BetMoose The Bitcoin's Own Distributed Betting Market

The Bitcoin's Own Distributed Betting Market has been Launched!

Do you think that the next US president will be Hillary Clinton, or do you feel like Germany will win the FIFA World Cup? Well, then why not make some coin with your Nostradamus-like powers? And now you can, with BetMoose.com.

BetMoose is the place for P2P betting

BetMoose is a user driven betting exchange where you can place or create bets about anything and it is really anything.You can just make a bet about the first pitch in the San Francisco Giants vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks Game being called a "BALL", or that the bitcoin price will hit $1000 again before the year end. BetMoose makes a great exercise in testing your prophecy prowess.

The first thing that you'll notice when you arrive at the site, is its clean and organized homepage. There are not to many buttons or options to confuse you, just an easy on the eyes layout showing four of the many featured bets. Here is where the site gets interesting. You can place a bet on something you see, or host your own if you have a prediction. The site is P2P which means there are no unfavorable odds against you - bet against yourself if you wish, you'll get back your own coin.

Here are some of the bets posted at BetMoose, These are the most interesting bets that was posted since its first day:

• Bitcoin Will Pass $1600 By the End of this Year
• Ghash.io will reach 51% of the network hash rate in June - Resolved! (Guess what it was)
• Bitcoin will hit $700 before 7/4/14
• Amazon will accept Bitcoin by end of 2014
• Hillary Clinton to announce US Presidential bid

"The purpose of BetMoose is to bring a convenient, secure, and user-friendly way for anyone to profit from their predictions while at the same time driving bitcoin adoption, and being an easy entry-point for new users."

BetMoose wants to make prediction markets mainstream, while also appealing to veteran oracles and prophets. To be the platform for those that want to place serious investments on future events, or hedge their existing positions on future holdings. The vision of an easy and safe experience carries right over to the core principles and policies of BetMoose.

Source: cryptocoinsnews.com

BetCoin Rises to the top

A Bitcoin Revolution!

Enter BetCoin, the Bitcoin-only gambling platform which has introduced the industry to the alluring combination of Bitcoin's complete user anonymity and provably fair, traceable gameplay. Bitcoin going mainstream may be the hot topic for the year, but the online gambling industry is on the way to achieving this already, unveiling a transformation Satoshi would be proud of.

"In contrast to many of its competitors, BetCoin designed and built their system from the ground up with cutting edge technologies to focus completely on crypto currency, rather than retrofitting old fiat casino systems." Said Wayne B

While the majority of online gamblers are still using fiat, this move has turned out to be a shrewd one, with BetCoin already outpacing its competitors, including bitcoin casino industry stalwart SatoshiDice.

Bet to the last Satoshi

BetCoin capitalizes on this and offers entertainment for players who would otherwise be unable to participate due to banking/monetary restrictions, "Users can place bets as low as 0.00000100BTC. The accessibility model does not belie a target market solely lower-end customers, however. "BetCoin's large venture-capital backing allows them to offer the highest maximum bets of any Bitcoin Casino, giving any person with internet access a chance to play and win big, regardless of financial status"

BetCoin capitalizes on this and offers entertainment for players who would otherwise be unable to participate due to banking/monetary restrictions.

Because of the investments, it has allowed BetCoin's developers to produce an impressive set of credentials. Games are provided using state-of-the-art security and HTML5, mobile-enabled graphics, while "provably fair gambling" technology is used to create the outcome of each game, which is done using SHA256 AND SHA512 encrypted hashes, in such a way that the outcomes cannot be tampered with, and are truly random."

Source: cointelegraph.com

Blockchain Launches Bitcoin.com

Blockchain Launches Bitcoin.com Android App

Bitcoin Wallet and Block explorer provider Blockchain has officially launched its Bitcoin.com website today, giving visitors a learning portal to the basics of the digital currency. Previously, the site was used by fellow consumer wallet provider Coinbase as a customer onboarding tool. However, Blockchain announced its 5-year deal to manage the domain name earlier this year.

At the time, the company expressed its hope "to help drive consumer adoption and education" using the web portal, standing; "We are excited to create new learning experiences and introduce millions of new users to bitcoin as a result of this exclusive deal."

The site is available in at least 70 languages, including Czech, Persian and Zulu, among others.

Blockchain for Android

The announcement coincided with the news that Blockchain will launch a more consumer-friendly wallet app update on Android devices next month, as reported by Business Insider. Blockchain executives told the media outlet that the app will emphasize security as well, and provided screenshots highlighting the app's improved interface.

The company has also announced that it will further resubmit its app to the iOS store following Apple's most recent policy update, which may now allow for bitcoin apps with money transfer capabilities to be listed via the platform.

Site Overview

At Bitcoin.com, users are greeted by an introductory "What is bitcoin?" video, with the current bitcoin price displayed in the top corner. Just below, the site answers the question of how to use bitcoin, briefly explaining how bitcoin wallets work and directing users to Blockchain.info.

Bitcoin.com directs bitcoin beginners to the main players in the ecosystem-Coinbase, Bitpay, Overstock, among others - to answer other questions about how to become informed and involved with the digital currency.

Source: coindesk.com

If Digital Currencies were Popular Companies

There's no doubt that the technology industry has made its presence in pop culture known load and clear. Gone are the days when only engineers and geeky hobbyists talked about using new software applications or gossiped about the most recent company acquisition.

Though digital currencies may be relatively late to the party, they're certainly making up for the lost time. Thanks to the open source nature of the Bitcoin protocol, anyone with some time and programming experience can create their own uniquely branded digital currency. Now if we were to make some comparison to the most popular digital currencies and their counterpart when it comes to the most successful and popular companies.

Bitcoin would be Google!

Just like how Google is the fact search engine of choice for Internet users, a vast majority of people who use digital currencies are dealing with bitcoin. Bitcoin and Googl'es dominating popularity in their respective industries is not the only similarity between them, though.

Bitcoin has made it this far in part due to its open source development model, which allows developers to build applications that expand on the core protocol. Google has also taken a noticeably open approach to its development.

Litecoin would be Yahoo!

Litecoin was one of the first alternatives to bitcoin for digital currency enthusiasts. Though nearly identical to bitcoin, litecoin distinguished itself with a faster block time of 2.5 minutes (compared to the 10 minutes it takes on the Bitcoin protocol), and has even been declared the "silver to bitcoin's gold".

Though Yahoo! was around before Google, the veteran search engine has fallen behind Google in traffic rankings. In recent years, however, Yahoo! has revamped its marketing approach and has sought out expansion to new verticals, similar to litecoin's quest to use branding to distinguish itself and gain market share from its titan rival.

Ripple would be Uber!

Ripple arrived on the digital currency scene and right away grabbed everybody's attention. Situating itslef more as a payment protocol than an actual currency, Ripple was successful in disrupting the ecosystem of digital currencies that largely consisted of near clones of the Bitcoin protocol.

Like Ripple, Uber made a loud entrance into the world of ridesharing and taxi services when it was founded in 2009. Uber used software to build an app that quickly proved to be disruptive to the taxicab industry.

Dogecoin would be Snapchat!

Aside from bitcoin, dogecoin may be the most buzzed-about digital currency. Members of the dogecoin community are active, loyal, and vocal about their digital currency of choice, There is a lighthearted feel to the dogecoin movement, and supporters of the meme-inspired coin sometimes struggle to be taken seriously by other digital currency enthusiasts.

Selfie-taking teenage users of Snapchat also face some of the same problems of dogecoiners: they're the clear drivers behind their respective movements, but are still scoffed at by peers who consider themselves more mature. Similar to the story of dogecoin, few people expected Snapchat to become so popular in its early days. Both dogecoin and Snapchat have found considerable success!

Source: coindesk.com

Bitcoin Entrepreneur Settles SEC Charges Over Stock Sales

SEC Charges Over Stock Sales!

Erik Voorhees, 29, who published prospectuses and solicited investors through the Bitcoin Forum websites to buy shares in FeedZeBirds and the popular bitcoin casino SatoshiDICE, both of which he co-owned, without first registering the offerings as required under federal securities law, according to the SEC.

A well-known proponent of the electronic currency bitcoin agreed to pay nearly $51,000 to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges that he publicly offered unregistered shares in two Internet ventures, the regulator said on Tuesday.

The settlement calls for Voorhees to give up $15,844 in profit and interest, and pay a $35,000 fine. He didn't even admit or deny any wrongdoings.

Erik Voorhees is also a founder of Coinapult, which lets users transfer bitcoin via email or messaging service. The virtual currency is transacted independent of central control, and it is not backed by any government or central bank.

"All issuers selling securities to the public must comply with the registration provisions of the securities laws, including issuers who seek to raise funds using bitcoin," said Andrew Ceresney, head of the SEC enforcement division.

Brian Klein, a lawyer for Voorhees, did not immediately respond to request for comment. Klein has also worked for the nonprofit Bitcoin Foundation, which advocates use of the currency. The SEC said Voorhees raise 2,600 bitcoins in May 2013 through the sale of 30,000 shares in FeedZeBirds, which promises to pay bitcoins to Twitter users who forward sponsored text messages.

It also accused Erik of helping raise 50,600 bitcoins from August 2012 to February 2013 through the sale of $13 million shares of SatoshiDICE, a bitcoin casino gaming website that pays out casino-like winnings in bitcoin, SatoshiDICE was sold last July for more than $11 million, Eirk Voorhess said at that time.

According to the SEC, the value of bitcoin has fluctuated since Voorhees' first unregistered offering from about $5 to $1,200 per bitcoin. 

The case is In re: Voorhees, SEC Administrative Proceeding No. 3-15902. The SEC's order finds that Voorhees violated SEctions 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1993.

In addition to the monetary sanctions, Voorhees agreed that he will not participate in any issuance of any security in an unregistered transaction in exchange for any virtual currency including bitcoin for a period of five years.

Source: reuters.com

Maybe Bitcoin Miners Can Help Pay For Pirated Games!

This past few weeks a lot of reports suggests that a pirate release of game Watch Dogs contained a Bitcoin Miner. While no one wants their machine infected with unwanted software, could and authorized installation of a bitcoin miner on users' machines generate enough revenue for a developer to give his game away for free?

While it's no secret that some pirate games releases contain malware, during the past few days a more unusual story has been doing the rounds. According to a GameCrastinate report, this week thousands of BitTorrent users inadvertently became infected with Bitcoin-mining malware.

The problem apparently stemmed back to a leaked PC version of the much-anticipated game Watch Dogs from Ubisoft Montreal. While there was never any suggestion that the company had anything to do with it, the assumption has been that whoever leaked the game thought they could make a few dollars by installing the trojan on pirates' machines.

While there appears to be very little hard proof that the trojan ever existed or indeed spread on the suggested scale, the idea that tens or even hundreds of thousands of computers could be hijacked to generate mountains of dollars for a third-party gained a lot of traction in the press.

The idea of a sneaky trojan install is likely to annoy just about everyone, but what if a similar process could be put to a more creative and authorize use? What if a developer allowed his game to be shared online for free but in return installed a Bitcoin miner on downloaders' machines to generate revenue to pay for the software? That question was emailed to TorentFreak this week and while we had our doubts over the idea's viability, it could be pretty cool if it somehow came to pass. We promised to find out whether this was a crazy idea or a flash of genius.

Last year, Ars Technica bought a dedicated miner for $274 capable of magically churning out around 20$ in bitcoin every day. Sure it gobbled up %11 a year in electricity, but as a financial prospect it was a pretty safe bet. Gamers tend not to own dedicated mining hardware, but people playing game like Watch Dogs more often than not will have rather juicy graphics cards on board which could be coaxed into a bit of mining. Question is, would they be up to the task?

Roger Ver, an angel investor in several Bitcoin startups including Blockchain.info, BitcoinStore and BitPay, has been referred to in the press as the Bitcoin Jesus. In his opininon, could the "Watch Dog hackers" who sparked this story make much money with their illegal trojan?

"It depends a lot on the machines hardware, but to the hacker it is all profit since he doesn't have to pay for any of the hardware or electricity costs" Said Ver.

So with free money for the hackers established, we come back to the key question: could a Bitcoin miner installed with the permission of the downloader generate enough fractions of a single bitcoin on a single machine to keep the developer happy, in Watch Dogs' case, to the tune of around $60? Ver was quick to disappoint.

"This isn't viable any longer," said Ver. "There are so many people mining bitcoins using specialized ASIC hardware that  home computer isn't very effective any more." So the idea of mining bitcoin in order to generate revenue from people who can't or won't pay for their games is a no-go.

Source: torrentfreak.com

Bitcoin Bots Bought MIllions In Its Dying Days

Mt. Gox Bought Millions in its last days.

Two algorithms, named Willy and Markus, bought around 650,000 bitcoins in the dying days of the bitcoin exchange, a new report alleges.

Bitcoin prices were being manipulated in late 2013 by a pair of autonomous computer programs running on bitcoin exchange MtGox, according to an anonymously published report. The programs, named Willy and Markus, allegedly pushed prices up to %$1,000 before the bubble burst after MtGox collapse in late February.

The report's author alleges that some of the trades were coming from inside the exchange itself. "In fact," the report says, "there is a ton of evidence to suggest that all of these accounts were controlled by MtGox themselves."

The so-called Willy Report uses leaked logs of activity on the new closed bitcoin exchange to analyze the behavior of the Willy trading algorithm, which users had noticed in December 2013. The robot bought small amounts of bitcoin in regular intervals for months, but until the logs were leaked in March, no-one could work out why. The report's author tracked down all the "Willy" trades, looking for accounts making 1-20 bitcoin transactions every five minutes, and found that $112m had spent to buy more than 250,000 bitcoin in the course of November.

"So if you were wondering how Bitcoin suddenly appreciated in value by a factor of 10 within the span of one month, well, this may be why," the writer adds. Bitcoin value went from around $200 at the start of November 2013 to a peak of $1,132 by the start of December - at which point the price collapsed. It stood at about $570 on Wednesday. But following the trail further back reveals a second bot, which the author names "Markus". That bot operated in a less elegant way. "First, its fees paid were always zero (unlike Willy, who paid fees as usual). Second, its fiat [non-bitcoin money] spent when buying coins was all over the place, with seemingly completely random prices paid per bitcoin."

The author suggests that the "Markus" bot, rather than spending bitcoin prices per bitcoin, In fact acquired the coins for free, "and the program that generates the trading logs simply takes whatever value was already there before. In other words, Markus is somehow buying tons of BTC without spending a dime." The total amount of bitcoin that the log shows was bought by Markus and Willy up to the end of November, when the logs end, is 570,00 bitcoin - equivalent to $379m on the average price of bitcoin during the month.

But the author also say that Willy was "active for the most part of December until the end of January as well. Although this was at a slower, more consistent pace (around 2,000 BTC per day), it should roughly add up to another 80,000 BTC or so bought." Add that to the total and it hits 650,000 bitcoin - the amount MtGox said it had lost to hackers when it closed its doors.

Source: theguardian.com

World's Largest Company to Accept Bitcoin

DISH Cable Provider Becomes Largest Company to Accept Bitcoin!

DISH Network Corporation is the largest company to accept bitcoin to date, last year they were able to have a revenue of $13.9bn, The company has more than 30,000 employees. Today, DISH Network has announced that will be accepting bitcoin payments, making it the largest company in the world to do so. The company is the first subscription-based TV provider of its kind to make such a venture into the digital currency realm, and will start its new business model in the third quarter.

DISH Network

"We always want to deliver choice and convenience for our customers and that includes the method they use to pay their bills. Bitcoin is becoming a preferred way for some people to transact and we want to accommodate those individuals." Said the company's executive vice president and CEO Bernie Han.

DISH will now use Coinbase as its payments processor to deal with all bitcoin transactions. The company will make the most out of Coinbase's Instant Exchange feature, which converts digital coins into fiat currency.

Coinbase's co-founder, Fred Ehrsam, expressed his feelings towards the partnership.

"We're excited to support DISH and their current and new subscribers for their bitcoin transactions. This is a large step forward in the growing momentum of customers paying companies in bitcoin for things we do every day, like watching premium TV."

Han adds that the payments processing company will allow DISH to easily transition into the digital coin world. DISH customers will have the opportunity to go on mydish.com in order to pay cable bills with bitcoin, in addition to already existing payments methods.

Prior to March 31st, 2014, DISH announced that it provides approximately 14.097 million paying subscribers. As for Coinbase, the payment platform works with over 31,000 merchants to help them become well acquainted with the digital coin economy. DISH's move into adopting bitcoin may very trigger other cable, phone and internet providers into following their lead. If successful, DISH may become the benchmark for where bitcoin takes off in  the entertainment services industry.

Souce: coinreport.net - dish.com

Can Bitcoin Stop Game Piracy?

Could Bitcoin Make Free2Play Games Obsolete?

The much anticipated game Watch Dogs was released yesterday and according to some report the pirated version that showed up on various illegal torrent websites contained a little extra added by the person who pirated it in the first place: a Bitcoin miner.

Piracy has long been the bane of the games industry - but one enterprising pirate may just have figured out how developers could make money from piracy, by using Bitcoin. And could this have implications for how legitimate game developers make money?

The way Bitcoin (and other so-called crypto-currencies) work is clever: essentially, your computer will over time slowly generate Bitcoins for you by 'mining' them - in other words, putting your processor to work by solving complex maths problems. The more computing power you have, to faster you can mine - and the richer you can get.

So what the pirate (allegedly) did was package in a secret bitcoin miner that had been programmed to send the virtual coins to his or her Bitcoin wallet - so when you play Watch Dogs, your computer is secretly making money for the pirate.

Whilst this obviously isn't good for Ubisoft, who put in the hard work making the game, you have to admit that it is very clever. And it is also funny to see people who have downloaded the dodgy torrent getting indignant at how the game that they pirated, giving no money to the developers, isn't quite as it seems.

This ruse though raises a bigger question: has it shown a new way for developers to monetise their games? With all of the talk in gaming communities about how much they hate "free to play" games (where micro-transactions are used for in-game items instead of paying upfront), could Bitcoin mining provide a unique solution?

What if instead of paying £50 for Watch Dogs up front, or £2 for Angry Birds (or whatever), you were able to download the games for free on to your device, with the understanding that it would use your computer (or console) to mine Bitcoins for the developers? This perhaps isn't as crazy as it sounds. When the PS3 first launched, Sony made a big deal about how the console could be used for Folding@Home - a medical research app that used connected consoles to process shedloads of raw research data whilst the PS3 was in standby mode. Essentially exactly what I'm proposing - but for altruistic reasons. There is only one minor flaw in the plan though. People will have to start taking Bitcoin seriously.

Source: techdigest.tv

First UK Gambling Billionaires!

BET365 Owners Become The First UK Gambling Billionaires!

Bet365 owners, the Coates family, have become the first UK gambling billionaires according to the latest figures pulled out of thin air from the makers of the Sunday Times Rich List of 2014.

Who are the biggest hitters in the UK gambling industry?

According to the annual outing of the Sunday Times Rich List it's Peter, Denise and John Coates, who have become the first billionaires of the UK betting industry, with their Bet365 baby pulling in an estimated £1.2bn fortune (more than the combined wealth of The Queen, Elton John, Jamie Oliver and David Bekham).

It's been a fantastic year for the Potteries based family. Not only has their online business been bringing in the bucks, but their side venture Stoke City enjoyed the highest Premier league position in their existence, after the appointment of Mark Hughes helped catapult them to a ninth place finish. So who else was making a splash in an ocean full of cash?

Talal Shakerchi is a name that should be familiar with CalvinAyre readers. He recently spoke to us about the action in the High Roller events, and whilst he is not in the gambling industry per se, his success at the poker tables means our beady eye will be kept on him. The founder of Meditor Capital appears in the Sunday Times bible on two occasions. Not only does his £100m fortune warrant a 898th place berth, but he is the only recognized face in the Sunday Times Giving List with an estimated 4.79% of his wealth being donated to 'various' beneficiaries.

Another top class businessman who likes to play some high stakes poker in his spare time is Paul Newey. The 45-year old sold the Tamworth based Ocean Finance in 2006 for £200m, and he played alongside Shakerchi in the 2012 BIG ONE for ONE DROP at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Newey once again making the grade in the list that he doesn't really want to be on.

Other online gambling fat cats include Ruth Parasol and Russ Deleon - who together are worth an estimated £740m. Parasol was the founder of PartyGaming and made a mint during the merger with Bwin. None of the 25 richest people in Europe had anything to do with gambling. but we still have quite a few people to mention in the Uk top 1,000.

Source: calvinayre.com

Bitcoin will be Bigger than Facebook?

Winklevoss Bros: Bitcoin Will be Bigger than Facebook!

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss discovered bitcoin in June 2012 while on vacation, and have had big plans for the digital currency ever since. The duo claims that bitcoin encourages financial freedom and openness.

Bigger than Facebook

Their destiny's lead them to bitcoin while in Ibiza, after bumping into a familiar face. Tyler explains:

"We were on vacation, and happened to bump into a guy who is mutual friend and he started to tell us about bitcoin. We were fascinated from day one. At the time we were just re-immersing ourselves inside the tech world, getting into the trnches again."

The twins introduction to bitcoin occurred soon after legal battles against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The brothers won $65 million in a settlement, after Zuckerberg was accused of stealing their social media idea. With all that behind now, Tyler believes bitcoin is the next big mainstream focus, and that it has the potential to be even bigger than Facebook. He says:

"Bitcoin potentially could be more impactful because being able to donate 50 cents to someonce across the world has more impact that potentially sharing a picture. But they're very different. Facebook is like the internet - a large company and an application. Bitcoin is a protocol for decentralization, so you could build a decentralized company on top of it, a stock market. It's an internet of ownership, so it's not quite a direct comparison."

 As the 32-year-old investor mentions, bitcoin and Facebook are two completely different mediums, however, both work on bringing people to interact with one another through peer-to-peer networking. The brothers remain optimistic that the rest of the world, including Wall Street, will take notice and implement the digital currency. Tyler compares the doubters of the internet from the 1990s, to doubters of bitcoin today. Though the concept is new and some minor bugs need to be worked out, time will show how resourceful bitcoin will be.

Source: coinreport.net

Casino M8TRIX License in Jeopardy

Casino M8TRIX License in Jeopardy after profit Skimming Accusations!

A california cardroom may find itself out of business if the state attorney general's office can prove Casino M8trix attempted to hide millions of dollars in profits. The state's Bureau of Gambling Control filed paperwork on May 2 accusing the San Jose cardroom of diverting significant income from its 49 poker tables to limited liability corporations (LLC) controlled by M8trix owners Eric Swallow and husband and wife team Peter and Jeanine Lunardi.

The payments to the LLCs were listed as expenses rather thatn distributions to owners, which reduced the amount of income M8trix reported to effectively zero in three of the four years between 2009 and 2012. This is not only reduced M8trix's tax bill but also its contributions toward city-run gambling addiction programs. The San Jose Mercury News reported that Swallow had admitted there were no invoices detailing the nature of the expenses for which the LLC's received "millions of dollars annually" from M8trix.

Bitcoin Investments are Stopping!

US Regulator Warns Against Investment in Bitcoin!

The SEC has urged investors to approach Bitcoin with caution due to its recent volatility. The US financial regulator Security and Exchange Commission issued a lengthy warning against investing in Bitcoin, straight that it lacks "credibility and trust." This comes a few month after the SEC announced that it would regulate the virtual currency as an asset instead of a currency, meaning that traders would have to pay the capital gains tax on transactions.

Bitcoin has come under fire due to exchange rate volatility and the bankruptcies of MtGox and Flexcoin. While it still has its supporters, iOS, Android and Windows mobile casino Vera&John recently announced that it would no longer accept deposits in the currency. In addition, American hedge fund mogul Warren Buffet has urged investors to approach Bitcoin with caution.

Governments seek to regulate Bitcoin

Late last year the People's Bank of China announced that it would not allow domestic companies to trade in Bitcoin, and now the SEC is looking to increase regulation on the currency. However, the fact that all transactions are virtual and bypass the use of banks makes it difficult to governments to monitor use the currency. It is accepted by numerous mobile casinos including Bet365 and Zynga.

Source: blackjackchamp.com

Blockchain Reaches Milestone

Milestone Passes 1.6 million User Mark!

The blockchain.info CEO Nicolas Cary, the most popular online bitcoin wallet website, shared his excitement in twitter that Blockchain had almost passed 1.6 million users. Since his posting, the blockchain website has reached and surpassed the 1.6 million mark and is continuing new records.

Blockchain Passes the 1.6 Million User Mark

The reason for blockchain's wide success stems from how the website is run and what it has to offer its users. Blockchain allows people to store Bitcoins in an online Bitcoin wallet known as a 'my wallet' which allows users to make transactions around the world for free. The key factor about Blockchain is that users are the ones who have the full authority of their bitcoins. What this means is that Blockchain is unable to see transactions, user balance, or make payments.

Blockchain also boasts of a secure standard AES encryption to protect users' wallets. The great thing about the encryption is that any communication between clients and Blockchain servers are encrypted. This signifies that Blockchain actually does not have access to users' accounts.

The online Bitcoin wallet website also offers a variety of features that may appeal to a wide audience: 

Free, No Fees
Two Factor Authentication
Secure Client Side Encryption
Live Updating Interface
Ability to make your own backups.
Import / Export Private keys.
SMS & Email Payment notifications

Bitcoin users flock to Blockchain because it is known as one of the most secure forms of online wallets. Therefore, it is understandable that the amount of users are only going to increase.

Source: coinreport.net

What is the State of Bitcoin Online Gambling?

John Stossel Discusses the State of Bitcoin Online Gambling

John Stossel of Foz News' The Stossel Show, recently had Naomi Brockwell, a Bitcoin Center NYC Policy Associate on his show. The two discussed the state of bitcoin in the online gambling circuit.

Bitcoin Online Gambling

The bitcoin has revolutionized the landscape of online betting, especially for those who didn't have access to it before. Majority of US states, online gambling is illegal, but with bitcoin, the identities are kept private and hidden from government eyes.

Today, online gambling has become easier for people to access than ever before according to Brockwell, She says: 

“The way that the ban on internet gaming is enforced is that the government actually targets the intermediary, the financial institutions, that process the payments to the online gaming sites. What’s amazing about bitcoin is it is a peer to peer currency so it doesn’t actually use any of these financial institutions therefore the bettor can communicate and make payments directly to the casino.”

She adds that 50-60% of all bitcoin transaction are made through the gaming market, and that the digital coin's technology is actually making it safer to bet online. According to her the state of bitcoin, that it eliminates the risk of charge-back fraud, as transactions are irreversible. In her view, bitcoin is a form of free-speech, where the government can't track what people spend their money on.

Betting sites and sports betting sites are adopting bitcoin on their operations to make gaming smooth. The CEO of BitcoinSportsTrade Tyler Wilson said: 

“The emergence of bitcoin has allowed us the opportunity to create an online sports-betting platform that makes it 100% more convenient for US sports bettors in variety of ways”

Wilson sees bitcoin for its offering of freedom of financial expression. He compares casino deposits and withdrawals paling in comparison to bitcoin's instantaneous structure.

Bitcoin Gambling Market

With bitcoin, online gaming sites or bitcoin casino sites become more easily accessible to Americans. They can place bets using private information online, on a website that is established across an ocean. Online sites allow users to bet on things like sports, politics, the Olympics and even the Oscars. Americans that deal in the bitcoin gambling have their funds transferred instantly. This allow them to avoid regulations which forbid such transferring activities back home. 

Whether or not one agress with Americans taking on bitcoin to gamble safely, it has to be recognized that bitcoin's impressive technology is the reason why something like this could even work.

Source: coinreport.net

No New Board Members

Bitcoin Foundation Vote Yields No New Board Members!

A vote to fill the two vacant seats on the Bitcoin Foundation's Board of Directors has ended with no candidates garnering enough votes to secure a position. Candidates needed at least 52 votes to be elected to seat, however, no candidates passed this voting threshold, election results show.

Though no candidates were elected, clear favorites for the position did emerge. BTC China CEO Bobby Lee received 44 votes while venture capital Brock Pierce and Gyft CEO Vinny Lingham finished second and third in the voting, capturing 34 votes and 21 votes respectively.

The foundation will now hold a run-off election featuring only these three candidates. The Bitcoin Foundation had earlier reported that 75% of its industry members had voted in the initial round, and that 102 out of the possible 137 ballots had been submitted by eligible voters.

Fifteen candidates were nominated for position, including Huobi CEO and founder Leon Li and BitcoinBlackFriday organiser Jor Homquist, among others. All candidates received at least one vote. Election committee chair Biran Goss indicated that details on a planned second round of voting would be released next week.

Source: coindesk.com

Coindesk On App Store!

Coindesk Bitcoin App Now Available for Iphone!

Coindesk has released an iOS application featuring the latest bitcon news and analysis, Bitcoin Price Index, a price chart, currency converter and price alert notifications.

Users can check the real-time bitcoin price on the app's homepage which combines price and network pages from the websites. Users have the option to toggle between the bitcoin price and network statistics. Currently, the homepage features the USD price index, but users can take advantage of the currency calculator tab to view the price in their currency of choice. The bitcoin price is based on Bitcoin Price Index data.

The homepage also shows overview statistics, including: daily highs, lows, dollar amount changes, current market cap and the total number of bitcoins in existence. Users can select the charts page to view closing price and open-high-low-close (OHLC) bitcoin charts for the day, month and week.

All the news, analysis and opinion features available on the Coindesk website can be accessed via the app. The news reader showcases the most recent cryptocurrency stories at the top, but users can also take advantage of the search bar to navigate through the Coindesk archives. The app also features a bitcoin alert tab that can be customized to a minimum and maximum price. Once a price is selected, the app will notify you when one bitcoin reaches the specified price. It is launched today, the app is now available for download from the App Store for free. Android version of the application will be launch in no time!

Source: coindesk.com

The Difference of Bitcoin and Dogecoin

Charts to show how Different Bitcoin and Dogecoin fans really are!

As messages boards and news articles routinely show, bitcoin and dogecoin have attracted markedly differently crowds to the digital currency community.

Bitcoin fans routinely allege that dogecoin's very existence undermines what they consider the overall message of digital currency movement that consumers should be freed from archaic monetary systems, while dogecoin users are quick to point out that bitcoin users can be overly focused on the value of bitcoin against the dollar.

Now, two new graphics have emerged that use the words of the communities' own reddit users to illustrate the differences between the respective groups. Popular terms "people", "money", and "time" dominate the bitcoin subreddit, while in the dogecoin subreddit, words like "dogetipbot", "verify" and "help" are the most common.

Bitcoin emphasizes financial systems

The bitcoin subreddit word cloud includes a wealth of terms related to existing financial systems, suggesting that bitcoin enthusiasts want to see BTC disrupt the global financial system. That, in turn, might cause its price to continue upward.

Words like "transaction", "government" and "bank" show that bitcoin fans on reddit are talking about BTC in terms of how it could be replace fiat systems of monetary value.

Dogecoins focuses on giving

By contrast, the dogecoin subreddit word cloud includes a number of terms related to gratitude. "Help", "thanks" and "community" are some of the more popular expressions used.

The dogecoin community has also created a lingo all of its own with terms such as "shibe", "wow" and "moon" prominently appearing on the chart. This suggest that dogecoin has created a unique community in the short time since its December launch.

Bitcoin versus Dogecoin?

It's hard to put bitcoin and dogecoin in direct competition with one another. Yes, they are based off of the same core software, but they were built for two different reasons. Bitcoin appeared because of distrust over government controlled money, which has been the subject of conversations on its subreddit.

Dogecoin, on the other hand, was started as a joke. No one would have ever thought that it would become so popular, even to the amazement of its creator, Jackson Palmer. And the more carefree conversation in the dogecoin subreddit is a reflection of that.

Source: coindesk.com

Can Bitcoin be the Next Internet?

Bitcoins Future!

Everyone who encounters bitcoin for the first time grapples with how it works, and what it means. The former is relatively easy enough to learn, the latter however is something that everyone seems to have a different opinion on. ‘Is bitcoin the next Internet?’ seems to be the question behind many news articles and passionate debates alike.

Entrepreneur and bitcoin advocate Marc Andreessen has most visibly made comparisons between the two, while CNBC reported that many more venture capitalists thought bitcoin could be ‘as big as the Internet’.

Despite the comparisons’ obvious buzz appeal, it’s a serious question with profound implications. How alike are bitcoin and the Internet, and what conclusions can we draw from the comparison?

A natural metaphor

Within the world of monetary theory and finance, bitcoin is unprecedented. It is such a radical concept that most in the field are sceptical that the kind of decentralized technology bitcoin represents is even compatible with the modern economy.

The Internet thus provides an obvious reference point for a technology that seems utterly similar in its decentralization, open-source code, state of development, and most importantly its potential to disrupt on a global scale.

Indeed, if nothing else, the comparison can help effectively communicate the magnitude of bitcoin’s technological achievement.

That’s actually a quote from Eric Schmidt, and he’s talking about the Internet or the ‘network of networks’. Every network it touches it liberates. Already we’ve seen publishing, education, retail, and most famously music and film be disrupted in ways we could not have imagined. Does bitcoin represent just such a moment for banking and finance?

Given the fact that bitcoin cannot be centrally regulated, ‘an experiment in anarchy’ seems like an apt description. However for any bitcoin/Internet comparison to be truly useful and tell us where bitcoin can go from here, we need to compare their characteristics in much closer detail.

Source: coindesk.com

Blockchain Outage

Database Glitch Causes Blockchain.info Outage

The bitcoin wallet and block explorer service Blockchain.info has been down since late last night (17th March) and it seems the issue is bigger than originally anticipated. A problem first came to light when a reddit user started a thread about a failed ‘shared coin’ transaction. Blockchain.info responded to his post and quickly moved to disable shared coin functionality.

“We have temporarily suspended shared coin transactions while investigating some transactions that are ‘stuck’. The particular transaction in question is https://blockchain.info/tx-index/115315411/10. Rebroadcasting this transaction in bitcoind results in Error code -22.”

Shared coin transactions were re-enabled four hours later, but further issues came to light and blockchain.info was taken down soon after.

Source: coindesk.com