In a new warning issued yesterday by the central bank of Bangladesh, any transaction in “bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency is a punishable offense.” According to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP), bank officials said that anyone found guilty of using or selling bitcoin in the country could be sentenced to up to 12 years…
Bitcoin startups on the self-governing British possession of Isle of Man have a major new issue to overcome: Banking access. CoinDesk reports that Capital Treasury Services (CTS), the major financial services connector between Mann’s rapidly growing digital currency industry and banks on the British mainland, has been severed. CTS is a subsidiary of Capital International…
Even though they’re still in an invite-only beta test, bitcoin-brokerage Circle clearly has plans to break into the mainstream in the near future. CoinDesk reports today that the company gave an exclusive preview of their new iOS and Android apps at the CoinScrum meetup in London yesterday, giving several hints about Circle’s near-future plans. CEO…
On Thursday, Scottish citizens will make a monumental decision: Remain a part of the U.K., or go it alone as an independent E.U. nation. As the debate rages on in Scotland itself, and referendum becoming too close to call, many experts have found themselves considering the very real possibility that Scotland will sever its 307-year-old…
Calgary-based bitcoin payment processing and regulatory compliance company Vogogo announced today that it will be trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange’s Venture Exchange (TSXV) under the ticker symbol “VGO.” Although not strictly a bitcoin company, Vogogo made headlines recently for raising $8.5 million to develop a new bitcoin payment system, possibly intended to become Canada’s…
Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange and derivatives platform Bitfinex announced a new product today: Cloud-based mining contracts. The contracts are being offered in a limited quantity during the “live beta” phase of testing, allowing Bitfinex’s team to “tweak” the product as needed after the initial tranche of 100 TH/s mining power. Should the offering prove successful,…
Two of the largest bitcoin-using online black marketplaces, Silk Road 2.0 and Agora, have spent most of the last week fending off “very sophisticated” distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks by an unknown entity. In both cases, the attacks have resulted in service interruptions, with both sites currently offline. Both marketplaces already use highly advanced security measures,…
In terms of donations received, the United Way Worldwide is the largest privately held nonprofit organization, raising over $5 billion per year. With over 1,800 offices in 45 countries, and with 2.8 million volunteers, United Way is also a titanically large and truly global organization. As of today, it also accepts bitcoin through a new…
There are few places in the world where bitcoin’s legal status is more unclear than in Russia. In February, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said that “money substitutes” such as bitcoin are explicitly illegal. In July, the Bank of Russia (the country’s central bank) said that digital currencies “should not be rejected” and said it…
Something very big appears to be in the works at Overstock.com. Details are few, but at least two key facts are known: It’s a “top secret project” requiring a “high degree of discretion,” and it’s very clearly being built with cryptocurrency in mind. According to a series of job postings made on the company’s Careers…