until the
ETF – if at all – receives regulatory approval.
New type of investment
When asked if the bitcoin ETF represents an innovation in the market, LaValle was cautiously optimistic.
The Nasdaq executive said that the ETF, if listed, will present
investors with a potentially game-changing option. He added that, from
the product generation standpoint, the bitcoin ETF is certainly a step
in an interesting direction and that bitcoin represents a new avenue for
investors.
Source : http://www.coindesk.com
Yelp Director Donates $10,000 in Bitcoin to Alma Mater
Yelp
Director of Public Policy Luther Lowe has donated $10,000 in bitcoin to
his high school alma mater as part of an effort to create a computer
science course on bitcoin for students.
Lowe, who graduated from Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (ASMSA) in 2001 and is currently serving his final year as the school’s Board of Visitors chair,
indicated that the donation will help the ASMA keep pace educating
students on what he feels is a revolutionary technology.
Speaking to CoinDesk, Lowe lauded bitcoin and its potential to help boost the educations of students at the ASMSA, saying:
“If bitcoin as a technology is going to change everything, then what better place and what better time to teach people about this?”
The donation marks the first time either the ASMSA Foundation Fund or
the University of Arkansas Foundation, of which the ASMA is part, have
accepted a donation denominated in digital currency. In order to accept
the donation, the school set up a wallet through BitPay.
However, it is not the first donation to a US school, as Blockchain CEO Nic Cary donated $10,000 to the University of Puget Sound in February, while a $25,000 bitcoin donation was made to Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) in March.
Notably, Lowe’s interest in the bitcoin space was previously established when his name surfaced on a list of individuals said to be participating in the US Marshals Service’s (USMS) Silk Road auction.
At the time, Lowe told CoinDesk that while he was interested in the auction, his inquiry was not issued on behalf of Yelp.
Increasing Arkansas awareness
As for why he chose to make the donation in bitcoin, Lowe said his
main goal was to raise awareness for both bitcoin and the initiative in
Arkansas.
Lowe added:
“This will definitely start to raise awareness in a place that might see fewer merchants using it and have less familiarity with bitcon.”
Lowe went on to confirm he will have no direct involvement in the
course development, but that he is confident that the Board of Visitors
will be able to craft the program with a level of excellence.
“I trust that they’ll do a good job of it,” Lowe said. “My high
school math classes were a lot harder than my college courses, so I
think whatever they put together is going to be great.”
Bitcoin interest grows
Though careful to stress that his bitcoin interest remains personal,
Lowe also opened up about his bitcoin-related work at Yelp. For example,
he noted that he did help encourage the company to add bitcoin to its business attribute pages for merchants this April.
While Lowe does not identify as an evangelist, he did state that he
is enthusiastic about developments in the space, and that he continues
to keep a close eye on the industry.
He concluded:
“I mean I just think it’s an exciting area to watch, and I think that it’s telling that every smart VC that I know in Silicon Valley is extremely bullish on it.”
Source : http://www.coindesk.com
Bitcoin Foundation Seeks to Extend Comment Period for New York’s BitLicense
The
Bitcoin Foundation has thrown its weight behind efforts to extend the
45 day-long comment period for the BitLicense proposal drafted and
recently released by the New York Department of Financial Services
(NYDFS).
In an open letter
to the NYDFS, Global Policy Counsel for the Bitcoin Foundation Jim
Harper said that there needs to be greater cooperation with the bitcoin
community and more transparency for the process as a whole. The
organization’s efforts to advocate for a more growth-oriented BitLicense proposal builds on a previous grassroots-level initiative in which roughly 400 signatories, according to The New York Times, called on the NYDFS to hold a longer comment period.
The foundation requested in its letter that the state regulator
provide it with the risk assessments drawn up during the BitLicense
development period. The NYDFS has since responded that it would provide
this information in the next 20 days, and the foundation pledged on 6th
August that it will make this information available for review prior to
the close of the comment period.
Harper argued in the letter that, ultimately, the NYDFS has much to
gain from collaborating with the bitcoin community on the issue, saying:
“A truly open rulemaking would allow participation far richer than the ability to comment once or twice on draft regulations. The department could take comments and amendments, and interact with commenters, in a better organized and more interactive fashion.”
Harper added in the letter that the foundation will be submitting
further comment on a range of issues related to the BitLicense, although
it remains to be seen what the organization will focus on. He went on
to urge the NYDFS to engage both industry leaders and the
grassroots-level supporters, who Harper said can provide unique
perspective if tapped as a resource.
The community itself, for the most part, remains divided
on the BitLicense question. For many, the regulations represent either
an opportunity to bring bitcoin companies in the mainstream or a
potential barrier to innovation in the space.
Source : http://www.coindesk.com
George Osborne Unveils UK Plans to Explore Bitcoin
Chancellor
George Osborne has announced a new initiative that will explore the
potential role of cryptocurrencies in Britain’s economy.
Osborne has commissioned the Treasury to produce a programme of work
on cryptocurrencies, examining their potential risks and benefits. The
results, due to be published in the Autumn, could pave the way toward a
new regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in Britain.
“These alternative payment systems are popular as they are quick,
cheap and convenient [...] I want to see if we can make more use of them
for the benefit of the UK economy,” he said during his speech at the
launch of Innovate Finance, formerly FinTech UK, a group that promotes the interests of the UK FinTech industry.
Backed by the City of London Corporation and Canary Wharf Group, the
trade organisation aims to be a hub for industry influencers,
regulators, tech and talent.
Cementing Britain’s leading role in finance
Speaking at the London conference, Osborne outlined a series
of proposals that aim to foster financial innovation and establish the
UK as a market leader in the FinTech sector.
He said the key to the government’s long term economic plan is “cementing Britain’s position as the centre of global finance”.
Osborne explained:
“It’s only by harnessing innovations in finance, alongside our existing world class knowledge and skills in financial services, that we’ll ensure Britain’s financial sector continues to meet the diverse needs of businesses and consumers, here and around the globe, and create the jobs and growth we all want to see in the future.”
However, he was also keen to recognise the potential risks involved
with new technologies like bitcoin: “Among other things, [the programme]
will look at whether regulation of the sector is required, so that
virtual currency businesses can continue to be set up in the UK, and
people and businesses can use [cryptocurrencies] safely.”
Simon Hamblin, CEO of UK bitcoin, gold and sterling exchange Netagio, said: “Mr. Osborne’s comments are very encouraging and we have long awaited some direction from the government and regulators.”
He went on to say it is an exciting time for those wishing to drive innovation in the financial services industry.
“The UK’s offshore jurisdictions are already strong supporters of
alternative currencies and, by bringing together a common approach, this
could position the UK as one of the leading centres for digital
currency innovation,” Hamblin added.
Chancellor purchases bitcoin
This morning, Osborne also attended a demonstration of a Robocoin ATM
operated by Cointrader.net and purchased an undisclosed amount of
bitcoin.
According to spectators, the Chancellor greeted the demonstration
with great enthusiasm. Hugh Halford-Thompson, head of UK operations at
Cointrader.net, described the purchase as a “great step” towards
bitcoin’s political and regulatory acceptance.
A British BitLicense?
London is one of the biggest financial hubs in the world and is, by far, the biggest financial centre in Europe.
The government’s position on cryptocurrencies has been somewhat
ambiguous, although the UK has managed to attract a number of bitcoin
businesses. Besides HMRC’s tax guidance, there has been little in the way of a comprehensive regulatory initiative.
In June, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced a project dubbed Project Innovate with
the aim of ensuring “positive developments”, such as bitcoin, are
supported in the region. A representative from the FCA said the
regulatory agency has yet to determine its stance on digital currencies.
Source : http://www.coindesk.com
Global Payments Signs Agreement with Bitpay for Bitcoin Payments
Global Payments Inc.
(NYSE: GPN), one of the largest worldwide providers of payment
solutions, announced that it has signed a referral agreement with BitPay,
the world leader in business solutions for the Bitcoin digital
currency. This agreement allows Global Payments to accept cryptocurrency
into their product suite and offer Bitcoin payment acceptances to their
merchants.
Global
Payments Inc. is one of the largest providers of payment solutions
worldwide for merchants, value-added resellers, enterprise software
providers, financial institutions, government agencies and much more.
Global Payments is a Fortune 1000 company that offers a comprehensive
line of solutions and services included, but not limited to: credit and
debit cards, gift cards, check guarantee and conversion.
David Mangum, the president and CEO of Global Payments made the announcement stating;
“We focus on delivering innovative products and services to our global customer base, and this relationship provides us the ability to offer our merchants an integrated digital currency payment choice… We are pleased to partner with BitPay to provide next-generation payment solutions to our customers.”
It’s
moves like these that can have a profound impact on the Bitcoin
community. Payment Service Providers like BitPay and Coinbase do not
offer near as many payment options as traditional PSP. Merchants who
wish to begin accepting Bitcoins would have to sign up for BitPay or
Coinbase, adding a second PSP to their store. By working with Global
Payments, it appears as if merchants can add Bitcoin payment to their
already existing account, keeping everything in one place.
Assuming
that all Global Payments merchants will have the option to accept
bitcoins now, not only will this referral agreement offer simplification
and consolidation, but it also reaches a much larger audience than
other PSP companies have been able to in the past. It’s common belief
that Bitcoin faces the following catch 22. The price will stabilize as
more merchants start accepting bitcoins, but merchants won’t accept
bitcoins until the price stabilizes. This could be the next step forward to decreasing the price volatility we see in Bitcoin on a daily basis.
BitPay has been making strides in order to bring on board one million merchants. BitPay has begun to offer free and unlimited
transactions. Merchants can sign up for a free plan and are allowed
unlimited transactions on their account, instantly converting BTC to
USD, daily bank deposits, email support and access to all BitPay’s
plugins.
While Coinbase, BitPay’s strongest competition, has been taking headlines for partnering with Dell and Expedia, BitPay has been working hard not to be left behind. Their recent launch for Git Bits,
a Facebook integrated service that allows users to send and receive
bitcoins, took the news recently in an attempted to increase Bitcoin
circulation.
Source : http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com
Earliest Bitcoins Seen Moving
Transaction
records in the blockchain show that bitcoins mined during the earliest
days of Bitcoin have been transacted during the past year – after
remaining ‘dormant,’ for the most part untouched, since being mined
between 2009-2011.
The bulk of these 67,000 coins (worth $67mil) were transacted during the months surrounding the Bitcoin all-time-high price
in November 2013. Speculation has been brewing as to the reasons why
these previously ‘dead’ bitcoins have moved, and, also, who the owners
may have been – some saying that there may have been spends by Satoshi
himself.
Earliest Coins, Earliest Blocks, Who Is That?
Research conducted (and published on Let’s Talk Bitcoin)
by John Ratcliff has established, beyond doubt, that these earliest
bitcoins, mined between January 2009 and December 2011 had begun being
spent in August 2013. Ratcliff had conducted a forensic analysis
of the blockchain, the results of which are shared below, and combined
his findings with information pieced together from bread crumb trails
left in forums posts during 2009-2010 by some of the earliest Bitcoin
adopters, including Satoshi himself.
The summarized findings
outlined below presents the blockchain evidence pertaining to the
original coinbase transactions, their spend amounts and dates of
expenditure, as well as clarification of the identity of the parties. In
order to stem the flow of wild speculation, some credible reasons as to
the “Why?” of this activity are also provided.
Blockchain Archaeology
The first Bitcoin block was mined, by Satoshi, on 3 January 2009:
And then he mined the second block on 9 January 2009:
From
this date onward Satoshi’s client began mining in earnest, running
several concurrent mining threads, presumably with the objective of
sustaining the early Bitcoin network for more and more people to join by
adding their own Bitcoin mining clients. Others did join, as this Tweet
from Hal Finney attests:
Hal Finney via Twitter:
Based on research conducted by Sergio Lerner and Taras,
we are able to distinguish blocks mined by Satoshi’s client from those
mined by other early miners. Sergio Lerner identified the extraNonce
footprint left by Satoshi’s client in the blocks it mined. They are
characterized by a strict increment of 1 in each series of successive
blocks:
Blocks not
mined by Satoshi can, therefore, also be identified and for some of
these documentary evidence of the mining party exists, such as block 78,
the coinbase of which, Hal Finney (see Tweet above), had committed to a
paperwallet. Taras’s research has gone a long way to identifying some
of the earliest miners and interested readers can read more in his BitcoinTalk forum post.
His findings point to a small group of about six individuals (including
Satoshi and Hal Finney) who were actively mining Bitcoin blocks during
January and February 2009.
All Chips Down
John Ratcliff
discovered that the coinbase rewards (50 BTC) of a series of blocks
dating from this early period had been spent during the past year.
For
example, the following four coinbase rewards were obtained for blocks
mined on 30 January, 4 February, 6 February and 7 February 2009:
and
they were all spent within minutes of one another on 6 February 2014
when Bitcoin price decisively dropped below $800 (and stayed below,
since).
Conspiracy or Not a Conspiracy, or…
In the language of Bitcoin ‘spend’
does not translate directly to ‘buy something’, nor does it
specifically imply ‘sell.’ Remember, that Bitcoin transactions involve
the transfer of unspent outputs, so even the action of sending
bitcoins from one of your wallets to an address in another of your
wallets, is referred to (and recorded in the blockchain) as a spend.
Neither
John Ratcliff nor this author believes that the movement, after years
of dormancy, necessarily implies collusion or a decision to ‘cash-out’
by these early adopters. What is of significance, instead, is that we
now have proof that the addresses relating to the earliest Bitcoin
mining rewards – assumed ‘dead’ coins for a long time – have, in fact,
been controlled by people, and that they exercised that control during
the past year.
What are the likely destinations of these early block rewards?
Reasons To Move Your Bitcoins
A great perceived fear seems to be that early adopters would ‘cash out’
– meaning that they would sell all of the bitcoins they had accumulated
as early adopters, take profit and walk away. Whilst taking profit on
an investment is not a crime, and a sensible action when your investment
had increased by 12.5mil percent after five years ($0.008 to $1,200),
it is understandable how many people in the Bitcoin space would become
grievously concerned if Satoshi started selling off his holdings, and
appear to ‘cash-out’ from his grand scheme.
Most people
in the community understand how the Bitcoin innovation is just too
revolutionary to ever be reduced to a Ponzi-scheme, yet, for some myopic
souls and nervous dispositions, this fear is a great concern.
Other than taking profit on a commodity that had increased in value from $0.008 to $1,200 in a few short years, there are several valid reasons why these early coins could be showing up in the blockchain as spent.
Wallet Security
As alluded to previously, the action of sending coins into cold storage, or just to another wallet, involve a spend transaction.
User king-six remarks in r/Bitcoin:
The earliest wallets were secured with truecrypt volumes. TC has been abandoned and deemed potentially insecure. It is conceivable that whoever holds those coins would want to move them to a different setup.
The
development of multi-signature clients as well as sophisticated Bitcoin
contracts during the past year would surely attract large holders with
the options of securing, storing and contracting their holdings. Opting
for any one of these would see the original coinbase transactions
‘spent’.
Allure of The Amazing US Dollar
Sure,
tongue-in-cheek, but the point is this: Why would someone with a large
holding of Bitcoin necessarily want to exchange those for fiat? By
participating in the beginning years, the early adopters show their
affinity for Satoshi’s vision of the need for the creation of a new
distributed token of value. Unlike a few years ago, one can now purchase
“virtually” everything you need or desire using Bitcoin, so why weaken
your purchasing power by dumping what you had acquired through great
risk and acute vision? Besides, the US Dollar has lost both value and
esteem over the past 5 years, so how is exchanging your bitcoins for a
diminutive paper currency a smart move?
Conversely, some things
cannot be bought with Bitcoin and are only for sale in Dollars. Hence,
it would be expected that at least some of the early adopters took
advantage of the price near $1,000 to sell some (or all) of their
bitcoin holdings in order to invest in other necessities, such as real
estate, etc. Nothing to get hung about.
Who are the candidates?
User bitcoinsSG provides the following valuable information in r/Bitcoin:
Satoshi Nakamoto was in close correspondence with a few identities (real/pseudonymous) before the launch of the compiled code. Once the much anticipated code was circulated amongst the small group of cypherpunks, I can only speculate that they ran it. Note, the original client had a dropdown menu “Options-> Generate Coins.” Here are some of those identities…
- Satoshi Nakamoto
- Hal Finney
- Ray Dillinger
- James A. Donald
- Dustin D. Trammell
So, with five potential candidates, was Satoshi Nakamoto responsible for any of the recent spends of early bitcoins?
The answer is no, and the following visualization was prepared by Coinometrics, to show that none of Satoshi’s extraNonce-related
Coinbase rewards have been spent. The originating blocks of the
February 2014 example outlined above, are shown in orange. Satoshi’s
long strands of mined blocks are clearly visible – and they all remain
unspent.
Smallest Portion
John Ratcliff’s research shows that approximately 30% of all early bitcoins are still dormant:
Their worth, in US Dollars, is in the billions with a ‘b.’ If some early bitcoin adopters are cashing out a statistically insignificant amount of bitcoins, in the order of millions with an ‘m,’ one shouldn’t overstate the case.
Source : http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com
Why has Bitcoin value become Stagnant ?
Bitcoin
opened July with a value of circa $640 and by the end of the month it
settled at just under $590. During the month of July several events
occurred that should have had an effect on the value of, what is
recognized as, a volatile commodity (all currencies can be thought of as
commodities in economics). During the month of July the proposed New
York regulations for traders that accept bitcoins, as well as those that
store them, were announced (BitLicense). This announcement happened
on July 17th, yet the Bitcoin value remained stable until July 20th.
Why did the market not act on news that would have adversely affected
price only two or three months before?
Interestingly it has been suggested that Dell were cashing out the bitcoins they received as payment as that input to the market was acting to suppress Bitcoin value. However, this would suppose that a larger than expected number of customers were buying using bitcoins and that those bitcoins had been hoarded. If bitcoins had been purchased to fund the transaction then surely the affect of offloading the bitcoins would have been cancelled out by the effect of purchasing the bitcoins, changes to the Bitcoin value would have been negated.
Regarding the allegation that OKCoin has been massaging the trading figures. These allegations are based on trading patterns within the exchange with peaks breaking the 280,000 BTC barrier on three separate occasions between the months of February and April before dropping back to 11,000 BTC 12th July. This being the lowest trading volume in over six months and is a bit of a drop from the 280,000 figure by any estimation. However, OKCoin has, through its spokesman Changpeng Zhao, stated: “When the price is stable, like it has been dead-stable in the past couple days, people trade less, many HFT/Algo’s triggers won’t trigger, and you see low volumes. It’s pretty simple!”
Are people now unresponsive to bad and good Bitcoin news?
Maybe, that is the simple explanation. Perhaps people had become so used to reading the good news/bad news in the media generated by the volatility that the newly discovered stability is leading to boredom, and that is acting to suppress trading volumes. Bitcoin value is different from gold value in that if people hoard gold the price must rise as gold is used in both electronics and jewellery. If people hoard gold, the market must adjust the price upwards to encourage some to place some of their gold onto the market. If Bitcoin value were climbing it is likely that some people would sell their bitcoins to take profit whereas others would choose not to spend their bitcoins in anticipation of further increases in Bitcoin value.I would suggest that the value of Bitcoin is heavily influenced by the level of media attention is receives at any point in time. A percentage of the people who read news about Bitcoin act to either invest or dispose of their bitcoins, and these actions affect the price. Perhaps it is simply a coincidence that Dell and Lawsky hit the news together, and one acted to cancel the other out. What do you think?
No doubt, there’s been a ton of chatter lately regarding the recently-released BitLicense and Bitcoin regulation proposals from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
Many have seen promise, and others have nothing but questions.
One such entity in the Bitcoin Foundation.
Using New York law that would require a statement of “needs and benefits” for proposed regulation, the Bitcoin Foundation wrote a letter to the NYDFS which includes a request under the New York Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) for “any risk management and cost-benefit analysis (or any other systematic assessment) that is a part of the ‘extensive research and analysis’” the NYDFS alluded to in its proposal .
In the letter to NYDFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky, Bitcoin Foundation Global Policy Counsel Jim Harper wrote:
Below we suggest not only that you extend the comment period by more than a nominal period, but also consider conducting hearings on the proposal and adopting an iterative process, in which you issue drafts, take comment, and re-issue drafts until all issues are fully vetted. The Bitcoin community will be able to comment more cogently if you share the research and analysis that underlies the proposal. The community can help you fit regulatory means to public interest ends if they have access to the risks your study of digital currencies identified. The department should use modern tools to conduct a rule-making that benefits the coming era, the Bitcoin era.Just hours later, the NYDFS promised to deliver additional information to the Bitcoin Foundation within a twenty-day period.
Source : http://newsbtc.com
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