In the first of a three-part series on CNN’s Fortune blog, Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek discusses virtual currency from his company’s point of view. Given that bitcoin and other virtual currencies are often presented as extraordinarily disruptive technologies for the traditionally stable money-transfer business, it’s only natural for the hardly technophobic Ersek to weigh…
As bitcoin adoption rages across China, other countries in southeast Asia are slowly wading into the cryptocurrency pool as well. Earlier this week, Bitcoin Indonesia announced that its homegrown exchange had grown to a daily volume of 30 BTC, six times its trading volume in December. While that volume is admittedly humble, Indonesia is also…
Even with official bitcoin policy in China ranging from skeptical to hostile, venture capitalists and angel investors don’t see to be very concerned about the future of cryptocurrency in the country. This week, Chinese exchange OKCoin announced it had raised $10 million in investment funding from Ceyuan, Mandra Capital, VenturesLab and other VC groups. The…
Thanks to a largely unexplored market and effectively zero regulation, the number of bitcoin-related businesses has surged in the last year. While most of the media attention seems to go to startups wooing millions of dollars away from venture capitalists, there’s also a growing trend of bitcoin-based companies who accept trades of BTC for shares…
Earlier this month, Auroracoin caught the attention of the cryptocurrency community when it briefly passed Litecoin in value, becoming the third most valuable virtual currency on circulation. This sudden spike in value also caught the attention of another group: Iceland’s banking regulators, central bankers and Iceland’s parliament, the Althing. Yesterday, the Althing’s Economic Affairs and…
As bitcoin becomes a growing part of forward-thinking investors’ portfolios, there’s one huge unresolved question: How do I report it in my taxes? With many newly minted “bitcoin wealthy” investors in 2013, it’s not a small question, particularly as April 15 approaches. Unfortunately, the U.S. government isn’t even sure how to classify bitcoin at the…
In a report earlier this week by Reuters, Mark Wetjen, the acting chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC), was quoted as saying that his department is “looking into” regulation of bitcoin and other virtual currencies. “It’s been initiated, there’s been an internal discussion at the staff level,” Wetjen said. The CFTC regulates…
As international awareness of bitcoin grows, regulators across the globe are racing to create polices for handling the virtual currency. This week, several countries hinted at coming plans for regulation of bitcoin and related cryptocurrencies. Here are the highlights of this week’s regulation news. Mexico: Banco de México issued a warning about the risks of…
Speaking on CNBCs’s Squawk Box today, investment legend Warren Buffett warned investors to “stay away” from bitcoin, and claimed that the cryptocurrency was little more than a “mirage.” Buffett’s comments came in response to a question posed by Quicken Loans founder and chairman Dan Gilbert, who noted that bitcoin was the “big two-syllable word that…
Startup accelerator Boost is aiming to make itself the Y Combinator of the bitcoin world. Last year, the venture capital company funded ten bitcoin-related startups in summer and winter classes. Over the next three years, Boost aims to grow that number tenfold. Speaking with CoinDesk yesterday, Boost’s founder and CEO Adam Draper explained the program’s…