Atlanta-based bitcoin payment processor BitPay has taken a major step towards wooing new merchants, updating their service to eliminate credit-card interchange fees for basic merchant accounts. BitPay’s previous pricing system allowed entry-level merchants to process up to $10,000 per day in bitcoin payments for a flat $30 fee. Enterprise-level accounts will still receive substantial discounts,…
In a report published today by the Wall Street Journal‘s MoneyBeat blog, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said it was launching a formal investigation into the loss of nearly 850,000 bitcoins from the long-shuttered Mt.Gox exchange. Given the size of the heist, and the extraordinary level of coverage the collapse of Mt.Gox has seen both…
San Francisco-based global payment network ZipZap has secured $1.1 million in a new round of seed funding, bringing the startup’s funding record to $2.7 million. The latest funding round ended in June, and was led by an AngelList syndicate created by Bitcoin Foundation board member Brock Pierce, with additional funds contributed by 500 Startups and…
For many bitcoiners, Gyft provides a hugely important link between their BTC holdings and the brick-and-mortar world. By allowing gift cards to some of the world’s largest retailers to be purchased with bitcoin, often at a significant discount, Gyft is also one of the first companies to embrace the power of cryptocurrency in a real-world…
In March, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales accidentally set the bitcoin rumor mill churning when he posted to Twitter that he was “playing with BTC.” Hoping to convince Wales, and by extension the Wikimedia Foundation, of bitcoin’s appeal, users began sending Wales donations of small amounts of BTC. Those donations and tips quickly added up, resulting…
In an increasingly software-driven economy, finding security holes is rapidly becoming big business. While large companies are able to hire dedicated security teams to double-check their code, smaller programming startups and app makers don’t always have the money needed to give their programs a thorough stress-test before launch. This can lead to disaster, particularly when…
Panama City, Panama,-based bitcoin wallet provider Coinapult has announced a new product claiming to peg the price of a bitcoin deposit to a currency or commodity. The service, dubbed LOCKS, would serve as a hedge against bitcoin’s volatility, widely considered one of the major barriers to mainstream adoption. LOCKS would allow a customer to deposit…
The Canadian Virtual Exchange, better known as CAVIRTEX, is nearing the launch of its long-anticipated bitcoin ATM network. The Calgary-based exchange posted an image to Twitter today showing eight custom-designed, Canada-themed machines. According to a post from the official CAVIRTEX account on Reddit, there are ten ATMs launching across Canada next month. The company has…
Bitcoin-exchange platform provider Atlas ATS has announced new plans to expand its services into the rapidly growing European bitcoin community. In a press release published yesterday, the New York-based trading company said it will be partnering with Spanish bitcoin company Recol to launch Atlas ATS Europe. European users may know Recol as the operators of…
After nearly a month of relative price stability, bitcoin prices took a nosedive late last week. While a drop of $30 over the course of a few days is hardly unusual in the bitcoin world, such movements generally seem to follow major news or some specific trend. This time, however, many explanation-seeking bitcoiners have been…