According to tech industry news website Re/code, PayPal subsidiary Braintree will soon announce that it has entered into a bitcoin-payment processing arrangement with Coinbase, possibly as early as today. Braintree’s service is widely used by a variety of tech startups, including openly disruptive, peer-to-peer services like Uber and Airbnb, which are seemingly ideal adopters for…
This morning, the official PayPal YouTube channel uploaded new video titled “PayPal Voices,” focusing on the increasingly peer-to-peer nature of transactions in an increasingly decentralized economy. But a single line of the video’s text holds huge ramifications for the bitcoin community, as well as the future of digital currency. Roughly eight seconds into the video,…
Even for experienced users, bitcoin wallets can be a headache. Although QR code readers and BIP-70 integrations have helped sand some of the rougher edges off some modern wallet programs, particularly in the mobile market, bitcoin wallets can still be counterintuitive programs for new users to learn. The first company to make a truly user-friendly…
Former BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem appeared in a New York courtroom on Thursday to formally enter a plea of guilty on charges that he aided and abetted an unlicensed money-transmitting business, processing over $1 million in bitcoin payments for Silk Road vendor Robert “BTCKing” Faiella. The appearance was part of a plea deal with federal…
According to a new report published by the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA), the rapidly growing bitcoin ATM industry is at risk of “creative destruction” unless self-governance structures are soon put in place. The ATMIA’s “position paper” notes that bitcoin ATMs represent a “genuine innovation in the payments space,” and hopes for an eventual “stabilization” of…
Miami-based mobile security and payments company Alternet Systems announced a new partnership agreement with Atlanta-based bitcoin payment processor BitPay. The non-exclusive agreement will allow Alternet’s payment arm, Alternet Payment Systems (APS), to serve as a third-party vendor for BitPay. While affiliate partnerships are nothing new, even for BitPay, the scope of this new arrangement could…
In a recent Gigaom profile of Overstock.com’s bitcoin adoption, CEO Patrick Byrne let slip an interesting detail about the company’s plan to donate 4% of BTC sales to a different bitcoin charity or foundation every month. According to the article, the first recipient of the plan will be the newly minted bitcoin political advocacy group…
BitPay’s monopoly on WordPress e-commerce payments may be coming to an end. Recently launched competitor PayStand has been gaining significant attention this week, offering a wide range of payment options including a zero-fee payment option for bitcoin purchases. The plugin, available for popular e-commerce plugin system WooCommerce, may help PayStand gain a foothold in the…
Resy, a New York-focused mobile-restaurant reservation service, has become the first iOS app provider to fully integrate Coinbase’s OAuth2 protocol, allowing Apple device users to buy directly from their Coinbase wallets. The integration is the first implementation of the Coinbase OAuth2 protocol on an iOS device following Apple’s reversal of a ban on in-app bitcoin…
Is bitcoin’s impact on economic theory already filtering into mainstream academia? Coindesk reports today that two major U.S. colleges — New York University and Duke University — have begun offering bitcoin-focused courses for the new semester. NYU’s class, titled “The Law and Business of Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies,” is taught by Law Professor Geoffrey Miller…